General RGG Discussion

Revan said:
I've never played the Yakuza series thanks to the 'Go play Yakuza instead of Shenmue!" brigade which just put me off. Though I did really enjoy Binary Domain. I'd be interested to check this out.
Click to expand...
I'm in the same boat. The Yakuza, Shenmue comparisons have turned me off from giving the Yakuzas a fair try, doesn't help that the games are confusing for a newcomers with constant prequels and sequels and remakes and spinoffs all pretty much releasing at the same time. All with varying engines to boot. All that said, this feels really interesting playing a game with a detective POV instead of a criminal. Kind of a breath of fresh air.

I might never get into the Yakuza games but i might get into Project Judge. And i'm fine with that.
 
GYO6161 said:
I'm in the same boat. The Yakuza, Shenmue comparisons have turned me off from giving the Yakuzas a fair try
Click to expand...
Don't make the same mistake I made. I played the first Yakuza way back on the PS2 because someone told me "It's just like Shenmue!"

Well, it wasn't anything like Shenmue, so I hated the game. It wasn't until over a decade later I'd give the series another chance and got the Shenmue comparisons out of my head that I really enjoyed it and it's become one of my favorite series... So basically I've been missing out this whole time due to that one bad experience that never should have happened...
 
Kodama said:
Don't make the same mistake I made. I played the first Yakuza way back on the PS2 because someone told me "It's just like Shenmue!"

Well, it wasn't anything like Shenmue, so I hated the game. It wasn't until over a decade later I'd give the series another chance and got the Shenmue comparisons out of my head that I really enjoyed it and it's become one of my favorite series... So basically I've been missing out this whole time due to that one bad experience that never should have happened...
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I will play Project Judge and keep an open mind since it seems like a good game for a newcomer to jump in with the new advance engine they made.
 
So I finished Yakuza Kiwami 2 last night. It goes without saying that it's a great game and a better remake than Kiwami 1, in that it didn't feel like an expansion pack to Y6, the way Kiwami 1 felt like an expansion to Y0.

That said, I kinda felt the story was not as amazing as fans had set it up to be. To be fair, I'm sure some elements in the story are aged, and if I played it in 2006, I'd probably like the story more. I think there were just too many twists towards the end that Japanese writers seemed to love back in that era. However, its still a pretty good tale, and I think the characters are great. Ryuji truly is one of, if not the best, antagonist of the entire franchise. Sayama as well is pretty great at the core, but she does suffer from the way Yakuza writers tend to write women. However she is the most capable female in the franchise, and it's a crime that she hasn't appeared since the beginning of Y3.

I think for story I rank it Y0 > Y6 > or = YK2 >> YK1.
 
GYO6161 said:
I'm in the same boat. The Yakuza, Shenmue comparisons have turned me off from giving the Yakuzas a fair try, doesn't help that the games are confusing for a newcomers with constant prequels and sequels and remakes and spinoffs all pretty much releasing at the same time. All with varying engines to boot. All that said, this feels really interesting playing a game with a detective POV instead of a criminal. Kind of a breath of fresh air.

I might never get into the Yakuza games but i might get into Project Judge. And i'm fine with that.
Click to expand...

I really recommend at least playing Yakuza 0. It really is a great jumping point and if you're not into it, then you know it's not for you. There are definitely fan servicey things in it referencing the other games, but the game does a really good job of standing on it's own.
 
I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
I really recommend at least playing Yakuza 0. It really is a great jumping point and if you're not into it, then you know it's not for you. There are definitely fan servicey things in it referencing the other games, but the game does a really good job of standing on it's own.
Click to expand...
I have thought of it but i'm more interested in Judge tbh since it also seems to be standing on it's own and it's a breath of fresh air to have a game of this type and not play a criminal plus its got the more modern engine apparently. Seems more appealing to me.

That said, I was wondering. does Yakuza 0 got a demo? would definitely be a painless experience trying a free demo to see if it clicks for me or not.
 
GYO6161 said:
I have thought of it but i'm more interested in Judge tbh since it also seems to be standing on it's own and it's a breath of fresh air to have a game of this type and not play a criminal plus its got the more modern engine apparently. Seems more appealing to me.

That said, I was wondering. does Yakuza 0 got a demo? would definitely be a painless experience trying a free demo to see if it clicks for me or not.
Click to expand...
Probably, not sure though. I know 6 had a demo, another really awesome game lol. 0 and 6 are easily my favorites...
 
From my perspective, Ryuji is why people love 2 so much. At least, that's why I love 2 so much. Well that and certain long fights/bosses in the game which were stunning in Kiwami 2 thanks to the new engine - especially the one halfway through where you go back to Tojo HQ.
But yeah, some of the twists at the very end get a little silly, but make for some cool boss fights so I can't really complain (and its not like the other games in the series, especially later ones don't have silly twists as well).

Anyway, Judge Eyes got extended TGS trailers for story and gameplay yesterday:

Really looking forward to the new arcade games and the VR stuff. Apparently the game is roughly the length of Yakuza 0. So this is taking me a few months to complete!
 
i don't understand japanese but the Judge Eyes cutscenes are looking really good
and i like that it seems more ... grounded? Yakuza is always about big highlights like fighting hundreds of men at once,
shooting cars and helicopters on a highway, fighting a tiger, shirtless 1 vs 1 fight against the clans big boss and so on.

right now Judge Eyes looks more like a "smaller" crime drama thing with a little less over the top action.
(except fighting and side activities)
 
Some of the end of the trailer looks pretty high octane. I wonder how the story will play out seeing as some screen shots show LA Noire style interrogations and courtroom stuff.
Side stuff looks crazy though, one bit in TGS shows you attacking a guy wall crawling (like Spidey) while you attack him with a drone.
 
yeah the game will feature playable courtroom and interrogation scenes
and you also have to collect evidence and use it the right way.
the game producer talked about that in an interview. so this will probably be a wild mix between "Yakuza action"
and a more grounded crime story.

but i think the whole detective thing will not be as deep as in LA Noire. i guess it will be more like
choose between 3 simple answers or between 3 evidence photos etc and its obvious which one is the correct one.
the "riddles" in the Yakuza series were never really hard, so right now i would be surprised
if those mechanics are super complex in Judge Eyes.

you can already kind of see that its not really about difficult tasks when the password for that lock
is on a notepad by the computer screen.
 
I've never played a Yakuza game before but i've been curious ever since stumbling across some Project Judge trailer/gameplay and kind of being blown away by how interesting the game looks so i recently downloaded the free Yakuza 6 Prologue Demo from PSN (Thanks to Kodama for letting me know of it) to check one of the games out from the same devs and see if they are for me. Here are my impressions.

Sadly i cannot comment on the story since it's seems like you had to play the other ones to understand and the demo includes a couple of cutscenes from the game. They did not make much sense to me, a lot of stuff happening and there's this girl singer that runs off the stage for some reason, your character is in a coma and yeah, totally not my place to comment as a newbie. Once i got to the gameplay portion i gotta say. It's kind of fun. I love the physics system when fighting and its seems really in depth.

The gym minigame was interesting and is kind of cool entering a store and buying stuff. There is also convenient machines scattered throughout the map and you can go and buy em and watch your character drink em. It was kind of fun and when i got to the cut off part of the demo (is a wall you can't pass, the demo doesn't abruptly end) i sort of wanted more.

I hate to compare em but i kind of understand the comparison to Shenmue a bit. I did notice some very surface level minor similarities. Not as much as the gaming community makes it out to be, not enough to call it a Shenmue killer or whatever other hyperbole shit people say but yeah.

Also, I had seen some trailers of Judge and it seems this is the same city and engine? Looks kind of similar. Overall i am intrigued and for a newcomer, it makes me all the more excited for Project Judge since it looks like a good game to jump in.
 
Last edited:
Just buy Yakuza 0 and start there. Its a prequel to Yakuza 1-6 and a damn good game in its own right (I think its fairly cheap these days). But Judge (assuming its as good as I'm hoping) will be another good game to jump in on as the only ties to Yakuza shown is the city, the Tojo Clan Yakuza being part of the story (no idea how bigger part, but the family that appears has not been used in the main series), and one hilarious little Easter egg shown in the trailers for those that played Yakuza 6.
 
I might get Yakuza 0 at some point if i get enamored with the series but Judge looks way more impressive to me and it seems to be doing more interesting things with the engine and physics and combat ect. Plus i love the detective setting. And it seems to be a good game to jump in like you mentioned.

Btw speaking of Judge, i just saw the extended trailer and MAN it looks so good.
I love how he runs towards the walls and stuff reminds me a bit of the PS2 game, Urban Reign.
Combat looks absolute bonkers and way faster paced than the older Yakuzas. Also love the drone sections, they look really fun. Story is looking really intriguing. Can't wait to see more. I'm so glad it's confirmed for the west already since i recall some of you Yakuza long time fans suffering alot for localization on some of the old entries.
 
Yeah. Localisation is the fastest of any game in the series in terms of news. Kiwami 2 and FOTNS were localised real quick as well which is cool.
Good call on Urban Reign, that's another amazing game that doesn't get as much love as it should. From my time with the demo, I also really like the running/wall stuff as it seems they are adding plenty of moves to both to make them worth while. I also really love that quite a few of the EX moves target multiple people this time (but can also be used in one on one situations).
My only concerns is how linear the game is (in terms of the investigation stuff). That and the tailing stuff could be more fun.

But I'm loving the combat, the look of all the side stuff and the story yeah looks fantastic. While its not quite as new an IP as I originally expected (same city etc.) I love the series so much that I know I'll really enjoy it anyway!
 
I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
So I finished Yakuza Kiwami 2 last night. It goes without saying that it's a great game and a better remake than Kiwami 1, in that it didn't feel like an expansion pack to Y6, the way Kiwami 1 felt like an expansion to Y0.

That said, I kinda felt the story was not as amazing as fans had set it up to be. To be fair, I'm sure some elements in the story are aged, and if I played it in 2006, I'd probably like the story more. I think there were just too many twists towards the end that Japanese writers seemed to love back in that era. However, its still a pretty good tale, and I think the characters are great. Ryuji truly is one of, if not the best, antagonist of the entire franchise. Sayama as well is pretty great at the core, but she does suffer from the way Yakuza writers tend to write women. However she is the most capable female in the franchise, and it's a crime that she hasn't appeared since the beginning of Y3.[/B]

I think for story I rank it Y0 > Y6 > or = YK2 >> YK1.
Click to expand...

Excellent points; it is indeed overblown and the twists and how everything comes together, again, is just terrible writing from an actual writing standpoint, as nonsensical plot points/twists mean that the writer has nothing to write about and just threw it in for shock.

But people lap that crap up, hence the overblown love.

Ryuji is the one thing I can't fault the story for, as he is indeed awesome. Mine still tops the villains for me though and I find it difficult to dethrone him (Ryuji would be the one though).

Sayama, again, is just a terribly-written character; if she kept her steel and resolve for the entire game, it would be fine. But the writing makes her out to be a whiny, blubbering mess that throws all of the established characterisation, out the window; again, absolutely reeks of a writer who has no idea what direction he's going into.

My own personal stance, I find her INCREDIBLY unlikable or, as we say in Italian, "antipatica." The forced-love with Kiryu as well, goes against the established characterisation for Kiryu and, AGAIN lol, shows a writer that has no idea what to do.

As for most capable, Yumi has her beaten in spades.

For your comment about how the writers treat women (that is a spot-on comment, btw), the one they actually didn't do that with, was Yumi and hence, she becomes a complete badass and a brilliant schemer (though, not to Xiuying-like levels, of course).

You know your shit, Sriracha and I commend you!
 
@Truck_1_0_1_ You make a really good point about Yumi. I did neglect to realize she did a lot of scheming in the background, since she only really appeared at the beginning of Y1 and at the end.

I get your problems with Sayama. She had agency, but as the story moved along it's like they stripped too much of her resolve as you say. Though in fairness, I didn't interpret her as whiny, because yes she would complain or rant, but then she would set out to try and accomplish or rectify a task on her own. The only problem is that they wrote her to consistently fail so Kiryu could save her. In some way, while it was fun playing as Majima again, I think I would've preferred they gave Sayama the 3 playable chapters to flesh her out more and at least make her seem better at her job than how they depicted her.

I still liked Sayama and appreciate what she meant to the story, enough that I would love it if she returned to the franchise as a playable character. I'd be surprised if we saw that, but I'd welcome it all the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top