Yakuza

[UC1]

I just checked my wishlist page and saw that the PS2 game Ryuga Gotoku had mysteriously been replaced by the title "Yakuza." Upon clicking on the link I discovered the wonderful news that YAKUZA IS HEADED FOR A PAL RELEASE!!!

For those of you who don't know anything about it, think of it as a mix between Shenmue and GTA. Its developed by Amusement Vision, and has been out in Japan for some time.

Where GTA focuses on gunplay and explosives, expect more of a beat em up vibe from Yakuza. Looks to be a very interesting game.

http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2006/053/929568_20060223_screen005.jpg
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2005/345/reviews/929568_20051212_screen015.jpg

[MickeyG]

Can't wait for it!

Hopefully they will include the japanese voices.

[UC1]

You might have to wait, as this has only just been announced for release outside of Japan. Our version should be released around the end of August.

I'm wondering if we'll have to import it though, as its 18+ in Japan, and new sites are saying you can literally punch people's teeth out @_@.

[InfernalEternal]

Woah, those streets are bringing back Shenmue-vibes. I want it, I want it now.

[Gilder]

Do you know where I can find sailors?



Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Whitegreek]

Hey trhwo up some pictures and maybe a link, I'm interested!

[klee123]

Finished this game last year(called Ryu ga gotoku in Japan). Let me say it's nothing like GTA at all in terms of style and execution. If anything it feels more like those gritty Yakuza Japanese films except with more action. Overall it's probably one of the best games that Sega has churned out in a long time besides VF4.

I would also like to add that it craps all over shenmue 1 and 2 in terms of storyline, gameplay and characters.

[Stevedore]

Looks good. I'll check this out for sure.

[IntErlOpr]

This is looking better and better the more i'm seeing and hearing about it, I was wanting something along these lines for a while now. GTA is cool but it feels a little bit 'comic-book gangster', nothing wrong with that but I was craving something a tad grittier. I will definitely be looking out for this.

[Natrak]

If it doesn't have similarly clunky controls and endlessly tedious menial tasks like Shenmue then I'll be happy. (I honestly didn't enjoy Shenmue II - who knows, I may have enjoyed it if I'd played a game in the series back around its original release, but as it stands, it seems to have aged terribly.)

[UC1]

Yakuza 2 confirmed for PAL land (http://kotaku.com/372100/yakuza-2-also-coming-to-europe)

[Yottabit]

Yakuza 2 confirmed for PAL land (http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/03/yakuza_2_also_coming_to_europe-2.html)

Finally.

[Tukenstein]

500 - Internal Server Error

Man, this game is gonna be sweet! :D

[UC1]

try this one (http://kotaku.com/372100/yakuza-2-also-coming-to-europe)

[Nic Xtreme]

I own the first one, haven't had time to play it yet :/ I saw my bro play it though, looks awesome!

[Tukenstein]

I need to own the first one. It sounds amazing! I don't mind if Yakuza 2 doesn't come here for a while. >_>

Also, Yakuza 3 on PS3? Awesome! :D

[Creedy]

So is Japanese audio confirmed? That confirms whether I buy this game or not.

[Sloan]

Took it's god damn bloody time. I've just managed to track down the original, possibly the hardest game I've ever had to find in Australia.

This game is friggin' sweet and I don't know why I passed it up when it was released.

[Nic Xtreme]

So is Japanese audio confirmed? That confirms whether I buy this game or not.

No way! It helps retain the Shenmue-style campness!

[Creedy]

Guess I won't be buying it than.

[Lazlow]

Can't wait for Yakuza 2, not interested in Yakuza 3 at all.

[klee123]

It shouldn't really be called Yakuza 3, since the game has nothing get to do with Yakuza at all.

[craptest]

Bought YAKUZA for $20 last week (JB Hifi 2 for $40 bins). At first I thought it was shite. Clunky and crap. Didnt help that Id been playing GTAIV. However Ive now changed my opinion 100%. It's a great game. Nice to see that the original Super Monkey Ball developers have continued their great work. Perhaps SEGA doesnt totally suck balls after all.

For $20 I highly recommend everyone picks it up. Play up to the end of the funeral boss fight. You'll come to love it.

[Lazlow]

Saw boxes for Yakuza 2 in EB's coming soon section.

Needless to say, I'm excited.

[borgster101]

I thought about getting this, at the $20 JB thing, but I couldn't really see any other games to get as it's a 2 for $40 deal.

Plus I wasn't sure how worthwhile this was, as I'm late to the PS2 party, I'm thinking I should focus on the big killer apps first before I move on to more niche but still awesome titles ... though there's that "hard to find factor", which makes me think I should just buy everything now, and play it all later.

Won't have to worry about gaming droughts in a while in that case ;)

[Lazlow]

Should've got it. Apparently its pretty tough to find, and I can vouch that its a killer app (for the PS2)

[borgster101]

Might go back to JB sometime this week and check if they still have it ...

[Lazlow]

It also has one of the greatest scripts in videogaming history :p

[borgster101]

That's a pretty big call.

[AnTrAxX]

I almost picked this up from JB for that 2 for $40 deal. Trouble was, i couldnt find another game i wanted, so i didnt bother and bought red steel for $27. I still want to get a hold of this though.

[bobboblaw]

It also has one of the greatest scripts in videogaming history :p

Agreed. Though it also has the worst voice cast in videogame history (Ok, perhaps not worst). At least Yakuza 2 will keep the Jap voices. Also, great news regarding Yakuza 2. According to the EB Games site, the game will sell for a budget price of $49.95

http://www.ebgames.com.au/PS2/product.cfm?ID=11643

[Lazlow]

Greatest voice cast mrlk.

Eliza Dushku was genius casting!

[Lezard]

Has anyone seen this in Brisbane? I'd love to pick up Yakuza for 20 bucks.

[Roman Salute]

The original? I see it in EB all the time. The stafford one almost always has a copy but now that I've said that I bet it wouldn't be there if you looked.

I'm psyched up for the localised #2, it's only taken forever to get here but can't wait. Now they've announced Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 though I wonder if Kenzan will ever get localised. I'm not holding my breath but I'd happily buy it again for the story.

[Lazlow]

DVDcrave had the release date for today, but alas, my local EBs still have it in the Coming Soon pile.

GAME didn't even have that.

[Lezard]

thanks. I went to the JB at Indooroopilly today. It didn't have a 2 for $40 sticker on it and I didn't want to leave empty handed so I bought it anyway.

Cost me $7 more but now I own it.

[Lazlow]

DVDcrave had the release date for today, but alas, my local EBs still have it in the Coming Soon pile.

GAME didn't even have that.

Got my months mixed up :(

Not out until 25/9/08

Which means they'll have had those damn coming soon boxed up for 6 weeks before its released.

[raz0r]

trying to hype it up maybe?

[Chrispy]

hell yeh! bargain price! ill be getting this for sure to voice my support for sega
better finish the first one i guess...

[Roman Salute]

I ordered this last night. With the shit exchange rate it cost more then our ebgames price for the US version of this, had to get the 3 day shipping too :(

I'll have this on Monday anyway, looking forward to it for sure.

[Nic Xtreme]

I ordered this last night. With the shit exchange rate it cost more then our ebgames price for the US version of this, had to get the 3 day shipping too :(

I'll have this on Monday anyway, looking forward to it for sure.

^ Indeed, Play-Asia has become a rather unfriendly place to buy from since the Aussie dollar has hit ~US$0.80

[sheeps]

Question.

Will this: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-43-49-en-15-yakuza+2-70-2ow8.html

Run on my Japanese PS3?

[Nic Xtreme]

Nope.

Also, ask Starscream.

Also2, that's really expensive including shipping, it's cheaper to buy locally (shock, horror)

[Lazlow]

Its also out locally in 3 days.

[sheeps]

I also don't have a local PS2.

Zing.

Don't want to play it that much though anyway, was just sorta interested buy it and was hoping I could play it on my ps3.

[StorminNorman]

Picked Yakuza 2 up today.

It is at least as brilliant as the original. Re-uses a lot of the same assets (locations etc) and looks similar, which is no bad thing as the original is one of the best-looking PS2 games. The only downfall is that it's still a PS2 game, and so it looks like shit when running on a HDTV. (Unless, of course, you have a magical PS3 with PS2 backwards compatibility).

The Japanese voice acting is absolutely top-notch, and really enhances the atmosphere of the game (let's face it, having the first one dubbed when it was a yakuza-themed game set in Japan was just dumb).

Combat has been improved somewhat, and now flows a little better than it used to. The game hasn't had any dramatic changes over the original, but it improves on it just enough to notice.

Just like the first game, this is an essential purchase for the PS2. Do not hesitate to pick it up. I believe it's RRP is $50, too, which is a steal (I paid $45 for my copy, as I get a discount from my local gamestore.)

Oh, and if you missed out on the first game, don't worry, there's a (skippable) recap of it at the start of the game.

[Lazlow]

F***!

How did I forget to pick this up!

[Starscream]

Picked Yakuza 2 up today.
Sealed? I hate it when EB gut their games.

[Lazlow]

GOT IT!

$44 from JB.

[Roman Salute]

Might be an idea to drag out the ps2 & SDTV for this one, playing it on the ps3 is a bit on the miserable side graphically. The in-game graphics actualy look better then the cutscenes (which look like youtube vids zoomed in). Great game though, the battles have improved a lot, loading times are barely there at all, it's like Kenzan after the optional install. It's very nice to have this in english finally, I'm glad I waited. Couple of hours in and there's already been some classic cutscenes, love this game & series.

[StorminNorman]

Sealed? I hate it when EB gut their games.

Yeah. I buy games from real game stores, not that EB crap.

Admittedly, the guy did unseal it just before I bought it.

The cutscenes are really strange, even on a real PS2. There's an odd blurring effect to them that's kind of annoying (a lot of older PS2 PAL games have the same effect going in-game). It's not really gamebreaking, but it is weird. Even weirder because, as far as I can tell, they're all done in-engine.

[T Strife]

Sealed? I hate it when EB gut their games.

Work in any game store for a while and you'll soon find out that the reason this happens is because people are *****s who like to steal things. End result is that grunt staff have to waste time opening up a bazillion copies of Halo 74 and the honest customer ends up getting their game from a CD wallet or something instead, so nobody wins.

Well, except for those who buy Yakuza, which is rather good :)

[Starscream]

^ Prevent store theft. Use dummy boxes. Keep brand new sealed games in the back room instead. :p

I checked out my local GAME store, they don't seem to have it in stock. Might have to visit EB or JB to pick up a copy.

[StorminNorman]

^ Prevent store theft. Use dummy boxes. Keep brand new sealed games in the back room instead. :p

This is what my game store does, unless the only copy is the display box.

[T Strife]

^ Prevent store theft. Use dummy boxes. Keep brand new sealed games in the back room instead. :p

Never works - you need to be supplied with adequate dummy boxes for every title you want to do this with, as cheap (or even expensive) photocopies/print-outs don't really do a whole lot to grab customer attention, and are too frequently associated with pre-awareness. That, and you can never have a team of staff who will always be able to find and remove all display cases once something is out of stock, and the results of this are almost never good.

[sheeps]

Red tags, not hard.

[Tukenstein]

We have a hard enough time without having to create dummy boxes for every new game we get. >_>

Also, I think our current system is fine - gut one copy of each game and put all the sealed doubles out back. It's not like putting discs in the draw are going to make them burst into flames because they aren't sealed.

[Lazlow]

EB have sealed games now?

Truth be told I don't recall ever getting a sealed one from an EB, in fact I've had more instances where they've misplaced discs and can't find them. VF4:Evo twice.

[Starscream]

Picked this up from EB (sealed). Awesome. As it was posted earlier, it's not essential to have played part 1. Buy it.

[Nic Xtreme]

Picked this up from EB (sealed). Awesome. As it was posted earlier, it's not essential to have played part 1. Buy it.

^ Oooooh sealed! Ignore my pep <_<

[watkinzez]

I tolerated the original Yakuza, but the addition of original voice track + more focused plot + smaller cast is really turning me on to the sequel. A strong start.

[Chrispy]

Picked this up from EB (sealed). Awesome. As it was posted earlier, it's not essential to have played part 1. Buy it.

but number one is sooooooooo good!

[Roman Salute]

I finished Yakuza 2 last night. I put 40 hours in and got a side mission completion rate of 72%. The fact you had to play and sometimes win the sports related mini games as well as that piece of shit YF6 pretty much ensured I wouldn't be going for the 100%. Great game though, It's more or less an rpg imo and as such the best one I've played in ages. The storyline twist at the end wasn't as bad as in the first game and overall the story was pretty enjoyable, some great side missions as well.

I felt a bit let down by the combat system when I had to fight komachi or large groups of koreans as it just didn't seem responsive enough plus I'd put 20 hours into kenzan prior to playing this and missed how smooth that was. I really hated YF6 I'd get to the last match in the tournament, be doing fine and then the opponent would side step so much I couldn't turn around in time & would get disorientated then get bashed and loose. What a crap mini game!! One other thing I really hated was the fact the very, very last bit of the game is a QTE, that should be forbidden across all game design. It was after midnight, I wasn't paying attention and had to do the battle over because I missed the QTE. Cool last fight though reminded me of the last one in MGS4 (or should it be the other way around heh).

Finally a word of advice, if you save the sacred tree sword for the very end it makes things a lot easier. The sword does a lot of damage and can be used around 80 times. The last chapter involves many battles one after the other with only a couple of healing items per section and no other way to regenerate health. Might be an idea to carry a couple of substitute stones as well.

Overall a very nice game though, I got used to how crappy it looked on the ps3 and eventually grew to really appreciate the style of the graphics. It's a very flawed game but I really liked the fights, theme, areas and story so it kept me going, it actually became very addictive and I probably could have spent another 10-20 hours doing the things I missed out on. I certainly got my 50 bucks worth out of it though.

[HiredMan]

Eurogamer Yakuza 3 import review: 8/10 (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/yakuza-3-review?page=1)

[McChimp]

Reviving an old thread with news (hope it's new, otherwise I'ma look like a dumbass) that Yakuza 3 is getting a US release (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177232) for next March.

[StorminNorman]

Best news ever.

[McChimp]

Hells yeah! I'll be importing this the split second it comes out. Not the biggest Yakuza fan ever (probably would've gone the hard-yards to import the Jap. copy and get a book for translation if I was), but it's still a brilliant game, in my opinion.

[borgster101]

Hells yeah! I'll be importing this the split second it comes out. Not the biggest Yakuza fan ever (probably would've gone the hard-yards to import the Jap. copy and get a book for translation if I was), but it's still a brilliant game, in my opinion.

HAHAH I did this! :p

It was an awesome game .. but it will even awesomer in English! :D I'll buy it again so I can play it an understand it properly :p

[klee123]

Awesome news, but very bad timing, since it is released at the same month as FFXIII and God of War 3.

Despite playing through the Japanese release, will definitely be supporting this game day 1. I can finally play through some of the side missions which I didn't bother going through due to my poor Japanese reading skills.

[Campdog]

Awesome news, but very bad timing, since it is released at the same month as FFXIII and God of War 3.

I agree with this. I haven't played any of the games in the series but this one i would love to play but with both of those games must buys for me this one will more than likely slip till late in the winter months which really is a shame.

Why are sooooo many really good games coming out all at the start of next year?

[dalmatian]

Like others, I WILL be importing this the second it comes out. Hope SEGA may release a special edition of this for me to purchase but the fact its coming out in the US brings tears to my eyes.

[klee123]

Well, the game is getting a PAL release too, so you guys don't need to import it unlike some other game *cough* demons souls *cough*.

Then again, our dollar is high so it's good to import I guess.

[Allick]

Sweet this means I don't have to learn Japanese.

[McChimp]

Well, the game is getting a PAL release too, so you guys don't need to import it unlike some other game *cough* demons souls *cough*.

Then again, our dollar is high so it good to import I guess.

It's good to have this option, as I've found that games I've imported have been loads-cheaper than buying off the shelves at local RRP.

[borgster101]

Awesome news, but very bad timing, since it is released at the same month as FFXIII and God of War 3.

Despite playing through the Japanese release, will definitely be supporting this game day 1. I can finally play through some of the side missions which I didn't bother going through due to my poor Japanese reading skills.

Yeah I skipped a lot of the side quests because they just didn't make sense to me!

Also .. just want to point out .. so glad they are sticking with the Japanese voice actors, the story actually wouldn't work as well if they dubbed it .. you'll all see what I mean in due course :)

[Roman Salute]

I'm so glad I waited for this, it'd be nice if just once we didn't have to wait years for a translation of a game in this series but I'm definately greatful for the opportunity to play #3 in english. This is 100 times more interesting to me then Final Fantasy or God of War (not that I won't be getting both of them as well mind you) so I'll be picking it up on release.

[McChimp]

Don't know if this has been mentioned on here yet, but the official Playstation site has Yakuza 3 marked for a 'March 2010' release. If that's true, not long to wait! YAY!

[Creedy]

It is indeed true, Seha announced it a while ago.

[borgster101]

Is March the release for Australia as well?

[McChimp]

It's what it has on the Aussie Playstation site, so I guess so.

[borgster101]

Awesome! :D

[dalmatian]

Whilst I endure the torturous wait for my most awaited game of the year in Yakuza 3, I purchased Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan from Play asia today. Should arrive by Friday next week if my previous orders are anything to go by. I cant read Japanese unfortunately, but since Kenzan has approximately 1% chance (and thats being generous) of ever getting a European or even a US release, I just bit the bullet and bought the Asian edition for $29 US. When I get my hands on it next week, ill leave some impressions on what Kenzans like and whether its worth importing if you cant read Japanese.

[dalmatian]

Only just found this out by chance but awesome news regardless. [b]SEGA have confirmed that a 'premium' edition will be available on release when it gets released in Europe[b].

Premium Edition will contain:

Battle for Survival (Survival Tag)
All-Star Tournament (7 characters)
All Star Tag Tournament (8 Teams)
Haruka's Request DLC
31 Track Soundtrack
Yakuza Family Tree - Digital
4 Gameplay Trailers
3x Develop mental Diaries (Toshihiro Nagoshi)

Here is the link for those interested. RRP will be under $100 for sure unless this New Zealand distributor is offering wholesale preorder prices (which would ruin my day if it turns out to be the case)

Link for SEGA's confirmation of a Premium Edition of Yakuza 3 for NZ and Australia.
http://www.mightyape.co.nz/news/Yakuza-3-Premium-Edition-confirmed-for-PlayStation-3/15829/

Link to preorder the game if you cant wait until the premium edition hits the EB games and JBHIFI preorder lists.

http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/PS3/Yakuza-3-Premium-Edition/3774317/

[dalmatian]

Yakuza 3 demo is up now on the Australian PSN store. I urge anyone who a PS3 to give this demo a go. This game is destined to be the sleeper hit of the year on the ps3

[McChimp]

This game is destined to be the sleeper hit of the year on the ps3

OR, to be completely overlooked because people sadly won't care if it's not Modern Warfare or the like.

[grimace06]

I still need to play and finish Yakuza 2 - what's the date for no. 3?

[Lazlow]

I still need to finish Yakuza 1
and then start and finish Yakuza 2
and then buy a PS3

[grimace06]

I still need to finish Yakuza 1
and then start and finish Yakuza 2
and then buy a PS3

That too.

[Azzaman]

hmmm, just played the demo. Can anybody say WALL OF TEXT!

I was under the impression all the dialogue was spoken, turns out I was wrong...

[borgster101]

hmmm, just played the demo. Can anybody say WALL OF TEXT!

I was under the impression all the dialogue was spoken, turns out I was wrong...

It is spoken in cut scenes and there is a lot of them .. but it's text in game. It's Japanese voice acting though, so you'll be reading subtitles anyway.

[Azzaman]

I know, but I got bored half way thru the convo's and just ended up pressing x a ton of times. Shame too because I was looking forward to this (loved shenmue back in the day and heard somewhere this was very similar).

Think I'll be spending my - very limited - spare monies on heavy rain.

[borgster101]

I know, but I got bored half way thru the convo's and just ended up pressing x a ton of times. Shame too because I was looking forward to this (loved shenmue back in the day and heard somewhere this was very similar).

Think I'll be spending my - very limited - spare monies on heavy rain.
Yakuza isn't really like Shenmue .. the only similarities are that they are both set in Japan and they feature authentic recreations of cities/towns .. after that they're very different games.

[Azzaman]

well nuts :(

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

After playing the demo I can confidently say that this is one of the most unappealing games I have ever played.

[borgster101]

After playing the demo I can confidently say that this is one of the most unappealing games I have ever played.

Have you played the PS2 games?

[borgster101]

well nuts :(

Also Kazuma is more badass than Ryo :p

[StorminNorman]

Yakuza isn't really like Shenmue

I don't really agree with this at all, tbh. Yakuza is kinda-sorta "Shenmue: The RPG".

Keep in mind that a lot of the staff that worked on Shenmue went on to work on the Yakuza games.

Anyway, I downloaded the demo for this and it is, as expected, completely awesome. Frothing demand... rising!

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Have you played the PS2 games?

Nope.

[borgster101]

[QUOTE=borgster101;1178912]Yakuza isn't really like Shenmue[QUOTE]

I don't really agree with this at all, tbh. Yakuza is kinda-sorta "Shenmue: The RPG".

Keep in mind that a lot of the staff that worked on Shenmue went on to work on the Yakuza games.

Anyway, I downloaded the demo for this and it is, as expected, completely awesome. Frothing demand... rising!

Well, I guess where I'm coming from is .. when people say things like Yakuza is like Shenmue then others will expect it to be so .. but really the general way both games are played are quite different such that someone who is expecting another Shenmue may not find what they are looking for in Yakuza.

Shenmue in a way plays out like a "detective game", i.e. finding clues, talking to people to get answers, followed up with some Virtua Fighter style action scenes and QTEs.

In Yakuza the combat system is more varied (which is where your Shenmue the RPG comes from I guess .. level ups etc) .. but the rest of the game is quite different, you're not really finding clues and talking to randoms to get answers, it's more "go here for next story event .. and massive fight scenes" and do lots of side quests/missions from managing your own club to competing in fight tournaments. The monetary system has a lot more use in Yakuza too .. whereas in Shenmue you end up spending your money on capusle toys :p

Yeah there's some similarities, but they're still distinct enough for one to be able to enjoy one franchise but not the other. Both franchises are awesome though (in my opinion) .. and it sucks that not enough people played either of them! :p


And yeah, Yakuza 3 is great, I played through the Japanese game and it'll be awesome to now play through it properly in English!

igotnewsuper8systemWRONG! - Ok, you really do need to play the PS2 games to get the most out of the 3rd game .. you very much so need to get into the characters and story to enjoy this, otherwise you will probably find it "unappealing". Might be worth tracking down the PS2 games for cheap?

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

There's too many other good games for me to bother playing through the ps2 games, just so I can play a ps3 game that plays like a ps2 game.

[AranchineD]

There's too many other good games for me to bother playing through the ps2 games

Just to be clear, you ARE talking about the PS3, right?

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

ITT jealous Xbots am cry

[StorminNorman]

There's too many other good games for me to bother playing through the ps2 games

On the other hand, none of those other good games are actually as good as the Yakuza games, so you don't really have any excuse to not enjoy two of the best games on the PS2.

[Natrak]

Pretty average game, guys.

[Tonez]

Agreed.

Downloaded the demo and found the fighting to be pretty sub-par and kind of confusing.

Unfortunate because I was looking forward to this.

EDIT: Might wait till it's a bargain bin.

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Agreed.

Downloaded the demo and found the fighting to be pretty sub-par and kind of confusing.

Unfortunate because I was looking forward to this.

EDIT: Might wait till it's a bargain bin.

Calling the fighting sub-par is being generous, it's the kind of fighting you would expect from a ps1 game.

[Lazlow]

So it's worse than Y1 & Y2?

[Ashmaran]

I found the fighting kinda fun actually, maybe it would lose its appeal over time but yeah was alright. Sweet finishing moves too.

[borgster101]

I don't think the demo does the game justice .. yes the fighting mechanics aren't overly complex ... but they serve their purpose quite well .. with Yakuza it's very much about the whole package .. i.e. experiencing the living breathing Japanese cities/towns, getting punks that pick fights with you and kicking their ass because you're too awesome, immersing yourself into the story of gangster warfare.

With Yakuza it's very much the whole package is greater than the sum of its parts. And you won't get this appreciation with the demo. This is why I suggest that people track down the PS2 games and buy them (they are so cheap anyway) play through them, and then you will then enjoy Yakuza 3 soooo much more .. if you don't like the first PS2 game after playing through it, then it's probably not for you .. I guess my point is your short changing your self if you judge simply from the PS3 demo.

[Nic Xtreme]

The Yakuza games are alright. I mainly play it for the characters and atmosphere, more than the fighting. The fighting is really lame, repetitive, takes forever, happens too often, and gets in the way.

While the game's atmosphere and general feeling doesn't come close to the lofty heights set by the Shenmue series (regardless of how dated some of the gameplay feels in them, they still are an example of atmosphere and feel done perfectly), it definitely is, for me, the highlight of the games. Definitely will play more one day, but there is much better stuff out there - it's one of the 7/10 type of games. It would really be much better if there was less fighting. Much less. Bring back in Shenmue's Virtua Fighter inspired stuff - less baddies and fights, but when they did happen they were engaging.

[/backslash]

I downloaded the Yakuza 3 demo tonight, haven't tried it yet though and its the first time I'll be playing the franchise. Not expecting too much but hopefully I might be surprised

[/backslash]

Okay I've played the demo now - fairly meh. General walking & combat is terrible imo, everything is very clunky. Well its a good thing I was never really interested in the first place :p

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

The pointless cutscenes reminded me of the sort of thing ps1 games would do.

[Bokracroc]

OR, to be completely overlooked because people sadly won't care if it's not Modern Warfare or the like.
I think this is what's happening. Not enough explosions and threatening to shoot people like ME2 and the like to keep the attention of the attention-span handicapped.

[Tonez]

hahahaha I love how when people shit on a shit game for being shit, their defenders come out and say that we are the problem, not the shit game.

If you like it, good luck, but don't have a go at people who don't. Not everyone wants to waste their time with bad games that haven't seemed to evolve since the PSOne days.

[Lazlow]

But Yakuza started on the PS2 >_>

[Bokracroc]

hahahaha I love how when people shit on a shit game for being shit, their defenders come out and say that we are the problem, not the shit game.

If you like it, good luck, but don't have a go at people who don't. Not everyone wants to waste their time with bad games that haven't seemed to evolve since the PSOne days.
Dragon Age barely changed a thing since the old CRPG's but it's the Holy Grail for some reason.

[concrete donkey]

With this, Heavy Rain, White knight chronicles and The Last Guardian coming out, im really going to have to buy a ps3.

[borgster101]

hahahaha I love how when people shit on a shit game for being shit, their defenders come out and say that we are the problem, not the shit game.

If you like it, good luck, but don't have a go at people who don't. Not everyone wants to waste their time with bad games that haven't seemed to evolve since the PSOne days.

It's not a shit game. Whilst I'm fine with people not being interested, stating this game hasn't evolved since the PSOne days is a bit much .. by extension this argument could be applied to many other games for one thing ... and on another it's actually false with Yakuza 3, because it has evolved since the PS2 :p games!


Again, I believe the demo doesn't do this game justice, and in addition ... it's a game people won't enjoy properly unless they have played the PS2 games, which it appears many people haven't. So yeah it's going to have a limited audieance, which is sadly why it probably took Sega so long to decide whether this game should be released.

Which is why again, I'll stress to people, seek out the PS2 games and give them a go .. just because there's all this new stuff coming out there's no reason why people can't go back and enjoy some greatness that they may have missed.

All that said, I agree with you in that it's silly for people to come out and blame all the people that didn't buy game X because they just didn't like / it wasn't interesting to them etc.

But by the same token people who didn't like a game based on their limited experience of it (i.e. playing a demo), shouldn't dismiss the whole product as mere shit / unevolved since PSOne days, a simple .. "it wasn't for me because of these reasons" would be sufficent, indeed there's no need for people to come out and "defend" their purchase, but likewise there's no need for others to come out and "defend" their decision not to purchase.

[AranchineD]

im really going to have to buy a ps3.

What, so you can steal someone's PSN identity too? You just don't stop, do you?

[T Strife]

hahahaha I love how when people shit on a shit game for being shit, their defenders come out and say that we are the problem, not the shit game.

If you like it, good luck, but don't have a go at people who don't. Not everyone wants to waste their time with bad games that haven't seemed to evolve since the PSOne days.

Could you please explain to me how this post is not inflammatory and hypocritical?

Dumping crap on a game that you don't really click with, or relate to the appeal of seems hardly an appropriate response. It would make much more sense and be much more productive to just explain why it isn't to your liking, and to query why other people do click with it.

There are bad games out there, sure, but the Yakuza titles generally aren't considered to rank among them. They're flawed in parts, but like many games, if a person doesn't like them then it probably is the person's fault rather than the game's. This isn't really as derogatory as sounds - it merely suggests that we are slaves to out own particular tastes and interests.

Annoyingly, we're always too quick to argue. This includes the defenders. There was really nothing out-of-place in your previous post, but comments like this one bug me. The wording's been notched up to the point of being fighting words :/

Edit: Aww, nuts (http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/24/yakuza-3-western-release-to-miss-out-on-hostess-club/#more-81977) :p

[Tonez]

Of course it was inflammatory. I did it in response to Bokacroc's post which referred to myself and other members who didn't enjoy the game as attention-span handicapped.

My previous post actually did talk about why I didn't like the game in a manner which was to create debate and I would have been happy to hear anyone's response so long as it was intelligent and critical.

I was baited and I bit. It's what I do.

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

I'm gonna leave this thread and let the weaboos cry about how they don't want the game anymore because it's less perverted

[oogi2000]

I'm gonna leave this thread and let the weaboos cry about how they don't want the game anymore because it's less perverted

Don't mess with a weeaboo's waifu, mate. On par with furries I believe in terms of vitriol. :D

Anyway, downloading the demo now.

[StorminNorman]

I'm actually pretty annoyed because the Hostess Club stuff was half the reason I was looking forward to the game. :(

[borgster101]

I'm actually pretty annoyed because the Hostess Club stuff was half the reason I was looking forward to the game. :(
I tried it in the Japanese version, but it didn't make much sense because I couldn't understand it. I assume this is where you run the hostess club yourself .. and you dress up the girls and stuff ... it's weird that its out considiring this feature was in Yakuza 2, however in Yakuza 3 they increased the depth pretty signficantly, a shame .. but it's not a crucial part of the game.

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

I tried it in the Japanese version, but it didn't make much sense because I couldn't understand it. I assume this is where you run the hostess club yourself .. and you dress up the girls and stuff ... it's weird that its out considiring this feature was in Yakuza 2, however in Yakuza 3 they increased the depth pretty signficantly, a shame .. but it's not a crucial part of the game.
Tell that to the perverted weaboos

[dalmatian]

For those PS3 owners with a JPN PSN account. The Yakuza 4 demo is available to download as we speak.

[dalmatian]

I'll also put this in the bargain hunters thread, but for all those interested, K-Mart is selling Yakuza 3 for $72 from the 11th March. Great price for an awesome game :)


http://s1035.photobucket.com/albums/a440/wahwahweewah/?action=view&current=ff13-2.jpg

[sidochrome]

Holy crap - that's an awesome price! I reckon I might have to forgo EB's fairly measly preorder bonus (http://www.ebgames.com.au/ps3-149315-Yakuza-3-PlayStation-3) for a saving like that - especially considering that you get the Battle Pack DLC and soundtrack as standard.

After the Y3 demo piqued my interest (I've always been a sucker for brawlers, and they had me at german suplexes in the barroom fight), I picked up the prequel and only just finished it this weekend. The series probably does require some small degree of appreciation of Japanese culture, but I quickly became a convert. Makes me a little sorry I never played the original Shenmue games.

[Roman Salute]

I'm 5 minutes down the road from a kmart so I'll be hitting them up for the game before work on thursday :)

It's a bit lousy they're cutting things out but I did the hostess bar stuff in the 2nd game and it wasn't what i'd call fun. Having said that I wish they'd have cut the sports mini games out instead. I would have been far more annoyed if they had delayed the game to translate that stuff.

There's a bit of talk about the game being shit, well nothing in it is perfect but it's done in the sandbox style and like every game in that style a lot of the mechanics are mediocre or bad. The fighting is pretty fun though and if you can get into the Japanese locale then the whole game's really immersive.

[sidochrome]

This tale's probably more for the EB Insanity thread, but here you go...

EB called me today to say that my preorder was available to pick up, so I thought I might as well pay a premium to play a little early, and get the additional costumes/minigames to boot.

On picking it up in my lunch break, I did (unsurprisingly) get stiffed on the preorder goodies - it seemed they didn't receive any code sheets - but the guy was good enough to knock 10 bucks off. All told I called it even.

I'll definitely be giving it a run tonight. I'm generally not too fussed about the cuts, though I did find running a hostess club in Y2 was strangely compelling in a Sims kind of way. A bit of a bummer that it's gone, but I'm mainly in it for the biff.

[Starscream]

$63 to import from the UK.

But as always expect a price drop a few months after release date. :D

Not in a hurry to get Y3 though.

[dalmatian]

I've played both and honestly (I'm both a SEGA and a Final Fantasy/Square Enix fanatic), Yakuza 3 I've found much more enjoyable than FFXIII thus far. Yakuza 3 is also getting BETTER reviews than FFXIII on gamerankings as well, (who woulda thunk it). But to be honest GET Yakuza 3 first because chances are that it wont be easy to find in a few months, FFXIII will be readily available for the next few years at least. If you all wanna see Yakuza 4 get localised, it hinges on gamers buying it for SEGA to justify releasing the next one over here. Its a fantastic game anyway so I'd doubt anyone would be disappointed =)

[Roman Salute]

I just did the most degenerate thing, picked this up for $99 from EB but it's sort of like spending an extra 20 bucks on express shipping to get something early so no buyers remorse or anything. I'm going to have a long session tonight, can't wait :)

[borgster101]

The game is officially out tomorrow .. correct?

[McChimp]

Yep yep. I got them in a delivery at work yesterday, with specific instructions to not sell before 11/3. Shame, as I would've liked to have taken it for a spin.

[StorminNorman]

The game is officially out tomorrow .. correct?

Yeah but good luck finding it. I actually had to tell my local Gametraders about it and they're ordering in a copy. None of the other game stores nearby (EB, JB, Game) had it.

[Starscream]

Plenty of copies in Sydney.

Didn't buy one. :(

[/backslash]

Kmart should have it, its advertised in their catalogue for $70 (or was it $72?)

[Lazlow]

Saw tonnes of copies at JB tonight. Made me wish I had a PS3 :(

[Tonez]

My fiancee bought this for me because she heard me talk about it once and thought I wanted it, bless her.

In any case, I may actually have to take back some of the things I said earlier. The demo really didn't explain the fighting system as well as it should have, whereas the full game gives you a tutorial on a number of things.

Once you actually know to fight properly, it's actually pretty fun but **** me dead the cut scenese occur way too often. Just like a JRPG.

I've also never understand the tendency of Japanese games to have a fully voice-acted cutscene, which transitions across to in-game (non-voice acted) text in which you constantly press X to continue to more text, to which it then transitions to another fully voice acted cutscene all before you've done anything.

It's ridiculous.

[borgster101]

My fiancee bought this for me because she heard me talk about it once and thought I wanted it, bless her.

In any case, I may actually have to take back some of the things I said earlier. The demo really didn't explain the fighting system as well as it should have, whereas the full game gives you a tutorial on a number of things.

Once you actually know to fight properly, it's actually pretty fun but **** me dead the cut scenese occur way too often. Just like a JRPG.

I've also never understand the tendency of Japanese games to have a fully voice-acted cutscene, which transitions across to in-game (non-voice acted) text in which you constantly press X to continue to more text, to which it then transitions to another fully voice acted cutscene all before you've done anything.

It's ridiculous.
Haha, nice to hear you're enjoying it more .. keep playing it's a fun game! :)

And yeah, it's weird how you have to transition between voiced scenes and then non voiced in the same story sequence :p .. you get used to it though!

[Manny M]

I generally don't like to judge a game just on the demo, but I really didn't like it. It really felt stiff and looked/played awkwardly.

I think my opinion is made even worse by all the 5 star titles that i've been playing of late.

[Zace]

This game couldn't have come out at a worst time. I really like the Yakuza series, but not as much as FF or GOW.

[borgster101]

I generally don't like to judge a game just on the demo, but I really didn't like it. It really felt stiff and looked/played awkwardly.

I think my opinion is made even worse by all the 5 star titles that i've been playing of late.

Not sure if you played the PS2 games, but I would say you will indeed get more out of Yakuza 3 with the prior knowledge, though the game does a nice summary of the previous events at the start ... still not as good as playing through them properly though.

But yeah without this prior appreciation of the characters, the "stiff play mechanics" will probably get in the way of your fun, really depends on how much you enjoy the whole package though .. because there's lots to do in Yakuza!

[dalmatian]

Well my copy of Yakuza 3 shipped on the 10th so i should have an english copy in my hands next week. I still got an original release copy of Kenzan to play through while i wait though, and will probably buy the japanese release of Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 next week so maybe i should brush up on my Japanese. Anyways, cant wait to play this, ive been waiting a good 2 years for it :D

[Tonez]

Actually really starting to get into this and enjoy it more. I ant to keep getting experience to level up essence techniques etc.

Does a veteran of the series want to explain how the **** you perform a double finishing blow?

It says to hit triangle at the end of a finishing blow which I do but all it seems to do is the same hits as before I upgraded this ability.

EDIT: I wish they had a practice area so you can practice moves you've unlocked and they let you know when you've done them.

[sidochrome]

Not all Heat moves have a double finisher - you'll be prompted for those that do (the bread-and-butter wall slam and face stomp ones definitely do).

I knocked the game over this weekend with a sparing 15% completion - pretty epic stuff and some really touching moments in there. I'm a little surprised by how good some of the minigames are - that fishing game is addictive as all get out. Golf is sadly the notable exception to that sentiment.

I'll be going back through on 'Premium Adventure Mode', which basically gives you free reign on the game world after you've finished it, to clear up some more side quests, especially the Hitman missions. I'm really interested to see how Kazuma's moveset continues to fill out, but that said, it is hard to go past smashing thugs in the face with a bicycle.

[Tonez]

Not all Heat moves have a double finisher - you'll be prompted for those that do (the bread-and-butter wall slam and face stomp ones definitely do).

I knocked the game over this weekend with a sparing 15% completion - pretty epic stuff and some really touching moments in there. I'm a little surprised by how good some of the minigames are - that fishing game is addictive as all get out. Golf is sadly the notable exception to that sentiment.

I'll be going back through on 'Premium Adventure Mode', which basically gives you free reign on the game world after you've finished it, to clear up some more side quests, especially the Hitman missions. I'm really interested to see how Kazuma's moveset continues to fill out, but that said, it is hard to go past smashing thugs in the face with a bicycle.

The double finishing blow isn't a heat move which is what's confusing me.

[sidochrome]

Oh - I've gotcha now. It just lets you put an extra heavy hit on the end of your combo.

E.G.
W/o Double Finisher: [] [] [] /\ = Punch, punch, punch, uppercut.
/W Double Finisher: [] [] [] /\ /\ = Punch, punch, punch, uppercut, sledgehammer blow.

[Tonez]

Oh - I've gotcha now. It just lets you put an extra heavy hit on the end of your combo.

E.G.
W/o Double Finisher: [] [] [] /\ = Punch, punch, punch, uppercut.
/W Double Finisher: [] [] [] /\ /\ = Punch, punch, punch, uppercut, sledgehammer blow.

Right, gotcha.

So essentially, I just have to hit triangle twice at the end of the combo.

[borgster101]

The revelations in this game are awesome! :D

[/backslash]

Got this game today, wow, this game is awesome! I'm just loving the total Japan feeling with the environment & the Sega Club with a bunch of addictive arcade games & the shops that actually feel like real shops rather than generic ones in GTA. I'm not very far in the game at all - just walking around with the little girl & avoiding my main objective since I've read that this game rushes you into the storyline without realising it

Since I got the Special Edition I got 4 pieces of DLC + the soundtrack on a disc :D

[borgster101]

Yeah it is very awesome. The girl is Haruka, a very important character in the Yakuza series :)

You'll get the chance to see a recap of the events of games 1 & 2, which is worth checking out :)

[/backslash]

I've watched all of the events in game 1, will watch the 2nd tomorrow. I'd be more keen to watch them if the vids weren't so tiny!

Yakuza 3

Really getting into it now, accidentally spent my whole afternoon + night with it. I found the golf game fairly clumsy, the meter goes way too fast to get good accuracy so I had to repeat my shots 50 times, it paid off in the end, I whooped that guy in 3 holes getting Eagle, Birdie & then another Eagle :D

Haven't played many other games, I did one where you rolled 3 dice into a bowl but the game seemed to be random luck and didn't really make much sense. Perhaps if I lived in Japan it'd be more acceptable - I'm only used to Mahjong which is far more common. I managed to get a giant teddy bear from that UFO catcher machine, it was pretty hard - took me about 6 attempts and I had to win the other stuff first because it was blocking the vent! After all that work I couldn't figure out how to give it to the girl so it was left in my inventory

The combat is quite fun although the camera could be better if it swung around to the leftover gang member instead of me blindly swinging. I know I can control the camera but I shouldn't have to in combat. At least the combat makes a lot more sense now so you can get more of a flow in your actions

Although I love how the japanese dialogue is intact compared to the original games (which I think were butchered with dubs only) its slightly annoying how it'll say the names of stores in english but I don't have the faintest idea of what kind of place its supposed to be until I go in there

Me: "Gime? What's a Gime?"
*walks into place & sees people weightlifting*
Me: "Ohhhh, a Gime!"

The city itself is great with a lot of interaction and I like the side missions that you get from random people. It could be a bit livelier like maybe some weather variation & wind blowing the signs and maybe some scooters & bicycles going past, you see them parked but you never see anyone using it. Shame Katsuma doesn't take advantage of them aside from using them as weapons against street punks :P I must say though its the most convincing town I've ever been in, moreso than GTAIV although it does lack voices & relies a lot on text

Currently at Chapter 4 right now

Oh and I'm listening to the bonus OST right now and its pretty disappointing, 31 tracks and its pretty much all fighting music. Nothing worth listening to

[dalmatian]

Well I have spent about 45 hours on the game thus far (I have BFBC2,GOW3, FFXIII,Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2 all unplayed apart from the small time ive spent on FFXIII) so i think i would be able to answer you're questions.

Yakuza 3

Really getting into it now, accidentally spent my whole afternoon + night with it. I found the golf game fairly clumsy, the meter goes way too fast to get good accuracy so I had to repeat my shots 50 times, it paid off in the end, I whooped that guy in 3 holes getting Eagle, Birdie & then another Eagle :D

Haven't played many other games, I did one where you rolled 3 dice into a bowl but the game seemed to be random luck and didn't really make much sense.


It's called Cee-Lo and the way the game works is that you need to get two matching dice numbers (which in the game is irrelevant, its just needed in order to get a point number, which are pretty much needed in order to win at the game unless you get a 4-5-6 (dice 4,5 and 6 in one throw) or a triple (three dice the same number)). With the point number i just mentioned, is that you need two matching dice numbers THEN the point score is judged by how high the number of the other dice you threw is (ie Point 1 is the lowest, Point 6 the highest). Pretty simple game really, especially when you find out how complex Koi-Koi is.

The trick to getting good dice throws is that you need special items like the piss mountain stone (gets you good hands and the other betters bad hands) or the 1-2-3 gum (causes the dealer to roll a 1-2-3, which is an automatic loss). The way you get these special items is through either random battles with street thugs or the easier way, collecting all the locker keys in Kamuro and Okinawa. ThePatrick on GameFaqs has an awesome Yakuza 3 guide up where it will show you the locations of all the lockey keys, side missions and everything else in the game. Just so you know though, the guide was based off the Japanese version released last year (Ryu Ga Gotaku 3) so dont worry if you see some locations and side missions in the guide that are missing in the AU/EU/US version as about 30 side missions are MISSING from the english versions.


The combat is quite fun although the camera could be better if it swung around to the leftover gang member instead of me blindly swinging. I know I can control the camera but I shouldn't have to in combat. At least the combat makes a lot more sense now so you can get more of a flow in your actions

I'm pretty sure the fighting stance, which is the R1 button btw, automatically locks onto your nearest foe in battle so give that a try next time you play the game as i think that is the answer to the camera and fighting problems you are looking for.

The city itself is great with a lot of interaction and I like the side missions that you get from random people. It could be a bit livelier like maybe some weather variation & wind blowing the signs and maybe some scooters & bicycles going past, you see them parked but you never see anyone using it. Shame Katsuma doesn't take advantage of them aside from using them as weapons against street punks :P I must say though its the most convincing town I've ever been in, moreso than GTAIV although it does lack voices & relies a lot on text

Well i have been playing the Japanese demo of Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 (Yakuza 4) on my PS3 and youll be happy to hear the game HAS water effects and weather variation now. If you are having fun with this I HIGHLY recommend picking up Shenmue II on the XBOX and the two previous Yakuza games on the PS2. The Older Yakuza games look terrible in comparision to its PS3 Yakuza counterparts but 90% of the gameplay in 3 is still there in 1 and 2 and to be perfectly honest, Yakuza 1 and 2 are still two of the best looking PS2 games youre likely to play on the PS2. Shenmue II still looks good by todays standards and although the game has much less fighting and much more doing 'menial' tasks, the sheer scope of the game is still incredible. To date Shenmue II, as well as the Dreamcast's original Shenmue game, are the most complex and deep Sandbox games set in real life locations ever.

It STILL puts GTAIV, Saints Row 2 and the rest of the GTA clones to absolute shame in showing a really convincing feeling that you are one of millions in the city that you wandering around in. Game was originally released on the Dreamcast in 2001, two years before GTAIII, and not only did it then have weather variations (Snow, Rain, Cloudy, Sunny) but it was one of the first games to ever use a real time system where all the cities shops and locations opening and closing times were literally BASED off the actual time in the game. You would easily be able to pick it up for around $15 preowned at EB or on ebay on the Xbox. If you dig Yakuza, Shenmue I and II are must play games, its amazing that in most aspects, Yakuza has actually been DUMBED down from Shenmue rather than the other way around. Just goes to show how damn revolutionary the Shenmue games really were.

[/backslash]

I already once had Shenmue II on the Xbox, sold it, and I don't have a PS2 anymore (+ even if I did I just can't go back to last-gen games). Thanks for the lock target reminder, I forgot about that whilst learning other stuff at the time of the tutorial

[borgster101]

Yeah the city is very convincing ... it's very authentic. If you ever go to Shinjuku, Tokyo you'll recognise a lot of similarities with Kamarucho in the Yakuza games :)

[sidochrome]

You're not wrong - the similarities to the actual Kabukicho are pretty impressive.

XCo0PvXuMek

pBba5yWR7c8

[/backslash]

That does look accurate! Even that save point phonebooth, lol. If I ever go to Japan I'll have to take hundreds of photos

Shame about the content that got stripped out from the game for a local release :( Even the UK version has an 18+ rating which doesn't do anything to help, I know some stuff is a little "out there" but that's exactly why I want to play it! :p I hardly think "development time" was the real reason

[/backslash]

This game is horribly addictive, they should put a warning label on it! Spent all day on the same chapter as I was yesterday doing a whole bunch of side missions - I've completed 20 now. Missing #7 of the "Seventh wonder of the downtown", can't find anything to activate it, must be later on. I mucked up on the one involving the necklace, first a woman steals 50,000 yen from me, then I go to return the necklace, then I decide to pay the 50,000 to get exorcised figuring I would realise I got ripped off and beat them up & get my money back but instead I got ripped off & left! getting a refund didn't seem like a liable option to solving the problem but I didn't think they'd argue if I did ask for one

I've collected a fair amount of locker keys, it wasn't very informative at letting me know that all the keys were being counted as 1 item in the key items group. I thought I could only pickup one at a time & had to drop the other - wasn't until I went to the lockers I found out it kept them all (currently unlocked maybe 30 or so). People don't take very good care of their locker keys! Leaving them on top of buildings & signs & on the road

I'm currently trying to help this dog which is a pain in the butt already, first he doesn't like dog food and now Izumi wouldn't let me give the dog a stuffed toy because it was her favourite. I traveled all the way home & back for that?!

Also wasted a lot of time trying to catch a particular fish for a chef, the good part is, I'm much better at fishing! Bad part is, I didn't get this fish and had to pay 300,000 yen & decided not to mention the amount when I talked to the fish market guy

[borgster101]

"There's a save point"! BAWHAHAHA! :D


Glad to hear you're enjoying it slashy ... I need to start it soon (the English version) .. as I'll get much more into it this time! i.e. try and do all the side missions and stuff.

[dalmatian]

This game is horribly addictive, they should put a warning label on it! Spent all day on the same chapter as I was yesterday doing a whole bunch of side missions - I've completed 20 now. Missing #7 of the "Seventh wonder of the downtown", can't find anything to activate it, must be later on. I mucked up on the one involving the necklace, first a woman steals 50,000 yen from me, then I go to return the necklace, then I decide to pay the 50,000 to get exorcised figuring I would realise I got ripped off and beat them up & get my money back but instead I got ripped off & left! getting a refund didn't seem like a liable option to solving the problem but I didn't think they'd argue if I did ask for one

Yeah the 7th wonder of Downtown Ryukyu isnt available until you go back to Okinawa in chapter 10. There are a couple of cool side missions where it is started in Kamuro and if you did the first part of the mission, the 2nd is activated when you go back to Okinawa (The Ramen guy, Tuna Investment are two of the ones i remember),

I've collected a fair amount of locker keys, it wasn't very informative at letting me know that all the keys were being counted as 1 item in the key items group. I thought I could only pickup one at a time & had to drop the other - wasn't until I went to the lockers I found out it kept them all (currently unlocked maybe 30 or so). People don't take very good care of their locker keys! Leaving them on top of buildings & signs & on the road

Dont forget that a LOT of the lockey keys you can only get by using the R3 button and finding them in first person mode. Most of them are fairly easy to find if youre prepared to scour the environments for them.



Also wasted a lot of time trying to catch a particular fish for a chef, the good part is, I'm much better at fishing! Bad part is, I didn't get this fish and had to pay 300,000 yen & decided not to mention the amount when I talked to the fish market guy


I have literally caught around 40 Maguro Tunas in the game, it is actually quite easy to master once you get used to it. The trick is that certain baits are only effect on certain fish and how deep into the ocean they are.

Rough Estimate on where the fish are located (to figure out what sort of fish you wanna catch)

Coral 0-50m
That Spikey Fish, forget its name 0-50 Worms work best
Pufferfish 70-120m prefers Squid or Mackeral
Maguro Tuna 100-150m: Now this one you NEED to use Shrimp Baits (cost 700 yen at the local market in downtown ryukyu)


The trick to fishing in Yakuza 3 is that you need to make sure that you hit the fish icons when you are casting out the line. The further you cast out your line to the fish icons, the fish in the deeper water are the best catches out there. With the Maguro Tuna, you have to be ready to tap X as quickly as you can as the game only gives you a split second to react.

Once you have the fish on your bait and youre reeling him in, you MUST push your left analog stick parallel to the water ripples. When you reel the fish in when you are not pushing the analog stick in the direction that the water ripples are going, the line will break very quickly.


The tuna is the hardest fish to catch in the game, but EVERY maguro tuna out there fight against your line in the exact same pattern each time you get them on your line and the way the fish fights you, makes it hard to catch them. The pattern the tuna uses, is that it seems to go in a zig zag pattern whenever you have one on your hook. The more you pull the tuna in however, the harder and more twitchy the control gets. The trick is to to try to keep your line bar (the green bar at the top) in the yellow or green. You give the fish to much slack and youll lose him. As long as the bar doesnt run out, you can just move the line in the way the fish is pulling as a way of keeping the line stress meter in check.

Once you catch one of the buggers, it becomes much easier to catch them after it. They are worth a fortune to (100,000 yen EACH) so you can catch 6 of em in a row then sell them to the pawnshop or fisher bait guy for over half a million yen. Easy money

[Roman Salute]

I just finished Yakuza 3 last night. 51 hours with a 62% completion rate.

I did all the side missions and coin locker keys & got kazuma up to lvl 9 for all the abilities. Probably won't go for a platinum trophy though since pool, darts etc have rediculous (and tedious) criteria for completion. For a while there I didn't even think I was going to be able to score over 200 in bowling to get that side mission.

Great game though, I swear some of the missions were exactly the same as in previous games but the whole game is more of the same which is fine by me. Story was pretty good, interesting enough to actually bother watching which is more then I can say for most games.

I thought the battle system was great until I did the final side mission. I did it first try but just barely, he'd knock me down then shoot me when I got up and I'd go flying, the camera would turn away from the enemy and kazuma was generally too slow to dodge and get up for a battle of that level. Very annoying but one of only a couple of instances in the game. There are some very brutal and exciting heat actions though and the komaki parry was a lot of fun to do.

This is the best thing I've played on ps3 since demons souls and in the end all those cuts just made it easier and quicker to do all the side missions so it all worked out alright ;p

I love this series, I'm going to hit Kenzan up again soon I think. Played the demo for #4 and it was fantastic but I'm going to wait and see if it gets localised, #3 apparently sold ok in the west so here's hoping.

[Bokracroc]

The Face-Stomp Heat move is pretty brutal.
Just finished
When the Chinese mafia attack and kidnap Rikiya.
I quite liked the Head Mafia's fight, wasn't as cheap as a lot of other battles with weaker enemies. Beating up people in the streets was fun too. I liked how no-one really seemed to care that the Chinese Mafia invaded
tis pretty bitch game, hope 4 comes out here.

[/backslash]

tis pretty bitch game, hope 4 comes out here.
Yeah its a really good game, quickly become one of my fav PS3 games

Sucking up a lot of my spare time :p So addictive, I was playing until 3.30am last night and this kept happening: "I'll just finish this part and then I'll go to bed....shit, I've opened up another sidemission, I'll just finish that and then I'll go to bed...oh look! I found a locker key! I'd better see whats in the locker before I go to bed...oh no! My hooker gf has lost her dog! I'd better go find it.."

Its really hard to put the controller down! I'm only on chapter 5 yet I've spent nearly 20 hours getting up to that point whereas in a normal game it probably would've taken 5 hours. I think its going to be impossible to finish everything too, there's not just one thing to get hooked on, its more like 10 all at the same time with what seems like unlimited sidemissions to do. I've already unlocked the Marathon Run trophy because of all the running I've been doing (42,195km!). Luckily thanks to all this running I'm quickly starting to remember massive lumps of landscape, mainly because I accidentally turned the map indicator off and couldn't figure out how to turn it back on - stupid R3 button!

[StorminNorman]

Totally got Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 today. :D

[borgster101]

Totally got Ryu Ga Gotoku 4 today. :D
Hahaha ... hopefully it gets an English release, and it appears that the English release of Yakuza 3 went fairly decent at retail (I dont know of any official figures though) .. so lets keep it up Sega! :)

[StorminNorman]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to hunt down some kind of translated script for it so I can play it.

The girl with whom I live got back from Japan today, and that was her present to me. I played it a bit. It has a really long mandatory install at the start, though.

Gonna wait until I finish Yakuza 3 before I get into it properly, though.

[borgster101]

I played through the Japanese version of Yakuza 3 using a translation guide .. I was able to finish the main story, but yeah it's not the best way to experience the game. At the time though, it appeared that it wasn't going to get an English release ... so I wanted to play it in some form.

I wouldn't do it again though, for a story driven game like Yakuza you really need to properly understand whats going on to appreciate it, and switching between the game and reading through translations of what just happened doesn't flow very well.

[Bokracroc]

Finally got around to finishing it (360 RRoD'ed so I plugged in the PS3). Didn't do all of the submissions and stuff. Was getting annoyed at trying to trigger them to start.

Hoping 4 comes out here too.

[/backslash]

Man, Haruka is so annoying (+ the game in general)! I was playing the game last night at around 1am where she stops outside the arcade games & asks me to play the UFO catcher. So I walk inside & she says she wants this specific toy, a Kitty Kat Chico. Of course there's like 10 kitties in the machine and I don't know wtf which one is supposed to be so I spent about 30min trying to get the biggest one and she's not happy, then I spent an hour trying to get all the rest which kept falling down and impossible to pickup. Then after I do get the one she requested apparently I've still failed & due to the crap inventory system I can't even give it to her

3 hours later I find out that if you accidentally quit the catcher game at any point you technically "lose" & have to exit the arcades, then go back in & try again. Eventually I got it, she's happy & I go to leave. But wait! She's still waiting at the arcade asking me to play a shooting game, so I go back in & she requests that I play this game up to at least level 25! Geez, she doesn't demand much! I got to level 36 on my first try with pure luck, so then we leave again & she stops by a bar asking me to play darts & score 200 or more in 'Collect Up', so I spent another 20min trying to get that score, got 198 by pure luck and gave up. She's still hanging outside the bar when I exit so I ran away, eventually she followed too - I had no idea she would! I thought I "must" complete everything she asks otherwise if I couldn't do it I'd have to load up an old save file *tears hair out*. My trust level with her is on 'C' atm but now I feel compelled to go all the way to A to get some nifty bonuses & because I'm getting ready for my final fight. I thought it was going to end after I went to the bullring but there's still more work to be done

[/backslash]

I'm still putting the final fight aside to try and rack up some more trophies. Spent a long time solving a murder case, got nothing for it, spent ages completing every hitman mission, got nothing for it :( Seems that the only rewards involve tedious mini-games or correctly finishing every substory or looking around for locker keys. I'm still 41 short & 1 away from getting a trophy for that but I just can't find anymore

Getting pretty annoyed now because of my efforts going to waste. No trophies either when I even completed the noodle guy's problems & nabbed that eat-and-run guy multiple times, escaped the crossdresser everytime, snapped all the photos for special moves & completed the running missions (though I did get ability bonuses I suppose)

There's even an SS ranking for Haruka's trust level which is about 3 levels above 'A'. Don't think I'm going to bother with that

[borgster101]

Meh don't worry about Haruka's trust rating, after all they have been through in the story the trust should be at SSS damnit! :p

You can always finish the last boss to conclude the story and then go back to finish up side missions and get a few more trophies.

Getting a turkey in bowling is a pretty easy one to get once you get a hang of it. The hatrick in darts though, argh freaking too random! :p

[/backslash]

Can you go back to side-missions that were previously finished but not completed properly? Thats one thing that really irks me

Also getting a turkey is hard in Bowling, some of the game's mechanics are so bad & you can't do more than 3 frames so you have to keep on asking for more games

[borgster101]

Can you go back to side-missions that were previously finished but not completed properly? Thats one thing that really irks me

Also getting a turkey is hard in Bowling, some of the game's mechanics are so bad & you can't do more than 3 frames so you have to keep on asking for more games
For some side missions I believe if you progress to far into the story it will be too late ... but thats not the case with everything. It's probably best to use a guide to make sure you don't miss anything, which yeah kind of sucks.

In bowling you can play 10 frames, and hence don't need to keep asking for more games. Play by yourself and then play 10 frames, keep trying and eventually you'll get the rythym right and get the trophy :)

[/backslash]

Yakuza 4 has been confirmed for Europe & USA for Spring (USA Spring) 2011. Awesome! The graphics are only slightly updated but I think its much sharper than before. Yakuza 3 was a bit of a blurry PS2 game

http://images.gamersyde.com/image_yakuza_4-11907-1956_0006.jpg

http://images.gamersyde.com/image_yakuza_4-11907-1956_0011.jpg

http://images.gamersyde.com/image_yakuza_4-11907-1956_0004.jpg

http://images.gamersyde.com/image_yakuza_4-11907-1956_0008.jpg

[StorminNorman]

What the ****, Sega? (http://kotaku.com/5639773/how-did-zombies-invade-segas-japanese-gangster-game)

Zombies? Really?

[AranchineD]

What the ****, Sega? (http://kotaku.com/5639773/how-did-zombies-invade-segas-japanese-gangster-game)

Zombies? Really?

Now this sounds awesome. I may actually buy a PS3 for this.

[borgster101]

What the ****, Sega? (http://kotaku.com/5639773/how-did-zombies-invade-segas-japanese-gangster-game)

Zombies? Really?

Hahaha .. looks awesome!

Trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-10-yakuza-of/704779)

It's not part of the main story, just a crazy spin off, seriously didn't see this coming!

[borgster101]

Another trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-10-yakuza-of/704638)

LOL, English release please!

Given that Yakuza 4 is coming, this time with the only cuts being some sort of weird trivia I think (everything else remains), I imagine Sega will probably release this as well.

[Antwandemarco]

Ok so i know PS3 Forum is dead because a post what seems like two weeks ago is still the latest.

Blah blah

Anyway has anyone got any tips for the hostess game in Yakuza 4? Finding it all a bit confusing which is no suprise...

[Roman Salute]

Anyway has anyone got any tips for the hostess game in Yakuza 4? Finding it all a bit confusing which is no suprise...

Do you mean the #1 hostess club mission you get with Akiyama early on in the game?

I did that one it's just a matter of making and saving a 'cute' 'glamorous' and 'conservative' outfit then changing the outfit depending on what the customers are asking for and between the 3 breaks when you can train the girl it's best to do one that raises motivation first (pep talk), 'free time' 2nd and finally 'scold' which will raise all the stats. If you give her the same option twice in a row (even relaxation/free time) it won't work and she'll stress out. There's a guide to making the perfect costumes at ps3trophies.org. Whole thing for all 3 girls took an hour or two. You'll want to gradually buy all the dresses before all girls are #1 if you want the fashionista trophy too.

I flogged this game recently but I think I'm about done, 56 hours, 54% complete, 60% trophies. That's about where I got in Yakuza 3 as well, there's no way I'm going back to do mini games. Once I've beaten Amon and the story in these games I'm satisfied. I really enjoyed the story in 4 it still had crazy plot twists and conspiracies but didn't seem as rediculous this time around, maybe I'm just getting used to it. I was pumping my fist in the air and cheering during the after-credits ending bit, great result.

[Nic Xtreme]

So the Ryu ga Gotoku Of The End demo on the PSN is pretty awesome. If this is how good the spinoffs are, I have to play Kenzan! I also love how the demo goes for aaaaages!