#Yakuza 0 - Full Playthrough | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

koorinokujira · 4 months

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Yakuza Kiwami is an AMAZING game and I'll shove my love for it in everyone's faces now

So, I kinda realized I didn't make this post yet, and I literally finished Kiwami 2 yesterday, so... whoops? But no matter, better late than never, as they say! Spoilers below, like always, so keep reading at your own risk!

So, Yakuza Kiwami. I've actually seen a full playthrough of it a few years back, so I roughly knew what was waiting for me, but my memory is not my greatest strength, so I luckily forgot most of it. And honestly, even knowing some stuff didn't take away my enjoyment at all!

Now, I gotta say, playing this right after 0 was insane. It made my immersion so much better, and really made me feel things more strongly. I was violently dragged out of the relative peace I got after the whole fiasco with the Empty Lot, the familiar streets with shops and minigames I knew and loved into a new, unfamiliar version of Kamurocho along with Kiryu. It was rough- a lot of things stayed the same or at least similar, but there were enough differences for it to feel like a mockery of all the things Kiryu held dear. He was lost in a place he used to know intimately, and that really got to me, because I had just finished the previous journey with him and Majima.

And slowly unraveling what happened to Nishiki and seeing him fall so far from the bro we used to know genuinely hurt. Especially knowing that he wasn't a bad person before and that he was a sensitive soul that got completely crushed by the circumstances in his life.

As for the story and characters in general, I loved it, it got me in the feels and I was hooked the whole time! While I still think 0 is the best from what I played so far, this story was also amazing. Majima going all out in all the fights and with costumes and disguises, Date-san being an incredibly pathetic man and father who pulled through in the end and sorta sharing that with the Florist, Haruka being a little badass, Reina's tragic, misguided love... there was so much that I adored about this game, and the characters in the main story never really fell flat for me. It also made me love Kashiwagi even more, I just love it when he's there. And the ending was pretty heartwrenching too, though I wish it focused more on Nishiki's death than Yumi's, as I felt their brotherly bond ran way deeper than Kiryu's relationship with Yumi. But that's just my opinion, I still cried and thought it was pretty solid!

Then there are the sidequests. Hoo boy. I have to admit, I didn't really like those that much. They just lacked the spark that the ones from 0 had, and seemed somewhat repetitive in their themes. And there was of course also those very questionable ones. Of course, there were some pretty good ones too! And I had a blast in the whole Pocket Circuit saga, I love Fighter with all my heart.

Speaking of Pocket Circuit, the minigames were still really enjoyable, but I really missed Disco, to be honest. I wish you could groove in a club somewhere at least. The Karaoke gave me whiplash because it was so different (post Yakuza 0 immersion strikes again), and I hated the new version of Heartbreak Mermaid. But I have to admit, I absolutely loved Iji Sakura 2000 and definitely sang it way too many times.

Gameplay was pretty good too! I didn't really like some changes to the fighting system, but overall, it was still really enjoyable to punch everyone in close vicinity. I learned to use Dragon Style a lot more, in 0 I barely used it even though I had it. Tiger drop is spectacular, I will never sugarcoat anything ever again. The upgrade system took some getting used to, but it ended up being my favorite as it was more clear-cut and it was mostly stuff I'd actually use. The Majima Everywhere thingy was pretty fun most of the time! It could get a bit tedious to find specific Majimas, but I got through it like a champ.

So overall, amazing game as the title says, and I will also make another post with some funny screenshots for this game soon! Thank you for reading, and like always...

Have a great day!

#ryu ga gotoku #rgg #yakuza kiwami #yakuza like a dragon

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pabs-art · 4 months

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At 6:30 ET, I'll be starting a playthrough of Yakuza 0! It's 1988, and the bubble economy is in full swing. Hidden in the lurid nightlife of the era, we follow an underworld plot that begins with a debt collection gone wrong. I've been looking forward to playing this! Hope you can join us!

#pabs streams

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franckyfox2468 · 5 months

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Francky's top 5 games released in 2023

So with 2023 ending soon I decided to make a little list and a top 5 of the games that I enjoyed and played that came out this year

Though i will be limiting myself to games/remakes released this year so while i greatly enjoyed Sonic Frontiers and AI the Somnium files this year, they wont make the lsit sorry.

I will start with the honorable mention of games that i still enjoyed but didn’t make it to the top 5.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Like a Dragon: Ishin

Ishin is the last Yakuza game I've played that was made by its longtime director, Toshihiro Nagoshi. And after playing Like a Dragon Gaiden, it helped me realize how much of a difference a new direction can make and how much I have taken the quality of the series for granted. Ishin wasn’t the worst nor the best Yakuza game I've played imo. Which makes sense given it was made right in between one of my least favorite games in the series (yakuza 5) and one of my most favorites (yakuza 0). Its story is perhaps not something you would be used to compared to the rest of the series but it is based on a tale that is as old as time itself that is still quite enjoyable for what it is and while it has some annoying bits (like substories always getting in your way during important event or gun fights), Ishin is still a quite enjoyable game with some fun stories, fun combat and fun minigames. And honestly the funniest version of Baka Mitai somehow.

BombRush Cyberfunk

I decided to check out bombrush cyberfunk after it was absolutely snubbed over in the same award show that decided to promote a JetSetRadio game and I figured I would finally get around checking what it was about before the year ended. I haven’t finished the game yet. I haven’t played JSR so I can't exactly make a full comparison but through some of its rather painful and counterproductive input mapping/options and some frustrating platforming here and there, BRCF is still a game with a very charming, silly and engaging presentation with its story, art and music.

Robocop: Rogue City

Rogue City is not a perfect game, and a quite short one at that. But it is a really good and enjoyable game for what it is. It's not something I would recommend to someone who hasn’t seen the two first movies as they would absolutely get lost in just what the hell is going on and potentially get spoilers from both movies. While the final battle was a bit underwhelming in contrast to what the plot was potentially leading up to with it and some fights could get absolutely tedious, the game to me is in line with the telltale back to the future game or the atari ghostbusters where it can easily serve as a new chapter for the mainline film franchise but through a really good game.

TOP 5:

#5: Baldur's Gate 3

Don’t get me wrong, Baldur’s gate is an excellent game and a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone who likes RPGs of any sorts with ease. But part of the reasons it is so low on my list are, 1, i did not finish it unlike every other game on that list, 2, all of the fun and your will to plan a future character and playthrough is absolutely drained out by the time you reach act 3. I played explorer mode as I am not exactly a tactical rpg person myself and wanted to put more focus on the story, which is absolutely great. Every party member is fantastically written and voiced characters, each with their own tastes, goals and views upon the world and situation around you that makes them very likable and fun to have. Honestly some of the more fun companions i've seen in an rpg. The game really does a great job at emulating the sense of playing through a real DnD campaign with a ton of hilarious optional dialogues and where your actions and picked skills will matter in the end, as well as how you synergize them with the rest of your party (without the dogshit power hungry dm or the potential constant in-fighting of other players), the way you are introduced to most of the main party members so early into the story really helps to that feeling of your DM making a scene to make sure all of the players are quickly gathered together and introducing each others’ characters.

For most of the game creativity with your spells, tools at hand and strategy are absolutely rewarded and if you bring in some friends for co-op it can get hella chaotic for better or worse. But by the time you reach the third arc, the story and paths you can take in combat are really narrowing down and not exactly for the better as each fight and situations you start being put through really ties your ends and forces you to be quite careful and specific with what you do even on the easier modes. It's gotten to a point where I kinda haven’t played the game in a long time because doing literally anything done by that part of the game feels like a goddamn chore. But BG3 is still a fantastic game that I do intend to get around to finishing someday as I still think quite positively of it for the most part.

#4: Hi-Fi Rush

Hi-fi rush is simply a fantastic game. A game that involves platforming and combat while mixing rhythm game mechanics could have easily been a blunder but this game manages to succeed at every aspect it does on top of its fantastic artistic presentation. The art, the animation, the music, the writing… It's all fantastic. The only thing that really left to be desired is the ending kinda falling flat on its message and just going back to the situation the world was in despite the systematic issues still being there but the good guys are on top of it now so that makes it okay i guess? But with that aside, I would say the game might not be for everyone as some of the rhythmic elements can be quite tight and unforgiving in some aspects and fights but overall it was one of the more enjoyable and absolutely hilarious games i’ve played in awhile.

#3: Trepang2

On the surface, Trepang looks like a dull military shooter game with some horror elements that are inspired by FEAR. But the problem is that going into detail about why it is so much more would spoil a fantastic experience that absolutely caught me off guard with how good it was. As someone who has never played FEAR, the combat, if anything, was a lot more reminiscent of Titanfall 2. Sure you don’t have cool giant robots but trust me it makes up for simply how absolutely bonkers and high octane it can get. It just feels absolutely amazing from start to end. This is one of the best single player fps games i have played in a long while and i am absolutely looking forward to the story dlc they have announced coming in 2024.

#2: Street Fighter 6

I have a love hate relationship with this game. I hate it because this game has caused some severe damage to my hands and at times I had to take a month long break from it because of how much it was starting to hurt. On the other hand, this is one of the most fun, enjoyable and accessible fighting games that I have ever played and definitely my favorite to this day. And i don’t simply mean because of its different control scheme. SF6 does an excellent job at giving all of the information the players need to better understand the game from within the game as well as official reading material like frame data and such provided by the devs themselves. And even if you aren't into fighting games or multiplayer games, I would absolutely still recommend SF6 for its world tour alone. While it does not have the most phenomenal story imaginable, it is a really goofy and enjoyable experience that perfectly blends rpg and fighting game mechanics for all to enjoy. And the best part is that every dlc release comes with free content and the ability to learn techniques from dlc characters you do not even own. Which honestly despite some of its issues with the monetizations is a huge W on the part of the devs regarding this game. Honestly despite some of its issues SF6 is the real first fighting game i started to feel like i was able to take seriously with how much resources and content you get, and it helped me get even closer to some friends as well as meeting some quite friendly people. I love SF6. But what could possibly beat it then?

#1: Pizza Tower

S rank is for Street fighter, which is pretty good. P rank is for Pizza Tower, which is perfection to me. I’ll admit I nearly gave up on this game because of some initial frustrations but pizza tower is a game you can ALWAYS get better at, even if you managed to finish the whole game. The best way to describe it is… it's the best Nintendo game not made by nintendo. Not because it tries to do something fans always wanted or replicated an aesthetic. But it's through just how polished and tightly designed the game is but it does so in a way that doesn’t punish experimentation with all of its crazy movement mechanics and it doesn't try to streamline anything for you except perhaps how player damage is handled, which feels like quite the opposite of what Nintendo does with a lot of its game nowadays. Everything feels so samey, streamlined, slowed down but the dated tired shit like extra lives and such are here to stay and you have to deal with it, while the new fancy stuff rarely brings benefits and usually are more so gimmicky annoyances (at least this is my feeling towards a lot of more recent Kirby games). While the game definitely has some of its downside and it's a quite hard game, it is honestly one of the best 2d platformers I've played and I'd easily put it aside to a game I would deem legendary like DKC2 or Super Mario World. Every level is well defined, well designed, you always get something new and fun at each of them. And that is not even mentioning its absolutely wonderful and hysterical art, animation and this absolute banger of a soundtrack.

I am ultra excited for the upcoming character dlc as it will give me a reason to replay the whole game with some new mechanics to add some spice to it all. Pizza tower is excellent.

#2023 #goty #goty2023 #pizza tower #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #trepang2 #hi fi rush #sf6 #street fighter 6 #robocop #yakuza #ishin #BRCF #bomb rush cyberfunk

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aaronieros · 11 months

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i remembered that i never posted this here so here is my yakuza games tierlist (only of ones i've experienced so no dead souls kenzan etc) and here is my reasoning for each under the cut: (warning: this shit is long as hell)

1a. yakuza 6. first of all, the only game in which i like kiryu instead of being ambivalent at best towards him outside of funny substory moments. the absolute best thing they could have done with him, especially with the dragon imagery/reputation always associated with him, was give him something to protect, fiercely. he's old and tired and stressed out and he's all out of patience. one of the first things he does is tell a cps guy to go fuck himself and kidnap a baby. and it's the first game where he actually feels Threatening rather than being in stoic pacifist mode all the time. i do think he was genuinely ready to kill joon-gi for example, and he did punch his entire son-in-law through a glass door.

joon-gi is in 6 which automatically gives it a tremendous amount of points because i love him as he is and then i retroactively love him more due to the fuckery in 7, but the hirose family and the general plot are good enough that, upon rewatching a playthrough, i wasn't gnawing my arm off the whole time waiting for him to show up, because the game is already phenomenal without him. i fully acknowledge that some games (mainly kiwami and 3) i only think highly of because of one specific character, but 6 would still be good even if you replaced joon-gi my absolute beloved who i am obsessed with, with literally anyone else. also the ending was cheapened by kiryu being brought back into the fray of course but that doesn't change the fact that even Thinking about the steps scene brings tears to my eyes. love that shit. also fujiwara's voice acting as yuta is so fucking good. especially when yuta is going through some shit and his voice sounds completely hoarse and broken, and the subtlety with which it's delivered in some scenes as if he's trying to hide how affected he is (in serena while nagumo is asleep comes to mind). all in all just super super good. i love yakuza 6.

1b. lost judgment. my first actual rgg experience i fully sat through after playing yakuza 0 for a few hours but not enjoying the gameplay nearly enough to bother continuing. lost judgment is what ignited my passion for the series and essentially served as my actual entry point since i'd given up on 0 for the time being, and for several years no less. lots of beloved characters but i also really appreciate the actual storyline, more than any mainline yakuza game in fact. the scene on the roof with sawa might be my favorite in the whole game. the side stories are also very good, especially the boxing club one in my opinion (it's also neat that the school side cases are entire storylines in lj). i also really enjoyed the motorcycle gang one, and the minigame for the dance club was the main reason i even bought the game for myself after having watched a full playthrough.

a lot of people claim that judgment was better than lj, especially in terms of writing, but in my opinion, the only places lj falls flat in terms of writing are kuwana's character (there is so much about him that should be interesting but he is just a piece of cardboard to me) and the way yagami wields sawa's name after a certain point in the story. it really becomes a "drink every time yagami says sawa-sensei" type deal, which is comedic at best and annoying at worst. but every other thing in the story is not only good, but there's something else very specific to my experience that i'd like to talk about.

lost judgment made me rethink the way i view storytelling. i talked about this on twitter a long time ago and made these graphs to represent the way the characters are presented in the narrative of most stories versus the way lost judgment feels, with the black line being the protagonist's path and the colored lines being the rest of the characters in the story.

if you can't tell what i'm talking about, don't worry too much about it. it's difficult for me to put into words and i doubt people would readily agree with my perspective (or even that it's a better way to handle storytelling) even if i did explain it perfectly. it's just something that i really appreciate, that this one game allowed me to walk away with something so major, especially as a writer myself.

2a. yakuza 0. i have been talking too much already from my goated with the sauce category so i will try to keep these next ones more concise. 0 obviously deserves respect for being the technical starting point (unfortunately resulting in retcons and inconsistencies because it wasn't actually the first game) but it's also a fantastic game on its own. mainly majima's side. you will see a running theme where i just can't really care much about what happens to kiryu except in 6 unfortunately. but the cast in 0 is huge and all the characters have things to love and hate about them and it's so easy to get attached to them, seemingly moreso than other yakuza games (or people just play 0 to get in and then don't play any games after that, so it seems like the characters are more popular. it's also easier to give them attention Because of 0 being the starting point, because you can still get new fans who aren't deep into the series to relate if you're drawing/writing/talking about stuff from 0).

all in all 0 is very good and definitely deserves the popular opinion of it being the best yakuza game, especially with the work it did to revive the series and give it life in the west in particular. it demands respect on principle in the same way the first game in any series does, even if that game (not 0) happens to suck or be hard to play, just because it established the series and allowed better, more fun games to be made later. y0 is nice because it doesn't have the caveats of "well you have to respect it BUT" it's just a good game.

2b. yakuza 7. where to even begin. first of all, ichiban is infinitely more fun of a protagonist than kiryu. i happen to be extremely critical of all protagonists in every piece of media because they tend bore me extremely easily which sucks because they're the main character so they get the most screentime and we're stuck with them forever. ichiban never has that problem where it feels like a drag to be with him at all times. i happen to hate the brawling gameplay of the mainline yakuza games (and i only use crane style in lost judgment because it's the most fun) so it being a turn based rpg is extremely good. i bought it both because i knew i would enjoy that gameplay (especially with breaker ichiban in the funeral suit, that's such a good flavor that i wish was the canon default for him rather than hero/freelancer but i understand why it's not), but also because i am completely obsessed with joon-gi and wanted to witness every line and detail of him for myself without having to hunt for all of it online (especially since i only like the jp dub).

joon-gi's whole thing is my favorite part of 7, but only by a small margin. the plot of y7 in general was something i was extremely absorbed in and intrigued by, and my favorite scene in the game was the first coin locker scene. i, like many people, feel like the ending was extremely cheapened by what happened, seemingly for no reason, and especially with it being presented as a total non sequitur, but i do love that it gave ichiban the ability to perfectly parallel my favorite scene, all the way from what must have been an hour into the game, if even.

i happen to love all the party members including eri, who i wish had an actual role rather than being an optional party member. most characters in this game, i liked or appreciated in some way (for example, i do appreciate aoki but. "like" is a stretch.) so it didn't feel like a pain in the ass to max everyone's drink links. one complaint about the drink links i have though is that zhao's made it clear that he was only a party member as an afterthought, because for some reason his direction was different from all the rest, which i can reasonably assume was because it was directed quite a while after all the rest.

2c. judgment. i said i would try to shut the fuck up and then didn't so let's try it here. love the characters, love the story, i just didn't enjoy it *quite* as much as lj. i like kuroiwa but i do think people who say he's better than soma in any way are insane and high on copium.

2d. ishin. my beloved. as the tier name says, this one is only as high up as it is because i love historical dramas, but holy shit. first of all, obviously i am very happy to see izo (nishiki) and hijikata (mine), especially considering ishin gives us the opportunity to see mine when he's not in the middle of a combination homosexual and existential crisis because there's nobody in particular he feels insane about and capitalism hasn't ruined his life. but characters aside, the ending to ishin resonated with me something fierce and i regularly quote ryoma's little monologue about the future to myself and it makes me very emotional. the future's secure in the hands of so many others we've never known, whose faces we've never seen, whose voices we've never heard.

3a. kiwami. i think the tier name says it all. i am here for nishiki's corruption arc and how incredibly interested i am in chewing on him. i also recently watched a playthrough of the original yakuza 1 on ps2 and. i have to say, the retcons to turn nishiki into an actual character were a godsend. because based on nishiki in kiwami, you can't tell how or why shindo and kanda ended up as the next patriarchs considering nishiki's entire downward spiral started when he killed a rapist, only for some lame ass sex pests to succeed him. but in yakuza 1, it kind of makes sense given the line that implies nishiki thinks beating kiryu in a fight will make yumi "his". it gives the impression that he's so much more shallow and that he only killed dojima not to protect someone he cared about but because he was encroaching on something (someone) he felt entitled to. kiwami's retcons here are gentle and make it feel much more like he loved yumi but wasn't a freak about it, and that he killed dojima to protect her for her, not for himself. in conclusion, nishiki hard carries the game.

3b. yakuza 3. i do hold so much love for mine, but luckily he is not the only good thing about the game. the orphanage is introduced, you have the ryudo family and especially rikiya, but mine remains the best part of the game to me. only thing he did wrong was the ableism but to be fair he was having a complete and utter gay moment and freaked the fuck out because daigo didn't wake up within 5 seconds.

4. yakuza 4. what can i say. akiyama was great, love his character and his story, and especially love the cutscene direction. i thought going back and utilizing the money explosion in y1 was very clever, and was impressed that they built an entire fleshed-out character around that. will confess that i literally have no idea why he has the slut reputation that the fandom slapped on him, but i also barely know anything about dead souls as of right now, so maybe he shows hole in that or something.

the parts of the game that were not akiyama. well. kiryu and tanimura were fine. saejima was not. initially it was fine, but the prison escape thing is highly cheapened by the fact that this man is fucking addicted to prison so you have to do it AGAIN in the very next game. not only that, and not only the extremely uncomfortable scene with haruka, but saejima suffers from the same problems ryuji and sayama do (i will get to them.), where the game overhypes the fuck out of them just for them to not really do much of anything. the rubber bullets thing is stupid but it doesn't change the fact that saejima *thought* he killed those people, i'm not saying he's actually a pussy for not having committed Real Murder (it's just that god forbid a playable yakuza character actually does a killing). it's just that he doesn't really have anything interesting to say or anything cool to do except that scene in purgatory where he humiliated the whole audience down there for not valuing human lives beyond ending them for entertainment. i was fine with him for a while before that due to not knowing any better yet, but it's now retroactively the only scene where i don't kind of hate him.

5. yakuza 5. guys? it's not good. saejima is addicted to prison and still not a well-executed character in the slightest, with baba being the only bright spot in his section (but still a bit overplayed). but shinada is y5's biggest problem. it's not just that i don't give a fuck about baseball, it's that you have to be EXTREMELY passionate about baseball to let the absolutely ridiculous and dragged out and, rather quickly, extremely predictable story slide. i spent months trying to get through yakuza 5 and hated the experience so much that i thought i just wasn't into yakuza anymore. then ishin came out and i loved that and i decided to just skip the rest of 5 and go straight to 6, only to discover 5 was the problem and i do still love yakuza so incredibly much. luckily, the start of 6 recaps the ending of 5, so finishing it wasn't even necessary. and thank god for that.

6. literally anything else you can think of.

7. kiwami 2. i am nowhere near enough of a misogynist nor a brainless homosexual to like anything about kiwami 2. the only people i see who like ryuji are the ones who are attracted to him which is beyond me. people who like sayama i can only conclude have zero standards for the way female characters are handled. let me dive into this the same way i've bitched on twitter about it 109280437127421897432 times.

first, i will just quickly mention again that ryuji and sayama have the same problem as saejima. the game itself hypes them up so much that they almost have no choice but to fall flat. but sayama falls so much fucking harder than ryuji. and so does yayoi. yayoi's thing is quick, so i will cover that first.

you are telling me. that this strong, scary, takes-no-shit woman. gets manhandled *without even being restrained* and needs kiryu to come save her. and then when openly sexually assaulted just gives shindo one pansy ass slap across the face. almost like it's a gag in a rather sexist comedy sketch. realistically, according to her character, she should have pulled out a dagger and killed that man the moment he tried to kiss her. unfortunately, she is a woman in yakuza kiwami 2.

but at least yayoi just has one scene where she is dragged relentlessly through the mud. sayama is stuck being a woman in yakuza kiwami 2 for the entire game. pretty much the first thing she does is get shot in the shoulder. the shoulder. and while any male character in these games would either shrug it off or die dramatically from a single non fatal injury depending on what point in the game you're at, sayama, for some reason, faints and develops a fever. which means she needs kiryu to carry her all through kamurocho. and then a bit after that, she calls him while he's out to tell him to buy her underwear. and then when he brings it to her, she reveals that she just got out of the shower and drops her towel in front of him. if you can't understand why it's infuriating that the only major female character besides the Small Child is treated this way, i genuinely don't know what to tell you. she then spends the rest of the game asking endless questions and acting flabbergasted by everything (me too, girl). only good thing she ever did was shoot that one guy. and then of course the ending is a make out scene. only for kiryu to never think about her again after her cameo in the beginning of 3 (referred to yumi, inexplicably, as the only woman he has ever loved in 6 (he loved her?????))

in conclusion. from what i can tell, people like kiwami 2 for the following reasons:

they like the gameplay

they want to fuck ryuji

they think sayama's girlbossing makes her a good female character

mix and match any of the above. this game's only redeeming quality is that emo phase daigo is funny (if completely pathetic)

if you actually read all this, thanks for hearing me out and i am deeply sorry you wasted your time on some guy on the internet's opinions.

#not tagging this with fucking anything so if the stans find me and get mad at which games i hate then that's tumblr's fault #di.txt

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futuresconnected · 5 months

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January 1st, 2024: Kiryu Quest Continues

Happy new year everybody! Hope you all enjoyed your Holiday Week!

I had the week off from work, and set a goal for myself to beat Yakuza Kiwami 2. It took me most of the week, even though my final playtime only came in around 32 hours, it somehow felt much longer. Big thoughts up top is that that game is an absolute blast, easily my fave of the series that I've played so far, and I think it does a lot of interesting things with its position as "remake sequel to a remake sequel to a prequel". I want to dig into that a little bit more, so bear with me here.

Now that I've played all three, its interesting to look at how Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 essentially form a trilogy that let RGG Studios look back at the story and characters that they built over the years and give the whole thing a new foundation. For me, I think that the clearest way that they accomplish this is with Majima. Goro Majima is a side character and recurring boss from the first couple of games in the series that grew a solid fanbase over time because who doesn't love a fucked up Joker man (I know I do), becoming popular enough to warrant RGG making him one of the protagonists and playable characters in 0. Here the players get a chance to meet Majima before he goes completely Joker-mode and get a better understanding of what kind of person he is beyond his later obsession with Kiryu and general mob boss-ness. His relationship with Makoto, a woman that the whole plot of 0 essentially hinges on, was something that I felt was really compelling, and his internal conflict between getting back into the Yakuza (killing Makoto) and helping this woman escape her situation and find a good life was something that had me holding my breath the whole time.

I bring this aspect up specifically, because the fact that RGG took the prequel story they made and built a ton of new connections to that into their remade first and second game stories is something pretty unique in the world of video games. Kiwami 2 is full of payoffs for this, from the very fun reprise of the cabaret club management game in Sotenbori and appearances from old Majima substory characters, to my personal favorite scene in the game where Majima reconnects with Makoto and both of them are able to get some closure on the mess they went through 20 years prior. These games usually don't get me too bad, but I was crying that whole time!

All that being said, this game was also intensely silly in ways that I loved, so here's a collection of good screenshots from times where Kiryu voice acted in a Yaoi game, runs into an impostor, and struggles to put together coherent sentences when various hot girls are on screen:

That's the Yakuza Update, I have also installed Yakuza 3 and played a couple hours of that, seeing Kiryu in full tropical dad mode is lovely, though I know that sadly will not last. Another exciting thing that happened this week is that I got the opportunity to help a friend of mine learn how to play Path of Exile!

For those who don't know, Path of Exile is a Diablo-style isometric loot-based RPG that was made for absolute freaks when it comes to character progression, player economy simulation, and pure visual clutter and chaos. It's by all accounts an insane game that you need to be a little insane to enjoy. I also have nearly 1000 hours of game time over the ten years its been out. When my friend Wes told me that he was going to play through at least the first five acts due to some end-of-year fantasy draft obligations, I offered my services as a guide and with a couple hours of instructive gameplay and conversation we managed to get his character build up and running, much to his delight. PoE is a game that is incredible easy to bounce off of if you don't know how the game is "supposed" to be played, or how to make a character that works, but I think at this point I've got him on the hook for at least a full Act 1-10 playthrough, and maybe a touch beyond that. I've never had the chance to play this game with a friend before, its been a lot of fun so far! And seeing someone experience the pure dopamine joys of filling the screen with bullshit that kills hordes of monster while zipping around at high speed has been a true joy.

That's all for me, I'll probably take a brief break from Yakuza Quest so as not to burn myself out, hopefully I'll get to play a good chunk more of Path of Exile, and the end of this month begins the 8 week Gamepocalypse of Yakuza 8, Persona 3 Reload, FF7 Reunion, and a bunch of other stuff I'm certainly forgetting. See you later!

#jan 2024 #futuresconnected

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tracinginwardinvestigation · 8 months

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Play #8: Beating for the sake of beating?

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate lately is the joy of beating the game for the sake of it. I used to believe that to enjoy a game to its fullest, I have to experience as much content as I can: all of its side quests, all of the optional minigames, all of the secrets, and so on. The thought of skipping these contents rarely crosses my mind, in part because I thought I would have a lesser experience; after all, doesn't the journey through the game matter more than the destination? Yet, such obsession with “full experience” was perhaps one of the reasons I soured my experience with some games by forcing myself to slog through parts I didn’t like. Thankfully, I’ve gotten better at understanding why I enjoy playing video games, so I’ve left that mentality in the past. Sometimes it is nice to just prioritize my own enjoyment over experiencing everything; that’s what I did with Legends of Amberland, Victor Vran, and Trine series, and what made me love these games a lot, enough that I want to replay them properly one day. Had I forced myself to experience everything in these games (in particular with Trine’s late-game difficult puzzles), I knew I would have gotten burned out sooner or later.

This priority reminds me of how I used to play with toys back in childhood. Here, I optimize my own enjoyment first and foremost, while disregarding the game’s intact cultural or artistic value. My goal is to relax through engaging with the game’s content: to puzzle out the solutions, to laugh at the humorous writing, to enjoy an epic story mindlessly, to have fun overcoming a combat challenge, and so on! And once I begin to feel bored with the game, I just rush into the ending instead of forcing myself to play further. If I am playing simply to entertain myself, not to evaluate how well-crafted the game is, there is nothing wrong with not experiencing all the contents so long as I feel entertained the whole playthrough, isn’t it? The key lesson is that I should not feel guilty for not experiencing everything fully; there is always next time.

Still, why do I need to beat a game first in order to consider my whole playthrough to be fun, I wonder? There are times when a lack of proper conclusion often leaves me feeling empty, but I never thought hard about why a conclusion is important to my enjoyment. For example, while I do enjoy playing open-ended life-sim games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Stardew Valley, I usually get bored eventually, which in turn sours my feeling toward them even if I had fun playing them before that. I feel the same struggle with roguelike games despite my liking of their gameplay. In a way, the only way I could feel satisfied from playing these games is to establish an end goal—something to stop my engagement before boredom takes over. Take Dead Cells for example, I set my end goal to be beating the seventh level Astrolab, so when I reached it, I was left satisfied and had not touched the game since.

Additionally, there were times when I could feel this same satisfaction even though I "finished" a game through an alternate means instead, such as through watching a YouTube video. This was the case with Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. As the final battle was too difficult for me, I had to resort to a YouTube video to see the ending. Similarly, I couldn’t finish Yakuza 0 in game because the game constantly froze at the final boss cutscene on my old lap, so watching the ending online was my only option to conclude “my” playthrough. Even though I didn’t “earn” such an ending, I still felt a similar sense of accomplishment, or joy, that came from beating a game. What is this satisfaction that comes from beating the game? Could the answer be as simple as because finishing a task is fun?

What’s more, I’m also curious if my urge to reach the end of a game at all cost is inherent to my mind, or if it is learned as a consequence of consumerism. By consumerism, I referred to the behavior of hoarding games that has been normalized in gaming culture. Everywhere I go on the internet, jokes about the endless backlog are everywhere; it’s fairly common for someone to take pride in cleaning their backlog (including me), as though video game is something to get through, not to experience. Putting it that way, I can’t deny the possibility that one reason I enjoy rushing to finish a game is because I want to clear my backlog: to put the game out of my mind so I can focus on something else. Even so, the reality here is that I only love the Trine series as much as I do right now precisely because I rushed to the end instead of forcing myself to play the parts I didn’t like. Perhaps it is unwise to conclude that the urge to rush to the ends should be unlearned simply because it can be associated with consumerist mentality.

Lots of questions opening up with little answers… I will have to revisit this topic another time.

#tracingthemagiccircle #tmc_plays #tmc_engaging #tmc_personal

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squishylemonbubbles · 9 months

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well that officially should be everything tagged for its correct game, with the format of squishylive: (game)... the list includes:

yakuza 0 (post-game only)

yakuza kiwami 2

ishin

yakuza 3 (not complete yet)

lost judgement (not a full playthrough)

also no kiwami 1 unfortunately, the tag starts with 0 (which we played after k1)

remember if you're on browser you can go directly to a tag's page on the blog subdomain (squishylemonbubbles.tumblr.com in my case) and slap /chrono on the end so you see everything in the order it was posted. :)

#squishytalk #time to go collapse and implode now

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fairytalefragments · 9 months

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I hope you've been faring okay. I know it's been a while. Tell me about some things you've been getting into or thought about getting into lately? - Comet

✦ oh hi Comet! it's lovely to hear from you, i honestly haven't been doing super well lately but yknow. anyway, I've been very slowly watching a playthrough of all the yakuza/like a dragon games! I've only finished 0 so far but it was such a good time!! made me wish i could actually play it for myself. yakuza 0 is a prequel game, that focused on the main character of the series (Kiryu) and the fan favourite/important secondary character (Majima), it details how they came to be who they are in the main series and a bunch of backstory for other significant characters. the main plot is pretty serious and SO emotional. oh my god the Majima storyline had me sobbing!!! and the game is full to the brim with silly and ridiculous side content and super fun minigames too!!

i have also finally played Ghost Trick! I've been meaning to for literal years, ever since i got into ace attorney basically and i got the switch port and played through the whole game in like 3 days and like. i get it now. it rly is that good. ghost trick is a puzzle game where you play as ghost trying to solve your own murder! the puzzles basically work like rube goldberg machines. it's genuinely so fun and has an absolutely amazing story and fantastic cast of characters i couldn't recommend it enough!!

other than that I've also been replaying 999! I've got the axe and sub ending so far and I'm working on knife rn. 999 is my favourite game of all time so im having a great time with that haha.

I don't think there's anything im super looking to get into rn, i wanna dive into revstar at some point bc some good friends are super into and it seems rly good and definitely like something i would enjoy! and im always open to media recs if anyone has them, it might take me a while but i do enjoy getting into new stuff!

thanks for giving me this opportunity to ramble, i hope you're doing well too Comet, and im wishing you an absolutely wonderful day! 💙

#ask #anonymous #nonrq #comet anon

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silent-adving · 2 years

Video

youtube

Yakuza 0 - Part 14 | Full Playthrough | No Commentary

#youtube #Yakuza 0 - Part 14 | Full Playthrough | No Commentary #Yakuza 0 - Part 14 | Full Playthrough #Yakuza 0 - Part 14 | No Commentary #Yakuza 0 - Full Playthrough | No Commentary #Yakuza 0 - Part 14 #Yakuza 0 - Full Playthrough #Yakuza 0 - No Commentary #Yakuza 0 #let's play #let's play Yakuza 0 #let's play video games #video games #video gaming #games #gaming #video

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wanderingnewbie · 5 years

Video

youtube

Presenting the second horniest man

Streams Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Some Saturdays at https://www.twitch.tv/wanderingnewbie

#Yakuza 0 #Cheevoes #Gotta Get My Cheevo #Streams #My Posts #Full Playthrough

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kinogane · 3 years

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Essence of Yakuza Combat, Part 1: Counter

(incidental Yakuza spoilers below)

A lot has been said about the core of what brings people to the Yakuza games and plays a role in keeping them interested, which is the way the series juggles its earnest, straight-faced drama with its, let’s say,

eccentricities.

(I don’t bring these up casually, by the way. It would be almost certainly correct to attribute at least part of Yakuza’s growth outside of Japan to the karaoke minigame and someone at RGG Studio thinking that putting a chicken in charge of real estate would be very funny.)

I wrote a bit about that through one specific example here, and while that is core to the series’ identity, it’s just one aspect of the many, many hours you spend playing a Yakuza game. User aggregated times on HowLongToBeat peg the average length of a Yakuza playthrough somewhere in the area of 15 to 40 hours, and even if you’re not on the completionist beat and ballooning your hour count by spending a lot of time playing mahjong and other minigames, you’re going to spend a lot of time with the minute-to-minute gameplay of Yakuza, which is, by and large, getting into fights with chumps and smashing their heads into various surfaces.

Combat in Yakuza games isn’t exactly known for its mechanical depth. Certainly, if you’re willing to poke at its systems you can achieve mastery and do some wild stuff, but I’d wager most players aren’t particularly interested in getting better at the combat. More than likely, they’re content with getting just skilled and/or strong to get past major boss fights (which are genuine highlights of Yakuza combat) with possibly some help in healing and weapons. Yakuza 0 probably exemplifies this most, as the game gives you the option to upgrade both characters’ Legend styles into utter nonsense.

So in some ways, it’s not all that surprising that RGG Studio would make the most of an opportunity to switch combat systems with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. According to series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, after they floated the idea of a turn-based RPG in a 2019 April Fools’ video, the positive public reception convinced them that changing mechanics could actually work. Which at the time was, and moreso in hindsight is, kinda obvious. Their action combat wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, especially with the recent switch to the much more slippery and less weighty Dragon Engine combat in 6 and Kiwami 2, and series staples like random encounters and equippable gear are already part and parcel with more traditional JRPGs like Dragon Quest. Hell, the near universal Yakuza experience of pausing to call a time out and chug Staminans because you’re getting your ass handed to you is more reminiscent of modern Fallout titles (which have turn-based roots) than it is of character action games like Devil May Cry. And to reiterate, it is literally possible to overlevel yourself in Yakuza 0.

There were skeptics, of course. For how relatively unremarkable the combat system is, there were (and still are) players who quite liked the action combat of Kiryu Saga Yakuza games and were a bit sad at the idea of seeing the system go, including myself. Perhaps part of it was just getting used to and developing an appreciation for a system that didn’t wholly merit it. (Though I still maintain that the multiple styles in 0 and Kiwami absolutely rule and also Finishing Hold/Bounding Throw is rad as hell.) But there are two aspects of the action combat in specific that are rather obviously head and shoulders above the rest.

One is the Tiger Drop.

Especially if your first exposure to the Tiger Drop was Kiwami, where it was overtuned as hell, the satisfaction of landing a Tiger Drop, completely stuffing an enemy’s attack, and taking out a decent chunk of their health bar has few equals in most Yakuza games. It’s such a tremendous reward for having quick reactions and mastering knowledge of enemy movesets that it’s warped how I approach combat with characters who don’t have access to the Tiger Drop itself. I absolutely beelined to get Akiyama’s kick counter in 4 and 5 and used it extensively in both, when it probably isn’t even close to being optimal, and when I learned/remembered that Kiryu has access to similar Heavy Attack counters through his Brawler and Legend styles in 0, I absolutely took them for a whirl right away.

The Brawler counter, as it turns out, works well against Sera.

(I probably would have felt similarly about Majima’s Legend style Demonfire counter in 0, for the record, and I did get a lot out of it, but that preceded my first Tiger Drop. So the timeline doesn’t quite fit.)

I did not expect the Tiger Drop, or counters in general, to make the full transition into the new Yakuza combat. While they’re not mechanically impossible, thanks to the Mario RPG-esque Action Commands, Like a Dragon instead opts to reward players for good timing with Perfect Guards that take less damage and don’t knock the character down, which I would argue is for the better.

It’s not difficult to imagine implementing a counter to supplement Perfect Guards as a defensive option, but doing so would fundamentally change the (counterintuitively?) offensive role counters play in Yakuza combat. Additionally, part of the difficulty of landing Tiger Drops comes from not knowing for sure what attack an enemy’s going to throw your way and having to react or make a good prediction. Most turn-based RPGs, including Like a Dragon, let you know a fair bit before an enemy attack properly starts what’s coming your way. Like a Dragon even gives you a bit of extra time, since the Dragon Engine implementation often requires enemies to hobble over to their target before they take a swing. There are plenty of well-telegraphed attacks in Yakuza games of the past, of course, but they’re the exception rather than the rule.

Put another way, it’s not reasonable to expect a player to Tiger Drop every single attack a boss throws at them in Kiryu Saga games. It’s far more reasonable (and for the entirety of the True Final Millennium Tower, basically expected) for the player to Perfect Guard (and hypothetically, counter) every single attack in Like a Dragon. This isn’t a mismatch so fundamental that it can’t be implemented in future games, but at the very least, its absence is unsurprising and not strongly felt.

Furthermore, counters thematically make more sense for Kiryu Saga protagonists than Ichiban. Superficially, counters don’t exactly vibe with Ichiban’s turn-based sense of fair fighting. Not much point in giving someone a chance to take a shot at you if you just punch them out of their turn. (And funnily enough, while my Dragon Quest knowledge is just about nonexistent, the small bit of research I’ve done indicates that counter skills weren’t accessible to Dragon Quest heroes until about 2006, a few years after Ichiban goes to jail.)

On a deeper level, though, counters are inherently more reactive than they are active. Even if you make a prediction that an enemy will attack a certain way, counters don’t work unless they actually do take that action of attacking. Prepping a Tiger Drop means not doing much else but taking up a fighting stance and waiting in bated breath until someone else does something first. This patience intrinsic to counters is temperamentally more suited for the calmer, more stoic Kiryu Saga protagonists (I recognize I’m talking in very broad strokes) than they are for the more hot-blooded, openly emotional Ichiban. Hell, if you really wanna stretch this idea, it’s worth noting that the younger, more impulsive Kiryu doesn’t have access to a powerful counter in 0 while the younger, more restrained Majima does (see the Demonfire counter mentioned above); contrast their playable appearances in Kiwami 2, where the older, more measured Kiryu can relearn his trusty Tiger Drop while the older, openly wilder Majima has no comparable counter.

So the Yakuza combat staple of Tiger Drop and counters didn’t make the transition into Like a Dragon. I don’t think anyone expected them to, and they certainly didn’t need to. All in all, not a big deal.

What about Heat Actions?

(continued)

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #rgg #yakuza like a dragon #yakuza 7 #shin ryu ga gotoku #ylad #y7

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koorinokujira · 6 months

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Yakuza 0 is a SPECTACULAR game and I'll shove my love for it in everyone's faces now

Alright, I'll take a bit of a break from regularly scheduled Basara-posting (don't worry, the next batch of imagines is getting worked on), because boy, am I full of emotions right now. This will most likely turn into a mini-series of posts, I don't know yet.

TLDR: Background of me getting into it all and me gushing about my appreciation for the game since I finally finished it. Some (at least vague) spoilers will definitely be involved, so if you haven't played the game yet, here's your warning! Also, I ramble a lot, sorry.

So, I am still fairly new to the Yakuza fandom, all things considered. While I first discovered the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series a few years ago (through a Majima meme, lol), I wasn't that into it at the start. I had other hyperfixations at the time, and it was just sort of at the background. I watched some gameplays, saw some memes, and after watching a full playthrough of Yakuza Kiwami (and a bit of Y0), I eventually decided to get Y0 and play it myself. Bought it and played for a few chapters, but then it got buried again beneath other games, even if I liked it a lot. But this year, it all just came back to me, and I decided to throw myself into it fully this time, restarting my Y0 playthrough (and engaging with the fandom a bit more).

And I'm incredibly glad I did.

At the time of writing this, I finished the game like 30 minutes ago, give or take, and I feel like I'm feeling everything right now. There aren't many games that hit me so hard. Every single second of this game just kept my eyes glued to the screen, and even when I was not playing, the feelings from the story lingered.

You know, I've been sort of living through other people's experiences with the series lately, especially here on Tumblr. Even if I don't know half of the characters everyone talks about yet, I still appreciate the funky stuff everyone here creates. I love the ridiculous memes, the sweet Minedai and Kazumaji fanarts, the kick-ass cosplays, and all the other stuff! You guys made me love it even more and keep going, so I could enjoy it even more! But I have to say, experiencing at least Yakuza 0 for myself hits so much harder than just watching a gameplay.

I got to play as a buff, scary looking man that races toy cars with kids as if his life depends on it, and constantly gets tangled up in ridiculous situations and helps people around town, all the while he's putting his life on the line to protect those he loves the most. I got to hire a chicken as a real estate manager, enjoy some karaoke with my best pal Nishiki, and save some poor ladies from terrible guys who harassed them on the street. And there was also so, so many heart-wrenching things that made me stop what I was doing, because I just hated to see Kiryu's kind, gentle heart get torn apart by the world he willingly stepped into.

I also got to play as a man that went through hell and clinged onto life through sheer determination. A man that was lost, but slowly found what was important to him through the course of the story. But even with him, I got to experience a ton of hilarious weirdness, which may or may not include things like pretending to be a desperate girl's boyfriend, beating up a cult leader or accidentally raising the taxes for all of Japan. Majima, I love you too, you crazy bastard!

All the characters are written so well, and felt very real to me the whole time. Nothing was really black and white, and even the simpler looking characters ended up being very complex most of the time. Honestly, I could ramble on and on about how it broke me to see Tachibana cry, or how much I adore Kashiwagi, even with the limited screentime. I will probably make a few more in-depth posts about certain characters and how I view their themes in the future.

But all this is to say, I'm glad that I finally took the plunge, and I am looking forward to what I have yet to experience! I even have a few OCs that I may share in the future (if I finally learn how to draw properly, that is), and maybe some fanfics, too!

After I finally 100% Ghost of Tsushima, I am definitely buying Kiwami, too! Glad to finally count myself a "proper" member of the RGG fandom ＼(￣▽￣)／

Thank you for reading my excited ramblings, and as I always say...

Have an amazing day!

#okay as I wrote this post the adrenaline disappeared help #i am so happy but also so tired #i wish i could hug kiryu rn #and fall asleep #i think i officially have a new comfort character lol #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza #yakuza 0 #like a dragon #yakuza like a dragon #kiryu kazuma #majima goro

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