Yakuza

apathy

apathy

how'd i get to be so good?
Is there anyone here that's a fan of the Yakuza games? I've only started playing them since they began porting them to PC but I gotta say I'm totally in love with these games. A review I saw on Steam describes them as being a "Martin Scorsese film that gets interrupted by the Simpsons every 10 minutes" and it's such an on-point way to explain the series. This clash in tone is in no way jarring though, the games know when to be silly and when to take themselves serious.

Recently I've been playing the newest entry, Yakuza Like a Dragon on the PC and I've been enjoying it a lot. The change to turn-based combat, while not as satisfying as the beat 'em up style found in previous games, is still pretty fun to play.
 
They're really worth your time, Yakuza 0 (which I consider the best entry point) is only like €20 and goes on sale a good bit.
 
I really wanna play Yakuza Like a Dragon. Looks like so much fun. What I've heard most people say is you can play Yakuza Zero and Like a Dragon and it's fine.
 

They all have massive emphasis on their stories so you do spend the majority of the time watching cutscenes, but the gameplay itself (or specifically, the combat) is Beat 'em up, you have different fighting styles you can pick that open up unique combos and such. My favorite is the Rush style in 0, which is super agile and makes it really easy to avoid attacks while getting in one or two quick punches.
It can feel a bit like GTA when you're wandering around the city but it's not a sandbox the way GTA is, you cant fight random people or steal cars for example.

Mini-games are a big part of the franchise though, and you can easily spend just as much time playing these as you would watching cutscenes in the main plot. My favorite mini-game is one where you run a Cabaret Club, you can recruit different women who all have specific stats & personalities, so the goal is to provide each patron with as suitable of a match as you can from the women available in your roster. Over the course of like a minute and a half, you'll get requested for new drinks, ashtrays, or to step in to stop a bad situation from escalating. You basically just want to keep the patrons as happy as possible and earn as much money as you can.
It's ridiculously simple in concept but somehow pulls off being outrageously fun.

The latest entry in the series, Like a Dragon, follows a new cast and plotline, so they decided to change the combat to turn-based, so all the typical RPG elements are to be expected in this entry.

MadaraUchiha said:
I really wanna play Yakuza Like a Dragon. Looks like so much fun. What I've heard most people say is you can play Yakuza Zero and Like a Dragon and it's fine.
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It's great, I've really enjoyed my time with it so far. And yes, as I've said to Burnsy Like a Dragon follows a new cast/story, so you can go from 0 to LaD no problem. Yakuza 0-6 all follow Kiryus story instead of Ichibans.
 
apathy said:
They all have massive emphasis on their stories so you do spend the majority of the time watching cutscenes, but the gameplay itself (or specifically, the combat) is Beat 'em up, you have different fighting styles you can pick that open up unique combos and such. My favorite is the Rush style in 0, which is super agile and makes it really easy to avoid attacks while getting in one or two quick punches.
It can feel a bit like GTA when you're wandering around the city but it's not a sandbox the way GTA is, you cant fight random people or steal cars for example.

Mini-games are a big part of the franchise though, and you can easily spend just as much time playing these as you would watching cutscenes in the main plot. My favorite mini-game is one where you run a Cabaret Club, you can recruit different women who all have specific stats & personalities, so the goal is to provide each patron with as suitable of a match as you can from the women available in your roster. Over the course of like a minute and a half, you'll get requested for new drinks, ashtrays, or to step in to stop a bad situation from escalating. You basically just want to keep the patrons as happy as possible and earn as much money as you can.
It's ridiculously simple in concept but somehow pulls off being outrageously fun.

The latest entry in the series, Like a Dragon, follows a new cast and plotline, so they decided to change the combat to turn-based, so all the typical RPG elements are to be expected in this entry.


It's great, I've really enjoyed my time with it so far. And yes, as I've said to Burnsy Like a Dragon follows a new cast/story, so you can go from 0 to LaD no problem. Yakuza 0-6 all follow Kiryus story instead of Ichibans.
Click to expand...

Yeah I read and having watched a few videos too I have just one question: can cutscenes be skipped? I've always found dialogue and voice acting in JRPGs to be somewhat embarrassing.
 
MadaraUchiha said:
Yeah I read and having watched a few videos too I have just one question: can cutscenes be skipped? I've always found dialogue and voice acting in JRPGs to be somewhat embarrassing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you can skip them if you want, but you'd the stories are a big part of the game. The JP voices are the cherry on top IMO, at least to a Westerner who doesn't know Japanese they sound really over-the-top and exaggerated, which fits Yakuza's style really nicely.
Some of the games have English voices, Like a Dragon is one of them.
 
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