by Vyse Hazuky » Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:52 am
Over the past few days I have finally been playing the Yakuza 6 demo. Past the cutscenes and the short scene in Okinawa, I have to admit the first reaction when you start in Kamurocho was dropping jaws... The level of graphics (and I still don't use a full HD tv) and especially the immersion of the new first person camera is amazing for a japanophile like myself. NHK World has some shows like that. Finding the first soda machine was also a huge rush of Shenmue feelings.
However things seemed to cool off a bit, to the point the game starts to almost feel like it's made by a different team:
- Some of the first things I came across were the lack of analogic controls and the inclusion of dash button. I don't understand the logic of including this. Now you're either too fast or too slow, with the added bonus of tiring yourself out; perhaps this is to do with the new food and upgrade system (seriously, it's like every game in the series has a different upgrade system).
- One of the things I'm most annoyed with is the map and minimap. The buildings are huge but the icons are tiny, making it hard to identify places (unlike previous games). Having NPCs and enemies showing on the map and minimap, as well as soda machines is baffling too (for enemies at least you needed an item for it in previous games). I understand a common criticism from some players who weren't fans was the amount of "random" battles ... yet, that's the heart and soul of this series, which has its roots very much in the RPG genre. It's not like in the other games you couldn't avoid encounters either... Another thing which is quite prevalent these days is a level of visual pollution with big icons and arrows hovering over enemies, sidequests, shopkeepers, and even soda machines. The soda machines in particular, after the initial rush of feelings about Shenmue, they end up being so many that they're hard to miss - absolutely no point in having big arrows in screen and tiny lines in the minimap as more often than not you'll probably be facing one (I understand the immensitude of macihnes might be a realistic aspect of a japanese street, there's just no need to highlight them with ugly arrows). In first person especially, it makes me think that somehow Kiryu is wearing some sort of science-fiction lenses or Samus' helmet because there's no reason to have those graphics in a realistic environment - it's a definite immersion breaker for me.
- Perhaps the biggest evolution is the physics engine. While I have to say that I enjoy the fighting, which gets a lot more scrappy, having Kiryu go into a restaurant and trip over bar stools and smash into doors is ridiculous and against character. No load screens of course is a huge boon but I was disappointed you couldn't just pick the items you wanted in first person mode from shops (like in Shenmue I guess) and take them to counter to pay.
- Finally, perhaps the selection available in the demo wasn't the best but the substories felt pretty bland. There were no "substory tunes" playing in the background, the text skip option now skips animations too, making it pretty choppy, and they also feel like they're filmed differently (there were usually more close ups of facial reactions). This is a minor quibble as there are so few available in the demo.
To summarize, this experience felt a bit like the jump from GTA San Andreas to GTA IV. A huge step forward in some ways and some side or even backward steps in others. That said there's huge potential for improvement. I haven't tried Kiwami 2's demo so I hope to see some there. I will also probably start Kiwami 2 before 6.
Sorry about the huge (yuge!) rant but I needed to organize and put out these thoughts. I'd also appreciate your takes, even if I'm quite a bit late to the party
