Yakuza series

[OL]

Just spent hours finishing all the taxi driving/racing missions. Totally weird how they actually managed to make a compelling story out of a little taxi company drama (compelling by Yakuza side-story standards, mean). It feels really weird that I was so engaged by it all. Felt almost like reading through some cheesy 90s manga, with all its simplified talk about friendship and manliness wrapped up in a silly, over-the-top street racing story.
It's just so Japanese.
Would have been nice if the race tracks actually had some variation in them (they're all pretty much the same highway route over and over, just against tougher opponents), but it was fun all the same.

[south carmain]

^it also has one of my biggest pet peeves in racing games where it makes the opponent catch up with you when youre completely dominating them. But otherwise it's pretty good for a mini game I would say.

[Riku Rose]

After doing the first driving mission I didn't really have much desire to do anymore honestly.

Still I'm getting caught up in so much side stuff that I have barely even touched the main story. I've played it for about 2 hours each night and I'm only on Part 1 Chapter 3. I convince myself that I'm going to go home to progress the story and help a chef by serving ramen, then I'll plan to go to work but end up helping a student study for his exam.

Anyone else done the part when the office PC starts playing up?

[south carmain]

Yeah the taxi missions are pretty boring. The races are nothing special but they're alright and have a story to tie them together which is cool.

I did the pc substory yesterday. Gave me a few laughs when kiryu starts wacking the thing.

[Monkei]

Holy fuck. Trailer for 6.

phpBB [video]

[streetwaves]

Holy fuck. Trailer for 6.

phpBB [video]

Awesome. I don't think I can wait for an English release, so stumbling through the import version will have to do.

[Riku Rose]

Main thing I want to see if what it looks like now when you're just walking about town with tons of NPC's. Yakuza games have always looked great in cutscenes but it's the open world that shows it's age the most.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

The fun thing about that trailer is that it will seem mundane and devoid of content to most people, but those who've played the previous games will be picking their jaws off the floor at the gratuitous display of subtle advancements.

[OL]

Main thing I want to see if what it looks like now when you're just walking about town with tons of NPC's. Yakuza games have always looked great in cutscenes but it's the open world that shows it's age the most.

I do agree, but I gotta say that trailer is actually pretty damn gorgeous regardless. It might not show Kazuma down among large groups of NPCs, but if the graphics are on the level, it's still showing actual exploration gameplay (and I'd assume those fight scenes are actually in-game heat moves) and it looks like a massive step up.

Is it just me though, or does Kazuma look a little too young? Is it supposed to be chronologically after Yakuza 5, or is it another prequel like Zero? Playing Yakuza 5 right now, a huge running thing is people treating Kazuma like an old guy, but he looks like he's in his 20s in that trailer.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

Finding the beginning of chapter 2

in the prison grounds

to be a bit of a drag to be honest. Seem to recall feeling the same way about a similar section in Yakuza 4. Can't wait to move on from this location.

[Monkei]

^ Same here.

[DL30]

Yeah Saejima's section was easily the worst chapter in Yakuza 5 for me.
It just seemed like a bunch of sidequests thrown together.

[Monkei]

New 8 minute japanese trailer for Yakuza Kiwami:

phpBB [video]

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Awesome. I don't think I can wait for an English release, so stumbling through the import version will have to do.

Since I discovered this godly series in 2012, that's what I've been doing ;). Trust me, get the game twice (Japanese and English), play it twice; it makes you appreciate it a lot more and have twice as much fun, especially since you understand everything the second time around. Time is a factor though...

Have to say, at first I thought the beginning was dragging a bit, but once it got to the point of Nakajima telling Kazuma about what the other taxi drivers say about him and the reasons why, I was laughing my ass off. Suddenly I appreciated the slower pace because it allowed for charming moments like that.

This made me think of the slower pace in Yakuza 3 when they show Kiryu's life at the beach, taking care of those children etc. I remember that some people disliked that but I somehow found that it added something instead. Almost a bit Shenmue-like in the sense that it immersed you more in his daily life. It will be interesting to check it out myself later today.

^^Mhm^^

Major story elements like that made 3 stand out above the rest, to me (until 5), even if some other mechanics et al were not up to snuff yet (remember, the first, TRUE game in the series on the PS3, though I still deem it second best in the series).

Regardless, I hope all of you enjoy the game to bits; I did and while not my favourite in the series (second favourite!), its still the best, far and away IMO; there is SO much to do, SO much fun to be had and my 32 hours of gameplay only netted 7.5% of total time.

I will say though, as has been mentioned above, Saejima is AWESOME to fight with and when he gets to Susikino (I think he goes there, can't remember), his gameplay is MILES better than anything before it.

But before it, it plods a bit...

[OL]

I think I'm about to finish Kazuma's section...
I'm actually really looking forward to playing as Saejima, personally, since I liked him a lot in Y4, and aside from whatever prison section he has, I seem to recall from trailers and whatnot that he goes through some snowy areas in this, and that's usually appealing to me in videogames.