Yakuza series

[Crimson Ryan]

Both games will be localised for Asia in traditional Chinese, it was announced at Sony’s TGS Asia conference. Only the PS4 version for Yakuza Kiwami.

Maybe a sign of things to come for the West?

[Axm]

Another Yakuza game im gonna probably buy, play for 2 hours and trade back in.
Love Yakuza, drama, realistic settings. Hate the gameplay and sound effects.
Why are they doing this to me.

[Monkei]

Oh, and nice to see the slap kept in the trailer.
It's like they did it just to piss off LanDC all over again.

I was slightly irritated by that, but then thought "meh, Japan". What's up with it, why is he slapping her, why is it in the trailer and can you elaborate on that LanDC pissed-offness? : D

I can't remember the line exactly, but Kazuma just slaps her once for saying things she shouldn't; I might be wrong, but I think she's saying something about how a certain someone is probably dead, or something of that nature. Need to see the scene again. But yeah, it's just one of those "Come to your senses" kinds of slaps. Nothing malicious.

Anyway, waaaaay back when the original game was first announced, there was understandably a good amount of rumbling (and grumbling) going on around here about the game, due to the snap observation that it's similar in a lot of ways to Shenmue. So basically that ended up creating two different sides on the matter: people who were excited for it, and people who were pissed that Sega was working on this instead of a new Shenmue.
Obviously, that led to the angriest of Shenmue fanboys making a lot of petty, silly complaints about what was shown in the first trailer. And for some reason the one that always stood out in my mind most was LanDC complaining that Kazuma is a terrible, terrible person for slapping a little girl, and observing that Ryo would never do that because he has honor or some such other silliness.
I dunno, that just always made me laugh, judging a game over something so small and writing the entire thing off because of it. Sorry, just making in-jokes to myself I guess.

Whoa, man, that actually somehow rings a bell! I was around back then and I think I actually witnessed it.
Not 100% sure though.

Another Yakuza game im gonna probably buy, play for 2 hours and trade back in.
Love Yakuza, drama, realistic settings. Hate the gameplay and sound effects.
Why are they doing this to me.

I played Yakuza 3 and 4 and did only the main story paths. I enjoy these games for their depiction of the Japanese underworld and the overall atmosphere, for its "japaneseness", Japanese voices only and everything. I also like some of the characters. But other than that I couldn't really be arsed. The partly clunky and old fashioned mechanics (don't kill me!) and other stuff made me lose interest in side activies completely. Really looking forward to playing more main paths (5/0/remake) though!

[Jesse]

I don't know which I want more Zero, HD Remake or Six. If I absolutely had to choose it would be Six all things considered . 5 and Persona 5 are the games I'm waiting on the most this year. All I need now is a release date.

[south carmain]

I don't know which I want more Zero, HD Remake or Six. If I absolutely had to choose it would be Six all things considered . 5 and Persona 5 are the games I'm waiting on the most this year. All I need now is a release date.

Personally I think I'm slightly leaning towards 0. I love that 80s vibe and being able to play as Majima alone makes it for me.

I'm interested to see what they have planned with 6 though, I wonder if they plan on expanding it even more than 5.

[Shin Pan Tzee]

I don't know which I want more Zero, HD Remake or Six. If I absolutely had to choose it would be Six all things considered . 5 and Persona 5 are the games I'm waiting on the most this year. All I need now is a release date.

Honestly, Zero and 6 to me are miles ahead of the remake. I've played the first game already. Yes, i know it has new content, but still, Zero and 6 are new chapters, so in my view that should aways be the priority.

Now, between Zero and 6, i hope Zero comes first, because the setting is fantastic, and it would be a nice change between 5 and 6.

Now we just need to buy the shit out of 5 and get the word out there to get them.

[Axm]

Nagoshi just announced that Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano will be in Yakuza 6.

[Amir]

すごい!

[Crimson Ryan]

Here's an interview with Nagoshi about Yakuza Kiwami.

The masterpiece born from antithesis to the world of the gaming is reborn again after 10 years

Ryu Ga Gotoku Kiwami is based on the first game in the series which came out in 2005. Please talk about the details that lead to this decision.

Nagoshi: I always had the feeling that I'd like to make the first Ryu Ga Gotoku again one day. However, I was always wrapped up in making the latest game in the series, and the timing just wasn't there. Now that we're sitting at 10 years after the first game came out, if we're ever going to do it, now's probably the only time.

The time has come, I suppose, huh?

Nagoshi: When we start working on the new games, we always look back on what we've been working on before, but I've always keenly felt our limitations when I look back on the stuff that came out on the older systems. The hardware specs from back then are nothing compared to what we have now. Not only that, but our skill level was still rather wanting. As a result, to put things bluntly... "Man, those games are terrible". Still, when I think about how "terrible" those games are, there's another aspect to consider, and that's how much we've grown as developers. If we could ever go back and do Ryu Ga Gotoku over again, we'd be able to make something absolutely wonderful. And with the opportunity to do so becoming more and more possible, we eventually struggled on to make the big reveal.

The subtitle for the game is Kiwami (Extreme). What kind of meaning is included with that?

Nagoshi: Because we're using the game engine for the latest game, Ryu Ga Gotoku Zero, we're able to take the fruits of what we've cultivated over 10 years and apply it to things like Game Modes and controls, making the quality the best... the extreme. "Kiwami Quality" is the meaning behind attaching Kiwami as a subtitle.

So, is it good to think of this as a remake?

Nagoshi: Obviously, the main thread of the story will be the same as it was in the original game. However, we've skillfully constructed extra scenes which will complement the original. Moreover, since our last representation of Kamurocho was the 1980s version from Ryu Ga Gotoku Zero, we couldn't use the data from that game and had to rebuild Kamurocho all over again. Because of that, it has the feeling of making a brand new game from scratch.

On top of making a new game, you've probably been revisiting the 10-year-old Ryu Ga Gotoku multiple times during development. What's the number one impression of the game you've been left with?

Nagoshi: Ryu Ga Gotoku was really made as an antithesis to what was going on with game development at the time. During a time in the industry when everyone was looking westward, the market for Ryu Ga Gotoku was limited to Japan and targeted strictly at adult males. We gave absolutely no thought to targeting a female audience. Our CERO rating was D (17 or above), so there was a lot of "stimulating" expressions in the game. The story was low-down-and-dirty drama lived out by real flesh-and-blood characters... I think it's for these reasons the game really stood out like an odd duck. The first Ryu Ga Gotoku Game really focused on the end goal and cut out a lot of the surplus, coming across as a really sour-looking game. Thinking about it now, we really managed to put up a fight with the game in that condition. I can look back on some of our decisions and be amazed that they turned out so well.

Ryu Ga Gotoku was originally introduced under the name Project J. Can you still remember that feeling 10 years later?

Nagoshi: The core of the series hasn't changed. However, as time marches on and the series grows larger, our female fanbase has increased in size, not to mention the fact that we're getting lots of fans from overseas. We're grateful for the fact that a large amount of opinions are being expressed about the series. However, if we just blindly accepted and implemented every viewpoint, the heart of the series just wouldn't beat as strong. From this, for the past 10 years, we've been very selective in adopting the suggestions we've been appreciative to receive.

What was impressive about the scenario in the first game was the participation of the author Hase Seishu.

Nagoshi: Back then we just started writing with the big question mark hanging over our heads about how well our script-writing abilities would hold out. However, as we went along, it was clear that there were some parts we just wouldn't be able to get done on our own. Because of that, it really worked in our favor and the game's favor to borrow the professional power of the actors, actresses and the author. We received a lot of harsh criticism from Hase Seishu-san, and I really felt our incompetence shine through. However, receiving that criticism was an important step in continuing into where we are today.

This is probably why the story is being expanded this time, huh.

Nagoshi: While there can be no denying that the story was completely wrapped up back when it first came out, I always had the thought that we could have really evoked some more profound feelings. You know, really add some of the drama we couldn't completely hash out last time. I was always going to be writing a section of the scenario for this release, but the thing I really wanted to add was the drama involving Nishikiyama. There was just so much we didn't sketch out about his backstory during the first game, and now would be the best time to do it. This was my first proposal, and the next thing I wanted to add was more of one of the series' most popular characters, Majima Goro. I wanted to establish his connection with the main character Kiryu after the events of Ryu Ga Gotoku 0. There's lots of opportunities to add big, new episodes, and making cuts to scenes and adding new ones makes it easy to understand "Oh, that's the way it should be!" We can really assemble a well-put together and easy-to-follow drama.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Nagoshi just announced that Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano will be in Yakuza 6.

Oh hell YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is too amazing!!!!:D

I'm super excited that they're continuing the main series, instead of doing one year main, one year spinoff. But Kitano too???????

2016 is going to be awesome: moving to Calgary and getting a raise, traveling to Japan, 2 Yakuza games, Shenmue III's development, proposing to my girlfriend... Just too awesome!!!!

[Jesse]

Very awesome news about all things Yakuza I personally don't see them releasing the hd remake stateside. Zero seems wonderful it could be a nice breather like how Dead Souls was in between the main games.

5 needs to do extremely well enough that they green light six's release in 2017 here.

[Riku Rose]

I'm just wondering how the hell Yakuza 5 will do in the west before I think about anymore coming out here. The wait for 2,3 and 5 has been so up and down that I'm just glad when we get one more game let alone worrying what one out of three we will get.

Still I can't say I have much desire to go back and play the original as a HD remake. I love the game but the Yakuza series has never been something I've ever had a yearning to go back and play. Once I'm done with the game I'm normally done.

[Crimson Ryan]

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[Shin Pan Tzee]

Nagoshi just announced that Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano will be in Yakuza 6.

Holy...fucking...shit. Can't wait to see this.

If this game doesn't come out in the west now, i'll mimick Kitano in that picture.

[Crimson Ryan]

Yakuza 5 made the list for Game Trailers Top 10 Most Anticipated Fall 2015 countdown. The only PS3 game as far as I could tell.

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