Yakuza

[exotic aurora]

Man these guys took a lot of care with the combat in kiwami huh

[jolly vault]

He wasn’t able to get into the robot after all. CH10 done

[old basalt]

Talk about close.

[austere prairie]

Man, this night must be the first time Haruka's eaten in forever lol

Rice ball, hamburger, orange, and now a meat bun.

Reina, what are you doing with this child.

[final bobcat]

Holy shit the Ebisu Socks have an annoying sound effect

[humble heath]

Last chapter is fiery AF

Done!

What do you know... Mark Hamill as Majima. Now I know why he sounded familiar 🤔

Mike Rosenbaum as Nishiki... Wow, the annoyance felt the same as Luthor in Smallville

Amazing Grace in the end is really a perfect fit

Best game this month

[jolly vault]

Ch11 done. Are there 12 or more chapters?

[final bobcat]

Observation: the Rush ability that lets you weave from a damaged state kicks ass

no more stunlock for me

[jolly vault]

Holy plot twist at the end of CH12

[final bobcat]

Majima dancing up behind me at the minigames like Kiryu-chaaaan ❤️

[queen star]

I read 14 here

[final bobcat]

So I've never had Majima force his way into a fight before. Am I doing something wrong?

oh shit I have never actually gone batting or karaoke-ing

or pool-ing. or photo-ing. hardly hanging out with hostesses either

I don't want to bother Rina tho

[final bobcat]

Chapter 9, thoughts on Haruka's identity ||her age is exactly right to be Dojima and Yumi's daughter :(||

[jolly vault]

Done, fantastic game. My favorite of the year.

[final bobcat]

Is it cheating to use the mouse and keyboard during ||the car chase||?

[hearty jungle]

Just you wait.

[old basalt]

https://tenor.com/view/the-wizard-lucas-the-wizard-lucas-power-glove-nes-power-glove-power-glove-nintendo-gif-8941764928314157831

[exotic aurora]

Why did Sega do this to the batting cages? They were perfect as they were

[willow flare]

Beat it. I have thoughts about the last boss. ||I spent the whole game mostly using brawler but was getting my butt kicked on the final boss. Finally had to switch up to rush and was able to beat him fine but it was kind of weird to need to do that at the end. I was so annoyed, I couldn't "dodge and punish" effectively with brawler||

[jolly vault]

I think the game wants you to use. ||Dragon for the final boss.|| I would switch it up a lot.

[tranquil rose]

I did not upgrade dragon enough and it was kind of annoying

[jolly vault]

It was the only one I didn't max out. There are some fun things with it. Back flip kicks to the guy behind you was fun.

[willow flare]

Also didn't upgrade dragon enough. With the rest of the game using points it was easy to leave behind.

[jolly vault]

Waiting for Majima to attack. Downgrades dragon.

[merry fjord]

I like the random guns

It's a always an Indiana Jones moment for me

https://tenor.com/view/indiana-jones-shoot-harrison-ford-nope-gif-11523430

BRB apparently going super saiyan

https://tenor.com/view/meme-anime-gif-22734101

||Shinji....no||

https://tenor.com/view/blade-runner-rutger-hauer-tears-in-the-rain-gif-3449960

[jolly vault]

#1312579709569335296 message

[willow flare]

||that one sucks, shinji was a real one||

[exotic aurora]

I'm excited to watch some of these scenes with the Japanese voice actors

I might cry

Especially ||fuma oyabun||

[jolly vault]

I cried at the ever end after the credits. Watch through the credits. There is some more at the end.

[merry fjord]

come along with me to the ||brothel|| little girl. It's a field trip

"it's a field trip" is Yakuza's version of "I was returning some video tapes"

https://tenor.com/view/i-have-to-return-some-videotapes-american-psycho-no-text-gif-26081564

[final bobcat]

I thought it was ||an underground casino||

[merry fjord]

Japan doesn't understand how hand grenades work

[jolly vault]

Those are just firecrakes

But they are kind Spot on actually.

[neon jackal]

Starting ch 8. Ch7 was long for me

[glass garnet]

starting kiwami, should i just do normal difficulty?

[hearty jungle]

Probably. Even normal can be tough at times.

[final bobcat]

Probably. I started on Normal and then turned it up when I realized I really wanted to force myself to more fully engage with the ins and outs of the styles

[glass garnet]

oh you can change it mid-game? cool. wasn't sure

[queen star]

Same . Yeah I wonder if all Chapters will be that long from that point

[neon jackal]

I did hear they get longer. I think I’d also heard a few people say they were really drawn into the main story at ch 10

[neon jackal]

I think others have pointed it out also, but eating feels funny in a different way than most games. From gaining exp. for eating a burger or ice cream to also just sprinting through a city from one fight to another with the very important mission I have to get done right away: oh and I’m low on health so better stop for a bite to eat.

[neon jackal]

Anyone take their multiplier over 99?

[jolly vault]

Trails in the sky you get experience from eating and learn the recipes after words. In oblivion you get stat boast for walking so far, jumping and whatnot

[neon jackal]

Yea. I think it’s the purposeful “going out to eat”. For some reason buying food from the shops and eating food in battles does not feel as jarring or funny to me.

I do agree it is not new or innovative. Just somehow the process of going into a restaurant and ordering food feels different.

[subtle juniper]

i just finished chapter 3. that boss fought felt unnecessarily tedious. hopefully they get better

[hearty jungle]

They do. The Shimano fight is generally known to be a pain in the ass.

[subtle juniper]

i had to do it twice. it took me a whlie to figure it out so the first one dragged on a bit, then he grabbed me and threw me and drained more health than i was expected. second time around was much easier, but just long for no real reason. i'm glad they aren't all that bad

[exotic aurora]

My favorite thing about oblivion tbh

Whenever I start a game of Morrowind I head straight to fast Eddie's and sneak for like 24 hours to get to 100

I used to kill him and take his house but now I like to use the manor that the one thieves guild quest sends you to. Man what a game. Want a house? Just kill whoever lives in it, it's yours

Become a thane and buy one from a jarl, bitch please

[final bobcat]

Goro-kun on Shichifuku Street ||the face he makes when you lap him lol||

also Majima on Pink Street oh my fucking god

[lethal ravine]

I was having a blast with this game but then I made the mistake of downloading balatro and then blinked and lost like a week of gaming time lol. I gotta get back and finish this one up. I gotta be near the end

[final bobcat]

Good news for you is that it'll probably take home a GotY category

[tight tree]

I keep getting distracted with other games too and I also want to savor this one a bit because I’m enjoying it so much. Trying to pull myself away from Ridge Racer Type 4 is hard though.

[lethal ravine]

It's a blast but I may have burnt myself out a little. I think I put in like almost 30 hours in a week (at the expense of my sleep lol )

[full pecan]

I did not like that purple coated boss at the end of chapter 10

Do they all have guns from now on? Is there a skill to dodge bullets, or am I gonna have to get good?

[final bobcat]

You might want to buy the bulletproof amulet that adds +7 to firearm defense. There are also some skill nodes that let you keep your shit together when shot

But yeah that boss was a little bitch. It wasn't even the guns. It was the fact that he was almost impossible to get hits on

[full pecan]

Any chance you remember where that amulet is from?

[final bobcat]

Looks like ||Purgatory||

[full pecan]

thank you

[neon jackal]

I’m playing original PS2. Incase anyone is wondering like I was multiplier will go over 99. I got 101 atm

[subtle juniper]

I walked into a convenience store and jingle bells was playing. I was not expecting that to be a thing.

[jolly vault]

Watch all the through he credits at end.

[subtle juniper]

I’m only on chapter 4 so it’s gonna be a while

[willow flare]

Oh yeah, this turned out to be perfect time of year to play. You'll notice a wreath on door in Serena as well.

[full pecan]

Well damn, appears I already had one

Just not equipped

[subtle juniper]

I thought maybe it read the date and adjusted. But I guess it’s just always December in this game

[pseudo cloud]

Just started Kiwami and wow this feels like an entirely different game that just uses the same story 😂

Also this does have a significantly better lock on system. Blocking with LB is completely separate from holding RB to circle around an enemy. Way smoother

[queen star]

I am at chapter 9 and the purgatory seller doesn’t seem to have it in stock. Maybe it’s later in the game ?

[final bobcat]

Weird. Hmm.

[queen star]

You playing ps2 or kiwami ?

[final bobcat]

Kiwami.

[queen star]

Maybe the amulet is not in ps2 then

[neon jackal]

I don’t think things are called the same between the two games. I may be called neckless or talisman

[queen star]

Thanks! I don’t think there is anything close to a bulletproof amulet though

[neon jackal]

There is a bulletproof shield. I used it in the club level where a bunch had guns but … it did not work well. However I also often forget there is a block button and just use dodge. So guessing it would be more effective with using block

[queen star]

Yeah I saw the shield . I think you indeed have to use block

[queen star]

The car pursuit mission … why just why

[neon jackal]

Agreed!

Just started ch 11 and that rooftop boss is cheap. Glad I finally picked up a table and was able to pummel him.

All your combos and skill building are just so helpful in a car chase… or getting stunned every other second from gun shots or failing to land hits while some duel gun toting fool leaps all over the place.

[neon jackal]

I’ve been finding dodge to be more useful against guns then anything else

[final bobcat]

Generally, yeah. Against some enemies that's not reliable tho

So the bulletproof glass amulet, and armors that have good bullet defense (I use the Yakuza Training Gear still), help

[willow flare]

I played Kiwami so idk how much different original felt but I almost never blocked

[round swift]

I was going to make some progress in the story but then the casino opened up

[hearty jungle]

Time to play on this big ass hotel room TV.

[neon jackal]

Ch 12 started

[old basalt]

Microwave for scale.

[hearty jungle]

Indeed! 😂 The picture almost doesn't do it justice. It's on a pretty solid mount that allows you to pull it out pretty far from the wall, and it's really pretty immersive.

Also, I'm disappointed in the lack of discussion on how precious of a little cinnamon roll Haruka is in this thread.

[old basalt]

Yeah, I’ve been wasting my time on mini games and substories. Time to buckle down on the real plot now, I think. I’ve got || the fighter || all settled, so my biggest distraction has been satisfied.

[round swift]

the side story with the judo master was kind of funny

[full pecan]

I dunno man, I’m at chapter 11 and I still reckon ||she killed all those people in that bar where we first encounter her||

Also I wish I’d written down my initial thought that ||the mother and aunt were the same person|| because it’s too far now for that to look like me being clever

[tardy cliff]

Loving the game. Makes me want to play all of them as well. But then I accidentally started playing Wild Arms 5 on PS2 and that’s kinda got a hold on me also!

[subtle juniper]

I had thst same initial thought, though I would have expected ||Reina to know that and Kiryu to have noticed from the picture||

[austere prairie]

For the second spoiler, I've had the same thought lol

[merry fjord]

cinnamon troll is more like it

https://tenor.com/view/haruka-sawamura-kazuma-kiryu-yakuza-slap-gif-19038628

[jolly vault]

I just didn’t want to use spoilers tags. || the way she teased them about women of the night is great|| she is very witty. My favorite part is ||after the credits roll and the Santa dialogue|| making the prefect game for December.

[subtle juniper]

My progress has been derailed by looking for locker keys

[queen star]

Oh I never looked actively for keys. I just pick ‘em up when I see them

[tranquil rose]

Love the ||Santa san part||

[subtle juniper]

I got the key finder (to be able to get things after it) and it just kinda became a thing because I didn’t have much else to equip at the time

It’s led me to a bunch of substories just from all the walking around

[jolly vault]

I love that the side content doesn’t feel like a bunch of filler. It fits the game. Plus you can ignore it and still progress reasonably well.

[worthy whale]

Does the PS2 version not have NG+?

[merry fjord]

I like once you have enough CP to be a marathon runner and you can just go around pushing people non-stop

and then outrun the random ones who get mad and want to fight you

https://tenor.com/view/yakuza-0-y0-yakuza-nishikiyama-kiryu-nishiki-gif-9952981833354214539

[final bobcat]

What difficulty?

[willow flare]

Normal?

[final bobcat]

...but do I get any cool moves from it

[final bobcat]

Ah. I'm on Hard. I do legit have to block a fair bit

[willow flare]

I also almost exclusively used brawler lol

[final bobcat]

also I'm at the point where I could buy the final dash upgrade, or I could be buying the completion point-gated equipment instead

I'm still using the Yakuza Training Gear as my main armor

Oh, I switch between Rush, Brawler, and Beast a lot

Hard really forces you to use the right style for the situation a lot of the time

[willow flare]

I wanted to like beast but soooo slow

[final bobcat]

Brawler took a while to grow on me, but the deeper in I get, the more I understand that Brawler isn't just the "medium" style. It's also the most counter-oriented style

[willow flare]

And rush felt like a really fast breeze of wind hitting enemies lol

[final bobcat]

Yeah, Beast does not feel good unless you're in really cramped spaces where you don't have to chase after your enemies

[old basalt]

Switch to rush or brawler, run over to the weapons you need to use for beast mode, then switch to beast. After the thing breaks, switch back to another style and run again.

[merry fjord]

I abused the shit out of Beast mode in any situation where there was loose debris nearby

[old basalt]

One of the cool things with beast is you can use a heat action like immediately, if you have an object in your hand. You don’t have to knock them down or anything. It’s great.

[merry fjord]

like that gang fight in the bar

an entire row of bar stools? don't mind if I do

[old basalt]

Or pink street majima

[final bobcat]

Yeah, Rush is good for building up heat, and then Brawler or Beast are good at spending it

Like Rush has some counters and stuff that spend heat but they do not feel worth it

[old basalt]

Street fight by a bike rack. 😈

[final bobcat]

Like the counter window on Rush's elbow counter is absurdly tight

Also the more counters and special moves I get in Brawler the more it grows on me

Because like I say, it is not just the "medium" style. It has some really interesting situational moves. And also Essence of Face Twisting.

[willow flare]

Honestly I found brawler to be "good enough" for most situations

There were rarely enemies that pissed me off

[final bobcat]

I have faced no end of enemies that pissed me off because I'm on Hard

which is fine. I signed up for this.

There are quite a few fights I've had to restart. Sometimes because I got careless, but in many cases because they really were that difficult

Then again I'm also trying to do all these fights in good faith and not just running around with 20 of the highest-tier Staminan or Toughness potions

[old basalt]

I just usually carry around a couple sushi sets. That's usually enough to get me through whatever situation I run into.

[final bobcat]

I tend to carry around some Staminan XX, toughness ZZ, and pork bento boxes

(also I never got to heat up my bento...)

[jolly vault]

https://youtu.be/uUAVl7eQV20?si=wbFlb0whWA9BIRfe

[final bobcat]

also I'm trying to remember what place had the amulet that reduces enemy aggro when you're surrounded

I would not mind having that

because goddamn enemies do not take turns in Hard

[tranquil rose]

Need

[final bobcat]

also mahjongg looks like a form of self torture

like the kind of thing your therapist would have to report you as a self-harm risk for partaking in

[jolly vault]

Looks so good. I hope it has a Japanese dub also.

[final bobcat]

OK looks like the thing I'm looking for is at ||the Coliseum||

still, I should probably start playing blackjack and see if I can get some of those swords or something

Anyone got any bowling tips, by the way?

[subtle juniper]

I’ve been warned that Majima is hiding in something that he had his crew install but I haven’t found him yet

[final bobcat]

Essence of Overhead Throw get. this whole thing is so cute

Also do you want a tip? That one is a bitch, since you don't have the KIRYU-CHAN radar yet

[jolly vault]

Straight down the middle 10lb ball. full power.

[final bobcat]

I started using the 14-pound ball three steps to the left, aiming straight ahead with a rightward spin (adjusted based upon how close to a straight shot I actually get)

I managed to get 60 points in my game against Majima. Like three strikes and three spares

No I think it was two strikes and two spares?

anyway

60-38

but yes the minigame thing is adorable

[neon jackal]

There is a bulletproof vest at the start of Ch 12: 250k fyi

It may be from playing the ps2 version but I’m not as impressed with this gate but particularly the story as so many others

I also only just started ch 12 so ending might be the best part

[final bobcat]

Also apparently I need to find Majima (fourth move I think) ||in a game club||?

||"game centers"|| it says

[full pecan]

you'll know it when you see it

[final bobcat]

I didn't know it when I saw it at first. You really have to be paying attention

bloody hell the crane game needs a fast-forward button

[subtle juniper]

I suppose I should stop looking down at the ground for things to pick up.

[final bobcat]

I mean, that's not a bad thing to be doing in any case

don't worry about that. Just... slow down a bit and pay attention to the stuff on the main roads

[final bobcat]

breaker majima in an alley is the worst

this fucker is better at darts than I am. what do

I got better at bowling but darts feels very swingy

[final bobcat]

Has anyone figured out any tricks for dealing with Breaker Majima? He's awful

[old basalt]

Beast mode bicycle attacks work well. Other than that, rush and dodge until he does his finishing yell and unload a combo. Hopefully knock him down and the brawl heat action.

[final bobcat]

Then he gets into Heat Mode and just breaks out of my combos. 😔

I'm whining. I've beaten Breaker Majima before. It's just tedious.

[agile oracle]

I've leveled up Beast mode a decent amount, and have super armor against most of his attacks. Just start mashing, and your attacks will be stronger than his.

[final bobcat]

OK, Essence of Torment on Beast does not fuck around

seems like the cure for the common nonsense

he is getting way tougher, and just powering up via the wheels isn't carrying me

[agile oracle]

Maybe not a popular opinion, but the Majima fights are starting to get annoying. He's not getting tougher, he just has a ton of health.

[final bobcat]

OK yes, Essence of Torment turns big heat into damage if you can manage to build up the heat in the first place

[neon jackal]

PS2 had no special skill level ups other than training with a master. I think I only upgraded Spirit to 4, Technique to 5, and Toughness to 6. I struggled in a few spots but not with the end game (actually thought the end was a lot easier than the middle). From what I’ve heard and what I experienced it sounds like play Kiwami if you can. I was much less impressed than a lot of others. It was alright but not as great as I felt it got built up.

I’d be curious to go spend all those skill points I was saving up to see what kind of difference it makes

Might be helpful to know I’ve never played a GTA game.

[old basalt]

Doesn’t really matter. The only real similarities to GTA are both are open world and dealing with organized crime. The similarities stop there.

[neon jackal]

Oh. Gotcha. I thought I’d heard they were similar.

[old basalt]

People do make comparisons, just because they do have those similarities. But outside of that, they really aren’t that similar at all.

[fringe zodiac]

Made it to Chapter 6 last nite after having a busy week at work. Fought Majima at baseball cage - hes a nutter. I did two side missions yesterday - one was the pickpocket. From the comments on the chat, i can see you can get absorbed in doing side missions. I am going to focus on main story for now and pick any side missions along the way...I want to finish the game before end of the year!

[old basalt]

The suck you in so easily. And they only take a few minutes… her hard not too do. lol.

[austere prairie]

I got my brother to bust a gut yesterday by saying Kiryu looked like a sad dog that got told "no cheese!" in cutscenes.

[final bobcat]

poor Kiryu 😦

also tfw I can't force the event for Dragon's Speed Reborn to happen

[austere prairie]

Alright, Chapter 9 time

[old basalt]

Just got to chapter 7.

https://tenor.com/view/haruka-sawamura-kazuma-kiryu-yakuza-slap-gif-19038628

[jolly vault]

This is my favorite GIF of all time. After playing the game.

[old basalt]

It never gets old.

[round swift]

I just started chapter 7 too. wasted 2 hours in chapter 6 playing texas hold 'em.

[hearty jungle]

Us slapping everyone that didn't vote for it the previous month.

We could've had Yakuza 1 last month and Yakuza 2 this month, but y'all were playing.

[austere prairie]

I'm liking Yakuza 1, but I don't know if I could play Yakuza 2 back to back with it.

[hearty jungle]

This is my journey through Yakuza from a different server. Some of us are built different (not better, just different 😂 )

Yakuza Kiwami 1 PC 9/10 4/11/2024
Yakuza Kiwami 2 PC 8/10 4/18/2024
Yakuza 3 PC 8/10 4/25/2024
Yakuza 4 PC 7/10 5/8/2024
Yakuza 5 PC 9/10 5/30/2024
Yakuza 6 PC 9/10 6/5/2024
Yakuza Like A Dragon PC 9/10 6/25/2024

[old basalt]

You tore through them all so fast.

Each game was done in a week.

[hearty jungle]

I really did. I'm thinking about going through them again taking my time and getting as close to 100% as I'm willing/able to. Still need to play Judgement, Gaiden, Ishin, and Infinte Wealth.

I just got super sucked into the story the first time through.

[tranquil rose]

Need to play them all before like a dragon pirates 🏴‍☠️

[austere prairie]

The story and characters is really carrying Yakuza 1 for me

I'm also super curious how much of an improvement Yakuza 2 is.

[hearty jungle]

Never played the PS2 ones, but Kiwami 1 to 2 is an improvement at least.

[tardy cliff]

I just got to Chapter 7, still a wee bit to go

[austere prairie]

Holy shit this ||car gun fight|| is friggin' awful lol

||Like for real, how the fuck am I supposed to aim at this boss when you have like three angles to actually even attempt to aim at him. and his stupid fucking truck keeps flying forward or backwards in a way where your aiming reticle absolutely can't keep up?||

By the way ||if you die at the boss you have to start the whole slow section over again.||

Probably the first time this game has actually annoyed the shit outta me. Absolute dog shit quality lol

[jolly vault]

Super scope six. Prepared me for all that.

[tranquil rose]

There's something similar in Yakuza 0. Not my favorite

[austere prairie]

Now imagine it on PS2 lol

[tranquil rose]

[merry fjord]

https://tenor.com/view/superstore-dina-fox-this-is-what-i-trained-for-i-trained-for-this-lauren-ash-gif-19204022

[full pecan]

Final chapter. Are the plot twists over?

[hearty jungle]

https://tenor.com/view/no-way-never-shake-head-schitts-creek-david-rose-gif-26023718

[austere prairie]

I don't think the plot twists ever stop with Yakuza

[final bobcat]

scrolls up

I don't know how I managed to do the ||car chase|| on Hard with my gamepad in less than five tries but apparently I did somehow

the temptation to do kb/m was so strong

I'm on the final chapter myself

plot twists in chapter 12 were good

looking forward to more, but I want to get Dragon's Speed Reborn before I go on the final mission and I'm having a bitch of a time getting the event to trigger

also getting Majima into entirely new hobbies is somehow both adorable and hilarious

[final bobcat]

cannot for the life of me make the event for Dragon's Speed Reborn trigger pls help

[final bobcat]

teaching Haruka important lessons like "this is how we get our ass beat by Majima"

[final bobcat]

Majima is an environmentalist 🌏

[final bobcat]

Dragon's Speed Reborn ||looks like I had to clear some more cups||

[final bobcat]

holy shit Majima is tough here

Dragon's Speed Reborn oh please help me ||Majima has two seconds on me still, and it's hard to boost without just removing myself from the track. I'm currently using the Ultra Low Profile Tires, Ultra Rocket Frame, Godspeed Motor Mark II, Ultra Balanced Gears, High Speed Battery, Heavy Suspension, and New Bumper plate. Taking off the suspension or bumper plate results in me going off the track, so those have to stay on at the moment. I'm not using a stabilizer because I presently don't need one to stay on the track, and they're a lot of added weight. I'm not sure if the Slick line of tires is supposed to have any advantage over Low Profile. Adding any speed at this point tends to result in me going off the track||

||switching to Ultra Slim Tires and adding the lowest tier of side stabilizers--gotta stick to the 45-point budget--shaved maybe a second off||

this is it. this is what Yakuza is about. it's really about shaving a second off of your slot car race time

My time: 0:36:236. Opponent's time: 0:36:441.

This is what it's all about.

Dragon's Speed Reborn get. Hell yeah.

[subtle juniper]

I got tired of looking so I looked it up. I never would've found him there. Mostly because I've used that hiding place in a fight before. At the time I thought it was weird and tried to pick it up figuring I wouldn't be able to. When I could, I figured it wasn't anything that special after all.

[final bobcat]

All right, I've got all but the last Komaki move, and all the Majima moves except for quickstep cancel, follow up finisher with throw, Time of Yinglong, and the bat-dagger thing

am I ready to go take on the final mission?

body, tech, and soul maxed, and 43/48 on Dragon

[queen star]

Does being drunk do anything ?

[final bobcat]

I think it makes enemy spawns more common? and there's an ability that makes you immune to stun and paralysis while drunk in brawler and I think dragon

Also, left off at a good place tonight. Chapter 13, 44/48 on Dragon including all but one Komaki ability and Dragon's Speed Reborn, 48/48 on the other three wheels, Dragon's Mail and Dragon's Binding, lots of other cool toys

Should be able to clear next time I'm able to sit down and play

also almost done with DKC I think

[worthy whale]

This is my favorite GIF now

[final bobcat]

We need a Majima emoji

[jolly vault]

Great minds think a like. #1312579709569335296 message

[tardy cliff]

I’m slowly getting more and more frustrated with the PS2 version. In fights when my Kiryu randomly punches in the opposite direction from any enemies. It’s probably a skill issue but it happens almost every fight

On Chapter 9 now

[full pecan]

Game finished

Man that ending sequence has some ripe dialogue

||”I was weak, in truth I had amnesia”|| bloody hell how about you be kind to yourself for once

[tight tree]

Happens to me on Kiwami as well. I wish there was a better lock on system. Or any lock on system.

Finished chapter 9. So far the Akai brothers with the breakdancing little shit have been the hardest fight for me.

[austere prairie]

Don't forget the most important lesson "||what is a soapland?||"

[old basalt]

It also makes your heat rise faster (angry drunk). Which is a pretty good benefit. It makes darts harder too. The icon will change from blue to yellow to red to show how drunk you are as well, so it will get a stronger effect if you keep pounding them down.

[queen star]

Oh so it’s actually a good thing to get drunk ! Good to know .

[old basalt]

It can be. There are trade offs. The enemies are more aggressive too.

[subtle juniper]

Ooh, Majima threw me a party. That’s so sweet of him.

[queen star]

All that Majima talk … I am at chapter 11 and still haven’t met him. I guess he’s kiwami exclusive

[subtle juniper]

Are you sure you’re playing yakuza?

[neon jackal]

He’s in PS2. In like chapter 1 before you go into Serna for the first time and I’m trying to remember what middle chapter

I don’t think he’s in it as much as kiwami from what I’ve heard

From Wiki:

“The remake of the game, Yakuza Kiwami, added further scenes where Majima stalks Kiryu, aiming to make his rival stronger through new fights.”

@queen star I feel like we missed out a lot on what others are experiencing…

[queen star]

Oh that cocky guy? Yeah I remember him . Not a major character in ps2 for sure .

[neon jackal]

Snake skin jacket and eye patch. He shows up in CH 11 or 12 and his last appearance makes it clear he was suppose to have a stronger emotive/story presence that he just doesn’t have in PS2

[queen star]

On the other hand we are experiencing something that the others are not : retro gaming .

[neon jackal]

Touché. I have no counter.

[queen star]

I am happy to play the first yakuza first . But yeah will maybe do kiwami in a few years … when I have a powerful enough handheld

[neon jackal]

My limitation also. Though I’m a little hopeful I sold enough old games and the like to get a Deck for Christmas

[final bobcat]

all right

Chapter 13

I've got all but four Dragon moves and it's a really good style now actually? (I'm missing the final Majima move, two of the Idol moves, and Komaki's final move, but I wanted to get Komaki's second-to-last move at least and I did)

Maxed on all other wheels

Dragon's Mail, Dragon's Binding, lots of good accessories. High-tech armguards and shinguards, the "don't all hit me at once" amulet, bulletproof amulet, heat gloves, brawler and beast amulets, probably something else I'm forgetting

inventory full of the best drugs Kotobuki Pharmacy can sell me, though I could swap a few out for repair kits

I'm not huge on my weapons armory, but I've got an infinite-use bat, Goemon, and a few swords (none of the really good ones but Dragon style buffs sword damage and they ignore block)

I picked up a couple of the spicy daggers since they're better than the basic ones. Honestly my best weapons are probably the daggers, since Dragon style prevents them from losing durability until I'm able to actually use a Heat attack with them

Goemon would probably get my repair kits if I use them

could drop a few other weapons from my armory for more daggers. My only knuckles at the moment suck and I don't want to spend more time at the Coliseum grinding points to get better ones, and I'm not enamored with the pole weapons that brawler lets you use without losing durability while calm

At this point I'm inclined to Just Go unless there are some really good weapons someone wants to point me towards, ideally that I could buy with yen (I've got 4mil or so lying around)

(wish I could tell the host club to hold onto the 300k I don't need it)

but I'm on Hard, so there's a part of me that wants to be ready for fucking anything

Are there any guns worth taking? or 1mil+ yen weapons worth buying?

any really powerful accessories I shouldn't pass up?

I could pack some sacrifice stones I suppose, in case I run out of restoratives

could grab the Sprite Belt actually

are nunchaku or kali sticks worth it?

or tonfa, for that matter

or guns. I've never used them before

OK Chinese broadsword is not bad

[final bobcat]

all right, I am overprepared. extra spicy knives and Chinese broadswords, a couple superalloy bats, the endless bat as a daily driver, Goemon, the Colorful Parasol, a couple named katanas, a couple photon blades, a stun gun, the yinglong tonfa, a couple sacrifice stones, and... I had five repair kits lying around damn

Maybe I'll regret taking five repair kits instead of five more Toughness Emperors but we'll see

[final bobcat]

I was definitely overprepared but right to bring some good weapons

[final bobcat]

all right, I've got some Pointers for the endboss, if anyone wants to know how to prepare

(I've realized I actively dislike using Dragon against this guy, it doesn't handle pressure well)

Dragon has some nice abilities, but under pressure, I'm finding Brawler is better for counterattacking and Rush is better for avoiding getting countered/pinned down

(this is in general, not endboss-specific or anything)

[final bobcat]

endboss-specific ||Rush. sitting duck to Rush. Medium speed, glass jaw. His attacks are just fast enough and he has just enough superarmor in them to fuck over styles like Dragon, but he and his attacks are slow enough to easily maneuver around and counter with Rush. Catch him outside of his attack animations and guard angle and he doesn't have a lot of resilience. Even Rush's limited stopping power is enough to combo him.||

||However, to interrupt his heal phases, you need the Dragon Kiwami finisher.||

[final bobcat]

Done. That's three completions posted in one day

[jolly vault]

Looks like “Like a dragon Infinite wealth” is on sale.

[jolly vault]

Love the ending after the credits it’s so good

[final bobcat]

It's a really good game in general tbh

Hearing that other games in the series are a lot better is like. Do those games raise the dead when played

[final bobcat]

also is2g

One day Kiryu is going to be, like, going down the aisle to get married

And the minister is gonna be like "You may now fight the bride"

And the bride goes "KIRYU-CHAN!" and pulls back the veil and oop eyepatch and goatee

[final bobcat]

Haruka gonna be showing the honeymoon footage a decade later and it's all fight scenes

("I'm so happy Kiryu-chan!")

tell me it wouldn't be the Good Ending

[subtle juniper]

😦 majima is taking a break

[final bobcat]

...do substory markers no longer show up on the map when you're in premium adventure mode? they all disappeared

[hearty jungle]

Isn't it one of the accessories that does that? Make sure you still have it equipped in that mode.

[final bobcat]

I think I see what it is. It seems like it resets substory progress in non-completed substories or something?

But no, like. Even without the trouble finder equipped, destinations for already-started substories showed up on the map in the normal game

[hearty jungle]

Ah, I gotcha. Yeah that could make sense. Maybe something they do to avoid unexpected conditions and soft locking.

[final bobcat]

...can you transfer premium adventure data to a new game+?

[final bobcat]

when do I get to pass the Dragon style down to Haruka

(or Rush I'd be down for that)

[old basalt]

Thats the next karate kid.

Wrong franchise.

[subtle juniper]

May 30

[old basalt]

https://tenor.com/view/hype-hyper-cool-wicked-koffahype-gif-25016915

[hearty jungle]

Yes.

[final bobcat]

ok good to know thank you

[subtle juniper]

I miss him. I hope he comes back soon. He’s just hanging out outside the park smoking

[fringe zodiac]

Had a good three hour stint now and managed to make my way to chapter 10. The car battle was a toughie. The story tho is GOAT

[round swift]

I liked this less than most. Good story, nice little world to explore, very generic combat even with Kiwami’s different modes.

Main issue for me is that the gameplay and story feel disconnected. Doesn’t feel like you make any choices that affect the story other than ignoring it in order to play mini games.

[tight tree]

On to chapter 12. Looking less likely I’ll be able to finish Mario RPG after this before the month is out. Really enjoying this one though!

[austere prairie]

It's a social studies field trip, so please excuse me ||bringing a 9 year old girl to a soapland.||

||casually punches marble statue to pieces||

God I love Kiryu

Even back in this early game, they had a good sense of humor, even if it only rarely showed up.

[queen star]

I just watched that scene also. A good one for sure

[austere prairie]

Most scenes involving Haruka are great. The juxtaposition of the 37 year old yakuza with a 9 year old girl is hilarious to me.

[old basalt]

Chapter 8 & 9 down. I couldn’t remember chapter 9’s ending being super difficult. ||You all had be intimidated. It’s not too bad, even with a Gamepad. Nearly beat it on the first try without using the bullet time thing at all. Second time was no problem with bullet time. ||

[austere prairie]

Are you playing Kiwami? Because I don't remember there being ||a bullet time||

[fringe zodiac]

Kiryu is such a bad ass mofo. Up to chapter 11 now. Tracking well to be done before end of year

[austere prairie]

Haruka, why do you want French perfume? Why is it $73!?

[fringe zodiac]

And done chapter 12 and finale were sagas and the twist and turns of the story were good. Glad to have finally played a yakuza game. The combat and sub stories were not for me but the main story was great which kept me going. Took about 12 hrs to complete and mostly stuck to main story and did a couple of sub stories but found them mostly cringey and not for me. I know others in this chat enjoyed them however which is great and the beauty of this community

[final bobcat]

Kiryu is a very likeable protagonist (aside from that one moment, you know the one) and I feel like that's doing a lot of heavy lifting for the story

Do not mistake his kindness and gentleness for weakness, etc.

Something this game does well, I think, is that he has a personality that's mild without being a doormat

[old basalt]

Especially when you do substories and he’s just willing to help everyone and try everything g.

[queen star]

Anyone did worse ?

[hearty jungle]

And that's a wrap lads! Enjoyed it even more the second time. Took a lot more time to do side quests, mini games and just soak in the world and story more.

Kiwami doesn't give as many stats.

[lost totem]

I did lol

[old basalt]

I’ve made it to chapter 11 now. Getting close.

[queen star]

Only 22 retries . Much better than me !

[queen star]

68 hours! Kiwami sure has a lot of content !

[hearty jungle]

This was a NG+ playthrough for me, so that's actually 2 playthroughs.

First playthrough was about 22 hours, so this one was around 46. I didn't engage with the side content much at all with my first playthrough.

[old basalt]

I’ll probably have more retries, but I refuse to bring food to boss fights for some reason.

[queen star]

We all have our habits lol

[tardy cliff]

At least ur isn’t like Skyrim where you can scoff potatoes mid fight 😂

[austere prairie]

I have finally finished Yakuza. Overall I enjoyed it.

I think the only part of the game that got me mad was the ||car chase|| section.

While I probably won't play it next month, I do plan on playing Yakuza 2 soon

[old basalt]

It’s not even like a deliberate thing. I just don’t ever buy and carry it around. If there are some medicines in the level, I’ll use those, but mostly means I just git gud during the boss fights.

[old basalt]

Chapter 11 down. Almost done.

[tight tree]

Finished. What a game. Now to see if I can finish Mario RPG in the next week and go 3/3 this month.

[brazen schooner]

About halfway through Chapter 4, enjoying this one so far.

[tardy cliff]

Just got to Chapter 10. Anyone any estimates about how long this will take me? I think there are only 2 more chapters

[fringe zodiac]

3 inc finale. Prob 2-3 hrs

[tardy cliff]

Are the fighting styles just in the Kiwami remake? I’m doing the original PS2 one and just heading to find ||Shinji in the derelict building|| but don’t have any fighting styles 🤔

[tardy cliff]

I’ve decided I hate enemies with guns

[austere prairie]

Yes. In the PS2 version you mostly just have the basic combo. Though some stuff gets added as you level up Technique, and if ||you talk to the old man martial artist in Purgatory.||

Also for enemies with guns, I definitely recommend having the ||bulletproof vest|| on hand. Makes them way less of a pain since ||it makes you automatically block bullets unless it's from behind.||

[tardy cliff]

I didn’t even know there was a bullet proof vest 😂 or an old martial artist guy. I feel I’ve missed a lot of on Chapter 11 I think…

[tight tree]

My completion time was just over 21 hours and I feel like I missed so much. Great game.

[austere prairie]

Mine was like 25ish hours iirc, but I felt like I did a decent amount of stuff

[subtle juniper]

Majima wants a break from me again 😦

[subtle juniper]

Chapter 9 time. I hope he doesn’t make me wait too much. Next fight should get me to A

[subtle juniper]

Wtf is my aim messed up in the car chase?! No wonder everyone hates this part

Is this seriously no way to make the aim work correctly?

[queen star]

No

[subtle juniper]

https://tenor.com/view/rage-gif-16541889570345929608

[old basalt]

Oh, is it reversed y-axis?

[subtle juniper]

I may drop down to easy at some point because switching controls to impossible just makes it no fun

[subtle juniper]

You push up to move the crosshairs up. And down to move them down

I’d be able to deal with that if the game had forced that on me from the beginning

But to suddenly be in a hectic scene and have the controls change like that, I can’t

[old basalt]

Huh. Interesting. Are you playing original or kiwami?

[subtle juniper]

Kiwami

[subtle juniper]

Chapter 9 done. Took four or five tries

Hopefully those controls don’t return

[subtle juniper]

Chapter 10 was quick. Looks like I’m at 22.5 hours so far.

[ripe tiger]

This man is my favorite psycho

[old basalt]

That laugh every time you talk to him. 😆

[ripe tiger]

He's like Joker with infinite more charisma

(the comic one, not Persona)

[old basalt]

He’s a playable character in 0.

[ripe tiger]

I was already going to play it, no need to twist my arm

I just finished having him repeatedly beat me to death

Mechanics are so good here, the only issue I have with any combat is that the health regen when you don't have enough heat for a Kiwami move is way too fast

[old basalt]

Yeah, they gain a lot that way. You can usually wail on them for a bit to build heat, but I think you break even at best.

[tardy cliff]

I believe I am close to the end. However, my game keeps crashing. ||Jingu just left on a helicopter.|| Any enemy I kill now, the game freezes. Really, really frustrating… nothing I can do gets me past this bit.

[queen star]

Yeah you are almost done. For me the game kept crashing at the same spot in chapter 9 or 10. I closed the handheld, recharged it , and it was ok after .

[tardy cliff]

I’ll try that. It’s down at 20%. I’ll be really gutted if it won’t let me complete it. I’ve loved the game.

[brazen schooner]

Chapter 5 down, feels like the story is ramping up.

[subtle juniper]

Majima! Nooooooo!!!!’

[ripe tiger]

Finishing up Chapter 6

I totally get why Kiryu is so beloved

[tardy cliff]

I ended up buying Yakuza 2 Kiwami on Steam and started it on my ROG Ally. Looks and runs great.

[subtle juniper]

I’m in 11 and I have 200+ xp but nothing left to use it on

I guess I need to fight less

[jolly vault]

Last month there was a deal for 0-6 for 60 dollars. I think it was priced great.

[tardy cliff]

Yeah, I have 3,4 and 5. Now have 2 to play through. I just can’t seem to get past this crash on Yakuza 1. So close to getting it completed as well. I might buy Yakuza 1 Kiwami to complete the set as it’s on sale also.

I don’t want to have to play through the entire game again though just for this months completion lol

[jolly vault]

The PS2 game crashes at one point that is no good.

[subtle juniper]

And I just fought majima again so now it’s something like 550

[subtle juniper]

Another one. 842

[brazen schooner]

I was making good progress, but I got stuck doing sub stories in Chapter 6. Having a lot of fun in this world.

[lethal ravine]

I have to push through and finish this

I've spent like 10 hours in chapter 11

SSS majima everywhere rank, pocket circuit racing master, skill trees maxed out

[lethal ravine]

They're this price right now for the winter sale

[ripe tiger]

I spent like 40 minutes on claw machines, but managed to get through chapter 7 today

[brazen schooner]

Finished Chapter 6, really enjoying my time with this one.

[tardy cliff]

Aaaaaand that’s my Sub Stories started in Yakuza 2 Kiwami 😂

[subtle juniper]

I’m on s majima and i can’t even know him down anymore. He blocks most attacks. But one hit from him and I go down. Kiryu needs to toughen up.

Fighting him isn’t even fun anymore. It just feels like a chore now.

[old basalt]

Use rush. ||Dodge his first few attacks and get away. His final attack in each combo ends with a big uweyaaaah scream. You can run in and hit him with like 4 or five good rush hits. Don’t use a finishing attack and be ready to dodge. Stop attacking if he gets stunned and use a heat action. Otherwise, dodge and repeat, storing up heat for a kiwami move when he starts healing. ||

[subtle juniper]

Rush is my least favorite. It feels like such a slog.

[old basalt]

But when you stun him, you can use a heat action for a lot of damage, so it’s good. Another option that works decently enough is ||the 5(x) + 2(y) brawler combo where you use some heat to do a spinning kick thing at the end, but he still will block it half the time and it’s less damage than the rush one when it actually lands. ||

[subtle juniper]

(Interesting Discord behavior. I was reading the spoiler when it was edited and Discord threw the spoiler bars back over the text. I had to reveal it again to finish reading.)

[old basalt]

Sorry about that.

[subtle juniper]

Unless you built that behavior, it’s not your fault

And I can understand why someone thought that made sense, but if I’m already reading the spoiler, I’m not going to be made by the new spoiler text

[lethal ravine]

And finished. Definitely gonna get back to this one and finish up the side stories. One of my favorite GotMs we've ever done

[subtle juniper]

Yeah, I’ve been running around trying to fill in the rest of my Dragon abilities, but I should probably focus on the story and do those in NG+

[subtle juniper]

I threw someone off the boat. That was fun.

[old basalt]

Final chapter. Finished all the substories. Probably just go end this tonight.

[subtle juniper]

And then off the dock

[subtle juniper]

I’m at the point of no return. Do I go?

[subtle juniper]

Wow

I’ll go higher in NG+ for GotY

[final bobcat]

Me over here considering whether I'm going to do a Legendary difficulty NG+ for my GotY point next year

I probably don't need to be that cruel to myself

[tardy cliff]

Still can’t get past the crash point on mine 😔

[queen star]

A crash point at the very end of the game, so cruel

[neon jackal]

Are you emulation? I had a crash in a different game get fixed switching from Vulkan to Open. But it was a crash during a cutscene

[tardy cliff]

Aye. Very, very upset!

[tardy cliff]

I’ll try see if that works

[old basalt]

Where is the crash again? Is it during a cutscene?

[tardy cliff]

It's actually while fighting the MIB at the end. Tried all rendering methods and still crashes

[old basalt]

Dang. That is very unfortunate.

[old basalt]

I don’t think you can save after that either, can you?

[subtle juniper]

Nope. I think purgatory is your last chance to save

[old basalt]

Yeah. That’s what I thought.

[ripe tiger]

I just fought the Akai brothers and that's the worst thing I've had to do in a video game in a long time

[old basalt]

I like that fight. Kind of fun with one breaker and a grappler at the same time. Have to get creative.

[ripe tiger]

I just never understood how to fight the breaker, he's stupid fast, dodges everything and has armor on everything

Ended up having to back up, wait for his five second attack animation then kick him once

Rinse and repeat

[old basalt]

That indeed does not sound fun.

I think people hate rush, but it deals with this quite well. You can get behind them and stun lock them for a full combo. And later on, you can counter their attacks with a heat action. It’s my favorite style. Not as good as brawler or beast in a crowd, but for 1-on-1, I love it.

[subtle juniper]

After all my complaining about rush, I used it a ton in the final chapter and it felt much better. Maybe leveling it up made the difference

[ripe tiger]

I unlocked the counter after, I needed that at the time

It's really fun to land

Also really enjoyed the end of Chapter 9, you have a ton of leeway to get hit. Nice virtua cop feeling section

[old basalt]

I loved it too. Mostly saw complaining about it. I thought it was a fun change of pace and I had a great time with it.

[subtle juniper]

Was this the car chase? I didnt hate the car chase itself. I only hated the broken controls

[ripe tiger]

What was broken about the controls? I thought it felt fine

[subtle juniper]

I understand why someone might think they made sense, but that person would be wrong

Up and down were backwards

[ripe tiger]

(playing Kiwami for clarification)

[ripe tiger]

Definitely was not for me, unless you mean you wanted them inverted

[subtle juniper]

I want them to be consistent

I played the whole game with up and down inverted. But that doesn’t carry over to this one part of the game

So all of a sudden, aiming felt backward

[ripe tiger]

I didn't feel like it mattered because there was no aiming at all in the rest of the game besides for like baseball and darts

[subtle juniper]

Games that don’t offer separate camera and aiming controls seem to group them together, like Astro bot

[ripe tiger]

I guess when it's a light gun like section I just assume that the controls will be like that

[subtle juniper]

I think Kiwami even offers separate settings for first and third person

Yeah, and that’s why I can understand why someone thought it was the right way to do it

You are moving the crosshairs around the screen. They go where you point.

But I’ve been aiming with inverted controls for long enough that they feel more natural to me

[ripe tiger]

Rush is just getting more and more fun the farther in the game I get

[subtle juniper]

Yeah, it was painful at the beginning. But it got way better. I should’ve listened and switched to it sooner

[ripe tiger]

I still prefer brawler for street fights and bigger groups but for 1v1 rush is the best

[subtle juniper]

I’m with you on brawler. I used rush for the boss fights. Either just the boss or the boss and 2-3 others that crowd

[old basalt]

Yeah, rush isn’t the best in a group, but 1-on-1 it’s the best bar unlocked dragon.

[subtle juniper]

I think I got to 25/48 on dragon. I could only take so much coliseum

It took me a while to figure out that that’s what I needed to do to progress dragon so I had to do it all at once pretty late. I may do more for GotY NG+ since I can space it out better

[ripe tiger]

Coliseum level one was annoying enough I just ditched it

[old basalt]

I like the coliseum. But I have rush early on.

The jiu jitsu guy subquest is fun too.

The crowd pleaser stuff is an interesting thing and helps level up faster.

[subtle juniper]

The first 3 or so tiers in the coliseum are 10-20 rounds. It wasn’t so much fun as it was boring

[ripe tiger]

jiu jitsu quest was great, and he was a fun fight

[subtle juniper]

I’d get crowd pleasers that weren’t possible. Like I’d use a heat move and then it would tell me to use one. Or it would tell me to use a finisher when they still had full health

[old basalt]

Huh? That wasn’t my experience the first several tournaments are 3 fights.

[ripe tiger]

mainly that if you lose you need to chug healing items and there's no store nearby

[subtle juniper]

Yeah, and each fight was 10-20 seconds long

[old basalt]

The casino is a store. I somewhat more tedious one, but also cheaper if you can play poker or blackjack reasonably well.

[ripe tiger]

I don't think being tedious is a plus in this case

I might do it again now that rush is better, before I finish the game

[subtle juniper]

It told me to taunt a lot but I never bothered to look up how to do that

[old basalt]

It’s not, but it’s close, and free if you can gamble well enough.

[old basalt]

R2. Super easy. Fills up heat.

But leaves you exposed for a few seconds while you mouth off.

[ripe tiger]

need to unlock it as well

[subtle juniper]

Hmm. I thought I tried both of the triggers.

[subtle juniper]

I would hope it wouldn’t tell me to do something I hadn’t unlocked. I don’t remember if I was 100% on everything except dragon when I was doing the fights, but I was close

[ripe tiger]

It told me to do it before I unlocked it

It's in the heat tree somewhere I think

[old basalt]

You should have had it unlocked the. I think they were cheaper ones.

[subtle juniper]

What a jerk

[ripe tiger]

Illegal fighting club crowds are mean

[old basalt]

It’s encouraging you to unlock them. That’s all.

[ripe tiger]

You've got to be kidding me || I'm fighting nishiki and I never unlocked the dragon style Kiwami move, and he regains health if I don't have it||

Luckily he's a pushover so it doesn't matter much anyways

[tranquil rose]

I had that problem too

[ripe tiger]

He could've doubled his health again and it wouldn't have been an issue

[tranquil rose]

I had to use like every piece of furniture available

[ripe tiger]

I just used rush mode, dodged around every attack and countered a few

And done, that's a wrap

Excellent game, fun combat, good side content, amazing story

Only issues where some gameplay decisions and some outdated mission structure (I'm looking at you Purgatory, I shouldn't have to run back and forth that much)

Now the question is 0 or Kiwami 2 next

[subtle juniper]

2

At this point I’d go in release order (using the releases of 1 and 2 rather than the kiwamis)

[final bobcat]

scrolls up

I actually prefer Rush even to well-developed Dragon for a lot of 1v1s

Dragon is just slow enough to get countered

It depends a lot on, like, the speed and level of superarmor of your opponent

Rush has issues against opponents that have enough superarmor that your attacks don't interrupt theirs

For opponents like that, you're likely to need Brawler or Dragon

But there are enemies that are, like. In that sweet spot where they're just fast enough to beat your Dragon attacks but just slow enough for Rush's counter windows to be viable

And also don't have enough superarmor outside of specific power moves to resist being interrupted by Rush

And I'm not talking about really isolated cases. I'm talking about ||Nishiki.||

||Rush walks all over him.||

[brazen schooner]

Chapter 10 down, ||goddamn||

[final bobcat]

Incidentally. Did anyone else play this on Hard?

I did, to force myself to learn the quirks and use-cases of the styles

[subtle juniper]

I was in it for the story, not the fighting. Normal for me.

[ripe tiger]

I did normal, and I'm happy I did till late game. Probably could've upped it then but I was running against the clock

[ripe tiger]

Story hits so hard

[brazen schooner]

Really does, very good

[ripe tiger]

Honestly can't believe I went this long without playing Yakuza, happy GOTM finally gave me a push

[brazen schooner]

Same, feel bad that I've slept on it for so long but doing so gave me an opportunity to own pretty much all of them for very cheap.

[ripe tiger]

I've even had most of them for a while

Just never played them

[tranquil rose]

You can definitely feel it's a PS2 game even playing kiwami because of a lot of weird pacing

[ripe tiger]

A few too many "walk across the map, talk, walk back, talk, walk back, and if you're lucky you fight once."

[subtle juniper]

The side quests made that feel less tedious

[ripe tiger]

I didn't give myself enough time so that's partially on me for having to somewhat rush

[subtle juniper]

That’ll do it. Looks like I stopped playing 0 on the 8th so I was able to spread out my playtime over ~20 days

[neon jackal]

I’m kinda glad that both versions were allowed but I sound like the story was developed a lot more in newer version. I feel like even though we played the “same game” I really missed out.

Sounds like the story was not as flushed out in PS2 version and those who played PS2 really missed out.

It sounds PS2 was bare bones and that a lot of what people loved about the game was the additions made.

[ripe tiger]

Oh I wasn't aware the story changes were that significant

[subtle juniper]

The main quest is the same. Kiwami has more side quests. And there are more (or maybe just longer, I’m not sure) cutscenes about Nishiki

[neon jackal]

Have you played both? It sounds like the essential plot is the same but. It actually the telling or character development

It sounded like they added a lot to the cutscenes within the main quest to actually really develop the story and characters a lot more

I mean it kinda feels like saying reading the cliff notes of a books is the same as reading the book

[subtle juniper]

I have not. It sounds like what got added to the cutscenes was to flesh out some of the details from 0

[tranquil rose]

I always thought most of what got added was that nishiki cutscenes

Fills in the gap between zero and kiwami

I haven't played the original though

[ripe tiger]

That would make sense considering I don't think those cutscenes added all that much

They were neat, but certainly not essential

[brazen schooner]

Chapter 11 done, should be able to wrap this one up by tomorrow

[subtle juniper]

Nishiki plays a big role in 0 and it’s very different from his role in 1. The cutscenes were added to explain how he got where he got so that people who played 0 would be less confused. If you haven’t played 0, they don’t add much

[old basalt]

At least the map is pretty small. Even running around, it only takes a couple minutes. Taxis speed things up quite a bit too.

[ripe tiger]

Purgatory is the real pain, it's just a long hallway

[old basalt]

yeah, that part is unnecessarily long. Just for vibes the first time through.

[ripe tiger]

And you need to go through the park, which is just completely useless and has almost no point

[hearty jungle]

Yeah, that whole area feels kinda meh in 1. I remember it getting better through out the series. Also Kiwami 2 and 6 allow you to freely walk in and out of doors without having to press A to enter, which allowed them to exapnd the map more than you'd expect, since it's still the same core map. Mainly just being able to more fully explore some of the buildings, but it also adds some short cuts once you get familiar enough with the map.

[austere prairie]

The top half of the map in general wasn't great tbh. Especially the top right though.

[hearty jungle]

Yeah, you're not wrong. The top 3rd feels pretty empty.

[austere prairie]

I feel like I wouldn't have minded as much if they had one more taxi spot.

Like, right in front of the Millenium Tower or something.

[tranquil rose]

They never really develop that part of the map. Even in judgment

[tardy cliff]

I think Rapid should award me half a point because I can’t finish it no matter what I try 😂

[jolly vault]

It's where the homeless live. There is never much development where there is lots of homeless.

[brazen schooner]

Yakuza Kiwami done. What a great game!

[exotic aurora]

Just discovered the bug lady card game

First of all, what the hell

Second, I feel like I could actually get a good year out of this game if I wanted to

[brazen schooner]

Easily, taking your time and doing all the things

[old basalt]

It’s based on a real sega arcade game, but it used actual bugs instead of women. And yes, it’s very weird.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushiking:_The_King_of_Beetles

[exotic aurora]

Didn't that get a Dreamcast port too? Or is that a second Sega beetle fighting game

Yep, that's a different one. Apparently this one did get ported to GBA and DS though

[exotic aurora]

Lmao Majima's scam bar

I'm so endeared

[final bobcat]

yeah Majima is kind of amazing

[exotic aurora]

King

[exotic aurora]

Oh I like the extra nishiki scenes

||"this never would have happened if it was kiryu"|| god DAMN

[hearty jungle]

Yeah that cuts deep.

[exotic aurora]

Yeah I now understand why ||I fight him at the end||

[tranquil rose]

Finished Kaito Files. I just love everything about this series. I'm probably going to jump into kiwami 2 despite having a ton of other stuff in the backlog

[final bobcat]

looks up

Yeah. It's just... hngh.

||To think that Nishiki's own incompetence and mismanagement killed his sister, and Kiryu literally would have been better at keeping her alive than Nishiki was, had he not just given right in to the urge to fall on the gun to protect Nishiki||

[final bobcat]

(sorry, responding to this there, for context of what's under the black marker)

[exotic aurora]

Yeah and the fact that kiryu falling on the gun is part of what makes him better. What can nishiki even do but be bitter

I really like the retcons/additions to this game. Exhibit A:

[exotic aurora]

I love him

[lucid helm]

Wrapped up Kiwami for my gotx goty game. I enjoyed it, but not as much as 0 when I played that game earlier in the year

[final bobcat]

I have heard that Yakuza 1 is slightly aged, even in the Kiwami remake. It was still a really good game tho

[pseudo cloud]

I have to make time to play more Kiwami for GOTY

I was liking Yakuza PS2 a lot, so I decided to switch to Kiwami for the “better” experience, but when hopping in I felt like I actually like the combat less? Or rather, it’s more complicated and I’m worse at it? Also everything story wise seems to be taking a lot longer

But visually it’s incredible

[lucid helm]

I play the Yakuza games on easy 😶‍🌫️

actually i play a lot of games on easy these days. not a lot of time to play games means i dont want to spend precious time restarting fights or getting frustrated

[tranquil rose]

I love easy mode