Yakuza Community |OT| Complete Global Saturation

CannonFodder52 · Aug 20, 2018

Dreamboum said:
They removed michiru ? I didn't know that, did they say anything about it ?

I would have never expected the yakuza series to look at it and decide to cut that out, even though it was extremely offensive. I'm kinda surprised

mudai said:
About like 2 or 3 months ago Daisuke Sauto saidd that they will change a few things that aren't fitting the change in today's society which has different moral and ethical values (I think that's the words they used). I don't exactly remember if they also used the word offensive, but they clearly and rightfully noticed that the Michiru substory was offensive and doesnt belong in the game. It shows that they care to help change media and entertainment by not including such offensive content.

This is the quote, assuming it's translated correctly:

"However, 'Yakuza 3' was a work that was launched in 2009. Some of the content was OK at the time when taken from a certain point of view, but that content may not be very good with today's view on what's moral and ethical. You know, Japan's general social atmosphere has also changed a lot in recent years, so there have been very slight changes in the game's [depiction] of performances to match the change in today's current moral values and judgement standards."

It's from this GNN Gamer interview.

Dreamboum · Aug 20, 2018

CannonFodder52 said:
This is the quote, assuming it's translated correctly:

"However, 'Yakuza 3' was a work that was launched in 2009. Some of the content was OK at the time when taken from a certain point of view, but that content may not be very good with today's view on what's moral and ethical. You know, Japan's general social atmosphere has also changed a lot in recent years, so there have been very slight changes in the game's [depiction] of performances to match the change in today's current moral values and judgement standards."

It's from this GNN Gamer interview.

Well that's interesting, of course they didn't say that they did mess up writing this, considering that I don't think it was ok in 2009 to put a transvestite who chases you and is implied that she is going to rape you if you get caught, but at least they realized it wouldn't fly today.

I'm glad, that was the only huge blemish and caveat when it came to recommending Yakuza 3 to people so yeah, I'm perfectly fine with it being gone.

Do you think it's something that might also have been the result of back and forth with Sega America localizers and the japanese side ? I wonder how they would have had to deal with this, *if* this remaster were to come to the west with this content still in there. I just brace myself for all the people screaming for censorship (when we'll actually get most of the content restored anyway).

CannonFodder52 · Aug 20, 2018

Dreamboum said:
Well that's interesting, of course they didn't say that they did mess up writing this, considering that I don't think it was ok in 2009 to put a transvestite who chases you and is implied that she is going to rape you if you get caught, but at least they realized it wouldn't fly today.

I'm glad, that was the only huge blemish and caveat when it came to recommending Yakuza 3 to people so yeah, I'm perfectly fine with it being gone.

Yeah, very glad they removed it. Agree that I feel like I'd have to preface any recommendation for Yakuza 3 HD with a warning about this content. It was also just very bad.

Dreamboum said:
Do you think it's something that might also have been the result of back and forth with Sega America localizers and the japanese side ? I wonder how they would have had to deal with this, *if* this remaster were to come to the west with this content still in there. I just brace myself for all the people screaming for censorship (when we'll actually get most of the content restored anyway).

My gut feeling is it wasn't at all related to the western localizers, but I really have no idea. And yeah, I'm sure there will be people really upset about the removal, but I don't think they can direct too much of that at the western localizers.

Also, as Shadowman16 mentioned earlier, there are already people in English forums complaining about this.

edo_kid · Aug 20, 2018

Y6 platinum trophy is in the bag. Now gonna take a rest and come back for Kiwami 2 later in the year. Just hope that i don't get spoiled on the Majima new story, lol who am i kidding youtube will make sure i get spoiled, for sure.

shadowman16 · Aug 20, 2018

mudai said:
About like 2 or 3 months ago Daisuke Sauto saidd that they will change a few things that aren't fitting the change in today's society which has different moral and ethical values (I think that's the words they used). I don't exactly remember if they also used the word offensive, but they clearly and rightfully noticed that the Michiru substory was offensive and doesnt belong in the game. It shows that they care to help change media and entertainment by not including such offensive content.

Yup, that's the take away I got as well. The second I read that quote in the interview those side stories were what I thought of first.

Romain · Aug 20, 2018

shadowman16 said:
Now, the mail arrived today and so I got to take this photo:

Its so great to see my two favourite (Sega) series of all time stand side by side for the first time. What a heck of a month to get not only Yakuza releases but Shenmue as well!

Beautiful! Can't wait to replay Yakuza 3 on my PS4! That cover is so badass!

Stuart444 · Aug 20, 2018

I wonder when they will announce the remasters for English release.

edo_kid · Aug 20, 2018

Where's Kiryu cigarette on that cover?

mudai · Aug 20, 2018

Dreamboum said:
Well that's interesting, of course they didn't say that they did mess up writing this, considering that I don't think it was ok in 2009 to put a transvestite who chases you and is implied that she is going to rape you if you get caught, but at least they realized it wouldn't fly today.

I'm glad, that was the only huge blemish and caveat when it came to recommending Yakuza 3 to people so yeah, I'm perfectly fine with it being gone.

Do you think it's something that might also have been the result of back and forth with Sega America localizers and the japanese side ? I wonder how they would have had to deal with this, *if* this remaster were to come to the west with this content still in there. I just brace myself for all the people screaming for censorship (when we'll actually get most of the content restored anyway).

I don't think it has anything to do with Sega America. They might send them suggestions but in the end the devs are probably going to do their own thing. My gut feeling is that they actually realized that "stock characters" (stock characters because media / entertainment often use exactly the same type of character just for cheap laughs not even thinking twice that it's offensive) like Michiru are offensive and don't fly anymore today, even in Japan where the LBGT community is finally getting more and more traction.

CannonFodder52 said:
Also, as Shadowman16 mentioned earlier, there are already people in English forums complaining about this.

I'm not even surprised. It's sad, but also not surprising. The irony is that I saw some people on the internet even saying that this is censorship, lol.

shadowman16 said:
Yup, that's the take away I got as well. The second I read that quote in the interview those side stories were what I thought of first.

Me too. I remember rolling my eyes really hard when I encountered that sidestory back when I was playing Yakuza 3 when it came out. So I'm really glad that they adressed and changed it.

shadowman16 · Aug 20, 2018

Romain said:
Beautiful! Can't wait to replay Yakuza 3 on my PS4! That cover is so badass!

Yeah, its been a blast playing it again on my PS4. Spent the best part of an hour bowling, took a while to finally get my groove back in it, but ended up hitting strike after strike in the end! Tomorrow I'll finally get round to finishing chapter 5.

Romain · Aug 20, 2018

edo_kid said:
Where's Kiryu cigarette on that cover?

I'm pretty sure that's a sign that the game will come out in the West with that cover. You can't promote cigarettes in countries like France for example.

shadowman16 · Aug 20, 2018

Romain said:
I'm pretty sure that's a sign that the game will come out in the West with that cover. You can't promote cigarettes in countries like France for example.

I think its more that smoking outdoors is frowned upon these days in Japan (there's a whole thing about it in Yakuza 6 when you return to Kamurocho).

eyeball_kid · Aug 20, 2018

Dreamboum said:
Well that's interesting, of course they didn't say that they did mess up writing this, considering that I don't think it was ok in 2009 to put a transvestite who chases you and is implied that she is going to rape you if you get caught, but at least they realized it wouldn't fly today.

I'm glad, that was the only huge blemish and caveat when it came to recommending Yakuza 3 to people so yeah, I'm perfectly fine with it being gone.

Do you think it's something that might also have been the result of back and forth with Sega America localizers and the japanese side ? I wonder how they would have had to deal with this, *if* this remaster were to come to the west with this content still in there. I just brace myself for all the people screaming for censorship (when we'll actually get most of the content restored anyway).

Well kudos to the Yakuza team for that. A lot better than I can say for the Persona team with all the homophobic shit in P5. I mean there was some questionable stuff with the crossdresser in Y0 as well, but nowhere near as bad as Persona.

lucebuce · Aug 21, 2018

cj_iwakura · Aug 21, 2018

Wait, didn't the Y3 cover originally have a cigarette? Better than 3's US one, but still.

Beaten, lol. 3 is still the only one I haven't played(I own it though).

IIFloodyII · Aug 21, 2018

Yakuza 6 done, damn, what a ride, these games never fail in fully satisfying me, yet leaving me wanting more. But I will take a break and then jump into Kiwami 2 in a few months probably. Learned my lesson playing 4 and 5 back-to-back, can't wait though.

ZZChao · Aug 21, 2018

In regards to the missing Michiru substories & cover cigarette in the Yakuza 3 remaster: When you start up the game there is the usual text that informs you that it is a work of fiction. Underneath there is another paragraph that reminds the player that the game is set in 2009 and thus laws and certain depictions are based on that time (sorry, I cannot provide a better English translation). I've never seen a disclaimer like this... But then, I don't play many Japanese games apart from Ryu ga gotoku...Does Yakuza 3 really include that much questionable content by today's standards that it warrants such a statement? Or is it maybe just something they have to include as a precaution because of some legal thing?

Otherwise, I'm having a great time with the remaster. It is so great to be back. The micro-stutters during the cutscenes do sometimes take me out of the experience, though. I think I would've prefered an option to lock the framerate during cutscenes to 30 fps.

Dreamboum · Aug 21, 2018

ZZChao said:
In regards to the missing Michiru substories & cover cigarette in the Yakuza 3 remaster: When you start up the game there is the usual text that informs you that it is a work of fiction. Underneath there is another paragraph that reminds the player that the game is set in 2009 and thus laws and certain depictions are based on that time (sorry, I cannot provide a better English translation). I've never seen a disclaimer like this... But then, I don't play many Japanese games apart from Ryu ga gotoku...Does Yakuza 3 really include that much questionable content by today's standards that it warrants such a statement? Or is it maybe just something they have to include as a precaution because of some legal thing?

Otherwise, I'm having a great time with the remaster. It is so great to be back. The micro-stutters during the cutscenes do sometimes take me out of the experience, though. I think I would've prefered an option to lock the framerate during cutscenes to 30 fps.

Maybe it's for something more than mores ? Isn't Yakuza 3 a bit anti-american in the way that politicians are agreeing to expand american influence for the sake of money and how the CIA is just using Japan as their playground to flex their muscles ? Okinawa bases were a big deal in Japan at the time, maybe it doesn't look as good in hindsight when it comes to the political climate of japan

shadowman16 · Aug 21, 2018

ZZChao said:
Otherwise, I'm having a great time with the remaster. It is so great to be back. The micro-stutters during the cutscenes do sometimes take me out of the experience, though. I think I would've prefered an option to lock the framerate during cutscenes to 30 fps.

This would have been a nice feature for sure. I've managed to block it out of my mind now, so its no longer bothering me! but I do kinda hope we get a patch to tighten this up in the future. Its like the only minor blemish on an otherwise excellent remaster. The game runs so darn nice between the sharp new visuals, super smooth frame rate and near instant loading. I mean, if I wanted to be super pedantic I could complain about the Nakamichi Cub Sega dropping its frame rate for the briefest of moments when the fixed camera shifts from one point of the store to another, but that just proves how deep I have to dig to point out faults with the port, its fantastic.

Speaking of which, I've made some story progress (because it was either that or play Mahjong all day!) and I'm now on chapter 6. I love the cutscenes showing off all the new baddies in the game, though the end of chapter 5 always hits hard :( Now I'm back doing some side stuff and I have the amazing "Dragon on the Silver Screen" mission to do, which is brilliant. Can't wait to see what this chapters revelation is either!

ZZChao · Aug 21, 2018

Dreamboum said:
Okinawa bases were a big deal in Japan at the time, maybe it doesn't look as good in hindsight when it comes to the political climate of japan

Hmm, that might be it. I remember Futenma being in the news all the time in 2009/2010. Still, it's a bit strange that a disclaimer like that put in front of the Japanese release.

shadowman16 said:
The game runs so darn nice between the sharp new visuals, super smooth frame rate and near instant loading [... ] its fantastic.

It really is!!

CannonFodder52 · Aug 21, 2018

There's some new media for Fist of the North Star coming out of Gamescom

IGN - Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise Brings More Humor To The Series - Gamescom 2018

Verdanth · Aug 21, 2018

Urthor said:
woa okay one question

what's the song from the FINAL Kuze fight, the guitar pick one

Here you go.

shadowman16 · Aug 21, 2018

CannonFodder52 said:
There's some new media for Fist of the North Star coming out of Gamescom

IGN - Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise Brings More Humor To The Series - Gamescom 2018

Yeah, this'll be an elitist comment, but... that person playing the game is painful for me to watch (not literally). But, they missed every single QTE input, missed the quick kill moves, didn't experiment with the moves :( There's so much more to show off, even at the beginning of the game!

As for humour, other than some great bar tending side stories, the one that made me laugh hardest was absolutely:

Kenshiro making Hamburgers with his fists. Its so darn silly

CannonFodder52 · Aug 21, 2018

shadowman16 said:
Yeah, this'll be an elitist comment, but... that person playing the game is painful for me to watch (not literally). But, they missed every single QTE input, missed the quick kill moves, didn't experiment with the moves :( There's so much more to show off, even at the beginning of the game!

As for humour, other than some great bar tending side stories, the one that made me laugh hardest was absolutely:

Kenshiro making Hamburgers with his fists. Its so darn silly

Very excited for those side stories though. I hear it's different localizers so I hope the humour is still on point.

Also I see a promoted stream on the front page of Twitch, with a guy playing Kiwami 2 dressed as Kiryu.
It's cool that Sega gave out keys to Youtubers and streamers to boost publicity. Were they doing this with Yakuza 6 and previous titles?

shadowman16 · Aug 21, 2018

Nice to see Sega giving fan streams a spotlight. Hopefully Kiwami 2 does well next week before Spidey swings onto the scene. And yeah, I hope the humour and tone of FOTNS is done well in the translation. Sega have been on a roll recently with their localisations.

SolidChamp · Aug 21, 2018

Hey gang, I just started Kiwami and holy hell...they keep relatively the same battle system from 0 but decide bosses need to be insane damage sponges?

I just got into my first real boss battle with

Shimano

and I feel like there's a strategy I'm not seeing. He'd hulk himself up on heat and regenerate health (lame) and then it becomes damn-near impossible to get proper hits in on him and I can't execute my heat actions in time without him throttling me.

So what's the general strategy for boss battles like this in Kiwami? Kiryu's just come back and is rusty so now I'm fighting an uphill battle while plugging away at his skill trees.

mudai · Aug 21, 2018

ZZChao said:
In regards to the missing Michiru substories & cover cigarette in the Yakuza 3 remaster: When you start up the game there is the usual text that informs you that it is a work of fiction. Underneath there is another paragraph that reminds the player that the game is set in 2009 and thus laws and certain depictions are based on that time (sorry, I cannot provide a better English translation). I've never seen a disclaimer like this... But then, I don't play many Japanese games apart from Ryu ga gotoku...Does Yakuza 3 really include that much questionable content by today's standards that it warrants such a statement? Or is it maybe just something they have to include as a precaution because of some legal thing?

Otherwise, I'm having a great time with the remaster. It is so great to be back. The micro-stutters during the cutscenes do sometimes take me out of the experience, though. I think I would've prefered an option to lock the framerate during cutscenes to 30 fps.

If I remember correctly Sega of America did tone down some of the dialogue in the game that was sounding too racist in the original script. Since I doubt they touched the actual script (hard to do when you don't re-record some of the voices for certain cutscenes) they might refer to this with the paragraph as well. I feel like the change by broadcasters like NHK (or Japanese media in general) who completely banned the word "gaijin" when referring to foreigners and instead use the more neutral sounding and therefore political correct "gaikokujin" reflects this in a way (the difference between the two words is a far more difficult topic than most people think and not easily explained / described in just a few sentences). I actually don't know if they still say "gaijin" in Yakuza 3, but in the later Yakuza games they definitely switched to "gaikokujin", even though a tough Yakuza guy would probably not give 2 damns about the difference. And yes, many Japanese used the word "gaijin" in a non-harmful way, not even thinking that it might be hurtful. But of course it also got used in vile ways.

Again, I don't think the paragraph is exactly just for that one word (if it even still is in the game), it's most likely due to the general somewhat racist tone and comments towards certain characters and as Dreamboum said due to the political themes in the game.

CannonFodder52 · Aug 21, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Hey gang, I just started Kiwami and holy hell...they keep relatively the same battle system from 0 but decide bosses need to be insane damage sponges?

I just got into my first real boss battle with

Shimano

and I feel like there's a strategy I'm not seeing. He'd hulk himself up on heat and regenerate health (lame) and then it becomes damn-near impossible to get proper hits in on him and I can't execute my heat actions in time without him throttling me.

So what's the general strategy for boss battles like this in Kiwami? Kiryu's just come back and is rusty so now I'm fighting an uphill battle while plugging away at his skill trees.

If you aren't already, make sure you unlock and use the "Kiwami moves" on him while he's healing.

That boss is also just pretty unforgiving considering where he is in the game, it's not all like that.

SolidChamp · Aug 21, 2018

CannonFodder52 said:
If you aren't already, make sure you unlock and use the "Kiwami moves" on him while he's healing.

That boss is also just pretty unforgiving considering where he is in the game, it's not all like that.

Which skill tree does "Kiwami moves" fall under?

CannonFodder52 · Aug 21, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Which skill tree does "Kiwami moves" fall under?

~~There should be one in each tree that correlate to the color that the enemy turns into when they're healing.~~

edit:

evilalien said:
They are all in the Soul tree, below the center node.

SolidChamp · Aug 21, 2018

CannonFodder52 said:
There should be one in each tree that correlate to the color that the enemy turns into when they're healing.

Thanks, I'll work that out.

CannonFodder52 · Aug 21, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Thanks, I'll work that out.

Yeah, this wasn't explained well in the game as I recall.

evilalien · Aug 22, 2018

CannonFodder52 said:
There should be one in each tree that correlate to the color that the enemy turns into when they're healing.

They are all in the Soul tree, below the center node.

Zem · Aug 22, 2018

Is The Games Collection the best chance of getting Kiwami 2 delivered earlier on the weekend in the UK?

With it being a bank holiday weekend I really want to get this started ASAP.

shadowman16 · Aug 22, 2018

Zem said:
Is The Games Collection the best chance of getting Kiwami 2 delivered earlier on the weekend in the UK?

With it being a bank holiday weekend I really want to get this started ASAP.

I've heard good things about Simplygames as well going by the Shenmue threads (they got their games early as well). But I've no real experience with either. I'm working the weekend anyway, but I hope you get to enjoy the game over the long weekend :) Its a fantastic game!

Anyway, little bit of progress done on 3 today. I'm having some wonderful luck on Mahjong! Also did

the movie and stardust side stories. Stardust is cool just because it continues to flesh out the stories of Yuya and Kazuki, and the movie side story... well its one of the greatest in the entire series. That end cutscene!

LAM09 · Aug 22, 2018

Zem said:
Is The Games Collection the best chance of getting Kiwami 2 delivered earlier on the weekend in the UK?

With it being a bank holiday weekend I really want to get this started ASAP.

Probably. I received Shenmue from them on Saturday, so I'm expecting the same to happen with Kiwami 2 or arrive even earlier.

Noema · Aug 22, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Thanks, I'll work that out.

Yeah, make sure you get all three Kiwami finishers ASAP. Eventually you'll also unlock the finisher for the final style but you can't do it by using points. It's not as crucial since few bosses use it.

Now that I'm playing 0 after playing Kiwami first the difference in quality between bosses is astounding. Bosses are actually fun to fight.

Bosses in Kiwami were just pure undistilled frustration (or a cakewalk if you use overpowered moves like the tiger drop) and soured me on that game.

shadowman16 · Aug 22, 2018

Speaking of fun bosses,

Kanda

in Yakuza 3 might be one of the most fun bosses in the entire series. Its a fight that doesn't take itself seriously and is as funny as it is fun to do.

IIFloodyII · Aug 22, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Thanks, I'll work that out.

Tiger Drop is stupidly powerful in Kiwami 1 too, I can't remember how long that takes to unlock (I think it's the last Komaki training move, so might take awhile), but you punch literal health bars off of bosses. It kinda makes everyone a big joke.

Dmax3901 · Aug 22, 2018

Got my review code for Kiwami 2! Did the first few chapters last night.

To anyone who played the original/demo/JP version, what is the significance of the different 'kinds' of XP? I get that different kinds are used to unlock different things, but do they have names or anything? Like strength, defense etc?

Noema · Aug 22, 2018

IIFloodyII said:
Tiger Drop is stupidly powerful in Kiwami 1 too, I can't remember how long that takes to unlock (I think it's the last Komaki training move, so might take awhile), but you punch literal health bars off of bosses. It kinda makes everyone a big joke.

I think it can be obtained as soon as you get S on Majima Everywhere and you buy the appropriate painting for Komaki.

SolidChamp · Aug 22, 2018

I was so used to making mad bank in 0 that I feel neutered in Kiwami.

Is there an emphasis on economy in Kiwami? Will I be able to rake in some big bucks eventually?

Deleted member 1067 · Aug 23, 2018

Dmax3901 said:
Got my review code for Kiwami 2! Did the first few chapters last night.

To anyone who played the original/demo/JP version, what is the significance of the different 'kinds' of XP? I get that different kinds are used to unlock different things, but do they have names or anything? Like strength, defense etc?

Yeah go to the pause menu and there will be upgrade paths for the corresponding colors and how many of each xp you need to upgrade.

Also worth noting is that color corresponds to food type , or at least it did in 6. Strength (red) corresponds to meat heavy meals, agility (green) to fish heavy meals, stamina (blue) to carb heavy meals, and iirc special (purple) goes with drinks and specialty food items on the menu.

Also you might hit up the drug store as if its like 6 you can buy supplements there that offer quick and heavy injections of your chosen flavor of exp.

SolidChamp said:
I was so used to making mad bank in 0 that I feel neutered in Kiwami.

Is there an emphasis on economy in Kiwami? Will I be able to rake in some big bucks eventually?

Not really no, but it doesn't really matter that much because money is only important in 0 because of the setting of the bubble economy. K and every other game in the series just has various expressions of exp for leveling purposes.

IIFloodyII · Aug 23, 2018

SolidChamp said:
I was so used to making mad bank in 0 that I feel neutered in Kiwami.

Is there an emphasis on economy in Kiwami? Will I be able to rake in some big bucks eventually?

There's casino cheat items which will give you a lot of money, but take awhile to get them all. The Coliseum is really good too, but takes awhile also, you have to farm the final challenge and then buy the 400K point knife, which you can sell it for 1 million.

shadowman16 · Aug 23, 2018

As already stated money isnt a big deal in Kiwami. For levelling you just need EXP which you get in droves from doing side stories and beating Majima loads. Money is mainly needed for Hostess clubs, acquiring weapons and one point near the end of the game.

SolidChamp · Aug 23, 2018

Just wanted to make sure I'll always have the cash to eat wherever, whenever along with keeping a healthy stock of recovery items.

gachapin · Aug 23, 2018

Sounds not yakuze. Don't you want to live on the edge?

IIFloodyII · Aug 23, 2018

SolidChamp said:
Just wanted to make sure I'll always have the cash to eat wherever, whenever along with keeping a healthy stock of recovery items.

In that case, do the locker keys, get a "zero jewel" go to the Roulette table, save your game, then use the jewel, bet all on 0 or 00 and get like 30k chips. If you get it wrong (it's 50/50), reload your save.

8bit · Aug 23, 2018

My copy of Kiwami 2 just turned up unexpectedly early, but I've been playing Shenmue this week and I know if I stop partway through that I won't return.

Romain · Aug 23, 2018

Here is my Kiwami 2 review. I gave it 8/10 with our Editor's Choice label. For me it's a near-perfect remake: http://www.gameblog.fr/tests/3130-yakuza-kiwami-2-ps4

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