Bought Kiwami because I really wanted to play more Yakuza. Loving it so far and took some of your advice and I have to say now that I actually spend more time on the streets and try to not use the map the environment feels much better and interesting.
Gotta ask though... Is there missable content in Kiwami? If so is there any good list of what etc?
Assuming you've not done the huge set piece at the end of the game yet, your certainly in for a treat. I had to finish the story before doing the side stuff as I just had to know how it ends!
I haven't yet. But I'm super excited to hear that I'm in for a treat. I wonder if it'll be as long as the final set piece in Yakuza 5. I always feel like that I at least want to get all the side quests out of the way before hitting the finale. I can easily do the other stuff in Premium Adventure, but for whatever reason I always want to do the side quests before hitting the final chapter(s). As to where I am right now (chapter 12):
Just had the big talk in New Serena (basically the continuation of lots of reveals and twists hehe) and I'm about to leave with the taxi to go back to Onomichi.
Watching the soda can dispensers in Yakuza 6 made me say for the first time in my life "Men, Yakuza is the spiritual sucesor of Shenmue"
By the way, what's the point of the trial now? I can't go to sega arcade and I quickly can't go to Little Asia to advance the story, at this point I would rather not have part of the story on the demo, albeit now at least I guess that I could skip it in the main game right?
What makes 6s combat trash? Decided to give the demo a go and tried a few fights and it felt good except for the zoom in when doing that heat power up thing, that was really bad. Think they might patch that part?
Kamurocho looked amazing though and can't wait to run around when it's night!
What makes 6s combat trash? Decided to give the demo a go and tried a few fights and it felt good except for the zoom in when doing that heat power up thing, that was really bad. Think they might patch that part?
Kamurocho looked amazing though and can't wait to run around when it's night!
They aren't patching that. Its in the full game, and in Kiwami 2 as well. I had no issues with it personally, I liked the extra details you see on the enemy models - like the skin rippling on impact.
As for general combat complaints in 6 - its just pretty bare bones in terms of moves. You unlock a few more, but you don't get as many heat moves as previous games, or weapons. Kiwami 2 fixes both these issues though, and speeds up the combat somewhat so it feels far slicker.
I wouldn't say the combat was bad myself, I still had loads of fun with it, its just a step back moves wise compared to other entries in the series. They pretty much fixed all my issues with Kiwami 2 though, its just a matter of them moving to a new engine. Shin RGG should in theory be better still.
Yakuza combat has never been its strongest point, but at least with zero and kiwami, the 60 fps helped it to make it less of a bore. With 6, we return to the choppy combat from the older games
It was fine on the pro for me, really didn't see choppiness. 5 was a bit off at times, but other games like 3, 4 and kenzan were fine at 30fps. 60 is better of course, but it doesn't really hurt the games that much, kiwami 2 felt pretty smooth for a 30fps game (in my opinion)
It was fine on the pro for me, really didn't see choppiness. 5 was a bit off at times, but other games like 3, 4 and kenzan were fine at 30fps. 60 is better of course, but it doesn't really hurt the games that much, kiwami 2 felt pretty smooth for a 30fps game (in my opinion)
Boost mode makes no difference for 6, its already pro "upgraded". So like any other Pro patched game, boost mode has no effect on 6. The "upgrades" for 6 on the Pro are:
it runs at a higher resolution,
eliminates screen tearing
and runs smoother compared to the base PS4 version.
Its not the smoothest Yakuza game I'll give you that, but I didn't really see choppiness for the game myself, only jarring experiences I had were going from playing the arcade games to the main game - the drop from 60 to 30 frames is instantly noticeable and took a couple of minutes to re adjust to, but it didn't bother me after that.
Performance wise, Yakuza 6 felt a bit jarring and rough for under an hour, then I forgot about it and the thought didn't enter my mind again for the rest of the playthrough. I was on Pro though.
I should note that trying to play with the claw, looking around while running makes it feel sluggish. So yeah, I wouldn't recommend the claw position for exploring the city.
Fairly certain its the same as 6 in res. So 900p on base, 1080p on Pro. As for upgrades on the Pro? No idea, as they optimised the engine more in Kiwami 2 so I don't believe screen tearing is an issue anymore on base consoles. So it might be a bit smoother on the Pro but that's it? Sega never put out any details of any of their games Pro enhancements so its impossible to really say :(
Fairly certain its the same as 6 in res. So 900p on base, 1080p on Pro. As for upgrades on the Pro? No idea, as they optimised the engine more in Kiwami 2 so I don't believe screen tearing is an issue anymore on base consoles. So it might be a bit smoother on the Pro but that's it? Sega never put out any details of any of their games Pro enhancements so its impossible to really say :(
They aren't patching that. Its in the full game, and in Kiwami 2 as well. I had no issues with it personally, I liked the extra details you see on the enemy models - like the skin rippling on impact.
As for general combat complaints in 6 - its just pretty bare bones in terms of moves. You unlock a few more, but you don't get as many heat moves as previous games, or weapons. Kiwami 2 fixes both these issues though, and speeds up the combat somewhat so it feels far slicker.
I wouldn't say the combat was bad myself, I still had loads of fun with it, its just a step back moves wise compared to other entries in the series. They pretty much fixed all my issues with Kiwami 2 though, its just a matter of them moving to a new engine. Shin RGG should in theory be better still.
Thanks for the response! I only tried the heat mode twice so completely missed the extra details.
Anyway, doesn't sound too bad and going by your info I will enjoy it at least as much as zero and Kiwami. And the fact that there is no battle transition loading is just awesome.
Thanks for the response! I only tried the heat mode twice so completely missed the extra details.
Anyway, doesn't sound too bad and going by your info I will enjoy it at least as much as zero and Kiwami. And the fact that there is no battle transition loading is just awesome.
6 is great. I'm sure you'll enjoy it far more than Kiwami at least.
There's a bit of roughness to it since it's the first game on the new engine, but overall it's a tremendous experience.
The new advancements are huge, the most substantial engine and gameplay enchantments since the first Yakuza games on PS3 in 2008. It has one of my favorite stories in the series. The new town Onomichi, a small harbor/industrial town, is gorgeous and one of the most atmospheric locations in all the Yakuza games.
Just got my Yakuza 6 review code and I go away on vacation tomorrow. At least I will have some downtime so I can remote play it for a few hours a day :X
Played a few hours of Yakuza 6. The 30 FPS is a shame and the combat doesn't feel as satisfying but the world feels great and the cut-scenes are incredible.
Well, I just beat Yakuza 6. Credits rolled over my screen, I reloaded my save I did before the final fight (PSA: you can only have up to 30 save files!), put the difficulty on Legendary and got my platinum trophy in the process. In the end it took me about 64 hours beating the game while also doing all sidequests while also playing all mini-games to completition that can actually be completed. I won't post any open spoilers (obviously!) but I will share my thoughts on the story and the ending itself in a spoiler tagged part at the end of this post. So you better not click that if you haven't already beaten the game. Without going into story details: I did enjoy the story. I can see why some of the impressions coming from Japan when the game got released were mixed, maybe because some expected Kiryu and all the other fan favorites going guns blazing together throughout the whole game or something. It's not like that. Not at all. While the game does follow directly after Yakuza 5, it pretty much has its own plot with its own characters and more. I did enjoy this story. I liked the characters. I found it intriguing. However, I do have some mixed feelings about the actual ending, which I will write more about in the spoiler part at the end of this post.
As for the game itself: I really like it. It's certainly not the best Yakuza game, but it's still a really good Yakuza games. Yes, it is a bit more limited compared to the other games, which is the price they had to pay using a new engine. However, there's still a lot to do in it. The sidestories are all really well done, fully voiced and often hilarious. "Only" having 50 of them is still plenty and it will take a while finishing them, mostly because some of them do take longer. And I kinda appreciate that. They put the "go up a NPC, see that they're in danger of getting beaten, beat the thugs, sidestory done"-like sidestories all into the Trouble Finder, with some of those also telling some very short stories as well. Yes, some minigames like the casino, the other gambling games, shogi, bowling etc. are missing, but there's still plenty to do in the world. The new minigames like the baseball management simulation are all fun. I especially had fun doing the snack bar in Onomichi. Don't sleep on that, it's a great part of the game with some great dialogue and touching stories.
The Clan Creator on the other hand... well... it's pretty mindless the second you have some powerful members. If you want to have at least a tiny bit of challenge you better hold off using the "DLC" characters from those codes Sega was handing out. I used said codes and pretty much ran over all missions without having to use any form of strategy, haha. That being said: while the storyline tied to it isn't that interesting, it's fun seeing all those NJPW wrestlers interact with each other. Especially if you know their catchphrases (I was only familiar with Okada and Naito personally), special moves etc. I don't know if they improved on the Clan Creator in Kiwami 2. It's a nice little side activity that can be fun, but from a gameplay perspective I found the other new activities like spearfishing (a fun little rail shooter) or the baseball management (train players, put them on the right positions, simulate games and bat at key moments in the game) to be more entertaining. Speaking of entertaining: the chat minigame is hilarious. Definitely pay attention to the chat itself from time to time (hehe), some of those users have some hilarious comments and names. Once again hats off to the localization team. They went above and beyond yet again. They even improved on their Mahjong translation again by adding letters and numbers to some of the tiles (they already did that with the shogi pieces in Yakuza 0) to make them easier to read for people who don't know the Kanji. Speaking of Mahjong: I still suck at it, but I think I'm becoming better. I will play a lot of Mahjong in Premium Adventure I think as I want to get better at it. Same goes for the arcade machines in Club Sega. Virtua Fighter 5? I can't say no to that. I already see myself just starting the game just to play a few rounds of VF5. Same goes for Puyo Puyo as well as all the other classic arcade games that were already in Yakuza 0. It's good to have them all in the same game, but for the future I hope they will continue to include new ones like they did in Kiwami 2 with Virtua On. I did enjoy they new hostess club dialogue system as well. Instead of just reacting to questions the hostess asks Kiryu, you pick topics from cards and try to create some sort of dialogue flow. You sometimes have to react to certain questions or comments by the hostess. It works pretty well.
The new engine is great aside from some minor framerate issues here and there as well as some tearing. From what I saw in the Japanese Kiwami 2 demo they improved on that. The new engine also helps with the immersion of the game. Personally I think Yakuza 6 is the most immersive game of the series yet. The seamless transition when entering / exiting buildings helps too. Never would I have thought that having those seamless transitions would do so much for me. It just feels great entering a store or restaurant without a loading screen. I also want to think that they put even more attention to detail for the interiors of the buildings. There's a lot to discover and I could spend hours looking at stuff in first person mode. Speaking of: You can walk around in first person mode, which I something I recommend at least doing once. Soak in the atmosphere of nigth time Kamurocho, look at all the signs, commercials etc. There's a lot to discover. The inclusion of the vending machines is pretty cool, too. I'm actualy surprised that Yakuza 6 is the first one having them, after all it's not just like they only started existing around the time Yakuza 6 came out in Japan. The drinks all give different temporary buffs, which is quite helpful. Unfortunately the hotel and champion district are both not accessible in Yakuza 6. The in-game reason actually makes some sense (I'm glad they included that, it's better than just having an invisible wall), but it's still a bummer that they couldn't finish those. Thankfully they are back in Kiwami 2.
And then there's Onomichi, which is like the complete opposite of Kamurocho in every way. It's great, one of the best towns the Yakuza team has ever created. Not only is it beautiful (seriously I could spend hours just wandering around during dusk looking at the scenery and soaking everything in), they pretty much nailed the atmosphere of a small rural town where not much is going on. There's still a lot to discover and I immediately fell in love with it. I fell in love with the NPCs there and I had tons of fun doing the snack bar minigame and subplots What I especially loved (tiny snack bar spoiler following)
once you get recognized by the other people in the bar, they will greet you by name when you go to their own store like the Pawn Shop. That's a great detail. After all why wouldn't the Pawn Shop owner, who just had a nice drink with Kiryu not recognize him?
I'm very much looking forward to what kind of town the Yakuza team is doing next.
I do like the weight of the battle system. Punches and kick have a nice feel and impact to them. However, it's definitely a step down compared to the previous games. I'm fine with having only one style, but unfortunately the moves are pretty bare-bones. It specially shows during the heat moves when using items, as a lot of them share the same animations. You do unlock a couple more moves (including heat moves), but it never reaches the level of the previous games. From what I saw in the Kiwami 2 demo they improved a lot on that too, though. Still, fighting is fun, especially the giant brawls.
The soundtrack, while maybe not as memorable as 0's, is also pretty good. Especially some of the later boss battle tracks are all amazing.
There's so much more to talk about, but I already wrote a lot. So let's finish this with some brief thoughts on the story and especially the ending (also including some thoughts on the future of the Yakuza games):
Well, I did cry. Hard. I didn't want it to end this way. And thankfully it didn't. But when Kiryu closed his eyes after the final battle, Haruka started crying and the initial credits started rolling, I couldn't hold my tears anymore. "Not like this", I said to myself. I didn't want it to end that way. Mostly because it was the cheapest possible way to end Kiryu's saga. What they did afterwards is definitely better, but it still feels a bit sad. Because in the end he's still dead for Haruka, his friends and all the kids at the orphanage. The money he accepted (with his own conditions at least) does help to make their lifes easier and he made sure that no Yakuza war was breaking out in Hiroshima, but in the end he's still dead to everyone accept Date, who knows the truth. Akiyama smelling that something was foul is a great detail, though. And I'm glad that they at least ended it this way instead of actually killing Kiryu. I think my heart couldn't have taken that. I spent too much time with this character to just see him die. Also, because he's still alive but pretty much a ghost to the public now, there's still the option for him to appear again in the future. Even Akiyama said to Date that maybe one day he will feel like telling him the truth, as Akiyama didn't believe Date for a second that he saw Kiryu's dead body before he got incinerated. I doubt they will do it (at least not soon) but who knows in which direction the games will go in the future. I don't think he would be a playable character by then (after all he's almost 50 now), but maybe as a NPC? Who knows. Again: I don't really think it will happen, at least not soon, but they at least would have the option. And god dammit, I just want him to live a happy and peaceful life with Haruka and the kids at the orphanage. Shin Ryu ga Gotoku will take place after 6, so the characters that are still alive might actually appear in some way. This includes Akiyama, who talked about being close to opening Sky Finance again. I really hope to see Akiyama again. In general I just hope we will see some of the familiar faces again. A new main character should mean new faces, but having some of the familiar characters appear again (even just as brief camoes) would be a nice touch.
What saved the ending for me were definitely the final scenes. I didn't expect Kiyomi to still be alive. Normally when someone gets shot in a Yakuza game they die for real. In her case we only heard the shot but never actually saw it. It's just nice to see that things ended in a happy way with her and Kiryu (even if almost everyone thinks he's dead) still being alive. The very last scene was one of the best I've seen in the series. Haruto taking his first steps in synch with Kiryu walking away from the orphanage was great. In a way it was like the past and future moving at the same time. Kiryu walking to his deserved retirement, while Haruto symbolized the beginning of a new future. It was a great way to end the game and it definitely helped me get the sour taste out of my mouth that the final boss of Kiryu's saga was just this punk Iwami son. Ugh. That is something I didn't like. I didn't expect Kiryu to go head to head against Majima or the entire Tojo Clan or something, but I think they could've done better in this department for sure. And they actually did with the penultimate fight, when you run the gauntlet through the Millenium Tower and some crazy shit is happening. Someya was a good antagonist and the final battle with him had a great climax. He was also someone you could actually care about. I also would've enjoyed if they would've included Akiyama, Majima and Saejima a bit more for the final battles. Majima and Saejima didn't do anything the entire game, which is crazy to believe considering which importance Majima got in the later games and especially with Yakuza 0. I get why they didn't want them to steal the spotlight of all the new characters like Nagumo and Yuta, but giving them a bit more screen time would've been nice. At least Akiyama and Date got to do stuff.
Speakin of Nagumo. I think he's great. He starts off as a jerk but ends up being a great character. I'm okay with Yuta being Haruto's father, especially since he finally did accept responsibility and stopped being so whiny near the end. Haruto itself is cute as a button. I did care a lot about him, mostly because I do care a lot about Haruka. I saw her grow up throughout all those games. I want her to be happy.
Hirose aka Beat Takeshi was also great. He's easily one of the best characters in the game. And his twist was really well done. I also love how he mentioned that masks are the best disguise to stay undetected, mostly because he was using one for his activities as well. The idea that he had to protect the secret of Onomichi without actually knowing what it is was kinda cool. As for the secret itself. Well, I did expect it to be some crazy shit. And in the end it sure was some crazy shit. And I can kinda see why this is actually such an important thing, but in the end I did expect something much more darker than just a secret and illegally funded Yamato Mark II at the end of World War 2. The Chinese mafia arc and how it tied into the overall story was pretty cool. So were a lot of the callbacks like the part with the Korean mafia or when Kiryu had to go to the destroyed Shangri La.
There's still a lot more I could mention, but this post already got pretty long. In the end I think I'm just a bit sad that Kiryu and Haruka still cannot spend some happy family time together. Looking back at all the games, the only time they could live happily together was before 3 happened and for some time after 3 ended. After 4 it didn't take long for Kiryu to leave so that Haruka could pursue her idol career and after 5 he went to prison with Haruka disappearing (btw I think they handeled her somewhat naive but touching retirement speech at the end of Yakuza 5 really well. Becaus the public and especially the tabloits would definitely do the same like they did in the game). And now he's gone again and they will likely won't see each other anymore. It's just sad. Sure, she has a new family now and she received a lot of warmth from him, which she wants to give back to Haruto. Yes, it's a happy ending for both of them in a way. I'm just a bit sad that they cannot share the happiness together. They deserved that.
Yeah, it's definitely one of the easier Yakuza games. A fully upgraded Kiryu can take down the final boss even on Legendary very easily. Even the traditional Amon fight wasn't that tough minus one trick he has up his sleeve, which you can counter easily once you realize what he's doing. Surprisingly the tiger drop parry move isn't as overpowered as it is in the other games. I didn't even use it outside of just trying it out. The new overpowered thing is that super heat mode you activate when hitting R2, as you can do a ton of damage just by a single heat move during boss fights.
Yeah, I agree with many of your points Mudai, they did a great job with the characters yet again despite a few bumps in the road story wise. Looking forward to doing my English story replay sometime in the summer/fall this year (unless Shin RGG is indeed out in December!)
My Yakuza (FOTNS) progress has been slow yesterday, as I spent an awful lot of time trying to beat the Sega MKIII Hokuto no Ken game. Got my way up to the Souther boss fight before losing. He's got a strict tactic to damaging him. Hilariously Raoh actually looks (in theory) easier to fight. Should be able to finish it in my next couple of tries! Next up I'll definitely actually forward the story (spent the last 12 hours doing side stuff as opposed to the story, I should probably get back to the main game!)
Mudais impression gets me even more pumped because in Kiwami I've been going into first person mode all the time and really wanted to be able to run around like that and take pictures! And the new town sounds amazing and something I really look forward to. And I'm fine with the combat as long as the core is good which I feel it was from playing the demo.
Also... Finished Kiwami yesterday, took me almost 40 hours on hard and I still did more side stuff than in Zero (which is weird because Zero had amazing side content and Kiwami was kind of lacking haha). Anyhow, loved the game but it felt more like an expansion to Zero than a new game so from a newcommer to the series: they really succeded with Zero and it's a perfect first game to play. I'm really glad I played it (I was going to skip it and wait until a later date) because it really helped with giving me a bond with Haruka (WTF AT THE SLAP SCENE!!).
Can't decide if I'm going to buy the after hour edition of 6 or just buy it digital. I like the glasses and really want the art book but it's double the price =/
(And that in turn reminds me that I never used the Tiger Drop in Y6 apart from when I practiced the timing after unlocking it. I guess it's not as viable/powerful as in previous games.)
Just finished the whole game - side activities and story. I absolutely loved it and the closure it provides. I pretty much agree with most of mudai's thoughts above. Now to grind out 53 more clan battles for the platinum...
I'm probably gonna buy myself a PS4 Pro today, and I looked around, and I see the English version of Yakuza 6 is being sold here early. So now I can't quite decide if I should start with Yakuaz Kiwami (0 isn't available anywhere) or just start out with Yakuza 6. I read it sets up a bunch of new characters anyway, and I won't feel the regressed fighting style going from multiple styles to one style etc.
Hopefully. RGG online was supposed be out before HgG but it wasn't and the studio keep silence about it. I guess something wrong is going on with Kasuga Ichiban projects???
I'm probably gonna buy myself a PS4 Pro today, and I looked around, and I see the English version of Yakuza 6 is being sold here early. So now I can't quite decide if I should start with Yakuaz Kiwami (0 isn't available anywhere) or just start out with Yakuza 6. I read it sets up a bunch of new characters anyway, and I won't feel the regressed fighting style going from multiple styles to one style etc.
I honestly had no idea that online was supposed to be out so soon. Interesting... hopefully we'll get more news on it soon. Its not a game I'm looking forward to too much (bar the wonderful artwork), I'm more interested in the PS4 game myself, which I doubt we'll hear much about until August at the earliest.
It's amazing just how boring and unnecessary Akiyama's hostess club minigame is in 4. The "Before and after" scenes that you're forced to watch every time you change her clothing have no place in it!
They really stepped their game up for 0's version, and I'm glad that's what we get in Kiwami 2 as well.
I like reading reviews from casual gamers newcomers for these games:
" One of the best games ive ever experienced. I played it with my siblings and bought yakuza kiwami at the same time, this game was just that good we've already pre-ordered 6 and are going to play them all. "
another:
" This is the first game i've played in the series and i was surprised at how good it is. I always assumed the Yakuza series would be like a Japanese version of GTA so I wasn't too keen on playing it but it is a completely different game to that and in my opinion far more enjoyable.
This game takes place before the rest of the series so you do not need to play the others before hand.
The gameplay is great fun with a crazy amount of mini games and substories that will keep you going for hours. The real estate and cabaret side quests are especially good and worthy as a game on its own. Although fighting can be repetitive at times, the amount of moves, styles and weapons keeps it fun and rewarding.
The story is compelling and will keep you hooked until the end. Some of the characters and dialogue can appear silly at times but it made for alot of lighthearted relief in a game which can also be violent and serious. The acting is very good and the main characters are all memorable. There is alot of dialogue and cut scenes but I never found myself bored or skipping scenes.
The chapters are not that long on their own but you will want to do the substories and minigames inbetween to build up your character and get more cash. So depending on how much of a completist you are, this game could take you anything from 20 to over 100 hours to complete so you definitely get your money's worth!
I rarely do reviews but felt compelled to do one as this series seems to be very overlooked in the UK and deserves far more exposure. Do not be put off by the fact it is in Japanese with English subtitles as it does not take away the enjoyment from the game at all. For me this up there as one of the best PS4 games alongside the likes of Witcher 3. "
I just finished Kiwami last night, really rushed through it but I have a couple (maybe obvious?) questions that have me confused a bit:
- Why did Kiryu tell Haruka that Mizuki had died when the information he had at the time about the body and tattoo suggests otherwise?
- Is the sequence of events involving Nishiki and the doctor as follows:
- doc asks for 30 mil to prioritize the transplant
- Nishiki sends men out to collect 30 mil, eventually pays doc
- doc gets paid, skips town (and here is where I'm a bit fuzzy) because he owed a debt to ??? and the collected money allowed him to settle it?
- Is Nishiki so pissed because he should have known about the debt beforehand?
Can't decide if I'm going to buy the after hour edition of 6 or just buy it digital. I like the glasses and really want the art book but it's double the price =/
The After Hours edition has been sold out for awhile, so I think the choice has already been pretty much made for you! And it may be because the pricing is different where you live, but the After Hours Edition retails at $90, while the digital version is $60 (not including Amazon, Best Buy or PS+ discounts, of course). More expensive, yes, but hardly double the price.
I just finished Kiwami last night, really rushed through it but I have a couple (maybe obvious?) questions that have me confused a bit:
- Why did Kiryu tell Haruka that Mizuki had died when the information he had at the time about the body and tattoo suggests otherwise?
- Is the sequence of events involving Nishiki and the doctor as follows:
- doc asks for 30 mil to prioritize the transplant
- Nishiki sends men out to collect 30 mil, eventually pays doc
- doc gets paid, skips town (and here is where I'm a bit fuzzy) because he owed a debt to ??? and the collected money allowed him to settle it?
- Is Nishiki so pissed because he should have known about the debt beforehand?
-What do you mean? From his perspective Mizuki was dead?
-From my understanding, the doctor owed the Tojo or Nishiki Family (not that he knows) 30Mil, so his men collected 30Mil from the doctor, which causes the doctor to skip town. Nishiki is angry he didn't know the doctor owed him the money.
The After Hours edition has been sold out for awhile, so I think the choice has already been pretty much made for you! And it may be because the pricing is different where you live, but the After Hours Edition retails at $90, while the digital version is $60 (not including Amazon, Best Buy or PS+ discounts, of course). More expensive, yes, but hardly double the price.
The After Hours edition has been sold out for awhile, so I think the choice has already been pretty much made for you! And it may be because the pricing is different where you live, but the After Hours Edition retails at $90, while the digital version is $60 (not including Amazon, Best Buy or PS+ discounts, of course). More expensive, yes, but hardly double the price.
If you have PS+ it's discounted to $53.99 until release. I had to jump on that. Was initially gonna grab the After Hours edition, but I don't need another CE.
Reprint might not be out of the question. Its gone up in price lately and its not available digitally which sucks. The best way is still to play the Japanese version for all the content, but that's only really an option if you understand Japanese.
Remake/collection seems somewhat unlikely in the foreseeable future, but not out of the question. We'll just have to wait and see.
I only just started Yakuza 5 yesterday, but already I'm enjoying it more than 4. Kiryu's taxi missions and the ramen minigame are great, and this is also where the series made the jump from the 3/4 engine to the more refined one of 5/0/Ishin, which is immediately noticeable. Substories being marked on the map is very helpful too.
I'm guessing I'll eventually be getting the Platinum in this at some stage down the line (though not anytime soon, this is obviously gonna be a long road), so I just wanted to know if you guys could share some advice on how not to lock myself out, so to speak. Romain, is it just not collecting locker keys / opening lockers at all as Haruka, and also not selling or trashing any crafting materials, or is there more beyond that? My current run is on Normal.
I only just started Yakuza 5 yesterday, but already I'm enjoying it more than 4. Kiryu's taxi missions and the ramen minigame are great, and this is also where the series made the jump from the 3/4 engine to the more refined one of 5/0/Ishin, which is immediately noticeable. Substories being marked on the map is very helpful too.
I'm guessing I'll eventually be getting the Platinum in this at some stage down the line (though not anytime soon, this is obviously gonna be a long road), so I just wanted to know if you guys could share some advice on how not to lock myself out, so to speak. Romain, is it just not collecting locker keys / opening lockers at all as Haruka, and also not selling or trashing any crafting materials, or is there more beyond that? My current run is on Normal.
Your right on the Haruka locker keys thing, save them all for Akiyama as you can't deposit items from Haruka to the guys. Also, don't sell any weapons as one of Shinada's can be sold and not retrieved which can mess you up.
Also, again with Haruka I'm a bit iffy on how her side stories work at the end of the game, you should be able to do them all in premium adventure mode, but just in case its better to just do them as you play as her.
Also a huge one with Haruka that can break your 100% run - you must win all 3 matches of the Princess League - losing the third match locks out the final Karaoke song, and you need to clear all of them with 900 (or 950. I forget!) for one of the completion tasks. So be careful on that. Its really easy though so there's no reason why you should lose, even in terms of Rhythm Action the stages are easy.
Other than that its just a long road to 100%. Most stuff can be cleared just with enough effort, but there are some things that can be a pain:
Virtua Fighter 2 (clear the game). This may seem impossible. So the best thing to do is be insanely cheap if your not good at the game. Pick Geoff and abuse his butt slam attack (I forget the exact input, I can look it up if you'd like), its an easy move and confuses the AI into basically never blocking or getting pushed back. You'll ring the enemy out super quick and it works on everyone.
Comedy Club - These require you to learn the timing as well as the right responses. So get a guide and then keep practicing over and over until you get the timing down. Its annoying but not to difficult, just requires patience!
Shinada Vs Komaki's - One of (if not the) hardest fights in the game will be when Shinada has to fight both Komaki's at once. So its best to again, be cheap! There is an item in the game (its a warning sign, can only be used once) that deals insane damage - it can finish them off in 1-2 hits. Buy a couple of those at least to take one of the two Komaki's down and the fight suddenly becomes a whole lot more possible. Feel free to try doing the same thing with Amon.
The arena grind - the arena in 5 has a cool side story attached to it. But 100%ing the game requires you to clear all the arena challenges with all four characters and that's a painful grind! Kiryu and Seijima are easy as both have fighting styles that give them the advantage in pretty much any of the fights, you should have no issues clearing any fights with them. Now Shinada and Akiyama... that's another story. For Akiyama some of the fights can be annoying as he's not the best in some of the 1 on 1 fights. There is a way to basically floor the enemy, then keep sweeping them over and over without them being able to get up, its a slow process, but insanely useful especially in the long survival mode. Shinada is just weak, but he does have one move (and so does Kiryu) where you can press L3 + R3 together to recover health in exchange for your heat bar depleting. Abuse this move, its so darn useful.
That's all I can think of right now, the rest is just standard Yakuza stuff, its a huge game (biggest in the series for sure) but its also my favourite 100% of the series, and bar the arena its not that grindy in my opinion. Its not like Ishin or Hokuto Ga Gotoku that has some insane grinding involved for the 100%.
