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shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
I'd spoiler the last sentence just to be safe, as that's kinda spoilery ;)

The Majima bit still confuses me. Mainly just down to the whole - is he/isn't he getting old? It'd have made more sense if they stuck with the fact that Majima was getting on in the years/lost his passion for fighting. But his speech as he fights Seijima suggests the opposite and that he was just testing Seijima? I'm confused. I mean, the fact the Omi got to him is a bit odd, as he took down a shit ton of them solo in Yakuza 2, so unless he IS getting on in the years, that shouldn't have happened.

Morinaga should have gotten better closure - getting wasted off screen sucked, especially as they built him up as a baddie while Aizawa seemed more lacky, less mastermind. Son of the head of the Omi or not, he'd have actually been worse for the Tojo than Daigo. And that's saying something!

As for the other Omi guys. I loved Watase. He rocked, he definitely was channeling Ryuji at times - he had a code and respected Kiryu (its debatable if Ryuji respected Kiryu though) but he was fairly level headed and honestly would have made a way better finale than Aizawa was in terms of boss choice. Then again, I see this in certain entries in the series where they have the amazing set pieces and boss fights as the penultimate battles and then kinda flounder on the finale. Kenzan! kind of does this, but having the epic boss fight they'd built up to at the beginning of the final level. Not the end! A couple of the mainline games do this as well.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
yeah I'm still confused as to the logistics of Majima getting to the rooftop. The cutscene where he shows back up he clearly had just kicked the shit out of everyone Kurosawa had, but somehow a cancer striken geezer goes super sayain and kicks his ass hard enough to chain him? Or did he turn himself over once the murder Haruka plot was relayed to him? And yeah the entire explusion thing with Saejima made zero sense either, even for Majima that whole thing felt pulled out of some overworked writer who had hit a Wall's ass at the last second.

My copy of Ishin arrives tomorrow, and I'm seriously debating starting it or Dead Souls. My heart says keep going, but my brain is telling me I'm going to fry myself out before 6 gets here x.x

Just can't get enough of this series!
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
I'd put Ishin over Dead Souls in terms of the game to play next. However you really need to do everything in Ishin (side stories and battle dungeons etc.) as they unlock to get the most out of combat. Ishin has this really silly thing where you unlock moves via masters (like Komaki) and then the moves are locked again until you purchase them (and this can take quite a while with certain moves). Like Kiwami, its another case where the end half of the game gets way better thanks half to the fights they through at you in the chapters, but also because you should have leveled up quite a bit and have access to tons of amazing moves. But it is a pretty large game, so I'm not sure if its a good idea to start it so close to 6.

Dead Souls on the other hand is way simpler, not to mention shorter. You could easily blast through that before 6. So that might be the better choice for now.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863

Good luck :) As long as you keep an eye out for the missable trophies in every other chapter you should be ok. 100%ing the CP list is fairly straight forward, just time consuming (in the best possible way!). The only annoying trophy for me was the cat fights trophy, and there is logic to the enemies attacks, its just very difficult to see.

Anyway, 97 hours on Kiwami 2 now. I've cleared the completion list, though the enforcer missions don't count in that list, so I've still got a couple more missions left for another trophy. The enforcer missions start off fairly easy, but the end ones have you fighting
Amon clan
again so its pretty much required to use the most powerful weapons in order to not fail terribly! Almost there now...
 
Oct 27, 2017
77
Guy I have Kiwami but haven't played 5 yet. Should I get through 5 first? I feel jumping from 5 to kiwami will feel like a nice upgrade. But man am I tempted to play kiwami already.
 

Magyscar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
843
Guy I have Kiwami but haven't played 5 yet. Should I get through 5 first? I feel jumping from 5 to kiwami will feel like a nice upgrade. But man am I tempted to play kiwami already.

Hmm, not necessarily an upgrade across the board. I think the first game is the weakest in the series and Kiwami doesn't really change that. 5 is a much better game in my opinion.

I would suggest Kiwami first. It's a lot shorter as well.
 

gachapin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,127
Tokyo
人中北斗 offscreen gameplay


You know I find it rather hilarious considering the circumstances that here at the end Akiyama ends up the most broke character in my play through.

Saejima the richest because I shot like 80 bears xD

I remember I posted the exact same thing when I finished 5. Even Shinada got more money than Akiyama lol
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
I think Seijima also ended up richest for me as well. I didn't originally intend to do all the hunting before I hit the city but I just couldn't help myself! The amount of stuff you end up with throughout that part almost assures that you'll have a shit ton of money going into his final part. Which at least made the hostess side stuff easier to do!

Also, that new offscreen footage looks ace, it was recorded in 60FPS so I get to dream about how incredibly smooth it would be if it were actually 60FPS!
 

mudai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,330
Saejima ended up being the richest in my Yakuza 5 playthrough as well. I had him buy all the health items for everyone for the Amon fights, haha.
 

Iceternal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,496
Honestly I think if Sega plays their cards right Hokuto could be the best selling title in the series in the west. People love their post appoc shit in the west, and Fist is just a zanier mad max. Without having the baggage of an entire series scaring new players away, if they just title it "Fist of the North Star" and market it well I could see a reality where it does very well.

If they don't release it to the west it would be a kick in the balls for France since Hokuto no Ken is extremely popular here.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
And I'm now done on Kiwami 2. Just finished the Majima mini chapter. Which is very short, I didn't expect much from it going by online consensus but I didn enjoy doing the few fights, plus it was nice seeing some familiar faces again. Probably took me 3? hours to finish, but that was with exploration, a quick round of VF2 and a couple of rounds of golf in between the story stuff.
All the good stuff happens in the final part. Makoto is brilliant as always, her bits were the highlight of the story for me. The ending was also ace, and surprisingly long. The Majima construction stuff at the end was really funny as well. Lastly, the cinematic when you begin the boss of the Majima segment was hilariously OTT, bullet dodging and stuff like it was nothing.
.

All round it doesn't add too much, but as a freebie it was a nice way of putting in more Majima. His combat is basically that of his fourth stance from 0. Including his counter which at least is no longer restricted to requiring a full heat gauge to use.

In all I must have put in a good 102 hours into Kiwami 2. I'm still not 100% sure if its definitely better than the original version of 2, as a couple of the changes in Kiwami 2 are unfortunate (mainly just the music changes and removal of the one small area and club Adam story). However I do love all the stuff they added to Kiwami 2, I love the dragon engine (especially with how much its improved over 6), and I really couldn't get enough of the fighting arena (its really good in this one, 8 player brawls are crazy fun!). Time to take a little break from the series and work on my backlog, I'll be back to play FOTNS in a month or two!
 

Opa-Pa

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,810
Oh right, that's something I wanted to ask: Is Majima's chapter meaty enough to get hyped for or is it more of a little extra story? I mean I'll be hyped regardless, but gotta play hard to get.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
Oh right, that's something I wanted to ask: Is Majima's chapter meaty enough to get hyped for or is it more of a little extra story? I mean I'll be hyped regardless, but gotta play hard to get.
Not really. Its basically the length of one chapter, but its chopped into 3 super short chapters instead. The only stuff to do is the story, some encounter boss fights (much like Kiryu's but I did them all because why not?) and his Karaoke song (which can be played in Kiryu's chapter, but I preferred to do it without Kiryu's interjections). There's all the other mini games to play as well, but without any reason to do so (and with 100 hours spent in the main game) I didn't really see the need to play them too much again. It does have some great scenes at the end of the chapter though, honestly its worth playing through for those alone. This is the kind of thing other devs would charge you $10-$15 to get as a separate piece of DLC, only here its a freebie for Majima fans just so they could get their Majima quota in for the game.
 

seiki

Permanently banned for usage of an alt-account.
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,009
I'm new to the series, just ordered Kiwami 1 and will be starting with that. Yakuza 0 is a bit expensive and I always wanted to experience the series original story from 2005. Literally one of the reasons I bought a PS4 this year is specifically for Yakuza.
 

Virtua King

Member
Dec 29, 2017
3,972
Well I finally beat Yakuza 5 - 108 hours total, 54% completion, and all side and substories completed, including beating the Amon Clan

Great game despite the very weak ending
Aizawa as the final boss was a joke

About a year ago I started this marathon with Zero, and from there I went on to Kiwami and the rest of the numbered games, and it's been quite a ride. This series is phenomenal, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up, and that's in large part due to the enthusiasm Yakuza fans show towards these games, so thanks. Now that I've gone through them all, I feel like a fellow Kyodai, lol.

I think if I ranked them, I'd go 0>2>5>4>Kiwami>3. I still have Dead Souls waiting in the wings, but I'll hold off on that until after I play one or two more games first, plus Yakuza 6 is only about a month and a half out anyway. I can't wait to play that and hopefully Kiwami 2 not that long after.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
If anyone is wondering, how on earth do I beat three of the Amon brothers in one Bouncer Mission in KIWAMi 2? This helpful in-depth guide will teach you the strategies:



I can vouch for this guide. Its what I used to clear the mission. The armour combo is absolutely required, makes the fights so much more manageable (as does getting the infinite ammo gun and beam sword). Though I did get lucky with the hardest difficulty on the final mission - the rocket launcher Amon blew up the SMG Amon for me, problem solved!
 

seiki

Permanently banned for usage of an alt-account.
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,009
Anyone else only like playing as Kiryu and Majima only? I don't care for anyone else to be completely honest with you they just aren't interesting enough and it's safe to say that Kiryu and Majima are the main characters aswell as Ichiban? Is that his name that will be in future titles. Yakuza 4 and 5 are my least favourite that I actually prefer Yakuza 3 since you only play as Kiryu and the story is pretty damn good. Keep in mind I never played it myself but watched it online so I guess this opinion stinks.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
Anyone else only like playing as Kiryu and Majima only? I don't care for anyone else to be completely honest with you they just aren't interesting enough and it's safe to say that Kiryu and Majima are the main characters aswell as Ichiban? Is that his name that will be in future titles. Yakuza 4 and 5 are my least favourite that I actually prefer Yakuza 3 since you only play as Kiryu and the story is pretty damn good. Keep in mind I never played it myself but watched it online so I guess this opinion stinks.
Eh, I don't think it's a bad opinion even if I disagree with it.

There's a very easy case to make that by shoehorning so many characters into the game the Y team inadvertently created severe pacing problems for themselves in the attempt to walk a tightrope of balancing all 4/5 characters. Saejima is probably my favorite PC in the series, both in gameplay and story, but in both 4 and 5 his arcs are severely hampered by bad pacing. I also really loved Shinada, but his arc in 5 was basically an entirely different Yakuza game shoved into the 60-80% point of the rest of Y5. 0 was a good compromise, just two characters fully fleshed out.

Honestly I really like every PC in the series. Saejima, Akiyama, Shinada, Majima, and Tanimura are all really fun to play as and have their own unique little twists on the core gameplay that you couldn't really do with Kiryu without changing his character significantly. In fact, I think Kiryu probably hurt 4 more than anything by being shoehorned into the plot that should have been resolved by the other 3 characters but wasn't just because of the title of the game. I mean seriously, the dude just rides in on a white horse and mauls both Tanimura and Akiyama then annihilates like 300 guys to finish the plot off. This kinda makes the previous 20 hours of plot feel almost pointless because it makes you feel like the entire plot would have been resolved in 5 hours of Kiryu gameplay.
 

Iceternal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,496
Eh, I don't think it's a bad opinion even if I disagree with it.

There's a very easy case to make that by shoehorning so many characters into the game the Y team inadvertently created severe pacing problems for themselves in the attempt to walk a tightrope of balancing all 4/5 characters. Saejima is probably my favorite PC in the series, both in gameplay and story, but in both 4 and 5 his arcs are severely hampered by bad pacing. I also really loved Shinada, but his arc in 5 was basically an entirely different Yakuza game shoved into the 60-80% point of the rest of Y5. 0 was a good compromise, just two characters fully fleshed out.

Honestly I really like every PC in the series. Saejima, Akiyama, Shinada, Majima, and Tanimura are all really fun to play as and have their own unique little twists on the core gameplay that you couldn't really do with Kiryu without changing his character significantly. In fact, I think Kiryu probably hurt 4 more than anything by being shoehorned into the plot that should have been resolved by the other 3 characters but wasn't just because of the title of the game. I mean seriously, the dude just rides in on a white horse and mauls both Tanimura and Akiyama then annihilates like 300 guys to finish the plot off. This kinda makes the previous 20 hours of plot feel almost pointless because it makes you feel like the entire plot would have been resolved in 5 hours of Kiryu gameplay.

Reminds me of Justice League and Superman.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
I prefer the way 0 handles multiple characters and the story - two plots made it easier to follow (and wrap up) versus 4-5 different plots. Also swapping between two characters was a better way to do things compared to the way 4 and 5 did it.
That said though, I love the different characters introduced from 4 and up, especially Seijima. Its nice having different fighting styles and some different personalities. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with Ichiban.
 

mudai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,330
I had to take a break from Yakuza 5 after playing it for weeks, because I burned myself out a bit trying to literally do EVERYTHING before finishing the story. Looking back at it that was kinda stupid, though it was the first time I actually got burned out by playnig a Yakuza game. I stopped in one of the final chapters of Shinada's part. That being said, when I returned a couple of weeks later I had already forgotten who Aizawa was. He did get name dropped a couple of times again before it got unveiled that he was the final boss, but I remember looking really confused when the game finally unveiled him. The fight itself was cool, but him as the final boss was a really, really weird and weak call. The ending itself was nice. I can imagine how crazy that cliffhanger with Kiryu lying on the ground, covered in blood, Haruka holding him, must've been for everyone who played it when it originally released in Japan back in 2012. By the time Yakuza 5 finally saw an English release we already knew that Yakuza 6 would be the final chapter of Kiryu's story, we didn't know any details yet though (if I remember correctly the first actual story trailer got unveiled mid 2016).
 

Virtua King

Member
Dec 29, 2017
3,972
I don't know if I'd like a game starring Akiyama (I feel that his story was wrapped up in 4 and in that one particular substory in 5), but I do agree that he's very fun to play as, especially his 5's moveset.

If I were picking characters other than Kiryu, I'd also do it like 0, and choose Majima and Ryuji. I agree that a game taking place during the 90's about those two would be amazing.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
With Akiyama
The way they ended his story part in 5 was setting him up as the next big Kamurocho legend. Its a pity they don't want to stick with that, as I really loved that part. Hopefully they'll at least keep him around for Shin RGG, he's too good to be forgotten

Regarding the end of 5
It was great back in 2012/2013 when they didn't really say anything either way as to where the series was going next. The ending was great in that sense and it was a great cliffhanger. Glad I got to experience it before 6 was announced
.
 

abrasivemurk

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
1,591
Yakuza 0 feels so good it's sad that its engine won't be used for the upcoming games except for Fist of the North Star. Is Ichiban really the next legend?
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
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Oct 25, 2017
4,860
Yakuza 0 feels so good it's sad that its engine won't be used for the upcoming games except for Fist of the North Star. Is Ichiban really the next legend?
Isn't it basically the same engine as 5? If so it got 5, Ishin, 0, Kiwami, and now Hokuto. That's quite a stable of games, really.

Also man, I can't really agree with being sad it's going away. Y6 and K2 both look (and apparently play) jawdropping on the Dragon Engine. If anything I'm a little sad they couldn't get Hokuto running on the Dragon Engine.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
Yakuza 0 feels so good it's sad that its engine won't be used for the upcoming games except for Fist of the North Star. Is Ichiban really the next legend?
The engine needed a change in my opinion, and I do love what they've done with the dragon engine. The series feels suitably "next gen" now much like when they developed the last engine for Kenzan and Yakuza 3. Its definitely been the biggest source of enjoyment for me when playing 6 and Kiwami 2 - the level of immersion and freedom is improved over past games (in my opinion) thanks to how seemless everything is now - from battles to entering stores to taking battles into stores! Its really hit its stride in Kiwami 2 as well, what with them getting a few things improved/put back in that was missing in 6. Shin RGG should really improve things further, so I'm really looking forward to what they do there.

Only thing I really will miss from the old engine is the 60FPS frame rate. Now that I do really miss, and I can't see us getting another 60FPS game until they cross develop with a next gen console like they did with the PS3/PS4 for Ishin, 0 and Kiwami. That's one reason why I want PC ports, so that we could get day 1 60FPS entries in the series, but Sega have not been forthcoming in that regard :(

As for Ichiban... the developers are great at creating characters for the series even if the stories aren't the best at times so in that regard I'm interested to see what they do. But I do hope they do something new with him, I don't want an anti Kiryu or Kiryu 2.0. I want someone brand new.

Isn't it basically the same engine as 5? If so it got 5, Ishin, 0, Kiwami, and now Hokuto. That's quite a stable of games, really.

Also man, I can't really agree with being sad it's going away. Y6 and K2 both look (and apparently play) jawdropping on the Dragon Engine. If anything I'm a little sad they couldn't get Hokuto running on the Dragon Engine.

5 is a updated version of the engine all the PS3 games used. Not sure quite how updated it is, but they've essentially been improving on the engine for several years. Which is why I'm glad its been put to rest and developed the new engine. I can't wait to see where the dragon engine is when we get the "Yakuza 5" on the engine. Should be marvelous getting a game that content rich with the new engine.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
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Oct 25, 2017
4,860
Only thing I really will miss from the old engine is the 60FPS frame rate.
Pretty sure this had more to do with them making a game with PS3 target then upporting than the engine choice, though. Hokuto looks way better and does a lot more in terms of fx and seamless streaming stuff than 0 did because they left behind the PS3 and 60FPS in the process. If 6 and K2 were PS4 exclusive and on the 0 engine I wouldn't expect 60fps out of them.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
Pretty sure this had more to do with them making a game with PS3 target then upporting than the engine choice, though. Hokuto looks way better and does a lot more in terms of fx and seamless streaming stuff than 0 did because they left behind the PS3 and 60FPS in the process. If 6 and K2 were PS4 exclusive and on the 0 engine I wouldn't expect 60fps out of them.
Oh I completely agree. Hence why I mentioned that we probably won't see another 60FPS game until the team starts releasing the games cross gen again. It was certainly nice while it lasted!
 

abrasivemurk

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
1,591
Isn't it basically the same engine as 5? If so it got 5, Ishin, 0, Kiwami, and now Hokuto. That's quite a stable of games, really.

Also man, I can't really agree with being sad it's going away. Y6 and K2 both look (and apparently play) jawdropping on the Dragon Engine. If anything I'm a little sad they couldn't get Hokuto running on the Dragon Engine.
The engine needed a change in my opinion, and I do love what they've done with the dragon engine. The series feels suitably "next gen" now much like when they developed the last engine for Kenzan and Yakuza 3. Its definitely been the biggest source of enjoyment for me when playing 6 and Kiwami 2 - the level of immersion and freedom is improved over past games (in my opinion) thanks to how seemless everything is now - from battles to entering stores to taking battles into stores! Its really hit its stride in Kiwami 2 as well, what with them getting a few things improved/put back in that was missing in 6. Shin RGG should really improve things further, so I'm really looking forward to what they do there.

Only thing I really will miss from the old engine is the 60FPS frame rate. Now that I do really miss, and I can't see us getting another 60FPS game until they cross develop with a next gen console like they did with the PS3/PS4 for Ishin, 0 and Kiwami. That's one reason why I want PC ports, so that we could get day 1 60FPS entries in the series, but Sega have not been forthcoming in that regard :(

As for Ichiban... the developers are great at creating characters for the series even if the stories aren't the best at times so in that regard I'm interested to see what they do. But I do hope they do something new with him, I don't want an anti Kiryu or Kiryu 2.0. I want someone brand new.



5 is a updated version of the engine all the PS3 games used. Not sure quite how updated it is, but they've essentially been improving on the engine for several years. Which is why I'm glad its been put to rest and developed the new engine. I can't wait to see where the dragon engine is when we get the "Yakuza 5" on the engine. Should be marvelous getting a game that content rich with the new engine.
Replaying the Kiwami 2 demo I can see what you mean. It's probably just nostalgia kicking in.
 

abrasivemurk

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
1,591
I can vouch for this guide. Its what I used to clear the mission. The armour combo is absolutely required, makes the fights so much more manageable (as does getting the infinite ammo gun and beam sword). Though I did get lucky with the hardest difficulty on the final mission - the rocket launcher Amon blew up the SMG Amon for me, problem solved!
Is watching the Yakuza 2 cutscenes on YouTube while playing Kiwami 2 a viable strategy? How did you play it?
 
Last edited:

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
Is watching the Yakuza 2 cutscenes on YouTube while playing Kiwami 2 a viable strategy? How did you play it?
I guess you could do that. The cutscenes are 1:1 copies in Kiwami 2 from the original so you'd not miss anything from the main story. Plus you'd have the bonus of watching the original cutscenes for a couple of scenes that use the Crazy Ken Band music, which is the better way to experience those scenes.
The only stuff you'll really be missing out on will be the new stuff in the game - the Majima Construction missions and the awesome Cabaret Club stuff. And the Majima mini chapter, though that's pretty short anyway and not all that plot heavy.
 

MoosiferX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
183
Richland, WA
That Clan Creator trailer was great! Anybody else keeping a log of all the Clan Creator codes they've released so far? I've gotten these ones so far:

T2OMQ7FM5KBJPOUR
S66X7BAQN4ECAEE9
ELingobernable00
RainmakerMrOkada
MisterTokyoDome0
0Banshee0Muzzle0
TheSupernovaRana
BinwanProducer00
the6thheadofTojo
BLACKPANTSKOUMEI
detectivemanDate
 

LAM09

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,210
Not sure what to make of the Clan Creator.

Does it have much depth, are there any perks & what's the end game?
 

mudai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,330
That Clan Creator trailer was great! Anybody else keeping a log of all the Clan Creator codes they've released so far? I've gotten these ones so far:

T2OMQ7FM5KBJPOUR
S66X7BAQN4ECAEE9
ELingobernable00
RainmakerMrOkada
MisterTokyoDome0
0Banshee0Muzzle0
TheSupernovaRana
BinwanProducer00
the6thheadofTojo
BLACKPANTSKOUMEI
detectivemanDate

Love those codes. Thank you very much for sharing them, because I didn't even know they're publishing some. Are those for getting certain characters in the Clan Creator minigame? Like ReainmakerMrOkada being the wrestler Okada?