Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (Yakuza, Judgment, Binary Domain + more!) Discussion Thread

[normie]

Nishiki is the best, Kiryu is a simp and a faggot
always thought a much cooler plot for 1 would've been for Nishiki and Kazama to be involved in a keikaku together to consolidate power in a manner that involves taking advantage of Kiryu and both playing him a fool, which leads to him souring on the whole thing
but it's just corny japshit with everything played straight and corny dad shit with a little girl that talks like an adult and looks like a furbie

 

[cruel]

The more I play Infinite Wealth, the less I like it. I'm actually on the verge of dropping the game altogether after 15h, such a boring slog. They've spent so much time on various things, but forgot to make the core game and story interesting - I'm already starting to avoid random encounters, and it's only chapter 4. Writing is atrocious, tons of text spoken by boring people during their boring side quests, and they just don't know when to shut up. I had ONE moment of fun during those 15h (diaper guy encounter), and that's about it. Oh well.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

They really drew out the gameplay elements. 22 hours to unlock the job system, and ive been skipping side quest dialogue. There's also a bunch of mechanics tied to bond levels that are locked away for too long, like combo attacks.

Feels like a missed opportunity to have only one American party member in a game set in the US, and he's Asian anyway. Only 2 characters are strictly new, 2 more are returning but newly playable.

The American jobs kick ass though. The joke of the last game where they were real jobs is mostly gone and now we just have cowboys and Bruce Lee. Works for me.

 

[Tacgnol]

The substories definitely feel a step down over the previous game, but they've improved a lot of other elements and I'm very much enjoying the main story (I'm near the end of Chapter 8).

In true Yakuza fashion I'm really enjoying a lot of the new characters they've introduced. Yamai (Japanese John Wick) is awesome and has some absolute banger boss themes.

Kiryu spoilers Chapter 3/Chapter 8

Kiryu is dying of cancer and in Chapter 8 you take control of him and a party directly rather than having him as a party member. The side quests in this chapter take the form of talking to NPCs from all the previous games and Kiryu reminiscing about past events.

It's very fanservice but it works.

 

[mushroomrain]

Playing NG+ on hard was a mistake, after I finished all the dungeons the difficulty was a joke. I got burnt out hard after reaching the last chapters. Legend should be more fun, but I'm definitely not touching the game in the near future. Overall, the main story and the substories were better in 7, but I prefer the gameplay in 8. Good game, I just wish it was a bit more challenging.

 

[frajaq]

Finished Judgement, enjoyed it a LOT with some minor annoyances (had higher encounter rate than I liked and the fights with that Gang that infests the entire map, also less Detective Game that I liked towards the end). I'll buy Lost Judgement next sale for sure. And maybe that The Man With No Name one later also

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Finished Yakuza 3 a few days ago. It's probably the worst game so far.

The combat: It's dogshit. Enemie's attack track like fucking missles , you deal little damage outside of Heat, Heat action deals pitful damage , enemies Block and Re-Block like crazy so 99% of your combos are uselss outside of X - X - X - Y - Y that breaks guard. Level Up sucks because you can't choose what to level up, so if you want a better combo or some Heat action, screw you.

Last boss spoiler

Mine is the only good bossfight in the game.

The Story: It's a mixed bag. The Orphanage stuff is well done, but not every kid needed to have a little story , especialy between stuff that's important

late game spoiler

i don't think helping Haruka less than a day before assassination atempt is the smartest move

. The BURUKU MONDAY stuff is super uncessary , the main villian was good enough without envolving

spoiler

CIA 9 CHAPTERS IN THE GAME , ALSO FUCK THAT CHAPTER

. I really liked Rikiya , Mikio and Nakahara.

Rikiya's spoiler

Rikiya's death got me good ngl. I cried a little, even if the scene itself was FUCKING DUMB, DONT TURN YOUR BACK FROM THE ENEMIES.

The rest: I didn't do much of Sidequest because i just wanted to finish the game.. I finished Y3 on pure hatred alone. Music is peak tho.

Just started playing Yakuza 4. The everything is miles better than 3 already, especialy the combat, plus Akiyama and Saejima are super interesting characters.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

, you deal little damage outside of Heat, Heat action deals pitful damage ,

Really needed those blockbreaker moves to get by in the game.

Saejima are super interesting characters.

Did you break out of jail yet?

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Did you break out of jail yet?

Yeah, stopped playing after getting to Kamurocho.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

I wish we could go back to the days of begging Sega to release the games in English

 

[Tacgnol]

I finished Infinite Wealth. Was around 98 hours being semi-completionist (All side quests, memoirs and did most of the major mini-games). I enjoyed it a lot overall. The final fights were very easy and I sort of wish the game gave you some difficulty options from the get go. It seems as though the main story assumes you will never do any side content and is balanced accordingly.

Ending spoilers/thoughts:

Kiryu is looking very weak but is apparently receiving treatment for his cancer. I doubt they'd kill him off screen between games, so I imagine in Y9 he'll either be retired or may be killed off. Either way, this kind of seems like the last time we'll have Kiryu as a protagonist even if he does recover from his illness.

It looks as though the Daidoji will end up being the big bads in the next instalment. All their sympathetic members were killed off during the events of IW and it seems very unlikely they will be content to allow Kiryu/Ichiban to waltz around considering their knowledge of the organisation.

Ichiban's forgiveness of Eiji felt a bit forced, though I guess it's in character for Ichiban and Kiryu to forgive all their enemies. Eiji did some pretty despicable things and never really had any mitigating circumstances beyond his own greed/desire for power.

Yamai needs his own game/spinoff. Considering what a fan favourite he has become it wouldn't surprise me if he becomes a party member in Y9.

 

[taxalot]

Regarding Kiryu in IW

Spoiler

I haven't finished the game, but since I lost my father to cancer recently, not knowing his fate was unbearable so it's the only spoiler I looked at before playing the game. You could tell how fucked up I was during the ending of Gaiden which I didn't see coming at all, being a father and having seen the trailers for the next game. This hit me pretty fucking hard.

I believe also it is likely that they let him be a character in the next installment where he will die, or just leave us on a "live happily in the orphanage until he dies." without telling us more about it. It's also possible they actually let him to be playable for a short section on the game, where even possibly he sacrifices himself at some point in a Walter White fashion. It's not the last time we see the guy for sure.

But also, he has become such an emblematic character that I doubt RGG is going to let it go. We're definitely going to have some spinoffs pre/interquels with him again.

 

[Maxie]

I'm kinda annoyed with how few fighting techniques are there in Y6

 

[cruel]

Infinite Wealth is already 40% off in Amazon, if anyone is interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Like-Dragon-Infinite-Wealth-PlayStation-5/dp/B0CJHD3JZ8

That's a pretty steep discount, considering the game has been out for 30 days only.

 

[n0wh3r3]

Just finished Judgment. Man, what a great game. I wasn't as interested in when I heard about it and since I don't have a console, I couldn't even try it out initially nyway. But damn, it's such a well-rounded RGG game with probably the best plot and combat in the franchise (up to its original release, at least). The more laid-back Yagami is a great change from the chivalrous Kiryu and shonen-y Ichiban. Plot doesn't have any contrived asspulls either like it usually is the case for the series.

Also the dating subquests were cool, maybe theonly game where the dating part is legitimately well done.

I think it will be my favorite after Yakuza 0 in the series.

Contrived asspulls?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Just finished Judgment. Man, what a great game. I wasn't as interested in when I heard about it and since I don't have a console, I couldn't even try it out initially nyway. But damn, it's such a well-rounded RGG game with probably the best plot and combat in the franchise (up to its original release, at least). The more laid-back Yagami is a great change from the chivalrous Kiryu and shonen-y Ichiban. Plot doesn't have any contrived asspulls either like it usually is the case for the series.

Also the dating subquests were cool, maybe theonly game where the dating part is legitimately well done.

I think it will be my favorite after Yakuza 0 in the series.

Contrived asspulls?

You know, Aizawa, rubber bullets, all Japanese are secretly Koreans and 80% of the Japanese underground was there in the Jingweon HQ the night they were eradicated.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I finished Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth last night. It's not as good as the Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, but it would have been very tough to top that game. In the end I had everyone in between levels 50 and 53. At the final dungeon Ichiban was a Hero with some Samurai skills, Kiryu was the Dragon with Host skills, Namba was a Homeless Guy with Chef and Host skills, Adachi was a Samurai with Detective skills, Eric was a Desperado with Cabbie skills, Zhao was a Gangster, Joongi was a Hitman, Chitose was a Housekeeper with Heiress skills, Saeko was a Bar Maid with Night Queen and Idol skills, and Seonhee (best girl!) was a Kunoichi with Assassin skills. All the male characters dipped a level into Samurai for the Fire Arrow skill and I think Pyromancer for the first level cheap area of effect healing skill with the BBQ animation. I'm a sucker for job systems in jRPGs.

+ I actually enjoyed Kiryu being in the party with Ichiban's crew more than I thought I would. He still takes a lot of the limelight away from Ichiban, as I had feared he would, but on the other hand I was really surprised by how much Kiryu and Ichiban seem to compliment each other in scenes and in dialogue. Also, Kiryu figures out that Ichiban is not that dumb and naive and that Ichiban acts ignorant to throw his opponents off. He has a few great scenes of dialogue when he calls that out.
+ The new jobs were great. I especially liked Desperado for the look of the outfit and skills available to the class.
+ The great part of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was seeing through the eyes of Ichiban and thinking "man, Japan has a ton of weirdos." Now I play this game and think "man, the US is full of weirdos". My favorite generic American villain is the fat dude with the pizza shields and super-sized soda clubs.
+ I had the game set for Japanese voices and English subtitles. It's fucking hilarious when the Japanese voice actors try to speak the American language during the voice over scenes with American villains. Unintentionally funny.
+ I came to like Chitose as a character. I wasn't sure about her because of how her actions negatively affect Ichiban, but when you find out her full story you realize she's just a young kid that's made mistakes and is scared. Ichiban helps her grow a spine.
+ The ending of the game hit me in the feels. The central theme rested on the idea that you need to keep fighting even when the cause seems lost and that there is always a chance for redemption and fixing what is broken... as long as you don't take the easy route and give up.
+ This game made it clear that the insanity of a certain one-eyed character is just an act, in case you hadn't figured that out before.
+ The dating game was a fun distraction. I finally got a date and found out it was with a chicken. The humor in this game still mixes well with the dramatic elements. The side quests are fun, but not as fun as in the previous game.
+ Kiryu's super power is his ability to go into three different types of rage mode. Ichiban's super power is his ability to make friends. As one redditer put it, once Ichiban thinks you are his friend you will never be able to convince him otherwise. Your attempts at murder, arson, and theft are just exhausting yourself and delaying the inevitable.
+ Yamai was a great villain, and the leader of the barracudas was pretty memorable.
- However the two final big bads were as forgettable as the two final bosses in Like a Dragon: Gaiden. I hope the next game breaks this trend.
- I thought Eri had more chemistry with Ichiban in the last game than Saeko, and I also felt that Chitose and Ichiban had more chemistry in this game. In fact I completely forgot the romance subplot with Saeko in Yakuza 7. The writers have seemed to have painted themselves into a corner since even in their own story they make it clear that Chitose and Ichiban just aren't a good match for one another's personality. Unfortunately I think we are going to see further Ichiban/Saeko drama from here on out.
- Don't tease me with a possible return of Sayama into Kiryu's orbit and then pull the rug out... jerks.
- I miss fake Mario Kart.

--
Now back to playing through Troubleshooter and Pathfinder: WotR while I await the release of Dragon's Dogma 2.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The central theme rested on the idea that you need to keep fighting even when the cause seems lost and that there is always a chance for redemption and fixing what is broken... as long as you take the easy route and give up.

I hope to Crom you missed a "never" in there.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Finished IW recently and my experience was a mixed bag.

The combat system is a nice upgrade from 7, but the battles in the main story were piss easy and I had more fun searching for fixed encounters and risking getting my ass kicked. Enemy designs were hilarious.

Substories were mostly forgettable and several substories with characters from 7 felt like repeating a joke for the second time.

Minigames weren't that interesting and the way they are forced on you and take a lot of time to skip was infuriating. I only had fun with food delivery, but I didn't care enough for it to play it more than required to advance the plot.

The story was boring. Kiryu's side of the campaign is a fun romp down memory lane despite (or maybe because of) obvious fanservice, but it highlights how weak Ichiban's side is. There were occasional highlights, but they only underlined the mediocrity.

I had more fun with Gaiden, which I completed shortly before IW, and I'm having even more fun with Ishin right now.

 

[cruel]

I'm dropping IW after 38h (chapter 7) and switching to FF7R. Not a horrible game per se, just very average and a little bit disappointing, especially on story, sub-stories and overall piss-easy difficulty. I will possibly come back after few months if I'm bored and done with FF7R, Ronin and few others. 6/10 from what I played so far.

 

[n0wh3r3]

I just started Judgement and frankly I have to say that Kamurocho is beautiful (coming from Yakuza 0, that I couldn't finish because of a bug)

 

[Deflowerer]

Real Kamurocho is even more beautiful.

Until you are hounded by bunch of black people on Pink Street as a foreigner.

 

[n0wh3r3]

Real Kamurocho is even more beautiful.

Until you are hounded by bunch of black people on Pink Street as a foreigner.

What's there to see besides prostitution?

 

[Rean]

Urban settings are meant to serve as backdrops for stories and games, no self-respecting individual should ever want to live in a city. Japan is not exempt from this axiom just because it's Japan.

 

[Maxie]

Urban settings are meant to serve as backdrops for stories and games, no self-respecting individual should ever want to live in a city. Japan is not exempt from this axiom just because it's Japan.

you go plow the field boy