Board 8 > Yakuza 0 Cash and Discussion Topic ['80s] [best series] [voltch]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just opened my copy, kind of can't believe I'm actually holding an English version of this game. This series has had its up and downs in the west but holy s*** is it great to see it on top enough to get this game over here.

Is it the best in the series like so many have said? Let's all find out together! I'm popping the disc in now, will post my first adventures later.

For the folks coming in here wondering what makes Yakuza such an awesome series, I could go on for absolutely forever about it, but I've got a game to play so I'll let this guy do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkN9oru-qCQ

With that out of the way, if we actually have enough Yakuza fans on the board to keep this alive, keep story stuff in spoiler tags but feel free to share your adventures from around Kamurocho and Sotenbori!
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Got the game, but likely won't be able to play it a considerable amount until Friday night.

A few years ago, this game coming out seemed like a pipedream.

No idea why all these youtubers are playing this game now, but if it means more Yakuza games coming over, have at it!
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Got up to Chapter 5 last night.

Substories are still amazing. The different fighting styles are all fun.
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Just stumbled upon the disco mini game, holy freaking s***. XD

Haven't had nearly as much time to play (or write posts about playing) as I'd like, but first impressions are that playing Yakuza at 1080p 60fps literally feels like a dream and HOLY HELL this game is a big step up in polish for the series. Yakuza 4/5 were good enough that I'd nearly forgotten they were using improved versions of the same engine dating all the way back to Yakuza 3, so this is a freaking huge leap. The fighting styles and the combat in general feel great.

Only done a few substories so far but they've been fantastic and the way you stumble on to them/how they flow reminds me a lot of Y2 which is a VERY good thing. I can't put my finger on what it is exactly yet but the overall "feel" of this game is very much like the first two, which is really cool to go back to especially with this unprecedented level of polish/quality.
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Got my copy, haven't had a chance to play it yet though.
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In Chapter 7 now. Finally got to the real estate and cabaret club minigames.

The real estate one seems like a good way to earn money despite it not having much gameplay, although I haven't ran into a problem that needed to be fixed.

Cabaret club seems really addictive with collecting girls and making them dress and look to appeal to different people. There's also a good Diner Dash-esque minigame in there once you start operations. I remember there being cabaret club stuff in 4 but this just seems more fun to me for some reason.

What's also really cool is that characters from substories come back to help you in both minigames. I kind of wish the substory indicators on the map were back from 5 but I'm fine with them not being there.
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I still have 4 & 5 to get through. Wish 3 didn't have a scratched disc, preventing any postgame stuff. But it's a great series.
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Alright, tomorrow's the day where I start going nuts on the game.

Cabaret club seems to be like the Club management in 2 and 4.

5 went real light on that aspect though.
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Holy crap, the amount of references they put in early is awesome.

I kinda like the cutscene presentation they went for this time round
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tag

I just spent eight hours dicking around in Chapter 2 sidequests. The f***ing Dragon Quest III homage one was so hilariously contrived and probably my favorite sidequest of any of the games just because "I am one of the 5% of people who gets this joke in the US and holy s*** they go all the way with it".

First Yakuza game I've picked up and my God is it fun. Have a friend who's a casual fan who'd been trying to get me in, glad I finally got in.

After playing this series for 8 goddamn years, I still hate Nishiki.
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Just finished up Chapter 4, finally getting some good time in with this game. The last stretch of chapter 4 (the escort mission after you meet Makoto) is probably one of my favorite stretches in the series as far as alternative gameplay goes. This series is really fantastic about doing that stuff and that was absolutely a highlight of it.

Already pretty comfortable with the idea that this'll end up being my favorite game in the series, hopefully I'll be able to type up some more thoughts that aren't just pure gushing in the near-ish future. >_>
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Not marking sidequest points on the map is a little frustrating.

Need to put more work into figuring out the friends system
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Xiahou Shake posted...

kind of can't believe I'm actually holding an English version of this game.

Why, haven't they all been released here?
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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

Why, haven't they all been released here?

Things are great now, but Yakuza's had a really rocky run as far as localization goes. Yakuza 5 was localized 3 years late and during that period of silence most people thought we were just not going to get any of the games in the west anymore. Long story short, Sega has become WAY better as a company recently and part of their newfound awesomeness was finally bringing 5 over. I guess the fans that cropped up during those darker three years made a big difference, because localization for both 0 and Kiwami was announced not too long after 5 launched in English. It's a great time to be a Yakuza fan!

(Also even though we now have all the numbered games, we still never got Kenzan and Ishin, two spin-off games that take place in a samurai movie-esque setting with all the characters from the series "playing" roles in a completely different story. Kenzan's not a HUGE miss but it'd be neat to have. A lot of folks consider Ishin to be the second best in the series after 0 so it's kind of a bummer we didn't get it. It's not completely out of the question seeing as it's a ps4 game, but pretty unlikely given the release of mainline games will probably keep pace with localization efforts from here on.)
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We will never play as sakamoto ryoma and miyamoto musashi

But yeah needed so many petitions and what not to try and hope for the best
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voltch posted...

Not marking sidequest points on the map is a little frustrating.

Need to put more work into figuring out the friends system

There is an item you can get via substories to find out where they are but you also have to get them with both Kiryu and Majima.

ShoeTheCat posted...

So Kiwami is a complete remake from the ground up of 1 right? Any word of a complete remake for 2?

Yeah, it's a complete remake of 1. I heard they want to do a remake of 2 and get 3-5 on PS4.
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Finished Chapter 13

Can't say I expected a shooting segment
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It sucks when you lose a challenge in the real estate minigame. You just have to keep waiting to upgrade until you get to 90%.
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Man, the ending of Chapter 14...
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woo Friday, time to 0 again!
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OK the disco mini game is hard as f***
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Beat the game with 75 hours as my playtime. Did the entire Real Estate and Cabaret Club minigame storylines. Also, did all but one of the Pocket Circuit substories. (f*** you Pocket Circuit Fighter) Max'd out every friendship except the 2 Mr. Moneybags and Mr. Libidos. Did most of the substories I could find except for all the Telephone Club ones and there was one in the Kamurocho bar with pool and darts that I didn't know how to trigger and I just assumed it was the Mr. Moneybags friendship. I still want to do Premium Adventure and play some of the arena stuff.

The story was really good. I think it's up there with 2. I did find Majima's storyline to be more engaging than Kiryu's but Kiryu's is still good. There are a bunch of great characters: the three Dojima family lieutenants, Tachibana, Oda, Sagawa, Nis***ani and Makoto.She definitely was my favorite new character in the game. She could have been a character who you just babysat and did nothing but she does try her best in the circumstances she's given and she had already been through so much. She makes a very idiotic decision late in the story but it's understandable since she's still shook up from Tachibana's death and not thinking straight. I'm really glad she got a good ending despite not being with Majima, since they were really good together but it makes sense that Majima would not want her anywhere near the yakuza. I was expecting an "It was me all along! I'm the real mastermind!" moment in the end like other Yakuza games but it never happened, which I'm fine with. I had some tears when Makoto was feeling Tachibana's corpse and later when Makoto was shot and Majima just loses it.

I really liked the different fighting styles in the game even though I just didn't end up using Rush and Breaker that much. The difficulty was around the same ballpark as the other Yakuza games I've played (2,4 and 5) although the last fight with Kuze was pretty tough. I think I preferred the minigames that were in 5. The Idol stuff in 5 felt easier than Disco in 0, which can feel kind of offbeat and can be hard to see at times because of all the colors. Pocket Circuit could have used more interaction rather than just have the best stats and occasionally pressing Boost or O to stay on the track. The Cabaret Club is addictive and has some really catchy music but the downside of it is that you have to play it every time you want to do Hostess Special Training and I ended up finished with the storyline before finishing all the Hostesses Special Training and then I got another hostess after the end of the storyline. The Hostess Special Training does give out experience but I had a girl who ended up being max level before I finished her special training. The Cat Fight minigame sucks and it just comes down to RNG and I feel like the CPU cheats. The old Sega games in the arcades are all great, considering I haven't played any of the 4 in the game.

The substories were mostly great like the other Yakuza games. Some of my favorites were the ones that involved Miracle Johnson, the Dragon Quest 3 one, the statue street performer one, the porn magazine one and the pizza one. I'm not a fan of the whole Friendship system since it requires you to do things repetitively before you get some unique dialogue or a task. The one involving the mushroom dealer one was the worst because the mushrooms weren't good items.

The soundtrack is really good and definitely my favorite of the ones I played. A really good mix of badass (especially the music that plays when you play as the fourth fighting style of Kiryu's) and catchy, like the Cabaret Club music and Disco songs.

Just a really great game and might be my favorite of the series.
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Anti-purge. Looking forward to reading all of that spoilered text once I finish the game! Super happy that this game seems to be both bringing in new fans and thrilling old ones. Real life has been getting in the way so I'm mostly enjoying reading other's thoughts for now. Been getting lost in substories/mini games and just having a blast in my last few sessions.~

What do people think of real estate and the cabaret club? Haven't done nearly as much of the first but the latter feels like all the best parts of hostess clubs plus 2 and 4's club management rolled in to one fantastic package.
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I can't get the cabaret club makeover song out of my head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7gzFBnfRfo
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That song is freaking incredible. I didn't think it was possible to top Yakuza 4's "make me a lady" song but they found a way. Makes me sad you don't spend more time in that menu, honestly. XD
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up
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Yakuza 1-4 got some reprints.

http://segabits.com/blog/2017/02/10/rare-yakuza-titles-get-reprinted-including-playstation-2-titles/
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I can't wait to play this so I can watch Giant Bomb's Yakuza giga-endurance run.
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What exactly is their planned schedule?

Like will their big run thing include Yakuza 6?
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The entire series, starting with 0

So, they should get to 6. Also, they are only releasing one episode a week, so it isn't quite an endurance run like they've done before.
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Oh, they plan to do Kiwami when that gets released
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Whole thing premium right?

So I won't be watching it.

But yeah after spending anot hour in sotenburi, I can see where haruka lives in 5 as well as what becomes the dyna office.

Cool s*** like that is why I love the series.

Oh and breakdance owns now to find Mr libido
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The telephone mini game is such a fun Russian roulette style game.
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voltch posted...

The telephone mini game is such a fun Russian roulette style game.

I just stumbled on this for the first time last night and said "oh holy s***" out loud multiple times. So freaking absurd but so great. XD

The animation when Kiryu picks up the phone especially had me rolling.
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I have no luck with kiryu going for the red dress girl.

I keep landing Sakurai

It's not easy to differentiate the voices.
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Businesses are great.

Reina spotted, she used to be cool until the 2nd half of yakuza 1.
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I just got to chapter 3 last night. This game is very good.
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Cabaret Club seems to be the WAY more engaging business, but Kiryu's makes absolute bank and there's something bizarrely satisfying about walking around and buying out half of Kamurocho.
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It's funny cos in later games kamurocho is clearly reeling from the effects of the bubble economy bursting.

Kiryu ruined the city!
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Holy f***ing s*** this substory. XD

Kiryu gets involved in the making of the Thriller music video and you have to save Michael Jackson - "Miracle Johnson," that is - from zombies as he moonwalks through Kamurocho.

This game so easily has the best substories in the series for me so far, and that's REALLY saying something.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRe85J3t8bA

Best Yakuza Quest forever
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Too true, as far as a single substory goes nothing will ever top Be My Baby. XD
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advanced a few chapters today.

It's a little strange that they introduced a girl that will have seemingly super strong ties with Goro, when Yakuza 5 is built on the bond he had with someone very different!.

Kiryu's character has been fairly consistent in that he doesn't really have a love interest after Yakuza 1.
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voltch posted...

It's a little strange that they introduced a girl that will have seemingly super strong ties with Goro, when Yakuza 5 is built on the bond he had with someone very different!.

Yeah, I was surprised about that.

voltch posted...

Kiryu's character has been fairly consistent in that he doesn't really have a love interest after Yakuza 1.

Kaoru is definitely a love interest!
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Kaoru was 100% a love interest until they wrote her out for literally no reason in Y3 *still angry*
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Only person who matters is Haruka!
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Wow, the Real Estate business is making me so much money, I'm now searching for quests to get more managers and security people.

Anyone know if the Telephone Club girls can become managers? I think all the Friends can be recruited.
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We all know what the empty lot becomes, but man I really like how the cities are basically an extra character.

Theach deeper I'm getting into this, the more easter eggs are found.

Oh and wow at the catfight minigame.
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