Current Events > How are the Yakuza Games?

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With the collection coming out soon. How are they? Are the old ones worth playing or are they too dated now?

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you don't need to play the original two since Kiwami and Kiwami 2 are remakes that add extra content.

but anyway, they're story-heavy games with super long cutscenes and a lot of twists, where the main plot is often a really serious, gritty crime-drama, but the side-quests are super hilarious and absurd. you'd think it shouldn't work, but it does.

and as far as gameplay goes, they're JRPG/brawler hybrids, with a lot of side-content (batting cages, arcade machines, hostess clubs, etc.)

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0 is good, but it's also the best game in the series, so you might as well start and stop there

boxington posted...

you don't need to play the original two since Kiwami and Kiwami 2 are remakes that add extra content.

but anyway, they're story-heavy games with super long cutscenes and a lot of twists, where the main plot is often a really serious, gritty crime-drama, but the side-quests are super hilarious and absurd. you'd think it shouldn't work, but it does.

and as far as gameplay goes, they're JRPG/brawler hybrids, with a lot of side-content (batting cages, arcade machines, hostess clubs, etc.)

Nailed it. Only thing I would expand on is the side content. Some of it is so deep you'll spend hours just playing that. Hostess club is a prime example of this.

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

Some of it is so deep you'll spend hours just playing that. Hostess club is a prime example of this.

I finished the Hostess Club and Real Estate side content. It was good fun, and man did I start making some serious cash on the Real Estate.

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Error1355 posted...

man did I start making some serious cash on the Real Estate.

Between that and the Mr. Shakedown technique, you'll be nearly maxed out in cash.

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

Mr. Shakedown

I never did anything with him. >_>

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Error1355 posted...

I never did anything with him. >_>

Mr. Shakedown is a dude that randomly roams the cities and fights you. He's super tough and if you lose to him, he takes all your money and adds it to whatever he's already carrying. If you can win the next time, you get your money back.

Exploit info from CyricZ's guide
"The interesting thing about him is not just that he keeps coming back with more money, but if you have the CP award called "Mr. Shakedown's Deep Pockets", you'll get 1.5 times anything you pull off of him. This makes his normal 1 billion in the late game turn into 1.5 billion, but you can go further with that idea. If you wish to balloon your money to new heights, go out and purposely lose to Mr. Shakedown, then find him later and apply as many multipliers as possible. Defeat him and you'll rake in a mad stack. This mostly only works for Kiryu, as he's the one to get that reward. Repeat this with the same amount of money and you can turn 5 billion into 7.5 billion, then 11 billion, then 16.5 billion, and so on upwards until you feel like stopping."

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I just got my ass kicked by him so hard the first time I just avoided him entirely from there on. >_>

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Play Yakuza 0 and see how you like it.

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Error1355 posted...

I just got my ass kicked by him so hard the first time I just avoided him entirely from there on. >_>

Error...are you even truly playing these games sir?

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Error1355 posted...

I just got my ass kicked by him so hard the first time I just avoided him entirely from there on. >_>

I ran away from him for most of eh game but I tried fighting him again later in the game and I realized that its actually braindead easy. His attack patterns are predictable and he telegraphs all his moves a lot so you can easily dodge him in rush mode. The only actually hard fight in the game for me was the Jo Amon fight. That was BS lol

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What order should I play the games in?

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Crepes posted...

What order should I play the games in?

Chronological.

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spikethedevil posted...

Chronological.

doesn't help...

do you mean in terms of release date or in terms of story?

also seems some are remakes and some arent. Which one do I play first?

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Crepes posted...

What order should I play the games in?

Start with either Kiwami or 0.

Kiwami is a remake of Yakuza 1 on the PS2. Because of this, it's the oldest and lacking in content compared to the rest of the games.

0 is the prequel and is considered the best game in the series.

I started with Kiwami first because I didn't want to play the best game in the series then go to the most bare bones game. It's your call either way.

From there you can play in order. Kiwami 2(remake of 2) 3, 4, 5, and 6.

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Kimiwari 1 + 2 are remakes of 1 and 2 so play those and in story order so 0 >1>2 ect as they all follow on and characters age accordingly.

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spikethedevil posted...

Kimiwari 1 + 2 are remakes of 1 and 2 so play those and in story order so 0 >1>2 ect as they all follow on and characters age accordingly.

will I be disappointed with 1 and 2 after 0?

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you shouldnt be but you can do 0 after 1 and still be fine with it being a prequel.

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I will always say start with 0. It's the perfect blend of the juxtaposition of tone that the series has become famous for.

From there, you can decide how you want to experience the series. You're not *required* to play all of the games in the series to enjoy it. They're all very big games, and only if you absolutely fall in love with Y0 would I suggest progressing all the way through it. The series is still going and Yakuza 7 will likely be out around Q3 this year.

Also watch this:

https://youtu.be/DJVJX6G9cCA

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Crepes posted...

will I be disappointed with 1 and 2 after 0?

Recently I've started leaning towards CyricZ's opinion that people should play 0 first. Only to make sure they fall in love with the series. As long as you go into Kiwami 1 with the expectation that it'll feel watered down in comparision then you'll still have a great time with it.

I will say. Nearly all of the games are exactly the same. You play as badass Kiryu in the same 1-2 cities with a serious crime drama for a main story and wacky side stories. Each game just had different levels of side content to explore within the cities. If you love 0, you'll love the other games.

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

serious crime drama for a main story and wacky side stories.

That's the thing I loved about Yakuza 0, when the story was serious, it was damn serious. When it was wacky, it was damn wacky.

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I regret that I didn't play this series earlier. I put it off as a gta clone, and just happened to catch a thread about arguing that it was a loose rpg, and got me interested.

0 is beyond awesome. I put over 100 hours into it. I love the culture, the style, and how the 2 main characters are such badasses, but yet have such a protective side to them. And I loved walking around beating the shit outta thugs who were causing trouble, lol. And the whacky humor outta nowhere...brilliant.

I'm only about halfway through Kiwami, and yes, it isn't as good as the first, but it's still pretty good. I'm too busy right now to finish, but I definitely plan on playing the rest of the series.

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LordDemonWolf posted...

I'm only about halfway through Kiwami, and yes, it isn't as good as the first,

It is the 1st. I haven't play Kiwami all the way through, but the ps2 one was easily one my favorite stories out of them. I didn't like how they added way more nonsensical shit to Kiwami. I wanted to play a more straight forward less goofy Yakuza again.

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Lost_All_Senses posted...

It is the 1st. I haven't play Kiwami all the way through, but the ps2 one was easily one my favorite stories out of them. I didn't like how they added way more nonsensical shit to Kiwami. I wanted to play a more straight forward less goofy Yakuza again.

I actually never played the original Yazuka. We're there no substories in it?

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

I actually never played the original Yazuka. We're there no substories in it?

There was. It just wasn't crowded with them. And they weren't super nonsensical.

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great stories, boring gameplay

they also feel like ps2 games.

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Start with 0 and never look back. Kiwami 1 is a step back from 0, but I really enjoyed Kiwami 2.

In terms of order, literally go in game story order: 0, Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

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I remember walking into blockbuster and randomly deciding to pick it up because of the Yakuza scene in the Simpsons. Never looked back.

Yakuza is my new favourite series of all time. After only playing two games.

Literally just finished Kiwami an hour ago. Great game even when played AFTER Zero. Zero is fucking amazing though.

I went in expecting Kiwami to feel a bit watered down after playing Zero and still ended up loving it - especially Majima everywhere. Zero made me fall in love with the series - the somewhat lesser Kiwami reassured said love. Cant wait to play Kiwami 2 and the rest of the series. I hear K2 is close to if not on par with Zero.

Play Yakuza. Fuck that Shenmue shit.

Also, I second Cyric and cos notion to start with Zero. Hell of a first impression.

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XplodnPnguins92 posted...

great stories, boring gameplay

they also feel like ps2 games.

And for the love of god do not listen to this man.

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I would not start with kiwami over 0. Kiwamis antagonists entire backstory is in 0.

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Every Yakuza game's story is goddamn nonsense and not worth fretting about which to go through first. They're all great games, even the older ones.

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MarshallStack posted...

And for the love of god do not listen to this man.

Yeah I mean for what is basically a beat 'em up the gameplay is rather deep. I feel like it's the perfect balance of deep enough to keep me interested but simple enough I can kick back and relax. Which for me, makes it a great game to get drunk and play.

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Crepes posted...

doesn't help...

do you mean in terms of release date or in terms of story?

also seems some are remakes and some arent. Which one do I play first?

Play 0 first and then kiwami 1, kiwami 2, 3,4,5, and 6. The 7th game comes out this year and there's also a spinoff called Judgement

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Going from Kiwami 2 to the remaster of 3 is probably gonna be wild for me lol

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Are the games like Sleeping Dogs?

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TheoryzC posted...

Are the games like Sleeping Dogs?

no they're better in every way

MarshallStack posted...

Yakuza is my new favourite series of all time. After only playing two games.

Literally just finished Kiwami an hour ago. Great game even when played AFTER Zero. Zero is fucking amazing though.

I went in expecting Kiwami to feel a bit watered down after playing Zero and still ended up loving it - especially Majima everywhere. Zero made me fall in love with the series - the somewhat lesser Kiwami reassured said love. Cant wait to play Kiwami 2 and the rest of the series. I hear K2 is close to if not on par with Zero.

Play Yakuza. Fuck that Shenmue shit.

Also, I second Cyric and cos notion to start with Zero. Hell of a first impression.

I personally enjoyed K2 a bit more than 0, if only because the new engine is SO GOOD. The combat is brutal, and people didn't like going back to just one fighting system but I really liked it. The music and story are not as good (I mean, come on, 0 was just amazing in that regard) but I like the non-loading screen cities and the fighting. Plus, it still has the Hostess Club!

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Kaldrenthebold posted...

I personally enjoyed K2 a bit more than 0, if only because the new engine is SO GOOD. The combat is brutal, and people didn't like going back to just one fighting system but I really liked it. The music and story are not as good (I mean, come on, 0 was just amazing in that regard) but I like the non-loading screen cities and the fighting. Plus, it still has the Hostess Club!

Yeah I didn't like the one fighting style in K2. Made the fighting seem really repetitive. Also the frame rate was lower than 0 and K1. I'm not one to normally care too much about that stuff but it was just really jarring since 0 and K1 were so smooth.

TheoryzC posted...

Are the games like Sleeping Dogs?

Sleeping Dogs is a GTA clone and a damn good one. Yakuza games aren't anything like GTA. You aren't riding around in cars, killing people, or getting chased by the cops. Also the city is very small. You can walk from one end of the map to the other in a minute or so. What the Yakuza cities lack in size they make up for in density. You can walk into the majority of the stores and resturants.

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They're great. I love them.

I'm about to start playing Kiwami 1. I started the series at 3 after playing the original 1 briefly on PS2, so my play order has been:

3 > 4 > 5 > 0 > 6 > Kiwami 1 > Kiwami 2 > 7

Gotta pick up Judgement too. And finish Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

Yeah I didn't like the one fighting style in K2. Made the fighting seem really repetitive. Also the frame rate was lower than 0 and K1. I'm not one to normally care too much about that stuff but it was just really jarring since 0 and K1 were so smooth.

That's true. It does run at 30FPS as opposed to 60. I didn't mind it though. The multiple fighting styles in 0 were a bit off putting to me, because I often just stuck with one or two of them at most. And some of them, while practical, I just didn't like. Like Majima's break style. It was fun, but I just didn't like how it felt. Also it was OP as hell.

But the music in 0 is just so great, I still listen to it. CHECK OUT THIS JAM THAT PLAYS LIKE 3 TIMES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYB-D9qEwzI&list=PLfp29KYn6RxqSmzl1R3ub8ym9TJZaUWcf&index=28

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