Board 8 > ok I just finished chapter 4 of Yakuza Like a Dragon and I need to say something

(+) Yeah! (+)

ok so chapter 4 ends on a very serious note and then it gets undercut in the craziest way

so you and the party walk in to report back on a job you did for a manager at a soapland... you get inside and find that he hung himself

very shocking, genuinely unpleasant image, taken fully seriously

then the chapter completion achievement pops and its called soap on a rope and I burst out laughing

what the fuck
---

That was the definition of "Too soon"

---

Best part of that game (and assuming the series with my limited playing of it?

Really depressing, heavy moments immediately undercut by REM Rams

---

The Yakuza localization team is fantastic and they're really good at stuff like that.

Oh yeah, the localization seems great. Im really impressed with the English voice acting too after the other games not having any at all.
---

My favorite bit of localization is in a substory in I think Y0 where an NPC is just named "That Guy" and another NPC that comes up is just "That Guy's Friend."

The dub is fantastic. Judgement had a great dub too but with Y7 they took the time to change the mouth movements to match the dub.

And they nabbed George Takei so that's fun.

MoogleKupo141 posted...

Oh yeah, the localization seems great. Im really impressed with the English voice acting too after the other games not having any at all.

I put English on for like 30 minutes and couldn't get over how much better Ichibans voice is in Japanese

Worth reading subs

---

oh I think the English Ichiban is perfect. He reminds me so much of a real guy I know and its really working for me. I dont think Id appreciate him as much if I couldnt hear him call everyone dude.
---

Yeah, I also really liked English Ichiban and the rest of the cast really. I'll definitely be playing with the dub on going forward where it's an option.

---

If I wanted to get into Yakuza, where do I start?

---

SwiftyDC posted...

If I wanted to get into Yakuza, where do I start?

Theoretically this new game is a good starting point because its the first one starring this new character after all the others were focused on Kiryu.

I started with Kiwami 1 a few years ago, which is the remake of the first game. Thats obviously a good option too.
---

SwiftyDC posted...

If I wanted to get into Yakuza, where do I start?

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a pretty good starting point for the reasons already mentioned.

If you're talking about the older games, Y0 is probably the best starting point. The remakes of 1&2 were made with the events of 0 in mind.

0 is 5 dollars right now and it's an awesome game
---

There's definitely nothing wrong with starting with Like a Dragon since it's a completely different genre and effectively a soft reboot since it focuses on a completely different cast. It also has a fuckload of fanservice though so you get a lot of extra nice stuff if you played the prior games.

If you want to experience the Kiryu story then 0 is the best starting place these days, followed by the Kiwami games and then the remasters of 3-5 and 6 if you crave more.

---

Mac Arrowny posted...

0 is 5 dollars right now and it's an awesome game

Noice.

---

hello just checking in to say Im in chapter 8 now and this game still rules
---

I left off on chapter 10 I need to get back and finish it

I hear 12 is WHERE IT'S AT

---

ninkendo posted...

I hear 12 is WHERE IT'S AT

This is accurate

---

The difficulty spike around 12 is legit and really bad game design

But its worth powering through

---

There's a reason they give Kasuga a move to just survive being KO'd.

Also I really hate the Atlus and apparently Sega design philosophy of the MC getting KO'd means game over when there are party members right there to revive you.

---

Not playing previous Yakuza games means you don't get the full impact of getting into fights with Majima, Saejima and Kiryu as practically some nobody.

---

Also the whole backstory of Han.

---

paperwarior posted...

Not playing previous Yakuza games means you don't get the full impact of getting into fights with Majima, Saejima and Kiryu as practically some nobody.

so I just got past this part and it was pretty great even though I havent played the games with Saejima yet.

This was the first time I felt weird about the English voice acting because Im so used to Kiryu and Majima. I actually think Mercer works alright as Majima although he didnt have quite as much unhinged energy... but Kiryu didnt really work for me.

still very happy with the English performances overall though and still in love with this game.
---

also I started playing this game a couple of weeks ago on a base model XBONE. Yesterday I set up my Series X.
It obviously looks better now, but more than that its pretty incredible how much the load times are reduced. There were some crazy long loads on the bone, now its close to instant. The future is cool sometimes.
---

Kiryu is actually his original English voice actor from Yakuza 1

So even though it's bad in comparison to everyone else I kinda like it.

---

on chapter 13

what the fuck this fucking plot twist is ridiculous and dumb its such an absurd coincidence
---

Yeah I'll be real that twist was weird but there's usually at least one insane twist in every Yakuza game.

---

I called it super early in the game that Ichiban was actually Arakawa's kid

---

I figured it was fairly obvious that something like that was gonna get revealed after the conversation at the end of Ch 12.
---

finished it

I want to shout out Ichibans English voice actor once more. He really sold the emotion of the late cutscenes. Ichiban crying made me tear up too.

and then ducking Kume showed up and I shouted motherfucker at my xbox

and then credits rolled and a fucking absurd song started playing while I was still all emotional which really took me out of it fast

so uh... real mixed bag of a final chapter, but great game overall.

Im 100% definitely there day 1 for the next Yakuza game. Ichiban is the best and I want to spend a million more hours with him and his friends.

oh post credits scene... great Oxymandias moment for Adachi
---

I posted a music video of that in my platinum topic the other day

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79282246

---