Yakuza 6 (PS4)

[martinist]

Got a text from DPD saying my premium edition would be here between 11:45am and 12:45pm

It's pouring down here so the driver might get slowed down...I just need it now!!

EDIT: and as soon as i post this, it gets delivered ^_^

Edited April 17, 2018 by martinist

[Happenstance]

Here we go!

[Happenstance]

Just had my first live chat experience in Yakuza 6. I love this series, its dumb in all the right ways

Spoiler

 

[Mandalore]

Only played a little bit so far, it definitely looks and feels 'next gen' after playing 0 and Kiwami. 

[RedShell]

I was lucky with my delivery and ended up getting the game last Saturday, have been glued to it ever since.

Amazing game.  Not sure if it'll end up being the best entry in the Yakuza series, but it's certainly in contention, and seems to be a great send off for Kiryu & Co. regardless.

It does quite a lot of stuff differently to previous titles though and is missing some of the usual mini-games and features which is slightly disappointing. Probably not quite as much comedy either (although I'm yet to do many subquests, which is traditionally the main source of laughs in these games) having said that, I did do one the other day which had me in hysterics. 

Spoiler

There have been some really funny scenes involving baby Haruto as well, who is seriously cute.   Oh, and the cat cafe stuff of course, very much my cup of tea.

Anyway, I'm just super glad that Yakuza 6, and indeed all of the mainline entries finally made it to the West, to experience this truly amazing series.

Here's hoping Fist of the North Star will do the same.

[Happenstance]

I do wish they'd made Kiryu's design look a bit older. The amount of characters that call him gramps etc when he probably still looks younger than them is a bit weird.

[martinist]

Stuck this in around 5pm. The next time I looked out the window it was dark, and 11pm at night....It's those damn cats!

[RedShell]

On 20/04/2018 at 11:15 AM, Happenstance said:

I do wish they'd made Kiryu's design look a bit older. The amount of characters that call him gramps etc when he probably still looks younger than them is a bit weird.

Yeah, that was something that really stood out to me even from the initial trailer, at times I reckon he actually looks younger in this game than in previous titles!  

21 hours ago, martinist said:

Stuck this in around 5pm. The next time I looked out the window it was dark, and 11pm at night....It's those damn cats!

Hehehe! So true.

Speaking of the cats, I’m going absolutely nuts trying to find the last one I need. I know exactly where it’s supposed to show up (having encountered it once before, and checked online too) but it just ain’t appearing now.  Hope it ain’t a glitch.

Anyway, I am at the point of no return but trying to finish off as much of the sidestories and other stuff (like finding that cat! ) before going to the finale.

[Mandalore]

Kiryu would look older if his hair was a bit grey. Did he have a trip to some salon for a rinse after leaving prison? Must be the same one Date uses.

[RedShell]

[Happenstance]

I was supposed to move onto God of War once I finish Yakuza 6 but I'm enjoying this so much at the moment that its giving me a craving to replay Zero.

[RedShell]

I was on the verge of tears last night during one of the cutscenes, powerful stuff. A few moments later... one of the best action sequences I think I've ever experienced! And just after that... immense laughter as I finally managed to complete the cat cafe sub-story.

Yep, Yakuza is still the pinnacle of gameplay/emotional diversity.

The action has always been incredible in these games, but they've somehow raised the bar yet again. I seriously could not close my mouth during this section I played through yesterday, it was quite literally jaw-dropping! The on-screen awesomeness combined with this music... man, I was absolutely buzzing! 

And it still isn't over, will be heading to the final battle later on. Was going to last night, but got sidetracked when the Amon fight became available (couldn't resist it ) as I wanted to wrap up the substories too. Managed to take him down on the second attempt.

Anyway, can't wait to finally see what will happen with the main story!

 

[Ashley]

I know this is about 6 but 0 and Kiwami are reduced on the store at the moment. Which is better for a newbie like me?

[Sheikah]

I know this is about 6 but 0 and Kiwami are reduced on the store at the moment. Which is better for a newbie like me?

From what I've read, 0 is the better game and it starts right from the beginning. 0 is also a new game whereas Kiwami is a remake of the first game, so I heard it is a bit outdated feeling. Could be wrong on that.

[Happenstance]

Yeah go for Zero. Its a good jumping off point and just a really fun game. The 80s setting really adds to it.

[RedShell]

Completed the game.

BIG Spoilers below!:

Spoiler

Amazing finale (as expected) and a very satisfying final battle. They really got me with the “death” of Kiryu too. I always suspected he was going to die at the end of this game, so although it was kind of shocking to see (especially how it happened) I wasn’t actually that surprised. In the end the surprise came from him not being dead.  I loved the scene where Haruto is taking his first steps insync with Kiryu, cheesy for sure, but still great. 

As for my overall opinion of the game, it’s certainly right up there as one of, if not the best in the series. It’s really tough to call though, as while it does so much stuff way better than previous entries, at the same time it’s missing several aspects that I love from those games, and the general performance (although you do eventually get used to it) cannot be overlooked either. Despite loving the improved visuals/physics etc... which is all very impressive, I think ultimately a solid 60fps is far more valuable to a game like Yakuza. So yeah, (and thinking ahead a bit here ) it would be nice to see a remaster of this in the future that could run the game at a higher framerate, and perhaps include some of those established series omissions too, in which case Yakuza 6 could easily be considered the best game of the lot.

Will probably go for the Platinum trophy on this version of Yakuza too, as I’m currently only 2 away from it. One of which is just a matter of time (100 wins on the Clan Mode) the other being to beat the game on legendary difficulty (and that’s apparently more straightforward than ever, as you can now just reload a save from before the final battle and change the difficulty there).

 

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

I know this is about 6 but 0 and Kiwami are reduced on the store at the moment. Which is better for a newbie like me?

You can’t go wrong with either, but if you’re planning on getting into the story and potentially experiencing the entire series then obviously go for Zero, as it’s the perfect starting point in that regard. Either way, welcome to the party! I hope you enjoy it.  

 

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Happenstance said:

Yeah go for Zero. Its a good jumping off point and just a really fun game. The 80s setting really adds to it.

But that's the worst decade! 😋

Thanks for the help guys.

[Happenstance]

I'm still taking my time with the game, only up to chapter 7 at the moment.

One question though for you guys. How are you finding the clan battle stuff? That seems to be the one area of 6 I'm not really into.

[RedShell]

52 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I'm still taking my time with the game, only up to chapter 7 at the moment.

One question though for you guys. How are you finding the clan battle stuff? That seems to be the one area of 6 I'm not really into.

To be honest I wasn't massively into it initially, but it has grown on me. I like how it includes characters from previous Yakuza games and it's pretty entertaining putting together a team of your faves. But the online/competitive aspect of it is somewhat messed up due to those codes that you can use to obtain rare and therefore super powerful characters. It kind of ruins any sort of natural progression, as the majority of players seem to be using the best characters/combinations right from the start, meaning you basically have to as well.
It probably would've been better if the powerful cards could only be unlocked from actually playing the game.

So yeah, it's nothing out of this world, but a decent little extra mode all the same. I would've preferred an online mode that allowed you to fight other players in real-time via the standard Yakuza gameplay but the clan thing is better than nowt. Doesn't require PS+ to play either, which is obviously a plus for me, now that my subscription has expired.

 

 

[Julius]

Not related to Yakuza 6, but related to Yakuza: in an interview with PlayStation Access, series producer Daisuke Sato has talked about how Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 could come to PS4 — if there’s enough demand (though I’m under the impression that the performances of 0, Kiwami, and 6 in the West have already shown that there’s plenty of demand). He also said that it would be hard to localise Yakuza Ishin (the samurai game, I believe?) because of how the Western audience won’t completely understand the era that it’s set in, though I’d argue that the West’s embrace of recent Yakuza games shows that there’s clearly an audience for the game.

Plus, samurais are cool. 

 

[S.C.G]

Having the whole series available to play on the PS4 is all I've ever wanted for Yakuza so that I can properly get into it.

I've even purposely left spaces in my PS4 Tower™ for the rest of the entries ready for when they get released.

Now all I need to know is whether or not I'll be needing to make an extra space for Yakuza Ishin or not, which I would definitely buy in a heartbeat.

Yakuza + Samurai = instant purchase, I can't believe that I didn't even know about this spin-off until now as well, seems like it performed really well when it came out in 2014 in Japan.

I feel that the understanding of Samurai is most likely at an all-time high in the rest right now, especially with the increased availability of films by such acclaimed directors as Akira Kurosawa.

Yeah, OK... our understanding is most likely a little lacking in comparison to how much Japan knows about the history but... all the more reason to release it over here.

I'm more than happy to learn through the medium of expertly produced games.

[Hero-of-Time]

Have you played any of them yet, @S.C.G?

[S.C.G]

15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Have you played any of them yet, @S.C.G?

Well... I... you see... it's just that... I was going to... and then...

...No.

But the intention is most definitely there to play the entire Yakuza series, once all of them are commited to appearing in physical form on the PS4.

[RedShell]

16 hours ago, RedShell said:

I would've preferred an online mode that allowed you to fight other players in real-time via the standard Yakuza gameplay

I’ve been thinking about this some more and now I really want it to happen.  Imagine if it was done like in the Souls games, so one player invades your game (say, as Amon) and then you (as Kiryu) bump into them somewhere in Kamarucho and an epic 1v1 fight commences!  Man, that would be so awesome.

 

Anyway, @S.C.G It’s great that you’re still planning to get into the series, but I really wouldn’t recommend waiting for potential PS4 versions of 3, 4 and 5. Especially if that means you plan to play the games back to back. You see while the story and characters change in each title, the main location and general flow of the game remains pretty much constant throughout. As much as I love the series, I couldn’t imagine trying to play them in succession like that, the burn-out would be insane.  So yeah, if you plan to take breaks in between each game you might as well get cracking with Zero now, as you’ve already got Kiwami (and Kiwami 2 in August) available, and by the time you got through those, chances are we’ll know more about future PS3 remakes, and if not, at least you will have already enjoyed (hopefully) the first game/s.

[Julius]

9 hours ago, RedShell said:

I’ve been thinking about this some more and now I really want it to happen.  Imagine if it was done like in the Souls games, so one player invades your game (say, as Amon) and then you (as Kiryu) bump into them somewhere in Kamarucho and an epic 1v1 fight commences!  Man, that would be so awesome.

 

Anyway, @S.C.G It’s great that you’re still planning to get into the series, but I really wouldn’t recommend waiting for potential PS4 versions of 3, 4 and 5. Especially if that means you plan to play the games back to back. You see while the story and characters change in each title, the main location and general flow of the game remains pretty much constant throughout. As much as I love the series, I couldn’t imagine trying to play them in succession like that, the burn-out would be insane.  So yeah, if you plan to take breaks in between each game you might as well get cracking with Zero now, as you’ve already got Kiwami (and Kiwami 2 in August) available, and by the time you got through those, chances are we’ll know more about future PS3 remakes, and if not, at least you will have already enjoyed (hopefully) the first game/s.

From what I’ve seen of the games (probably a couple of hours from reviews and some short gameplay sessions), I actually think that your idea would work really well, @RedShell; it definitely seems like the right type of game for that mechanic/feature  

I mean to get into the Yakuza games too - they’re on my list of games that I want to play which is, by my own admission, waaaaaaay too long (I’m sure many of you here share my struggle) - but I think I’ll take to it after I’ve played through Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III. I know that they aren’t exactly the same style of game/s (or storytelling) in many ways, but I do feel like there’s an evolution in concepts from Shenmue to Yakuza, from everything that I’ve read/heard/watched about them, so I’d like to take that approach to them. It’s the same sort of way I’m planning to play the 3D Mario and Zelda games (prior to BotW for the latter)  

Edited April 26, 2018 by Julius Caesar