Yakuza series

[south carmain]

i don't think even cute minigames like playing golf can make me buy part 5 unless it brings really loads of new stuff.

I think you will be getting part 5 then

according to Nagoshi and producer/scriptwriter Masayoshi Yokoyama, Yakuza 5 will be to the series what Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was to GTA, a massive expansion on the core concept that takes the franchise to new heights.

The game will be similar to previous Yakuza games in some respects -- it'll remain a PlayStation 3 exclusive, for one, and Kazuma Kiryu will once again be the hero, although Yokoyama hinted that there may be other playable characters akin to Yakuza 4. The big story here, though, is the game's setting. Sega held an online survey in late October asking gamers which Japanese city -- Sapporo, Osaka, Nagoya or Fukuoka

So which city is Yakuza 5 taking place in? "After considering all the relevant issues, we've decided to take the four cities in the survey, add Kamurocho in Tokyo, and have all five cities appear in the game."

http://www.1up.com/news/yakuza-enormous

[OL]

Sounds pretty ambitious. Either way, I'm sure they can pull it off.
Only worry it leaves me with is that the translation work will be huge. And that's always been the biggest reason that the rest of the world is always behind in getting each subsequent entry in the series. I hope it's not too big, or else we might not even get a domestic release.

[OL]

I plan on doing a video at some point (I'm thinking I'll do the whole series, just spaced out a bit), but without going into too much detail, this one has it right.
And I don't recall much footage of the game being posted in the topic thus far, so for anyone who hasn't really seen much of the game yet:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCS8ZqV0unY[/youtube]

I especially agree with the part where he says that if you're not laughing through most of the game, it's just not the game for you. Because yeah, you need a sense of humor to be able to really appreciate it.
Can't stress it enough: great game.

[Riku Rose]

Finished Mass Effect 3 so I'll start on this soon.

[Crimson Ryan]

The most ridiculous price for Yakuza 4 you'll ever see.

[Riku Rose]

^I've actually been seeing Y4 in alot of shops lately for very cheap. Quite weird as I don't remember seeing it when it first came out. Although I was in Tesco the other day and they still had it for £40.

[Bluecast]

Watching Giant Bomb quick look. The Zombie bits to me seem to have a nice House of the Dead charm.

Edit: Why are there Resident Evil lickers in this?

[OL]

The whole thing is like an homage to different zombie games. It's got the Licker-esque things, the RE-style aiming mode, the screamers and fatties from Left 4 Dead... at the very end, there's even a sequence of someone dropping a rocket launcher from a helicopter to help you against the final boss.

[Bluecast]

This quick look is making me want to play Yakuza. I know this is a spinoff and not part of the main story but still. Good thing is I now get 200$ a month and will see if PnT has it.

[OL]

Actually, besides the inclusion of zombies and monsters, the tone of Dead Souls isn't all that far off from the other games. All of them (barring maybe Yakuza 1, for the most part) have a pretty over-the-top personality, despite being sort of "real world"-based.
So if you're liking the personality of Dead Souls, you might like the rest of the series too, strangely enough.

[Crimson Ryan]

The whole thing is like an homage to different zombie games. It's got the Licker-esque things, the RE-style aiming mode, the screamers and fatties from Left 4 Dead... at the very end, there's even a sequence of someone dropping a rocket launcher from a helicopter to help you against the final boss.

What game/film does that reference? I haven't got that far yet..

[OL]

The first Resident Evil. They drop a rocket launcher off of a helicopter to help you during the Tyrant boss fight.
I won't ruin anything else about the Yakuza one though.

[Riku Rose]

Still playing as Akiyama about 6 hours in so far.

One thing that is annoying me is how you have to go through the underground section everytime you want to go into the quarintine zone. I find myself just running through but even then I still loose a bit of health. It's extra annoying as pretty much every side mission means you have to go in there.

[OL]

^^I know exactly what you mean. Running through the same corridors every time you want to get back in gets pretty irritating. Luckily, as the game goes on and you start playing as the other characters, you'll be able to enter the quarantined zone through much more open areas; you won't be forced to travel underground.

[Crimson Ryan]

Speaking on the official Yakuza forums, Yas Nogochi, Senior Producer of Sega of America, gave a small snippet of information on a Western release of Yakuza: Kenzan!

PS: For the record, I touched upon the subject of KENZAN in this thread already in the past. Me personally, I'd like to find a way of making it happen.

In the past, Yas mentioned localisation does take immense time and money, coupled with the fact: "The biggest problem apart from the business issues is technical. It's been several years since we released the game, so it might be very challenging for us to bring the code back from our archives.

On a more positive note, as long as I'm here at SEGA, I'll push to bring more Yakuza titles to the West."