Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (Yakuza, Judgment, Binary Domain + more!) Discussion Thread

[Lyre Mors]

Judgement is a great little evolution of the classic Yakuza formula. They could have taken it further, but I feel confidant you will have enjoyed it by the end.

Also some of the more challenging action combat seen from RGG Studio in quite some time. Still not hard overall, but there's some good fights scattered throughout.

 

[Tacgnol]

I finished Judgment this morning. I really enjoyed it.

Much darker in tone than the Yakuza games (which could already get pretty dark). Yagami is a much more cynical and grounded protag than Kiryu as well.

Combat was good overall, though I found the crane style to be totally useless and stuck to the tiger style for 90% of the game.

Looking forward to playing Lost Judgment which I gather improves on the first game.

 

[Maxie]

The Yakuza games 0-7 are free on Gamepass for the PC and have been for ages.

lmao gamepass

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Man, I didn't realize Kiwami 2 soundtrack had a lot of changes. The original version had quite a few bangers.

 

[Deflowerer]

Yakuza 2 had some guest composer outside of Sega. I think basically all his tracks got scrapped.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

 

[Broseph]

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

Some people will disagree with this but I suggest starting with Yakuza 0. It’s not the best in the series but it’s one of the best and the first chronologically. So if you like it you can continue on with Kiwami and play them in sequence.

 

[Caim]

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

Yakuza 0 is a prequel, so you'll miss out on all the "hey it's that guy but young!" moments. Some series callbacks will go over your head, but it's a good time.

Yakuza Kiwami 1 is a remake of the original Yakuza 1. Kiwami 1 came out after 0, so it's taken on some lessons of the previous entries and their engine, so iit plays similarly to 0. Same goes for Kiwami 2, but games 3-5 are just re-releases that came out on PC two years ago. This means that both graphically and to some extent gameplay wise they might be a bit of a shift.

Yakuza 7 (Like A Dragon) is a soft sequel: it helps if you know what happened before or who that manic guy Naruto running down a building and throwing knives at dudes is, but it plays fine on its own. The gameplay is a radical shift though: from a brawler to one of those action-turn based RPGs that got popular lately.

The Judgment duology is a decent spinoff, but not where I'd start the series. Same for Like A Dragon Ishin, which has a historical setting where most of the cast is played by people you'll recognize.

TL;DR: Yakuza Kiwami 1 if you want to get the absolute most out of Yakuza 0, Yakuza 0 if you don't care about going "hey it's that guy but young!" or seeing how the games changed over time as they released, if you hate brawlers but like action-rpgs pick up Like A Dragon. Yakuza 0 was released after 5, so if you start with 1 play 0 before 6.

And if you enjoy Fist of the North Star, pick up Lost Paradise along the way if you've got a PS4 laying around.

In any case, there's bundles for 0-1-2 and 3-4-5 on sale on Steam. The first one is a no-brainer if you want to start with the series, but because the sale lasts only two more days you either will have to make up your mind quick if you don't want to spend before you know you want to. Then again, if you don't have a lot of time to play you can start with the first bundle and pick up the second in the next sale if you like the games.

 

[Tacgnol]

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

I'd personally just start with 0. Caim does have a point about missing some of the "Hey it's that guy" moments, but it is entirely chronological if you start with 0.

Also, Kiwami (the remake of the first Yakuza) has some new cutscenes and dialogue that reference several events in 0.

Changing the subject slightly, I started playing Lost Judgment and it is an improvement over Judgment in almost every way. I loved the first game, but they've expanded the combat system so heavily and fixed a lot of the niggles with other systems.

One of the main plot arcs is a really dark look at bullying in elite Japanese prep schools. The Judgment games really like shining a light on the dark aspects of society.

 

[Broseph]

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

I'd personally just start with 0. Caim does have a point about missing some of the "Hey it's that guy" moments, but it is entirely chronological if you start with 0.

Also, Kiwami (the remake of the first Yakuza) has some new cutscenes and dialogue that reference several events in 0.

Changing the subject slightly, I started playing Lost Judgment and it is an improvement over Judgment in almost every way. I loved the first game, but they've expanded the combat system so heavily and fixed a lot of the niggles with other systems.

One of the main plot arcs is a really dark look at bullying in elite Japanese prep schools. The Judgment games really like shining a light on the dark aspects of society.

The only thing I didn’t like about Lost Judgment were the school clubs. It’s all entirely optional content, but you have to do a lot of tedious stuff to get to the end of each club storyline. I gave up on it and I’m usually trying to squeeze these games for all they’re worth with the side content but it just wasn’t fun. Other than that is indeed an improvement on the first game in every way. The Kaito Files DLC is phenomenal too, btw.

 

[Rean]

The only thing I didn’t like about Lost Judgment were the school clubs.

Hehe, the school clubs can be a bit frustrating and they have very varying difficulty levels, so one may appeal more to you than another. For me the easiest one was dance, found it hilariously easy. Robotics pissed me the fuck off, especially because you have to go around the city to get components. Had to use a walkthrough for that one to help me find the stuff.

But I'm glad I stuck with it and did all the club activities in the end, they have fun stories to tell.

 

[Sarathiour]

Yakuza 0 is a prequel, so you'll miss out on all the "hey it's that guy but young!" moments. Some series callbacks will go over your head, but it's a good time.

Started by 0, most of the guys that are going to come back later and have those kind of moment are pretty obvious, as subtlety is not the game forte. So instead of "hey I know you" you have a "well later then" moment.

Also this one substory about some diviner predicting your future is obviously going to go over your head, because good luck knowing that 10 billions yens is a reference to something happening later on.

 

[Nortar]

It's like reading a detective story from the last chapter, just coz it exposes the villain and explains what happened in the previous chapters in chronological order, instead of the way it was intended to be presented.

Whenever it comes to series of something - books, games, movies - I always believe the best order is in which they were released (remakes counts as origianls for this purpsose if they are faithful), not internal world chronology.

 

[Tyrr]

0 was made as a starting point for new players to the series. 0 was also my first Yakuza game and I don't regret starting there (other than it being one of the high points of the series and not everything later can match your expectations).
I don't remember anything from the later story being spoiled in 0. On the other hand, knowing what will become of the characters and who cannot die because he appears again later, can spoil a bit about 0. I think I enjoyed 0 more not knowing the rest of the series.

 

[Elttharion]

Just started playing Lost Judgement.

Spoiler

A few hours in and I already beat the crap out of some annoying students, met a bossy and hot young english teacher, was accused of being a perv and looking under female skirts by a student, had to avoid security to escape being put in a sex offender list, etc. Ah, just like in my teaching days.

 

[Nirvash]

Nice Duck on yakuza 3, streamers always skip it.

 

[Nirvash]

 

[Maxie]

Damn she in for the boringest game

 

[Theodora]

Nightmare fuel. Microsoft really were looking into buying Sega at one point.

Really disturbing to see them keep up this acquisition spree even while in the middle of large scale layoffs. Some American techgiant having influence over Japanese AA devs' hiring and firing decisions is, as you said, nightmare fuel.

What is the best Yakuza game to recommend a begginer?

Many have already answered this, but: Easily 0. Not even a debate in my mind, it's modern, the combat is varied, it's a prequel to the rest of the story, its story has better pacing than most other options, and it's the only way to not start in the middle of things. (Plus Majima's character has a lot more weight when you know his 'origin story'.)

Seen people elsewhere recommend Y7 a lot, which isn't bad at all, but it doesn't really feel like a proper introduction to what the studio is known for.

 

[Modron]

Yakuza 1 has just as varied combat and is the correct starting point, play them in release order and have zero as a cherry on top.

 

[Maxie]

Yakuza 1 has just as varied combat and is the correct starting point, play them in release order and have zero as a cherry on top.

the only real way to play yakuza 1 today is to play kiwami and the game is absolutely atrocious with hp sponges everywhere and the dire majima everywhere gimmick which will make you hate him and hate this game series sooner or later - getting punked by majima thrice everytime you want to walk down the street is NOT fun

 

[Modron]

Pretty easy to avoid Majima, they made it painfully obvious whatever manhole, car trunk, giant traffic cone, et cetera he is in. You could always emulate the first game if the Kiwami version isn't your speed. In a fun coincidence I decided to finally sit down with the series and was 1 day into playing the OG ps2 version when they annouced they were porting a yakzua to the pc.

 

[Theodora]

Yakuza 1 has just as varied combat and is the correct starting point, play them in release order and have zero as a cherry on top.

It's not the worst place to start, but the pacing is a bit lopsided and I'm confident that there'd be much greater "retention" with people starting at 0. Besides, they added a fair bit to Kiwami that assumes you've played 0.

 

[Tacgnol]

Yakuza 1 has just as varied combat and is the correct starting point, play them in release order and have zero as a cherry on top.

It's not the worst place to start, but the pacing is a bit lopsided and I'm confident that there'd be much greater "retention" with people starting at 0. Besides, they added a fair bit to Kiwami that assumes you've played 0.

Indeed. That's why I always recommend 0 as a starting point.

They added a lot of new content to Kiwami that references events in 0. Does feel as though RGG intend 0 to be the series entry point with the remakes they've released.

 

[Maxie]

Like a Dragon Isshin is the intended entry point because it takes place earlier