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

[Caim]

View attachment 43260

He sure knows how to earn things:

He got shat on in the comments so hard he unlisted the video.

Lol. Lmao, even.

 

[karoliner]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I finished Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 last month, and I can recommend them both.

Pros:
+ Yakuza Kiwami 1 spends much of the plot introducing you to the characters that revolve around Kiryu and to the location of Kamurocho. It's a nice introduction, though the plot twists ranged from the predictable to the completely over-the-top. Kiryu's voice actor needs to win a prize for stoicly deliverig the most insane dialogue.
+ I've played Yakuza 0, Yakuza Like a Dragon, and Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2. Out of the four games, Yakuza Kiwami 2 has both the best main villain and the best villain story arc. It's too bad that when two men entered only one was going to get out alive.
+ Detective Kaoru Sayama from Yakuza Kiwami 2 is my favorite female character of the franchise. I was disappointed to learn that she is soon pushed out of the series.
+ Props to Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for slipping in a soft-porn/ecchi video game in Yakuza Kiwami 2. I was trying to stretch out the game a bit and decide to engage in a photography side quest, when suddenly Kiryu is taking photos of live action adult models and engaging in flirty dialogue. This was a baller move since Sony keeps adding extra pieces of clothing to female characters in Japanese video games set to be released in the US. Not sure how this got passed the censors, but bravo.
+ I thought Majima was going to be a reoccuring anti-villain through the series, but he flips to stalwart ally by Yakuza 2. He is awesome in all of the games, and I love how Kiryu keeps thinking that Majima's stories about his past are bullshit just to be surprised when he realizes that the stories are true. It reminds me of the tabletop GURPS game where you could purchase different insanity penalties during a point-based character build (like the Boy Scouts are a front for the Illuminati or squirrels are implanted with microphones so the CIA can listen to your conversations). When you gathered enough character points in GURPS you could buy off the penalty. In game that meant you were either cured of your insanity or it is revealed that your character was right all along and now the rest of the world knows too.
+ By Yakuza Kiwami 2 it becomes obvious that much of Majima's insanity is just an act to help ensure his survival. In Yakuza Kiwami 2 he even correctly warns Kiryu that the plot isn't adding up and that someone close is lying. You have to pay attention to Majima's hints that he is actually playing the long game and is saner and smarter than he appears.

Cons:
- Having to fight Majima over and over again to gain Dragon style abilitites got old fast in Yakuza Kiwami 1. I did like Majima's insanely random appearances (zombies...).
- Yakuza Kiwami 2 had a better combat system then in Yakuza Kiwami 1, but they over corrected and combat towards the end game became too easy.
- There will be no Yakuza Kiwami 3. I like the modernized improvements and don't have much of a desire to play with what I am hearing are janky controls in Yakuza 3. It's probably just as well. Yakuza 3 is one of the lower ranked games in the Yakuza series and to be honest the short game descriptions of Yakuza 3 sounds a bit dull. I would skip to Yakuza 4, but when I read about that game it looks like you split time between four protaganists. That doesn't sound all that interesting either. I guess I'll stop on this high note and try Like a Dragon: Gaiden when it goes down in price and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth upon its release.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I like the modernized improvements and don't have much of a desire to play with what I am hearing are janky controls in Yakuza 3

I would nae call them janky, about the main annoyance with it is how block happy most opponents are.
That said even if you do skip 3, give 4 and 5 a try. Both have semi retarded plots but great set pieces and most of the new dudes are fun characters in their own right.

 

[Yuber]

What are these new games Ishin and Gaiden?
I saw Ishin plays in the past 1600 japan or so, does it play like traditional Yakuza games or new gameplay?
Gaiden continues the story from 6? I only liked Yakuza 0-3.
4,5,6 I did not really enjoy anymore...

 

[ERYFKRAD]

does it play like traditional Yakuza games or new gameplay?

Pretty much. Just a different time period and 4 styles combat- fist, katana, gun and katanagun instead of pure brawling.

 

[Nortar]

does it play like traditional Yakuza games or new gameplay?

Pretty much. Just a different time period and 4 styles combat- fist, katana, gun and katanagun instead of pure brawling.

Tbh, fists are so shit in this game, it's not even funny.
The Brawler style is only saved by ability to use some cool weapons like odachi or spears with pretty varied move-set.

But I found it kind of endearing to see the usual cast in new roles.
Okita Majima, as always, steals the show though.
His (and only his) clothes are always splattered in caked blood from head to toe and instead of the eye-patch he wears tsuba on a string.

 

[Abu Antar]

Fists can be good in Ishin! But it requires you to have certain equipment or enhancements that increases the damage output, and preferably something that can block blades.

Anyway...

Yuber Ishin! is a side game. It plays like a Yakuza game, but it does not have anything to do with main series story. It takes place during the end of the Edo period.

Gaiden is a smaller game that sets up Kiryu's role for Yakuza (8): Infinite Wealth.

 

[Caim]

@Yuber Ishin! is a side game. It plays like a Yakuza game, but it does not have anything to do with main series story. It takes place during the end of the Edo period.

Ishin also has a lot of characters from the previous games in it as part of the cast, so there's a lot of "hey it's that guy!" moments if you played the previous games. You can still play it without having played any of the previous ones, but you'll miss out on this part of the fun (though you might also get the same but in reverse).

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

With all the girlfriends I took Kiryu out in on in Yakuza 2, 3, 4 and 5. I doubt he's a virgin, he smashed plenty of puss. The Hotel District in Kamurocho never forgets, the only virgins were the ones at Yoshida Batting Centre looking at Kiryu saying goodbye to the women

 

[Nirvash]

Nah, Kiryu is clearly a eunuch, his junk must have been damaged in some brawl in the early days.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Nah, Kiryu is clearly a eunuch, his junk must have been damaged in some brawl in the early days.

Dude would tiger drop that shit extra hard

 

[Elttharion]

Thanks to a series of translated interviews with Yakuza series directors and producers, specifically one with Masayoshi Yokoyama, we learned that in Yokoyama’s personal opinion the series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is probably a virgin. Yokoyama has long been involved in the Yakuza series, being in charge of script, sound direction and stage direction for all the numbered games as well as Kenzan and Ishin, and has been a producer since Yakuza 5.

I have one digression about character backgrounds. This is just my own interpretation and as such isn’t official or anything like that, and I hope people read it as a kind of lip service, but I think that Kiryu is probably a virgin. Probably. Kiryu held this pure love for Yumi Sawamura, but because of Nishikiyama he probably never made any strong advances on Yumi. Probably. Neither Kiryu nor Nishikiyama laid a hand on Yumi until they were 27. I do think that Nishikiyama probably played around along the way, though. Probably. Things happen and Kiryu ends up spending 10 years in prison for the murder of Sohei Dojima. Though he does enjoy himself with hostesses after being released, I’m sure he never actually lays a hand on them because he loves Yumi. And then Yumi passes away, and time just drags on. Mayumi says something about this in Ryu ga Gotoku 5 as well, right? “We’ve been together for six months, but haven’t done anything.” That means that Kiryu must still have no experience and keeps holding onto that pure love. Probably.

I’m sure that there are a lot of cases to be made for and against my opinion, but generally, when something is set in a fantasy world you can, with a level of realism, think about things that you usually never would. Leaving to one side the question of whether or not Kiryu is a virgin, I think that one of the charms of Ryu ga Gotoku is that you can talk like this about the kind of silly things you might discuss at a bar.

 

[karoliner]

 

[Abu Antar]

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/11/lik...-system-character-exclusive-jobs-and-new-jobs

Lots of info on Infinite Wealth. I won't copy/paste, as it tells you about jobs, and party members. Do not click if you don't want spoilers.

 

[flyingjohn]

"Our own JUDGEEEMEEEEEEEENT".
Well, Japanese VA's are usually expected to sing compared to western VA's.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Our own JUDGEEEMEEEEEEEENT".
Well, Japanese VA's are usually expected to sing compared to western VA's.

I mean, I guess singing is a requirement even in western movies and shit? Especially all the animated ones that Disney Pixar and all used to toss out

 

[flyingjohn]

I mean, I guess singing is a requirement even in western movies and shit? Especially all the animated ones that Disney Pixar and all used to toss out

In western media it is very rare. It used to be somewhat less rare as you said for Disney. But most japanese commemorations and events tied to games and anime will include some form of music and singing. A pretty big chunk of anime op/ed are sang by the Va's.

 

[AndyS]

Asian celebrities are expected to be multi-talented in that way - acting, singing, and dancing. Actresses in particular are supposed to be able to release albums as much as appear in movies. Western media is more likely to use doubles for whatever is needed; e.g., Diane Lane had two voice doubles for the songs in Streets of Fire because she isn't a trained singer.

 

[Maxie]

you don't need to remind us that white people are horrible

 

[Neuromancer]

I mean, I guess singing is a requirement even in western movies and shit? Especially all the animated ones that Disney Pixar and all used to toss out

In Disney movies it was quite common, that they use different voice actors for the speaking and singing parts.

The same for other movies.
For example: in the original movie The Westside Story, all singing of the main actors was dubbed over later - with the exception of Rita Moreno, who was a professional singer.

As far as I know, Bollywood does the same.


Of course, even in Hollywood there are also examples of the contrary:
For the filming of Hair, the crew explicitely was searching for nobodies, who could act, dance and sing. But then, you lack the star power (not that it is really needed IMO).


in general, when you don't have good singers as actors, I prefer the overdubbing.

Unfortunately, in the last 15 years the trend started to also let normal Hollywood actors sing.
And thus you have movies like Les Miserables, where singing ranges from OK (but not excellent), to mediocre (Hugh Jackman playing one of the main parts) to bad (sorry, Russell Crowe).
A great original musical - rendered to something mediocre through sub-par singing.

Edit: Typo

 

[Rean]

Learning drama, music and singing at the same time was part of classical education.
Just another case where Japan upholds traditional values and promotes skill, unlike the vapid West, who just love getting inundated with bumbling retards.

 

[HoboForEternity]

20 hours into yakuza 3 i thought the game aged decently. The core combat isnt as polished or sophisticated as the kiwami games, but they still feel pretty good and depending on how much you want to interact with the weapon system, it can be pretty varied.

The substories are much better than kiwami 1, but not as good as 0 (so far).

The main story is pretty enjoyable too and the stakes are really personal to kiryu which boost my motivation as a character, since they spent a lot of time establishing kiryu's relationships with the orphanage children. Chapter 1-4 can feel slow, but i love it

What doesnt age are the mInigames. Tried a bunch, and they are just too clunky and the hostess management minigame is terrible compared to yakuza 0 or kiwami 2 that are bascially its own 10-20 hours story arc.

 

[karoliner]

 

[Nirvash]

We need Subaru as a actual playable charater for 9