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

[ERYFKRAD]

Nani?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

please tell me i'm hallucinating.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Really now, what's wrong with having bonkers side quests? Do we need to start sending you copies of Shadow the Hedgehog so you can have a 100% edge experience?

 

[Jugashvili]

i was looking for "infernal affairs"

That would be Sleeping Dogs

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Really now, what's wrong with having bonkers side quests? Do we need to start sending you copies of Shadow the Hedgehog so you can have a 100% edge experience?

suspension of disbelief, my man. suspension of disbelief.

i was looking for "infernal affairs"

That would be Sleeping Dogs

been there, done that. nice, but far from being a masterpiece.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Eh the best part of the series is how balanced the whole serious main quest and the funny hijinks side quests are.

If they went all gritty Yakuza drama it would be another game entirely.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yea, a big part in the humour is that the characterization remains consistent. It's funny that it's the Dragon of Dojima who has ended up in the strange situation.

Similarly a very big difference I feel is that unlike say Rockstar's games, Yakuza doesn't go for "lol losers" type of jokes. Nobody's problems are below Kiryu's empathy.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

(Also from my experience, it seems to be more of a case that Western pearl clutchers are placed into a deep state of confusion because of the fact that everything they might be upset by is countered by peak wholesome, the entirely positive type of masculinity, and "well that's just what they like in Japan")

 

[Hobo Elf]

I remember when Yakuza 3 came out and some fans were mislabeling the series as Japanese GTA. Needless to say, many people who bought it based on this premise weren't happy.

 

[Modron]

I remember when Yakuza 3 came out and some fans were mislabeling the series as Japanese GTA. Needless to say, many people who bought it based on this premise weren't happy.

Yeah it's more of a Japanese shenmue.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

I remember when Yakuza 3 came out and some fans were mislabeling the series as Japanese GTA. Needless to say, many people who bought it based on this premise weren't happy.

Yeah it's more of a Japanese shenmue.

Wait what. Shenmue isn't Japanese? Wasn't it made by SEGA?

 

[Reinhardt]

Shenmue isn't Japanese?

It's Epic exclusive.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It's a joke, you could word it as "Shenmue except good" or such too.

 

[Belegarsson]

please tell me i'm hallucinating.

Without these goofy moments, Yakuza would lose its biggest strength: how human Kiryu's journey feels.

I've been playing 0 a bit more before finally starting Kiwami, and I just found out Kiryu can play bowling with Nishiki, which reminded me of a moment earlier in the game, when

Spoiler

Nishiki drove Kiryu into the woods, supposedly to help him escape Kamurocho, but then Nishiki pointed a gun at his head because everyone in Dojima family were ordered to hunt him down, and Nishiki thought this would be the best way to make Kiryu suffer less

It was a really tragic scene, seeing two sworn brothers at the verge of washing each other's blood on their hand is simply cruel. At that point, for some reasons I suddenly remembered about another moment earlier when Nishiki picked an incredibly tacky and unnecessarily glossy outfit for Kiryu and he couldn't stop laughing at him, then I remembered the Judgment karaoke song segment when they turned into an 80s rock band for a few seconds, then later Majima fought Nishiki at Serana's bar and at one point Reina throw a healing bottle for him but Majima can catch it instead which was funny as hell in a dead serious fight.

The outlandish aspect of Yakuza isn't to ease up its melodrama. It's meant to connect Kiryu and Majima with us, because life is insane and unexpected, and all of them create the pivot for a person's existence. I'd have thought less about the woods scene had I not gotten to know Nishiki better through their interactions in the first half.

If Kiryu's story was entirely about violence, conflict, blood and tragedy, it would go against Yakuza 0's premise itself.

 

[Rahdulan]

ITS HAPPENING

SOON

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

please tell me i'm hallucinating.

Without these goofy moments, Yakuza would lose its biggest strength: how human Kiryu's journey feels.

I've been playing 0 a bit more before finally starting Kiwami, and I just found out Kiryu can play bowling with Nishiki, which reminded me of a moment earlier in the game, when

Spoiler

Nishiki drove Kiryu into the woods, supposedly to help him escape Kamurocho, but then Nishiki pointed a gun at his head because everyone in Dojima family were ordered to hunt him down, and Nishiki thought this would be the best way to make Kiryu suffer less

It was a really tragic scene, seeing two sworn brothers at the verge of washing each other's blood on their hand is simply cruel. At that point, for some reasons I suddenly remembered about another moment earlier when Nishiki picked an incredibly tacky and unnecessarily glossy outfit for Kiryu and he couldn't stop laughing at him, then I remembered the Judgment karaoke song segment when they turned into an 80s rock band for a few seconds, then later Majima fought Nishiki at Serana's bar and at one point Reina throw a healing bottle for him but Majima can catch it instead which was funny as hell in a dead serious fight.

The outlandish aspect of Yakuza isn't to ease up its melodrama. It's meant to connect Kiryu and Majima with us, because life is insane and unexpected, and all of them create the pivot for a person's existence. I'd have thought less about the woods scene had I not gotten to know Nishiki better through their interactions in the first half.

If Kiryu's story was entirely about violence, conflict, blood and tragedy, it would go against Yakuza 0's premise itself.

It's also extremely important to showing how Kiryu is as a person, and why it's very important in the long run. By Yakuza 6, Kiryu is 48 years old (and has spent 13 of those years in prison), most of the people he has known are dead, the world around him is moving ahead too fast for him to keep up, but he's still unbowed and unbroken, his principles still intact. Because there's more to life than just violence, conflict, blood and tragedy.

And a big part of why he's like that is that just as Kiryu's basically dedicated his life to being his best self, a very important thing about that is that he isn't just a growling angry vidya protag. Kiryu doesn't look down on anyone or anything out of prejudice, he'll give anything an earnest go and end up in strange situations, meet odd people, and simply take life as it is. And because life is strange and unexpected, funny and warm too than just hard, you get a real sense why when things get tough Kiryu never gives up or compromises his beliefs. Since you too KNOW that Kamurocho is full of good, innocent people too.

Furthermore, it's always important to keep in mind that the games aren't being subtle about that the Dragon of Dojima is as undefeatably strong because of that unwavering idealism and positive outlook on life.

 

[Reinhardt]

I'm not interested at all in criminal games. Seen too much of this shit firsthand in nineties myself. Started playing my first Yakuza game because i thought Majima was funny. Still love Majima, but i stayed and continued because of Kiryu.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Kiryu is a total bro.

 

[Deflowerer]

Frankly, they would not be able to make a GTA style game narratively speaking about yakuza in Japan. The reason why they have been able to have these yakuza stories in these games is because you technically always play as someone who has been outcast from the clan.

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

Any vehicular driving would be boring as shit, too.

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't mind GTA games, I've played them all, but thank good that Yakuza is nothing like those games.

 

[Naraya]

I like the ratio of in this thread.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Frankly, they would not be able to make a GTA style game narratively speaking about yakuza in Japan. The reason why they have been able to have these yakuza stories in these games is because you technically always play as someone who has been outcast from the clan.

Even besides that, the "Japanese GTA" thing is to a degree also just because of the localized title of the series. Like A Dragon is honestly much more descriptive.

 

[HoboForEternity]

anyway is it me or majima construction isn't really fun? it's shallow as hell, the console control scheme is awful for tower defense/RTS thing. the worst minigame so far, at least the payoff is fun like how 4 yakuza old men (who used to beat the shit out of each other) hanging out in a cafe ordering fancy sounding western food and have fun like teenage girls

 

[Lyre Mors]

anyway is it me or majima construction isn't really fun? it's shallow as hell, the console control scheme is awful for tower defense/RTS thing. the worst minigame so far, at least the payoff is fun like how 4 yakuza old men (who used to beat the shit out of each other) hanging out in a cafe ordering fancy sounding western food and have fun like teenage girls

I didn't like it so much at first, but it's grown on me. It's no more shallow than any of the other bigger mini-games in the series. I'd say it's got more going on than cabaret and real-estate, when you think about it.

On that note, I feel like I'm noticing a common sentiment running through this thread, whether conscious or unconscious. I feel like a lot of people are feeling a bit of series fatigue, but want to continue the games regardless because they are drawn to them despite that. I've felt it a little bit myself, but I've taken 0 through Kiwami 2 at a very staggered pace. I'll often times play a nice long session every week or two. I always have fun and always play for a long period of time, but then am good on it until the itch hits again a week or two later. It works for me and I get to keep a steady mainline of Yakuza in my life.