Hello everyone, been a minute, hasn’t it? I anticipate all the jokes about me finally remembering my password (well this joke makes *less* sense now that this got published aftet my vita article, you can tell which one was written first), but today’s a pretty significant day because as of the time of this being written, Stranger than Heaven, Yokoyama’s new magnum opus, finally got its first significant trailer and for the first time we got a proper look at the game beyond just being told that takes place at the heart of the Cold War period.
Today I bring to you yet another collab between me and my good friend Az. Discussing Yakuza together has essentially become our signature ToD combo (lots of plus frames), so it’s quite fun to continue the train and today’s game gives us a lot to sink our teeth into, given how much it covers a lot of uncharted waters for RGG as a whole.
With that said, let’s not beat around the bush and start unpacking this beast.
Yousef’s thoughts
Personally, there’s a lot I have to say here. While it’s tough to summarize the last few years of RGG as a company, I can safely say there’s so much about this game to be optimistic about.
In a lot of RGG discussion spaces, most of us have speculated a team divide in RGG, with the B-team being the one to work on a lot of the smaller titles (Pirate Yakuza and Kiwami 3), while the A-team focuses on the next big thing… Brock Lesnar! (Sorry, force of habit)
It made sense, RGG grew as a company and Sega made it quite clear they wanna invest into Yakuza as a franchise. But it’s safe to say this may have led to some drama in the fandom.
Now whether or not you feel a lot of doomposting in the past few years was warranted will thankfully not have much relevance in the future. I’m one who came out of both Pirate and K3 feeling pretty lukewarm, doesn’t help that Yakuza 3 OG is my second favorite game of all time (behind GTA IV), so I have a lot of personal reasons to be salty, and yet I’m not, which speaks volumes that I’m willing to put all that aside for StH.
Just to set two things straight, if RGG’s supposed B-team output continues exactly as it is then I’ll definitely be jaded about that, but also, I like these games occupying my time, since as of the time of me writing this, I’m a proud owner of 5 Yakuza plats (Y6. Y7, Gaiden, Pirate and Kiwami 3), so I’m genuinely investing into this series as much as I can, and not merely jumping on bandwagons. I don’t interact with reddit or twitter, so if I say something good or bad about Yakuza then it is my own personal opinion.
But man, this game looks so awesome. We haven’t seen much of RGG’s new Virtua Fighter but this looks quite similar to that, so this might be hinting at a new direction for RGG as a whole, and not just being a one-time thing. Covering five whole periods is nothing short of mental. I’ve wanted a Yakuza set in the 70s, and one set in the 40-60s or during one of the WWs, looks like I’m getting my wish granted, and then some.
It just makes so much sense, y’know? Yakuza 6 already hinted at RGG’s interests in covering war periods with Hiroshima getting such a large focus and it having flashbacks to WW2, so I think this game is functionally the final escalation of that concept. Yokoyama wants a war-themed setting and now he’s making one. Maybe the man isn’t a complete hack after all.
Besides what’s been shown, not much is known, but all the pieces point to this being a massive scale project. Basically the love child of Yakuza 5 and Infinite Wealth.
Azimuth’s thoughts
After finishing Infinite Wealth, and despite liking the game, it left me quite cold. I couldn’t explain why, it was very abstract and, quite frankly. The game was good but I didn’t like it for reasons that are impossible to explain? Quite weird. To be honest, initially I didn’t even want to play it, but was sold after seeing that Shun Akiyama was going to make an appearance again (it ended up being something small, but I liked what I saw at least). Gaiden Kiryu was more of the same, with the difference that I think it’s a worse game now and only holds up because of its beautiful ending. There was also the Ishin remake, which I enjoyed in spite of its problems because it felt like a return to form. And how wouldn’t it be? It was a remake from a PS3 era game! I didn’t bother with Gaiden Pirates at all and I despise everything Kiwami 3 signifies. All of this is to say that I gave up on Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios completely. It’s a pity: they gave me some of my favorite games ever and some that I, at least, think are decent, but they are too washed in their current state. Whether it’s their fault or SEGA's, that’s a different topic (I don’t even know what to say about this).
However, not all hope is lost. There were two things that kept me linked to this god forsaken studio:
- The possibility of a third Judgment game: this one is unlikely because of Kimura’s agency being very protective of Kimura. However, if the Kaito DLC is something to take into account, there’s a big chance that we can have a third entry but with Kaito on a bigger role. Maybe Yagami is away on business or vacation and Kaito has to solve a huge problem on his own? I’d like to see the boys again, they’re some of the best cast of characters in the series.
- The focus of today: Stranger than Heaven (or as I like to call it: Project Century).
I can’t express why, but I feel an odd interest in this new, modern game. It’s odd because I think the current gaming landscape is cooked and, save for a few indies, no new games catch my eyes at all. I’d rather go back to the past or revisit my own experiences. Prior to the trailer, I (as well as others) didn’t have any information about what Stranger than Heaven would be, as all we had was a tentative title card. And now, we have a trailer! It’s a bit small, and it doesn’t tell us much, but it confirms my expectations that it CAN be good.
Let’s dissect this…
As I said a few words ago, the trailer doesn’t show much, merely that the game will happen across five eras in five cities. Hold on… five cities…? Are we Dreaming…? Seeing as the protagonist is the same throughout the five eras, it’s easy to assume that it’s going to be a coming-of-age type of story (I know that coming-of-age is from childhood to teenagehood to adulthood, but I don’t care), and I love those types of stories. However, I was expecting a detective-esque story, and instead we have a criminal as a protagonist as well. Could be interesting…
It appears RGG is still using Dragon Engine. While I thought they’d start developing a new engine by this point, I’m not opposed to the continued use of the Dragon. It’s a decently good engine, and through the years they managed to polish its rough patches (just compare the first Judgment to the second one). As a result, the game look, on paper, good, because if there’s one thing the Dragon Engine has is good graphics. Just make it so that the lighting doesn’t suck like in Kiwami 2. Gosh, that was awful.
Gameplay-wise we didn’t get much information. For me, it looks like it will be a beat ‘em up like old Yakuza games. Might have a focus on weapons? Who knows! Outside of combat, there might be of side activities like in Yakuza, seeing as there’s, for example, an arm wrestling section. It might as well be part of the story, who knows.
Outside of that, I don’t have much to say, as we don’t have information about the premise or the combat, which are the only things I care about. I guess I could talk about the use of drums for the music. I saw some comments praising the choice, and I can see why, but I don’t particularly care about it. I hope the next trailer will have more information (and, if possible, without spoilers, please!). I have faith that this game will come out good, but faith is as fickle as glass. Don’t disappoint me, RGG. This is your last chance of redemption.
Closing statement
All in all, this was a pretty short piece just to gush and ramble about the next big thing. I genuinely look forward to going into this game and perhaps even reviewing it when it comes out as I got so much to look forward to here.
If you enjoyed reading this feel free to drop a reply expressing your hype (or disdain) for this game and RGG, all thoughts are welcome and it’s been fun seeing this game bring back some much needed energy and enthusiasm in the community.
Catch ya later, kyodais.
