Yakuza/Like a Dragon Megathread

[Samatonic Samatonic]

I recently started playing the yakuza kiwami series, starting with the first, and I'm loving it so far.

 

[Deleted member 466]

This looks fantastic, finally a serious game after all the joke games (which are great, but not my thing)

 

[Diadu]

Real Question is how do we feel that Yokoyama is basically rewriting the entire series at this point? Of course my new favorite series has to fall off within 5 years of being into it.

I think Kiwami 3 is telling of the issue of companies that aren't in synergy with their playerbases not realizing that you should never design a Remake to be a full replacement for the original. There's only been 2 remakes in gaming history for me personally that I'd say are good enough to replace the original, and even then they can't replace those games full legacy. To mention, the remakes I'm mentioning are Dead Space 2023 and Resident Evil 1 Remake.

Or I guess that's just how I look at remakes, they can't replace a game, but they can definitely supplement my enjoyment of said game, Kiwami 3 isn't even the same game, they actively rewrote the entire series going forward with their rewrites.

It's always so puzzling to me how companies are so willingly and eagerly erasing their "history" in favor of (often bad) remakes. It can't be just plain old greed that they push out a remake and then remove all other versions from online stores.

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

It's always so puzzling to me how companies are so willingly and eagerly erasing their "history" in favor of (often bad) remakes. It can't be just plain old greed that they push out a remake and then remove all other versions from online stores.

It's possible that, behind the scenes, they think these story changes are meaningful, or improving upon the old stuff. Maybe someone higher up saw how successful the FF VII Remake games have been so far and thought that they also had to change the story for their remake.

Either way, these changes are made significantly worse when paired with the shitty business decision of delisting the older versions. Don't like the new version? Well, too bad. Now it's the only version.

 

[Diadu]

It's possible that, behind the scenes, they think these story changes are meaningful, or improving upon the old stuff. Maybe someone higher up saw how successful the FF VII Remake games have been so far and thought that they also had to change the story for their remake.

Either way, these changes are made significantly worse when paired with the shitty business decision of delisting the older versions. Don't like the new version? Well, too bad. Now it's the only version.

I wouldn't go so far as to blame FFVII Remake for that, but you could have a point there that the writers have some overinflated egos and think their new stuff is THE definitive thing.

But Sega delisting the classic Yakuza 3 once Kiwami 3 came out isn't the first time a company is doing this stuff. Blizzard got a lot of fire for delisting Warcraft 3 when they released their remake called Warcraft 3 Reforged which was universally hated. I think Capcom also delisted RE2 and 3 once and GOG had to convince them that they still held value.

It's just so weird to me, these games are an important part of their legacy and they just go "Yeah let's forget about them who cares?"

 

[TruthandConsequence]

I saw the Stranger Than Heaven trailer today. I really don't think Snoop should be in this I'm gonna be so honest. RGG has been big on getting western celebrities lately and not doing anything particularly interesting with them, even though I liked Danny Trejo's character a bit.

Idk, I'm really just worried, with K3 basically restarting the series, that STH is gonna have some weird connecting story with Yakuza itself, but it'll be from the new story they are telling. I can't do anymore Daidoji shit man I swear.

 

[Mechablade-X]

Horitomo, the tattoo artist who made the the tattoo designs of the Yakuza series since day 1
https://tattooswizard.com/artists/horitomo_stateofgrace
He runs a tattoo shop in California, USA called State of Grace, doing the traditional Japanese style tattoos.

 

[Khameleon Khameleon]

This really is a great series, I’ve played most of them and really enjoyed the stories. The only thing that annoys me is having to fight random people on the streets. I know you can scale that down but still, I just wanna go to my destination in peace lol

 

[NardoBoom]

Played the first Yakuza game on PS2 for a bit but not much. At that time, I was a huge pirate so i was downloading and renting games like crazy to make copies so i just tested yakuza for a bit. I was also beating God of War 2 but my PS2 died. Never played another yakuza game until Yakuza 0 and i got instantly hooked.

 

[sdsdsd]

kurohyou is garbage

 

[sdsdsd]

I think the series is extremely overrated and not good. I've completed all mainline games from 0 to infinite wealth and i can't call any of them good and didn't like any of them at all. I never got the hype around them. These games are definitely not one of the best games ever and not SSSSS+ tier people make it out to be they all are just below average and definitely not outstanding. All these games look like a complete joke compared to gta and like 80% of games. It's easily the most overrated series ever and seeing people hyping it and pretending it's the best series of all time makes me wanna laugh.

 

[zombie100379]

I think the series is extremely overrated and not good. I've completed all mainline games from 0 to infinite wealth and i can't call any of them good and didn't like any of them at all. I never got the hype around them. These games are definitely not one of the best games ever and not SSSSS+ tier people make it out to be they all are just below average and definitely not outstanding. All these games look like a complete joke compared to gta and like 80% of games. It's easily the most overrated series ever and seeing people hyping it and pretending it's the best series of all time makes me wanna laugh.

why did you play most of them when you didn't enjoy them ? - i played from the ps2 originals up to lost judgment and never got bored - i would probably go through them all again some day , some of the best gaming memories i have had playing these.

 

[LostRifleMan]

Every time I think of this franchise, this specific edit comes to mind:

 

[nunchuk28]

hopefully Stranger than Paradise is what the series needs to revitilize itself. I liked Infinite Wealth but it was a pretty aimless and disappointing follow up from a narrative point of view, it really feels like RGG has no idea what to do that they keep having to bring Kiryu back despite that they tried to finish his story like what, 3 times now?
But I'm slightly worried with how they seem to be banking on big western celebrities as a publicity push, the franchise was probably always like this and I never noticed as I know squat about asian celebrities from the film industry, but I feels like a sink hole for money that won't do much besides some amusing initial reactions.

 

[NardoBoom]

why did you play most of them when you didn't enjoy them ? - i played from the ps2 originals up to lost judgment and never got bored - i would probably go through them all again some day , some of the best gaming memories i have had playing these.

I agree with you. Why would a person finish a game that they don't like, let alone the whole series? With that being said, i love the series and have finished all the games and never got bored.

 

[aviaovrumvrum]

Yakuza 0 was my favorite for a long time. Liked it so much that I instantly went for the whole franchise! Although, recently I finished Yakuza: Like a Dragon and it might have taken 0's place. That game is just perfect to me, especially the story. One of the few games that made me want to cry.