Yakuza series

Goromi is the golden standard exception and I will not accept anything bad said about her

but in all seriousness, the hilarity of it aside, it was a nice look into Kiryu and Majima's histories and personalities and it wasn't just flirting that wouldn't go anywhere, so Goromi's date is genuinely a lot of fun compared to most of these.

Edited by Hashil on Sep 19th 2018 at 8:38:34 AM

I think almost all of them are fun, myself, especially Goromi.

If you ever wanted to know how Pepsiman might play in a fighting game, your chance to find out is nigh.

Since the Fighting Vipers and Motor Raid will be two of the playable arcade cabinets in Project Judge.

Edited by Hashil on Sep 20th 2018 at 2:36:47 AM

Some teasing of Ryu ga Gotoku Online, basically a free-to-play spin-off title:

Seems to act as a kind of prequel/warm-up for the new main games.

Edited by TerminusEst on Sep 20th 2018 at 1:47:21 AM

I hope Haruka fighting isn't just for this mobile game.

Alright so I beat Kiwami and... that ending was weird. Maybe it's because I was kind of rushing through but it seemed like Nishiki dropped off the planet, was replaced by a new guy who was barely foreshadowed, then came back because they realized he existed. Then, he kills himself (even though I'm pretty sure he didn't need to because Jingu was bleeding out anyway) and then the explosion somehow doesn't kill Kiryu and Haruka even though they were right next to it?

Would you believe that Nishiki was basically a non-entity as anything other than a generic villain prior to 0? Those scenes that lead into his start of darkness were added to the remake, since prior to that the story didn't dedicate time to let people grow fond of him the way most players probably did in the prequel, and so it didn't care to make him sympathetic at all.

He gets an expy in Ishin, a Meiji era spinoff, that's just a crazed serial killer.

Edited by Hashil on Sep 21st 2018 at 11:26:52 AM

I definitely believe that. Even with the flashbacks, he wasn't nearly as important as I thought he'd be after 0.

In fairness to Nishiki killing himself, the whole honor deal is a part of it, but Jingu had unloaded several bullets right into his torso as Nishiki stabbed him. He likely didn't have much longer to live anyway.

Edited by Emperordaein on Sep 22nd 2018 at 3:54:39 AM

Yakuza 6 is on sale ATM, picked it up since I liked the demo.

@Lord Vatek

Just out of curiosity, how close to maxed out were you by the time the credits rolled, and how difficult did you find Kiwami compared to 0? I just want to see if somebody else that's relatively new had a difference experience from me on those two fronts.

I was completely maxed out in all four categories by the end with a little less than half of the substories done by the credits. I found it to be quite a bit harder than 0 in general, especially how good even some of the randos were at dodging.

Edited by LordVatek on Sep 24th 2018 at 9:17:15 AM

I guess it's designed to have you maxed by then, which makes sense given you need to use Essence of Extreme Dragon on Nishiki to stop his regeneration, and you don't get that til the tail end of the Dragon tree, which you all but have to have earned tons of experience to spend on the other 3 trees to reach it in the first place.

Maybe it's just me being pedantic as always but it the game's balance overall felt... wonkier than 0's? I think I might try running 0 on legend again to see if I can place exactly why it feels that way.

Speaking of difficulty, does anyone have any good tips for Jo Amon? I didn't fight him in 0 and holy crap this dude hits hard.

Tiger Drop. Just Tiger Drop him till he drops.

My issue is the timing for Tiger Drop when he switches to Mad Dog style.

So after finally beating 0, I've started 6.

Honestly, sorta unsure how I feel about the changes to the... everything. On one hand, the new experience system is sort of fun and a change of pace. On the other, it makes me really want to just grind to hell right away, so that's a danger. Though random encounters provide so little EXP it doesn't matter much. The combat is also sooooooooo similar just juuuuuuust a bit different that it feels odd to me. I'd say I miss the other styles, except I only ever used Brawler for Kiryu until I got DOD anyway.

I'm sure this happens a lot in other games, but it is distracting how much of an Idiot Plot the game has been so far. I love the games for their absurdity but that only works when people act somewhat like human beings in the main plot. Otherwise I begin to just feel like there's a gas leak in Kamurocho.

That said, loving the sidequests so far. The "Freaky Situation" was really fun, Ono Michi is the best goddamn thing ever, and I'm looking forward to the Clan Creator. I'm just plain having a lot of fun with the game.

I haven't actually fought Amon yet at all, but if he uses Mad Dog, the best time to Tiger Drop that style is whenever he either knife spins, or rears back to do the big lunging stab.

You can Tiger Drop him for like 3 life bars of damage if you mix it with Time For Destruction, max out your heat, and top your health off, too.

Thanks for the advice. I got him.

As it turns out, when he's circling the area, Tiger Drop works for that entire duration regardless of if he's actually attacking.

Now on to Kiwami 2 (when I buy it).

Edited by LordVatek on Sep 25th 2018 at 2:52:38 PM

Gameplay trailer with more content, and what seems to be some kind of obscure or maybe even custom made version of House of the Dead you can play. I don't recognize that UI from any of them.

With a side of story to boot.

Edited by Hashil on Sep 27th 2018 at 8:59:20 AM

Kiwami 2 has another boatload of New Japan Pro-Wrestling guest bosses.

And while it would be insane with the rights, I’m still saddened Chris Jericho is not among them.

I guess it will take until Yakuza 7 when Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has enough experience with the Dragon Engine for it to run at 60 FPS on consoles, it seems.

Maybe thats why its taking so long.

I think it's more due to them working on Kiwami 2, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise and Judge Eyes. Also, experience won't make the Dragon Engine run 60 FPS. The Playstation 5 will.

Probably. That, and probably PC ports of the games, too.

Yakuza 0 can run up to 240 FPS on PC if you optimize it properly.

Well good news -

Reviews for Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise are in and they’re looking pretty good. Meaning your wallet is already empty.