I’ve been meaning to play the ’Yakuza’ games for a long while now, but always found myself caught up in different franchises constantly. I can confidently say I hate myself for not playing it sooner. I fucking loved ’Yakuza’. I was hooked to a point where the moment I woke up I thought “I really want to play ‘Yakuza’ right now.” This game exceeded my expectations and then some. It has joined along side ’Silent Hill 4: The Room’ and ’Fatal Frame’ as one of my favorite titles on the Playstation 2 ever. I was in love the entire way through its gameplay, narrative, music, world design, basically everything. Now, the game does have a few issues and in certain aspects hasn’t aged perfectly, but it was still impressive to me how accessible and good ’Yakuza’ felt more than fifteen years later.
The game uses a fixed camera perspective as it's easier for the developers to mask some areas loading in with this technique. I’ve always preferred tank controls you’d find from ’Alone in the Dark’ or ’Resident Evil’ with this camera system, but due to ’Yakuza’ being much faster and action oriented, the 3D control scheme works for the better here. I tend to believe that this movement feels worse in enclosed locations, but ’Yakuza’ has very few moments in small areas and focuses more on a large, wide space to traverse through which works towards its benefit to not feel as awkward. The approach taken here was a good one and it doesn’t get in the way of combat either.
The fights in ’Yakuza’ are fantastic. It may be a bit repetitive for some, but I feel the game gives enough options and risk/reward moments to always make it feel like it doesn’t overstay its welcome. You’ll have a few basic combos that you can use to fight baddies with variations of punches, kicks, and grabs. You’ll also be able to stomp on someone before they get up when you knock them down. Then the big thing that helps it from being too tedious is that almost anything can be a weapon. Grabbing a bicycle and twirling around with it knocking everyone around you down never gets old. It remains fun and some weapons can even have different effects such as the tasers and guns. There are other systems to take note of such as dodging and blocking. Blocking is easy by just guarding at the right time, but dodging I never really got the hang of since it felt awkward to me. Dodging isn’t something that is really required though and you can pretty much go through the whole game without needing to worry about it much. The only time combat feels frustrating is when enemies have weapons that can stunlock you for a long time. There were moments where I would get tased by a guy and after Kiryu takes a few years to stand back up he would get tased again. This looped over and over and that can be annoying, but you can sometimes knock weapons out of enemies hands so that helps balance it out a bit.
The other major part of the combat that I haven't mentioned is the heat gauge. When you do enough damage to enemies, a meter will fill and Kiryu will be engrossed with blue flames and at this moment you can do multiple special moves. The main one you have from the start is you can grab an enemy and slam them against a wall. This does a huge amount of damage, but if you take too long dragging an enemy to a wall, your meter will run out or they can break your grab. This can be difficult to pull off so when you do it, it feels really satisfying especially since it's complemented with a big flashy scene. Sometimes in these moments you’ll get a very quick QTE to stomp them while they are down which just adds to the gratification of the moment. I feel though it can be a bit inconsistent at times. Sometimes I would have gotten the special prompt and would’ve interacted with it at the right time, but it would lead to the same punch he would do when he normally grabs an enemy. It always left me feeling a little empty when this happened as I know I did what I needed to do. There are other kinds of special attacks though. After a few upgrades, you can do two extra special moves. A special stomp while an enemy is on the ground and a special attack with a weapon. Neither of these do anywhere near as much damage as the main one, but still do a good amount. Although they don’t do as much damage, they are much easier to pull off. It leads into the risk/reward system I mentioned perfectly as it makes you choose whether you will go for a full blow or one of the other more simple moves. The choice has to be made quickly as the heat gauge will deplete over time and can fall even quicker if you take enough damage. I adore how the heat gauge works and I think it’s what ends up saving the combat from getting too mundane near the end.
The upgrade system in ’Yakuza’ is very simple, but serves the game well. You have three choices with upgrading being soul, technique, and body. These basically are an improved heat gauge, new combos and moves, and health. You’ll unlock experience from simply engaging in combat which can come at a strikingly fast rate. It isn’t too complex and doesn’t need to be. It feels fleshed out and complements the game's systems and combat really well. I spent almost all my points entirely on health and technique as I found I was able to make choices with the heat gauge quickly and it’s always fun unlocking a new combo or attack and trying it out for the first time.
A majority of the game is spent in a small open world that I enjoy. I tend to be very critical of open world games, but ’Yakuza’ is by far one of the bests I’ve seen with the style. The world is small and compact which leads to you memorizing the world over time and just naturally knowing where to go when you need to go to a certain place. I adore these types of games where over time you look at the map less and less as you learn the layout and have it in the back of your head. It always is extraordinarily satisfying getting to that point. A majority of the side quests are simple and tend to be a civilian losing an item and you need to go find and give it to them, but there are a few notable ones which act out as more important and story driven. These ones were very memorable. There’s also a good amount of stores and places you can actually go into such as arcades, restaurants (from simple chains to fancy bars), casinos, and strip clubs. These all make the world feel real especially since you’ll end up learning where these locations exactly are by heart. There is also a feature where random people in the world will just go up to you and fight you for the dumbest reasons. These were funny, but it is a bit difficult to avoid the encounters sometimes if you are meaning to because of the camera angle. This can be quite annoying, especially when you are at the end of the game and just want to do story stuff, but it isn’t too frustrating that it ruins the game’s pacing or anything.
The normal main storyline campaign is also really well paced and structured. The game doesn’t overstay its welcome and knows how long to keep certain chapters and to keep you engaged… mostly. There can be a few times where it feels the game is padding itself a little bit by making you do small fetch quests, but these aren’t ever too long to be noticeable, usually lasting around fifteen or twenty minutes. I felt it was worth mentioning because this does happen here and there, but it doesn’t waste too much of your time which is why I believe it’s as well paced as it is, especially compared to other open world games that drag itself on for a miserable amount of time.
’Yakuza’ has a wild fucking story. So many twists, turns, and insane things happening. I fucking love it. The plot centers around three specific people being Detective Date, Haruka, and of course, Kazuma Kiryu. Haruka is a little girl that you and Date try to protect throughout the game as she has a pendant that is worth ten billion yen that was given to her from her missing mother. With a strong focus on characters, that is the best aspect of the story. The more time you spend with these people, the more you care about them. The way they interact with each other and trust one another more is especially well executed. They don’t just do this through cutscenes, but even gameplay at times. I know a lot of people may not enjoy escorting Haruka around the city, but I loved going to arcades and ice cream shops with her. It doesn’t just make the father/daughter dynamic between them feel stronger, but it also makes you care so much more for her. I wanted to do these activities with her because I was so immersed into the game’s world that I felt she needed a break from all the chaos around her. Oh, and Detective Date I obviously love since I always crush hard on detective characters lol.
The characters aren’t the only strong aspect though. The pacing of the story is phenomenal. You pretty much are stuck in the middle between mafia families, street gangs, politicians, the feds. The whole way through you feel like you’re one step behind all of them, not seeing the whole picture. The payoffs at the end feel especially satisfying because it's a moment of full clarity. The amount of people that are pulling at the strings while you desperately try to find leads is very well done. There are a few more things about it that are great, but I don’t want to go overboard and end up spoiling, but I fucking love the narrative of ’Yakuza’ as well as the characters in the world.
The writing and english dub of the game is very of its time, but I mean that in the best way possible. It’s very charming and had me laughing a lot of the time. This isn’t the case for all characters though. Specifically, Detective Date’s voice actor did an incredible job with his performance and it’s honestly no surprise that he’s coming back for the new game as well. Oh, Kiryu’s voice actor in this game rocks as well and I love his stupid one liners before he beats the shit out of someone.
’Yakuza’ looks amazing. Probably one of the best looking PS2 games ever made. The thing that makes it stick out to me especially is how good the models look. I feel the models in this game look even better than the ones you’d get from some games in the seventh generation. The world itself looks great too. I especially like the chapter where there’s slight snowfall, but I feel it's obvious enough I would enjoy that lol. The atmosphere of the world is unforgettable. It’s also optimized pretty well although when the camera switches angles the game will pause for a few seconds which can feel like it lasts a lot longer than it should. I think it’s a fair compromise though for how well detailed the world is as well as the characters in it. I think the fixed camera adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game as well.
The sound design helps elevate its atmosphere with every busy street being filled with people talking and laughing, but can help in more empty moments when no one is in a building. The fights also sound punchy and responsive which greatly improve the impact they have. It is impossible for me to look over the soundtrack as it is fantastic. So many memorable tracks. I love how almost every song with guitars uses harmonics or dead mutes constantly. I’ve always had a soft spot for those in music. Both the sound design of the game and the OST is fantastic and is just another thing ’Yakuza’ excels at.
I loved ’Yakuza’. It has its flaws and can be a bit janky depending on how used to older games one may be, but everything about it just clicked with me. I didn’t want to do anything but play this game when I was going through it. If you are interested in getting into the franchise just like I was, this is an amazing starting point. (Thanks for reading! I tried to make this review so much shorter, but there was so much I wanted to talk about lol)
The game uses a fixed camera perspective as it's easier for the developers to mask some areas loading in with this technique. I’ve always preferred tank controls you’d find from ’Alone in the Dark’ or ’Resident Evil’ with this camera system, but due to ’Yakuza’ being much faster and action oriented, the 3D control scheme works for the better here. I tend to believe that this movement feels worse in enclosed locations, but ’Yakuza’ has very few moments in small areas and focuses more on a large, wide space to traverse through which works towards its benefit to not feel as awkward. The approach taken here was a good one and it doesn’t get in the way of combat either.
The fights in ’Yakuza’ are fantastic. It may be a bit repetitive for some, but I feel the game gives enough options and risk/reward moments to always make it feel like it doesn’t overstay its welcome. You’ll have a few basic combos that you can use to fight baddies with variations of punches, kicks, and grabs. You’ll also be able to stomp on someone before they get up when you knock them down. Then the big thing that helps it from being too tedious is that almost anything can be a weapon. Grabbing a bicycle and twirling around with it knocking everyone around you down never gets old. It remains fun and some weapons can even have different effects such as the tasers and guns. There are other systems to take note of such as dodging and blocking. Blocking is easy by just guarding at the right time, but dodging I never really got the hang of since it felt awkward to me. Dodging isn’t something that is really required though and you can pretty much go through the whole game without needing to worry about it much. The only time combat feels frustrating is when enemies have weapons that can stunlock you for a long time. There were moments where I would get tased by a guy and after Kiryu takes a few years to stand back up he would get tased again. This looped over and over and that can be annoying, but you can sometimes knock weapons out of enemies hands so that helps balance it out a bit.
The other major part of the combat that I haven't mentioned is the heat gauge. When you do enough damage to enemies, a meter will fill and Kiryu will be engrossed with blue flames and at this moment you can do multiple special moves. The main one you have from the start is you can grab an enemy and slam them against a wall. This does a huge amount of damage, but if you take too long dragging an enemy to a wall, your meter will run out or they can break your grab. This can be difficult to pull off so when you do it, it feels really satisfying especially since it's complemented with a big flashy scene. Sometimes in these moments you’ll get a very quick QTE to stomp them while they are down which just adds to the gratification of the moment. I feel though it can be a bit inconsistent at times. Sometimes I would have gotten the special prompt and would’ve interacted with it at the right time, but it would lead to the same punch he would do when he normally grabs an enemy. It always left me feeling a little empty when this happened as I know I did what I needed to do. There are other kinds of special attacks though. After a few upgrades, you can do two extra special moves. A special stomp while an enemy is on the ground and a special attack with a weapon. Neither of these do anywhere near as much damage as the main one, but still do a good amount. Although they don’t do as much damage, they are much easier to pull off. It leads into the risk/reward system I mentioned perfectly as it makes you choose whether you will go for a full blow or one of the other more simple moves. The choice has to be made quickly as the heat gauge will deplete over time and can fall even quicker if you take enough damage. I adore how the heat gauge works and I think it’s what ends up saving the combat from getting too mundane near the end.
The upgrade system in ’Yakuza’ is very simple, but serves the game well. You have three choices with upgrading being soul, technique, and body. These basically are an improved heat gauge, new combos and moves, and health. You’ll unlock experience from simply engaging in combat which can come at a strikingly fast rate. It isn’t too complex and doesn’t need to be. It feels fleshed out and complements the game's systems and combat really well. I spent almost all my points entirely on health and technique as I found I was able to make choices with the heat gauge quickly and it’s always fun unlocking a new combo or attack and trying it out for the first time.
A majority of the game is spent in a small open world that I enjoy. I tend to be very critical of open world games, but ’Yakuza’ is by far one of the bests I’ve seen with the style. The world is small and compact which leads to you memorizing the world over time and just naturally knowing where to go when you need to go to a certain place. I adore these types of games where over time you look at the map less and less as you learn the layout and have it in the back of your head. It always is extraordinarily satisfying getting to that point. A majority of the side quests are simple and tend to be a civilian losing an item and you need to go find and give it to them, but there are a few notable ones which act out as more important and story driven. These ones were very memorable. There’s also a good amount of stores and places you can actually go into such as arcades, restaurants (from simple chains to fancy bars), casinos, and strip clubs. These all make the world feel real especially since you’ll end up learning where these locations exactly are by heart. There is also a feature where random people in the world will just go up to you and fight you for the dumbest reasons. These were funny, but it is a bit difficult to avoid the encounters sometimes if you are meaning to because of the camera angle. This can be quite annoying, especially when you are at the end of the game and just want to do story stuff, but it isn’t too frustrating that it ruins the game’s pacing or anything.
The normal main storyline campaign is also really well paced and structured. The game doesn’t overstay its welcome and knows how long to keep certain chapters and to keep you engaged… mostly. There can be a few times where it feels the game is padding itself a little bit by making you do small fetch quests, but these aren’t ever too long to be noticeable, usually lasting around fifteen or twenty minutes. I felt it was worth mentioning because this does happen here and there, but it doesn’t waste too much of your time which is why I believe it’s as well paced as it is, especially compared to other open world games that drag itself on for a miserable amount of time.
’Yakuza’ has a wild fucking story. So many twists, turns, and insane things happening. I fucking love it. The plot centers around three specific people being Detective Date, Haruka, and of course, Kazuma Kiryu. Haruka is a little girl that you and Date try to protect throughout the game as she has a pendant that is worth ten billion yen that was given to her from her missing mother. With a strong focus on characters, that is the best aspect of the story. The more time you spend with these people, the more you care about them. The way they interact with each other and trust one another more is especially well executed. They don’t just do this through cutscenes, but even gameplay at times. I know a lot of people may not enjoy escorting Haruka around the city, but I loved going to arcades and ice cream shops with her. It doesn’t just make the father/daughter dynamic between them feel stronger, but it also makes you care so much more for her. I wanted to do these activities with her because I was so immersed into the game’s world that I felt she needed a break from all the chaos around her. Oh, and Detective Date I obviously love since I always crush hard on detective characters lol.
The characters aren’t the only strong aspect though. The pacing of the story is phenomenal. You pretty much are stuck in the middle between mafia families, street gangs, politicians, the feds. The whole way through you feel like you’re one step behind all of them, not seeing the whole picture. The payoffs at the end feel especially satisfying because it's a moment of full clarity. The amount of people that are pulling at the strings while you desperately try to find leads is very well done. There are a few more things about it that are great, but I don’t want to go overboard and end up spoiling, but I fucking love the narrative of ’Yakuza’ as well as the characters in the world.
The writing and english dub of the game is very of its time, but I mean that in the best way possible. It’s very charming and had me laughing a lot of the time. This isn’t the case for all characters though. Specifically, Detective Date’s voice actor did an incredible job with his performance and it’s honestly no surprise that he’s coming back for the new game as well. Oh, Kiryu’s voice actor in this game rocks as well and I love his stupid one liners before he beats the shit out of someone.
’Yakuza’ looks amazing. Probably one of the best looking PS2 games ever made. The thing that makes it stick out to me especially is how good the models look. I feel the models in this game look even better than the ones you’d get from some games in the seventh generation. The world itself looks great too. I especially like the chapter where there’s slight snowfall, but I feel it's obvious enough I would enjoy that lol. The atmosphere of the world is unforgettable. It’s also optimized pretty well although when the camera switches angles the game will pause for a few seconds which can feel like it lasts a lot longer than it should. I think it’s a fair compromise though for how well detailed the world is as well as the characters in it. I think the fixed camera adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game as well.
The sound design helps elevate its atmosphere with every busy street being filled with people talking and laughing, but can help in more empty moments when no one is in a building. The fights also sound punchy and responsive which greatly improve the impact they have. It is impossible for me to look over the soundtrack as it is fantastic. So many memorable tracks. I love how almost every song with guitars uses harmonics or dead mutes constantly. I’ve always had a soft spot for those in music. Both the sound design of the game and the OST is fantastic and is just another thing ’Yakuza’ excels at.
I loved ’Yakuza’. It has its flaws and can be a bit janky depending on how used to older games one may be, but everything about it just clicked with me. I didn’t want to do anything but play this game when I was going through it. If you are interested in getting into the franchise just like I was, this is an amazing starting point. (Thanks for reading! I tried to make this review so much shorter, but there was so much I wanted to talk about lol)
First time playing the original but I finally got around to it. Besides some clunkiness in the combat the game holds up really well and it feels a lot more atmospheric than Kiwami. Any fan of the series should play the og as its still great.
I hope y'all masochistic doods who keep saying "oh yeah bruvvy yakuza ps2 is better than that shitty 'extreme' remake, it got better story, better visuals, kiwami 1 is just a y0 asset flip and k2 is just a y6 asset flip, the gameplay is also better" please get better tastes because Jesus Christ this game is awful. The dub is funny for like 7 minutes until it makes me bang my hand against the wall because it can’t be taken seriously. The gameplay is slow and tedious. This game is PURE BRAINROT and I can’t take it anymore. Off to Kiwami.
(Played via the Yakuza Restored undub, with original JP audio)
What a cool ass game. I was worried it'd drag by the midway point, but the encounters never got old and the side stories didn't feel like a waste of time, which is usually the fatal flaw for me in any game over 8 hours that feels like it's padding the story content out of embarrassment.
It tells a simple story, one that I'm always down to hear again, but with enough flair and characteristic charm to explode Millennium Tower. It's got the charm of a Kitano movie or a Yuasa substory mixed with the cheesiness of Metal Gear Rising, but it never compromises its emotional moments by being goofy.
My only gripe is with minor issues in the combat (specifically the floaty targeting mechanic that does not work exclusively when I need it to).
What a cool ass game. I was worried it'd drag by the midway point, but the encounters never got old and the side stories didn't feel like a waste of time, which is usually the fatal flaw for me in any game over 8 hours that feels like it's padding the story content out of embarrassment.
It tells a simple story, one that I'm always down to hear again, but with enough flair and characteristic charm to explode Millennium Tower. It's got the charm of a Kitano movie or a Yuasa substory mixed with the cheesiness of Metal Gear Rising, but it never compromises its emotional moments by being goofy.
My only gripe is with minor issues in the combat (specifically the floaty targeting mechanic that does not work exclusively when I need it to).
It freezes on chapter 3 on an emulator probably because my computer is from hell and i can't check it out on a real console since I traded my ps2 for a vita, maybe some other time....
But so far the dub is actually not bad and Kamurocho seems way more dirtier and overpopulated. Cool stuff
But so far the dub is actually not bad and Kamurocho seems way more dirtier and overpopulated. Cool stuff
TEN YEARS IN THE JOINT MADE YOU A FUCKING PUSSY
mejor hubiera jugado kiwami
game rocks
Didn't expect to like this game as much as I do but damn, it's some killer ass shit. The lighting is impeccable, the story's still really good, and the fucking music is NASTY. Great game, would suggest starting with this one if you don't mind some old jank and an awful fucking camera.
Foi muito divertido explorar as raízes de uma franquia que vem evoluindo e desenvolvendo uma das melhores comunidades desde 2005.
Joguei a versão em inglês sem saber da existência do mod que restaura a dublagem japonesa. Só fiquei sabendo dele quando já estava bem avançado no jogo, então tive que me contentar com a dublagem em inglês, que apesar de fraca, ainda oferece alguns momentos engraçados.
Joguei a versão em inglês sem saber da existência do mod que restaura a dublagem japonesa. Só fiquei sabendo dele quando já estava bem avançado no jogo, então tive que me contentar com a dublagem em inglês, que apesar de fraca, ainda oferece alguns momentos engraçados.
replayed this game using the restored patch and god damn, it's pretty jarring how someone like kiryu tends to be more soft-spoken than he usually is, I assume because takaya kuroda was younger during the release of this game (which is why he's able to reach higher pitches far more easily compared to his performances in kiwami 1; no shade to that game's voice acting bc it's still good, just something me and others have noticed) and they didn't really know how stoic they wanted kiryu to be yet. in general the voice direction for this game seems to be far more low-key than other yakuza games
on a different note man! I actually kinda jive with this game's combat more! it still unfortunately has that unavoidable jank with the unreliable lock-on, and what I'm about to tell you of course needs a bit of progress on your end which is kind of a shame
that being said, upgrading your dash enough and achieving the komaki fist reversal (which isn't actually that hard) brings kiryu a little closer to his y2 counterpart
combined with the more heavy movement in this game, I think this makes for a really interesting take on yakuza's combat (retroactively, of course) where you have to work around kiryu's sluggish movement and make good use of heat actions, the grab, and the fist reversal - you're being attacked basically on all sides and you don't have the speed necessary to go all in like you would in yakuza 2 onward. landing hits and managing to get away in time is more harder in this game, which I think makes every hit you do land and every enemy you defeat feel INCREDIBLY satisfying
needless to say I actually enjoyed my time with this y1 replay quite a bit! it still manages to have that awesome moody and gritty flair unique to the ps2 games and a rock solid introduction to the world of yakuza.
this replay was mainly to have y1 fresh in my mind for when I play k1, so this should prove very interesting..
on a different note man! I actually kinda jive with this game's combat more! it still unfortunately has that unavoidable jank with the unreliable lock-on, and what I'm about to tell you of course needs a bit of progress on your end which is kind of a shame
that being said, upgrading your dash enough and achieving the komaki fist reversal (which isn't actually that hard) brings kiryu a little closer to his y2 counterpart
combined with the more heavy movement in this game, I think this makes for a really interesting take on yakuza's combat (retroactively, of course) where you have to work around kiryu's sluggish movement and make good use of heat actions, the grab, and the fist reversal - you're being attacked basically on all sides and you don't have the speed necessary to go all in like you would in yakuza 2 onward. landing hits and managing to get away in time is more harder in this game, which I think makes every hit you do land and every enemy you defeat feel INCREDIBLY satisfying
needless to say I actually enjoyed my time with this y1 replay quite a bit! it still manages to have that awesome moody and gritty flair unique to the ps2 games and a rock solid introduction to the world of yakuza.
this replay was mainly to have y1 fresh in my mind for when I play k1, so this should prove very interesting..
just great. fun combat, a great sense of visual style, and a fun dub cast. excited to start this journey
The start of a journey with the Dragon of Dojima.
I played this with the Restoration Patch cause I wanted to see how this game originally was. I'll probably play the English Dub on day just see how silly it is. But yeah the combat is very poor and limited, many fights are just won by spamming square then triangle and others were annoying with constant near speed of light quicksteps and invincible frames. Some bosses were just not that fun and many of the arena fights were a slog to get through. I had to just skip Jo Amon because grinding to get the weapons to beat him took forever and I just wasn't having any fun at that point. Also I have no idea if it was the game or me but when I try punch forward it would sometimes turn me around the other way. It happened so frequently I think it was just the game itself. But there were also moments of clarity where you'd but doing your square combo and square/triangle combo and there was something soothing about brutality beating down whatever enemies were in front of you.
That's something this game is a masterclass in; the vibe this game offers. It basically is like watch a B movie gangster action flick. I know I just threw out a gargle of buzzwords but I think they all fit this game to a T. The story was good it did lack in some areas (Jingu's Scenes -_-) but there were something it did really well.
I know I mostly just complained at the battle but I'd say to give this a chance just to see what the game was originally like. I literally wasn't even planning on finishing this game when I first started I just wanted to see how different it was from Kiwami and why certain people liked this more. I just was gonna play a few chapters in but then I got into it a bit and now were here. I get it now though, personally I'm either or since I'm not that crazy about the first game.
Also why is the end credits song Amazing Grace, what a weird song to put in this game.
I played this with the Restoration Patch cause I wanted to see how this game originally was. I'll probably play the English Dub on day just see how silly it is. But yeah the combat is very poor and limited, many fights are just won by spamming square then triangle and others were annoying with constant near speed of light quicksteps and invincible frames. Some bosses were just not that fun and many of the arena fights were a slog to get through. I had to just skip Jo Amon because grinding to get the weapons to beat him took forever and I just wasn't having any fun at that point. Also I have no idea if it was the game or me but when I try punch forward it would sometimes turn me around the other way. It happened so frequently I think it was just the game itself. But there were also moments of clarity where you'd but doing your square combo and square/triangle combo and there was something soothing about brutality beating down whatever enemies were in front of you.
That's something this game is a masterclass in; the vibe this game offers. It basically is like watch a B movie gangster action flick. I know I just threw out a gargle of buzzwords but I think they all fit this game to a T. The story was good it did lack in some areas (Jingu's Scenes -_-) but there were something it did really well.
I know I mostly just complained at the battle but I'd say to give this a chance just to see what the game was originally like. I literally wasn't even planning on finishing this game when I first started I just wanted to see how different it was from Kiwami and why certain people liked this more. I just was gonna play a few chapters in but then I got into it a bit and now were here. I get it now though, personally I'm either or since I'm not that crazy about the first game.
Also why is the end credits song Amazing Grace, what a weird song to put in this game.
Esse jogo rodar no PS2 é um troço meio surprendente, tem seus problemas obvio, ainda mais considerando que é o primeiro de uma serie que vai evoluindo, mas mesmo na sua primeira interação, é uma obra que tem muita alma, carinho e amor envolvido.
Super recomendo
Super recomendo
I somehow enjoyed this more then kiwami despite how clunky the combat is and the so bad its good voice acting also the music for this game fuckin rocks
Please, give this a chance.
I've seen so many people saying this game should be avoided just because Kiwami 1 exists, please don't.
The only thing that Kiwami adds over this is the Nishiki's corruption arc, but other than that they are pratically the same thing story wise. Leaving the story aside, in this version there are many details that for one reason or another there are not in the remake, details that I really appreciated and I think every fan of the series will also appreciate.
If you are a true fan of the series do not skip this game just because "there is a remake" (remake that reuses at least 80% of Y0's assets LMAOO), despite everything this is still an extremly valid gaming experience. please give it a chance.
I've seen so many people saying this game should be avoided just because Kiwami 1 exists, please don't.
The only thing that Kiwami adds over this is the Nishiki's corruption arc, but other than that they are pratically the same thing story wise. Leaving the story aside, in this version there are many details that for one reason or another there are not in the remake, details that I really appreciated and I think every fan of the series will also appreciate.
If you are a true fan of the series do not skip this game just because "there is a remake" (remake that reuses at least 80% of Y0's assets LMAOO), despite everything this is still an extremly valid gaming experience. please give it a chance.
HEY YOU.
Having been way too long since I finished Kiwami, I elected it'd be easier if I just had a do-over on the Yakuza franchise and started from the very beginning with the original PS2 game as some friends have suggested. How does it fare?
Yakuza's greatest strengths, in my opinion, lie in its presentation and the commendable job it does for laying out the groundwork for later series to build on. There's this grittier, more edgier feel to the game than later entries that I think went absolutely lost in Kiwami. The dark, moody colors of 2005 Kamurocho, the primitive yet still impressive graphics (which can't really be replicated, truthfully), the raw, punchy sound design and even the potty-mouthed yet still charming English dub give the game this unique flair not seen in any of the Yakuza games I've played sans maybe the sequel. Especially give the soundtrack a listen, as they only further accentuate Yakuza's style through the rock-heavy funky tunes as you beat people to a bloody pulp.
I quite like Yakuza's story, to touch on it briefly. Kiryu's a bit funny in this game as they were still getting a feel for his character and thus he's a bit more aggressive with others and even hilariously flirtatious in some substories - not to fucking mention the thousand fucking F-bombs he fucking drops throughout the fucking English dub. It's relatively simple compared to other Yakuza stories from what I can tell but still an entertaining and heartfelt one. And for the record, I disagree with Nishiki being all that much weaker in this game than he is in Kiwami - granted, the added scenes in that game do help us get a better feel for his situation after Kiryu gets sent to the joint and the spiral of despair his life became afterward, but I think the PS2 game still does a good job of showing how much he means to Kiryu as a friend, plus his insecurities and tiredness of being upstaged and compared to Kiryu that molded him into the power-hungry, desperate-to-prove-himself man he became through scenes such as his reunion in Serena and the final confrontation he has with Kiryu and Yumi.
However, where I think the game starts to fall apart is on the gameplay side of things. To be clear, I don't hold a lot of its shortcomings against it all that much for obvious reasons, but they're just as obviously still worth pointing out.
The combat is rough, for starters. While satisfying to land hits due to the absolutely meaty sound design of Kiryu fracturing a man's skull whole, that's IF you can even land your shots; the lock-on is incredibly unreliable as often you will find yourself completely missing when you shouldn't have, leaving yourself wide open. This, and the fact that when fighting more than like, five enemies at a time I found myself highly prone to getting hit-stunned and having the shit beaten out of me by three different enemies with no room to recover. You can unlock moves to alleviate this, but you shouldn't have to.
There's also.. not much to do in Kamurocho? Perhaps I'm used to Yakuza being so loaded with content and if so that's on me, but I found myself more often than not just bee-lining it to the next objective rather than taking the time to explore since all you can really do is.. get yourself drunk? Check out a substory or two? But then this game also has an odd mechanic where you can only do one substory at a time, so.. yeah.
But I think I can still appreciate Yakuza all the same for being an impressive and charming first step, even if the sum of its parts is rather flawed. It's still a decent game at the end of the day, and a more overlooked Yakuza game that in spite of everything I just lambasted it for, still deserves more attention.
KILL THIS ARROGANT MO THER FU CKER.
Having been way too long since I finished Kiwami, I elected it'd be easier if I just had a do-over on the Yakuza franchise and started from the very beginning with the original PS2 game as some friends have suggested. How does it fare?
Yakuza's greatest strengths, in my opinion, lie in its presentation and the commendable job it does for laying out the groundwork for later series to build on. There's this grittier, more edgier feel to the game than later entries that I think went absolutely lost in Kiwami. The dark, moody colors of 2005 Kamurocho, the primitive yet still impressive graphics (which can't really be replicated, truthfully), the raw, punchy sound design and even the potty-mouthed yet still charming English dub give the game this unique flair not seen in any of the Yakuza games I've played sans maybe the sequel. Especially give the soundtrack a listen, as they only further accentuate Yakuza's style through the rock-heavy funky tunes as you beat people to a bloody pulp.
I quite like Yakuza's story, to touch on it briefly. Kiryu's a bit funny in this game as they were still getting a feel for his character and thus he's a bit more aggressive with others and even hilariously flirtatious in some substories - not to fucking mention the thousand fucking F-bombs he fucking drops throughout the fucking English dub. It's relatively simple compared to other Yakuza stories from what I can tell but still an entertaining and heartfelt one. And for the record, I disagree with Nishiki being all that much weaker in this game than he is in Kiwami - granted, the added scenes in that game do help us get a better feel for his situation after Kiryu gets sent to the joint and the spiral of despair his life became afterward, but I think the PS2 game still does a good job of showing how much he means to Kiryu as a friend, plus his insecurities and tiredness of being upstaged and compared to Kiryu that molded him into the power-hungry, desperate-to-prove-himself man he became through scenes such as his reunion in Serena and the final confrontation he has with Kiryu and Yumi.
However, where I think the game starts to fall apart is on the gameplay side of things. To be clear, I don't hold a lot of its shortcomings against it all that much for obvious reasons, but they're just as obviously still worth pointing out.
The combat is rough, for starters. While satisfying to land hits due to the absolutely meaty sound design of Kiryu fracturing a man's skull whole, that's IF you can even land your shots; the lock-on is incredibly unreliable as often you will find yourself completely missing when you shouldn't have, leaving yourself wide open. This, and the fact that when fighting more than like, five enemies at a time I found myself highly prone to getting hit-stunned and having the shit beaten out of me by three different enemies with no room to recover. You can unlock moves to alleviate this, but you shouldn't have to.
There's also.. not much to do in Kamurocho? Perhaps I'm used to Yakuza being so loaded with content and if so that's on me, but I found myself more often than not just bee-lining it to the next objective rather than taking the time to explore since all you can really do is.. get yourself drunk? Check out a substory or two? But then this game also has an odd mechanic where you can only do one substory at a time, so.. yeah.
But I think I can still appreciate Yakuza all the same for being an impressive and charming first step, even if the sum of its parts is rather flawed. It's still a decent game at the end of the day, and a more overlooked Yakuza game that in spite of everything I just lambasted it for, still deserves more attention.
KILL THIS ARROGANT MO THER FU CKER.
the dub unironically goes hard
I think there are a mixture of things that I like about Kiwami and the same can be said for the original. I will say that the original has a completely different atmosphere to the remake and I do prefer it. Weird interjections like the Yuya side story and quests for the Florist/Date don't feel as weird anymore simply because the game is much more about those kinds of random encounters. Don't know how to specifically describe it, but with the way the substories and main story sort of blend here it just didn't bother me like it did in Kiwami.
But the primary reason I played this was because I heard some of the facial expressions in various cutscenes were lost or misinterpreted in the remake and I will say that this did appear to be the case. Specifically the ending scenes seemed like they evoked slightly different emotions, particularly when it came to Nishiki's dialogue and reactions.
There's a lot of various other differences but I came out thinking it was pretty worth it to play the original.
But the primary reason I played this was because I heard some of the facial expressions in various cutscenes were lost or misinterpreted in the remake and I will say that this did appear to be the case. Specifically the ending scenes seemed like they evoked slightly different emotions, particularly when it came to Nishiki's dialogue and reactions.
There's a lot of various other differences but I came out thinking it was pretty worth it to play the original.
both ps2 games clear the kiwamis
I was gonna play Kiwami, but after hearing the dub and seeing the off the balls intro, this is the only way the game is mean't played, I don't care if I'm wrong
Downloaded the English patch and game became 10 times better. Find the reverse kick in the coin locker and do the Komaki training.
honestamente, grande jogo tem muitos problemas
mas tem tanta alma e é tão apaixonante que não consigo odiar.
mas tem tanta alma e é tão apaixonante que não consigo odiar.
This is a story about what happens when you escape from your destiny. It's really interesting one for me. People like to dunk on this game, because yakuza 0 and also other characters don't have much screen time in it, but I disagree. Because this is Kiryu's game from beginning to end! We as a Kiryu, see how Kamurocho is an unforgiving city and how this city never forgives people that tries to escape from it. What I mean is Kamurocho feels threatening in this game, really really threatening, compared to the later titles it's so good at atmosphere even the "remake" of this game can't capture it.
My complaint's mostly about the game mechanics, but before that, only thing I didn't like about this game's story is, the character Yumi and how she used in this game. She is mostly a plot device to get story to an another point rather than a character of it's own and I feel like it's hurts the story a bit. Because her motivations and what she does in the story doesn't match, so this takes the story a bit down for me.
When it comes to my gameplay problems: firstly lock on only works if you are directly looking at the enemy, because of that you need to manually reposition yourself after every attack.
Also you can't change attack direction once you start it. It's no big deal once you understand how it works, so you always make sure you are in the right position before attacking also getting the back attacks upgrade helps a lot, but you need time to learn it and for that it's a bit down for me
Other than that, it's completely the same Kiryu's dragon style without charge and ground grapples so it's still a lot of fun for me. Also you get really fast heat in this game, so I have to say finishing grapples pretty overpowered in this game, so try to unlock it if you have a hard time.
Btw If you want "to experience this game, find the "yakuza restored" patch, it's fixes the translation and also changes voices back to Japanese voices, I think this patch is vital to this game
My complaint's mostly about the game mechanics, but before that, only thing I didn't like about this game's story is, the character Yumi and how she used in this game. She is mostly a plot device to get story to an another point rather than a character of it's own and I feel like it's hurts the story a bit. Because her motivations and what she does in the story doesn't match, so this takes the story a bit down for me.
When it comes to my gameplay problems: firstly lock on only works if you are directly looking at the enemy, because of that you need to manually reposition yourself after every attack.
Also you can't change attack direction once you start it. It's no big deal once you understand how it works, so you always make sure you are in the right position before attacking also getting the back attacks upgrade helps a lot, but you need time to learn it and for that it's a bit down for me
Other than that, it's completely the same Kiryu's dragon style without charge and ground grapples so it's still a lot of fun for me. Also you get really fast heat in this game, so I have to say finishing grapples pretty overpowered in this game, so try to unlock it if you have a hard time.
Btw If you want "to experience this game, find the "yakuza restored" patch, it's fixes the translation and also changes voices back to Japanese voices, I think this patch is vital to this game
Rough first game, but at the time this was quite a unique and cool game. The dub, while corny, had some killer castings with Darryl Kurylo ending up an excellent choice for Kiryu and the music is still soooo much better than the Kiwami versions. Would love for the PS2 version itself to be rereleased at some point because Kiwami kinda blows ass, but they seem to have firmly settled on that being the definitive version of 1 so rip.
Really solid game with an incredible story and great characters on both sides.
Combat is cool but some encounters really sour the game for me, dropping it down to a 7 from a 9 personally.
The remake is better, imo but the ps2 version is still worth your time.
Combat is cool but some encounters really sour the game for me, dropping it down to a 7 from a 9 personally.
The remake is better, imo but the ps2 version is still worth your time.
I already told you, I'm NOT Yakuza (2005). Are you [redacted] or just deaf?
This shit a visual novel broken up by stim toy combat sections, very cool. I like the models a lot, particularly Kiriyu and Haruka are super cute. I think putting them together made for really great character moments.
The atmosphere is perfect, it's somehow always dark outside and the fixed camera angels give off kind of a boxed in feel.
Majima shows up 3 times to be weird and have nothing to do with the plot and I think that's extremely funny. It's like hes getting popular character cameos but its literally the first entry in the franchise.
I played this with jp voice acting (my mistake tbh) but watched some cutscenes on youtube and that shit is crazy!!!! Are you **** or just deaf???
The atmosphere is perfect, it's somehow always dark outside and the fixed camera angels give off kind of a boxed in feel.
Majima shows up 3 times to be weird and have nothing to do with the plot and I think that's extremely funny. It's like hes getting popular character cameos but its literally the first entry in the franchise.
I played this with jp voice acting (my mistake tbh) but watched some cutscenes on youtube and that shit is crazy!!!! Are you **** or just deaf???
In Yakuza you play as Kazama Kiryu, one tough ass yakuza who used to extort people in order to get what he's told to by his clan's boss. One day he gets in prison for something he didn't do. After getting out of it, the same city that had forgot about his existence during those 10 years in prison suddenly revolves around him and pretty much every interaction within the Kabuki-chō district is the same: someone approaches you acting all mighty and you fight.
Everyone, inside and outside the game, knows the yakuza are bad; but you know, Kiryu is different because he doesn't only protect his loved ones, but also a random kid he finds -though he fights in front of her like it's ok to do so-. In fact, all you do in the game is beat the shit out of anyone who comes near you, doesn't matter who that is or what the situation actually demands. This apples to pretty much anything in the game. But what bothers me is how biased it is: different people are portrayed and judged differently for doing the same exact thing. For * sake, they're all * Yakuza.
Finally, since this always happens, I'm going to address it directly: even though one could argue that the game shouldn’t be taken so seriously since there’s all these fun, hilarious quests and situations spread throughout all of Kabuki-chō, but I’d say the game itself makes a really clear distinction between all of that and what’s actually important. And honestly it’s not like you can just judge both things separately, they’re two sides of the same coin.
Everyone, inside and outside the game, knows the yakuza are bad; but you know, Kiryu is different because he doesn't only protect his loved ones, but also a random kid he finds -though he fights in front of her like it's ok to do so-. In fact, all you do in the game is beat the shit out of anyone who comes near you, doesn't matter who that is or what the situation actually demands. This apples to pretty much anything in the game. But what bothers me is how biased it is: different people are portrayed and judged differently for doing the same exact thing. For * sake, they're all * Yakuza.
Finally, since this always happens, I'm going to address it directly: even though one could argue that the game shouldn’t be taken so seriously since there’s all these fun, hilarious quests and situations spread throughout all of Kabuki-chō, but I’d say the game itself makes a really clear distinction between all of that and what’s actually important. And honestly it’s not like you can just judge both things separately, they’re two sides of the same coin.
Im a sucker for the bad english dub and the atmosphere. yes the gameplay doesnt hold up to any standard and is incredibly frustrating at times but I think it says something about a game if you pick it up on a hunch for 5 bugs and fall in love with it despite all the flaws.