[For our first Promoted Musing this month, KingSigy tells us why Yakuza 3 totally blew him away. Want to write your own musing for this month? Head over to our Community Blogs and get your post done before the month is over. -- JRo]
While gaming is my oldest past time and I’ve become very passionate about it, not many games have drawn me in during our current generation. I’m not sure if it’s the graphical prowess that’s off putting or the gritty, dark and brown worlds, but there are few games that have really gotten me exceptionally involved.
Cue in Sega and their localization of Yakuza 3 for the PS3. Gosh damn, did I feel like a child playing this game. I don’t think I’ve had as much fun with any game in the past 5 years, other than Street Fighter of course.
Takes parts of Shenmue, Streets of Rage, and Virtua Fighter and you’ve got the basic groundwork of the entire Yakuza series (known as Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan). The basic setup goes cutscene, dialog, fist fight, cutscene and repeat until done.
My first experience with Yakuza 3 came from the demo on the Playstation Network last February. I was finally able to dig into my PS3 for once, so I figured I’d try something out and see how it went. I only tinkered around with the original Yakuza back in 2006, but I wasn’t really impressed with it.
Low and behold, when I was able to run down the street and drop kick some idiot in the face, I was sold. I had no idea what I was getting into, but it felt intense and immensely enjoyable. I immediately began talking about the game to my friends, though no one cared enough to listen.
A nice kick to the face might work.
That is except for my best friend/brother, Jim. Our argument essentially went like this:
“Buy Yakuza 3. I don’t really know. What is the game? Buy Yakuza 3. No. Buy Yakuza 3! No! Buy the game, dammit! Alright!”
It’s a decision he didn’t regret. Even he was blown away by it. The HEAT action system is probably the best part of the combat. Once you build up a meter to the degree where your character is glowing in flame, you can press triangle and proceed to provide a gruesome beat down to your opponents.
Like this:
My favorite has to be when you’re drunk and you land a flying scissor spin on the opponent. What the fuck?!
Our favorite experience with this system was a battle near a small bridge in Okinawa. I asked my friend, “Can you throw that guy off the bridge?” Sure enough, we saw a body get lunged into the air and our laughter couldn’t be contained.
I, myself, didn’t play the game until this past February, however. I finally decided enough was enough and I moved my PS3 to a different room and borrowed the game from my friend. I was completely blown away by the proceedings.
I know story telling may be overly dramatic in Japan, but they certainly know how to build strong enemies and exceptional protagonists. Kazuma Kiryu is one of the coolest and most bad ass dudes in gaming and his villains are all kinds of scum.
The first boss, Goro Majima, is such an insane psycho that you can’t help but love him. He refers to you as Kazzy, his laugh is overdone and his eye patch is just ridiculous. It’s incredible when you battle him and the guy seems to be like a more rough and gruff version of the Joker.
The whole plot line with Kazuma’s orphanage even allows for great exposition to fill you in on Kazuma’s past. Most modern Western games don’t allow you to really engage with your character, either foregoing development in favor of more gameplay or simply giving a paper thin plot and allowing the mechanics to speak for themselves.
Yakuza has a few low points, but they truly amp you up for the amazing massacres you lay on people at the end. No man should have to see his orphanage in waste, but the feelings and emotions that the kids pour out really make you want to crack some heads.
Crack heads you will. Even when the game is repetitive (and believe me, it is), the awesome music and hugely cinematic battles make up for it. Kazuma literally smacks down around 100 people in one chapter and that’s before the boss battle.
All the while, I’m sitting there believing I’m 12 again. Games used to be ludicrous amounts of fun and work within their limits. Yeah, you don’t get an in-depth combo system or insanely overpowered enemies, but the pure visual aspect of combat makes up for it.
Hell, even all of the shitty extra minigames are hilarious time wasters. Just try playing Karaoke without laughing. You cannot. My sister and I were clapping along and crying in laughter when Kazuma belted out his cheers of, “Oi, Oi, Oi!”
Yakuza 3 is such a great game that I’ve beaten it twice now and wasted around 68 hours and I really don’t mind. This is exactly what I used to do as a child and I couldn’t be happier.
Also, for the record, I really don't care that Sega cut content from the US release. Yakuza 4 has all the hostess clubs intact and they are ridiculously pointless in a videogame.
I sure hope they release the Yakuza for PSP here in the U.S. I'm leaning towards getting a PSP, and while I already see a nice stable of games for it, Yakuza PSP would definitely be the game to tip the scales in favor of a PSP.
I can see you probably didn't played Yakuza 1 or 2.
Y3 , story related, was weaker than both. I still believe that Yakuza 2 is the best story (didn't played 4 yet).
The series deserved much more attention than it gets.
Also, Sega cutting the hostess clubs is a big deal in Y3. I had a great time managing one of those clubs in Y2, spent lots of hours and cash to perfect it.
I played only a small bit of 1, but I have heard that 2 is very good. I wouldn't mind trying it, but 3 definitely sucked me in (as you could tell).
The story in 4 is pretty sweet, but the plot twists at the end (which become telegraphed pretty obviously) kind of sour some of the experience. Kazuma is such a damn monster that he makes up for any inconsistencies, though.
I'm on my third playthrough of 4 and I'm still damn hooked like I was with 3. If I can trace down a copy of 2, I might give that a go.
As for hostess club management, I feel that to be the weakest aspect of Yakuza 4's minigames. It's definitely better than frequenting the club (which yields nothing for your character other than items from completion), but I still find it kind of pointless. For some reason I really digged the Fighter Maker, though.
@Master Snake
There actually is a Yakuza spin-off on PSP in Japan. It's called Yakuza: Black Panther and it uses fixed camera angles and hand drawn cutscenes. It looks rather neat.
@People I swayed
I'm very happy to hear that I've gotten your opinions to change. I'm not going to lie and say the games are perfect, but the bad is outweighed by the good and the good times are so ludicrous that it's just awesome.
@KingSigy: Yeah, that's what I meant. I hope that gets released over here. I'd definitely like to get a PSP with that game. Ah, I'll probably grab a PSP anyway. I just need to get my tax refund first.
I just finished completing Yakuza 3 for the second time now. Thinking that I might not get totally into it (I have issues getting interested when it comes to sandbox style games) I started the game on easy mode and totally regretted it.
However, I loved the game so much I was totally dedicated to getting all the HEAT MODE moves and went on to play it again on HARD MODE. It's been years since a game has sucked me into it's world so much that I was willing to give it another complete run. I might not have a 100% completion rate but I have put in a good 30+ to 40+ hours into it already.
I have to say my favorite part was been the bounty hunter for the HLA side missions. It was like fighting mini boss after mini boss who were all completely different from each other. The last fight against the Avengers was probably the hardest part of the game for me.
Since this game I have been trying to get Shemnue to emulate on my PC with no avail :( So many people compare the two and now I feel like it one of those games I really missed out on.
i pretty much felt the same way. after the dreamcast died.. i just didnt feel the same way about games overall. of course, there were lots of amazing moments that ive experienced over the last 10 years.. but something was missing.. im not saying yakuza necessarily filled this gap.. the revival of genres that meant more to me (fighting, platformers), and the kind of stuff available on xbla and psn is really what saved things for me..
but still.. sega just wasnt the same. virtua fighter was still fun.. sonic was on the decline.. and pretty much everything else they put out wasnt that great. i heard of yakuza on ps2.. and it looked interesting, but i didnt really trust sega. then, valkyria chronicles came out.. it felt like a breath of fresh air.. like sega! so i got on my jp psn acct and downloaded the yakuza 3 demo as soon as it dropped... man it was amazing. when the game finally came out, i instantly picked it up.
the first thing that ran through my mind was streets of rage/virtua fighter/shenmue as well.. i also had been going through earthbound at the same time.. and it definitely made me think of an old school rpg by the fact that you level up and how running around the "dungeon" areas (cities) would sometimes end up in fighting through random battles. i like how you can see certain guys in the distance and if you dont feel like fighting, you start to run the other way..
before i make this any longer lol.. i just have to say i agree wholeheartedly.. the game is absolutely amazing. im still waiting to see what the next game theyre making is going to end up like.. remember that trailer for what looks like its going to be a shooter set in a world where there are robots on the top and the humans are under dwellers.. it looks kind of corny, but im still excited since its by the yakuza team.
I predict that Sofik will barge in here and ruin the good mood by immediatley talking about how horrible Yakuza is, and somehow bring up Forza and GT5.
Yakuza 2 is easily the best game in the series. The final fight between your rival dragon is one of the most dramatic and beautiful fight scenes I've ever played, on par with the final fight in MGS4.
@KingSigy I love your enthusiasm for this game, and i completely agree with you. I'm playing Yakuza 4 now, and last night playing as Akijama i walk in to some building and before i knew it i was playing table tennis with some chick!
Great read, I absolutely love the Yakuza series, the game world being packed full of all kinds of sidequests and minigames, the mini story arcs of the hostess clubs you'd get, it's one of my favourite gaming series ever and it's great to see you enjoyed it also :D
"The basic setup goes cutscene, dialog, fist fight, cutscene and repeat until done. "
This is so so wrong!!! What I loved about Yakuza 3 was it's varied interactions. I spent a lot of time doing side missions like helping free a man wrongly convicted of murder, stopping a guy commit suicide and helping a guy create the perfect ramen recipe. Then there's the tons of minigames and an admittedly small amount of exploring compared to gta but it's still great for their budget when compared to FFXIII or linear shooters. And the main storyline is brilliantly written and not just about fighting. I loved taking care of the kids at the orphanage and helping people etc. What other game explores human issues like this? I can't think of a single one with a deaf child.
You make it sound like FFXIII where there's only cutscenes and walking straight to the next battle, but there's a great world to explore and interact with in Yakuza. Would you describe fallout as dialog then shooting then dialogue and repeat until done? It's insultingly simplified.
Yakuza is probably the most under-rated game series this generation. If it was made by EA it would be getting 9/10 everywhere, but people feel comfortable giving it 7/10 because it's not hyped up and because GTAIV has set such ridiculous high standards for a game world. But people don't value cultural games enough. There's far more interesting content in Yakuza than any other openworld city based game not made by Rockstar (just cause, mercenaries, crackdown, prototype, infamous, saints row, etc.), so what if the map is smaller? Ignorant reviewers look at the archaic battle animations and think it's antiquated, not realising that it's more skillful than something like batman arkham asylum (bash square: the game) which got 9/10s everywhere. But I don't play for combat and would rather it didn't have any! That shows how good the game is. If you took combat out of Uncharted or Infamous, what would be left to enjoy?
And the graphics are actually quite good, they're better than FFXIII which only looked good in cutscenes. If you just straight compare hands from FFXIII to Yakuza you'll see in FF they are plain textured and don't even have fingernails while in Yakuza they're much more realistic looking.
http://i.imgur.com/f5pVi.png
The only thing that really hurts it is the robotic animations but all Japanese games are the same and seem to be upscaled ps2 game engines that don't use modern effects like bump mapping. FFXIII has no physics either, in yakuza there is real time physics and there's a surprisingly thick amount of pedestrians (far more than gtaiv), though they pop in from quite close range. Yakuza is easily one of the best looking games out of Japan that doesn't use Unreal Engine. I'd put it only behind MGS4.
In short, if you like games that explore society, Yakuza is your best option other than Rockstar games. If you missed having towns in FFXIII, get Yakuza. If you're tired of games where you just kill 300 people and watch cutscenes, get Yakuza. The developers should be given the final fantasy series, they would give it the passion, varied interactions and social significance it deserves.
King Sigy, because of this review..I am buying Yakuza 3 today. I have been dying to play it and now i have more reasons. Thank you for the tip! And im not kissin ass either,lol. I means it!
This decision depends on your preference for story. While each game has a recap of the previous games, it's all about the atmosphere and exploration through the story.
My friend and I both think 3 had a slightly better conclusion than 4, even if the individual moments were amazing in 4.
The action itself is much more polished in 4, though. Graphics are slightly better and there is definitely more to do (even with the excessive amount of things to tinker with in 3). Hell, you can even pick up motorcycles with one guy.
Honestly, I'd say you should rent 3 and then buy 4. 3 has dropped in price, so you'd be helping Sega more if you picked up 4.
Loved reading this. I'm currently tanking through my backlog , and having a little Yakuza/Ratchet & Clank marathon. Man, can't wait to get some time off so I can finish Yakaza 2, and start 3 and 4. They been sitting on my shelf since they were released.
I actually finished Crack in Time before I started Yakuza 3. I didn't like it as much as the previous Ratchet games, but both series are definitely strong sellers for the PS3.
@OvertheSun
I think it's because of how different Yakuza is from most open world games. While I love me some San Andreas, the GTA games got really stale after that (all of the 4 ones are just weakly structured).
Yakuza takes all of that free and open structure and then applies a very thought out and detailed story to it. It's linear, but allows you to tinker with a plethora of options. If you get bored of the story, there's always a claw machine or mahjong or cards, etc. It's insane.
Well done, Sigy!
I love the Yakuza series, and agree that it's in the top three of the best modern series going right now. The combat is so brutal, and the RPG elements in earning new combat moves/powers rival those of crack cocaine.
Sega deserves major props for keeping this series going, and actually taking the chance on it in America. I imagine in some alternate reality the Saturn 4 just launched with Yakuza 5.
In our reality though, people be needing to buy Yakuza 4 (and #3, which can be found for a discount now that it's been out awhile).
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Contest:
7:00 PM on 04.07.2011 | 
Any game that makes owning an orphanage seem bad ass is totally worth a look.
I honestly had no real intrest in Yakuza, but this makes it sound really fun.
And no game(I'm serious abiut this) that has had a good fishing mini-game in it has ever disappointed me.
Thanks. I am pretty surprised at the front page, but I do enjoy it.
The fishing is pretty fun in Yakuza, if a little complicated at first. It's always great to catch a damn Umbrella and have it count as a fish, though.
O_O! My god, this game is indeed amazing!
Y3 , story related, was weaker than both. I still believe that Yakuza 2 is the best story (didn't played 4 yet).
The series deserved much more attention than it gets.
Also, Sega cutting the hostess clubs is a big deal in Y3. I had a great time managing one of those clubs in Y2, spent lots of hours and cash to perfect it.
I played only a small bit of 1, but I have heard that 2 is very good. I wouldn't mind trying it, but 3 definitely sucked me in (as you could tell).
The story in 4 is pretty sweet, but the plot twists at the end (which become telegraphed pretty obviously) kind of sour some of the experience. Kazuma is such a damn monster that he makes up for any inconsistencies, though.
I'm on my third playthrough of 4 and I'm still damn hooked like I was with 3. If I can trace down a copy of 2, I might give that a go.
As for hostess club management, I feel that to be the weakest aspect of Yakuza 4's minigames. It's definitely better than frequenting the club (which yields nothing for your character other than items from completion), but I still find it kind of pointless. For some reason I really digged the Fighter Maker, though.
@Master Snake
There actually is a Yakuza spin-off on PSP in Japan. It's called Yakuza: Black Panther and it uses fixed camera angles and hand drawn cutscenes. It looks rather neat.
@People I swayed
I'm very happy to hear that I've gotten your opinions to change. I'm not going to lie and say the games are perfect, but the bad is outweighed by the good and the good times are so ludicrous that it's just awesome.
However, I loved the game so much I was totally dedicated to getting all the HEAT MODE moves and went on to play it again on HARD MODE. It's been years since a game has sucked me into it's world so much that I was willing to give it another complete run. I might not have a 100% completion rate but I have put in a good 30+ to 40+ hours into it already.
I have to say my favorite part was been the bounty hunter for the HLA side missions. It was like fighting mini boss after mini boss who were all completely different from each other. The last fight against the Avengers was probably the hardest part of the game for me.
Since this game I have been trying to get Shemnue to emulate on my PC with no avail :( So many people compare the two and now I feel like it one of those games I really missed out on.
but still.. sega just wasnt the same. virtua fighter was still fun.. sonic was on the decline.. and pretty much everything else they put out wasnt that great. i heard of yakuza on ps2.. and it looked interesting, but i didnt really trust sega. then, valkyria chronicles came out.. it felt like a breath of fresh air.. like sega! so i got on my jp psn acct and downloaded the yakuza 3 demo as soon as it dropped... man it was amazing. when the game finally came out, i instantly picked it up.
the first thing that ran through my mind was streets of rage/virtua fighter/shenmue as well.. i also had been going through earthbound at the same time.. and it definitely made me think of an old school rpg by the fact that you level up and how running around the "dungeon" areas (cities) would sometimes end up in fighting through random battles. i like how you can see certain guys in the distance and if you dont feel like fighting, you start to run the other way..
before i make this any longer lol.. i just have to say i agree wholeheartedly.. the game is absolutely amazing. im still waiting to see what the next game theyre making is going to end up like.. remember that trailer for what looks like its going to be a shooter set in a world where there are robots on the top and the humans are under dwellers.. it looks kind of corny, but im still excited since its by the yakuza team.
I haven't played 1 or 2 but I hear 2 is the best of all.
OY OY OY !!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks dude.
This is so so wrong!!! What I loved about Yakuza 3 was it's varied interactions. I spent a lot of time doing side missions like helping free a man wrongly convicted of murder, stopping a guy commit suicide and helping a guy create the perfect ramen recipe. Then there's the tons of minigames and an admittedly small amount of exploring compared to gta but it's still great for their budget when compared to FFXIII or linear shooters. And the main storyline is brilliantly written and not just about fighting. I loved taking care of the kids at the orphanage and helping people etc. What other game explores human issues like this? I can't think of a single one with a deaf child.
You make it sound like FFXIII where there's only cutscenes and walking straight to the next battle, but there's a great world to explore and interact with in Yakuza. Would you describe fallout as dialog then shooting then dialogue and repeat until done? It's insultingly simplified.
Yakuza is probably the most under-rated game series this generation. If it was made by EA it would be getting 9/10 everywhere, but people feel comfortable giving it 7/10 because it's not hyped up and because GTAIV has set such ridiculous high standards for a game world. But people don't value cultural games enough. There's far more interesting content in Yakuza than any other openworld city based game not made by Rockstar (just cause, mercenaries, crackdown, prototype, infamous, saints row, etc.), so what if the map is smaller? Ignorant reviewers look at the archaic battle animations and think it's antiquated, not realising that it's more skillful than something like batman arkham asylum (bash square: the game) which got 9/10s everywhere. But I don't play for combat and would rather it didn't have any! That shows how good the game is. If you took combat out of Uncharted or Infamous, what would be left to enjoy?
And the graphics are actually quite good, they're better than FFXIII which only looked good in cutscenes. If you just straight compare hands from FFXIII to Yakuza you'll see in FF they are plain textured and don't even have fingernails while in Yakuza they're much more realistic looking.
http://i.imgur.com/f5pVi.png
The only thing that really hurts it is the robotic animations but all Japanese games are the same and seem to be upscaled ps2 game engines that don't use modern effects like bump mapping. FFXIII has no physics either, in yakuza there is real time physics and there's a surprisingly thick amount of pedestrians (far more than gtaiv), though they pop in from quite close range. Yakuza is easily one of the best looking games out of Japan that doesn't use Unreal Engine. I'd put it only behind MGS4.
In short, if you like games that explore society, Yakuza is your best option other than Rockstar games. If you missed having towns in FFXIII, get Yakuza. If you're tired of games where you just kill 300 people and watch cutscenes, get Yakuza. The developers should be given the final fantasy series, they would give it the passion, varied interactions and social significance it deserves.
Thanks.
This decision depends on your preference for story. While each game has a recap of the previous games, it's all about the atmosphere and exploration through the story.
My friend and I both think 3 had a slightly better conclusion than 4, even if the individual moments were amazing in 4.
The action itself is much more polished in 4, though. Graphics are slightly better and there is definitely more to do (even with the excessive amount of things to tinker with in 3). Hell, you can even pick up motorcycles with one guy.
Honestly, I'd say you should rent 3 and then buy 4. 3 has dropped in price, so you'd be helping Sega more if you picked up 4.
Ah okay, thanks! I should get on with that then!
I don't know why Yakuza always caught my attention whereas GTA did not.
I actually finished Crack in Time before I started Yakuza 3. I didn't like it as much as the previous Ratchet games, but both series are definitely strong sellers for the PS3.
@OvertheSun
I think it's because of how different Yakuza is from most open world games. While I love me some San Andreas, the GTA games got really stale after that (all of the 4 ones are just weakly structured).
Yakuza takes all of that free and open structure and then applies a very thought out and detailed story to it. It's linear, but allows you to tinker with a plethora of options. If you get bored of the story, there's always a claw machine or mahjong or cards, etc. It's insane.
I love the Yakuza series, and agree that it's in the top three of the best modern series going right now. The combat is so brutal, and the RPG elements in earning new combat moves/powers rival those of crack cocaine.
Sega deserves major props for keeping this series going, and actually taking the chance on it in America. I imagine in some alternate reality the Saturn 4 just launched with Yakuza 5.
In our reality though, people be needing to buy Yakuza 4 (and #3, which can be found for a discount now that it's been out awhile).