Poll of the Day > So, how are the Yakuza games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I was given a few games today, and among them was Yakuza Kiwami. Never heard of these games before this, so I look them up. Apparently they have made 7 games in the franchise and its actually somewhat popular. They also are apparently decent games.

I just wanted to see what you guys think of them.

I am not into them, but they're beatem-ups iirc

Love 'em. I've only played 4 and 5 but they are really good. You can get sidetracked so easily with all the minigames.
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I own 4, 5, 0, Kiwami and 6. I have beaten all of those games (I also own the spin-off Dead Souls but never beat it. It's not that good).
It's one of my favorite series.

Kiwami is actually an okay place to start as it's a remake of Yakuza 1. But it does have some draw backs. The sub stories are a bit more series and not as wacky as later entries. It uses the same fighting system from 0, but it's different than the systems in previous games a bit so if you like it, just know that going forward.

Yakuza is pretty well known for rather serious plot, but all the side content is over the top and playful.

I love the series myself. I just spent 60 hours on Yakuza 6. But I also did a lot of side content and got the platinum on 6 (easiest yakuza platinum to date though).
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I own 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Kiwami and Dead Souls

I only finished Dead Souls, I loved that one.

@Final_Fantasy2389 may hate me now
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I've played all of them, even the JP-only ones.

0 is the best, Dead Souls is the worst. All the numbered entries they released here are decent though.
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Ive always wanted to play the series because I always hear people hype it up a lot. Are there English dubs? Or only subtitles?
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Can you fight anyone like in GTA?
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It's an amazing series, but maybe is not for everyone. The characters and story are rich, sometimes funny, and the fighting system is remarkable. I suggest you start with 0.
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DeltaBladeX posted...

I only finished Dead Souls, I loved that one.

@Final_Fantasy2389 may hate me now

Nah. To each their own. I enjoyed parts of what I played but the "combat" is awful. And I'm not a fan of them closing off sections of Kamurocho and you having to take super long ways around.

Flyingpirate posted...

Can you fight anyone like in GTA?

*Edit* It seems you can't fight females, but there is some sort of strange catfight thing. On a related note, there is a Fist of the North Star game coming out, made by the Yakuza team.

The cat fighting is in 0. Kiwami has a similar game, except it's an "arcade" game using women dressed as Insects cards.

You can't fight anyone, but you get challenged by random thugs, Yakuza and gangs on the street a lot. You earn EXP, and can level up your stats. It's like an adventure game with RPG like elements.
Kiryu isn't abusive to women.

solid_kush posted...

Ive always wanted to play the series because I always hear people hype it up a lot. Are there English dubs? Or only subtitles?

Very first game on PS2 has dubs.
It was costly (they got a hollywood cast), and the game sold poorly. To keep localization prices down, it's been subs only since.
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Final Fantasy2389 posted...

game using women dressed as Insects

Well I need to play this now.

Seriously though, Im going to try this series now. Gonna start with the one I onw, since I already have it.

Final Fantasy2389 posted...

Nah. To each their own. I enjoyed parts of what I played but the "combat" is awful. And I'm not a fan of them closing off sections of Kamurocho and you having to take super long ways around.

I quite enjoyed the combat in that one. I also enjoy the combat in the other games, but the story in 1 didn't hold me to the point where I'd continue to make progress in that game, so I never even got around to later games.

Since it was obviously a non canon spinoff where story of previous games wouldn't matter beyond knowing who people are, I gave Dead Souls a go anyway. The utterly stupid idea of zombies attacking made me stick with it. :P
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