Xbox: This is the Jan 6th of gaming.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Xbox: This is the Jan 6th of gaming.

SpiderLink: Oct 3, 2006

Fly Ricky posted:

I never played the Yakuza games, and Zero was on sale for $5 so I spent that Microsoft gift cash that I actually got for once on it.

Ok… I’m a permanent resident of Japan. Not a Japanophile as much as anyone who’s chosen to raise a family here can keep themselves from becoming.

This game is blowing my mind wide open. Everything makes sense from a Japanese perspective IMO; the design choices, the abilities and limitations, and of course it’s just Japanese through-and-through unlike anything else. Just the right amount of goofiness and geekiness, intentional and unintentional hilarity.

But it’s the plot and gameplay that have hooked me. How did I sleep on this poo poo? (I’m a stubborn bastard who’s been using an Xbox here since the 360 days, that’s how). This game fuckin’ rules and is right up there with stuff like RDR2 for me as the greatest of all-time for me. Seriously, quit laughing. It pushes all my buttons.

Everything but the Kiwami games are on GamePass (keeps winning). Sounds like 5 and 6 crush it again, might get a bit murky for a while. Is 3 bad enough to just do a YouTube overview of?

0 sets a high bar for main story that none of the other games really clear, in my opinion. I love the series to death, just trying to set expectations. I'd say put 3 on easy and hurry through if you have the time. Not sure where you are in Japan but you might be interested in one of the locations there =)

Also there's a Yakuza thread that's friendly to newbies, if you wanna check that out.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 12:39

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# ? May 25, 2024 20:41

Original_Z: Jun 14, 2005; Z so good

Yeah, all the Yakuza games are worth playing through, each entry is important from a storyline perspective and there's always fun side stuff to do. Worst comes to worst you can just change the difficulty to Easy and run through the story avoiding all of the sidequest stuff and beat 3 in probably 10 hours or so.

I'm also based in Tokyo and when exploring Kamurocho I was like 'yeah this is cool I guess, looks pretty authentic'. I went to Okinawa after playing 3 and was freaking out at how accurate everything looked to the game, even made a point to visit the big fish market. I can imagine that visiting Kabukicho after playing the games is a surreal experience.

The only place from the games I haven�t been to is Onomichi which I guess I should visit and act like I know the town already. I have a coworker from there though so I talked to him about it, he wasn�t aware of the game but did confirm that the town has a lot of Yakuza activity!

Original_Z fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jul 3, 2022

# ? Jul 3, 2022 12:48

Captain Scandinaiva: Mar 29, 2010

I didn't mean to start a console civil war :ohdear:

But yeah, it sounds like the S will be fine for us. $100 extra for an X must be some yank trickery, here in Europe an S goes for less than €300 while the X costs just above €600.

Also our TV was made in 2013 so it's only going to be a decade old next year thankyouverymuch. :spergin:

# ? Jul 3, 2022 13:09

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Captain Scandinaiva posted:

I didn't mean to start a console civil war But yeah, it sounds like the S will be fine for us. $100 extra for an X must be some yank trickery, here in Europe an S goes for less than €300 while the X costs just above €600.

Also our TV was made in 2013 so it's only going to be a decade old next year thankyouverymuch.

I, too, buy the dollar store shampoo since it works well enough

# ? Jul 3, 2022 13:18

THE AWESOME GHOST: Oct 21, 2005

Original_Z posted:

Yeah, all the Yakuza games are worth playing through, each entry is important from a storyline perspective and there's always fun side stuff to do. Worst comes to worst you can just change the difficulty to Easy and run through the story avoiding all of the sidequest stuff and beat 3 in probably 10 hours or so.

I'm also based in Tokyo and when exploring Kamurocho I was like 'yeah this is cool I guess, looks pretty authentic'. I went to Okinawa after playing 3 and was freaking out at how accurate everything looked to the game, even made a point to visit the big fish market. I can imagine that visiting Kabukicho after playing the games is a surreal experience.

The only place from the games I haven�t been to is Onomichi which I guess I should visit and act like I know the town already. I have a coworker from there though so I talked to him about it, he wasn�t aware of the game but did confirm that the town has a lot of Yakuza activity!

I went to Kabukicho first in 2014 and then played Y0 and from my hazy memory was like "Wow this is basically the same place". Also went to Osaka during that trip and Dotonbori is VERY close to the feeling of Sotenbori, especially in Y2 Kiwami when they bring it back

When the demo for Y6 came out on the new engine I went into first person mode and turned off the HUD and I could swear I was walking through Tokyo (even though it already looks pretty aged lol)

Western version of this is playing the Witcher 3 then visiting Gdansk in Poland (there is a big music festival nearby in Gdynia with a lot of international acts but like, 1/3 the cost of something like a glastonbury) where a chunk of the city by the river is basically copy-pasted into the game.

Sleeping Dogs is practically nothing like Hong Kong on the other end of this spectrum. I don't know NYC well enough to judge but a friend who lived there said the Spider-Man games are 99% inaccurate with like the landmarks they modeled in they actually got right but the areas around it being totally off

I really enjoy traveling to new cities and walking around exploring them, and have to say it's a bit cool when you do it in-game too. Yakuza is a very good walking around Japan simulator. During the worst parts of COVID curfews I would literally watch this guy on Youtube walk around Tokyo lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHfe1xTpomE

I'm finally gonna take a decently long trip for the first time in years soon and haven't decided where yet but excited to do some CITY WALKIN

# ? Jul 3, 2022 13:23

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

Larry Parrish posted:

I, too, buy the dollar store shampoo since it works well enough

Unironically this LP

# ? Jul 3, 2022 13:57

John F Bennett: Jan 30, 2013; I always wear my wedding ring. It's my trademark.

I buy the half-dollar shampoo and use it for my entire body because the soap industry is a scam.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:07

Omon Ra: Nov 1, 2020; peanus

If you're not buying colloidal silver shampoo that has 4x as many antioxidants, what are you even doing with your life?

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:18

Lammasu: May 8, 2019; lawful Good Monster

John F Bennett posted:

I buy the half-dollar shampoo and use it for my entire body because the soap industry is a scam.

19th century doctor reveled.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:21

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

I mainly buy soap from that guy in like Oregon or California or wherever who stuffs the label with mental illness fine print

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:32

slave to my cravings: Mar 1, 2007; Got my mind on doritos and doritos on my mind.

Feels Villeneuve posted:

I mainly buy soap from that guy in like Oregon or California or wherever who stuffs the label with mental illness fine print

This peace plan became the basis for Bronner's Moral ABCs, but as he worked to spread his message, his sister became increasingly concerned about his sanity. As a result, she had him involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. In the late 1940s, however, Bronner escaped the institution and left for California, hitchhiking his way to Los Angeles. It was there in 1948 that he began creating the formula for what would become his famous peppermint soap.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:44

Blue Raider: Sep 2, 2006

Captain Scandinaiva posted:

I didn't mean to start a console civil war But yeah, it sounds like the S will be fine for us. $100 extra for an X must be some yank trickery, here in Europe an S goes for less than �300 while the X costs just above �600.

Also our TV was made in 2013 so it's only going to be a decade old next year thankyouverymuch.

Whoever is charging 600 euros for an X is either an eBay flipper or whatever the European equivalent of that is, or they�re price gouging.

The S price you quoted sounds about right, the X price does not. It should be like 450 euros or something around that

# ? Jul 3, 2022 14:58

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

Fly Ricky posted:

I never played the Yakuza games, and Zero was on sale for $5 so I spent that Microsoft gift cash that I actually got for once on it.

Ok� I�m a permanent resident of Japan. Not a Japanophile as much as anyone who�s chosen to raise a family here can keep themselves from becoming.

This game is blowing my mind wide open. Everything makes sense from a Japanese perspective IMO; the design choices, the abilities and limitations, and of course it�s just Japanese through-and-through unlike anything else. Just the right amount of goofiness and geekiness, intentional and unintentional hilarity.

But it�s the plot and gameplay that have hooked me. How did I sleep on this poo poo? (I�m a stubborn bastard who�s been using an Xbox here since the 360 days, that�s how). This game fuckin� rules and is right up there with stuff like RDR2 for me as the greatest of all-time for me. Seriously, quit laughing. It pushes all my buttons.

Everything but the Kiwami games are on GamePass (keeps winning). Sounds like 5 and 6 crush it again, might get a bit murky for a while. Is 3 bad enough to just do a YouTube overview of?

none of us are laughing, welcome to the yakuza zone friend

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:11

Fly Ricky: May 7, 2009; The Wine Taster

Edit: I�m in? Bitchin�.

Thanks for the Yakuza talk. Music to my ears. I�m on leave from work right now� this has put me on a cloud.

I read that Y0 has (arguably) the best story so I went in to let them wow me. Figured if it was my it would probably be my jam. Never expected to fall in love with the game likes Zelda or something.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:25

John F Bennett: Jan 30, 2013; I always wear my wedding ring. It's my trademark.

I bounced off Yakuza 0 because the cutscenes went on for way too long and they were about stuff that doesn't really interest me, and during that time I had a lot of other games left to play in my backlog. Maybe I should try it again someday when I'm in the mood for some reading.

I just started Chorus, so far it's pretty fun but not sure if I will play it to the end. Playing it on Easy though.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:27

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

Fly Ricky posted:

Edit: I�m in? Bitchin�.

Thanks for the Yakuza talk. Music to my ears. I�m on leave from work right now� this has put me on a cloud.

I read that Y0 has (arguably) the best story so I went in to let them wow me. Figured if it was my it would probably be my jam. Never expected to fall in love with the game likes Zelda or something.

here's my personal tier list:

Yak 3 - first one i played, it's great.
Yak 4 - introduces Best Boy Akiyama and Big Bro Saejima, is maybe my favorite of the PS3 trilogy
Yak 5 - has weird pacing issues. Saejima's part is boring and a gently caress, Akiyama shares his chapter with Haruka who requires you to basically be playing a totally different game as obviously Haruka doesn't get into karate fights with mobsters. is still great though

Yak 6 - very grown up story and great engine, stellar way to cap off Kiryu's journey
Yak 7 - basically an entirely new game now, owns hard

Kiwami 1 + 2 - own hard, play them sometime before 6

Yak 0 - the best of the best

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:38

Twerk from Home: Jan 17, 2009; This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

Blue Raider posted:

Whoever is charging 600 euros for an X is either an eBay flipper or whatever the European equivalent of that is, or they’re price gouging.

The S price you quoted sounds about right, the X price does not. It should be like 450 euros or something around that

I can't figure out if this thread is running some long-running prank or if I'm just dumb.

The S is 300 currency units and the X is 500 pretty much everywhere, right? And for most of the last two years it's been easier to buy an S, but you can finally get an X without luck or effort now.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:43

Zurtilik: Oct 23, 2015; The Biggest Brain in Guardia

House Flipper is weird and janky as can be. But there is a bit of a zen component to it that makes me want to keep playing.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:43

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

the scalp price for a XSX being $100 above MSRP is probably a good sign that they aren't that hard to get now

# ? Jul 3, 2022 15:52

univbee: Jun 3, 2004

Yakuza 0 is good, its biggest flaw which makes people likely to bounce off it is a storyline quest early in the game (Chapter 2 I think) where you have to get booze for a group of homeless people, because the game doesn't very effectively communicate what you need to do and newcomers can easily get stuck here.

The game says you can get the booze you need from a convenience store, which is correct, but what it doesn't tell you is that each of the four convenience stores uniquely carries one of the drinks you need so you have to go to all four of them, along with Don Quixote for the fifth drink you need. (The quest marker just points back to the park where the homeless people are and not where you actually need to go to buy the drinks).

But once you get past this everything else is way more straightforward and you can go hog wild being boomer rich.

As for the storage thing, yeah the 512 gigs of the Series S is quite the disadvantage and too few games leverage the ability to actually shrink the Series S version of games by removing 4K textures and stuff like that. I definitely think its M.2 SSD will be substituted for the same one as in the Series X currently once it becomes cost-effective to do so. It doesn't help that the storage cards are so loving expensive for what you're getting, and due to being proprietary, never seem to go on sale.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:07

Omon Ra: Nov 1, 2020; peanus

Twerk from Home posted:

I can't figure out if this thread is running some long-running prank or if I'm just dumb.

The S is 300 currency units and the X is 500 pretty much everywhere, right? And for most of the last two years it's been easier to buy an S, but you can finally get an X without luck or effort now.

Yes, it's 300 or 500 currency units everywhere. Real good deal if you're Swedish.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:12

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

while 500 gigs is deffo not the best, i'm one of those people who actually can't have too many things installed or i will feel compelled to sit there and stare at the icons and think "i should really get back to all these games"

i often delete things even when i don't need room just so the icon won't taunt me

my brain sucks

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:12

Blue Raider: Sep 2, 2006

Twerk from Home posted:

I can't figure out if this thread is running some long-running prank or if I'm just dumb.

The S is 300 currency units and the X is 500 pretty much everywhere, right? And for most of the last two years it's been easier to buy an S, but you can finally get an X without luck or effort now.

I was doing some rough exchange rate math, but point stands. 600 is above MSRP

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:14

Omon Ra: Nov 1, 2020; peanus

I'm sure you know what the S in MSRP stands for. Here are some console prices where I live:

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:21

Beastie: Nov 3, 2006; They used to call me tricky-kid, I lived the life they wish they did.

Lol at that ps5 price tag euros are crazy

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:31

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

Beastie posted:

Lol at that ps5 price tag euros are crazy

it�s insane. Haven�t seen one on shelves ever. Only second hand for like �800+

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:39

Beastie: Nov 3, 2006; They used to call me tricky-kid, I lived the life they wish they did.

Also I bought Yakuza 0. I played like half of Like a Dragon but it kind of turned me off with the turn based combat.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:56

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

yeah same. i love turn based JRPGs and i love Yakuza but i did not want them together lol

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:58

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

Beastie posted:

Also I bought Yakuza 0. I played like half of Like a Dragon but it kind of turned me off with the turn based combat.

same

# ? Jul 3, 2022 16:59

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

Barudak posted:

As a fellow resident of Japan the greatest sin of the Yakuza games is making Yokohama chinese food seem acceptable in quality

my favourite chinese food is panda express so i really wonder what yokohoma chinese food has wrong compared to chain chinese food.

Feels Villeneuve posted:

yeah same. i love turn based JRPGs and i love Yakuza but i did not want them together lol

haha i think turn based rpg combat is one of the most insulting mechanics a dev can push towards a player but I fuckin loved it in Yakuza 7. Also mechanically it's not very different than the button mash beat em up stuff, smashin buttons till my rear end kickers finished kickin rear end.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:07

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

John F Bennett posted:

I bounced off Yakuza 0 because the cutscenes went on for way too long and they were about stuff that doesn't really interest me, and during that time I had a lot of other games left to play in my backlog. Maybe I should try it again someday when I'm in the mood for some reading.

Yah I bounced off it too, I can see why people would enjoy it though there is a lot there to do and it�s obviously made with care and attention.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:10

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

i hated the first yakuza game I tried for similar reasons, I was in the mood for some action and suddenly I'm watching this movie and then I finally get action and it's all tutorial popups and I had to bail and go play something else. Came back in a mood more amenable to watching and feel in love. working my way through 2 and already feeling melacholoy that I only have over 4 more yakuzas to play (and nobody likes them as much lol)

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:20

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

the cutscene direction in the Yakuza games is absolutely best in class. It pains me when you play one and then have to suffer the over the shoulder / reverse shot monotony of western game cutscenes

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:21

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

Y2 is my favorite one

Actually Y5 is my favorite one because it has the most side bullshit to do but it also has a story that makes absolutely no sense

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:22

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

I'm playing 2 on Legendary mode from the start, and I actually like this combat for the most part, except for weird times when the ragdolls just get weird. Had one fight a buncha dudes knock me into a corner and I ragdoll and I just couldn't get back up. just flopping all around from full hp to game over. Some of these bouncer missions are annoying too, mostly because you need to punch boxes to break them open for the weapons to kill enemies with. But you have to position yourself right so that when you automatically turn when punching to face nearest enemy, you hit the box. Worse, you have so many people on your rear end, that even if you ring around the rosie to create some breathing room, the wind-up to stop running, start punch, make sure punch is right way, then break box... you have no time to pickup weapon because if you do someone will punch you in the head and you will drop/destroy the weapon.

Majima construction minigame seems fun and glad these two are broing it up again, especially side by side. lol at the DLC for giving me kiryu to use as a teammate, right after the cutscene majima explains Kiryu not there to punch.

p.s. is the cabaret game same as in 0 or does it have new twists?

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:29

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

it's basically the same iirc. i still think the Dragon Engine combat is weird in 2 but it was much more noticeably a step back in Y6. I think they got it right in Judgment

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:30

Lammasu: May 8, 2019; lawful Good Monster

Just a reminder that Kiryu has never killed anyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-6cfKxi_5Y

# ? Jul 3, 2022 17:59

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Omon Ra posted:

I'm sure you know what the S in MSRP stands for. Here are some console prices where I live:

looks like the X is still the best value

# ? Jul 3, 2022 19:01

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

so the new playstation looks like a router and the new xbox looks either like a weird bluetooth speaker or finally fulfills the promise of the name. i say get the True X Box.

# ? Jul 3, 2022 19:07

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# ? May 25, 2024 20:41

hatty: Feb 28, 2011; Pork Pro

The SX is two GameCubes stacked and so its the best current console design

# ? Jul 3, 2022 19:13

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