Subject: Yakuza 4 Impressions Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:05 pm
After months of being occupied by school work, weeks of procrastination, and days of my terrible memory getting the better of me, I had FINALLY beaten SEGA's Yakuza 4. What do I have to say about this gem, you ask? Considering I used the word "gem", my feelings toward this game would seem pretty obvious, when in fact, "gem" is a complete understatement. Yakuza 4 is the best PS3 game I have ever played in my entire life so far. I'm dead serious when I say this. I've been the proud owner of a PS3 for nearly 2 years now. I've played many great titles and there was not a single title I did not regret to rent nor pick up. But this, this borderline masterpiece of modern gaming, takes the cake for me. As a gamer that enjoyed a variety of home consoles for over a decade and as a beat 'em up fan.
First, I'll start by saying that this game is overwhelming with content. Aside from the main aspect of gameplay, being the fights of course, there are literally TONS of content you can enjoy in this game. You can go fishing, play pool, go bowling, swing at the batting cage, compete in the coliseum, and you can even go golfing. Not to mention there are various gambling halls you can visit that lets you play stuff like roulette, blackjack, poker, pretty much anything you can find at a casino. You can also play games like pachinko and mahjong if you want to experience some of the cultural entertainment that Japan has to offer
Speaking of entertainment, you can even date hostesses. That's right, you can actually date women in this game! You can even go out with them to a karaoke bar and sing alongside them if you want I skipped out on the hostesses since I want to pay attention to this game's amazing storyline, but that doesn't mean I failed to make a good first impression with the ladies HURHURHURRR
Of course, that's only half of what you can do in this game, but I want to talk about this game's brilliant story. Yakuza 4, ah heck, the franchise as a whole, has one of the greatest storylines I have ever seen in any video game! The scenes are just oozing with emotion and there are so many exciting twists which is hard for anyone to see coming. Yakuza is like a soap opera... BUT FOR MEN The 4th game pretty much picks up where the previous left off. Kiryu is safe and goes back to raising children at Sunshine Orphanage, so we technically don't see him until 1/4 of the game. Instead, you start off as a loan shark named Shun Akiyama who runs a finance company called Sky Finance. A funny trait about this particular loan shark, other than his intense aloofness and lazy disposition, is that he charges the clients he loans to with a specific test of his choosing instead of interest or collateral. Whether it be doing community service, working at a massage parlor, or offering services at a host/hostess club, he'll have something in mind depending on the amount he loans. I wouldn't want to spoil what goes on from this point, but you'll have to experience this amazing story for yourself
The thing about Yakuza 3 was that the localized version was an extremely gimped product. It was heavily censored by removing well over half of the game's original content for the sake of "westernization". Yet, for an unnecessarily butchered product, the game was fantastic and I was completely amazed by it. Funny that the actual real life yakuza even said themselves that they felt "sorry" for us since we had the inferior product XD Thanks to the demands of the fan base, Yakuza 4 retained just about all the content of the original Japanese version. Only difference was that a quiz game on Japanese pop culture was removed called Answer x Answer, but I could care less since I wouldn't understand pop culture outside of Japan. Heck, I barely keep up with pop culture in the states <_<;
On a final note, I urge you to pick up this wonderful game to support more possible localizations of this series. This game is pretty much Game of the Year quality in all its glory, be we all know for sure that's not happening because it's made by LOLSEEEEGGAAAAAAAAAAAA Though it can get a little repetitious at times, I tolerate it since I have a love for action games and the like, especially if there's a great story to get out of it. My only peeve with this game is that the QTEs for the street fights get extremely predictable after a while and that the 4 playable characters share their animations in these scenarios. Bear in mind when you pick this up, be prepared for a pretty long ride. The main story of the game is about 25-30% of the games overall content, and it will only take over 30 hours to clear the game in a straight clean run. I fooled around with a dozen of the many many side missions present in the game, which means it took me a total of 55 hours and 16 minutes to clear the game. For the dedicated Hundren Percent Completion, you will have to prepare some popcorn for this long ride. Because you'll have to invest well OVER 100 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY. Now THAT'S what I call having too much free time on your hands.
Despite the small imperfections, there's no denying the overall picture here. That picture being an excellent game for a variety of gamers to enjoy. SEGA, you have my thanks, and may the Yakuza series continue to do as well as it is doing now.
As a huge Ryu Ga Gotoku/Yakuza fan, giving this a thumbs up.
Although honestly, the gimped content from Yakuza 3 was almost nothing compared to the rest of the game. Hostess clubs and such never interested me, to be honest, I guess other people might take replay value out of them. But the game seemed so full of stuff, that I never missed the small things I had played in the japanese version previously.
By the way, any expectations for Of The End? Or played Kenzan/Black Panther Chapter?
One of these days I need to get a Japanese PSN so I can download the Of the End demo. A couple friends of mine says the demo was amazing, and as usual, came with an epic soundtrack to boot. As for Kenzan, I really hope it gets localized one of these days even though the game was specifically made to test out the Yakuza 3 mechanics before it was made. Besides... I really REALLY wanna play as Miyamoto Musashi D:
Kenzan was more of a buddy cop game than a Yakuza game. It's amazing, too. A bit rough around the edges, though. I do like it how they distinguish the sword combat from the hand-to-hand combat.
While Of The End... no, it's far from amazing. Guns don't really work amazingly in the Yakuza engine, but they do work, and you get used to it. It's a game where you have to be extremely careful around zombies, though. But guns work like in all other Yakuza games, only they lock-on every time, and have infinite ammo. Which helps things ALOT. But you need headshots to kill in a single shot, so it doesn't really work very well, because there's alot of zombies, they're fast ones, and you need to manually aim in order to hit them accurately. I love the damage you can do with explosive stuff, though. Oh, and the streets have been modified to make sure it looks apocalyptic. It's wackier than usual, though. In par with the tiger punching in Yakuza 2.
HEAT Actions. They're fucking awesome. You can try performing them to any opponent like, stomping them, slam them to the wall, killing them with weapons, and many more. There are hundreds of them to perform.
So does HEAT Snipes they have in "Of the End" series, but different when shooting them at anywhere that is explosive, like a car or a drum barrel.
It's wackier than usual, though. In par with the tiger punching in Yakuza 2.
The tiger punching was one of the things I loved most about Yakuza 2 D:
KError wrote:
Guys, you are forgetting one thing...
HEAT Actions. They're fucking awesome. You can try performing them to any opponent like, stomping them, slam them to the wall, killing them with weapons, and many more. There are hundreds of them to perform.
So does HEAT Snipes they have in "Of the End" series, but different when shooting them at anywhere that is explosive, like a car or a drum barrel.
I LOVE Heat Actions : D One of my favorite actions is when Kiryu takes a box, slams it on someone's head, then spin it around like crazy and slams the box into pieces, along with their heads. Not their heads per se, but it sure does smart.
I LOVE Heat Actions : D One of my favorite actions is when Kiryu takes a box, slams it on someone's head, then spin it around like crazy and slams the box into pieces, along with their heads. Not their heads per se, but it sure does smart.
I know, also the soundtrack I've listened to is sweet as hell. My favourites are this:
Spoiler:
GhostGetterRobo
Posts : 146 Join date : 2011-08-21 Age : 32
Subject: Re: Yakuza 4 Impressions Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:04 am
......Oh my god. You've posted each and every one of my absolute favorite tracks! FANG MARKED VIPER AND SOLITUDE ALL THE FREAKING WAY
You should probably add Theme of Nair, Sennin, Geist Obscuration, and Criminal Delights to the list. And you know we can't forget about the theme for New Serena. I could just listen to that track for hours.
Gamma
Posts : 120 Join date : 2011-08-04
Subject: Re: Yakuza 4 Impressions Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:37 am
The heat actions that are present on the Of The End game, are more of certain context stuff you can hit at that moment, when there are a ton of zombies near it. Same with grenades. I still dunno if I'll import it or wait for the western version.
By the way, guys. Do you mind discussing the game in its own topic in the gaming forum? This one's more suited for gaming reviews.
I skipped out on the hostesses since I want to pay attention to this game's amazing storyline, but that doesn't mean I failed to make a good first impression with the ladies HURHURHURRR 
The 4th game pretty much picks up where the previous left off. Kiryu is safe and goes back to raising children at Sunshine Orphanage, so we technically don't see him until 1/4 of the game. Instead, you start off as a loan shark named Shun Akiyama who runs a finance company called Sky Finance. A funny trait about this particular loan shark, other than his intense aloofness and lazy disposition, is that he charges the clients he loans to with a specific test of his choosing instead of interest or collateral. Whether it be doing community service, working at a massage parlor, or offering services at a host/hostess club, he'll have something in mind depending on the amount he loans. I wouldn't want to spoil what goes on from this point, but you'll have to experience this amazing story for yourself 
Though it can get a little repetitious at times, I tolerate it since I have a love for action games and the like, especially if there's a great story to get out of it. My only peeve with this game is that the QTEs for the street fights get extremely predictable after a while and that the 4 playable characters share their animations in these scenarios. Bear in mind when you pick this up, be prepared for a pretty long ride. The main story of the game is about 25-30% of the games overall content, and it will only take over 30 hours to clear the game in a straight clean run. I fooled around with a dozen of the many many side missions present in the game, which means it took me a total of 55 hours and 16 minutes to clear the game. For the dedicated Hundren Percent Completion, you will have to prepare some popcorn for this long ride. Because you'll have to invest well OVER 100 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY. Now THAT'S what I call having too much free time on your hands.