Yakuza

i only realised or remembered last night that the next Like a Dragon is gonna be centred in Hawaii and that makes me disappointed

xp the latter, sorry, I realised that was a messy post as soon as I made it

Yeah, walking around Hawaii is less enticing than walking around Japan for sure.

gyac, there's a karaoke place and a couple of gambling spots, also a dancing place but I wouldn't call it a cabaret...I think that's it.

They could make the next Like A Dragon game at the bottom of the ocean and I'd still play it to see my main man Ichiba Kasuga again. Hawaii section of Persona 5 was alright, could be great. I'm sure there'll be multiple trips back to Kamurocho/Isezaki Ijincho throughout

Oh I’ve done the dancing place it’s total shit :(

NV, did you like Y3? If it’s anything like the Okinawa vibe I’ll be very happy indeed. I can already tell you that their Kabukichō is ridiculously accurate.

i haven't played Y3 yet tbh

i'm sure everything will be groovy because it's Yakuza so of course it will but i assume like most fans of the franchise i'm in it for the cartoon satirical takes on Japan, not the boring old USA

Hawaii has a large nikkei population, no? It makes a lot of sense as a location.

the Hawaii bit in Persona 5 is just a long cut scene where not much happens tbf

Oh btw the fishing mechanics in Y3 are truly cursed, I was wrestling a tuna out of the deep sea for like five straight minutes at one point and that was after I got good at it.

i get why Hawaii makes sense and i'm sure it'll get an excellent Like a Dragon spin put on it, i'm just less excited for wandering around there because i'm a sad weeb

ooh, as if by magic

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth / PlayStation 5 / Sega / 2024 pic.twitter.com/8yqF3bUhYE

— Cool Box Art (@CoolBoxArt) October 4, 2023

They’ll probably do at least one Japanese city tbf and you’ll be able to travel there instantly just like you can from Okinawa to Tokyo in 3. I’ve really enjoyed each new locale introduced tbh, they do a great job of making them feel distinct and memorable.

oh and my boy Joel was telling me last night the antagonist in Infinite Wealth is some kind of vtuber so let the lols begin

yeah they've said there will be some Japanese locations too

I looked up infinite wealth on Wikipedia and I’m not sure about those plot points mentioned lads
https://i.postimg.cc/tThnrwBP/IMG-6958.jpg

i'm gonna have to play Like a Dragon again before this drops in a futile effort to remember all the plots twists i'll inevitably keep forgetting

- chocolate business
- the power of friendship
- coin locker baby
- sticky tissue disposal
- failed punch perm

They were missing the classic Yakuza trope “secretly Chinese” but more then made up for it with HE COULD WALK ALL ALONG

they nearly went with "secretly Korean" tho iirc

also in every Yakuza ever: "the bad and hated Omi Alliance"

Yeah Secretly Korean is up there but I think Secretly Chinese has more lineage. Did you ever watch classic C4 series Utopia? If so the reveal that Anya isn’t Russian in the last episode of s1 made me SHRIEK irl. I’m such a sucker for these sloppy plot points.

i haven't seen it but i read the spoiler anyway :D

- ambiguously gay
- unambiguously gay, actually played entirely seriously (this applies to antagonists in at least two games)
- does Kiryu know how to use his dick? He seems very naive
- cut to shot outside love hotel yes

xp it’s pure magic, she’s this minor helpless Russian woman in the other episodes and then in e6 she drops the accent in a key scene and is actually a posh English woman - history’s true villains as we know - and there’s absolutely no hint of it beforehand and it’s incredible

tbh i'm still not certain what Kiryu gets up to in those love hotels

pulls out his hanafuda deck

gotta think that's the most likely option

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50NuiQGcrZc

^^love that.

Yakuza 4 atm, akiyama-san is my main man. Feels even cheesier than normal but I’m all about it. Majima up to some dirty. Not a whiff of the dragon of Dojima yet but we all know he’s on his way. Millions falling from the millennium towers. One of the worst hostess mini games of the series. All in all, I love every part of it.

Bout to find out what this Saejima guy is all about.

Damn saejima really up to no good either. What an intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50NuiQGcrZc

I kind of want this to become a neverending youtube meme a la steamed hams

LMAO love it

I’m playing the new Kiryu game. Yakuza 6 spoilers: Even though Kiryu faked his own death at the end of Y6 people everywhere you go immediately recognise him, which isn’t surprising since he looks exactly the same bar a pair of glasses. Good that the Clark Kent trope doesn’t apply in Japan?
Very good so far, call backs to a lot of plot points from other series and games, koi-koi remains a great time drain when you’re too numb to do anything else.

ah shit it's out? i'm deep in baldur's gate.

Gamepass too. Trying to speed through 4-6 rn to get to it while it's hot

it's on my wishlist but given current circs i'm more likely to end up playing Infinite Wealth before i get round to this one

wow I couldn't imagine doing that, Yakuza is so much about getting lost in the world and just hanging out

xpost

ah shit it's out? i'm deep in baldur's gate.

i will never stop trying to hit on cabaret hostesses

there was some dodgy live action footage in Inshin as well

I haven’t actually finished that cos I went from Ishin to Mario Wonder, I’m terrible for that kind of shit, but I will do so

Oh god yeah there's the Mario too. Too many games!

Yeah I did finish that, btw I really enjoy glasses Kiryu being hilariously reminiscent of glasses Kiryu in 0

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-O_Ofna8AA92Ei?format=jpg&name=900x900

He still comes out with the same dumb shit he always does but he’s got glasses

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyIOQ1PWAAAgCk_?format=jpg&name=large

wow I couldn't imagine doing that, Yakuza is so much about getting lost in the world and just hanging out

xpost

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 13 November 2023 20:38 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've kind of accepted I'm playing these games "wrong" but I'm okay with it. Yakuza to me is pure pulp and screaming KIRYU-SAN at your screen whenever Kiryu does literally anything. I'm in it for the vibes, but I'm just not a minigame guy.

This is also turning into somewhat of a Nov/Dec tradition to plow through a couple while listening to end of year music lists. did 0 and kiwami 1 chrissy 2021, kiwami 2 and 3 2022, so gotta keep the pattern going!

New Kiryu game feels so...empty, so far.

How far in are you?

Very early days, I'm at the homeless camp.

It’s a little bit light feeling comparatively. But I’m not finished yet.

For all its wackiness, the two most hilarious things in Infinite Wealth for me are:

Kasuga sing shouting the instrumental melody line to Chi-chan's city pop song on karaoke

and

The little shot of Kasuga sitting down when you play mahjong with your crew, holding on the hopeful, oblivious grin of a guy who is def about to get completely fleeced.

i know it's reused from the previous game, but i love the animation that plays when kasuga fails a vocational school exam. such a likeable character, ichiban #1!