Author Topic: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!  (Read 7751 times)

Offline max_cady

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YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« on: November 07, 2012, 01:39:53 pm »
Well, I finally got a PS2, I had to trade the slim version for the bulky one, because the slim has a notorious track record of burning out pretty quickly.

With that there's a series of games that I want to try out. None other than the first title of the Yakuza series and so far I've gotten to chapter IV.

My impressions so far: At first glance it's hard to ignore the similarities between Shenmue and this game, both have a very cinematic presentation and their fighting mechanics are somewhat similar, though Yakuza's fighting engine has an edge over it, I simply love those cinematic enviromental takedowns, it's basically Sleeping Dogs, but this one came out in 2005.

However, the similarities end once you realize that this game is far more linear, you are always given a clear objective, go from point A to point B, ocassionally beat up some thugs and progress. It's almost like an RPG-ish version of Streets of Rage.

Lovin' the story so far...

Offline Kori-Maru

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2012, 01:57:23 pm »
I got to get my hands on it once my PS3 is fixed. The "Heat" moves are pretty epic to watch. I was blown away when Kazuma Kiryu did a Tensuzanko on a thug. It was beautiful.

www.thewebsiteofthedead.com ~ The House of the Dead Unofficial fan site

Offline max_cady

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2012, 09:00:01 pm »
They sure are. Nagoshi's team did something pretty epic here. I still haven't finished chapter 4, but as I keep playin' in this hub world, there are so many sidequests and so many oddities. One of 'em in particular, [spoiler]you have a drunk guy chasing a model, if you choose to help her out, she'll take you to a bar, you flirt and starting hitting the drinks. If you keep goin' you'll pass out, only to find out that the girl was in cohoots with the barman so he could basically force you to pay extra for expensive drinks. The drunkard from before is the one who tells you that.[/spoiler]

What's so epic (and unintentionally funny) about the confrontations is how nearly everyone wants to pick a fight with you, Nightclub bouncers, low-ranking Yakuza soldiers, petty criminals, even random civilians...

Offline MadeManG74

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2012, 04:07:09 pm »
It's great EVERYONE in the town loves to fight it seems, and for the most lame reasons. "Boy I need a workout, a good fight will do. You can be my sparring partner, or else!"
Or my absolute all time favourite:
"Hey buddy, you're really lucky! Lucky in that you get to give me all your money!"

Such a great game, I wish the HD re-release was getting a western release. The scene in the batting cages with Majima is still one of my most memorable of the series...

Man I want to go back and replay all of them now

Offline max_cady

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2012, 05:27:26 pm »
As it turns out... [spoiler]I was playin' the Purgatory chapter which book ends at an amazing fight with Goro Majima. At Goro's favorite place: the Batting Cage.

The thing I quite enjoy about Majima is that everytime he tries to deliver a speech or attempting to be pure evil, the game tries it's best to undermine him and in a weird way he's self-aware. There's a point in which, he's cut mid-sentence by a baseball that smacks him in the face, seemingly interrupting his evil speech and he turns around to beat up the only henchmen who wasn't laughing his butt off. Out of the Yakuza criminals that I've seen in the game thus far, he's clearly the oddball of the bunch. 
[/spoiler].

I am so glad that I still have a classic CRT TV hanging around. The game looked awfully blurry on my LCD TV.

Offline MadeManG74

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2012, 09:44:56 pm »
^If you want to play on a HDTV you can look into getting a PS2 to HDMI switch. A friend had one the other day and we were playing some KOF XI on a LCD Monitor and it looked fantastic.

But yes welcome to the Majima fanclub :)

Offline max_cady

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2012, 06:32:40 pm »
Oooohh, is it something like this?

http://www.tomtop.com/mini-vga-to-hdmi-converter-upscaler-box-1080p-white.html

Anyway, I'm gonna play more of Yakuza tommorrow and give you guys some updates. This game really confirms my belief that SEGA does indeed have an excellent track record of M-rated games, though [spoiler] there's so many f-bombs, you'd someone would've said:"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?". Though Kazuma says something similar to that.[/quote]

Offline MadeManG74

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2012, 07:12:12 pm »
^That looks similar, his one literally said 'PS2 to HDMI' and looked like it plugged directly into the sockets on the PS2.

Offline segaismysavior

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2012, 11:51:47 am »
I really wish I had picked this game up in 2006 when I saw it at a Gamestop, I had my brother's PS2 for a while, but only used it to play Guitar Hero games.

Oooohh, is it something like this?

http://www.tomtop.com/mini-vga-to-hdmi-converter-upscaler-box-1080p-white.html

Oh wow, that looks like a horrible idea. Taking composite video output and upscaling through HDMI must summon the Dark Lord if it actually does a decent job.



Offline Centrale

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2012, 01:03:16 pm »
I started in on the series with 2 -- haven't played the original yet.  I guess I've gotten pretty attached to the Japanese voice actors, so I think it might put me off a bit to have the dubbed version, although they certainly didn't spare any expense with the talent.

Offline max_cady

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Re: YAZUKA (PS2) - Jumping in for the very first time!
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2012, 06:12:39 pm »
@MadeMan

You said it... [spoiler] Streets thugs are the most common enemy types, they sure have an endless supply of French perfume, though.

Other crazy stuff involved scam artists, like say, a woman who screams that she was being groped and then her gorilla accomplice swoons ask for money. Naturally, I told him to suck it.

There's one point where 3 dudes in jogging suits are strolling and if you happen to bump into them, one of 'em will drop and claim that he got injured. If you kick his butt, the next time you bump into them, they have baseball bats and in the third time, they have a bigger posse.

There's another side mission where I'm asked to just stand guard. It almost always involves me kicking someone's head in.

Right now, I don't really know how much of the plot I'm into, but apparentely, three street gangs have come together to basically ransack the Purgatory, beat up all the homeless and take away Haruka.
Most likely it was Nishiki's guys who had the gangs go in and cause a scene. But... I'm not sure...
Could the american Secret Service be involved, because the "Red, White and Blue" gang seems to lack subtly.
[/spoiler]