Originally published at: The Yakuza series goes to America | Boing Boing
…
2 Likes
They’ve officially dropped the Yakuza re-titling for the newer games in this series, now they’re just Like A Dragon, which makes a lot of sense considering you don’t actually play a Yakuza in the newer entries.
2 Likes
Huh, taking place in an predominantly english speaking country definitely helps explain why Kson won that hostess contest if the judges knew that game was going to take place there.
2 Likes
Is this 8 or is the Secret Agent Kiriyu one 8? The numbering is pretty pointless now I think.
Man, I need to go back to LaD. Quit at one of the boss battles, need to finish grinding and try again.
2 Likes
Infinite Wealth is 8, and will be an RPG. Gaiden is the Secret Agent Kiryu spinoff, and will retain the usual brawler combat.
2 Likes
It feels so weird that the original character and the original genre are now the spin-off.
They are really cranking these out. I still need to finish LaD, as well as get Ishin and Lost Judgement.
2 Likes
Hopefully we will get to know some more at the RGG event tomorrow.
2 Likes
Oh hey, an article about the Yakuza series.
I’m a huge fan of the series. I’ve played all of the mainline games and several of the spin offs. They are all expertly crafted and high quality titles. Each one can easily offer 100+ hours of gameplay if you’re masochistic enough to 100% all of them (and some of them are just brutal with their requirements, but I digress).
I’m a little on the fence about the series possibly going to America. The series has always been so quintessentially Japanese it’s practically like virtual tourism. Its attention to detail in recreating facsimiles of existing Japanese neighborhoods is just amazing. I worry it might lose “something” by leaving Japan. Then again I’m sure the writers can inject a uniquely bonkers Japanese take on American life much like the writers behind Deadly Premonition and Dead Rising did before.
It also makes sense because that’s what the series has always been called in Japan (竜が如く), which is also the studio name.
It’s kind of ironic, other than the first two games in the series (which is canonically the second and third), the former series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma is a civilian. Even in Yakuza 0 which was a prequel, Kiryu spent much of his time as a civilian after leaving his clan to clear his name after being framed for a murder he didn’t commit. After 2, he tries to leave the yakuza life completely and live a quiet life running an orphanage in Okinawa. But of course but he keeps getting dragged back into criminal underworld, so much so that he ultimately has to fake his own death to finally have some peace (and at a huge personal cost since he has to leave everybody and everything he loved behind). And even that doesn’t really work since he gets sucked into events that allow him to pass the proverbial torch to new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga in the 7th game.
It makes sense. Kiryu’s story largely ended in 6. He’s such a great and beloved character that I’m thrilled to spend more time with him in another game, even if it’s on a smaller scale than in the mainline series.
1 Like
I was playing Soul Hackers 2 last night and recognized part of it’ Tokyo because it was the part Yakuza was in. and recognized what the fake names were based on.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
