Here be dragons

[Green Gibbon!]

So what's the final word on Ryu ga Gotoku / Yakuza? I'm mainly curious about the localization. I'm more tempted to import the Japanese version except that I couldn't really play it in any proper sense, but what's the full extent of Sega America's damage? I know about the piss poor dub (that just goes without saying), but how's the translation in general? Nothing censored or modified? Other than the title? Some (first-hand) impressions would also be welcome.

[Segaholic2]

We've been playing it and it's great. The localization is good, and the voice acting isn't nearly as bad as feared. As far as censorship, it seems nothing whatsoever has been changed. There's an f-bomb in the very first sentence of the game, and everyone swears like crazy. Somebody made the comparison that the first 45 minutes of Yakuza has more f-bombs than the entirety of The Big Lebowski. This seems accurate enough.

If you're still hung up about the localization, I hear the Japanese version just received a price drop.

[Green Gibbon!]

Is it possible to disable the voices altogether? That's how I made it through Dragon Quest and Bumpy Trot.

There's a Best version of the game about to come out, but I'd rather have the original without the thrice-accursed yellow stripe. I'm hoping the price on the original will drop as soon as retailers get the bargain version in their inventories... that happened with Bumpy Trot and I got it for $20 (even less than the bargain price). Of course, I don't think anyone was buying Bumpy Trot in the first place.

[Segaholic2]

I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

Honestly, it's not that much of an issue. The voice acting is acceptable, and only comes up in cutscenes anyway. Although if you had a problem with DQ8's (which I thought were actually quite good), then maybe you really are too picky for your own good.

I wouldn't dare attempt to import this unless I was fluent in Japanese, as you probably figured already. I suppose you could muck your way through it, but it wouldn't be very fun and you'd be missing out on everything, namely the story.

[Green Gibbon!]

Quality of the acting aside, I just don't like dubs. Of any kind on any thing ever. Ironically, I also find that nothing distances me from a game so much as spoken dialogue, even when it's in the original language. I can't think of any reasonable explanation for it, but I always seem to get along better when it's just me, text, and BGM.

Any more thoughts on the game?

[Segaholic2]

Any more thoughts on the game?

Buy it.

I'm impressed so far. Too bad all of Sega's games aren't this good.

It seems to be a fairly accurate portrayal of Japanese culture... Not just the criminal underworld, but also Japanese culture in general. I can't confirm this completely since I've never been to Japan myself, but everything about the game and its presentation feels authentic and genuine. It's very refreshing and a great experience.

The more I see of this game, the more it surprises me. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about regarding censorship. SoA did an awesome job here and as far as I can tell, not a thing has been cut. This includes such highlights as high school girls prostituting themselves and bitch-slapping little girls across the face (both minor spoilers, but nothing game-ruining). The violence is also pretty sweet. The finisher moves can be especially brutal.

Overall, good game and definitely worth the purchase.

[Cuckooguy]

Ironically, I also find that nothing distances me from a game so much as spoken dialogue

Hmm, I thought this was an interesting point. I think it depends on how the spoken language is handled and if it feels natural. Like in Psychonauts, I can't really imagine how they'd handle that game with text boxes instead of voice acting, because then the game would have to abruptly stop your character from moving around just so you can read text boxes from so and so. By making the whole game voice acted, it made the cutscenes where you have no control less jarring.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about Metal Gear Solid 3, even though that whole game is voice acted. For some reason the cutscenes in MGS3 distanced me, something MGS2 and MGS1 never made me feel. Perhaps I'm more sensitive to these things now compared to back then?

[Double-S-]

Yakuza is quite good. The best thing to have come out of Sega since... Panzer Dragoon Orta? (Though that's not really saying a lot, as skimming down Sega's release list would show. VF4E doesn't count.)

The battle system is good. It's no Ninja Gaiden or God of War, but it's simple and effective. As you level up you continually learn new moves and maneuvers to make your ass kicking exponentially more efficient.

About voice acting, it's good here. Best Sega dub ever. If you could manage through Shenmue, you'll be fine here.

Just wondering, what is it exactly about voice acting that puts you off? If I were to guess (since you say you're not sure yourself), it'd be that you just prefer being able to establish the character's voice, tone, and attitude in your own mind, and a pre-established voice doesn't allow that. Which does make sense to me, but I personally don't care which way the game does it.

[Green Gibbon!]

As long as I'm probing around for information, can I get some thoughts on Ultimate Ghosts & Goblins? It looks great, but the last couple of retro "rebirths" I attempted have left a dry taste in my mouth.

[Popcorn]

I've not tried it, having yet failed to muster the required motivation to secure a PSP, but it's had astonishingly good write-ups. (Or is referencing reviews against the rules now? I can't remember. If you want, I can make up an opinion about it.)

[Forza Johnman]

Apparently Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins is one of the most unfairly hard games for a long time.(According to reviews of it.)

[G.Silver]

I thought there was something about an easier mode where you have more control over your jumps (something entirely contrary to the GnG formula) so it plays like an entirely different (and much easier) game. I didn't think they made "unfairly" difficult games anymore.

On the other hand, I keep calling unfair against the CPU in Super Mario Kart, so maybe not.

[Green Gibbon!]

A friend of mine says you don't really play it so much as springboard through continues, and he's one of the 4 people in the world who actually beat the original game years and years ago. I mean I knew it's supposed to be Nazi ass-rape hard, Lord knows that comes part and parcel with the license, but is kind of New Mario-ish where you play and you're all like, "It's good, but there's something missing..." or is it, "Sweet damnation this hits the spot, let's kick some Arremer ass!"

[Green Gibbon!]

I picked the game up today (Ryu ga Gotoku) and spent a couple hours playing it this evening. It's definitely not what I was expecting - has not much in common with Shenmue at all save the general location and the corny dialogue. The number of moving characters on screen at any given time is impressive, but the lack of a free camera kind of ruins the detail. The engine is more like Final Fantasy with its fixed angles, which looks good, but hampers immersion. (Dialogue boxes even use the Final Fantasy font.) Plus the noise samples used for background sound are ridiculously short, like literally only 4-5 seconds each. When you hear the same noises repeating that often, it shatters the ambience and gets really, really annoying. The combat is stiff and shallow, at least so far. I end up punching air alot.

A bit early, I guess, but my first impression is that this is not a very good game at all. Alot of it reminds me of Way of the Samurai, which really kind of sucked but I dug it anyway, so I'll press further into Ryu and see what happens. At the moment, I just get kind of depressed when I walk up to a non-interactive texture mapped soda machine and fantasize about chugging down a Sapporo or Jet Cola.

[Double-S-]

I beat the game (took around 18 hours). I give it an 8.5 out of 10.5.

It's good. I'm too lazy to describe what exactly I liked though. Combat good. Takes getting used to and once you upgrade kicking ass becomes very fun. Story good. Straight up gangster tale with lots o' murderfying.

[CE]

You can't have too much murderfication. Death makes the world go round.

[Green Gibbon!]

So. It turns out that this game sucks balls. It is murky, shallow, stilted, repetitive, trite, and altogether lifeless. It's like the stunted offspring of Parasite Eve and Grand Theft Auto (both games I hate in the first place).

Movement around the map areas is confusing thanks to the "dramatic" fixed cameras which switch without warning everytime you pass the invisible trigger points. Worse yet, each viewpoint swap also entails a brief (and unprovoked) load time. For all the low-poly people meandering around all over the place, the whole backdrop is incredibly lifeless - textures are blurry, everything is washed out, and there's so little you can interact with the things you can actually have to be marked with brightly-colored arrows. You can stand in the middle of the street and the ragdoll denizens will march straight into you one after the other, each one reeling back as though you'd rammed into them at full speed. Mix in the grating 3-second noise clips that repeat indefinitely like some purgatorian elevator music and the overall effect is less akin to touring Tokyo's red light district and more like a bad dream you might have after eating expired ramen.

Encounters happen randomly at certain trigger points (that you must cross frequently in your travels). The motives and dialogue of the assailing street punks is absurd and altogether unnecessary - it might have been a better solution to simply have RPG-style random encounters that appear from thin air with no further explanations. But even that would only work if the combat wasn't roughly equivalent in both depth and fun factor to hammering nails with your forehead. You gain EXP from battles that can be used to upgrade one of 3 parameters but even if that were a fresh concept it wouldn't matter because you can just as easily achieve victory by tapping punch repeatedly and praying that Kazuma is facing the right direction. As if all this complexity wasn't enough, your senses are further assaulted by 2 highly generic and endlessly repeating taunts presumably meant to be coming from your opponents. I am aware that ghetto delinquents aren't typically the most articulate people in the world, but even the most squalid grade school drop-out stoner can muster something more creative than "bring it on, bitch" over and over. And over.

As for the localization, I can't imagine what the translation crew was hoping to prove or achieve. What the fuck is up with all the fuck. Like, fuck. As if the combat and interface engines weren't mechanical enough to distance any halfway sober player, having every character in the game talk as though his speech algorithm was programmed by a fifth grade student doesn't help to lend humanity to what might otherwise be a halfway workable (if not particularly original) story.

So it turns out that I was wrong. I thought this might be the exception in the post-GTA era of soulless and grotesquely derivative "street culture" beat-em-ups, but it turns out that I was deceived and shame on me for it. Even the Sega splash is pretentious and further evidence that this old and distanced friend is never coming back.

[Double-S-]

Combat isn't fun for you because you suck. Your "press punch repeatedly to win" argument is exactly equivalent to what people said for Shenmue.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Then what the Hell can you do otherwise? Hit people with blunt objects like crowbars? I can't imagine that would make the game that much more entertaining.

[Green Gibbon!]

Yeah, but even Shenmue's combat wasn't this clunky, plus it had plenty else to offer all of it more engaging than Yakuza.

[Double-S-]

Maybe it's just me in that I have never met a game where I couldn't adapt to the controls. However...

Sure, I like Shenmue more than Yakuza. But I'm not judging Yakuza next to Shenmue, I'm doing it on its own grounds. Like I do just about any game. That way I don't get all pissant about some stupid detail that that other game had that this game doesn't. Yakuza is a good solid game on its own grounds.

Technically it could have used some improvements (LOAD TIMES), but aside from that I really don't have any major complaints. The second biggest would be some of the bosses, who dodge and weave out of your punches even in the middle of a combo.

If I had a video capture card I'd record some battles so I could show you the way the fighting can go once you learn how to handle it. Just a few useful tips, never let go of the strafe button (R1) unless the enemy is pretty much directly behind you. Otherwise just dodge backwards or sideway to get yourself reoriented on your target. Speaking of dodging, it's essential. Upgrade to level 2 (through BODY) as quickly as possible. Use it to improve your angle of approach and also in a similar manner as the Dodge function in Shenmue (ie. sidestepping attacks). It's also a good way to quickly get into position for Heat down attacks just after knocking someone over. For upgrading, learning new Heat attacks (through SOUL) increases your damage output greatly. Forget grabbing someone and dragging him to a wall to pull off a special. Just shank him with your dagger or smash his face in with a trolley when he's on the ground, then jump on it. Also, find Locker Key. 50. Teaches you a back attack. Getting to level 10 TECHNIQUE as soon as possible (once you've learned your Heat down attack and Dodge level 3) is amazing, because you can now after a combo you can grab and throw the enemy when you're in Heat mode. Just doing Square, Triangle, Circle is a ridiculously effective way of clearing space.

Getting drunk makes your Heat gauge fill up faster, so it's good to get hammered before a big fight. It'll also increase the rate of the random encounters you get on the streets. But this is a plus if you're "grinding".

[Green Gibbon!]

I'm not comparing it to Shenmue. It sucks purely of its own merit.

If I had a video capture card I'd record some battles so I could show you the way the fighting can go once you learn how to handle it. Just a few useful tips, never let go of the strafe button (R1) unless the enemy is pretty much directly behind you. Otherwise just dodge backwards or sideway to get yourself reoriented on your target. Speaking of dodging, it's essential. Upgrade to level 2 (through BODY) as quickly as possible. Use it to improve your angle of approach and also in a similar manner as the Dodge function in Shenmue (ie. sidestepping attacks). It's also a good way to quickly get into position for Heat down attacks just after knocking someone over. For upgrading, learning new Heat attacks (through SOUL) increases your damage output greatly. Forget grabbing someone and dragging him to a wall to pull off a special. Just shank him with your dagger or smash his face in with a trolley when he's on the ground, then jump on it. Also, find Locker Key. 50. Teaches you a back attack. Getting to level 10 TECHNIQUE as soon as possible (once you've learned your Heat down attack and Dodge level 3) is amazing, because you can now after a combo you can grab and throw the enemy when you're in Heat mode. Just doing Square, Triangle, Circle is a ridiculously effective way of clearing space.

Or you could just tap punch and pray that Kazuma is facing the right direction.

[chriscaffee]

Combat isn't fun for you because you suck. Your "press punch repeatedly to win" argument is exactly equivalent to what people said for Shenmue.

That's exactly what I did in Shenmue. Sometimes that exactly what I do in Halo 2.

[Double-S-]

Or you could just tap punch and pray that Kazuma is facing the right direction.

Or you could be a whiney bitch. Oh wait.

[Green Gibbon!]

It could probably be converted to a Game & Watch if it had a few more frames of animation.