#the kiryu themed dress is on point

[tsukimino]

Kenzan Substory: The Yamato-e Painter

Below the cut is a translation of Kenzan substory #45, “The Yamato-e Painter.”

Please be warned that this story contains an incident of sexual harassment that’s played for laughs in a homophobic manner. This writing is very much in line with the kinds of storytelling choices that RGG Studio has made in the past and has since disavowed through disclaimers or even outright cuts in their remastered games and remakes. 

Yamato-e is a genre of painting that (as the name – literally “Japanese painting” – suggests) takes specifically Japanese people, places, and themes as its subject matter. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s page on yamato-e provides a helpful summary of the genre’s history. Most relevantly, by the early 14th century, artists working in this genre had begun to produce realistic portraits of subjects such as poets, courtiers, military heroes… and perhaps, in Kenzan, a certain wandering swordsman. 

[Kiryu is wandering about in Kawara when he runs into a man dressed in a white kimono with a pink-ish overcoat. The man – identified in the text box as “Ranzan” – waves him down.]

Ranzan: Excuse me, sir, do you have a moment? Where on earth did you train that magnificent body of yours? You’re not like all those other meatheads…

Kiryu: …

Ranzan: Ah, my name is Ranzan. I’m a traditional Japanese painter. Surely you’ve heard of me? 

Kiryu: …

Ranzan: My specialty is warrior portraits. If I may impose, would you be willing to let me paint you? If I were to depict that figure of yours, I’m certain that it would be a most wonderful piece: a work to be handed down through the ages! This is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter – I can’t just let this opportunity pass me by! Please, I’m begging you! I’m prepared to offer you a most handsome reward… 

[Kiryu is presented with a choice to accept or refuse Ranzan’s request; we choose to accept.] 

Kiryu: Uh, yeah… I’ll think about it. 

Ranzan: Yes, I would be most grateful if you would! This must be fate! 

[Ranzan wipes his forehead, then points off into the distance.]

Ranzan: Well then, let’s go to my studio right away. Please follow me. 

[The screen fades to black. When we return, Kiryu is standing in front of Ranzan in the middle of his studio. Various paintings are on display, and there's one in progress on the table to Ranzan’s left. The painter faces Kiryu and mops his brow again.]

Ranzan: Ah! How wonderful! A magnificent physique, like a rock that’s stood since time immemorial! Eyes like a tiger’s that peer into the very depths of one’s heart! Hmm… Hmm, hmm… Yes, that’s it! 

[Ranzan leans in and nods at Kiryu.]

Ranzan: Pardon me, but would you mind removing your clothes, please? Just your upper body is fine! I, Ranzan, am prepared to give this painting everything I’ve got…! 

[Once again, Kiryu is presented with a choice to agree to his request or refuse. Naturally, he agrees.]

Kiryu: Okay, got it. 

Ranzan: Yes, oh yes!  

[The scene fades to black. When we return, Kiryu has stripped down to his fundoshi.]

Ranzan: Ah! How beautiful…. Those burgeoning muscles – they bring to mind a cascade of cool snowmelt… The more I look at them, the more breathtaking they become… 

[The camera pans slowly down to Kiryu’s junk.]

Ranzan: Hmm… Hmm… Hmm, yes, I have it! Just one more thing, if you please: would you be so kind as to remove your underwear? 

Kiryu: …No way! 

Ranzan: Really, now… We’ve come this far and now you’re hesitating!? I’ll get that thing off even if I have to do it by force!

[Still in his fundoshi, Kiryu gives Ranzan – identified as an “Excited Guy” in the splash screen – a thrashing. Note that this title is probably a pun: the verb that the writers use to describe Ranzan – “tatsu” (たつ) – can also refer to getting an erection. After the fight, Ranzan falls to his knees at Kiryu’s feet.]

Ranzan: Ohh… The pen is weaker than the sword. 

Kiryu: What the hell do you think you’re doing?! 

Ranzan: From the moment I saw you, I was smitten! And what’s more, it was no mere fluttering of the heart… Yes, this is what they call love…!  

Kiryu: …

Ranzan: I’m so terribly sorry! Please don’t think ill of me… I want to make amends somehow… But at the moment, I have nothing of value. The only things here that are worth anything are these paintings – but I still need to eat. You can take whichever one you like, but please be merciful and just take the one.  

[A text box pops up and asks which one you’ll take (and adds: please show mercy and choose only one). The options are a painting of a warrior, a painting of an actor, or a painting of a famous place. The outcome of the story isn’t affected by the painting that you choose here, but the warrior and actor paintings sell for 10,000 mon, whereas the scenery sells for one single mon. In any case, once Kiryu picks a painting, the scene fades to black again, and we return to the street where Kiryu first encountered Ranzan.]

Ranzan: It pains me to part ways… I look forward to the day we meet again. Farewell…

[The screen fades to black, and with that, Ranzan is gone. A box pops up informing us that Kiryu has received 1000 EXP.]

[entergamingxp]

Like a Dragon Includes Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima as Final Fantasy Summons, a Pokemon Parody Sidequest, And More

December 30, 2019 9:58 AM EST

New details on Yakuza: Like a Dragon, including a new trailer and gameplay, new cast video interviews, returning characters, the dungeons, the battle arena, DLC-only Jobs.

Sega published a new gameplay trailer, details, and screenshots for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, most notably revealing both Kazuma Kiryu and Majima Goro can be unlocked as Delivery Help, the game’s Final Fantasy-like summon system titled after Delivery Health. The details include information on the game’s new and returning characters, the battle arena, the DLC only Jobs, some sidequests and dungeons. Lastly, we also learned Yakuza: Like a Dragon includes a Pokemon parody sidequest with how you need to beat up 252 different types of bad guys called Sujimon to complete your Sujidex.

The trailer starts by introducing each of the seven party members in the game, Ichiban Kasuga, Kouchi Adachi, Namba, Saeko Mukouda, Joon-gi Han, Tianyou Zhao, and Eri Kamataki, along with the classic RPG roles they can fulfill depending on their various Jobs. Protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is the center of the party, and if he dies, you’ll immediately lose the battle and half of your money, as if mixing Persona and Dragon Quest together. New Jobs can be unlocked by studying and passing exams. The exams each have various themes, from sports trivia to questions related to other Sega franchises. You can also unlock certain jobs via sidequests.

It’s important to note two jobs have been confirmed to be paid DLC only. We have the male-character only Akuma job, which uses a guitar to fight and is dressed like a visual metal band member. And we have the female-only job Anego, which uses a naginata and machine guns, focusing on long-range and AOE attacks.

As we already know, the story starts in Isezaki Ijinchou in Yokohama, and Kamurocho in Tokyo will be accessible at some point. The trailer also reveals Sotenbori in Osaka will also be one of the maps in the game, for a total of three huge cities to explore.

Another element the trailer touches upon we haven’t seen much until now is how you can upgrade weapons and equipment with materials you’ll find around the cities, through sidequests or mini-games.

The last part of the trailer shows the various mini-games like darts, karaoke, girls bars, the Dragon Kart, the can-gathering minigame, and the Management Mode. The latter requires Ichiban to recruit employees, complete various deals and lead the company to become the biggest corporation in Yokohama. This mode is available pretty early in the game, and you’ll need to progress through it to unlock Eri as a party member.

Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned a few days how besides Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, Taiga Saejima and Daigo Dojima are also among the returning characters. The trailer and screenshots show part of their summon animation, confirming all four will be among the Delivery Help characters.

New screenshots published by Famitsu also detail the boss fight against Kiryu, Majima and Saejima. Kiryu actually uses his different fighting styles from past games. Majima and Saejima will be fought at the same time. While it wasn’t confirmed yet, it’s highly implied that managing to defeat them in battle is how you’ll unlock them as summons.

Next, Sega published official profiles and screenshots for certain important characters of the game. We first have Ryo Aoki, who was heavily implied in the previous trailer to be the true villain of the game. Ryo Aoki is the current governor of Tokyo, in the past, he was called Masato Arakawa and was like a brother to Ichiban, but he was supposed to be dead. After being elected as governor, becoming the youngest governor of Tokyo in history, he enacted the “Kamurocho 3K plan” which led to the destruction of the Tojo Clan. He’s also the founder of political party Bleach Japan and is the big favorite to be the next Prime Minister. He’s acted by Kōsuke Toriumi.

Next, we have Ogasawara Hajime, the current boss of Bleach Japan and the second founder of the party with Ryo Aoki. He’s acted by Tarusuke Shingaki.

Up next is Kume Sota, the director of the Yokohama branch of Bleach Japan. He’s a dangerous individual who’d do anything for the party and strongly supports its ideal of “bleaching the gray zone of entertainment shops”. He’s acted by Daisuke Hirakawa.

As a reminder, Bleach Japan claims many entertainment businesses in Japan are in a gray area and violate the Fueiho, the “Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act” law. This law exists in real life and regulates businesses like cabarets, host and hostess clubs, and sex industry-related businesses like soaplands.

We also have new info on the dungeons of the game, which are areas filled with dangerous people like certain homeless or sick people. These have treasure chests and a boss in their innermost part. Certain dungeons will also be unlocked with sidequests. Three more sidequests in the game were revealed, one involving an animal circus, one about searching for a black market weapons dealer, and one about a professor developing a giant automated city-cleaning robot.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon also includes a battle Arena made of 30 floors, with each floor having different rules and restrictions. No screenshots showing the Battle Arena were published yet, however.

We also learned Yakuza: Like a Dragon has a Pokemon-parodying sidequest, called Sujimon. Early in the game, Ichiban and friends will meet Doctor Sujimon, who is developing a mobile app encyclopedia to gather info on various dangerous people, the Sujimon. There are 252 different Sujimon in the game, and Kasuga gotta fight them all to complete his Sujidex. The first time we meet with Doctor Sujimon, we’ll also be asked to fight a green Sujimon, a red Sujimon, and a blue Sujimon, to test out the Sujimon app.

Sega also published a video interview with Nobuhiko Okamoto, the seiyuu of party member Tianyou Zhao. When Nobuhiko Okamoto was contacted for the role, he was pretty shocked to see he’s voicing a Chinese mafia boss, as it’s pretty different than all roles he did in the past. Tianyou is the kind of character who’s pretty calm but can suddenly start going really crazy. He’s also using various Chinese martial arts so Okamoto was pretty happy to voice a character who’s pretty much a Kungfu movie protagonist.

A video interview with Eri Kamataki was also published. Eri Kamataki won the actress audition for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, she acts herself in the game and also handled the motion capture for Saeko. In the interview, she mentions she was quite nervous during the audition and was really surprised when she ended up winning. She mentioned her version in the game has a slightly cuter personality than how she is in real life. In-game, she’s the boss of a company, but she’s too nice for the role and ends up getting deceived by bad guys. That’s when Kasuga helps her and they try to save the company together, triggering the game’s Management Mode. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was also Eri Kamataki’s first time voicing battle scenes, and she ended up redoing certain lines many times, but she had a lot of fun recording and acting for the game.

It’s important to note the finalists of the actress audition, Iroha Yanagi, Sumire Sawa, Manae Miyakoshi, and Ririka, will also appear in-game as NPC characters in sidequests.

Lastly, Sega published two gameplay videos. The videos feature Game Director Horii and Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama playing the game, with comments from some of the game’s cast:  Kazuhiro Nakaya/Ichiban, Yuichi Nakamura/Joon-gi, Eri Kamataki, and Iroha Yanagi. At the end of the second video, Kazuhiro Nakaya/Ichiban and Yuichi Nakamura/Joon-gi also try out the in-game quiz. Nakamura does the Sega related quiz and it includes questions such as “In Sakura Taisen, what is the name of the squad Sakura Shinguji is part of?”. It’s pretty fun to watch if you’re a seiyuu fan. You can find both videos below.

You can catch the latest live gameplay here. You can also check out our playthrough of the demo and how I explained rather than the RPG change, the overall wacky feel of the battles is what might alienate old fans of the franchise.

PS4 exclusive Yakuza: Like a Dragon is titled Ryu Ga Gotoku 7 Hikari to Yami no Yukue in Japan and will launch there on January 16. The game will come west later in 2020.

December 30, 2019 9:58 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/like-a-dragon-includes-kazuma-kiryu-and-goro-majima-as-final-fantasy-summons-a-pokemon-parody-sidequest-and-more/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=like-a-dragon-includes-kazuma-kiryu-and-goro-majima-as-final-fantasy-summons-a-pokemon-parody-sidequest-and-more

[newmoneytrash]

GOOD VIDEO GAMES THAT I PLAYED IN 2018

(I haven’t proofread this yet so it’s probably grammatically stupid, but I’m a stupid person so it fits my aesthetic)

I finished over 30 games in 2018, and spent I don’t know how long playing bits and pieces of I don’t know how many others, and, I gotta say, I feel maybe less connected to video games than I ever have before? I’ve had so many moments of weird disassociation while playing games this year where I’ve just felt like I’ve stepped outside of myself and asked “why am I doing this?”, only to handwave my astral projection away because I know why I’m doing this. I’m having fun!

I think?

There were many times where I would have this haunting, sinking feeling. The words of the modern philosophers Blink-182 reverberating around the inside of my head; well, I guess this is growing up. I turned 30 this year; it’s only natural with age that I would slowly move away from something that was so important to me from my childhood. My life has pretty drastically changed over the last five years or so, predominantly positive changes, thankfully, and my priorities are just different now. So it makes sense that my love and dedication towards video games should change too, right?

But then that same disassociating feeling would come when I would engage with other mediums. I felt it while reading books, watching movies or TV, when I was working, even while listening to music. Even while eating? And I *know* why I eat, it’s important! Which slowly lead me to the realisation that *I* wasn’t growing up, I’m still as cool and chill as ever. I own a skateboard and a basketball and completely ignore the dress code at work because I’m chill as hell! But like so many other aspects in my life, my priorities and the things I value have changed. It’s just that they changed without me realising and it took me the entire year to catch up with them.

I spent a lot of time playing games I didn’t like playing without realising that I didn’t like them. If I had the year over, I wouldn’t have banged my head against God of War trying to like it just because everyone is telling me it’s Good. I wouldn’t have spent dozens of hours playing and finishing Spider-Man despite feeling no connection to it all. I used to pride myself on playing and liking old games and bad games and finding things that I enjoyed about them on their own merits, but on reflection I realise they were just the games that I played in the gaps between these giant grey pillars of Big Video Game releases. This year, for whatever reason, that thought process inside of me snapped and I’m glad it did.

A big part of what made me want to play the new big releases was that I liked to be a part of the larger conversation about them, but now I realise the only people I actually want to have conversations with don’t care how new or old a game is, or how good or bad it’s considered to be, as long as I care about what I’m talking about.

Anyway, this is just a *very* long way of me making a very simple point, which is; fuck video games, do whatever you want.

Despite all of these weird misgivings and all this introspection I still had a good time with some dumb, stupid video games and I still like writing about them, so I’m gonna.

 Resident Evil

I finished 2017 by playing both The Evil Within Games as well as Resident Evil VII and Revelations, and started this year by playing Resident Evil 4, 5, Survivor, and Operation Raccoon City. That’s a lot of Resident Evil! Too much? Who’s to say? (Me, I’m to say. And; yes, it’s entirely too much). I also spent about a month or so this year watching through all of the Friday the 13th movies which, weirdly, helped me frame the weird feelings I had towards Resident Evil. For both franchises there is something extremely specific that I want from them that I just don’t think either of them are really interested in giving me. I don’t want an impervious, hulking demon-Jason rampaging through the streets of New York or floating through space, I want the weird skinny, nimble Jason with a sack on his head who has lived almost his entire life alone in the woods just outside of Crystal Lake. An extremely human Jason who, when he gets hurt, grunts and cries in pain, but perseveres regardless because his mom is just a decapitated head now and he’s not really sure how he feels about it.

With Resident Evil I just want these small, personal stories. Individuals caught in a shitty situation with no escape and no larger agenda. No neat fitting, worldwide conspiracy or double turns involving the president’s grandfather owning founding stock in Umbrella or the T-Virus being written on the back of the Declaration of Independence. I loved the first two thirds of Resident Evil VII because that’s how it felt. It felt so *personal* in a way that I wanted. Resident Evil never wants to give me that, at least not entirely, but I will latch on to the few instances it does with dear life because, when they commit, even just slightly, it’s as good as anything can be.

Tony Hawk’s Underground

On Christmas day I fell into one of those weird deep but fleeting depressions that really only Christmas can provide. I tried to sleep but I just couldn’t, that weird sense of dread and helplessness eating at me, keeping me awake until the early hours of the morning. So, I got out of bed and decided to just embrace my depression by sitting in the dark and staring into the harsh glow of my computer monitor. I don’t know what it was that drove me to download all of the Tony Hawk games available for PC, but I did. It was cathartic spending hours mounting disks and entering cmd prompts to get those old games to work on stupid Windows 10. I then stayed up until six in the morning playing Underground, letting this warm and familiar game gently ease me back to a place and time when the only thing I cared about was stealing ten dollars out of my dad’s wallet so I could go to McDonald’s. It’s good to know that no matter where I am or what I’m doing or how I feel there will always be a place I can retreat to where Eric Sparrow is the world’s biggest dickhead and where I can do a 720 Benihana behind an alien themed strip club next to a cop standing suggestively next to a goat.

I was 15 when I first played Underground, and I’m 30 now, and it’s comforting to know that on the simplest level the things that I value the most are still largely the same. And those values are hating cops and listening to NOFX. Hopefully I can revisit it when I’m 45 and, if I do, I hope that I feel largely the same way.

Yakuza 4

I started my slow journey through the Yakuza series almost exactly three years ago and, in that time, I have played through seven games (finishing Kiwami, 4, and 5 this year). I’m part way through the Yakuza Fist of the North Star game and then, after that, I only have three games to go until I’m all caught up. Which, to be fair, will probably mean that by the time I’ve finished those three games two more will have been released. It’s a never-ending cycle!, but one that I’m glad I’m on.

I chose to specifically highlight Yakuza 4 because it just felt so special to me. It was the perfect meeting of everything that I have loved about all of the games that I have played, while also introducing me to characters that I have grown to love more than any others. Kiwami is a good game, but it’s just a remake of the first, and a budget remake at that, so it’s hard for me to feel strongly about it. Yakuza 5 is also good but, fuck, it’s *way* too long. It shouldn’t be that long! It’s like 60 hours long. That’s too long! Yakuza 4 gets everything right, it hits all of the sweet spots that every game after it should be judged against. And it also introduces Akiyama, a fictional man that I would risk my life for.

I try to recommend Yakuza to everyone, but it’s a *very* hard sell. It’s so long and so story dense. Every game except for the very first is spoken exclusively in Japanese, and reading subtitles for a series where each entry averages a 30-hour minimum play time is a lot to ask. But when you see Kiryu fight with his conscience over whether or not he should buy a porn magazine for a kid it really puts it all into perspective.

Final Fight: Streetwise

Final Fight: Streetwise is such a meme of a game. One of the classically bad attempts at converting a beloved 2D franchise into a 3D game. I’d seen videos of it before, even once watching an entire playthrough of it, and, sure, it seemed bad, but it also seemed charming too. I decided to finally sit down and play it for myself to see if I was just missing something in only having watched it and not played it and, to really no surprise because I’ve accepted that I’m just trash who loves trash, I loved it! It’s not a *good* game, but it has so much heart! I thought it was going to be something that was phoned in, a poorly put together 3D brawler with the Final Fight named slapped on top of it, but it isn’t. You can just feel that they wanted this to be something, and I really think it could have been! It’s too much of a stretch to think if they did a *few* things differently this wouldn’t be a bemoaned misstep in a dying franchise, but a cult classic that never got the praise it deserved.

It's very silly and unnecessarily over the top, but there is nothing that you can say that will convince me that if this game didn’t have the Final Fight name on it people would still bring it up today as something that we missed the potential on. This is maybe the hottest take that I have that no one will ever even pretend to care about, but I don’t care! Final Fight: Streetwise deserved better.

Florence

I don’t really have any patience for mobile games outside of this one NBA Jam game that I’ve had on my phone for like eight years and play exclusively when I hide in the bathroom at work because I don’t want to do any work, but Florence is so short and so incredibly charming that it might be my favourite game that actually released in 2018. It’s a narrative game about the life of a relationship between you, Florence, and some dude that maybe had a name but I don’t remember. A lot of the actual activities you do in the game are mundane, like brushing your teeth or unpacking your belongings or doing math on a spreadsheet at work, but they serve to make this very personal story feel all the more grounded.

It’s also the only video game I’ve ever played that has been set in Melbourne, where I live, and incorporates a lot of local places and scenery and that was very cool and exciting for me!

If you have a compatible smartphone please play Florence.

Severed

I don’t know that I really have anything particularly interesting to say about Severed. I played Guacamelee for the first time this year after owning it for a long time and just never getting around to it, and I fell in love with it, devouring it in a few days. It sent me on a trip through Drinkbox Studios’ catalogue, playing all of their games with the exception of Guacamelee 2 (I want to get around to it, but I’m just destined to take a long time getting there). The game that I probably looked forward to the least was Severed. It’s a first-person dungeon crawler with metroidvania elements where the combat and interactions with the world is done exclusively on a touch screen. I don’t like touch screen games at all, especially not ones with precise movements and timing, but I thought I would try it regardless and almost immediately fell in love with it. The art style is incredible and the general tone and mood of the game rules. Guacamelee and those Tales from Space games are super goofy, so I wasn’t expecting Severed to be so… dark. But it is! And it rules. I really can’t oversell how beautiful it is, especially if you play on like a newer iPad or something where the colours can really pop.

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts is some stupid bullshit where you play as a guy who looks like a DeviantArt sketch titled Cloud-Strife-Twink.bmp with amnesia and Donald Duck yells homophobic slurs at you until you remember who you are and then you fight members of a My Chemical Romance cover band because they stole the last of Aladdin’s magic beans until Mickey Mouse shows up to tell you to kiss your girlfriend about it.

It’s the only game franchise in history that makes you want to fly to Japan and choke Tetsuya Nomura to death for making the most consistent voice of reason in this elaborate universe Goofy, the idiot dog-man.

Fuck Kingdom Hearts. Five Stars.

Red Dead Redemption II

Despite feeling totally disenfranchised with the Big Video Game industry, I still remained extremely excited for Red Dead Redemption II. The first game might be my favourite game of all time, and this game just looked like more of that but better looking and bigger and more new.

It *isn’t* that, though. At least not entirely.

The thing that I love the most about this game is that it doesn’t even consider valuing or respecting your time. It goes at its own pace, it takes it’s time in almost every single thing it does. It’s slow, sometimes painfully slow, but in a way that’s consistent. It never feels like it’s slow because they fucked up and a made a mistake or because they needed to pad the game out, it’s slow because that’s the speed that this world moves at and I respect the hell out of it. Newer games seem to lean more towards being snappier and faster and more accessible, which is a largely positive move, but Read Dead Redemption II could have very easily been called Minutiae Simulator 2018 with the amount of small and mundane things it asks of you.

Creating a world this intricate and purposeful and slow made me feel a connection with Arthur Morgan that I don’t know I’ve felt with a video game protagonist in… well, ever, I think? I care about changing his clothes, not just to make him look cooler but just because people need to change their clothes, so he does too. I care about grooming Arthur, making sure he’s well fed and bathes at least somewhat regularly. It got to a point where I realised that I had very easily slipped into role playing this character in a way that I have never done before, and it happened very naturally and without a conscious effort to do it.

I used to live across from a park that held a regular LARPing group and, whatever, that’s cool! They have this thing that they’re passionate about and it lets them engage with it creatively and they have built this community and that’s valid as hell and it rules. But? Also? At the same time? They’re just fuckin’ big huge dorks. They’re still valid, but there is just no escaping that they are giant nerds doing something extremely dorky.

Well the stupid shoe is on the other idiot foot now because that’s me, but without the creativity or community or even the part where you go outside.

At least I don’t have to carry my giant wizard stick on the train.

[themysterioust]

Yugioh meme: ALL OF THEM.

ANON LOVES ME ANON LOVES ME

I already answered a few of these, so I’mma note which here:

👏💓☺☁💞🔃 

And we are off to the races, Anon!

Send ❤ for favorite character 

GX - Judai! I love that beautiful sunshine boy. (And Haou bc again. I love the evil hero trope.)5Ds - Yusei! (THOUGH I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU COULD TELL...)Zexal - I’m not too far into it yet but I spoiled myself for everything and Vector is the kind of lowbrow shit I’m into.Arc-V - Yuya is my precious tomato and I’m gonna fight the writers. LET HIM EGAO

Send 💀 for favorite villain

GX - Haou Judai. To be a meme lord I’M ALWAYS A SLUT FOR HEROES-TURNED-TEMPORARILY-EVIL...5Ds - Z-ONE. Like I am utterly obsessed with this AU where Z-ONE actually is future!Yusei...Zexal - VECTOR IS A LITTLE FUCKING SHIT and I love him.Arc-V - zarc   the word egao   Yuri. I do not know why but he is the fave.

Send ♂♀ for favorite male & favorite female

GX - Judai and Asuka. Sunshine boy and blizzard queen. ;w;5Ds - Yusei and Aki. CRAB HUSBAND ROSE WIFE Zexal - Vector and Rio. Eyeliner brush jerk and QUEENArc-V - Yuya and Yuzu. WE NEEDED MORE YUZU OK

Send ☯ for a character you most relate with

AHAHAHA It’s Judai. Judai and I both have a few things in common- our default mood is cheerful, we both react poorly to failure (tho judai ends up getting over this) and both of us are super passionate about our fields. I think we all relate to him a little, though!

Send ☒ for least favorite character(s)

There is a reason my liveblog’s main running gag is me cursing Godwin’s name before the heavens.

Send 💑 for top 3 favorite ships/OTPs/BROTPs

Starshipping, Spiritshipping, and Soulshipping! ...Look Judai’s a little black dress, he goes with everything.

Send 🍁 for favorite type of duel monsters card

Oooh, that’s easy. I have a lot of affection for Gravekeepers because my first real deck was a Gravekeeper deck- that’s why Lihua has one. My little tribute to it!

Send 🐍 for favorite duel monsters card(s)

YUBEL IS A CARD THEREFOR THEY COUNT.

Send 👍 for favorite deck in the show

Johan’s Crystal Beast deck. Solely for the sheer level of skill it takes to play it reliably well.

Send 👊 for favorite deck you own / or if you don’t own, then a deck you would want to have

Seto’s deck. I own it and I love it.

Send 💋 for favorite dialogue line(s) in the manga or show

“Prepare to dance the dance of death, Yusei!” “I’m a... lousy dancer.”

Yusei snark = the best.

Send 🌟 for favorite scene(s) in the manga or show

4 words. Give me some milk.

Send ♞ for favorite episodes and/or duels

CAN I JUST SAY EVERY EPISODE WITH HAOU. I loved the Dark World arc. I also love the entire DS!Kiryu vs. Yusei duel! ...and Jaden vs. Yubel!Jo...

Send 💬 for if preference is subbed or dubbed

SUBBED. SUBBED. SUBBED. 4KIDS AND I HAVE NO LOVE LOST BETWEEN US.

Send 📺 for favorite movie: Pyramid of Light/Bonds Beyond Time/ The Dark Side of Dimensions (this movie’s not out yet but it will be soon)

BBT HAS EVERYTHING I LOVE IN IT THEREFORE IT IS MY FAVE.

Send 🎮 for favorite video game/ds game 

Duelist of the Roses for PS2 and WC11/Over the Nexus. The first bc it was my first console yugioh and the battle system was really unique, and the second bc lol character customization. I wish I still had a copy of the latter, I lost it at some point.

Send ♬ for favorite OP/End theme?

Favorite OP, definitely Precious Time Glory Days. I rock the hell out to that!Favorite ED is Arc of Smile from Arc-V!

Send 🎵 for favorite OST song(s)?

I HAVE. SO MANY.GX - Agonizing Heart, Excited Duelists5Ds - Z-ONE’s Battle, Yusei’s Theme, Personal History

Send 🎶 for any favorite amvs

This one! I really like how it flows together and the editing is pretty nice!

Send ✍ for any favorite fanfiction

Can I count dilfosaur’s Same Face University? Because I would like it to count.

Send 🍊 for any favorite doujinshi

See above!

Send 🐧 for favorite LK Abridged anything: song, moment, quote, episode, all of the above

The first thing that comes to mind is Episode 72 with Yami screaming into a pillow because it had be cackling for like 3 minutes.

Send 🌼 for a list of merchandise you own

I own cards? owo’

Send 👯 for any yugioh conventions/moments you want to share

Okay so technically it’s from a roleplay but the moment Lihua joined our GX gen cast is my favorite thing like ever. She backflipped onto Chronos’ lectern and nearly gave him a heart attack.

ROLEPLAY-RELATED (aka: oc nerd party, probably)

Send 🌈 for favorite rps of either your own and/or the people you follow

BAND AU. We started a 5Ds era band AU and it’s probably my second favorite non-main verse. (solely because two of my OCs are Let’s Players and so I get to make all kinds of dumb video game jokes.)

Send ☮ for when you started rping in the Yugioh fandom

I think I started around age 13ish?

Send 💫 for why you chose your muse

I mostly pick up who I’m asked to, to be honest! But then I end up getting attached to the ones I find the most fun. Like Jun!

Send 🎦 for other muses in this fandom you’ve rped in the past or are considering rping in the future

I have a url reserved for 2000s era pop star Atem for some reason. Like it’s not even a serious AU, I just wanted to make Atem scream for a latte like a spoiled pop starlet. Also for some reason Bakura is a Disney Channel star? PAST ME DID NOT TAKE ANY NOTES ON THIS.

Send 🎡 for a Yugioh character you haven’t been able to rp with and would like to

TBH, I’m pretty much covered but it’s always nice to see more roleplayers!

Send 🎧 for any songs that remind you of your muse or any other character in the fandom

I HAVE ACTUAL PLAYLISTS. I’ll just pick a few OC songs bc I am a Lamey Lame.

Love Like This (The Summer Set) - Jack + Miki in specific.Old Scars/Future Hearts (All Time Low) - Team 5Ds in general!The Reckless & The Brave (All Time Low) - DorothyMoon Pride (MOMOIRO CLOVER Z) - Chiyuki Kaiba (bc lol, Sailor Moon’s her fave anime)

Send 🌏 for any AU ideas you’ve had that you’d like to try or just some that you find interesting

I have a bunch. Within our Lineage set-up, I love the “Z-ONE = Future Yusei” one bc I am a horrible, horrible person.

Send ☻ for unpopular opinions and/or things you disagree about how others portray the same character you do

I don’t really have any, sorry owo’

Send ✂ for a best and worst experience in this fandom

My best experience has been basically my whole time IN the fandom. I’ve enjoyed being here. No bad experiences, oddly enough!

Send 🎃 for other: anything that’s not on this list that you want to ask(Which I am taking to mean as “talk about your OCs” so my Q to myself is this: WHEN WILL THE ANDERSONS BE FREE OF THE BLUE HAIR GENE?!)

Never. Even Crow’s son ended up with blue hair and red hair is like super dominant. The Andersons are always going to be blue. They’re doomed to blueberry-dom. orz

[xb-squaredx]

Yakuza Kiwami: Kiwami Means Mixed Bag!

Outside of the blue blur, the Yakuza franchise is one of SEGA’s more acclaimed and successful franchises, and in recent years has experienced an explosion of popularity in the West. With the successful sales of the fifth game and prequel Yakuza 0, SEGA uses the latter game’s engine to bring us Yakuza Kiwami, an enhanced remake of the first game for modern consoles. The legend of Kazuma Kiryu begins, but from where I stand, I see that this remake carries with it just as much bad as it does good…

Kazuma Kiryu has a bright future ahead of him in the yakuza, a member of the Dojima family. Things take a turn for the worse when his best friend Nishikiyama murders their clan’s patriarch. Kiryu takes the blame for the murder, being expelled from the Yakuza and going to prison. Ten years pass, and when Kiryu once again walks the streets of Kamurocho, he finds that both the city and the people within it have changed. Nishikiyama now seems poised to take advantage of a civil war brewing between the various yakuza families and Kiryu finds himself caught in the middle of a conspiracy involving the disappearance of his childhood friend Yumi, the theft of ten billion yen from the yakuza and a little girl named Haruka who seems to be the key to it all. For the most part, Kiwami is a solid crime drama, aided by the voice work combined with the motion capture that the modern Yakuza games have employed. Compared to the original localization of the PS2 game, Kiwami is a much more faithful translation overall. The remake also includes a few flashback scenes that better flesh out Nishikiyama as a character, building off of his supporting role in Yakuza 0. It gives the conflict between him and Kiryu a bit more weight; something the original seemed sorely lacking in, where the fact that he was Kiryu’s old friend came off as more of an informed attribute than anything else.

Alongside the main story, there are still plenty of distractions for players to dive into around Kamurocho. Despite these games being open world, the focus is not on huge, sprawling environments, but rather compact, densely-layered ones. Kamurocho isn’t all that big; a few city blocks at most...but there’s no shortage of things to do, with every step a new shop or NPC will be waiting. Kiwami features a variety of side-stories Kiryu can get involved in, some being humorous little vignettes while others can build upon each other. If I had to lay one criticism at these, far too many side stories involve Kiryu being conned, and how he reacts is inconsistent. Sometimes he sees right through it instantly, and at other times players need to make him fall for it in order to progress.

There are also an obscene amount of minigames found within Kamurocho, totally optional as a way to kill time, but can occasionally net you neat rewards. Everything from karaoke, mahjong, batting cages and billiards to model car races, frequenting cabaret clubs and playing Mesuking, a Rock-Paper-Scissors fighting game involving women dressed in bug-themed lingerie, with so much more I could mention. 

Some of these are surprisingly in-depth, the model car races having a decently strategic customization system as an example. These, together with the side stories, help give Kiwami a lot of its character. While Kiryu is a stone-cold badass who is meant to be the epitome of machismo, he’s also incredibly goofy. He really gets into some of these events, and reacts to losses pretty hard. He treats getting a gutter ball in bowling like a great stain on his character. Kiryu ends up being a great straight man throughout a lot of the more ridiculous scenarios in the game, while never really losing his edge. The nicest former-gangster you’ll ever meet, really.

Of course, there’s still the actual GAME to talk about still, as everything else up until now has mostly been icing on the cake. Yakuza as a series is a beat-em up with some RPG mechanics added for flavor. Mop the floor with enemies as Kiryu switches between different combat styles, ending with a brutal Heat move, basically this game’s equivalent of a super move. As Kiryu hits on enemies and avoids damage himself, the Heat gauge rises and when enough is filled, he can spend it on a powerful cinematic attack. There’s a lot of variety to the Heat actions in the game, many of them contextual. Performing one near a car has Kiryu open the door and shove the victim in, before slamming the door shut on their neck. Or he’ll throw them on a railing, or beat on them with a weapon he picked up off the ground. As you progress through the game and gain experience, you can fill in various skill trees that can grant even more moves to your combat styles and more uses of the Heat meter. Speaking honestly, the combat feels highly limited at first, though that changes as Kiryu grows stronger and players have more options to play around with. Fights can be fairly cathartic as you pound various hoodlums or drunkards around town, though problems start to set in with the boss fights.

Most bosses in Kiwami either A) have super-armor and shrug off any attack you throw at them, B) are super evasive/defensive or C) force you to fight a ton of enemies at once on top of the boss. In fact, I’d wager MOST bosses check all three boxes and as a result, fights tend to be more frustrating than they need to be. I get that difficulty is subjective, but the boss fights are hard not due to a lack of skill most of the time, but because they are designed to be as much of a slog as possible. Be it having to take out a dozen or more enemies before you can even focus on the boss (all the while the boss is free to take potshots at you), or just having to chase the boss down again and again, the bosses are the weakest part of the game overall I find, particularly the penultimate boss.

The more I played the game, the more I began to see the shortcomings of the combat. Sure, aspects of it are improved with level-ups and upgrades, but it’s not enough. The game seems built around Heat actions, but you expend almost the entire gauge when performing a move, regardless of how much you upgraded the meter, and if an enemy hits you even once, most of the meter drains as well. Sure, you can use items to regain Heat, but it ruins the momentum of the fight. Kiryu’s multiple battle styles seem poorly balanced overall as well. He has four styles you can switch between at any time, each with their own use. Beast is all power, with no speed, while Rush is the opposite. Brawler is meant as the balanced version between the two, while the Dragon of Dojima style is Kiryu’s iconic battle style that is initially so crippled as to be unusable, but if upgraded vastly outpaces the other styles to the point that they become useless. The problem is that upgrading the Dragon style is related to one of two new features added in the remake: the Majima Everywhere system.

Goro Majima is the breakout star of the Yakuza games, a demented rival to Kiryu that grew increasingly popular as the games continued. In Kiwami, he has a much greater presence when compared to the PS2 game, constantly showing up to challenge Kiryu to a fight to have him regain his fighting prowess. As such, he is an extremely aggressive random encounter throughout the game. He prowls the streets of Kamurocho looking for Kiryu and makes a beeline right for him if he sees him, and shows up in increasingly ridiculous places. Inside garbage cans, under cabs, in photo booths, in restaurants, in strip clubs…you name it, and Majima will likely show up sooner or later. Fighting him is the only way to unlock more aspects of the Dragon style but the parameters you have to meet are tedious. You’re expected to fight Majima upwards of thirty times (probably even more) throughout the game, and he only gets stronger as time goes on. While initially amusing, after a while the bit gets old. Even fans of Majima have to admit that there’s such a thing as too much Majima, which is what the Majima Everywhere system is. It dilutes him and makes his actual appearances in the story proper feel cheaper as a result. It’s filler, pure and simple.

The same can also be said of Kiwami’s other new gimmick, the Essence of Kiwami Finishers. They’re essentially a “super” Heat move, done when a boss gets staggered and emits a colored aura. Switch to the appropriate battle style that matches that aura and you can perform a Kiwami Finisher that does tons of damage. It seems like a good enough mechanic on paper, a little frivolous if anything, but the problem lies in that once the boss gets staggered they start to RAPIDLY recover health. A few seconds is all it takes to regenerate almost an entire health bar, and seeing that you’ll likely have to switch to the appropriate style, that regeneration is almost guaranteed. If you’re particularly unlucky, the Kiwami Finisher won’t even negate the health they regain and you’ll be back to square one. Making matters worse is that both the first boss and the last boss had me unable to use the mechanic; the former due to not knowing I had to use my (at the time limited) experience to unlock the ability despite being able to use it freely in the tutorial, and the latter due to it being locked behind the Majima Everywhere system. This adds nothing to the game overall and just feels like a thoughtless addition that actively damages the game because it wasn’t designed with it in mind.

That sums up a lot of Kiwami, really. It certainly adds a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to improving the game at all. Visually and mechanically, the game is a definite upgrade to the old PS2 game, but at the same time changes to enemy behavior and the Kiwami and Majima Everywhere systems almost ruin the game and result in frustration and annoyance over everything else. For a remake that’s meant to improve upon what was already there, I feel like there are plenty of areas the game COULD have improved upon itself but SEGA decided not to. Bosses could have been fleshed out to be more enjoyable,for one. Then, rather than keeping Kiryu’s move set splintered like it was in Yakuza 0 they could have brought the four styles back together, but instead they keep his iconic move set locked behind tedious, repetitive fights with Majima. There’s still plenty to do in Kiwami, and it does a lot of things well, but the combat is the main meat of the game and it suffers from needless meddling. Remaking something is a delicate balancing act; change too much and you ruin what made the original special, but not changing anything begs the question of why you’d remake it in the first place. This time around, Yakuza Kiwami spoils the broth a bit. I wouldn’t say it’s an awful game, but it falls short in a lot of ways. The game might say that “Kiwami means Extreme!” but here it is the definition of a mixed bag.

Until next time,

-B

[cryptobully-blog]

Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life Review: Tokyo Drifter

http://cryptobully.com/yakuza-6-the-song-of-life-review-tokyo-drifter/

Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life Review: Tokyo Drifter

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The Yakuza franchise is over a decade old, and in that time, its feature set has predictably grown. Over six mainline entries, free-roam areas became more substantial, additional playable protagonists were introduced, combat mechanics were expanded to incorporate multiple fighting styles, and more and more minigames were steadily piled on. Surprisingly, the latest installment goes the other way, discarding components that certainly won’t go unnoticed by series devotees. But that doesn’t end up being a bad thing, because Yakuza 6: The Song of Life successfully uses its smaller footprint to create a deeper, more meaningful impression.

The final installment in Kazuma Kiryu’s story focuses on him alone, with the plot seeing the large cast of series-significant characters like Majima, Saejima, Daigo, and the children of Sunflower Orphanage make only the briefest of appearances before being tidied away. Adopted daughter Haruka, sympathetic detective Date, and hobo-turned-loan broker Akiyama play important parts, but exist on the fringes. The Song of Life centers on Kiryu as he returns from another long stint in prison, separated from the Tojo Clan, and unravels the mystery of an infant who’s suddenly come into his care. The setup distinctly echoes the events of the first game, a seemingly purposeful decision which lets The Song Of Life act as a fitting refrain, giving Kiryu’s final sojourn a roundness that brings a nice sense of closure to his series arc.

His investigations bring him to the port town of Onomichi, Hiroshima, where he encounters a lowly blue-collar crime family led by an aging, but supposedly legendary yakuza portrayed by Takeshi “Beat” Kitano (a yakuza film icon in his own right, though his subtle mannerisms don’t completely survive the transition). While the game unsurprisingly spirals into a complex and dramatic story involving underworld political alliances, age-old conspiracies, and a healthy dose of deception, what’s ultimately memorable are the threads and character developments that explore what becomes a very significant, widespread theme: family. Kiryu’s time meeting new people from different walks of life in a closely-knit small town has him reflecting on remarkably ordinary ideas as they exist in different facets of society–bonds of friendship in the face of adversity, loyalty in times of uncertainty, and caring for your ward as a parental figure.

These themes resonate consistently throughout the better part of Yakuza 6’s narrative, and this includes the numerous, optional substories. You’ll help children and parents resolve conflicts and try to understand each other’s point of view. You’ll see Kiryu finding true strength and loyalty in the smallest of gestures, along with the different ways friends and strangers can support one another. The writing in these stories is often corny, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an endearing sincerity that regularly shines through. When the sentimental piano melody kicks in during pivotal scenes of moralistic resolution, it’s hard not to be swept up by it all. The series’ penchant for goofiness still exists, though it doesn’t return to Yakuza 0’s ludicrous levels of absurdity. Particularly memorable substories are ones which humorously explore Kiryu’s unfamiliarity and disdain towards modern technology like drones, robot vacuums, and YouTubers. But even the game’s most comedic series of quests, which involve Kiryu dressing up as Onomichi’s adorable character mascot (who has an orange for a head and a fish for a purse) ends up becoming a touching reflection about having loyalty in town pride.

These heartwarming stories are also a key component of Yakuza 6’s new minigames. There are less of these side activities than previous entries, but much of what’s included is more robust than usual, and in many cases, the substories attached to them are enjoyable enough to stop the simple mechanics from wearing thin too quickly. Spear Fishing is a score-based on-rails shooter that finds Kiryu helping an injured fisherman and orphaned fishmonger track down the shark that ruined their lives. The Onomichi Baseball League involves some light team management, pinch-hitting, and player scouting, but the story of Kiryu rallying a team of no-hopers is what really makes the whole affair great. The Snack Bar minigame stands out as a real highlight in this regard. It involves attempting to become a regular in a small, Cheers-style local’s bar where Kiryu tries to forge personal relationships with a group of relatively unextraordinary, blue-collar folk. Its key mechanic is participating in group conversations where one patron has a vent about their woes, and Kiryu’s role is to help provide supportive dialogue and refrain from saying anything selfish or dumb. It’s lovely to see Kiryu try to resolve everyday, down-to-earth dilemmas and provide genuine acceptance and friendship.

Conversely, there’s the incredibly involved Clan Creator Mode, which sees Kiryu unwittingly intervening in a war between youth gangs (whose leaders include real-world New Japan Pro Wrestlers, because why not). Taking leadership of one of these groups, you’ll help Kiryu scout for soldiers, organize hierarchy, and participate in simple, real-time strategy-style street battles. You’ll take a bird’s eye view in skirmishes, where you can dispatch autonomous grunts as well as a limited number of leader characters with special abilities. Clan Creator is Yakuza 6’s most substantial minigame, boasting online network functions that let you compete against other players, tackle daily missions and participate in a ranked ladder. Unfortunately, it’s also the most tedious to play. Victory strategies stem entirely from massing as many troops as possible and grinding missions to keep your leaders at a capable level. Battles don’t really become challenging until the many substory missions are already done, and even then, the strategy more or less stays identical. For a mode with such ambitious scope, its mechanics and relatively uninspired plot–which mainly seems concerned with spotlighting its celebrity guests–aren’t satisfying enough to make the long ride enjoyable.

Elsewhere, the Club Sega arcade once again offers playable classics like Super Hang-On and Outrun, but there’s also complete, multiplayer-capable versions of puzzle action favorite Puyo Puyo, and the seminal Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, both robust offerings in their own right. Mahjong is back, a gym offers track-and-field-style minigames for above average experience gains, karaoke and a cat cafe provide enjoyable distractions, and a simple-to-master darts minigame features a substory that lets you take on a real-world darts legend.

Yakuza 6 also maintains the series convention of including more titillating pursuits. Cabaret clubs return, with a choice of six hostesses for Kiryu to woo through conversation minigames. Also notable is the particularly risque Live Chat, a minigame which sees you pay money to watch live-action webcam shows (featuring real-world AV idols, no less), while hitting button prompts to progress to the point where you can watch the models strip their clothes off and moan suggestively. The unambiguous objectification of women in these minigames continues to make their inclusion uncomfortable in their own right. Their presence does truthfully reflect prominent parts of the real-world Japanese nightlife and adult industries, but these kinds of minigames have always perpetuated an unbelievable inconsistency of character for Kiryu. There’s a conflict between the canonical depiction of him as a strong, stoic, honorable saint, and a version who is a creepy, bumbling pervert. After ten years, it’s still hard to believe Kiryu is someone looking to build a harem as big as the orphanage he owns, who madly exclaims “BOOOBS” and “IT’S GROWING” when a woman takes her top off. These activities do have their moments, though–the text-based quips of Live Chat participants can sometimes be laugh-out-loud funny, and courting hostesses mean you get to see additional, phenomenally good karaoke videos. But in the grand scheme of Yakuza 6, where heartfelt themes pervade all of Kiryu’s character interactions, these minigames feel like distant outliers.

The iconic red-light district of Kamurocho still plays a big part in the story, though it has a noticeably smaller area size this time around. You’ll still feel at home if you’ve visited the area before, but there is a significantly disappointing lack of access to the Champion District and Park Boulevard areas. However, the distinct sense of a vibrant, bustling city still remains, and that’s amplified by what feels like a more detailed and densely populated world. Walking around in the first-person mode is enough for you to appreciate all the surface level intricacies and changes, and there’s a new element of verticality with increased rooftop access. But there are also some great advancements in the way the city invites you to engage with it.

Yakuza 6 now rewards you for interacting with the world in a way that previous games didn’t. Eating at the game’s many restaurants, which was previously really only worth doing if you needed a health boost, is now the most convenient way to rack up experience points to spend in the game’s extensive upgrade system, though you’re limited by a new stomach capacity meter. Purchasing and drinking beverages from one of the numerous vending machines around the world will give you cheap, temporary combat buffs. Every mini-game, from the batting cages to playing a round of Space Harrier will also earn you experience. The result is that slowing down and taking your time to soak in the atmosphere of the city will benefit you, and the world is no longer just a pretty path for you to run down to get to your next objective. Now, you don’t necessarily have to feel guilty for letting yourself be distracted by Mahjong for hours.

Onomichi, Hiroshima is a region that is larger than previous accompanying locales have been, although the sleepy port town is a much quieter, more unassuming area than Kamurocho. Situated by the seaside, cute greenery arrangements line its single-story businesses, an above-ground train splits the area, and narrow pedestrian walkways snake up the steep hills, leading to an impressive temple with spectacular views. It’s a charming, authentic-feeling recreation of the more tranquil parts of Japan, which both you and Kiryu learn to cherish. The town’s relaxed atmosphere and characters exemplify the Song of Life’s wholehearted themes.

Of course, in order to keep that tranquillity, sometimes you need to pound a few dirtbags into the ground, and the game’s updated combat system follows its philosophy of slimming and focussing. Gone are the variable fighting disciplines introduced in Yakuza 0–the Kiryu of Yakuza 6 is equipped only with an expanded version of his signature brawling style, perhaps another refrain to the series’ beginnings. It still maintains its characteristic weight and rigidity, but there are additional factors that make the act of fighting feel more fluid than it’s been in the past, turning encounters as a whole into more dynamic and exciting experiences.

Enemy mobs are larger in The Song of Life, and crowd control takes a more prominent focus because of that. Set-piece fights that make up central story moments regularly see Kiryu and his companions go up against dozens upon dozens of enemies at once–a ratio that is frequently amusing. As a result, the properties of Kiryu’s attacks have been altered. His throwing maneuver swings a victim around before letting them fly. Each combo string now allows him to execute two finishing blows as a default, and the second typically lunges forward with a wide attack radius. Starting a hard-hitting combo with some wise positioning means that Kiryu can feel like a human wrecking ball as he cleaves and plows through a group of assailants. You can frequently create domino effects that send enemies crashing into each other, and thanks to the game’s new physics engine, into environmental objects like rows of bicycles, through glass windows, and potentially, into stores and restaurants.

That’s the most significant change to combat–it now benefits from seamless transitions between world exploration and battles. Getting into a fight on the street no longer means coming to a jarring halt for a few seconds while a splash screen pops and civilians gather to restrict you to a small area. Fights now have the potential to move through the city and into areas like stairwells, rooftops, convenience stores, restaurants, and a handful of other accessible building interiors. It also means you have the opportunity to make a break for it if you’re not in the mood to throw down. The dynamism and uninterrupted flow this gives to Yakuza’s combat is a real wonder, and means that random battles are less likely to eventually devolve into monotony, as they could in past games. You could be strolling down the street, leisurely drinking a can of Boss coffee or taking a selfie in front of the cat cafe, and a gang of thugs can suddenly interrupt you, forcing you into a tight stairway brawl that eventually spills out onto a rooftop. Or, you might try to run and hide in a convenience store, unsuccessfully, and find yourself destroying shelves and sending snacks flying until you put an end to the chaos by slamming a thug’s head into a microwave–just don’t expect the clerk to serve you afterward. Combat in Yakuza 6 is exciting, and the situations you might find yourself in positively echo the kinds of scrappy, tense struggles you see so commonly in East Asian gangster films.

Another sticking point is one that’s been present in all of the game’s iterations–the inconsistent visual presentation. While the scenes that deliver pivotal plot events are absolutely spectacular–with uncannily lifelike character models, dramatic cinematography, and exceptional Japanese language performances–scenes that present lesser moments, like substories, are a dramatic drop in quality. As in previous games, they feature far less detailed character models and wooden, sometimes non-existent animation. Static camera angles also play a big part in aggravating their dullness. Substories make up a significant part of Yakuza games, so the low-end visuals continue to be an unfortunate blemish. Yakuza 6 is also entirely voice-acted for the first time in the series, and because the performances go a long way in enhancing the humorous and earnest moments these missions can contain, it’s a shame that the presentation doesn’t go to the same efforts.

Yakuza 6 reins in its scope, but doubles down on what has made the series great. It’s a unique and fascinating representation of the modern Japanese experience, worth playing even if you’re a newcomer. The narrative is dramatic and sincere, and the game’s endearing characters–coming from all walks of life–are interesting studies. The world is dense and rewarding to exist in, the dynamic combat system stays exciting even after you’ve kicked the crap out of five thousand enemies, and perhaps most importantly, Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life serves as a fulfilling conclusion to the turbulent, decade-long saga of its beloved icon, Kazuma Kiryu.

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