It's the end of the road for Kazuma Kiryu

All good things must come to an end, such is the way for the amazing journey of Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Following a lifetime of good deeds, heroic actions, and smashed bicycles, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life sees the sharp-suited ex-gangster fa??ce the final curtain.

Released back in 2016 on PS4, this final act in the story of Kazuma and Haruka is now finally available to purchase on Xbox One and PC, and is also available as part of the paid subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. With The Song of Life's arrival, the entire Yakuza saga (save for its spin-off releases) is now available to purchase on the Steam platform - including prequel Yakuza 0, both Yakuza Kiwami remakes, and the Yakuza Remastered Collection. If you want to go all-out, then 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also available, and sees new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga comfortably step in as the series' new lead.

I often see people suggesting that they're about to "play through all of the games back-to-back" and, even as a die-hard Yakuza fan - I'd strongly recommend against doing that. With so many titles set in the same locale, featuring incredibly similar gameplay, and even repeating several setpieces and plotlines, I think it's very easy to burn out on the series, especially on a first run. Do play all of these games - they're great - but I think it?'s far wiser to enjoy an entirely different game between each entry, or things tend to blur very quickly.

Regardless, when all is said and done??, Sega's brilliant action-RPG series is now available on a variety of platforms, ensuring that while Kiryu may no longer be the star of the show, his violent, dramat??ic, and often totally ridiculous world will remain readily available to revisit for many, many years to come.

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All the sidewalk you can eat

In most welcome news, Sega has announced that The Yakuza Remastered Collection will be making the leap to Xbox and PC platforms next month, bringing a double fistful of excellent Yakuza releases to Steam, Windows 10, and the Xbox Game Pass service. Team Yakuza isn't not done there, however, as it also announced that Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will also come drop-??kicking onto the aforementi??oned platforms in March 2021.

Originally released for PS4 in the summer of 2019, The Yakuza Remastered Collection compiles remastered (note: not remade) editions of PS3 releases Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5. With the launch of Remastered Collection and 2016's Yakuza 6. Every mainline Yakuza title will finally be available on the PC platform, which already hosts Yakuza 0, both Yakuza Kiwami remakes, and the recently released Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Enough to make protagon?ist Kiryu Kazuma slightly raise his fis??ts while looking wistfully at the sky.

The Yakuza Remastered Collection will launch on PC via Steam and Windows 10 and on Xbox via Xbox Game Pass on January 28. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will follow on March 25.

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Cinderella Story

At E3 2019 this year, I had the distinct honor of sitting down with Kazuki Hosokawa (producer for Judgment and Yakuza) from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios and asking him about the future of the series and how each game gets made. As well as getting some insight int??o the development process, I learned that Hosokawa gets his best ideas while sitting in the bathtub. While he wouldn't confirm if he sipped on champagne while doing so, I now like to believe he lives exactly like the characters he creates.

To kick things off, I was curious which character from the series Hosokawa feels m?ost represents himself. There are a tremendo?us amount of different personalities in Yakuza and it's not hard to believe that some of?? them are based on the team creating these adventures. For H??osokawa, he feels that Yagami Takayuki from Judgment fits him the most.

"I feel like Yagami from Judgment...I feel very connected to him in terms of humanity and the struggles he has gone through," Hosokawa said. "When looking at a character like Kiryu, he's almost superhuman. There are times when you can't really tell what?? is going on in his mind. He's a hard character to really reflect yourself on or connect in that way. In terms of being a more human representation of me, I feel like Yagami is that."

With Judgment soon to release and Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku still in development, I've been wondering where the ser??ies wi?ll go once those games come out. We haven't seen much about whatever Shin will be, but there has to be some general idea of what will be next. "Ideal?ly, what we'd like to do at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios is continue Yakuza as an ongoing thing and have Judgment, as well," Hosokawa told me.

So if Judgment does well, which is already has in Japan, then we may end up seein??g it and Yakuza alternate years in between rele?ases. That may be exactly what Yakuza needs since the transition to the ??Dragon Engine with Yakuza 6 sort of feels like one step forward and?? two steps back. While not a bad game (I quite enjoyed my time with it), one can tell that the need to build a new engine demanded some features get cut to hit the designated release date. Kiwami 2 improved in nearly every fashion and i??t seems like Judgment will be better still.

"With regards to Shin Rya Go Gotoku," he continued, "we're still in the middle of development on that. We can't divulge too much information, so there's nothing that we can tell you at this time." That's to be expected, though, as actual footage of the game hasn't even shown up ye??t. The protagonist of that title, Kasuga Ichiban, may have made ?his debut in the Japan-exclusive Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, but w??e don't know how ??he'll animate or feel like in Shin. ????The title is likely to be something that won't see a release until late 2019 in Japan or possibly even 2020.

So maybe I don't know a whole lot about that title, ??but something t??hat can give us insight into the process is how Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios comes up with the narrative for each game. While Hosokawa and Sega CEO Toshihiro Nagoshi (creator of the series) don't handle sp?ecific scenes or bits of dialogue, the two come up with the overall thematic elements that give each story its o?wn essence.

"What things make a good story?" Hosokawa asked. "I kind of draw from all the different movies I've watched or books I've read in the past and try to figure o??ut what was really great about them. I want to bring those elements in, mix them together with something that is my own and write the story from there." As for how he gets those ideas, Hosokawa explained that he comes up with his best ideas while out for a walk or taking a bath. When something comes to him, he frantically writes it down so that he won't forget it.

That desire to ge??t ideas out quickly i??s actually a part of how Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios wo??rks. While the US has been inundated with a tremendous amount of Yakuza in a short span of time, the games typically release on a yearly schedule in Japan. The occasional spin-off spaces out some main entries, but there isn't a long wait between playing a new chapter in this storied saga.?? Yakuza ha??s s??even main entries, four spin-offs, and two PSP games with Judgment seemingly being the natural progression of w??hat? comes next.

"We've been working on the series for quite a long time," Hosokawa said. "Organically, the develop??ment team likes to push themselves to tell their stories from a new perspective or to bring something fresh into the mix." When an idea comes to them, they get to work on it and thrive under the schedule given to them. "That's how we develop new ideas as we m?ove on in the series."

With how frequently new Yakuza games do come out, one would think that the developers may become a bit tired of working on the same franchise for so long. I was curious if the team ever considered branching off into different genres, ?either with Yakuza or a brand new series. "I personally have been invol?ved in the development of a lot of differe??nt games prior to the Yakuza series," Hosokawa told me, "so I feel like my experience with development ??is really well rounded. I've tried a lot and I'm happy to be working on Yakuza the way it is."

It's possible that the team hasn't become burnt out because they are allowed the time to decompress after each game. "The team definitely has to switch off after the development of each game and kind of go a?bout their own hobbies," Hosokawa stressed. "Everyone deals with this in their own way. Some members travel overseas while others go mountain climbing. I, personally, like to go camping a lot or build miniature models." It seems Sega isn't putting unreasonable demands on its teams, allowing them to live their lives instead of slaving over a computer?? all the time. This, in turn, gives the team the energy to come back to Yakuza time and time again.

What may also keep them coming back is the city they've built. Kamurocho, a fictionalized take on T??okyo's red let district, has been featured in every main entry and will th?e setting for Judgment. While most of the sequels have contained another city for players to explore, Kamurocho is the foundation that grounds these wacky martial arts fantasies. I wondered where the team would go if they had to leave it behind, ??to which Hosokawa brought up Yakuza 5. Tha?t particular entry is the largest in the series and features fiv?e different cities (one returning from Yakuza 2). While Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios is happy with where they are, any future games may take place overseas to really mix things?? up.

One of the ways?? that th??e team has tried to surprise fans is with the casting of celebrities in its games. Starting with Yakuza 6, each new entry has had a famous Japanese actor portray a character in some capacity. You may even be aware that Pier?re Taki had to be removed from Judgment due to alleged drug usage, whic??h brings up why actors are being cast instead of creating original characters.

As it turns out, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios has always wanted well-known faces to be attached to its projects. The biggest reason for not starting with them was budget conflicts, but sometimes scheduling was what made plans fall through. "Even though we have certai?n people in mind," Hosokawa explains, "there are always scheduling and budget conflicts that we can't get the exact person we're looking for. We try to keep roles flexible so that we may consider other plans if anything falls through."

Before bidding Hosokawa goodbye, I pondered about a ?return of Binary Domain. An overlooked shooter from last-generation, Binary Domain was conceived by Nagoshi and worked on by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, so it has some of the distinctive flair that permeates ea??ch Yakuza game. While Hosokawa wasn't involved with the development of that game, he was happy to hear that fans were ple?ased with it.

"I'm personally not in a position to make the call with that series," Hosokawa stated, "but we definitely love hearing fans reactions and love listening to what they want from the series going forward." Truly, that seems to be what keeps this team going. Yakuza has always been a hit in Japan, but it recently grew from a cult following to a larger fanbase in the west. Seeing the fruits of their labor pay off in such a big way, it seems unlikely?? that Yakuza will ever be in a slump. That's the best thing you can ask for??.

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Wear the dragon

It's still kind of surreal to me that the Yakuza series is actually popular in the West. I've been playing them for roughly one-third of my life and I never expected the series to break beyond its niche. It has truly been a wild ride and I'm happy we can now all agree that Kiryu Kazuma is a badass. Sadly, there has been a dearth of merchandise for fans to show off their love. Apart from pop-up stores in Japan, where else can you get some official Yakuza branded t-shirts?

At the online Sega Shop, apparently. If you head over to Sega's official online store, you'll be able to grab some Yakuza Kiwami 2 themed shirts and hoodies as well as a blanket and phone case. They all sport antagonist Goda Ryuji's golden?? dragon tattoo, which is totally aw?esome. The prices are a little bit high, but this is likely to be the only official merchandise we'll ever get.

Y2: Kiwami [Sega Shop]

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'You know what'd make me feel better? If you gave me your money, pops'

[Update: A few more very minor details have come through. The games will run at 1080p and 60 FPS. They will, content-wise, be mostly unchanged from their original releases. Pre-ordering the first release, Yakuza 3 (in Japan) will also? bag you the original soundtrack.]

In a move that makes complete sense, Sega have announced that PS3 titles Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 will all be coming to PS4 in Japan within the next 12 months. The publisher made the announcem??ent i?n this week's issue of Dengeki PlayStation.

Although there are little in the way of details, these don't appear to be ground-up remakes - like the excellent Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2 -?? but the remastered titles will be given a fresh coat of paint for their return, with improved resolutions and frame-rates.

The Yakuza series, now over a decade old, only really blew up worldwide with the arrival of Yakuza 0 in 2017. This was followed by successful releases of remake Kiwami and final chapter Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Now that the series has a whole new generation of fans, these remasters will allow them to experience the Kazuma Kiryu story all on one console. (Well, apart from that time he fought zombies).

Yakuza 3 is scheduled for release in Japan on August 9, with Yakuza 4 to follow in Fall and Yakuza 5 in Spring of 2019. No Western announcement was made, but given the series' recent success, plus the fact there are already localised versions of these games available, it?? would be silly not to bring these great re-releases overseas.

Yakuza 3, 4, 5 being remastered for the PS4 platform [Gematsu / Ryokutya2089]

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We don't need another hero

This week sees the Western launch of Sega's Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. For over ten years we have watched protagonist Kazuma Kiryu defend the weak and the innocent with little more than a stoic demeanor, a sharp?? suit and a nearby bicycle or ten.

Sega have released a final "accolades" trailer, singing the praises of this week's PS4 release with a selection of soundbites taken from its many positive reviews. These are set to a fast-paced montage of the ex-Yakuza in action,?? be it kicking ass and ??taking names, or throwing darts and diving into the ocean for a spot of fishing.

I've loved every one of these titles. They're all the frikkin' same, but that's besides the point. You grow to love the city of Kamurocho and its inhabitants, rather than tire of it. From saving puppies to cooking noodles. From starting up a photo blog, or solving a 20-year-old murder mystery, to fighting tigers in an underground palace. The series has filled me with excitement, drama, joy and laughs. Thus I will likely become a silly wreck at Yakuza 6's finale, however events transpire.

Here's to the Dragon of Dojima, it's been an amazing journey.

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You have already voted

[Update: It appears that the Hokuto ga Gotoku survey question has been pulled as t??he team received an adequate sample size.? So, here's hoping we get that localisation announce??ment real soon, right]

Today is a good day to be a fan of the Yakuza series. The delayed Yakuza 6: The Song of Life finally releases internationally, with Yakuza Kiwami 2 to follow later this year. However, it's been hard to overlook the elephant in the room, which is the absence of news about Hokuto ga Gotoku, the Yakuza team's upcoming game based on the legendary Fist of the North Star series.

As players have been starting up their brand new copies of Yakuza 6, they've been discovering a new survey that has come with the game, which ends on a question we all know the answer to: Are you interested in Fist of the North Star?

It's become clear, given that the subject has featured in multiple surveys, that it is still possible for Hokuto ga Gotoku to remain solely in Japan. To quote the survey itself: "While no localization has been announced at this time, how interested are you in the Fist of the North Star game created by the developers of Yakuza?" Fans can then answer on a five point scal??e, with "Would not buy it" being the lowest and "Day one! I would pre-order it!" being the highest.

At this point, it can't be a matter of how well Yakuza titles sell, as we've had Kiwami 2 confirmed since the last survey. It has to be a concern over how well those sales will translate to another franchise, as not every Yakuza fan will necessarily buy Hokuto ga Gotoku. Sega will also have to take into account the expense of translating the?? game and having to deal with the license on an international scale. Anime and manga licenses aren't necessarily cheap to deal with, just look at Namco's shaky releas?e history with its own licensed titles for proof.

Luckily, the link to the survey has been found, and you can take the survey yourself here. Be warned, however, that it is written with the assumption that you have purchased Yakuza 6. Regardless of whether you own a PlayStation 4 or not, if you like Fist of the North Star, or are a fan of the Yakuza series, just vote to help get this game out of Japan so, at the very least, fans of Fist of the North Star can have a good game to look forward to.

The post (Update) Intereste??d in Fist of the North Star? Yakuza 6 wants to know appeared first on Destructoid.

Official unboxing!

Yakuza 6 came out today and I'm pretty excited! Not only can I finally talk about the plotline in greater detail, but I also got my "After Hours Premium Edition" this morning! It is loaded with a bunch of goodies that any longtime Yakuza fan needs in their collection.

To show you guys all of the stuff, I made a short unboxing video with me fumbling through some plastic. I know these types of things went out of style years ago, but I just want another excuse to post about Yakuza 6 before all news shifts over to Kiwami 2. Anyway, hopefully any of you guys looking to grab this edition will be pleased with the quality of the ite??ms. The glasses, in particular, are very sexy.

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Celebrate one of gaming's greatest heroes

For me, the hook about Kazuma Kiryu, protagonist of Sega's long-running Yakuza series, is that once he shows up to a scene, you know everything's going to be alright. There could be damsels in distress, kids in danger, a buddy at death's door, ??and insurmountable odds, but once the snakeskin shoes of the Dragon of Dojima appear on the scen??e, you know that fear redundant.

Sega, promoting the upcoming Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, have released a series of live-action shorts featuring characters telling tales of the own run-ins with the quiet man in the sharp suit. They're well-produced and do a good job in building up the legacy of a gaming hero who has been in my "all-time greatest" list ever since I played the original Yakuza, many moons ago.

You can check out the videos below, to hype yourself for another round of bike-smashing, face-stamping, karaoke-singing, innocent-saving, golf-swinging action. Kazuma has lived a million lifetimes in just one, and if The Song of Life proves to be his last hurrah, I'll be there, po??uring?? a drink for the Dragon of Dojima.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life launches on PS4 April 17.

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IKUZO!

For years now, I’ve been a huge fan of the Yakuza series. The first title I played was Yakuza 3 back in 2011 and it took me by complete surprise. It was basically everything I had ever wanted out of a video game, right down to kooky characters and gut-wrenching action moments. It also?? had an extreme attention to detail in r??ecreating a small slice of Tokyo, a city I’ve always fantasized about visiting.

When the chance arose to speak with the localization team behind the series, I couldn’t pass that up. I had always wondered about how one gets started doing localization or what the process might be for selecting which features get cut. With Yakuza 6 releasing soon, it felt like the best opportunity to have a chat with Scott Strichart and Sam Mullen (producers over at Atlus that handle Sega’s Japanese content). While I wasn’t able to directly talk to them, I did put together a couple of q?uestions that hopefully answers how the localization process isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

_{[Art gallery image courtesy of Sarah Wellock]}

To start off, I asked Sam and Scott how the two of them even ended up working on localization for the Yakuza series. The cliff notes version is that they happened into it, but the longer story is a bit more detailed. For Sam, he started his career working on deployment and project management on Japanese cell phone games in a pre-smartphone era. This soon led to him b?ecoming a project manager on deploying Japanese games into Western markets, which he describes as being, “effectively localization.”

For Scott, his story is more of an underdog tale. After receiving his English teaching degree, Scott found himself broke, unemployed, and disillusioned with his life. He took a long shot and applied as an editor and tester at a local company to keep himself afloat. That company turned out to be Atlus and after a single project in QA, Scott was brought on as an editor for the Nintendo DS game Drone Tactics. As he states, “I sti?ll have that game, sealed, on my desk. Never forget your roots…But don’t play them, either.”

Both men have worked on a tremendous amount of titles. When asking about their personal favorites, both agreed that it was too difficult to pick one game. “Games are like children,” Sam says. “There are no favorites. Each is special in its own way.” Still, some of the more notable titles each has worked on include the SEGA Vintage Collection, Persona 4, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Project DIVA, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, and Class of Heroes (the first game the two worked on together).

With such a broad range of genres and styles, I obviously wanted to know how long a typical game would take to localize. I stuck more to the Yakuza series when asking this, but Sam’s answer can apply to almost any text-heavy Japanese game. In his words, “[The length] depends on a lot of factors, including the number of Japanese characters in a game…and the number of people we can allocate to the project. The Yakuza series has become easier to localize over time and with the move to the Japanese? version needing to support both Traditional Chinese and Korean at launch…there’s been a lot of improvement in our ability to engage earlier and more effectively on the series.”

Scott then followed that up by stating, “To give you some context, Yakuza 0…the largest Yakuza game my team has actually worked on, started pre-production in December 2015 and didn’t go gold until November 2016. By comparison, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, which despite being a more focused game with a larger tea?m, still look 10-11 months from pre-production…to ??QA and final submission.”

That seems like an awful lot of t??ime just for translation, doesn’t it? But localization doesn’t just mean taking text and dumping it into Google translate. There are a lot more factors that a team?? must account for when trying to convey a message that the game director wanted.

“We do a lot more than translation,” Sam pointed out. “There is a common misconception that a localization team just translates, but that is just a small sliver of what our job entails.” He then mentioned how a direct 1:1 translation of text would lose the cultural nuance of the text, so the teams often adapt the relevance of sentences for the Western audience. The game also needs to be readied for localization, meaning a?? team cannot work on a project without the go-ahead from Atlus or Sega.

As for which Yakuza title took them the longest, both Sam and Scott agree that Yakuza 5 was a massive project. As Sam stated, “Yakuza 5 wasn’t built to be easily localized in the first place.” This can be seen in the?? many cultural standards that aren’t brought up in Western games (such as playable character Shinada being a reviewer of sexy massage parlors).

So with localization demanding a careful eye on cultural relevance, does the localization team have any say on what content gets retained during the games? I mainly questioned about the side stories that are prevalent in the Yakuza series, since a lot of them use Western lingo to convey comed??y or drama depending? on the situation.

“We just need to make sure the emotional beats in the substories that we do get land like they’re supposed,” states Scott. “If the story is meant to tug on your heart strings, we make it d??o that. If it’s mea?nt to make you laugh, we make sure it’s funny.” Sam then followed up with, “We don’t censor anything if we can help it.”

As diehard fans may already know, Yakuza 3 was a victim of content being cut in order to ensure its release. This resulted in the removal of content that was deemed “heavily rooted” in Japanese culture. Sega did eventually relent with Yakuza 4, but the damage was?? done and people were a bit angry. While I mistakenly inferred the translation was broken, Sam did say that the game was, “a product of its time.”

Scott elaborated: “I’d love the chance to [restore cut content]…It’s less about ‘fixing’ and more about bringing your own strengths to the table on restoring older games.” He then continued by explaining how he takes more notice of the Kansai accent and how his personal styling of Kiryu’s dialog in Yakuza 0 and 6, which demanded the character be more impassioned than other games, is something he has brought into the Kiwami remakes. He did end by saying, “Having done four games now, getting the opportunity to bring that consistency back to Yakuza 3 would be really cool.”

As with any Yakuza interview, I had to ask what the chances of Sega localizing Kenzan and Ishin might be. Both games have remained Japanese exclusives and for good reason; they feature periods of Japan’s history that Western audiences know next to nothing about. While the answer wasn’t a definite “no,” as Sam puts it, “We’re releasing four Yakuza games within the span of two years and are doing all we can to meet the demand of the fans. Just keep buying our games if you like them.” Scott followed up with, “Short of dedicating this entire office to Yakuza localizations, we’re going as fast as?? we can!”

Something else that wasn’t a definite “no” was the chance of the West eventually seeing the PS3/Wii U Yakuza HD Collection. The final answer: greater than zero percent and less than 100 percent! That may not be the confirmation everyone was looking for, but it does at least? keep the dream alive.

The best way to wrap up was to ask both men h?ow much they enjoyed having the chance to loca?lize games. Both had some very inspirational things to say about their work.

Sam: “Since we?? work with parties around? the world, there’s never any downtime. There’s always something that needs attention…But at the end of the day, you get a game that people can enjoy and the fans are so wonderful and encouraging. It really does get you up out of bed and out the door; because you know you can get out there and make something amazing.”

Scott: “Sometimes, when our games are erupting into dumpster fires because of this and that…we’ll [Scott and Sam] look at each other say ‘LIVIN’ THE DREAM, RIGHT?’ because it’s true. As much as things challenge us, as hard as they can be, we’re getting paid to make video games happen. Standing in that room when we announced Yakuza Kiwami 2…hearing the entire room literally eru??pt because they saw a subtitle over Kiryu’s face; I live for it.”

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Kamurocho Nights

Last Saturday, Sega and Gallery Nucleus opened the doors to the Yakuza 6 "Essence of Art" Exhibit in California with a whole bunch of fan tribute art and the huge announcement of Kiwami 2 coming to the states. As exciting as that must have been, just getting a look at the recreation of Kamurocho Gate would have ?been enough for me. Sadly, I won't be able to head to California before the gallery closes on April 1, but I can watch this short video about the ?event.

Fans turned out in droves for what must have been the most Japanese thing California has ever seen. People were even gambling in the streets,? which is just bonker??s. Why did I have to be on vacation (and then get stuck for a few days)?

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The End of a Saga

It isn’t often that you see a comfortable, workmanlike series like Yakuza do a complete overhaul in game mechanics or engine. The last time a dramatic shift like this happened was after Yakuza 2 to the Japan-only Ryu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan. While that game stuck the landing and managed to improve almost everything from its PlayStation 2 roots, Yakuza 6 finds itself in an odd space.

Small quality-of-life changes give way to strange concessions in content that undermine the great work that has been done with the main story. And despite being billed as pro?tagonist Kiryu Kazuma’s final chapter, this entry feels positively quaint compared to?????????????????????????? what the series has evolved into.

Even if the game fails to live up to expectations, Yakuza 6 is still a damn fine game.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4 [Reviewed on PS4 Pro])
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Released: December 8, 2016 (JP), April 17, 2018 (US, EU)
MSRP: $59.99

The main plotline of Yakuza 6 is far more straightforward than any of the previous games. While the intro is loaded with exposition about the ending of Yakuza 5 (which this game takes place directly after), that soon gives way to a completely original plot focused on Kiryu trying to discover what happened to Haruka, his adoptive daughter, after a serious accident. Not only is she in a coma, but a child was found at the scene of the crime ?bearing her last name.

Turns out Haruka had been a little busy during Kiryu’s stint in jail following the events of Yakuza 5. Three y?ears have passed and basically everything Kiryu knew about the city of Kamurocho and his friends has changed. The only clue he has to figuring out what happened to Haruka is a photo from her phone that pins her location to Hiroshima. Kiryu then sets off to find the father of Haruka’s chil?d and the game, proper, begins.

What follows is a storyline that seems to be a retread of the firs?t title mixed with a more serious Kiryu. This is a man on a mission to solve the mystery surrounding his daughter and he isn’t taking anyone’s garbage. This is actually beautifully represented in a lot of cutscenes where Kiryu will either walk away o?r tell people to hurry the hell up when they start to exposit a lot.

That isn’t to say the game isn’t loaded with dialogue, because for how simple the overall plot may be, this is probably the most verbose Yakuza ever made. There are entire cutscenes that seemingly bloat out twists and turns you may already see comi??ng, but at least the acting from the voice cast is stellar.

The infamous Beat Takeshi has an interesting role as does Tatsuya Fujiwara (of Battle Royale fame), but even the lesser-known actors bring their A-game to their roles. This even spills over into the substories, which are all fully voiced this time around. It brings a level of consistency to th?e presentation that could sometimes be at odds with the seemingly endless text boxes mixed with recorded dialogue from previous entries.

The game is also completely rendered with a brand new graphical engine. No longer will you see low-polygon character models or loading screens in between stores and battles; everything in Yakuza 6 has a seamless flow thanks to the Dragon Engine. While the upside is a game with fewer interruptions, the downside is that the general gameplay feels far less refined than Yakuza 3 (a title that is nearing 10 years old).

Not many people are probably aware, but the Yakuza series has practically been a yearly installment over in Japan. Apart from the transition from PS2 to PS3, a new title has released every year and has pushed Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to refine its design process to churn out a new entry on time. Even with a slight delay in Japan, Yakuza 6 feels like the most rushed entry to date.

The biggest drawback is that combat is rather basic. I’m talking Yakuza 1 levels of basic, as Kiryu only has one style and barely any of the series’ signature “heat moves” at his disposal. While it is understandable from a programming perspective, it doesn’t excuse how decidedly last-generation this game feels. With how much polish Yakuza 0 had, to?? seemingly throw that?? all away is just bizarre.

The upgrade system is also rather simplistic, giving you the ability to unlock literally whatever you want in almost any order. I suppose it makes more sense for Kiryu as he isn’t training or coming of age, but there isn’t a real sense of progression to how you earn your moves. This is then compounded by the physics-based brawling, which can see Kiryu ragdoll from simple hits and ??makes throwing far more deadly thanks to enemies stumbling over each other.

Still, the general feel of punches and kicks is satisfying. Even with such basic combat, Kiryu ??hits like a truck and the sound design complements his deadly prowess well. Heat Moves are also absurdly violent and feel so gratifying thanks to the crazy physics. Stomping on an enemy's face and then putting another guy in a headlock is vicious, but throwing a dude onto a moving train looks absolutely ridiculous. I’m also particularly fond of shoving a guy’s head into a microwave, which is just the right amount of ludicrous for me.

As for the map design, Yakuza 6 takes some strides forward but an awful lot backward. I’m fine with certain districts being absent from past entries, but nothing has been placed in their absence. The areas that have been cut are blockaded by a barrier that makes no logical sense and has no stor?y justification. You’ll find a Kamurocho that is smaller than any of the previous games, but at least you can parkour over railings and jump from rooftops all without loading screens, I guess.

The new town of Onomichi, Hiroshima is also pretty vacant. It looks gorgeous and accurately captures the feel of a small Japanese town, but it only includes th??ree mini-games and about a grand total of 10 buildings you can enter. The side?? activities are also oddly pared down from the rest of the game.

You’ll still find Club Sega with a couple of arcade games and the outstanding karaoke, but ne?arly all of the gambling games are gone, bowling and fishing are out, the underground coliseum is missing, and darts and baseball have been simplified to the point of being dull. The newer games, which include a gym to train Kiryu, a "sexy" live chat service and an on-rails underwater shooter, are decent enough, but hardly stand up to the quality of past games.

The other main distractions come in the form of a baseball management sim and the Kiryu Clan, which is kind of?? like an RTS game. I have no idea what is going on with the baseball thing (despite reading all of the instructions) and Kiryu Clan feels like a half-baked idea that would work better as a mobile spin-off. I appreciate their inclusion having separate s?torylines attached to them, but they aren’t particularly enjoyable in their own right.

Even with how simplified the game is, though, I can’t say I didn’??t have fun. The main story beats culminate in some incredible boss fights and the excellent soundtrack fits the game's mood perfectly. People may be disappointed that series regulars Majima Goro, Saejima Taiga, and Dojima D??aigo are absent, but I applaud Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for sticking with a new cast and fleshing them out instead of buckling to fan service.

The main cast is likeable and loaded with lots of poignant speeches about loyalty, honor, and fighting for what is right. This is exactly the kind of stuff I’d expect from a Yakuza title and I’m glad the writing didn’t suffer from the rushed development cycle. That being said, I’m sure plenty of people are going to be upset with the finale; I saw it as? perfectly complementing the subtitle of the game (which this Western releases finally retains).

As for how the game performs, I cannot confirm what a standard PS4 runs like. I know it operates at 900p for regular users, but I actually upgraded to a PS4 Pro in anticipation of this game. At least on the Pro, Yakuza 6 renders at 1080p and a locked 30 FPS. That is a step back from 0 and Kiwami, but the game never drops frames or exhibits any screen tearing. Base PS4 users be warned, though, as I’ve ?heard some ugly things around the net with regards to framerates.

I could nit-pick a lot of problems I had with Yakuza 6 until I end up despising the game, but putting aside the shortcomings and just going along for the ride makes for some damn fine gaming. This may not be the series firing on all cylinders like Yakuza 0, but Yakuza 6 is a worthy conclusion to the legacy of Kiryu that wonderfully sets ??the stage for what is to come next.

Given more development time, this could have been the definitive entry in the series, but what we’re left with is good enough. Hopefully Kiwami 2 can make some necessary improvements, becaus?e the groundwork set by the Dragon Engine is just awesome.

_{[This review is based on a retai??l build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life appeared first on Destructoid.

Free admission, too!

Sega will be holding a Yakuza 6 art exhibit at the Nucleus Art Gallery in Alhambra, California from March 17 until April 1. Admission will be free to all with no RSV?P required for the opening day. The event will include various pieces of fan tribute art, game artwo?rk, exclusive themed prints and even a recreation of the famous "Kamurocho Gate" from the series.

General producer of the Yakuza series, Daisuke Sato, will be present on opening day alongside renowned tattoo artist HORITOMO (the man who has designed all of the tattoos in each game) and both will be signing limited edition copies of the art book from the "Essence of Art" edition of Yakuza 6 for anyone that pre-orders the game at the event. The two will also be holding a Q&A with a "??special announcement" to be given. Other goodies include an amazing looking T-shirt for sale at the event and a free "Ono Michio-kun" pin for the first 200 attendees.

I really wish I could get my hands on that t-shirt, but I won't be able to attend this event. It sounds like it will be awesome and I'd love to get to ??know more about the art behind each tatt??oo in the series. For anyone that is able to attend, make sure to send me pictures. I'm definitely envious of any native Californians right now.

The post Sega and G??all??ery Nucleus are teaming up for a Yakuza 6 art exhibit appeared first on Destructoid.

Players who accessed the full game won't be punished

Earlier this week, fans were shocked to learn that the Yakuza 6: The Song of Life demo wasn't just a prologue -- it was ?unintentionally the full game, complete with Trophy unlocks and ??everything. Before long, Sega got wind of the issue and pulled the demo from PlayStation Network. It still hasn't returned.

Now, folks who downloaded the Yakuza 6 demo are finding the app locked and unplayable, which is an expected move on Sega's part. Addressing the situation today, a representative took to reddit to explain that while the?? comp?any hasn't determined a release date for the patched-up prologue, Sega is "working with Sony to make sure that there are no account penalties if you downloaded the demo."

It seems like a common-sense move, but it's reassuring to hear th?at promise all the same.

Yakuza 6 : Demo update [reddit]

The post Players are being locked out of the Yakuza 6 demo in light of the ‘full game’ slip-up appeared first on Destructoid.

The beginning of the end

[Update: Anyone looking for the Yakuza 6 demo and wondering why they can't find it can now rest easy. Sega delivered what they promised, but there was an exploit in that some users? were given access to the full game instead of just a trial. Why this probably happened is that the demo was actually the full ga??me installation with most of the game locked out. This was more than likely done to ensure compatibility with save files in the final version, which is launching in mid-April.

If the final game is ready, though, then why the delay? I would guess a production issue with manufacturing physical copies. Sega probably didn't want pe??ople to get a head start on the digital version and spoil the game for anyone, but that seems to have gone out the window.]

Yakuza 6's prologue demo is now available to download from the PlayStation store. It includes the prologue and a small sectio??n of the first chapter as well as letting you ca?rry your save data into the full game. Since the demo is 36 gb (jesus), I'm guessing this is actually just the full game installation to make sure the save data has compatibility with the final game.

This demo is to make up for the delay that was announced earlier this month. While it sucks that we'll have to wait longer to actually play the final game, at least getting a head start on the opening chapter is nice. I honestly wish more demos would do something like thi??s, since they tend to just be marketing nonsense more than anything.

The post (Update) Yakuza 6’s Prologue demo is now available appeared first on Destructoid.

NANI?!

It is with a heavy heart that I have to type this next sentence, but I'm just going to have to bite the bullet. Yakuza 6 has been delayed in the West until April 17, 2018. While no reason was stated for the delay, Sega is assuri??ng fans it was a "tough business decision" the company didn't take lightly.

On the bright side, we will be able to play Yakuza 6 a little earlier than anticipated. Sega will be releasing a demo for the game on February 27 that will let users bring their saves into the main game. Whether this means we're getting the first chapter or just a demo with unlockable items remains to be seen, but at least it is someth??ing to tide us over.

Hopefully this delay is used to furthe??r polish the game, which is stated to have some rocky performance issues on base PS4's. I'm almost tempted to get a Pro just to play the game, but I'm still uncertain if one game is worth an upgrade.

Yakuza Game [Twitter]

The post Yakuza 6 gets a delay into April appeared first on Destructoid.

Baka Mitai

One of the new mini-games in Yakuza 6 is something called "Clan Creator." If it wasn't evident from the title, you take street punks and make a clan out of them. It looks kind of fun and is pretty reminiscent of a similar feature from Yakuza 4. It also makes Kiryu look like ev?en more of a bad ass, since he can take literal trash and turn it into an ace fighter.

I do like that the Yakuza series is always willing to try new things and this mode looks pretty awesome. Mixing the over-the-top animations with an RTS style system could be an ?immense amount of fun, but we'll just have to wait and see. If nothing else, the trailer gets me more hyped for March.

The post Kiryu’s clan is best in this new Yakuza 6 video appeared first on Destructoid.

24 Hour Cinderella

Yakuza 6 is only a few short months away from us, so Sega is ramping up the hype train with some trailers. In this first one, we get a look at some of the various mini-games that will populate Kamurocho and Hiroshima. ?I'm particularly in love with the now iconic thumbs up pose that Kiryu gives during karaoke.

Some of the arcade games are reused from previous Yakuza installments, but the inclusion of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is incredible. I had a lot of fun with that game on PS3, even if it was light on content. Having an online enabled version of it within Yakuza is just awesome and c?ould make for a hard to put down distraction from the main quest.

The post Yakuza 6 still features the series’ zany mini-games appeared first on Destructoid.

Haruka, no!!!!

During the inaugural PlayStation experience in 2014, viewers were graced the amazing gift of the announcement that Yakuza 5 would be localized for the west. The following year, Sony confirmed that Yakuza 0 would grace western consoles and in 2016, we were given confirmation that Kiwami and 6 would be coming. Whether intentional or not, the PlayStation Experience has become synonymous with Yakuza.

So imagine my pain when I found out that 2017's PSX won't feature anything Yakuza related. Announced during an official livestream of Yakuza 0, Sam Mullen and Scott Strichart (Sega of America localization producers) confirmed the terrible news for all Yakuza fans. While? I'm saddened, I can definitely understand wh??y.

The two most recent Ryu Ga Gotoku studio games are Kiwami 2 and Fist of the North Star, both of which have not released in Japan yet. While Kiwami 2 isn't far off (it release??s December 7), Sega wouldn't really be in a position to show anything from a localization. They could announce a plan to translate these games, but we'd still be waiting at least 12 months before being able to play anything. It makes more sense to save that for next year.

Mullen and Strichart did at least reassure fans that 2018 will be a "great year" for Yakuza, so I'm sure we'll be getting some kind of surprise after Yakuza 6 launches. I can't imagine Sega would just stop after bringing 6 to the west, so I'm still hopeful for Kiwami 2.

No Yakuza announcement at PSX 2017, 201??8 ?will be a "great year" for Yakuza [Reset Era]

The post There won’t be any Yakuza announcements at PSX this year appeared first on Destructoid.

Kiryu's life is kind of horrible when put out like this

If you're not caught up on the Yakuza series, but want to jump straight into 6 (for some reason), Sega has uploaded a "Previously on Yakuza" trailer to bring you up to speed. While this trailer actually ends up talking more about Kiryu's final chapter, it does cover the major points of the relationship between Kiryu and Haruka and why 6 is going to be such a dramatic entry for the ?two.

Along with that, there is confirmation of a new edition of the game for those who couldn't nab the Collector's Edition. Dubbed "The Essence of Art" edition, this will feature the game with a hardcover art book package with some selected works from the Yakuza community. This art book will also be in the Colle??ctor's Edition, so you don't need to worry if?? you have that on reserve (like me).

Even though I've played through two Yakuza games in a single year, I still want more of the series. Coming into my life from seemingly nowhere, the Yakuza series has become one of my personal favorites and I'm always eager to step back into the shoes of Kiryu Kazuma. The dude is a legend and I'm sad that Yakuza 6 will be his last entry.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life - Previously on Yakuza… | PS4 [YouTube]

The post Get ready for Yakuza 6 with this refresher t??railer appeared first on Destructoid.