Forum - View topicGAME: Yakuza Kiwami - Switch Version Game Review
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SlimeDrawsNear
Posts: 4 |
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I played the Steam version for the first time a few months back and enjoyed the experience, but I would like to say that you can sort of feel its PS2 roots in its plot and pacing. Yakuza 0 felt more modern and elaborate in its story.
Still a fun game though. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2108 |
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I never understood why Kiwami kinda used an RPG system that made some healing bosses tiring unless the player was aware of how it works. Was it intended to be a departure from the four fighting styles from 0? Then again, I think the following including Kiwami 2, 6 and the Judgment subseries used the Dragon Engine and tried imitating the fighting styles from 0.
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Ryusui
 Posts: 463 |
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Yeah, it's legitimately frustrating that they'd put Kiwami out on Switch but not 0.
I mean...the obvious rationale is they're testing the waters with a smaller project, but still, Kiwami works best as a followup to 0, which retroactively adds a lot of depth and characterization. Kiwami does a lot on its own to add depth to Nishiki (the story of his transformation from Kiryu's sworn brother to embittered Tojo Clan patriarch is not part of the original PS2 release) but still, his arc still has a lot more impact after seeing his and Kiryu's relationship in 0. |
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tintor2
Posts: 2108 |
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Maybe it's to show vanilla Majima who was later written as a more tame beast in 0 until his transformation in the end |
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yeehaw
 Posts: 536 |
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I've never played any Yakuza games ever, would this be a good starting point? Or is Kiwami like a spinoff of normal Yakuza?
Also does the game have Japanese audio? |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1223 |
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I've read some posts on other sites saying that development on this port was an experiment made by a few programmers in their spare time, it was mentioned development started last spring after the completion of the last Super Monkey Ball game, but the programmers didn't believe this port would be commercialized, but since the Yakuza live-action TV show was releasing this year producers at SEGA thought a Switch release would act as a nice tie-in to the series, so they fast-tracked its development, perhaps that explains why it has some technical issues. I'm not a Yakuza expert, so I don't know why they choose Kiwami. Anyway, according to the people at RGG, Yakuza: Kiwami is selling very well on Switch, this is kind of funny considering that for many years people at SEGA said that there wasn't an audience for Yakuza games on Nintendo consoles, citing that the Switch is had a younger/family audience and that the Yakuza games were developed for underground consoles, that and because the port of Yakuza 1+2 on WiiU bombed years ago. I don't know if this means that SEGA will port more Yakuza games for the Switch or its successor |
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tintor2
Posts: 2108 |
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Kiwami is a remake of the first Yakuza so it's accessible. Still they all came in Japanese until Like a Dragón and Judgment |
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Stinkabod Lamé
Posts: 11 |
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0 is an infinitely better game than 1 and arguably the best in the series, but I will always advocate for people to play and watch things in their release order rather than chronological order. Playing 0 before 1 is like watching the Star Wars prequels before the original trilogy. But then I would also advocate for people to play the original versions of these games rather than the Kiwami remakes or the remasters. I'm aware Kiwami came out after 0, but I'm thinking from a strictly Yakuza 1 standpoint. |
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Fluwm
 Posts: 1011 |
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All of the games with the sole exception of the original PS2 release of Yakuza (1) have Japanese audio with English subtitles. The only games to receive English dubs are Yakuza (1); Yakuza 7 / Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and LAD8: Infinite Wealth. In terms of potential, optimal entry points for new players... there are many. Here's a quick run-down:
I think that about sums things up. There are a few other games that I could mention, but won't, because they're simply not very accessible today (being either only available in Japanese, or imprisoned on a dead platform). Really, you can't go wrong with any of them, and generally speaking that holds true of all the games not included in the above list. Yakuza games, by their nature, are pretty self-contained (and self-involved) crime dramas, each focusing on a different (very) labyrinthine criminal plot, with a small handful of characters appearing across multiple games. But each time you meet those people, the games' get you up to speed on their relationships and roles pretty quickly, so unless you're the kind of person who pauses movies/shows on Netflix to look things up on wikis, the stories themselves can't really be described as hard to follow. Personally, I would highly recommend starting with Yakuza: Like A Dragon, as Ichiban's story is fantastic, and a real high point for the series. He also makes for a much stronger and more dynamic protagonist than any of the other leads, in my opinion. But if you'd rather not jump in with the turn-based games, and would prefer the action combat.... well, then I'd advise starting with either Judgment or Yakuza 0. Probably more the former than the latter, since it only has the one sequel to contend with, whereas 0 has so, so, so many. And "Yakuza burnout" is a very real condition. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4611 |
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I get that it's a test, so doing Kiwami 1 on its own makes sense. If they do them one at a time after this, I think they should do 0 and not Kiwami 2. 0 and Kiwami 1 feel like companion games, right down to 0 having a splash screen saying, "A tenth anniversary project begins," and Kiwami 1 saying "A tenth anniversary project."
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6271 |
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Logically if you’re going to engage with a series you should do so so in chronological order (if necessary). Rather than out of sequence. As following the sequels before the prequels means you’re going to know a lot of things ahead of time killing any suspense and the stakes are not going to be as impactful.
Gonna be awfully hard to do that with the original versions of 4 and Isshin not helped by the fact that the original versions of 1 and 2 are locked to consoles no one’s buying or emulating.
With Yakuza 0 you only really need to play 1,2, maybe 6 for Kiryu’s story while skipping everything else in between. Judgment would be fine if not for its story having interesting setup ruined by “show, don’t tell”. And general wonkiness you tend to get from Yakuza games. |
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Fluwm
Posts: 1011 |
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I agree with that, generally, though I do think the dub is reason enough to avoid Y1. Yakuza 2, I think, is universally superior to Kiwami 2. (Also, it's worth noting that the PS2 emulation scene is, in fact, extremely active. It's probably one of the most-emulated platforms out there.)
You've got that completely backwards. And it feels especially odd to see you say that specifically in the context of the Star Wars prequels, which were very much (and very unsubtly) written with the expectation that audiences would already be familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy, and know where the story was going. A huge amount of the dramatic tension of that prequel trilogy arises from the looming specter of Darth Vader and the inevitable fall of the republic; likewise, consuming the PT before the OT will wind up spoiling a number of elements of the the latter, because that's... simply the nature of subsequent works. The reason why people generally view production order as more logical is because that's the order in which the media was created and released in -- as well as the order in which the vast majority of the audience would've consumed it. Though back to Yakuza... I do think it's worth noting that the "production order vs. chronological order" conversation gets a bit weird with the Kiwami games. But, like I said in my earlier post -- or at least heavily implied -- I think the games are sufficiently self-contained that it doesn't really matter that much which order you play them in. Playing Yakuza 5 first, for for example, isn't going to do much to change your perception of playing Yakuza 3, later. Mostly you'll just go, "Oh, so this is what X used to be like," or "Huh, so this is what Y was doing before Z." That kind of thing. The series really doesn't have any kind of multi-game narrative arcs.
I mean, if you're going to start skipping games, there's really no reason to play any of the sequels. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6271 |
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And vice versa? Or are we supposed to believe coming off New Hope and Going into the prequels that Obi Wan is going to die in his battles with Maul, Dooku, Grievous, or Anakin? In this same sense if one goes into Zero from Yakuza Kiwami/Yakuza 1 is Kiryu spoiler[going to die in the process of clearing his name or go to prison in 0 for the murder he’s accused of] eventhough he’s on the cover of nearly every canon game that follows after 0.
It didn’t really use to be a thing or least not as common. Where you’d craft a story and then write a prequel setting up elements of the prior story or do an interquel that takes place between already written works.
Okay but when you have a newer audience who of course didn’t engage the works in that way it makes sense to follow the work in chronological order if possible. If Zero and The Man Who Erased His Name had never been made after the games they set up, things would of course be different.
Hey if you want someone to potentially suffer from the burnout you alluded to playing through the 12/16 canon games in the series with the upcoming Majima spin-off adding to that number. And with at least two of those aforementioned games only being playable if you know Japanese and have access to a PSP or presumably a Japanese PSN account. By all means. |
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