General RGG Discussion

Hokuto ga Gotoku is a good game, in the middle of the entire series.

If they take on any more anime licenses though, I don't think One Piece would work and I'm not well-versed enough in the other 5 billion anime that exist (:LOL:) so I can't say what would be best!
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Hokuto ga Gotoku is a good game, in the middle of the entire series.

If they take on any more anime licenses though, I don't think One Piece would work and I'm not well-versed enough in the other 5 billion anime that exist (:LOL:) so I can't say what would be best!
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Gto would be amazing
 
Random thugs and demons, bloody fights, heavy character story oriented scenes,
huge boss fights, exploration on foot, Yakuza / Judgment action gameplay ...

a Berserk spin off game could very well i guess?
I mean all of this stuff is already part of all Yakuza games, its just a different setting.
 
Naruto would be the best option because it is one of the best anime ever and it seems to be very popular with westerners.
 
Its probably just me but i'm honestly not sure if i'm a big fan of the Ishin in engine graphics upgrade.
I'm only talking about the in game, in engine stuff, not the rendered cutscenes.
The rendered cutscenes are fine. But take a look at this -
Top picture is the original, bottom picture is the remake.
Yes, the original looks kind of unspectacular and flat but at the same thats kind of what it makes more realistic.
In the remake their new skin has this wax mobile game look. They look like dolls with fake hair pieces.
And take a look at the low resolution clothing, it honestly looks like it didnt load the texture correctly ...

ishin old2.png
ishin new.png




I dont know what it is but it has some weird like Fortnite guest character look to it

ishin new 2.png
 
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Dietsoap said:
The top/original definitely has a crisper and better-textured look to it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the remake has better / improved lighting but together with the new models,
it kinda looks like theres some Instagram filter on their skin to make it look softer.
And this new battle UI with these cards really looks terrible.
Like it takes up 1/4 of the screen for no reason, almost as if its the most important part on screen,
and why does it need to be animated and to glow ...

It looks like they took some Judgment VR mini game UI and dropped it on top of Ishin.
edeliveOhno.gif
 
Yeah, it kind of seems like RGG wasnā€™t really sure how to release this. A straight-forward, slight graphically-enhanced port wouldā€™ve been ideal, but marketing-wise, it mightā€™ve been a little confusing. Maybe if they released this together with a remastered version of Kenzan, they couldā€™ve done that straight-forward port. But to market this as a brand new game, itā€™s like they had no choice but to do this sort of half-way remake.
 
Ishin Kiwami looks like shit. And they even brought those stupid super power cards from what was just a minigame.

Shit map too. Not being able to run away from random encounters in those hallways is going to be a pain in the ass. They should at least have implemented this as it is in new games. And also the black screen is back for every new place...
 
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I beat Like A Dragon last night! It has some growing pains which I hope the next title can iron out but overall really enjoyed it. Odd things like Boss Encounters feeling weird when Ichiban and the individual smack talk and then suddenly the rest of the gang is present in battle - I just felt these stand off moments felt more natural in the original Yakuza games.

Story was phenomenal though! Really engaging and the potential for a new cast setting and story really could have toppled on itself but I found Ichiban a very heartfelt protagonist! One of the problems I had with Kiryu was that he felt unstoppable and all his pain seems to come from his involvement with people around him. To see Ichiban be beaten down from time to time just made him more human to me. The side cast were decent too, some i felt were forced in to the story a bit weakly but I enjoeyd their personalities.

I liked the battle system but much like I mentioned before I felt the Job system wasn't very approachable. The problem was going back to Level 1 really reduced your characters stability in battle - The game already had a few heavy grinding spots due to challenging difficulty spikes. I think a better way would be to keep the stats to the characters level up and just leave the job levels to unlock new abilities.

I dabbled in a bit of the side content, the Dragon Kart was a lot of fun, though I was annoyed to find I had to wait until the last Chapter in the game to finish it off. One problem I have with Yakuza is some of the business mini-games are a little bit too much, also having Kiryu/Ichiban as Business Billionaire does sort of break the realism of the character for me. I did also find that the Sub-Stories really were a mixed bag in regard to the games budget. Some scenes were fully voice acted then other weren't which just felt a bit weird.

Is there any more proper Story content post game? I gathered there is another Final Millennium Tower dungeon but I'm not all that bothered about trying it just for the challenge.
 
So I just ran into some bullshit in Judgement. During the last boss battle in chapter 6, the boss has goons that revive once youā€™ve put them all down. While not ideal, I always thought this was a better method of artificially making RGG boss battles more challenging than the bullshit they usually do. So instead of clearing out the goons, I just go after the boss since the goons will revive anyway. NOPE. Once youā€™ve cleared the first of multiple health bars the boss has, HE IS INVINCIBLE UNTIL YOU TAKE OUT THE REST OF HIS GOONSā€¦WHO WILL FUCKING REVIVE ONCE YOU TAKE THEM OUT ANYWAY.

Iā€™m surprised I donā€™t remember running into this in Judgement, or any other RGG game (but I could be wrongā€¦their games are full of TERRIBLE boss battles).

See, this is EXACTLY what Iā€™m talking about when RGG insists on adding a ton of (in my mind) useless bullshit diversions in every new game when there are still basic gameplay aspects important to the core game that they really fucking suck at.

ā€œInstead of evolving/smoothing out the combat or addressing issues weā€™ve had since our very first gameā€¦letā€™s put a fucking go-cart mini-game or half-assed RTS mini-game into our next entryā€¦AND add an infuriatingly boring and long substory to itā€¦AND include half-assed barely animated cut-scenes to it!ā€
 
I might be misremembering, but I thought the goons don't revive once the boss' health bar is down to a certain point.

Anyway, I regularly hear complaints about RGG's battle system and/or cheap bossfights - especially for earlier entries - and it just never bothered me as much.

Once you've expanded your skill tree a bit, reached a reasonable level of proficiency and are stocked up on health items - just like you would in most other games - any fight becomes doable. Granted, I usually play the games at normal difficulty, but I do challenge myself at the Colosseum and with the Amon brothers.

Now, I'm not claiming the mechanics are flawless or that I don't get stuck at certain fights for a while (I find the "Do you want to try EASY mode?" question after every three subsequent losses especially insulting haha), but nothing about it
is horrible or broken as far as I'm concerned.

I've seen gameplay videos of people getting owned in fights and blaming the game for their own lack of skill. Games are supposed to have a certain difficulty, players are supposed to reach a certain level of mastery and winning is supposed to feel like an accomplishment. Questioning your sanity during a difficult boss fight is part of the process LOL. I grew up during the NES era where most games would now be considered 'soulslike' games.

I'm not against accessibility - RGG games actually have tons of examples of it - but I'm also a proponent of less handholding and more letting players figure stuff out themselves, in this case boss fight patterns.

At what point does the test of skill stop and bad game design start? I'm inclined to think people are quick to jump to the latter instead of admitting to themselves they simply lack skill or patience.

Any difficulty in games is 'artificial' by its very definition. It's software, everything's artificial.

Also couldn't disagree more about the side content. I don't think any of it is half-assed or boring. Games are created at a certain budget and it's all a balancing act; naturally most resources go to the main story and core gameplay mechanics. Once bonus / side content gets things like full pre-rendered cutscenes, you're either pulling away resources from the main section of the game and/or the budget starts to balloon.

I'm fine with the balance we've struck: People who are only interested in the main game get a great story, while the rest of us also get a ton of fun side activities to complete.

BTW IIRC there actually is a sidequest in one of the Kiwami games that comes with full cutscenes.
 
Alright, alright what Iā€™m NOT saying here is that the game is too difficult. Sure, I stopped bothering with trying to beat the last Bouncer Missions in Kiwami 2 because I was tearing my hair out, but Iā€™ll admit thatā€™s from my own lack of skill (and patience šŸ˜‚).

BUT in this instance with that Judgement boss battle, I was able to beat it just fine, even playing on Legendary. And yeah, yeah I understand video games are video games, theyā€™re meant to be challenging, theyā€™re all artificial, all that. The point Iā€™m trying to make is that Iā€™ve never seen such an obviously cheap gameplay ā€œmechanicā€ just to make a boss ā€œmore difficultā€. Is it game-breaking? I donā€™t know even know what that term means. Did this actually make the battle harder? Not at all, but it did point out a flaw to me within this battleā€™s design. Are there ways to make a game more challenging without having to resort to cheap tactics? Sure, but can I list any? No, because I donā€™t get paid to design games. I think your rationale of, ā€œthe game isnā€™t cheap, youā€™re just not skilled enoughā€ isnā€™t fair. There are PLENTY of games out there that I would totally agree with you on. And Iā€™m not particularly skilled in the Yakuza series, but theyā€™re also not the most challenging. However, a cheap move is a cheap move. Donā€™t mean to harp on you though. Weā€™ll just have to agree to disagree šŸ˜‰

This also relates to what I said about RGG overstuffing their games/not focusing on or refining existing problems. I have no problems with mini-games or side content at all. But I think many can agree that while the core gameplay is ā€œgood enoughā€ and has remained relatively unchanged until Yakuza 7, itā€™s not like RGG canā€™t do more towards refining the formula and existing systems. Personally, Iā€™d much rather see a minor improvement in one of these core mechanics over the inclusion of a new mini-game/side-story that will most likely only distract everyone from the fact that those core mechanics are not as good as they should be.

Do I think the side content should be as fleshed out presentation-wise as the main game? Yes, I would like that from an immersion standpoint. But I also understand the allocation of resources and that those resources are limited to begin with. I think a lot of the presentation of these mini-games are half-assed, not necessarily the mechanics. I personally donā€™t find them all that great, but when I still see issues with the presentation and mechanics of the main game, thatā€™s when I have to question what should take priority. Making a game fun should be number one, and Iā€™m assuming that is their priority. For me though, Iā€™d much rather see a consistent presentation and refined mechanics in the main game BEFORE spending those extra resources on the distractions. But Iā€™m probably in the minority there.
 
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Fair response.

BTW I wasn't accusing you personally of sucking at the game šŸ˜‚.

I fully realize that I'm probably not going to change anyone's mind, just wanted to add a bit of perspective.

Also not denying that some boss fights rely on cheap tactics for added difficulty; it's definitely a thing. It's just that I'm not really bothered with it, since it's something I grew up with. The way I see it the CPU (almost) always has an unfair advantage one way or another.

As for the presentation of the side content I actually agree to some extent; it'd be great if it had the same cutscenes and full voice acting the main portion of the game does. At the same time, there's something about the somewhat basic presentation that adds to its charm and quirkiness, but that may just be me. Either way I wouldn't want to miss any of the side content.
 
The Ishin Remake digital deluxe edition comes with a skin
that changes the normal player character model into the classic Kiryu Kazuma character model.
It also lets you start the game with the highest difficulty setting right from the start.
 
Tosh said:
It also lets you start the game with the highest difficulty setting right from the start.
Click to expand...

This should have been be the default for every Yakuza game from the start. Actually the default for every genre of game out there as the higher difficulty is very unappealing if you've already seen everything the game had to offer prior to unlock the setting.
 
Brand new RGG Studio interview bits from TGS 2022

Some interesting, and some worrying stuff

- almost 70% of the Yakuza / Like A Dragon fanbase is now from overseas,
thats why Sega gave thumbs up for a translated Ishin Remake
- Kenzan Remake or Remaster is not gonna happen(!!)
(they said it would be too much work because they cant use any of the original content
and they would need to redo everything from scratch and then it would be a completely different game)
(they also said that even until today they had no idea that people are interested in a translated Kenzan ... bullshit?)

- they only played original Kenzan in the RGG 24 hour livestream
because by that time the Ishin Remake was already happening, thats why they didnt want to stream original Ishin
- the interview translator commented that RGG Studio repeated that they wont make any changes
to appeal to overseas players but at the same time they were talking about global market, western players
and translation a lot and the interviewer thinks that pretty much all of the Ishin Remake
cast changes are to appeal to overseas players because those are fan favourite characters of new players
(the Ishin Remake was the first game in a long time that got revealed in a international event
and not in a Sega / RGG Studio event)

- the latest RGG live show didnt even have japanese subtitles
- RGG Studio talked so much about overseas players, history and comparisons in the interview
that they apologized to the japanese fanbase
- Yokoyama was very pissed about the western clickbait and mis translated articles about
his Yakuza on the Switch comment
- they are not using the Unreal Engine for any other game right now
but they are using the Unreal Engine for research purposes for a while now
and they have to check if they want to use it more for upcoming games
(the interview translator comments that maybe Nagoshi insisted on sticking with the Dragon Engine
but now that hes gone ...)

- the Ishin Remake is gonna have a new theme song,
also the ingame music will be changed to have more songs from other games to get the Allstar feeling
- the Ishin Remake has exactly the same story as the original
but they made some edits and cuts -> Yokoyama commented that they removed some things
that dont fit the times or are a bit questionable now

- sadly RGG Studio knows of all the overseas meme potential
- Oryo from original Ishin is now played by Yuki from Kiwami 2
- the upcoming Gaiden only exists because of the upcoming Like A Dragon 8
because while writing the story of 8, they came to a point where they realised
that they need Kiryu for it, which means they have to explan his path up to 8 a bit more
- they didnt want to put this content into Like A Dragon 8
because Like A Dragon is a international IP now, which means that the fanbase
should experience this as its own separate thing
- Like A Dragon 8 is not gonna have a subtitle name and there is a story reason for that
(translator comments that maybe Nagoshi was responsible for them
or the western translators asked them to drop them because its too hard to translate)


More and in depth here
dojimasdragongirl.wordpress.com

Ryu ga Gotoku Round Up Special ā€“ Tokyo Game Show 2022

Picture credit: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio official Twitter (@ryugagotoku) Apart from Famitsu (part 1, part 2), Yokoyama and Sakamoto were interviewed by several other Japanese outlets (and internationalā€¦
dojimasdragongirl.wordpress.com dojimasdragongirl.wordpress.com
 
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