General RGG Discussion

Hey guys,

Back from my 'sabbatical' since the game's release.
Last Saturday I finished the story after ~108 hours and currently I'm at a little over 113.

I've quickly browsed through all the comments in this thread since my previous post (which definitely didn't age well lol - sorry Matt/James, should have known you guys wouldn't broadcast a major spoiler like that) and just want to get some thoughts off my chest. There may be some very minor spoilers in what's ahead, so continue with caution.

Probably not going to surprise anyone at this point, but I LOVED it.

From the vastness of the story, to the large lively world and its amazing characters, to the incredibly varied gameplay elements and overall refinements made to pretty much all aspects of the series.

The cast of characters is just incredible and I love all their quirks and frivolous conversations you can discover. The humor is on point and often relatable. There is so much (spoken) dialog in this game!

It's just.. nothing will be able to top this in 2024. Talk about getting your money's worth. Even though I'm not a fan of paywalling basic features like New Game+, the game is so vast and fulfilling that I definitely don't mind spending a bit more on DLC.

I still cannot believe how big of a game this is. You're really getting three games here:
- The latest installment of Like a Dragon.
- RGG's take on PokΓ©mon.
- RGG's take on Animal Crossing.

I haven't completed my Sujidex yet and only poured a few hours into Dondoko Island, but these additions really make it so that even after finishing the main story and all substories, there's still something to keep coming back to. Even more so than with previous entries.

Not getting into any story details, but after having completed it I hope we'll actually get to see how certain scenes play out in the future!

Now, looking at the game critically there are a few nitpicks I have:
- Performance: While the game runs well for the most part, there are certainly scenarios where I encounter notable frame drops and/or inconsistent frame pacing. Even well over a month in with a few patches out, this still occurs
- Somewhat inconsistent presentation: There are characters in the game that look last-gen and their look tends to clash when they interact with any of the main characters. This is hardly a new thing for the series, but stood out to me a bit more this time. As far as I've noticed there are two types of these characters. Overly 'glossy/smooth' looking characters I typically encountered during something like a substory, but also PS3~ish looking ones. A notable example of the latter is the Palekana lady you meet at their orphanage.
- Japanese voice-actors doing the English speaking portion for some characters. I think the thick accent can be explained away for characters with Asian backgrounds, but Bryce Fairchild speaking English sounded.. interesting. Couldn't they just use the English audio track for those portions? Sure the voices sound different, but I think it would have been the better solution. Aside from that I do understand they didn't want to make the language barrier between Asian and American characters too much of an issue narratively, so I'm fine with relatively little English dialog being spoken in Hawaii.
- The podcasts not having English subs is odd and something I'd still like to see addressed.

Again, these are just nitpicks and while noticeable didn't really affect my enjoyment of the game. I assume they're mostly caused by a lack of time and considering what a whopper of a game the studio has delivered in a relatively short amount of time it's a small miracle the release date wasn't postponed and the game didn't have any major issues at launch.

Now, there are a few complaints I've spotted saying the game is either too woke or not woke enough and to that I can only say it's impossible to please everybody. And full disclosure I'm German too, so I probably have some of that same political correctness laying dormant in me. Anyway, I personally think the game walks an incredibly fine line between moving with the times while also staying true to the core of the series.

I think that takes care of my initial thoughts, although it feels weird saying 'initial' after playing the game for a month/113+ hours. Sorry if I kinda went all over the place or rehashed too many points already worded better by other members. Kinda felt like a shaken can of Pepsi getting opened and spraying my thoughts all over. Kinda like that attack drunk Sujimon have lol.

Edit: Oh yeah, the game broke records in terms of sales, player counts and critical reception and I can only say deservedly so.
 
Great write-up,You!

To get the nitpicks out of the way, I addressed 2 of the 4 in my review and while I didn't notice and slowdown or frame drops at first, once hitting up the dungeons, it happened a bit often, but always at the same points, this I wasn't miffed. These games will NEVER be 10/10 games for graphics, but since Ishin! (And aside from Hokuto ga Gotoku), these games have all been 9/10s and we're treated to some lovely visuals: a squall happening at night looked phenomenal in this game and looking out over the city in Millennium Tower before
Ebina's
floor is just a jaw-dropping visual.

So not quite perfect, but close enough and I'm cool with that.

For the other 2 nitpicks, I hear you (literally) on the voice actors, but I figure it has to do with some sort of licensing or whatever, so those English voices can't be heard on the Japanese track as a result. But yes, Bryce's voice is hilarious πŸ˜‚. Still, the voice work is magnificent as always and Kuroda knocked it out of the park, range-wise, in back to back games.

And while the Japanese podcasts could have done with subtitles, I was cool listening to the English ones after a while, as they become less annoying and helped the time go by much quicker.

The quality of life improvements meant that while still tedious at times, grinding wasn't as much of a chore and more time could be spent doing the 5 million side things.

And that soundtrack? Utter perfection like always; added just over 30 songs to my iPod, excluding Karaoke... Save for Honolulu City Lights: banger and a half.

This is the best game in the series, period and I think the truest of the 0 fans can agree with that.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
This is the best game in the series, period and I think the truest of the 0 fans can agree with that.
Click to expand...

It's absolutely the best game in the series to me. Where do we rank the story? I saw some people really trash the ending before I finished it so I braced for a bad ending but came away thinking, it's not even that bad? Like one element could've been expanded on with one of the characters in the ending but outside of that everything else with the ending was great I thought. I greatly enjoyed the story all things considered.
 
Yeah the voice / sound stuff is probably because of licensing issues
between Sega of America and Sega Japan and how they cant just use the same english speaking actor
for two versions, when he was only booked to do his lines for one version.
Or the japanese actor was already booked, recorded and paid a long time ago
and they have to use that because of contracts ... probably something like that.
Japan always seems to be very very strict about this stuff.
I think in the new Sony PS5 game Stellar Blade, it was reported that the japanese dub
is only available in the japanese version of the game. It does not exist in any other version.
Because they dont want to go with international contracts.
But all of the other supported dub languages, are available in all versions.
 
I Got Sriracha In My DNA said:
It's absolutely the best game in the series to me. Where do we rank the story? I saw some people really trash the ending before I finished it so I braced for a bad ending but came away thinking, it's not even that bad? Like one element could've been expanded on with one of the characters in the ending but outside of that everything else with the ending was great I thought. I greatly enjoyed the story all things considered.
Click to expand...
I'd put the story in the top 10, closer to 5, out of the 20 games. On par or a touch worse than 7, IMO.

7 had a better plot in terms of moving parts, this had a better plot in terms of stakes; 7 gets the edge, but essentially each game in the series also has a 10/10 plot in terms of writing and efficacy of the characters and world (save for a handful, like 2 and 4), thus you really can't go wrong here.

And yes, the ending wasn't bad at all: I think people expected more bloodshed or something, but there will definitely be an off-screen consequence to the events of this game that is not necessarily needed at the end of this game proper; the writing and storyboarding is good-enough without it.

A ton of people were up in arms over the final, final scene, but for vets and/or those who, "get," the game, it was brilliant (as I wrote in my above post).

BTW, I too want to mention that this game not only confirmed Gaiden, but FURTHER doubled down on Yumi being Kiryu's one true love: I'm not sure if anyone noticed as well, but Kaoru's scene was far and away the shortest of the memories and I feel that was by design: the devs are seemingly not fans of her, I don't know why I need to keep repeating that for over 10 years lol.
 
Licensing getting in the way of interchangeable voice/audio tracks makes sense.

^^I personally never had an issue with Kaoru or her fling with Kiryu and thought what they gave us here was nice. If Kiryu can have superficial relationships with tons of hostesses through the years, he can have a slightly more involved romance with someone as well. I don't think their short-lived fling somehow invalidates how Kiryu feels about Yumi or them being soulmates.

I thought the ending and post-credit scene of the game was great. Sure, had they given me more I would've eaten it up, but leaving the audience wanting more is a good thing.

Also, since someone mentioned grinding. I have a somewhat unpopular opinion on the subject: I tend to enjoy grinding! Sure it can be a bottomless pit for your free time, but I like the basic concept of training to (gradually) get stronger. That said, it should never be mandatory for extended periods of time, just optional to make things easier down the road or just for us geeks who like high stats.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
BTW, I too want to mention that this game not only confirmed Gaiden, but FURTHER doubled down on Yumi being Kiryu's one true love: I'm not sure if anyone noticed as well, but Kaoru's scene was far and away the shortest of the memories and I feel that was by design: the devs are seemingly not fans of her, I don't know why I need to keep repeating that for over 10 years lol.
Click to expand...

I'm Team Sayama but I agree that the devs have pushed Yumi as Kiryu's true love. I guess it makes sense and is a neat package given his bond with Haruka.

Let's be real though, there were a couple times there you know Kiryu wished he was 15 years younger and healthier to get in on the Seonhee action.
 
Back in Yokohama now. Time for some more friendship bingo stuff.
Theres definitely still something wrong with the performance in this whole game.
I can even see fps drops in the can collecting mini game.
This never ever happened in the Yakuza 7 PS5 version.
 
You Arcade Clerk said:
Licensing getting in the way of interchangeable voice/audio tracks makes sense.

^^I personally never had an issue with Kaoru or her fling with Kiryu and thought what they gave us here was nice. If Kiryu can have superficial relationships with tons of hostesses through the years, he can have a slightly more involved romance with someone as well. I don't think their short-lived fling somehow invalidates how Kiryu feels about Yumi or them being soulmates.

I thought the ending and post-credit scene of the game was great. Sure, had they given me more I would've eaten it up, but leaving the audience wanting more is a good thing.

Also, since someone mentioned grinding. I have a somewhat unpopular opinion on the subject: I tend to enjoy grinding! Sure it can be a bottomless pit for your free time, but I like the basic concept of training to (gradually) get stronger. That said, it should never be mandatory for extended periods of time, just optional to make things easier down the road or just for us geeks who like high stats.
Click to expand...
I don't mind grinding at all and the smackdown really helped in the dungeons, big time, however I do think that we should've had access to Yokohama Underground with Kasuga.

I know, I'm just a petulant child over the whole Kiryu relationship subject lol, I'll acknowledge that!

And yeah, Sriracha: with Seonhee being so totally in awe of Kiryu 24/7, I think they'd be good together as well lol.
 
You Arcade Clerk said:
It may be a bit too late for some, but can't we technically access

both dungeons with all characters post-story?
Click to expand...
We can!

But I play through everything in one go: I wasn't going to go back in PA, though that's on me
 
Some questions I have after the ending:
What happened to the chairman of the Seiryu kai? Is he still in critical condition? Or did he die? Is the disbandment of the gang still recognized since it was done in his absence and probably without his approval? How much does Seonhee know about the Daidoji to begin with? Even in 7, she was aware of them. Did Ogikubo trust such info with the Ijinsan? Or is Seonhee's info network THAT good?
 
RyoHazuki84 said:
Some questions I have after the ending:
What happened to the chairman of the Seiryu kai? Is he still in critical condition? Or did he die? Is the disbandment of the gang still recognized since it was done in his absence and probably without his approval? How much does Seonhee know about the Daidoji to begin with? Even in 7, she was aware of them. Did Ogikubo trust such info with the Ijinsan? Or is Seonhee's info network THAT good?
Click to expand...
Hoshino is dead, do you mean Ebina? I'd have to think he was imprisoned.

The interim one was killed in jail they said in chapter 13 or whatever, didn't they?

I'd assume she knows quite a bit: for someone that has her finger on everything in Yokohama, she'd better know sufficiently about them.

Ogikubo has nothing to do with anything anymore, really and he hasn't been shown anywhere in the past 2 games.
 
I wanted to mention, Seonhee's VA looks NOTHING like Seonhee; since 3 or so, they've tried to model the characters' faces off of their VA (unless they voices multiple characters in the series), with only a couple of exceptions... And Seonhee's one of 'em.
 
I'm in chapter 12 at around 120 hours i think.
Did pretty much every side mission and activity in all of the chapters. So for a couple of chapters i had
nothing else than main missions and now here and there like 1-2 new side missions.
Didnt finish all dungeons yet. I guess i'm slowly on my way to the finale.
 
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