Don't mess with the Yakuza

[Dreddz]

So who's picking up Yakuza 2? Its out today in America and on the 28th in Europe. I'm importing so I should be getting it on Thursday. Can't believe it took this long for it to leave Japan, it originally came out in 2006 if you don't know.

I'm encouraging everyone to impulse buy this one. Its at a budget price (sort of) and if you don't buy it then we'll probably have to wait another 2 years after Yakuza 3 gets released. Hopefully we can even get the spin off which is already out in Japan.

[JKTrix]

CAN'T WAIT. Unfortunately it's going to take a week for it to get to Bermuda, and by time that happens.... I'll be away getting ready for school. But definitely picking it up as soon as I can.

[LunarWeaver]

I plan on trying to get my hands on it. Well, I'm too broke and saving money to buy games right now, so I'm doing that whole Gamefly thing. They have it listed, but I'm sure it will fall under "Low Availability" so hopefully I get one of the 2 and a half copies they're bound to buy. The first Yakuza really did have one of the greatest stories to ever hit games. Excitement, yay

[Dreddz]

Scans.

Coincidentally some new scans for Yakuza 3 have surfaced. It looks phenomenal, definitely one of my most hyped games for 2009. PS3 exclusive too.

[Nifleheim7]

I haven't played the first Yakuza but i've tried the japanese demo of Yakuza:Kenzan and i was very impressed!I'm still not sure if i should wait for a western release or import it...

I want to try Yakuza 2 but i've heard that the english voice acting isn't so good...Does it have an option for the original voice acting?
Imo games that are heavily based in a country's culture should have the option of that same language.

[Dreddz]

Yakuza is infamously known for its poor dub but I think it had more to do with the translation than the actual voice acting. Too much cursing was the main issue. Cursing is cool in moderation but they somehow made it lame by overusing it. It was like everyone in the entire game had Tourettes. Plus its always weird to hear Japanese names being said in an American accent. The original dub was apparently very well done.

You'll be pleased to know that Yakuza 2 only has the original Japanese dub. I think they could have gone to the effort to include an English dub, just making sure that the cursing is kept down to a minimum.

[Nifleheim7]

That's great!I'll wait for the European release.

[JKTrix]

Yakuza 1 didn't really sell that well outside of Japan. Also, the dub cast for Yakuza 1 had a bunch of Hollywood actors. Probably wasn't cost-effective for them to re-hire those big names for a game that probably won't sell very well. The fans who bought the first game wanted the original Japanese voices as well, so Sega is using Fan Requests as the reason for the omission of the English dub.

Yakuza 2's release is truly something Sega is doing for the fans with its Japanese-only option and 'budget' price. They're not expecting to make money on this over here. Guaranteed that it's also testing the waters to see if it would be worth bringing out either of the PS3 games in a similar fashion. So, buy Yakuza 2 people!

To think, this game is probably brought to us by the incredible success of Mario & Sonic Olympics.

[Markus. D]

What is the gameplay like? I've been curious ever since you said "Buy on impulse" ... Because I appreciate your taste in gaming Dreddz, however I'm spending hideous amount of cash on my credit debit card and want some left over

[Dreddz]

The gameplay is basically a 3D brawler. Its not too in depth and the combo you learn at the beginning of the first game carries you all the way through to the end but its still good fun. I'm haven't played Yakuza 2 just yet but it looks pretty similar from what I've seen.

While I am encouraging people to buy this game, to be fair you probably need to play the first game before this one. The series is pretty story intensive and I'm sure Yakuza 2 makes a lot more sense if you have played the first game.

From the looks of it, Yakuza 2 is going to bomb. I've seen little to no hype for the game and not even one review. I think Sega shot themselves in the foot releasing this game in 2008 when the PS2 is on its last legs. Oh well.

[Markus. D]

I'll go and search for the first one this weekend !

[JKTrix]

Well, Yakuza 1 bombed so I'm sure Sega doesn't really have high hopes for a sequel to a game that 'nobody' played. Like I mentioned, it's kind of a labour of love.

Yakuza 2 comes with a lengthy cinematic recap of the first game, (with the original Japanese dialogue to boot) that will catch you up on the story. It'll probably be better to play through the first game if you can find it to get all the 'intricacies', but from what I've heard the recap does a pretty good job.

Before the first game came out, Sega had a bunch of 'Prequel' videos that expands on the story of Kazuma. They're still up on the official North America site:
http://www2.sega.com/gamesite/yakuza/ (Click 'Media' on the bottom or 'All New Movies' at the top, then click the Prequel tab)

[Dreddz]

My copy arrived this morning. A bit overdue but I'm not complaining because I have it now. I'm only two hours but the plot moves so fast it feels like I've played double that. It plays very much like the first game, I don't have much to say about the story just yet but its setting itself up nicely. Kazuma's still as badass as ever.

[JKTrix]

Did you skip the flashback? I'm kinda curious as to how long it actually is and how well it recaps. Stores here still don't have it...