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4 over 2?

I'm on chapter 5 and 8 hours into Kiwami 2 and can maybe already declare this one is on the same level as Zero for me. The hype was real and it totally delivers so far. All the side characters are amazing, finally a lot of focus on the Omi Alliance that I've seen talked about from playing them out of order a bit, seeing a younger Daigo, the Sayama cop girl is awesome, and Ryuji Goda is like... Raoh from Fist of the Northstar. I can easily see how he might be one of the best villains in the franchise. The music and writing is an enormous step up from the first game like everyone said.

Kiwami 2 also seems like it refined the Dragon Engine from Yakuza 6. I haven't noticed any screen tearing this time and everything just looks better. Combat feels way better too. And I'm glad to see the same exp system from 6 here again. The cabaret club and all the side content seems amazing too.

Just positives left and right with no complaints. Yeah, I'd put this one above 1, 3, and 6 so far already.

One of the best series Sega has put out in the past decade. I just got Kiwami 2 in the mail this week, so my goal is to try and finish Yakuza 6 in the coming weeks.
The cast of characters is wonderful. The core game play is inspiring and fun to play through. I love the substories and minigames, they add to the universe. The story can be a bit predictable, but the series never really takes itself seriously. Yakuza 0 was notorious for all the throwback references to characters in later games. Ryuji Goda for example beating up people in Sotenbori. I love that Pocket Circuit Fighter appears in 6.

There's not much negative that I can say about the series. They can be a bit repetitive, but if you sit down and play on there's tons of content, lots to explore, and the story is an entertaining drama. I have enjoyed all of the game that have been brought to the west and I'm thankful for the localization team to continue doing so. I'd love to have all of the Kazuma Kiryu-centered games to be released on PS4.

They're gauging interest to see if we want the feudal Japan games now too, which I've heard are very good too.

Personally, I have some serious beef with Yakuza 6 and kind of want to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm glad I get to play Kiwami 2 now to wash it away a bit and I also need to play 5 for my last one, waiting for a physical version finally paid off (think the PS4 is getting 3, 4, 5 eventually).

So this was announced today. This game is called Project Judge (Judge Eyes in Japan).

Here's a story trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enp8HAUbJZI
Here's a gameply trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoAnyXqB9g
Here's a let's play version of some gameplay - some action begins around 12:55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apKg-bm ... e=youtu.be

Looks like a mix between LA Noire / Ace Attorney and the Yakuza games we know and love. This for me looks like a day one buy. The fact that this is a game put out by the Yakuza team with very little recycled elements, is downright amazing. I cannot wait. Looks like it is also set in Kamurocho.

It is available on the Japanese PSN Store under Judge Eyes.

I hope other Yakuza fans are excited for this one!

Did you ever play Binary Domain, Blu? It's amazing!

I'm definitely excited for this game. It's amazing how this team gets to work with big budgets for some Japanese stuff, always sounds like the Yakuza series sells really well over there and now they've blown up globally. Exciting to see them do some more new IP's.

Blu wrote:Here's a story trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enp8HAUbJZI

[0:22] Holy friggin Kimu-Taku, WTF. How do they have the budget to get these Japanese mega-stars on board. I know Beat Takeshi was in 6, but if I recall, they got Oguri Shun for that game, too. Madness.

Xeogred wrote:They're gauging interest to see if we want the feudal Japan games now too, which I've heard are very good too.

Having played a bit of Kenzan! and having researched a bit about it, it came out before Yakuza 3 and was criticized for basically being Yakuza 2.5, which is basically is. Mechanically it's more or less exactly the same as the original Yakuza 2, but it's HD on a PS3, which was a big deal at the time. It'd be really cool if they came to the West, but the first one at least is nothing super special/different from the couple hours I've put into it (not compared to the FotNS spin-off, for example).

Xeogred wrote:Did you ever play Binary Domain, Blu? It's amazing!

I'm definitely excited for this game. It's amazing how this team gets to work with big budgets for some Japanese stuff, always sounds like the Yakuza series sells really well over there and now they've blown up globally. Exciting to see them do some more new IP's.

Wait, is Binary Domain by the same crew of the Yakuza Series? I loved it along with Vanquish, and probably enjoyed those two more than the other cover shooters I played on 360/PS3.

I am quite excited for this game as well -- I am about to finish Yakuza 6 and with that I hope Kiryu's sendoff in the series helps me shift my attention to the new games the Yakuza team puts forward.

Yep, same studio. Same humor, same little underground downtime sections with those civilian areas, good times. I totally agree, Binary Domain and Vanquish blow Uncharted/Gears away in my book. Way more charming and fun.

6 left me cold, man. We'll talk later.