Yakuza 0 Retrospective - The Definition of a Perfect Prequel

[@ravenshrike]

The "never killed anyone thing" was a mistranslation. And only really applies to Kiryu. It was never killed anyone outside of self defense. As for Majima, there's a difference between taking a job as an assassin and killing someone you're in a fight with.

[@nexenojustice552]

I just beat the game today and at the part when Nishiki stops Kiryu because of "Killing bad" I instantly thought of the car chase scene where Kiryu 10000% sent some of the those guys to die after either shooting them or blowing up their cars/helicopter

[@dizzygunner]

​@@nexenojustice552 my first thought was "the guys a keep dropping on the top of their head full force in beast stance are defo dead"

[@bipstymcbipste5641]

@@dizzygunner rubber explosions and stuff, ya know

[@silentkaine9352]

I mean in the first scene of the first game with him he tried to shove his umbrella into a dudes eye

[@livekazumareaction]

what game was this mistranslation in??????

[@borombab4816]

Having Majima in it was probably the smartest decision they ever made for the series popularity. Absolutely nailing his fighting techniques was just the icing on the cake.

[@ChampDietingAndFitness]

Yeah this was my first kiryu game. I really wasn't into his story at the start of the game, but then the story shifted to Majima and I was so intrigued with what was going on and found majima so interesting it made me more willing to learn more about kiryu. Needless to say 0-kiwami 2 is my favorite trilogy of all time.

[@alexromero135]

​@@ChampDietingAndFitness same kiryu story was lowkey boring to me at the start but when I got to majima I was hooked man character development is crazy

[@JoelEverettComposer]

Majima is certainly a flashier story, but I wasn't bored by Kiryu's story either - it is just more of a slow burn.

[@ChampDietingAndFitness]

@@JoelEverettComposer yeah i have actually changed my opinion about kiryus story as a whole after playing 0-2 I actually JUST bought 4-6 yesterday gonna play through them soon, but yeah I still feel like kiryus at the very start is kinda boring because I'm on my 2nd playthrough of 0, his story does get alot better after Majima is introduced though.

[@alexromero135]

@@JoelEverettComposer Yeah exactly kiryu story was pretty slow at the start but gets better after majima is introduced

[@Hilversumborn]

Yakuza 0 is one of the greatest comeback/breakthrough stories ever. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Nagoshi for sticking with his vision and with Lost Judgment being the last game he produced, I can only say: ‘Thank you for everything’

[@Ticketman99]

Did you play the PS2 Yakuza games?

[@Hilversumborn]

@@Ticketman99 No.

[@Ticketman99]

@@Hilversumborn Then get to it, if you *really* have "a tremendous amount of respect for Nagoshi for sticking with his vision".

[@Hilversumborn]

@@Ticketman99 Sorry, but I’m not listening to a gatekeeper.

[@Ticketman99]

@@Hilversumborn That doesn't change that you do not truly have respect for Nagoshi sticking to his vision. He put his job on the line for PS2 Yakuza 1, *not* Yakuza 0.

[@oceanman_8370]

I really love how when Majima meets Kiryu they both just recognize each or without knowing any physical traits. They just knew it had to be each other based on the looks

[@engagingbus7991]

Well, they probably thought, "Huh, this dude looks really out of place, it might be that person that I kept hearing about."

[@bipstymcbipste5641]

@@engagingbus7991 "My protagonist senses are tingli-" *receive you intensifies*

[@D41noth]

Jojo protagonists wish they got that kind of enemies recognition

[@amberhernandez]

"The enemy stand user could be anyone!"

[@3slicessenpai]

Play enough Yakuza and you start to see that Heat attracts Heat and powerful fighters can tell each other apart.

[@MrGarde1]

Yakuza 0 was my introduction to the series at the lowest point of my life. Super depressed and one meal a day or sometimes no meals a day broke. But something about coming home after work and doing all the story, karaoke, disco and fighting was such a big deal to me. This game means so much to me that it’s one of the two games I’ve ever gone out of my way to get all the achievements in, the other being dmc5. Both of those adventures can be equally hellish, but I’m glad I did it. And It’s a little cheesy, but I’m proud of myself for committing to this thing simply because it was fun and it made me happy. When I didn’t have any money or friends, I had yakuza 0. This game could very well be solely responsible for me being here today, knowing that I was going to have a great couple hours at the end of the day kept me going. And yes my life is way better now and I still come back and start a fresh save every now and then

[@JACpotatos]

Same here. Just lost what was supposed to be my dream career, depressed, etc. Binged through the series and it brought me so much happiness

[@bes03c]

I am impressed that you learned shogi for the game.

[@some_creepy_guy]

Same here actually. I was fired from my job and struggling to get a new one. I took a flight and stayed with my mom for a week or two as I applied to other jobs. Playing it really eased an astronomical amount of stress off my shoulders. Everything was just so good, entertaining, and filled with soul.

[@isaaciktaile1118]

Yakuza 0 and DMC5? You have tastes of a true chad in video games! Good to know you are well these days.

[@maxtubb]

Project X Zone 2 was my exposure to the Yakuza series, but I didn't jump into the series due to lack of interest at the time also there move set was mostly based on Yakuza: Dead Souls which Yakuza Fans have said that its one of the weaker games in the Yakuza series. But in 2018 I was scrolling through KZbin, and I found a video called Sonic and SEGA All Stars Warzone which was a fan idea video for a possible SEGA Smash Bros it's actually a really well put together concept video and I linked in the comment below but anyways the video going through the roster of playable characters on the roster but one character I didn't recognize at the time was Kiryu and he was a series called Yakuza but then he started showing screenshots of gameplay and in one screenshot was Kiryu and then it hit me that this was same character from Project X Zone 2 and then I learned that Yakuza: Dead Souls was a Spin Off to Yakuza and not a main line game. So, then I look up the Yakuza Series and I learned that it was a big series in the Japan for SEGA but in the west, it wasn't quite a big as it was in Japan until the release of Yakuza 0 in 2017 on the PS4. the first Yakuza game I played was Yakuza 6: The Song of Life since it was newest one out at the time and I was hooked instantly, and I have played mostly every Yakuza game to date (Except spinoffs like Dead Souls, Kenzan) and its easily one of favorite game series of all time. SONIC & SEGA ALL STARS WARZONE: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnmrYpKln5t-g9E

[@eden4949]

Nishiki is the reason I am so happy I started with 0 and avoided all potential spoilers like the plague. Heck I even save all future yakuza content to 'watch later'.

[@John-Stark]

😬

[@hemenens_7707]

Ten years in the joint made you

[@3slicessenpai]

The whole "Kiwami 1 is both a remake of OG 1 and a sequel of Zero" point that's made in the video really shines in Kiwami 1, where they give you additional Nishiki cutscenes to show his heartbreaking descent into madness, cementing his place as one of best villains in the franchise.

[@eden4949]

@@3slicessenpai agreed 100%. Nishiki is a sad tragedy, but I love the memories of Y0. I'm at Y7 now and they all feel like family

[@MGS-lore-enthusiast]

we dont talk about millenium tower incident...

[@BenkaiDebussy]

The part where you mention the localization of Majima's kansai dialect is interesting; I hadn't really thought about it, but it's actually a remarkably good localization of the general "feel" of kansai dialect.

[@spaghettimkay5795]

It's essentially a more rough/abbreviated version of English. The kind you'd find in most English speaking countries but without their local dialects and slang. "Ya" instead of "You" kind of thing. As I understand it's a similar situation eith Kansai vs Tokyo dialects. So it's a well thought out localisation.

[@LinkinMark1994]

Kiryu’s not a member of the Kazama family. They specifically point this out with Nishiki asking why they joined the Dojima family and not the Kazama family. He’s called the Dragon of Dojima for a reason

[@chenwingsee]

Noticed this mistake also lol

[@Ticketman99]

It's easy to be confused because of how Kiryu's closest people(sans Majima)are linked to the Kazama Family.

[@TytoPhoenix]

I'm so glad someone else noticed haha

[@rendurai]

​@@Ticketman99 Majima was from the Shimano family. Ergo he was called Mad dog of Shimano

[@Ticketman99]

@@rendurai I said *sans* Majima. That means *besides,* if the word seems new to you.

[@synthiandrakon]

I think what makes Yakuza 0 really special for me is the time period. There is something really kind of satisfying and analogue about everything, communicating through pagers and payphones felt novel. In a game set in current day when the family wants to call kiriyu in they'd probably send a text message but there is something more satisfying about getting a code on the pager, not knowing the clan wants him but not instantly why. The conversation carries on and at the end he physically walks to a payphone and calls the clan. There is something within the context of a video game that I like about that mechanically as opposed to navigating the menu of a virtual smartphone.

[@3slicessenpai]

Also, it introduces the player to the best Yakuza character in the series: Guy on Phone Duty

[@SeleezSE]

ex-dev here. Yakuza games of that era generally had prerendered cutscenes (the ones without the text boxes and press "x"/"a" to skip). The "cutscenes" or rather dialogue scenes are real-time in-engine with the RGG:K/3 engine. That engine wasn't able to handle the amount of facial blendshapes with the models used in the CGI cutscenes, i believe the cutscene character models had a range of a few hundred thousand polys (depending on the importance of character). RGG6 had a good mix of high quality cutscenes but that number was more or less 50% of real-time and 50% prerendered. The real issue for the initial version of the dragon engine was the perf/unstable frame rates (at least on the targeted platform at the time) as well as the rather not so impressive aliasing. It is rather hard to tell whether the cutscenes were real-time or not as they were made in the same engine as the game. But if you really look, you can see some compression artifacts (most noticeable the color gradient banding in the skybox, and obvious baked lighting on character models in the real-time rendering of the gameplay and the textbox cutscenes). The dragon engine got much needed improvements by Kiwami 2 and the first Judgement, and but then a large portion of the in-game cutscenes were done in-engine, and aside from more powerful hardware and better optimized engine, using in-game cutscenes saved a ton of space. With modern rendering techniques used in games and the improved frame buffers on modern GPUs, the assets/textures themselves are more complex and taking more space both on the frame buffer and the storage media (Disc or HDD installation) than the PS2/3 era. Making the cutscenes in real-time where ever possible with existing streamable assets with vector coordinate data of deformer bones beat out in space allocation compared to trying to store rendered cutscenes as videos in good quality compressed videos (1440p/4K) on a optical disc or as a digital download.

[@TunezCottage]

You're probably right about the bubble economy and the developers enjoying it. There's a substory in Kiwami where this young actress asks Kiryu what it was like during that era and he reminisces about it to her while she gushes about it to him. It's a great little story that feels deeply personal.

[@snakey888]

Really underselling the combat here. The gear system, four styles, wall bounds, counters and heat actions coupled together does not just provide plenty of variety but a lot of depth as well.

[@snakey888]

@Samuel Anugrah Andre Yep, variety, heat management, positioning etc, all of that contributes to a far deeper combat system than some like to make it out.

[@ThatRandomFastingGuy]

Yeah the combat is so Satisfying.

[@Handlelesswithme]

Except Beast mode you get more damage, more heat actions, more stun lock, more reach and super armor Guess which one is the best that you should throw all your money into

[@snakey888]

@@Handlelesswithme Beast is also the slowest, and clunkiest of them. The best style that one should throw their money at is the one most enjoyable to use, or a balanced approach. All of them are perfectly viable on their own, mixing it up makes it that much better.

[@Handlelesswithme]

@@snakey888 you say that but I had absolutely no issue beating every boss on hard with it

[@HatKidPeck]

The tachibana part at the end of the game will always make me cry. Makoto’s reaction dude god damn.

[@sekkuar]

I read an article where the devs of Yakuza 0 say they believe the biggest reason for the western success was due to them finally learning their lesson on localization. Yakuza 1 has an English version, which is pretty bad since it's a full dub with sketchy translation. Devs said leaving the dialogue in Japanese and localizing only the text made it much easier to make the game accessible while not losing context or sounding out of place. Later they used the same recipe for Kiwami and it worked great as well. I do believe if they released kiwami in the west before 0, it would have a similar success story for the series as 0 had.

[@hairy_putin]

TEN YEARS IN THE JOINT MADE YOU A FUCKING PUSSY

[@ArariaKAgelessTraveller]

It also being helped by the fact that English Dub in general sucks English Voice Actor is not as big entertainment business in general as japan's Especially outside of western Cartoon Even today, i found some English dub of many anime and game vastly inferior although, You can still find some diamonds in the sand of unfitting VAs

[@idrathernot_2]

Sounds about right. People want the original they just want to understand it. They don't want the product completely changed pursuing some kind of Western audience that doesn't exist. Western media has been chasing the mythical modern audience for some time now making nothing but garbage. They could have published the games using Google translate.

[@bipstymcbipste5641]

@@ArariaKAgelessTraveller Also the English VAs suck are catching the Japanese vibe that makes their whole thing stand out.

[@ragnhildmd5063]

​@@bipstymcbipste5641 This. I think that's why I often find english dubs of Japanese series or games to feel more flat. With very few exeptions, I end up sitting with this feeling like something is missing. Like that extra spark that makes the japanese VS so engaging not being present in the english dubs.

[@Rihcterwilker]

Seeing Kamurocho change in every new game while still being familiar is so good. It adds a sense of time and place that i haven't seen (on the same level) in any other game. Ps: black panther 1/2 both have english patches (1 - only story & 2 - everything besides hostess)

[@blueblazer9991]

I wish all of you a happy Ishin Day tomorrow

[@adhumbla1153]

How bout ya like a dragon ishin deez nuts instead !😏

[@Nekomania]

God is it really tomorrow already 😳

[@justarandombluebird8222]

@@Nekomania for the one who pre-order the game yes

[@josedorsaith5261]

How is it? Did they end up keeping the annoying card system for the combat?

[@funkyoa]

​@@josedorsaith5261they did but its not that bad

[@scottangus6684]

Played yakuza 0 back in 2020, loved the game so much and ended up completing the whole series in the year. Got me back into the gym too because I wanted to look like kiryu and now in the best shape of my life!

[@no.7893]

Yakuza is the sole inspiration for fitness in my life

[@thefiresworddragon927]

Sorry to say you won't be like Kiryu. Though maybe you can get his looks, but you and I both know you won't get his insane strength and power, 😅

[@no.7893]

@@thefiresworddragon927 not with that attitude you wont :)

[@Rosamune]

The word of mouth and amount of streamers who gave this game a chance really spread around how good this series is

[@RihenSc]

First NieR and now Yakuza, two of my favourite game series! Keep up with the amazing work Brando!

[@CaptainUrahara]

I had never played a Yakuza game but was told over and over how great they were. I picked up 0-7 and Judgment + Lost Judgment for cheap in mid 2022 and went on a spree playing them. Started at 0, played thru all the way to 7, then played J and LJ. Man they were fantastic. The only bad thing is that 0 was my favorite so nothing quite hit that high, but the rest were great for sure. Honestly 0 was great all around but I loved the bosses in 0. Kiryu’s final fight was my absolute favorite. I still listen to the battle music(Two Dragons) almost daily.

[@NrettG]

Dude that is one of Yakuza's biggest strength's in my opionon. The fact that you can get the entire series and it's spinoff's a little under $120 is a damn good deal. It usual costs that much to get 3 games in a franchise, not all 9.

[@idl1228]

kinda late but thats my only problem with the Yakuza franchise, Y0 being the first of the series sets the bar too high, the other ones wont hit the same anymore. Still, all of them were great. Although I prefer Judgment over Y0 but for only a very small margin lol

[@MegamanNG]

This is how you not only bring new life to the Yakuza series but also bring it to the West in epic fashion. As someone who has played EVERY Yakuza game, yep. This is what truly started it all and I love it.

[@Cruzer3x]

I came across the Yakuza series during the pandemic from game pass and started on 0 and beat the whole series including judgement. This series got me back into gaming

[@eseph9899]

Dude I fucking bawled my eyes out over the kiryu nishiki gun scene.

[@dough7726]

Dude same

[@piperjones8029]

Bro me too

[@TheSerpentsEye]

Also, Tachibana's death scene and carry out. 😢

[@novollllll]

“the combat system isn’t that deep” *proceeds to explain the depth of the combat system*

[@bigtacotime4382]

the yakuza series asks the bold question of "what if shenmue was good?"

[@spaghettimkay5795]

Thats the perfect way to describe Yakuza

[@jeremiahgrayest]

Which is redundant, because Shenmue is already good

[@saintpepsi8602]

Shenmue was good though one of the best Dreamcast games and is a great game to back and play now especially 2

[@saintpepsi8602]

​@@jeremiahgrayestguarantee the original comment has never even played shenmue along with everyone who liked it

[@Handlelesswithme]

@@saintpepsi8602 I have played it and if I wanted to play a life simulator I would play stardew Valley or Harvest moon If I wanted to play a crime drama beat ‘em up with some absurd real world based minigames I would play Yakuza The two together is not really that good

[@noima13]

Yakuza today feels big enough to deceive any fan into thinking that it's a big series. Once you get swallowed whole by it you tend to forget that it's still, no matter what we say or do, a somewhat niche franchise. However I am happy to see it grow and it is undoubtedly going to keep on growing. I can't wait to see the dream fulfilled.

[@VXMasterson]

I finished Yakuza 0 about a month ago. After putting 81 hours in it, I took a small break to put 20 hours into Dragon Quest Xi but found myself missing the street fights, the drama, and the immersion of helping strangers around Japan. So I played Kiwami, then immediately Kiwami 2, and now I'm 9 hours into Yakuza 3. I'm totally obsessed. I have over 130 hours invested in this series as a whole and have felt very little burn out. Hopefully I can finish 6 by the time Gaiden comes out

[@bzipoli]

one thing that everyone seems to miss: yakuza 0 came in a time where the 80s were all the rage with synthwave, a bunch of tv shows and shit. do yakuza 0 portrays that feeling for the west? no. but got that HEY ITS A GAME SET IN THE 80s with pagers and all and thats enough

[@goobywooby33]

as an owner of yakuza 1 and 2 on the wii U, get ready to be hit by lightning twice tomorrow

[@jaykstah]

Been playing thru Yakuza 0 over the past couple weeks. It's my first Yakuza game and I've been absolutely loving it, bought the rest of em on Steam so I can play chronologically. Gonna keep this bookmarked for when I finish 0

[@jaykstah]

Well... I finished 0 and came back to this haha. The main story broke my heart. I'm left with so many emotions. Time to play the rest of the series chronologically since it's all on Steam now.... Great video, man. Love the way you break down everything and offer cool real world context. Side note: Once i got to the Cabaret Club Czar side story i spent a good like 8 hours of gameplay grinding through to beat the 5 stars and do all of the special training with the hostesses. Almost forgot what the main story of the game was cause I was so hooked, left poor Makoto suffering that whole time 🥲

[@reck1224]

Yakuza 0 put the series on the map for me. I felt in love with it. I immediately went and bought the whole collection from the remake Kiwami to 6. The lore is fascinating . Also great shout out to Shenmue. 👍

[@starhew2868]

This was my first Yakuza game and is still (out of kiwami, 6, and 7 and also Judgement) is my favorite. So glad to see content like this!

[@TZerot0]

Honestly this is maybe one of my favorite games of all time

[@hennyzhi2261]

You actually have a good singing voice! Excellent video on the series - glad I found you in my recommends!

[@pasive6443]

Ooh Yakuza, one of my favorite game series. Time to clear a hour from my usual schedule.

[@deuceex]

Great video. Finally a Yakuza analysis video that isn't a story summary.

[@aetherium7]

awesome video, i liked it a lot! that being said as a haruka stan i cannot let this slight against haruka's story in y5 slide (53:30)... it's literally one of my favorite sections in the yakuza series!!! mostly because i felt like the whiplash between haruka's fun idol adventures to like crazy yakuza murder shit was really effective. i think at parts in the series its easy to be desensitized to mfs dying but like in haruka's story it really truly feels BRUTAL in a way that like, i don't know, yakuza 4 did. sure if you're not interested in haruka winning the princess league i guess it'd be boring but i found it to be a fun way to build haruka's character and get a break from the heaviness of other parts of the game. stan haruka for clear skin etc etc

[@jimjohnson6944]

This video made me realize that Yakuza 0 is one of my favorite games of all time. Thank you

[@Handlelesswithme]

I have played 0 and then Kiwami and it did make the experience a lot more enjoyable with the references to Yakuza 1 Tachibana and the Lieutenants indirectly mentioning what Sunflower really was was a big kick in the teeth in Kiwami.

[@ragna6410]

Yakuza games are sooooo good. And Zero was my entry to this series. Played them all. Wished i could wipe my memories anf start again.

[@weakheadone]

An hour well spent, as always with your videos. Also, your singing isn't half bad1

[@williamstout8252]

Yakuza 1 & 2 HD for the Wii U is honestly a phenomenal remaster and port. It puts all of the combat improvements that are in Yakuza 2 into the first game!

[@JACpotatos]

Kiwami 1 and 2 exist

[@bergonath8851]

​@@JACpotatos They can't replace the originals. Not even close.

[@JACpotatos]

@@bergonath8851 they sure kick whatever tf you'd end up playing on a wii's ass

[@bergonath8851]

@@JACpotatos Spoken like a true zoomer.

[@JACpotatos]

@@bergonath8851 my account is 4 years older than yours. I'm just not a moron

[@Max-qb5ui]

Good vid but just one small mistake Kiryu was in the Dojima family not Kazama, the whole point of that flashback was to show why he wasn’t in the Kazama family since he wouldn’t let his adopted sons join the yakuza so they joined up with Dojima instead

[@orlanzo2621]

Yakuza Zero is legitimately one of my favorite games of all time. Great gameplay, great story, great music, great characters, great atmosphere, etc. It’s amazing. This was my reintroduction back into the series after having only played the original Yakuza on PS2 back in like 2006, which I liked, but thought was a step down compared to the Shenmue games. After playing this game I fell in love with the series and went back and played all of the other games. Yakuza is amazing man, it’s one of my top 5 favorite series of all time and I have Yakuza Zero to thank for truly getting me into the series.

[@cebas_soto816]

jesus christ dude i love you. i remember seeing this in my recommended 2 days ago in the middle if algebra, i almost audibly yelped in excitement. i was like, of course he made a yakuza 0 video, its gonna be so good. I played 0 end of 2021 and it was wonderful, thanks for doing it justice. - btw your FF13 review got me to play it and i absolutely adore that game now, so thanks. love you Brando

[@Glornak]

Over the course of 2020, when Like a Dragon released, Sega managed to get all the mainline games onto gamepass with a bunch of updated translations. They're doing a great job capitalizing on the spike in popularity and I can't imagine a better way to play through the entire series.

[@NotPliskin]

Great video enjoyed the commentary on the gameplay as well as the recap of the story and especially enjoyed the karaoke at the end 11/10 worth my time.

[@Nomadestra]

The internet pretty much saved this series. The series has always been solid with excellent character writing, fun quests and unexpectedly gripping cut scenes. So, when you couple that with youtube, 4chan, and reddit, it's a situation where even of you didn't know of the series firsthand, you're scrolling by those threads, and you're seeing videos in the side bar titled, "why yakuza matters". I had a vague idea what yakuza was until I watched a retrospective review on the series. Then I was like, oh this series is actually very unique and something I need to play.

[@Satellaview1889]

I recently finished Yakuza 0, and I wanted to come back here and thank you. This video essay was really well put together, to the point that I referenced it on a freaking school paper, about this game! Your analysis was great, and it was loads of fun to come back and finish this after I put it down a few months ago. I wanted to finish the game and see it all to the end myself, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Once again, thank you random internet person. I truly am a Yakuza 0 now. edit: thank you for the song at the end. I really liked it!

[@bobothefool3037]

This game was so important to me at such a low point in my life. I had CPTSD and was dealing with the trauma from years and years of abuse. Majima's and Makoto's story blew me out of the water. Something about Majima rescuing Makoto from the same type of trauma he'd suffered from really resonated with me and gave me hope.

[@nav2Max_Light]

To go all the way in Tokyo where Yakuza's city was inspired from ....Mad respect to you man..seriously..never seen a review this way being one with Reality !!! 😎👍👌

[@MrCanadiaMan]

You can tell the tour of irl KAmurocho was filmed when One Piece Red was coming out because you can hear one of Ado's songs in the background lol

[@Bukkie661]

40:26 Hi. A "yankee" in Japan is a loud ne'er-do-well. You encounter them everywhere in Japan. Groups of youth hanging out on street-corners and such- those are yankees. Mind you, a group of loud tourists are yankees too, no matter where they hail from. Anyway, I was 18 in 1984 Sapporogaoka and I can't remember anyone in that time being strapped for cash. There's a fun urban legend that no one back then would bend down to pick up dropped coins. I was just graduated (Sapporo High School, class of '84) and was about to realise my dream, move to Europe and live the way an European would. I went from one of the richest economies ever to one of the most destroyed economies ever, the Dutch one at the time. Even though it was tough financially, I lived in (and still live in), relatively speaking, theme-park Europe. =)

[@sharkgamez505]

1:01:21 I started with 0 about 2 years ago so when I went on to play Kiwami 1 after wards I didn't know Nishiki was the antagonist of Y1 but I love Nishiki in 0 and his relationship with Kiryu as brothers. When I started 1 you don't know the wave of disbelief and how much it hurt seeing Nishiki as the antagonist. I see a lot of people rank Kiwami 1 low I don't know if it's because maybe the first was better or the story or something but because I played 0 first Kiwmai 1 has one of my favorite stories in the series so far imo (I'm almost done with 5 currently trying to catch up before 8 comes out!)

[@irsyadiaryadiva9430]

I was mindblown when I visited Sotenbori/ Dotonbori in November last year. They managed to make the streets as real as possible despite the roads in the game being smaller.

[@RenoDojima]

As a kid, I had gone to places that sold games, like a Blockbuster, Kmart, Target, or others, and Yakuza would catch my eye, but of course, never really got it because it was advertised as a Japanese GTA, and that never really got me to buy it. Many years later, 2018, I started Yakuza 0 and it got me hooked to the series since, but also had me regret always skipping the other games, until the years have gone by until today, where I own all of the numbered games, alongside Gaiden, Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise, and the Judgment games.

[@JakeTheL3mur]

I a HUGE Yakuza Nerd Because of this Game and You ABSOLUTELY NAILED everything About it You Have Earned a New Subscriber

[@MajoraLaine]

I really like the outdoor sections in this video, I could listen to them for an hour.

[@prettyaverage97]

Finished it yesterday. I had played Kiwami and Kiwami 2 before it, but Yakuza 0 is leaps ahead. One of the most heart-wrenching, emotional, tense, intriguing stories I have experienced in a video game. A masterclass in writing, honestly

[@bdbgh]

How I wish I could experience the whole series for the first time again. Yakuza Zero is one of the best game I've played.

[@maltsutty]

In a series FULL of bangers , zero somehow rises above the others . It is truly a special game that can single gamedly convert non believers into super fans lol

[@chenwingsee]

What a great video to watch while I'm completing the cabaret stuff in one sitting.

[@k2a2l2]

i started with 0 a few years ago and this series is one of my all time favorites now. im so happy its doing so well cause u can tell a lot love is put into these games

[@iqjump123]

I never knew about the yakuza series until yakuza 0 and pretty much have played every single one since then.. cant wait for new ones.

[@kokroughtoss1257]

This man straight up visited real life Tokyo and bought a real life Stainman for the sake of cohesion. Respect.

[@Smuggerino]

Kuze's theme makes me want to block a hit from a guy riding a motorcycle holding a pipe in the sewer with my forearms

[@Maxler5795]

28:04 Yes. We call them long battles.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

12:44 trying to stop him? More like GOING DOWN WITH HIS BRO!

[@jekw23]

Started this a few days ago. Taking it slow and savoring it. Already made me laugh out loud a few times. These games never fail to entertain me.

[@CoxTH]

My one gripe with the combat is that especially in later encounters, the game's idea of "difficulty" is to just throw a lot of dudes at you. With Majima's Breaker style it's not that bad, since you can literally turn into a helicopter of death, but Kiryu isn't really equipped, with his Beast style being a tad too slow and its attacks being a bit too easy for enemies to interrupt.

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

I still remember picking up Yakuza 0 on a whim despite never having heard of Yakuza before and was utterly blown away. I still have the business cards from the Day 1 edition.

[@zoroasper9759]

I remember when I learned, much time after seeing for the first time, that Shimano was eating fugu in that scene. Literally opened my mind to another entire side of Shimano with a quick little shot.

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

The better name for the "dungeon" segments are generally Raids, since they're very rarely about any amount of exploration, which I'd say is implied in most RPG dungeons. Usually in a Yakuza raid level you're under constant pressure to keep moving, whether that's because you're trying to escape a dangerous location or because you're on the attack to get to some particular person. Yakuza 7 really makes this distinction larger as there are definitely areas that are "Dungeons" like the sewers and the Millenium Tower, and there are definitely areas that are raids, like Geomijul or the Yakuza and Triad locations of Ijincho. Also, it's "Throwing Hands" or even more accurately "to throw hands" not "throwing wrists." I can tell you've never actually been in a fight.

[@Griever49]

Since you mentioned it, it is amazing how yakuza like a dragon was exclusive to series x for next gen systems (at the time) which means companies like Microsoft and Sony see the series as a big deal to make exclusivity deals like thay

[@ganbarazan]

I just finished Yakuza 0, imagine my surprise when I saw that my favorite retrospective youtubers recently posted the same game I’d spent the past couple months playing! Great retrospective, no complaints here. You summed up the thoughts that I had while playing uncannily well. I also kept laughing every time I pulled a gun or stabbed someone with a broadsword, thinking about how these characters wouldn’t kill, but here they are cold-bloodedly moving from one poor target to the next. That’s why I kept the use of these weapons to a minimum throughout my play-through. Your point regarding the Yakuza series and open world design makes so much sense! Even despite the aforementioned gun thing, I never felt a sort of dissonance between the story and the character’s personal journey. And it wasn’t my own journey as the player, I was just witnessing Kiryu and Majima grow into the people they were meant to be. Now that’s how you make a prequel, like you’d already mentioned. P.S: was that you singing at the end? I expected you to sound horrible based on your assessment of your singing skills, but you didn’t sound bad at all! I was grinning while listening to the outro, haha.

[@onlylemons5144]

Big respect that you actually included a mini vlog, not many people do it

[@regalcartoon5932]

I first played the yakuza games probably a little over 2 years ago. As a westerner who was adamant about hating Japanese games…I never thought I’d like it. I saw it a lot on gamepass but always passed up on playing it. But then I was bored one day, had no games I wanted to play and, out of curiosity, looked up which game to play first and just looked at the description of Yakuza 0. I just looked at the description. That’s all. And I thought “What the hell? It looks cool, sounds cool. I’ll give it a shot.” Then I realized it wasn’t in English, that was fun. But people were saying it made the game better. I decided to still give the game a shot. I was bored for about two hours and then I was never the same. I’ve gone from someone who hates Japanese game to someone who’s favorite game series is Yakuza. I’m gonna go replay the series cause this video got me hyped. See y’all later.

[@Milty2001]

I remember getting yakuza 0 for ps4 for about $20 and was blown away by how phenomenal the story was, walking around getting into fights for money or just walk around looking at the neon lights everywhere was just cool, of course the game not being like gta might not make it a perfect open world game but the amount of mini games it had was enough to satisfy me

[@joshvanderbij4891]

Oh your karaoke skills really aren't as bad as i thought they'd be when you said "you don't wanna hear me singing"

[@knection1986]

21:22 the only reason it took me as long as it did to try one of these games was that exact comparison. I always thought "why would I want to play a gta knockoff when I can play a real one" I'm pissed I've been given that lazy explanation for so many years when I feel a better one would be "what if Shenmue was good" Edit: Yup I see that you found the Shenmue inspiration as well.

[@MaskedHeroLucky]

The Pledge of Demon bit was kept short for pacing sake, but the buildup is even cooler than that short clip, because it starts a whole lot quieter and builds to the point of the pipe swing and the boss name title card.

[@woodenlegacy4314]

On my way to barrel through crowds in Kabuckicho just to simulate the real yakuza experience

[@boxtupos7718]

Only criticism I havw for this vid is calling Kuze slimy; He is anything but, out of the 3 he's the one that would never try to shoot Kiryu in the back. He is the most direct out of all of them; Kiryu even ends up showing him respect. He literally has Goku's whole motive, joining the Yakuza to fight people stronger than him.

[@redline841]

Also the actual optimal strat is abusing counters because Yakuza's """parry detection""" is lenient to put it nicely.

[@Bedxgamer]

I’m pretty late in the gaming world so I’m catching up, not I’m planing to play yakuza games soon so I had to stop the video 😢 I enjoyed every minute of it …I enjoy your narration so much I go back to watch old videos again .

[@J.P1981]

I played this game back in 2018 and I still can't get enough of people talking about how good the game is and people need to play it. I love it.

[@FumetsuGolf]

Comparing this game to GTA should be a criminal offense.

[@ChampDietingAndFitness]

Yakuza 0 will ALWAYS be installed on my ps5 along with OG FF7 which i noticed u used the sound effects throughout this video haha. They are actually my most played games on ps5.

[@maltsutty]

I was both shocked and pleased at how long zeros campaign(s) was. I did mostly the main story and I still clocked over 50hours . Devs went above and beyond with this one

[@LanceCorporal_Waffles]

I just finished 0, last night. I thought I was going to spend around 20-30 hours at most finishing the game. Boy was I wrong. I spent around 102 hours. I was surprised at how much I was sucked into the game. It also shouldn’t surprise me because I spend a butt load of time getting all of the achievements in Like a Dragon. 35:38 I maxed out my money super fast as Kiryu by fighting Mister Shakedown, letting him beat me, and then getting double my money back every time I fought him again. I don't know if it was a combination of the items I had equipped but I hit that 9,999,999,999,999 Yen limit extremely fast, at one point. By the time I got to chapter 10, I had unlocked the Dragon of Dojima style for Kiryu and brought it up to level 20 with all the money I was duplicating. Lol. Let’s just say I was steamrolling through characters towards the end of the game. I absolutely LOVED Like a Dragon. The story was goofy and fun, Ichi was a lovable dumb dumb, and the sub stories were great. Overall, I’m looking forward to going through Yakuza Kiwami through Yakuza 6, to catch up for Infinite Wealth.

[@LuciusAugustusRex]

Almost all the Yakuza games are on Game Pass so its also a great way for people to try out the series

[@supersmallchibiwolf872]

I haven't played Yakuza 0 but I always wanted to. Everytime I go and ask the game store they always say It's out of stock. I have other games on my list new, upcoming and retro games so It's not a must play but after this and other videos I hope to find and play it soon. Also I like the singing at the end and hopefully you do a cover of Baka Mitai. Cool video. ^_^

[@Zeioth]

Yakuza 0 was my first Yakuza but it felt like pure nostalgia. Walking the streets of the 80's with that exuberant atmosphere feels like "Every step I walk I see something that would be be illegal in 2024".

[@DriverSim]

I just started a first time playthrough of the series with 0 being the first game I played. I loved 0's hilarious juxtaposition of a deadly serious story interrupted by wacky hijinks in the side quests.

[@hallarious506]

I played 0 first. So this was my intro to Nishiki. Kiwami hits harder that way.

[@synthiandrakon]

There are a lot of heat animations but many of them are so situational that i can't help but wish they'd done some alternate animations for your most common uses, like hitting someone on the floor and the grab.

[@gamanzhiydanil]

26:55 wow, I've never heard that before, sounds awesome. It's like, "throw em at Kiryu so they know their place first"

[@Zockanumber1]

I am actually really glad that I did not start the series with 0 as its quality would have worsened my enjoyment of some of the weaker entries. The pacing of the story is so good especially compared to awkwardly paced entries like 3 and 5

[@fernandonavarrette3007]

This video is awesome bro, thank you and keep up the content.

[@mullaoslo]

Even though I'm kicking myself for not becoming a day one fan of the franchise, I was 20 when the first game released but didn't play the games until last year.. But I did love how the game sorta chipped its way into my life.. I remember seeing the boxes for each game in stores and wondering wtf these games where.. But after 0 id start to see bit and pieces of footage and streams.. Then I got kiwami on ps plus but didn't play it.. Then I saw some more streams, heard more people I liked talk about them, but still didn't play them.. Got 7 on ps plus but didn't play it.. Then.. The announcement that 0,kiwami and kiwami 2 would be added to premuim with the remaining games to follow.. That got me to give it a go.. I blew threw 0 - kiwami 2 so fast that I couldn't wait for the rest to be added so bought 3-4-5-6-judgment and lost judgment right away... I've finished the story in all of them now.. Just started ishin today

[@mullaoslo]

Update : Since then I've finished ishin and Gaiden and am currently on the final chapter of infinite wealth.. Its become one of my favorite franchises of any media ever

[@jethiliusavalar6449]

Oh god. I'm going thru the series numerically and I'm on kiwami 2 and I'm starting to get genuinely scared to do 3

[@SHIRAORI_NOUSAGI]

Make sure you speedrun up to the Komaki dojo side story, that way you'll have access to the Komaki parry and Komaki's tiger drop, that way you'll breeze through 90% of the game(still by far the most frustrating game of the whole franchise though). Before that it's just waiting for the enemy to attack you, reach their back and combo rush them.

[@reggieroyster6463]

Fun fact I have 1and2 on the WiiU and shenmue is one of my favorite game series of all time. I tell everyone that complained about shenmue 3 to play yakuza if they want to play a modern shenmue game