Kiryu has gone political

  • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    7 days ago

    When I first heard about it, I assumed the Yakuza series was just Grand Theft Auto in a different area.

    I was so very wrong. kiryu-approaching

      • SuperZutsuki [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago

        Yakuza is emphatically not an open-world game like GTA. It’s much closer to a JRPG where you are confined to a small area that’s very dense, and they even eventually went all the way to making it one with 7. Also, the writing doesn’t suck.

        • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          6 days ago

          the writing doesn’t suck.

          You sure about that?

          spoiler

          Saejima’s rubber bullets, Kiryu’s mentor’s CIA twin brother, in fact just everything about 3, ”Kiryu would never kill anyone”, etc.

          Most of the bad bits are charmingly bad, but the series is definitely not consistent in its quality of writing.

          • SuperZutsuki [they/them]@hexbear.net
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            6 days ago

            Like, yeah, it’s not high-class writing but I’m laughing instead of cringing. The charm is undeniable while GTA is 99% manchild “le funny weed/sex joke” writing.

            • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              6 days ago

              I now realize you meant in comparison to GTA. Yeah, I’ll take Yakuza’s sometimes stupid writing over GTA any day.

              The humor in GTA V seemed anachronistic even back in 2013, it felt like Rockstar had never moved on from the ”Area 69? Get it, lol!” jokes they’d been doing for over a decade. Can’t even imagine what it’d be like playing it today, my face would probably look like this the entire time: cringe

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago

        I dunno; it had such different vibes, beats, even messaging. It didn’t feel like an edgy-for-edginess’ sake nihilistic mess. I cared about the characters.

          • yoink [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            7 days ago

            calling this a ‘Japanese Approach’ has some weird racial undertones that aren’t really alleviated by doubling down

            also pretending that Japanese media doesn’t also have its fair share of edginess for its own sake is wild

              • yoink [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                7 days ago

                I wanna take everyone on this site with good faith, and im gonna take Ulysses’ advice and ask cos i might be misreading entirely and it’s irresponsible of me to be making assumptions so I’m really sorry about that, but are you not saying that Japan was able to make ‘GTA but Good’ because they’re Japanese (i.e. not steeped in western culture like the GTA team)? sorry if I misunderstood the ‘Japanese Approach’ comment

            • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              7 days ago

              I was talking about one specific game, not the entirety of Japanese media. Is there someone here saying otherwise?

              I thought “Japanese approach” meant the setting, not some general statement about Japan-made games.

              • yoink [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                7 days ago

                am I misreading this? you talked about how Yakuza and GTA being different, and then doublepepperoni chipped in that that’s because it’s like GTA but with ‘a Japanese approach’

                then you said that what you meant is the lack of edginess, the care for the characters, and then doublepepperoni said that that’s what they mean by ‘Japanese approach’

                i took that to mean like, Japan was able to create ‘GTA without being edgy’ because the devs behind it were either Japanese or coming from Japanese culture

                which maybe has its merits? but it does feel a little idk it feels iffy i dont know what to tell you

                again, i get it if that’s not actually what’s being implied, i might be on edge because I’ve been dealing with a lot of privileged white people getting stuck in their ‘Eastern Mysticism’ stuff and I’m seeing issues where there are none, which would be valid

                • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  7 days ago

                  am I misreading this

                  You might be.

                  I read the same user’s responses quite differently than you did.

                  again, i get it if that’s not actually what’s being implied, i might be on edge because I’ve been dealing with a lot of privileged white people getting stuck in their ‘Eastern Mysticism’ stuff and I’m seeing issues where there are none, which would be valid

                  I can only speak for myself here, but I only meant the Yakuza series in particular being refreshing and nice, not Glorious Nippon as a whole (I’ve ranted exhaustively about the anime industrial complex’s increasing focus on pandering to otaku and how much that’s harming creativity and smothering many potential projects before they even have a chance to start), so maybe it’s best to just to ask the other user.

    • EstraDoll [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      7 days ago

      this, among other reason, is why I disregard anything outside of Y0-Y5 as not canon. Excluding everything outside of 1988-2012 keeps the canon good

      • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        Most people tend to ignore Akiyama and his ”poor people just don’t work hard enough” garbage when talking about the worst characters in the series.

          • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            6 days ago

            I know, but to me there’s more good than bad. Even Akiyama’s character is toned down after 4.

            The worst character is still obviously Tanimura acab-3

            • EstraDoll [she/her]@hexbear.net
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              6 days ago

              yeah fuck tanimura. at least they replaced him for Shinada in the next game though

              god i miss that guy. How come he’s never come back?

              • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                6 days ago

                I don’t think most people liked his gameplay that much. tbh, it’s kind of a slog at the beginning since his damage output is so bad without weapons. Once you’ve played his baseball minigame and unlocked some unbreakable weapons, it becomes much more fun and pretty unique in the series, since the only other primarily weapon user I can think of is Majima’s Mad Dog style in 0.

                • EstraDoll [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                  6 days ago

                  Fair. His combat was pretty meh and difficult but I liked playing as someone who didn’t really feel like a legendary martial artist like Kiryu. He’s just some guy and that part about him felt fun

                  Now only if they let Haruka take after her old man and fight people too then Y5 would be the greatest game ever made

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago
        spoiler about Majima

        I really try to ignore Majima beating his ex-wife in Y5 and I wish it weren’t canon. Especially because it’s over how she had an abortion. That seemed really out of character, even though Majima was presented as being more sinister prior to Y0. Although he does kidnap Haruka in Y1? I think the writers would flip-flop on how morally ambiguous the characters are supposed to be if they’re supposedly these hardened gangsters who commit crimes, but they’re also these wacky lovable doofs who sing karaoke and race toy cars.

        I still hold Y5 as the best game, despite all of that. I love that the climax involves four characters trying to coax the evil mastermind out of hiding by having a fist fight on top of the tower. “If we take off our shirts and have a cool karate fight on the helipad the bad guy will simply appear like always.”

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        Yeah, Kiryu has a long conversation with a masseuse who turns out to be a trans woman. He’s really sweet with her. The original release had a line or two that got removed later in the remaster. Also the entire scene with her wasn’t in the original English release for some reason.