around the time yakuza 3 wrapped development, there seemed to be some internal consensus that kiryu shouldn't helm these games on his own anymore; the team thought that some fresh blood could really open up the scope of these games narratively and mechanically and instill a sense of surprise in its audience. and to be clear the series has benefitted strongly from how well it characterizes its protagonists relationships to their environment, but fourteen years later we can safely state that they kind of failed miserably at this task and kiryu is still around. still, this is what makes looking at yakuza 4 and kurohyou interesting - i genuinely have no idea what happened here. yakuza 4 is this insanely unfocused and indecipherable improv mess of 'yes, and' plot developments. you spend the whole game playing through highlight reels of what the dev team thought was cool - they'll hire koichi yamadera specifically to play akiyama ("If Akiyama isn't voiced by Koichi Yamadera then it won’t work! We can't capture his charms!") and then have him make constant metaphors about the animal kingdom, also because they didn't actually have any editors working on the game, they just had a bunch of guys in a room saying 'hell yeah'. they'll walk back pivotal character beats because they don't subscribe to the series' bizarre ideology on who can and can't be a player character. an antagonist will show up in exactly one scene wearing an alternative version of kiryu's suit to show that he's gone full heel and means business. we could literally recap the things that make yakuza 4 ridiculous and i would be here for the next 24 hours.
kurohyou, meanwhile, possesses a jolting sense of restraint. much of this has to do with its comparatively small scope, but even so as an attempt at establishing a new protagonist, there are clear strides to parallel the first ryu ga gotoku. when we first encounter kiryu, he's sacrificing himself by taking the fall for a murder he didn't commit; when we first encounter tatsuya, he's beaten a man presumably to death, and he scrapes up the loose cash he can find and makes a break for it.
all of which is to say that tatsuya starts off as a bit of a psycho - uncharacteristic for this series, to say the least - and the rest of the game is devoted to his character growth. it's parts tournament arc, parts delinquent manga, parts coming of age story, told lovingly through comic book cutscenes reminiscent of those found in portable ops or peace walker. for the most part, it's really solid! no one will be stunned by the direction the story takes but it comes off as tender and earnest; where the fixed camera angles of the ps2 duology reflect its noirish tone, the fixed camera angles of kurohyou's kamurocho evoke a diorama of sorts, befitting of tatsuya's small world and limited interiority. he's a high school drop out who can't really see beyond his fists, and the game manages to eventually channel a level of introspection which feels true to the character.
it sucks that the rest of the game is kind of a first draft. part of why i hold the original yakuza in such high regard is that it's a fantastically realized game that you can wrap up having experienced most of it in between ten and fifteen hours. comparatively, kurohyou has far less to do, but runs for about twice that time. the mini games are much weaker than the standard fare for the series, the absence of taxis makes getting around a bit of a pain, the OST isn't that great, and substories are a notch below the usual degree of quality in spite of how fun tatsuya's interfacing with the world can often be.
kurohyou's strongest draw, then, is its combat - vicious, kinetic, dynamic, and satisfying in ways that the mainline series sometimes can't deliver on. as a def jam fan i felt like i was being pandered to and i'm right at home with AKI/syn Sophia's sensibilities, but it still feels like it's missing something for several reasons. targeting limbs isn't really as important a strategy as it's made out to be; heat faces its most unsatisfying and uninteresting implementation thus far, with nary a hint of resource management to keep players thinking; grabs are too strong for players and opponents alike; for as many fighting styles as there are, some of them are underwhelming and homogenous and all of them are subject to long grinds in order to flesh out; the levelling system is somewhat confused and arbitrary; its differing focus means that some series staples, like long battles, aren't present.
but when it does work...man. so smart to center this game on intimate battles with no intrusion from the UI. performing custom combos and figuring out what works organically instead of queuing up the next tiger drop. relying so strongly on tells in order keep track of your own stamina and to figure out when an opponent might be gassed is a joy. the bosses are a mixed bag because their second phases are all kind of ass, but the bosses that decide to eschew convention via additional parameters (i.e. don't target this opponent's head; you are at increased risk of leg damage) offer very fun twists on the format that you're just not ever going to see in the mainline games.
overall, a great experiment - ten years of thinking about playing this game and now i finally got to play it. satisfying. they should let you cancel attacks using command inputs in the mainline games like they do in this one. sure, they break the combat system on its hinges, but they're pretty fun to execute, no?
kurohyou, meanwhile, possesses a jolting sense of restraint. much of this has to do with its comparatively small scope, but even so as an attempt at establishing a new protagonist, there are clear strides to parallel the first ryu ga gotoku. when we first encounter kiryu, he's sacrificing himself by taking the fall for a murder he didn't commit; when we first encounter tatsuya, he's beaten a man presumably to death, and he scrapes up the loose cash he can find and makes a break for it.
all of which is to say that tatsuya starts off as a bit of a psycho - uncharacteristic for this series, to say the least - and the rest of the game is devoted to his character growth. it's parts tournament arc, parts delinquent manga, parts coming of age story, told lovingly through comic book cutscenes reminiscent of those found in portable ops or peace walker. for the most part, it's really solid! no one will be stunned by the direction the story takes but it comes off as tender and earnest; where the fixed camera angles of the ps2 duology reflect its noirish tone, the fixed camera angles of kurohyou's kamurocho evoke a diorama of sorts, befitting of tatsuya's small world and limited interiority. he's a high school drop out who can't really see beyond his fists, and the game manages to eventually channel a level of introspection which feels true to the character.
it sucks that the rest of the game is kind of a first draft. part of why i hold the original yakuza in such high regard is that it's a fantastically realized game that you can wrap up having experienced most of it in between ten and fifteen hours. comparatively, kurohyou has far less to do, but runs for about twice that time. the mini games are much weaker than the standard fare for the series, the absence of taxis makes getting around a bit of a pain, the OST isn't that great, and substories are a notch below the usual degree of quality in spite of how fun tatsuya's interfacing with the world can often be.
kurohyou's strongest draw, then, is its combat - vicious, kinetic, dynamic, and satisfying in ways that the mainline series sometimes can't deliver on. as a def jam fan i felt like i was being pandered to and i'm right at home with AKI/syn Sophia's sensibilities, but it still feels like it's missing something for several reasons. targeting limbs isn't really as important a strategy as it's made out to be; heat faces its most unsatisfying and uninteresting implementation thus far, with nary a hint of resource management to keep players thinking; grabs are too strong for players and opponents alike; for as many fighting styles as there are, some of them are underwhelming and homogenous and all of them are subject to long grinds in order to flesh out; the levelling system is somewhat confused and arbitrary; its differing focus means that some series staples, like long battles, aren't present.
but when it does work...man. so smart to center this game on intimate battles with no intrusion from the UI. performing custom combos and figuring out what works organically instead of queuing up the next tiger drop. relying so strongly on tells in order keep track of your own stamina and to figure out when an opponent might be gassed is a joy. the bosses are a mixed bag because their second phases are all kind of ass, but the bosses that decide to eschew convention via additional parameters (i.e. don't target this opponent's head; you are at increased risk of leg damage) offer very fun twists on the format that you're just not ever going to see in the mainline games.
overall, a great experiment - ten years of thinking about playing this game and now i finally got to play it. satisfying. they should let you cancel attacks using command inputs in the mainline games like they do in this one. sure, they break the combat system on its hinges, but they're pretty fun to execute, no?
I'm willing to make the bold claim and say that this is better than most RGG games.
This is partially a review of the game itself but also a bit of a PSA about the fan translation of the game that was released a few months ago.
The game itself is better than I was expecting it to be. The combat is a pretty different system that attempts to make it much more like an actual MMA game with different fighting styles and making each one play a bit different. The story (as far as I got, I quit after about 10 hours due to technical frustrations- more on that later) is largely unremarkable. You play as Tatsuya (who I did not find to be particularly likable) and you fight people until you learn to become a better person while also discovering a secret plot within the Tojo Clan. The vast majority of side content is untranslated which is unfortunate because I think that is where the Yakuza games hold quite a bit of charm and where some of the most interesting world building is done.
Now, about the fan translation. Enough of the game has been translated where you can play through the entirety of the main story but most things outside of that have been left untranslated (and because of how the translation was done, the original Japanese text has been replaced with asterisks, meaning you can't even get a rough machine translation without a Japanese version of the game). That on its own wasn't enough to dissuade me from trying the game out but the translated version also has a lot of technical issues. Several segments of the game crash, opening certain menus can cause crashes, starting certain substories can cause crashes. Most of it can be worked around but it because so tedious and frustrating to deal with that I eventually tapped out and decided to wait/hope for a better and more complete fan translation to appear in the future.
So, overall, I would only recommend playing the game through this fan translation to the most diehard of Yakuza/RGG fans. Are you absolutely desperate to return to Kamurocho one more time and are willing to put up with all kinds of technical issues? Well then this game is there for you.
Maybe the most unfortunate thing is that I highly doubt this game will ever get a re-release or a remake. In interviews, it's never been brought up whereas RGG Studio have talked about wanting to do something for Kenzan and Ishin. So it seems this game and its sequel may be lost to time.
The game itself is better than I was expecting it to be. The combat is a pretty different system that attempts to make it much more like an actual MMA game with different fighting styles and making each one play a bit different. The story (as far as I got, I quit after about 10 hours due to technical frustrations- more on that later) is largely unremarkable. You play as Tatsuya (who I did not find to be particularly likable) and you fight people until you learn to become a better person while also discovering a secret plot within the Tojo Clan. The vast majority of side content is untranslated which is unfortunate because I think that is where the Yakuza games hold quite a bit of charm and where some of the most interesting world building is done.
Now, about the fan translation. Enough of the game has been translated where you can play through the entirety of the main story but most things outside of that have been left untranslated (and because of how the translation was done, the original Japanese text has been replaced with asterisks, meaning you can't even get a rough machine translation without a Japanese version of the game). That on its own wasn't enough to dissuade me from trying the game out but the translated version also has a lot of technical issues. Several segments of the game crash, opening certain menus can cause crashes, starting certain substories can cause crashes. Most of it can be worked around but it because so tedious and frustrating to deal with that I eventually tapped out and decided to wait/hope for a better and more complete fan translation to appear in the future.
So, overall, I would only recommend playing the game through this fan translation to the most diehard of Yakuza/RGG fans. Are you absolutely desperate to return to Kamurocho one more time and are willing to put up with all kinds of technical issues? Well then this game is there for you.
Maybe the most unfortunate thing is that I highly doubt this game will ever get a re-release or a remake. In interviews, it's never been brought up whereas RGG Studio have talked about wanting to do something for Kenzan and Ishin. So it seems this game and its sequel may be lost to time.
really cool in a lot of ways but it's hard to get too invested in with the translation being the way it is and with most of the menu/flavor text being asterisks. going to come back to it once that new translation for it comes out. thankfully these games have recaps!
THERE'S A HOLE IN A BUCKET i mean what
Known by the community as "Yakuza: Black Panther", Kurohyou is a game that I rarely see show up in discussion of the Yakuza games. It's somewhat understandable; aside from taking place in Kamurocho, this spinoff is in no way connected to the series as a whole. Team 4KL finally released an english translation for the first game (why did they do they second one first), and I've been on a PSP kick lately, so screw it! Let's hit the streets.
In this story, we follow Ukyo Tatsuya, a delinquent who's known nothing but fighting to survive as his way of life. However, after pretending to be part of the Tojo Clan, he finds himself in hot water with the REAL Tojo Clan. Trapped in Kamurocho, his only choice is to fight his way through 10 rounds in an underground fighting ring. On top of that, many of his opponents seem to share some connection to his troubled past. He's gonna have to learn what fighting truly means to him if he wants to make it out alive.
This game's overworld presentation takes a page out of Yakuza 1/2's book. Fixed camera angles across the city of Kamurocho, this time in pre-rendered form. For PSP standards, I think it looks excellent. The manga cutscenes have some cool character art in them, but it's a lot of looking at stills while listening to dialogue. It looks great in the few instances where there's genuine animation, but it's really unengaging otherwise. The music in this game is insane. It ranges from angsty electric guitar rock to EDM. I looked up the composers in my free time, and whoops, Hideki Naganuma jumpscare. The funk always shows itself where I least expect it... Also, I just want to say that I'm glad that RGG had some restraint with this spinoff. Kazuma Kiryu is nowhere to be seen in this game, not even a single mention of his name. You may have a chance encounter with a certain character from Yakuza 4, but this game is really all about its own characters, and I appreciate that.
The minigames you may know Yakuza for are pretty lackluster on the PSP. Bowling and batting are scaled down to be 2D and janky. The karaoke and massage parlor have been downgraded to a game where you literally mash a button until it's over, the latter of which is done while JPEGs of a sexy woman scroll by. I can't make this shit up. Feels like one of the Meet-n'-Fuck flash games, and that's not a compliment. It's not all bad though. Beating up thugs doesn't exactly pay the bills, and so Tatsuya has to make an honest living via part-time jobs, contextualized as the good minigames. Stack that ice cream! Serve those burgers! Beat down the overly-horny people at the strip club! Fun and profitable times for the whole family! I wish they had stuff like this in the mainline Yakuza games I've played.
Once you get into a fight, the game really begins. People frequently compare this gameplay to something like Def Jam (the developers' previous titles), but the perspective makes me more keen on drawing comparisons to 3D fighting games; Tekken, Dead or Alive, or Virtua Fighter. There's almost no HUD in battle, most information is conveyed through Tatsuya himself. If he's low on stamina, his attacks come out slower, his stance is visually weaker, and his breath becomes visible. Aside from his standard health meter, Tatsuya can get injured in four different areas: the head, chest, arms, and legs. The more damage is done to each of these, the more handicapped and vulnerable you'll be while in a fight. You can't heal injuries with standard healing items either. Sometimes you'll get gut-checked in a fight and just have to tough it out. Tatsuya's brawler fighting style is pretty basic, but he gradually becomes a jack of all trades AND a master of all, if you commit to grinding a bit. You learn new styles as you progress through the game, each with their own completely different stat boosts and movesets. There's kung-fu, pro wrestling, boxing, and more. It's energetic and fun, but it's not perfect.
First problem I have with the game are the frequent QTEs that demand you hammer the X button. I'm not even sure that mashing it does anything to help you recover faster. At some point, I just gave up when enemies grabbed me and saved my thumb from any potential cramps. Speaking of grabs, that's the second issue I have. Grabbing enemies is a surefire way to deal some safe damage with no risk of counterattack. I almost wish this game adopted Dead or Alive's "triangle system", where each type of attack can be countered by a different type. It's fun to play to each fighting style's strengths, but nothing is safer than the good ol' grabby hands. Thirdly, I wish there was a combo list you could view for each fighting style. As it is, you'll probably be mashing random buttons until you find what order makes your "NEW PUNCH ATTACK" actually come out.
I'm kinda blown away by what Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio pulled off here. It truly is the experience of a console Yakuza game, just condensed down into a PSP title while still maintaining its own identity. It kinda shocks me that these titles never got any sort of remakes or ports. I'd say "oh it's a shame Tatsuya never came back", but that's only half true. This game did well enough to get a sequel, so I'm off to treat Kamurocho as my own personal stomping grounds yet again.
Known by the community as "Yakuza: Black Panther", Kurohyou is a game that I rarely see show up in discussion of the Yakuza games. It's somewhat understandable; aside from taking place in Kamurocho, this spinoff is in no way connected to the series as a whole. Team 4KL finally released an english translation for the first game (why did they do they second one first), and I've been on a PSP kick lately, so screw it! Let's hit the streets.
In this story, we follow Ukyo Tatsuya, a delinquent who's known nothing but fighting to survive as his way of life. However, after pretending to be part of the Tojo Clan, he finds himself in hot water with the REAL Tojo Clan. Trapped in Kamurocho, his only choice is to fight his way through 10 rounds in an underground fighting ring. On top of that, many of his opponents seem to share some connection to his troubled past. He's gonna have to learn what fighting truly means to him if he wants to make it out alive.
This game's overworld presentation takes a page out of Yakuza 1/2's book. Fixed camera angles across the city of Kamurocho, this time in pre-rendered form. For PSP standards, I think it looks excellent. The manga cutscenes have some cool character art in them, but it's a lot of looking at stills while listening to dialogue. It looks great in the few instances where there's genuine animation, but it's really unengaging otherwise. The music in this game is insane. It ranges from angsty electric guitar rock to EDM. I looked up the composers in my free time, and whoops, Hideki Naganuma jumpscare. The funk always shows itself where I least expect it... Also, I just want to say that I'm glad that RGG had some restraint with this spinoff. Kazuma Kiryu is nowhere to be seen in this game, not even a single mention of his name. You may have a chance encounter with a certain character from Yakuza 4, but this game is really all about its own characters, and I appreciate that.
The minigames you may know Yakuza for are pretty lackluster on the PSP. Bowling and batting are scaled down to be 2D and janky. The karaoke and massage parlor have been downgraded to a game where you literally mash a button until it's over, the latter of which is done while JPEGs of a sexy woman scroll by. I can't make this shit up. Feels like one of the Meet-n'-Fuck flash games, and that's not a compliment. It's not all bad though. Beating up thugs doesn't exactly pay the bills, and so Tatsuya has to make an honest living via part-time jobs, contextualized as the good minigames. Stack that ice cream! Serve those burgers! Beat down the overly-horny people at the strip club! Fun and profitable times for the whole family! I wish they had stuff like this in the mainline Yakuza games I've played.
Once you get into a fight, the game really begins. People frequently compare this gameplay to something like Def Jam (the developers' previous titles), but the perspective makes me more keen on drawing comparisons to 3D fighting games; Tekken, Dead or Alive, or Virtua Fighter. There's almost no HUD in battle, most information is conveyed through Tatsuya himself. If he's low on stamina, his attacks come out slower, his stance is visually weaker, and his breath becomes visible. Aside from his standard health meter, Tatsuya can get injured in four different areas: the head, chest, arms, and legs. The more damage is done to each of these, the more handicapped and vulnerable you'll be while in a fight. You can't heal injuries with standard healing items either. Sometimes you'll get gut-checked in a fight and just have to tough it out. Tatsuya's brawler fighting style is pretty basic, but he gradually becomes a jack of all trades AND a master of all, if you commit to grinding a bit. You learn new styles as you progress through the game, each with their own completely different stat boosts and movesets. There's kung-fu, pro wrestling, boxing, and more. It's energetic and fun, but it's not perfect.
First problem I have with the game are the frequent QTEs that demand you hammer the X button. I'm not even sure that mashing it does anything to help you recover faster. At some point, I just gave up when enemies grabbed me and saved my thumb from any potential cramps. Speaking of grabs, that's the second issue I have. Grabbing enemies is a surefire way to deal some safe damage with no risk of counterattack. I almost wish this game adopted Dead or Alive's "triangle system", where each type of attack can be countered by a different type. It's fun to play to each fighting style's strengths, but nothing is safer than the good ol' grabby hands. Thirdly, I wish there was a combo list you could view for each fighting style. As it is, you'll probably be mashing random buttons until you find what order makes your "NEW PUNCH ATTACK" actually come out.
I'm kinda blown away by what Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio pulled off here. It truly is the experience of a console Yakuza game, just condensed down into a PSP title while still maintaining its own identity. It kinda shocks me that these titles never got any sort of remakes or ports. I'd say "oh it's a shame Tatsuya never came back", but that's only half true. This game did well enough to get a sequel, so I'm off to treat Kamurocho as my own personal stomping grounds yet again.
The story in this game could be better. Some parts of it were just unnecessary considering the protag is a minor.
Still, Tatsuya is a refreshing character to play since we don't usually see openly morally grey protagonists like him in RGG games.
Combat-wise it is also really great and although the PSP limits the fighting mechanics, there are many different styles you can use so it doesn't get boring. What makes fighting even better is the OST which is a banger.
Overall, as solid as a PSP game can be.
Still, Tatsuya is a refreshing character to play since we don't usually see openly morally grey protagonists like him in RGG games.
Combat-wise it is also really great and although the PSP limits the fighting mechanics, there are many different styles you can use so it doesn't get boring. What makes fighting even better is the OST which is a banger.
Overall, as solid as a PSP game can be.
The story, music, characters, and boss fights are really bloody good, and Tatsuya is one of the best RGG protags besides Yagami or Kaito, but the PSP's limitations make fighting hordes of street enemies with their AI being over-reliant and on ganging up on you, grabbing and hard-to-break blocking and overall traversing Kamurocho (why are there no taxis bruh and why is Tatsuya so slow) much more tedious and a chore than it ever needs to be, that and the sidecontent frankly sucks balls
I love the story, combat, and music in this game. Tatsuya might be the protagonist with the most character development in the series and the soundtrack is full of bangers. The combat mostly feels extremely satisfying and crunchy, and it's pretty unique for the series as it's made by the Def Jam devs and takes after that game more than the mainline Yakuza games.
I do have a few big gripes though. First one is that they, for some godforsaken reason, removed taxis. A huge chunk of this game is spent just walking around from point A to point B, and Tatsuya is slow as shit. Highly recommend emulating the game just because of that and setting speed up to an easy to reach button to make getting around less of a fucking chore.
My other big gripe is the side content. Substories are mostly meh this time around and the minigames are either godawful variations of ones in the mainline games or brand new godawful minigames. I play Yakuza for the side content more than for the main story, so the side content sucking is definitely a big con for me.
The last big gripe is the enemy AI, particularly bosses. While I greatly enjoy how tough the bosses are in this game, their AI forces you to play extremely defensively. Throwing out an attack besides a grab, perfect dodge counter, or catch (a parry-like mechanic) will most likely get you FUCKED. The AI is extremely good at doing perfect dodges and catches, and they can combo off of them in ways that you can't. They can also use these defensive options when they SHOULDN'T be able to, like when they're kneeling or "stunned". Not to mention the bosses' Heat moves which are unblockable and have to be dodged! Basically, you're forced to play like a fucking pussy way too often. That said, it is still extremely satisfying to overcome these annoying tough ass bosses, and trying to hit them from the back to be able to combo them can feel great too. On the other hand, random encounters become a fucking joke quickly as you can end them in 1-3 regular hits or a single heat action.
Despite these gripes with the combat, I still found it fun as fuck, so I guess it's not the worst thing anyway... so yeah, fun combat, great story, and great OST.
I do have a few big gripes though. First one is that they, for some godforsaken reason, removed taxis. A huge chunk of this game is spent just walking around from point A to point B, and Tatsuya is slow as shit. Highly recommend emulating the game just because of that and setting speed up to an easy to reach button to make getting around less of a fucking chore.
My other big gripe is the side content. Substories are mostly meh this time around and the minigames are either godawful variations of ones in the mainline games or brand new godawful minigames. I play Yakuza for the side content more than for the main story, so the side content sucking is definitely a big con for me.
The last big gripe is the enemy AI, particularly bosses. While I greatly enjoy how tough the bosses are in this game, their AI forces you to play extremely defensively. Throwing out an attack besides a grab, perfect dodge counter, or catch (a parry-like mechanic) will most likely get you FUCKED. The AI is extremely good at doing perfect dodges and catches, and they can combo off of them in ways that you can't. They can also use these defensive options when they SHOULDN'T be able to, like when they're kneeling or "stunned". Not to mention the bosses' Heat moves which are unblockable and have to be dodged! Basically, you're forced to play like a fucking pussy way too often. That said, it is still extremely satisfying to overcome these annoying tough ass bosses, and trying to hit them from the back to be able to combo them can feel great too. On the other hand, random encounters become a fucking joke quickly as you can end them in 1-3 regular hits or a single heat action.
Despite these gripes with the combat, I still found it fun as fuck, so I guess it's not the worst thing anyway... so yeah, fun combat, great story, and great OST.
I'm willing to make the bold claim and say that this is worse than most RGG games.
On the surface, Kurohyou seems like a simple Yakuza spinoff channeling energy from its developers, responsible for Def Jam. However, a few chapters in and the story and gameplay really clicked together with me, and I say together, because thats where the true genius lies. There is a beautiful mingling of gameplay and storytelling, with one of the themes of the story being personal growth through fighting, and moving past childish violence. Every boss you meet will test Tatsuya, our troubled teen punk who believes in nothing but his own strength, and test you the player, so you both can develop. During one of the matches I was fighting someone with very strong grabs, needing to store meter of "heat" and not use it to break from these grabs. The game didnt call this out to me, its something I naturally fell into once I understood the situation I was in. Aftewards Tatsuya states he had to stay calm to deal with is opponent... which is exactly what I did. I was shocked at how kurohyou had conditioned me into playing correctly, but also reflect it in the story. Each of the major bosses and their personality goes to decide how they act in combat, and how you should approach the fight. I don't think I've seen anything so intelligently put together to deliver this beautiful blend.
The characters here are excellent, which each ally and opponent really pushing tatsuya as a character, and his development is done really well.
However, where Kurohyou struggles is with the rest of its main content. in between fights most of the time you will be running being npcs on the map gathering information, or just running around in general. Its a little tiring, and the onslaught of random encounters can slow the pace down. This isn't enough to really harm it, as its s a small dent in an experience I loved.
The characters here are excellent, which each ally and opponent really pushing tatsuya as a character, and his development is done really well.
However, where Kurohyou struggles is with the rest of its main content. in between fights most of the time you will be running being npcs on the map gathering information, or just running around in general. Its a little tiring, and the onslaught of random encounters can slow the pace down. This isn't enough to really harm it, as its s a small dent in an experience I loved.
A fun mash-up between the mechanics of like a dragon and def jam series, clumsily executed climax aside, the story and characters are nicely built on top of the main series which serves as a cool foundation for what comes next.
The narrative of this game isn't quite what I expected and I found that refreshing in way to be gradually surprised on where it could head next, unlike the tv drama style storytelling present in main series, this one is more of a sports manga (The story even presented literally with a comic/manga panels in motion style) with Tetsuya starting out as delinquent who just causes mayhem where ever he wonders ends up in trouble with the Tojo clan and his only salvation being completing set numbers of matches to earn his freedom, as the plot progress, after being exposed to the underground arena, Tetsuya starts to slowly morph into someone who wants to develop his own way of life and philosophy while encountering many demons of his past during his journey, overall I found the small cast to be fairly likeable and tetsuya specially being among my favorite main characters presented into the entire series, perhaps that's bias considering his journey strongly resembles Yabuki Joe from ashita no joe but it's trope that I don't get sick of personally, that being said the "conspiracy" aspect in this plot felt quite weak and it was presented way late than I would have liked where there's info or context that's presented right before moments away from the big revelations and I felt cheated by it many times considering that if it was presented much earlier in the plot, it would have left more room for players to connect the dots together which is the point and fun of figuring out the mystery and answers in my opinion, the final boss is the most underwhelming in entire series period, although I will give kurohyou a medal for the fact that the plot was much more small scale than what you see normally in the series which helps a lot considering it takes place in same timeline as the main series and even many familiar faces show up for some really cool fan service, so kudos for devs for trying to maintain consistency.
The gameplay as I mentioned is more of a crossover of both worlds where it is largely based on the wrestling/fighting game system of Def Jam: Fight for NY: takedown while borrowing few elements from main LAD series like the heat system and moves making the combat arguably bit more complex than the main series, although despite the game offering up to 20 "unique" styles, I argue they're not as unique as they sounds, many feel more so a variation of an existing style with only difference being passive buffs and unique animation, whether you prefer sticking to only punching, grabbing, kicking or all in one balanced style, you're not missing much by sticking to a single style outside unlocking more "extreme styles" or varying up your playstyle to reduce the reputation nature of this game, I do have gripe that the heat moves tend to be locked to 2 based on their retrospective fighting style, I believe PSP still had enough buttons to allow for more variations inputs to perform heat attacks considering there are attacks based on your direction inputs too, I understand that might have likely meant less fighting styles but I wouldn't have cried for quality over quantity which what Yakuza 0 and Like a dragon Ishin ended up doing much better eventually...
Playing on hard difficulty, average goons/thugs can present good challenge that slowly pushes you to consider how to approach your battles although some tend to be bit more spongy even with MAX stats, perhaps that's just the difficulty also increasing enemies durability, the bosses on other hand aren't step up in challenge unfortunately, difference only being that they can perform heat attacks and special "combo" sequence that can only be avoided by carefully dodging out of it, add to that just like main series, you can stash tons of healing items and it makes encounters even more cheese-able, I will commend the developers for mixing healing items and buff items into one category just so you don't become too powerful and allows more room to think if you're willing to sacrifice medication in exchange for more power, The brand new "injury mechanic" is nice mechanic that adds pressure on you to play for more carefully before allowing yourself to sustain blows that can leave you more vulnerable, although those too can be healed up by med kit but plus for trying out new stuff...
My least favorite parts had to be generally traversing the streets which harkens back to the ps2 era yakuza games, although unlike those, not only is Tetsuya more slower than Kiryu was before, but also the camera shots tend to cut more abruptly which can be nauseating to deal with early on and delivers sour impressions, part of it PSP limitation which I can understand but speeding up Tetsuya or present fast travel points for the other end of the maps as an option would have been better than nothing, there's also no item management on phone booths, only present on your home which can be tad aggravating if you plan to switch stored items, lastly the upgrade system being purchased through money currency is tad problematic, specially in first 4 chapter when everything (including healing items) are fairly overpriced for what you get, although mixture of part time jobs becoming available and higher rewards does eventually wash away that problem, in theory it might present difficult question of of choosing between increasing your stats/moves or keeping yourself well equipped for battles, that's practically thrown out the window when you can easily fail early on unlocking moves by losing against the dummy opponent and costing you decent amount for cash, so yeah, always save before!
While I complained a lot, I still think this game is worth experiencing for any Like a dragon/yakuza fan and even those who want to play interest obscure PSP games, it earns my recommendation,
Special thanks to the Translation Team at (TeamK4L) For their long efforts, you guys ROCK!
The narrative of this game isn't quite what I expected and I found that refreshing in way to be gradually surprised on where it could head next, unlike the tv drama style storytelling present in main series, this one is more of a sports manga (The story even presented literally with a comic/manga panels in motion style) with Tetsuya starting out as delinquent who just causes mayhem where ever he wonders ends up in trouble with the Tojo clan and his only salvation being completing set numbers of matches to earn his freedom, as the plot progress, after being exposed to the underground arena, Tetsuya starts to slowly morph into someone who wants to develop his own way of life and philosophy while encountering many demons of his past during his journey, overall I found the small cast to be fairly likeable and tetsuya specially being among my favorite main characters presented into the entire series, perhaps that's bias considering his journey strongly resembles Yabuki Joe from ashita no joe but it's trope that I don't get sick of personally, that being said the "conspiracy" aspect in this plot felt quite weak and it was presented way late than I would have liked where there's info or context that's presented right before moments away from the big revelations and I felt cheated by it many times considering that if it was presented much earlier in the plot, it would have left more room for players to connect the dots together which is the point and fun of figuring out the mystery and answers in my opinion, the final boss is the most underwhelming in entire series period, although I will give kurohyou a medal for the fact that the plot was much more small scale than what you see normally in the series which helps a lot considering it takes place in same timeline as the main series and even many familiar faces show up for some really cool fan service, so kudos for devs for trying to maintain consistency.
The gameplay as I mentioned is more of a crossover of both worlds where it is largely based on the wrestling/fighting game system of Def Jam: Fight for NY: takedown while borrowing few elements from main LAD series like the heat system and moves making the combat arguably bit more complex than the main series, although despite the game offering up to 20 "unique" styles, I argue they're not as unique as they sounds, many feel more so a variation of an existing style with only difference being passive buffs and unique animation, whether you prefer sticking to only punching, grabbing, kicking or all in one balanced style, you're not missing much by sticking to a single style outside unlocking more "extreme styles" or varying up your playstyle to reduce the reputation nature of this game, I do have gripe that the heat moves tend to be locked to 2 based on their retrospective fighting style, I believe PSP still had enough buttons to allow for more variations inputs to perform heat attacks considering there are attacks based on your direction inputs too, I understand that might have likely meant less fighting styles but I wouldn't have cried for quality over quantity which what Yakuza 0 and Like a dragon Ishin ended up doing much better eventually...
Playing on hard difficulty, average goons/thugs can present good challenge that slowly pushes you to consider how to approach your battles although some tend to be bit more spongy even with MAX stats, perhaps that's just the difficulty also increasing enemies durability, the bosses on other hand aren't step up in challenge unfortunately, difference only being that they can perform heat attacks and special "combo" sequence that can only be avoided by carefully dodging out of it, add to that just like main series, you can stash tons of healing items and it makes encounters even more cheese-able, I will commend the developers for mixing healing items and buff items into one category just so you don't become too powerful and allows more room to think if you're willing to sacrifice medication in exchange for more power, The brand new "injury mechanic" is nice mechanic that adds pressure on you to play for more carefully before allowing yourself to sustain blows that can leave you more vulnerable, although those too can be healed up by med kit but plus for trying out new stuff...
My least favorite parts had to be generally traversing the streets which harkens back to the ps2 era yakuza games, although unlike those, not only is Tetsuya more slower than Kiryu was before, but also the camera shots tend to cut more abruptly which can be nauseating to deal with early on and delivers sour impressions, part of it PSP limitation which I can understand but speeding up Tetsuya or present fast travel points for the other end of the maps as an option would have been better than nothing, there's also no item management on phone booths, only present on your home which can be tad aggravating if you plan to switch stored items, lastly the upgrade system being purchased through money currency is tad problematic, specially in first 4 chapter when everything (including healing items) are fairly overpriced for what you get, although mixture of part time jobs becoming available and higher rewards does eventually wash away that problem, in theory it might present difficult question of of choosing between increasing your stats/moves or keeping yourself well equipped for battles, that's practically thrown out the window when you can easily fail early on unlocking moves by losing against the dummy opponent and costing you decent amount for cash, so yeah, always save before!
While I complained a lot, I still think this game is worth experiencing for any Like a dragon/yakuza fan and even those who want to play interest obscure PSP games, it earns my recommendation,
Special thanks to the Translation Team at (TeamK4L) For their long efforts, you guys ROCK!
As a massive fan of the Yakuza series I decided to try and give Kurohyou a try after finishing all the mainline games and most of the spin offs. Now I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect getting into it, but I felt like I was in for a decent experience. I can gladly say after completing the game, this is by far one of the most unexpected surprises I’ve ever had when it comes to games I’ve played. Kurohyou didn’t seem like much at first but it left me just as invested as some of the better installments in the entire series. This game deserves more attention then it has.
Once I began the game, I noticed how despite it being on more limited hardware, the experience still felt like a complete Yakuza game. It takes after the PS2 games the most when it comes to the world and honestly I think it keeps the feeling of Kamurocho just as well. Nothing seems lost at all and if I were told that this was actually a PS2 entry without prior knowledge, I would’ve believed it. They didn’t make it feel more empty or cut noticeably large areas at all. In fact I enjoyed the jobs they added in Kamurocho because it also adds to that feeling that you’re part of the city. Now you will notice the reused NPC models more than the other games but that’s never really stopped my immersion. The only thing that I felt was off about the world was the substories but that’s only because most of them felt really similar to each other. A lot of them were forgettable to me and they felt like they didn’t add much else to the world. There’s still some decent substories though that stopped Kamurocho from feeling like it’s lacking in personality in this title. I enjoyed going through Kamurocho just as much as the other games, although with a bit more intrigue from how they handled it on a PSP.
As for the gameplay, I believe that this is definitely what caught me off guard the most. The combat takes a different approach, putting a higher emphasis on fighting enemies one at a time like a fighting game. Due to this direction, something about every fight felt more personal than usual and it works to its advantage. Every single boss fight felt like you put in two starving wolves in a cage that were forced to fight for survival. Every single punch, kick, and grab had a slightly heavier weight to them than normal, which I thought compliments the one-on-one style because when you land a good hit, it feels like you really put your opponent out. On top of that, everything you do is something that your opponent can do to you which makes the back and forth feel more eccentric. There’s 20 styles in the game but I feel like the thrill of the fight always carries over when you find a good opponent. Although I do have a few criticisms, starting with the grabs. The grabs are extremely powerful in this game, and although you and your opponents are supposed to be on equal grounds it always feels like the one who can get more grabs in always has the advantage. This issue isn’t as big on bosses considering they seem to do a better job at not getting grabbed but the majority of the time you won’t be fighting bosses. Another thing, is that the heavy attacks that require a rotation of the D-Pad seem less viable in my opinion due to how enemies either always block it or parry it if they’re barrages of punches or kicks. The last criticism I have that doesn’t bug me as much is that I feel like some fighting styles don’t feel different enough to feel satisfying sometimes. As an example, the weapon mania style just feels like a worse version of the street brawler style with minor differences, which only ends up making a few styles feel a bit repetitive to use. Other than that, the combat in the game is definitely one of the most satisfying in the franchise. It’s a welcome change that I can see many people enjoying.
The last segment I’d like to talk about is the story and characters. At first it felt sort of similar to Tanimura’s story in Yakuza 4 with how I wasn’t too invested from the beginning and I didn’t enjoy the protagonists. Just like Yakuza 4 though, I soon came to love both Tatsuya and the story the longer it went on. Tatsuya seemed like a superficial asshole at the beginning. I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about him by the end of the game, especially with the shorter length of the story. Despite the story being shorter though, they nailed Tatsuya’s development with what they had. Some might say that it’s a bit too quick in pace but I was fine with the pacing. Seeing such an unlikeable douche go on to become a respectable and likable character felt satisfying to see. Now the side characters and antagonists I didn’t feel were as complex (except maybe Taizan, Tenma, and Hyuga) but I still cared for them a good deal. Seeing Tatsuya interact with Taizan and Saki never got boring to me. I could say the same about Kuki. As Tatsuya came to find a reason for why he fights, it also was more entertaining to see these conversations with everyone play out. Hell even most of the bosses I found myself feeling strongly about despite them usually being gone after a chapter or two. I do think they maybe should have put less emphasis on a few to make certain ones more prominent characters but I’m still happy with what we got. The story starts off weak but when it kicks up, it carries that momentum almost to the end. I never expected the story to be this captivating. Sadly I do think that the ending just felt a bit flat in my opinion. There was a lot of build up and strong emotions with what happens to these characters but I feel like when the real final antagonist is revealed, he just didn’t live up to the build up. The ending fight was really good but to be honest the weight of the fight wasn’t anywhere near the earlier fights just due to how the events of the story at this point weren’t as strong. I don’t know how to explain this but there wasn’t that much characterization to warrant a drive to destroy them. They could’ve benefited from a longer focus on them, starting from potentially chapter 6 because as is, at the end of the day they just felt like bad guys that needed to be stopped but not much more. Although I do think the rest of the story is very good that the ending won’t be too much of a bother for people.
Overall, I highly recommend people play Kurohyou. There may be a lot of skepticism considering how different it is but this really deserves to be called an overlooked gem of a game. Kurohyou is a hell of an experience and a surprise that I’m glad I got around to playing.
Once I began the game, I noticed how despite it being on more limited hardware, the experience still felt like a complete Yakuza game. It takes after the PS2 games the most when it comes to the world and honestly I think it keeps the feeling of Kamurocho just as well. Nothing seems lost at all and if I were told that this was actually a PS2 entry without prior knowledge, I would’ve believed it. They didn’t make it feel more empty or cut noticeably large areas at all. In fact I enjoyed the jobs they added in Kamurocho because it also adds to that feeling that you’re part of the city. Now you will notice the reused NPC models more than the other games but that’s never really stopped my immersion. The only thing that I felt was off about the world was the substories but that’s only because most of them felt really similar to each other. A lot of them were forgettable to me and they felt like they didn’t add much else to the world. There’s still some decent substories though that stopped Kamurocho from feeling like it’s lacking in personality in this title. I enjoyed going through Kamurocho just as much as the other games, although with a bit more intrigue from how they handled it on a PSP.
As for the gameplay, I believe that this is definitely what caught me off guard the most. The combat takes a different approach, putting a higher emphasis on fighting enemies one at a time like a fighting game. Due to this direction, something about every fight felt more personal than usual and it works to its advantage. Every single boss fight felt like you put in two starving wolves in a cage that were forced to fight for survival. Every single punch, kick, and grab had a slightly heavier weight to them than normal, which I thought compliments the one-on-one style because when you land a good hit, it feels like you really put your opponent out. On top of that, everything you do is something that your opponent can do to you which makes the back and forth feel more eccentric. There’s 20 styles in the game but I feel like the thrill of the fight always carries over when you find a good opponent. Although I do have a few criticisms, starting with the grabs. The grabs are extremely powerful in this game, and although you and your opponents are supposed to be on equal grounds it always feels like the one who can get more grabs in always has the advantage. This issue isn’t as big on bosses considering they seem to do a better job at not getting grabbed but the majority of the time you won’t be fighting bosses. Another thing, is that the heavy attacks that require a rotation of the D-Pad seem less viable in my opinion due to how enemies either always block it or parry it if they’re barrages of punches or kicks. The last criticism I have that doesn’t bug me as much is that I feel like some fighting styles don’t feel different enough to feel satisfying sometimes. As an example, the weapon mania style just feels like a worse version of the street brawler style with minor differences, which only ends up making a few styles feel a bit repetitive to use. Other than that, the combat in the game is definitely one of the most satisfying in the franchise. It’s a welcome change that I can see many people enjoying.
The last segment I’d like to talk about is the story and characters. At first it felt sort of similar to Tanimura’s story in Yakuza 4 with how I wasn’t too invested from the beginning and I didn’t enjoy the protagonists. Just like Yakuza 4 though, I soon came to love both Tatsuya and the story the longer it went on. Tatsuya seemed like a superficial asshole at the beginning. I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about him by the end of the game, especially with the shorter length of the story. Despite the story being shorter though, they nailed Tatsuya’s development with what they had. Some might say that it’s a bit too quick in pace but I was fine with the pacing. Seeing such an unlikeable douche go on to become a respectable and likable character felt satisfying to see. Now the side characters and antagonists I didn’t feel were as complex (except maybe Taizan, Tenma, and Hyuga) but I still cared for them a good deal. Seeing Tatsuya interact with Taizan and Saki never got boring to me. I could say the same about Kuki. As Tatsuya came to find a reason for why he fights, it also was more entertaining to see these conversations with everyone play out. Hell even most of the bosses I found myself feeling strongly about despite them usually being gone after a chapter or two. I do think they maybe should have put less emphasis on a few to make certain ones more prominent characters but I’m still happy with what we got. The story starts off weak but when it kicks up, it carries that momentum almost to the end. I never expected the story to be this captivating. Sadly I do think that the ending just felt a bit flat in my opinion. There was a lot of build up and strong emotions with what happens to these characters but I feel like when the real final antagonist is revealed, he just didn’t live up to the build up. The ending fight was really good but to be honest the weight of the fight wasn’t anywhere near the earlier fights just due to how the events of the story at this point weren’t as strong. I don’t know how to explain this but there wasn’t that much characterization to warrant a drive to destroy them. They could’ve benefited from a longer focus on them, starting from potentially chapter 6 because as is, at the end of the day they just felt like bad guys that needed to be stopped but not much more. Although I do think the rest of the story is very good that the ending won’t be too much of a bother for people.
Overall, I highly recommend people play Kurohyou. There may be a lot of skepticism considering how different it is but this really deserves to be called an overlooked gem of a game. Kurohyou is a hell of an experience and a surprise that I’m glad I got around to playing.
awkward start to this one, it was hard for me to get a feel for the combat and get invested in the plot at first, but as the game progressed I eased into it a lot more and grew to care about the characters, the game tries to make the boss fights feel really personal and harmonize them with the story and the characters themselves and while it didn't always land for me I can respect it for trying something different and sticking to its philosophy
Great combat though grappling is way better because it negates the counters completely but combos are fun to do as well, the bosses are HYPE especially because of the announcer, best character.
If you're into sport/fighting anime the story is really enjoyable as it's structured in a similar way to those, it really clicked with me because it feels like every arc is focused to a different antagonist and each time Tatsuya learns something new after fighting him, but i can understand why others might not like this type of storytelling.
As for the sidecontent, i like the jobs minigames while the cats collecting was a bit ridicolous(even if it's kinda satisfying), the substories are almost all fights, i feel like the game didn't need random encounters considering how many fights you already get into with the substories.
If you're into sport/fighting anime the story is really enjoyable as it's structured in a similar way to those, it really clicked with me because it feels like every arc is focused to a different antagonist and each time Tatsuya learns something new after fighting him, but i can understand why others might not like this type of storytelling.
As for the sidecontent, i like the jobs minigames while the cats collecting was a bit ridicolous(even if it's kinda satisfying), the substories are almost all fights, i feel like the game didn't need random encounters considering how many fights you already get into with the substories.
An enjoyable game for the PSP. I find myself farming money by doing mini-games more compared to gaining money from random encounters in the street. The selection of styles to unlock and choose from add to the experience of this game. Some bosses feel too aggressive. Overall, super fun, one of my favorite Yakuza spinoff games. I really wished it got a localization, but that opportunity seems to be long gone.
Man, or Animal
Not much people have heard of this game, like in general. Which is not surpring by any means since it got stuck in Japan. Which is a shame since I found to be one of the most round origin stories in the Like a Dragon series. This is a spin-off totally unrelated to Kiryu.
Ukyo Tatsuya is our protagonist, a kid that lives with his philosphy of lone survival with his group of friends, that for the looks of it can barely stand him as it is. Nothing but violence comes and goes out from him, like an enraged animal. After one of his many violent incidents, he comes across of one of his worse. One that will change his life forever. Slowly he starts to change as a person, see the world from different perspectives which are represented by the people he ends up fighting. The more he experience a challenge, the more he gets better at fighting and learns some valuable life leassons. By the end he's another version of himself, his own evolution.
Combat is wildly different from the classic Yakuza games. Whereas Yakuza in essence was a 3D beat 'em up, Kurohyou shifts to a more classic fighting game style of combat. In fact, the Def Jam series are the bones of Kurohyou and the Yakuza mix in was the meat. Kurohyou also differs in how to approach to enemies, since is really focused on making 1v1 battles the best they can be while in Yakuza it focus it's gameplay on battling as many enemies as possible. There is no real HUD while fighting, not at all. All you get are indications of your current health and stanima state, most of which are indicated through Tatsuya himself; if he gets tired his attacks and running animations will be slower, if he gets injured a different idle animation will play, etc. Head, Chest, Legs and Arms take a big role in combat as well. Tatsuya and the enemies themselves are prone to get injured in one of these areas in combat, for better or for worse it gives the battles more complexity.
This, to my knowledge works with various other systems in conjuction. For example, in case you keep blocking heavy attacks your arms will start to debilitate overtime in the fight and deal less damage or if you keep getting hit in the head Tatsuya will be dizzy for a couple of seconds and take more damage to the head. It's a simple system that either the enemies or yourself can exploit to your advantage, specially on bossfights which they really love using certain moves that can attack either part of the body to KO you in a matter of seconds. Fighting Styles are important, more than in any RGG previously made. You got plenty to choose, up to 20 to unlock throughout the game. Yeah, 20 in total. Ever played any Yakuza game and give some attention of how the enemies move? From Street Brawler to Ancient Martial Arts, it's all here from you to choose and work out. My personal favorites styles were the ones used kicks as it's main source of damage such as Muay Thai. Though, most of these styles are hidden on substories and such. Ended up unlocking 16 of the 20 that are in total.
Once again we hit the old but known streets of Kamurocho. Presentation takes a bit of a hit compared to what people were use to with Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 for obvious technical reasons. So the team opted to use the classic static camera angles, separated in screens from the PS2 Yakuza games. It doesn't feel bad honestly, but some specific camera angles may be confusing to navigate specially if you're running from someone. Substories, Minigames, Shops, you name it everything we've used to in the RGG titles is here, to some extent and with some obvious limitations due to hardware restrains. Talking about hardware limitations, the cutscenes are not in real time anymore. But they're better if they had to implement in that way honestly. The closest resembleance we have in the very same console can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which uses the exact same method of providing cutscenes. Awesome artstyle, great voice acting it has everything.
What did surprise me were the ideas it bought to the table, some that later games will use and evolve. For example this is the first time we can see Trail missions incorporated in a RGG game. While a very primitive integration, still some of the ideas will end up being refined in Judgment and Lost Judgment. Yakuza 0 story also seem to took some notes to make Kiryu's portion of the story.
It still has some flaws here and there. For example, the combat can be easily exploited with some specific tricks. It's hard to not get into combat with randoms in the street, or get caught by the police. Substories aren't as develop as the console titles and so much more. Nonetheless, it's a solid entry in the Like a Dragon series. It's focus on the story, the intense combat and Tatsuya character development makes definitely worth a playthrough. Just loved to see the evolution of Tatsuya, his philosophy went on changing over time, all the time until he found his own. Started as a ruthless kid to become a strong man, while not throwing his possitives traits of the past away.
Almost forgot. Props to the English Translation team TeamK4L for making this game english version possible. Not so long ago, in August 2023 they released the 1.2 Patch which is a big overhaul of what was 1.0 in the past. Seriously, it's a big accomplishment that I believe RGG fans shouldn't miss out. Both for the team efforts and the game itself which is great.
Not much people have heard of this game, like in general. Which is not surpring by any means since it got stuck in Japan. Which is a shame since I found to be one of the most round origin stories in the Like a Dragon series. This is a spin-off totally unrelated to Kiryu.
Ukyo Tatsuya is our protagonist, a kid that lives with his philosphy of lone survival with his group of friends, that for the looks of it can barely stand him as it is. Nothing but violence comes and goes out from him, like an enraged animal. After one of his many violent incidents, he comes across of one of his worse. One that will change his life forever. Slowly he starts to change as a person, see the world from different perspectives which are represented by the people he ends up fighting. The more he experience a challenge, the more he gets better at fighting and learns some valuable life leassons. By the end he's another version of himself, his own evolution.
Combat is wildly different from the classic Yakuza games. Whereas Yakuza in essence was a 3D beat 'em up, Kurohyou shifts to a more classic fighting game style of combat. In fact, the Def Jam series are the bones of Kurohyou and the Yakuza mix in was the meat. Kurohyou also differs in how to approach to enemies, since is really focused on making 1v1 battles the best they can be while in Yakuza it focus it's gameplay on battling as many enemies as possible. There is no real HUD while fighting, not at all. All you get are indications of your current health and stanima state, most of which are indicated through Tatsuya himself; if he gets tired his attacks and running animations will be slower, if he gets injured a different idle animation will play, etc. Head, Chest, Legs and Arms take a big role in combat as well. Tatsuya and the enemies themselves are prone to get injured in one of these areas in combat, for better or for worse it gives the battles more complexity.
This, to my knowledge works with various other systems in conjuction. For example, in case you keep blocking heavy attacks your arms will start to debilitate overtime in the fight and deal less damage or if you keep getting hit in the head Tatsuya will be dizzy for a couple of seconds and take more damage to the head. It's a simple system that either the enemies or yourself can exploit to your advantage, specially on bossfights which they really love using certain moves that can attack either part of the body to KO you in a matter of seconds. Fighting Styles are important, more than in any RGG previously made. You got plenty to choose, up to 20 to unlock throughout the game. Yeah, 20 in total. Ever played any Yakuza game and give some attention of how the enemies move? From Street Brawler to Ancient Martial Arts, it's all here from you to choose and work out. My personal favorites styles were the ones used kicks as it's main source of damage such as Muay Thai. Though, most of these styles are hidden on substories and such. Ended up unlocking 16 of the 20 that are in total.
Once again we hit the old but known streets of Kamurocho. Presentation takes a bit of a hit compared to what people were use to with Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 for obvious technical reasons. So the team opted to use the classic static camera angles, separated in screens from the PS2 Yakuza games. It doesn't feel bad honestly, but some specific camera angles may be confusing to navigate specially if you're running from someone. Substories, Minigames, Shops, you name it everything we've used to in the RGG titles is here, to some extent and with some obvious limitations due to hardware restrains. Talking about hardware limitations, the cutscenes are not in real time anymore. But they're better if they had to implement in that way honestly. The closest resembleance we have in the very same console can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which uses the exact same method of providing cutscenes. Awesome artstyle, great voice acting it has everything.
What did surprise me were the ideas it bought to the table, some that later games will use and evolve. For example this is the first time we can see Trail missions incorporated in a RGG game. While a very primitive integration, still some of the ideas will end up being refined in Judgment and Lost Judgment. Yakuza 0 story also seem to took some notes to make Kiryu's portion of the story.
It still has some flaws here and there. For example, the combat can be easily exploited with some specific tricks. It's hard to not get into combat with randoms in the street, or get caught by the police. Substories aren't as develop as the console titles and so much more. Nonetheless, it's a solid entry in the Like a Dragon series. It's focus on the story, the intense combat and Tatsuya character development makes definitely worth a playthrough. Just loved to see the evolution of Tatsuya, his philosophy went on changing over time, all the time until he found his own. Started as a ruthless kid to become a strong man, while not throwing his possitives traits of the past away.
Almost forgot. Props to the English Translation team TeamK4L for making this game english version possible. Not so long ago, in August 2023 they released the 1.2 Patch which is a big overhaul of what was 1.0 in the past. Seriously, it's a big accomplishment that I believe RGG fans shouldn't miss out. Both for the team efforts and the game itself which is great.
Bir kovada delik var
Yepyeni bir kukla var
Bir kovada delik var sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var ben yazar (fark eden)
Buraya kalemle oturalı çok oldu.
Basit satırlar yazarak.
Adamım ne yapmak istiyorsun?
Sertçe soruyorsun kendine
Kendimi kabullendireceğim
Aklımı özgürce kulanacağim
Seni takip edeceğim,
sonra vitrine varacağız sonunda.
Sen hala gençsin
güzel ama mutsuzsun
Kafesteki kuş kukla gibidir
dans etmek için yapılan bir ayak gibi.
Gevezelik ve taklite zorunlu
Bir kovada delik var
Sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var Ben yazar (fark eden)
Vakit geçirmek için taciz et beni
Uyandır beni gulumsememe izin ver.
Mutlu oldugum icin mi gulumsedigimi saniyosun
Gulumsuyorum çünkü mutsuzum
Farkedilmemek benim için yeni değil.
Tarot kardı 13 ölümün sembolu aynı 1 numarası gibi.
Hayat bitmez bir döngü, kafayı korumamiz zor
Buyukler kucuklere bahis oynuyor.
Ne kadar safsan o kadar hissedersin.
Kaybetme, yolculuğa devam.
Maceraya akıllanmak için çık.
Hayat şaşırtıcı derecede kısa.
piroteknisyen anlattı bu hikayeyi
Bir kovada delik var
Sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var ben yazar (fark eden)
Vakit geçirmek için taciz et beni
Uyandır beni gulumsememe izin ver.
Uyudugum zaman kanayip kanamadigimi gormek istiyorum.
Uyumama izin verme içimdeki sapıktan korkuyorum.
Ölen insan ırkı.
Ölen ırk.
Ölen insan ırkı.
Yepyeni bir kukla var
Bir kovada delik var sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var ben yazar (fark eden)
Buraya kalemle oturalı çok oldu.
Basit satırlar yazarak.
Adamım ne yapmak istiyorsun?
Sertçe soruyorsun kendine
Kendimi kabullendireceğim
Aklımı özgürce kulanacağim
Seni takip edeceğim,
sonra vitrine varacağız sonunda.
Sen hala gençsin
güzel ama mutsuzsun
Kafesteki kuş kukla gibidir
dans etmek için yapılan bir ayak gibi.
Gevezelik ve taklite zorunlu
Bir kovada delik var
Sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var Ben yazar (fark eden)
Vakit geçirmek için taciz et beni
Uyandır beni gulumsememe izin ver.
Mutlu oldugum icin mi gulumsedigimi saniyosun
Gulumsuyorum çünkü mutsuzum
Farkedilmemek benim için yeni değil.
Tarot kardı 13 ölümün sembolu aynı 1 numarası gibi.
Hayat bitmez bir döngü, kafayı korumamiz zor
Buyukler kucuklere bahis oynuyor.
Ne kadar safsan o kadar hissedersin.
Kaybetme, yolculuğa devam.
Maceraya akıllanmak için çık.
Hayat şaşırtıcı derecede kısa.
piroteknisyen anlattı bu hikayeyi
Bir kovada delik var
Sen kör adam (para ve tanrı)
Yepyeni bir kukla var ben yazar (fark eden)
Vakit geçirmek için taciz et beni
Uyandır beni gulumsememe izin ver.
Uyudugum zaman kanayip kanamadigimi gormek istiyorum.
Uyumama izin verme içimdeki sapıktan korkuyorum.
Ölen insan ırkı.
Ölen ırk.
Ölen insan ırkı.
8/10.
Quando toca your knife feels good e muppet, eu senti minha alma elevar.
Meu segundo jogo da ryu ga gotoku, gostei muito desse aqui, mais que yakuza 1, não vou dizer muito, serei bem breve.
A narrativa desse camarada aqui bem boa, a estética das custcenes a la mgs peace walker, agradou suficiente a mim e desfrutei da história, que acho bem ok, ainda assim me emocionei no final....
O combate desse camarada aqui é bem mais funcional que o yakuza 1 de ps2.
Ainda assim não espere muito de um jogo de psp, ainda assim as variações de estilos de combate e obter novos estilos é um parte boa, ainda que falta polimento e um balanceamento melhor, mas muito divertido.
Upa estilo é um porre, mas se prestarem real atenção em como cada estilo de comporta e os atks que mais alinham a ele, utilizar bem eles te ajudar a upar mais rápido, mas falta um balanceamento melhor...
As side stories das 40 que fiz, uma quantidade mediana achei proveitosa seja pelo fator cômico e outras pelo valor dramático ou encorajador de pegar um estilo novo com outro oponente que você derrotou no dragon heat, é definitivamente um ponto alto.
A progressão do protagonista é muito satisfatória, feijão com arroz na real, mas eu amo esse tipo de feijão com arroz, me senti bem confortável com os personagens.
A trilha sonora é sem dúvidas 10/10
Muppet
Your knife feels good
So unsual
Revenge of father
As mais memoráveis que me recordo de cabeça, mas a vista gama de osts são muito boas.
Qualquer coisa eu elaboro melhor no kurohyou 2.
Conclusão: eu gostei de verdade.
Quando toca your knife feels good e muppet, eu senti minha alma elevar.
Meu segundo jogo da ryu ga gotoku, gostei muito desse aqui, mais que yakuza 1, não vou dizer muito, serei bem breve.
A narrativa desse camarada aqui bem boa, a estética das custcenes a la mgs peace walker, agradou suficiente a mim e desfrutei da história, que acho bem ok, ainda assim me emocionei no final....
O combate desse camarada aqui é bem mais funcional que o yakuza 1 de ps2.
Ainda assim não espere muito de um jogo de psp, ainda assim as variações de estilos de combate e obter novos estilos é um parte boa, ainda que falta polimento e um balanceamento melhor, mas muito divertido.
Upa estilo é um porre, mas se prestarem real atenção em como cada estilo de comporta e os atks que mais alinham a ele, utilizar bem eles te ajudar a upar mais rápido, mas falta um balanceamento melhor...
As side stories das 40 que fiz, uma quantidade mediana achei proveitosa seja pelo fator cômico e outras pelo valor dramático ou encorajador de pegar um estilo novo com outro oponente que você derrotou no dragon heat, é definitivamente um ponto alto.
A progressão do protagonista é muito satisfatória, feijão com arroz na real, mas eu amo esse tipo de feijão com arroz, me senti bem confortável com os personagens.
A trilha sonora é sem dúvidas 10/10
Muppet
Your knife feels good
So unsual
Revenge of father
As mais memoráveis que me recordo de cabeça, mas a vista gama de osts são muito boas.
Qualquer coisa eu elaboro melhor no kurohyou 2.
Conclusão: eu gostei de verdade.
Tatsuya Ukyo: my blorbo my plinko my poor little meow meow meow and also my glup shitto. Having had been a distrusting 17yo shithead myself, I know full well how much of a mind poison the worldview of total unbelief is. Hence, watching an edgy teenager turning this mindset around is just soothingly comforting — which is a hysterical quality to assign to what's maybe the most brooding and morose RGG game out there. A real gem in the series, and a really easy recommendation if you seek the grungy vibe of PS2 Yakuzas
RGG Masterclass yet again showing how it's done.
Man, this game may be a Yakuza game but everything about it was so different and honestly I loved every second of it.
Also top notch music too
THERE'S A WHOLE IN THE BUCKET
Man, this game may be a Yakuza game but everything about it was so different and honestly I loved every second of it.
Also top notch music too
THERE'S A WHOLE IN THE BUCKET
#4 in my ranking of the yakuza games
yeah this ended up being insanely good, dont trust anyone who says otherwise. are there issues? sure, the enemies can be annoying at times, a few of the DH bosses suck and the finale isnt the best yakuza has to offer, but fucking hell everything else about it is some of the best stuff the series has to offer. loved this game.
yeah this ended up being insanely good, dont trust anyone who says otherwise. are there issues? sure, the enemies can be annoying at times, a few of the DH bosses suck and the finale isnt the best yakuza has to offer, but fucking hell everything else about it is some of the best stuff the series has to offer. loved this game.
tatsuya sounds like he's permanently stuck in a asmr video whenever he talks and the game gets an imaginary backloggd half star point thingy for that
This review contains spoilers
As one of the three Yakuza games still region locked to Japan, going through Kurohyou thanks to the fan made patch was a fun experience. It's definitely one of the messier games in the franchise, but also manages to carve its own niche thanks to its unique game play and grittier tone.
Unlike every other Yakuza game, Kurohyou plays more like a fighting game (which makes sense as this is from the Def Jam devs). Because of this fights tend to be more up close and personal with things like the limb system and directional attacks supporting this style of combat. Despite that it manages to be pretty damn fun throughout, with many styles to unlock allowing experimentation that wouldn't be seen in a mainline game until Ishin. Another big difference is the main star of the show Tatsuya Ukyo, who starts the game as a complete fucking asshole who gets forced into the hellhole that is Dragon Heat and has to claw his way towards freedom. This makes his eventual growth one of the best in the series, with a pretty solid side cast making the journey that much more interesting (DJ Rikuoh the goat). One last thing I'd like to say is just how impressive a title this is for the PSP, standing with games like the God Of War dualogy and Peace Walker as one of the more visually appealing games on the system (it helps that this game goes the classic route with fixed camera angles).
My biggest problem with Kurohyou comes from its narrative, which starts off pretty intriguing but loses itself with typical Yakuza shenanigans. I love the initial setup of Tatsuya needing to win 10 in a row to survive (and the opponents being connected to his past allows for some pretty nifty moments) but after a while the game tends to drag its feet pacing wise with tons of meandering and lots of lore dumps (doesn't help you CANT SKIP CUTSCENES WHY). Another weak aspect would be the main villain, who only gets a bit of (admittedly cool) lore before you face him (except not really) which makes the entire thing feel rushed. On the gameplay side of things I absolutely despise how the game handles Heat actions, with them being delegated to grabs only for some reason. This makes the pace of the combat feel incredibly schizophrenic at points since the opponent can just stuff whatever attempts you do to close the gap, and other bullshit like being able to near instantly counter your special moves (the limb system also feels a bit underutilized in this regard). Bosses have this the worst, with each one of them having the annoying as fuck mechanic of being able to transition from a combo to heat move if you get hit with ANY attack in the animation (which lead to running around the arena to avoid which felt so jank). Side content is also pretty weak, with substories being incredibly dull besides the gangs plotline and tournament arc (which lets you fucking break the game with what you get).
Despite these rough edges I'd still call Kurohyou one of the better entries in the series and a great way to start off the first spin-off series in the Yakuza franchise. Excited to see how Kurohyou 2 changes things up but for now I'll wait until I finish Infinite Wealth to go to that one.
7/10
Unlike every other Yakuza game, Kurohyou plays more like a fighting game (which makes sense as this is from the Def Jam devs). Because of this fights tend to be more up close and personal with things like the limb system and directional attacks supporting this style of combat. Despite that it manages to be pretty damn fun throughout, with many styles to unlock allowing experimentation that wouldn't be seen in a mainline game until Ishin. Another big difference is the main star of the show Tatsuya Ukyo, who starts the game as a complete fucking asshole who gets forced into the hellhole that is Dragon Heat and has to claw his way towards freedom. This makes his eventual growth one of the best in the series, with a pretty solid side cast making the journey that much more interesting (DJ Rikuoh the goat). One last thing I'd like to say is just how impressive a title this is for the PSP, standing with games like the God Of War dualogy and Peace Walker as one of the more visually appealing games on the system (it helps that this game goes the classic route with fixed camera angles).
My biggest problem with Kurohyou comes from its narrative, which starts off pretty intriguing but loses itself with typical Yakuza shenanigans. I love the initial setup of Tatsuya needing to win 10 in a row to survive (and the opponents being connected to his past allows for some pretty nifty moments) but after a while the game tends to drag its feet pacing wise with tons of meandering and lots of lore dumps (doesn't help you CANT SKIP CUTSCENES WHY). Another weak aspect would be the main villain, who only gets a bit of (admittedly cool) lore before you face him (except not really) which makes the entire thing feel rushed. On the gameplay side of things I absolutely despise how the game handles Heat actions, with them being delegated to grabs only for some reason. This makes the pace of the combat feel incredibly schizophrenic at points since the opponent can just stuff whatever attempts you do to close the gap, and other bullshit like being able to near instantly counter your special moves (the limb system also feels a bit underutilized in this regard). Bosses have this the worst, with each one of them having the annoying as fuck mechanic of being able to transition from a combo to heat move if you get hit with ANY attack in the animation (which lead to running around the arena to avoid which felt so jank). Side content is also pretty weak, with substories being incredibly dull besides the gangs plotline and tournament arc (which lets you fucking break the game with what you get).
Despite these rough edges I'd still call Kurohyou one of the better entries in the series and a great way to start off the first spin-off series in the Yakuza franchise. Excited to see how Kurohyou 2 changes things up but for now I'll wait until I finish Infinite Wealth to go to that one.
7/10
Games kino man it got a fun and unique combat system with over 20 fighting styles the music was a banger story too and the comic book visuals the cutscenes go for were amazing only thing that sucks is the game was a japanese only psp game and the current english fan translation that's out there is filled with bugs and crashes and dosen't have any of the side quests translated i hope one day this game get a re release or a new fan translation
Combat is pretty cool with its focus being purely hand to hand. People may find it more "limiting" than normal yakuza gameplay but I think the game's way of trying to be challenging is to have the exact same skills as the enemy. I think it's pretty cool since the combat is more akin to those Wrestling/UFC fighting games. Fighting styles are pretty cool. A lot of them really feel different from each other despite sharing a few animations. Bosses are probably the best part of the game to me. For the type of combat this is, I feel the challenge is pretty fair for most of them and bosses probably felt the most imposing out all of the series from a gameplay standpoint.
This is probably just a "me" thing but the art style of the game is also my favorite of the franchise. I like the cutscene art a lot. Feels what Yakuza's 1 & 2 might look like in 2d form with its gritty look and all. Its probably what stood out to me the most and in a way why I wanted to keep playing the game without knowing a lick of japanese when I was "checking it out." So at first, it was just me wanting to look a bunch of pretty pictures. Animation is pretty much flash animation but it's stylized up the ass to really make me care.
The game overall looks pretty nice for a PSP title. I also like how diverse enemy designs look. Some of look straight out of a delinquent manga.
Story (from what little translations I managed to scrounge up) is pretty good. I imagine if you like stories like Judge Eyes/Judgement, you'll appreciate its tone and how it differs a lot from main series Yakuza despite taking place in the same city. In this era of the series, its one of the more grounded stories in my opinion. Erm... At least after a certain part of chapter 1/before/after confronting the final boss.
For cons:
Navigation can be a pain in the ass (though it's not because of controls). There's no taxis. And the cops can make getting to places kind of annoying if you end up a lot farther away from your intended location.
Enemy health can get pretty beefy especially on harder modes unless you upgrade stats. Leveling up stats is pretty weird since it's completely different from leveling up normally (experience points, etc.) Money is pretty god damn scarce.
The combat is CLEARLY not designed for multiple enemies. There's no real crowd control options in combat or at least ones that feel natural.
This is probably what can turn off fans from checking these games out, the camera is too close in combat and shakes too much whenever clean hits are made. It kind of makes the game worse than it actually is. Its not like zooming out the camera is a bad idea. Not like obstacles can obstruct the gameplay in the first place.
Side content other than substories is pretty limited. This has more to do with it being on a PSP so they probably had to make due with a smaller space than usual.
This probably depends on who you are but having the options of making cutscenes skippable AFTER beating the game is pretty pinheaded. It made redoing some sections to give the best gameplay performance I could a REAL pain in the ass.
So yeah. Interesting spin-off for the series
This is probably just a "me" thing but the art style of the game is also my favorite of the franchise. I like the cutscene art a lot. Feels what Yakuza's 1 & 2 might look like in 2d form with its gritty look and all. Its probably what stood out to me the most and in a way why I wanted to keep playing the game without knowing a lick of japanese when I was "checking it out." So at first, it was just me wanting to look a bunch of pretty pictures. Animation is pretty much flash animation but it's stylized up the ass to really make me care.
The game overall looks pretty nice for a PSP title. I also like how diverse enemy designs look. Some of look straight out of a delinquent manga.
Story (from what little translations I managed to scrounge up) is pretty good. I imagine if you like stories like Judge Eyes/Judgement, you'll appreciate its tone and how it differs a lot from main series Yakuza despite taking place in the same city. In this era of the series, its one of the more grounded stories in my opinion. Erm... At least after a certain part of chapter 1/before/after confronting the final boss.
For cons:
Navigation can be a pain in the ass (though it's not because of controls). There's no taxis. And the cops can make getting to places kind of annoying if you end up a lot farther away from your intended location.
Enemy health can get pretty beefy especially on harder modes unless you upgrade stats. Leveling up stats is pretty weird since it's completely different from leveling up normally (experience points, etc.) Money is pretty god damn scarce.
The combat is CLEARLY not designed for multiple enemies. There's no real crowd control options in combat or at least ones that feel natural.
This is probably what can turn off fans from checking these games out, the camera is too close in combat and shakes too much whenever clean hits are made. It kind of makes the game worse than it actually is. Its not like zooming out the camera is a bad idea. Not like obstacles can obstruct the gameplay in the first place.
Side content other than substories is pretty limited. This has more to do with it being on a PSP so they probably had to make due with a smaller space than usual.
This probably depends on who you are but having the options of making cutscenes skippable AFTER beating the game is pretty pinheaded. It made redoing some sections to give the best gameplay performance I could a REAL pain in the ass.
So yeah. Interesting spin-off for the series
The gold standard of portable spinoffs, Kurohyou is the fully featured Yakuza game you wouldn't expect on the PSP.
It gets around the limitations of the system by having prerendered backgrounds (a la Resident Evil) and that works remarkably well, never feeling like something is missing: the designers were clever in framing Kamurocho in such a way that the camera angles result in familiar views for fans of the series.
The combat system is brand new, and based more around well-timed dodges and grabs than it is about endless combos. It starts brutally difficult, but by the end you will be so powerful that very few enemies will be able to withstand more than a couple of your punches, thanks to a rewarding progression system and a number of buff items and moves you can acquire.
The game even pioneered some elements later used in another Yakuza spinoff, Judgment, such as tailing an NPC, acting nonchalant when they spot you, or the permanent damage you have to heal via a doctor or medical kit (thankfully far less irritating here than in Judgment).
The story is just as rich and emotional as the rest of the series, despite the character being a brash, cocky asshole at first, it goes to some really good places as the plot develops and people grow.
Side activities are plentiful, with over 50 substories and the bunch of minigames you've come to expect. Just about the only thing that's missing is the humor, which is here conspicuously absent. It's not that the game is completely devoid of it, but the tone is definitely more serious than what came before, and especially after.
If you've never heard of the Kurohyou games, or have always dismissed them as crappy portable spinoffs, give them a chance: there is a great english translation out there, and they absolutely deserve to be played.
It gets around the limitations of the system by having prerendered backgrounds (a la Resident Evil) and that works remarkably well, never feeling like something is missing: the designers were clever in framing Kamurocho in such a way that the camera angles result in familiar views for fans of the series.
The combat system is brand new, and based more around well-timed dodges and grabs than it is about endless combos. It starts brutally difficult, but by the end you will be so powerful that very few enemies will be able to withstand more than a couple of your punches, thanks to a rewarding progression system and a number of buff items and moves you can acquire.
The game even pioneered some elements later used in another Yakuza spinoff, Judgment, such as tailing an NPC, acting nonchalant when they spot you, or the permanent damage you have to heal via a doctor or medical kit (thankfully far less irritating here than in Judgment).
The story is just as rich and emotional as the rest of the series, despite the character being a brash, cocky asshole at first, it goes to some really good places as the plot develops and people grow.
Side activities are plentiful, with over 50 substories and the bunch of minigames you've come to expect. Just about the only thing that's missing is the humor, which is here conspicuously absent. It's not that the game is completely devoid of it, but the tone is definitely more serious than what came before, and especially after.
If you've never heard of the Kurohyou games, or have always dismissed them as crappy portable spinoffs, give them a chance: there is a great english translation out there, and they absolutely deserve to be played.
Impressionante o número de spinoffs bons de séries aclamadas que são exclusivos de PSP.
Fui sem esperar muita coisa e sai surpreendido, mesmo com as limitações do console, RGG faz algo especial aqui.
Combate, história, protagonista, música, tudo aqui é ótimo. Meu maior problema foi o boss final, que é um personagem tirado do nada sem construção nenhuma na narrativa.
Fui sem esperar muita coisa e sai surpreendido, mesmo com as limitações do console, RGG faz algo especial aqui.
Combate, história, protagonista, música, tudo aqui é ótimo. Meu maior problema foi o boss final, que é um personagem tirado do nada sem construção nenhuma na narrativa.
Fundamentally feels like Yakuza 1 but portable, the combat is nice and punchy but highly exploitable to the point where it's better to spam the same grabs over and over than to do combos. Side content is surprisingly plentiful for being a portable game and it's got a good host of typical Yakuza minigames and substories. I unfortunately couldn't ever connect with the story though so I found any story segments to be a slog, even with the fan-made English patch
I played this game before the translation was complete so a lot of the side quest dialogue and item descriptions were ** instead of actual words, but it's was an alright game. Beautiful for the cut scenes that looks straight out of a comic book and I think that alone gives the game a much needed sense of unique identity and helps it stay remembered and stand out against the other Yakuza games.. also on the topic of being unique the soundtrack includes songs done by the Jet Set Radio composer.
Outside of that, the combat feels like the PS2 Yakuza because it's very archaic and clunky, however it wasn't ever horrible to the point where I felt hindered by it, and I think it's pretty impressive that it's even relatively good to begin with. I would write about the story and Tatsuya as a character, but I don't think I could do it justice because of the unfinished translation. I'll replay it one day.
Outside of that, the combat feels like the PS2 Yakuza because it's very archaic and clunky, however it wasn't ever horrible to the point where I felt hindered by it, and I think it's pretty impressive that it's even relatively good to begin with. I would write about the story and Tatsuya as a character, but I don't think I could do it justice because of the unfinished translation. I'll replay it one day.
Lots to love here ... Really enjoyed the game's combat system, the music and the storyline with it's stylized cutscene that heavily reminded me of the MGS games on the same system.
However, it suffers a little from the sheer amount of fights that start to become old due to the A.I. not being particularly smart and random encounters being too easy. Also the slow walking speed and how hard it is to avoid enemies on the street makes traversal a bit tedious. Doesn't help that most of the side content isn't particularly good either.
I really enjoyed unlocking new fighting styles and leveling them up though. It's something I would've loved back in the day on a proper PSP when I was still aching for grindy games that unlock more shit.
Definitely worth a playthrough if you're into Yakuza, but I wouldn't call it a "must play" either. Curious to see how the second one improves the formula, if at all.
However, it suffers a little from the sheer amount of fights that start to become old due to the A.I. not being particularly smart and random encounters being too easy. Also the slow walking speed and how hard it is to avoid enemies on the street makes traversal a bit tedious. Doesn't help that most of the side content isn't particularly good either.
I really enjoyed unlocking new fighting styles and leveling them up though. It's something I would've loved back in the day on a proper PSP when I was still aching for grindy games that unlock more shit.
Definitely worth a playthrough if you're into Yakuza, but I wouldn't call it a "must play" either. Curious to see how the second one improves the formula, if at all.