Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3)

[Number45]

Ugh, really? Am I alone in hating them?

[Phar]

Ugh, really? Am I alone in hating them?

Can't say they really bothered me that much tbh, the ones in 4 are more annoying as most of them are across narrow rooftops, at least you can throw items in that one to slow them down a bit.

[Number45]

I did the one chasing the Snake Flower Triad last night. You have to be so careful because you have such a deficiency in starting stamina that if you make a mistake you might as well let him get away because you won't have the stamina to maintain the push.

In the end I was hyper aggressive at the vulnerable points and took him down quite quickly, but it took some serious trial and error. But it's just not fun, weaving down narrow alleys - this guy is running away from me because I'm kicking his ass, yet I get stopped by girls/old men with walking sticks that he's able to run straight through (Often pushing them into your path in the process).

And they seem to be in the middle of a long combat focused section that means, if I hit it late at night, I either have to stay up and finish it (And hope that I can save soon after, which WASN'T the case last night) or quit out and lose a fair chunk of progress and then have to go through it all again next time I start up.

I also really dislike the boss fights, they're a horrible war of attrition at the moment and I don't remember them being quite this bad in the other two games. I'm beating on them forever, taking the smallest sliver of health from a bar that's wrapped at least three times. Even the heat moves or long combos that connect take next to no health off.

I started on hard so that I could unlock the hardest difficulty if I wanted to go for the Platinum, but there's no way on earth I'm going to give them the chance to wrap those health bars more. They need to find a more effective way of increasing the difficulty.

Still love it though.

[doodledude]

I quite enjoyed the chase sequences as it added a bit of variety to the gameplay, although one of them near the end was very long and was down these narrow alleyways which caused annoyance.

I didn't like the boss fights at the start however as your progress I found them easier, maybe I was getting better but also the new moves and skills you learn help as well.

Got Yakuza 4 that I picked up while in Japan waiting to be started now.

[Number45]

I've no idea how close to the end I am. I'm at chapter 9, I'd guess around 11 hours down, but I don't even feel like I know who the main protagonist is yet. Not that that's a new thing for the series of course - it'll no doubt change three times in the final sequences.

[Number45]

Man, knowing there's a

->Open Spoiler<-

fourth game

robbed the ending of this game so badly!

I know I've been ragging on this, but I have to say it's a ****ing fantastic game same as the other two. Screw the haterz (Me).

There are a few missteps in the gameplay and the design that I'd love to see ironed out in future games (They're not, are they?), but as long as they keep creating intriguing, over the top stories and believable, endearing (

->Open Spoiler<-

And yes, over the top

) characters I'm in on this series until the end.

The only sour note towards the end was the voice work for

->Open Spoiler<-

Richardson

. It's so jarring against the Japanese voice work (Which I have no idea if it's great or not) - belongs in an MGS game if you ask me.

Finished, on hard. 18 hours down and... less than 10% completion rate. Wowzers.

And I'm not going to mention how stingy the game is with the trophies.

[doodledude]

Im not going to even contemplate trying for a platinum in this game.
My 1st run through was about 40 hours and about 30&#37; complete.

[Number45]

I'll be interested to see how heavily skewed the percentage complete is to things like locker keys, which in theory shouldn't take too long to find. Not sure I have the patience for an Extra Hard run though, as I mentioned before the boss fights are just boring because of the tiny slivers of health you chip away.

[Sketcz]

I've started putting some heavy time into this - 14 hours in and just started chapter 4. You guys who finish it in less than 20 hours with 10&#37; are doing something wrong.

I want to say, to everyone who has said the cuts are just fine and don't really matter because there's so much other stuff to do: you're all crazy.

Apart from the fact the towns now feel empty without the hostess bars and mahjong parlours (which you can enter but can't do anything), some of these missions being cut are insane! Why the hell would they remove the Brewer's Treasure mission? It sounded awesome: Kiryu and some guy go dig up an ancient bottle of sake to pay off this guy's debts. I mean, you can literally go and get pissed in a bar, so why can't you dig up sake? And why did they cut the manga artist mission?

Yakuza 3 would have been on of the best JRPGs to be released in years, and I put off playing it for so long, and now that I am, I'm just disappointed at how stripped down it feels. I mean they utterly ****ed over their entire customer base, for no logical reason. I mean really, why the hell was Brewer's Treasure cut? WHY?!

I'm only giving this the time of day to know the story before Yakuza 4 gets released, but damn, every hour I play it's like being forced to eat a mouthful of crushed glass.

[bash]

was a time/money based decision?

[Sketcz]

When they hand their translators a script, a few paragraphs from one mission is going to take less time and money to translate than getting your coders to remove the NPCs, remove the on/off flags, remove it from the mission lists and augment the trophy selection. I mean they had to go to some major effort to circumcise this entire thing, cutting swathes of content out.

It would have required less effort just to leave Brewer's Treasure in.

Man, the more I look at the cut missions list, the more tempted I am to import this ****er. I am aghast at how much we lost.

EDIT:
List of cut content

List of cut missions

[Guts]

I hear your complaints, Sketcz.

Okinawa especially felt very empty. It was quite disappointing coming from Yakuza 1 & 2 to this new game on a new console and feel the cuts yourself. I missed the conversations with the hostesses. I wanted to play the virtual barbie-doll hostess managing.

Hopefully Yakuza 4 will be the game it was made to be. I know Answer X Answer will be cut this time too and that's something I can understand, but that's it, Sega!

Edit: The cut content list makes me weep.

[Sketcz]

What I don't get is, if they're going to the trouble of removing stuff because of language, why can't they simply remove it from trophy/completion requirements, and then have a toggle switch in the options menu, or when you start a new game, which leaves all the Japanese stuff in as is?

I mean, why remove Answer x Answer outright? Is there a Sony stipulation that you can't include content in a foreign language? I played AxA in the demo for Ryu ga Gotoku, and although I didn't quite work out what I was doing, it was all part of the flavour. Leave it in there just to add to the atmosphere!

Would Yakuza 3 have had less sales if 20&#37; of the game was left in, as opposed to being removed entirely, but was still in Japanese? As long as the flags were removed from the trophy and completion lists, I don't see how/why people would complain. Attempt them if you feel like it, or ignore them. Or have a switch to disable them - thereby allowing fans to enjoy an interesting mash up of English and Japanese.

The only answer I can think of is: Sega think we're idiots, and so felt the need to remove stuff entirely. "Make it more suitable for those stupid gaijin".

I find that insulting.

Personally I'd have rather it stayed in Japan. I'd have bought the import and been none the wiser. Now I'm stuck between deciding to play everything but understand nothing, or playing it in my native language but knowing at every turn I'm being denied the full experience.

Also, why the hell did they change the opening theme's music? The Japanese original was much better, much more melancholic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzWSJ0iP2lk

Kiryu is a man who has seen his whole world changed and taken away from him, and each time he tries to get out, they drag him right back. He's an eternally tragic character - this music is much more fitting than the grunge rock they placed over it for the western release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_V_Ydk0ZLc

[Guts]

I think the western theme song is okay, but agree that the original Japanese one is much more interesting and I like it better too.

I don't think Sony would allow games to be published in the west with non-translated parts left in, however I still cannot understand why they cut them. Like you said it takes money and time to remake and reprogram the game with the cuts.

Still, I'd advice you to keep playing Sketcz, I think Yakuza 3 is an entertaining game, even in its crippled, mutilated and broken self. At least you'll know the story when Y4 comes out soon.

[Sketcz]

Well, I love it so far. I've clocked around 20 hours and I'm still only on chpt 4. Which is why the cuts annoy me so much - the game is close to perfect. Or at least what I want in a JRPG these days. I love the slow paced nature of it at the start, and I could easily have seen myself wringing every last drop out of it over time.