Yakuza 0 Review – Majimagnificent | The Jimquisition

Jim Sterling: "Where has Yakuza been all my life?"

[moegooner88]

Tempted to pick this up now tbh

[Fishy Fingers]

Yeah same. I've never played one in its entirety only had the odd hour here and there with different ones over the years. Enjoyable but never bought one but this looks to be the best yet (in mostly all respects).

Bit sleeping dogs, bit GTA with a slathering of Shenmue. Can't be bad. Good CQC for and open world too.

[NewMonday]

about time Yakuza gets the recognition it deserves

[IamTylerDurden1]

PS4 exclusives coming out the woodwork from Friday to Tuesday. Gravity Rush 2, RE7 VR exclusive to PSVR, Yakuza 0, Tales of Berseria, and Kingdom Hearts 2.8.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Aka poor lol

I'm going to be getting Resident Evil 7 at launch so I'll probably have to wait maybe a week to pick up Yakuza 0

A must play!!!

The great thing about Yakuza 0 as you don't need to know anything about the series to really get it. Because it's a prequel and an Origin story gamers are able to enter the series relatively easily.

The next Yakuza game coming to the West will be in summer and it will be the Yakuza remake!

[Minimox16]

What about Digimon World Next Order at the end of this month :D ?

[P_Bomb]

Never doubted this franchise for a second. All it ever needed was an opportunity.

[FullmetalRoyale]

Interesting to see the Deadly Premonition comparison, because that's one of the weird games I am really into, that made me want to try this game in the first place. I'm now officially hype!

[MrDead]

It's always been a surprise to me that the Yakuza series isn't one of the biggest franchises in gaming, every game has never failed to deliver. I'm not a fan of fighting games but I love this series, it really is special.

[Gazondaily]

Never played this series before. This will be my first. Sounds great

[Obelisk92]

Same boat here, I'm very excited!

[Nyxus]

I have Yakuza 3 and 4 on PS3, great games. This one should arrive on Saturday.

[Spike20XX]

Yakuza 3 is kinda rare to obtain nowadays. I hear it's one of the best

[Silly gameAr]

I have 3 and 4 on PS3 also. Haven't really dug into them yet because I have a ctazy backlog, but im going to take some time out.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I enjoyed Yakuza 5 when we got it on Plus.

[alstruck]

yakuza 3 was awesome

[ShadowKnight]

My favorite actually

[DragonDDark]

Thus one is even better! Played the Japanese version.

[Inzo]

I recommend you play the series, it is a seriously underrated game.

[Why o why]

Its actually starting to look like the beginning of a real 'perfect storm' for sony......so many choices over the next few months.

[Last_Boss]

This series is so cold blooded!! Kazuma is no joke on the ass whoopins!!

[P_Bomb]

Pliers + heat move. That's all I'll say ;)

[BlakHavoc]

Man now in tempted to get this. Lets see how resident evil does review wise, but I might get this instead. Would be my first Yakuza game so I'm pumped.

[yeahokwhatever]

I'm leaning RE because of the VR. But this one definitely will be in my library at some point.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I'm easily getting Resident Evil 7 day one as to avoid spoilers but I'm still also getting Yakuza 0 maybe a week after Resident Evil 7 as Amazon Prime still gives you the discount within two weeks of release.

[BlakHavoc]

Maybe if I beat RE quick enough I'll play Yakuza before Nioh drops. It's going to be a hectic 3-4 months.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@blak- that's basically my plan.

Resident Evils typically a much shorter playthrough

[Petebloodyonion]

great review for a great franchise.
My only complaint is since it's a Sega games expect 0/nothing/ nada in term of hype or promotion from the media except for a small review with a great score.
And of course, even if this game was the best game of all time it has 0 chance of being a game of the year candidate.

I for one will buy this game :)

[Fishy Fingers]

They've always sold the franchise short, at least in the west. Like you said little promotion or even no localisation. Shame. Hopefully this one bucks the trend.

[cfc83]

Localisation sucks. That's if by localisation you mean English voice actors instead of subtitles.

[akiraburn]

@cfc83, Localization refers to all the efforts required to release a title outside of its native land, and/or can refer to the release itself. Those efforts might include voice acting being added in some cases, or it might end up just being subtitles. What Fishy Fingers is referring to, is the fact that several games in the Yakuza series haven't even made it outside of Japan. Some of them include Yakuza: Kenzan!, Yakuza: Ishin, and the PSP Yakuza Black Tiger games.

When you localize a game, it requires many efforts, from translations, licensing agreements, fulfilling stipulations and agreements with the original voice actors' contracts, through even changing the button layout in some cases (in Japan the O button is usually the "Accept" and the Cross button is "Cancel", whereas in North America and Europe most games tend to have this reversed). Additional voice overs aren't always included as part of the localization process - as is the case with Yakuza, since they only feature the original Japanese dub with English subtitles.

As for what Fishy Fingers said, that's a consistent problem with Sega. Yakuza could be a hit franchise for them in the west, but they tend to choose very bad release dates, put virtually no marketing budget behind the games, and otherwise don't do a great job explaining what the game is (like the Yakuza 4 demo which only had fighting sequences - showcasing none of the open-world exploration, none of the RPG aspects, and so on). Though maybe with all this universal praise, Sega will put a little more push behind their efforts.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I personally don't believe Sega needs to put as much marketing into the Yakuza series as some of you guys might think.

If they don't see the Western versions doing huge numbers of course I believe they are 100% Justified to hold off on spending more money in marketing.

We should be happy that this game, the Yakuza remake and Yakuza 6 are even coming to the West at all.

I believe they just don't sell enough in the west to produce more money in marketing.

It is very clear that Sega has been giving early copies to specific journalist to allow them to Market their game.

I personally just don't see it as a wise idea to spend a bunch of money on commercials for a game that I believe the West is just not going to completely understand.

Especially if the cost for such a promotion is more money than they believe they're going to be receiving from the Western versions.

I personally only care about them making a profit simply because it means we in the west still get a game.

If they go and spend a bunch of money marketing only to not have the games sell that much more it could also result in them not even releasing the game to the West at all.

[Petebloodyonion]

@ all of the above!

I don't believe the problem is with Sega choosing a bad release date or Sega not making a lot of advertisement.
In fact, I'm pretty sure we will see some splash page about this game on some major website.

What I'm addressing is the notion that major website like IGN, Gamespot, etc. seems to shun game made by Sega.
As an example, we have seen countless interviews, articles, preview, etc. about No Man Sky how many have we seen about this game?
or any Sega game not backed by a major console company (thus exclude Shenmue3 or bayonetta2)?

And like I said before, Sega could produce the best game in the world, a major site would still not consider it for a game of the year contender.
(heck Gamespot and IGN gave Alien Isolation a 6 out 10 proving my point)

[ONESHOTV2]

It's a Must buy

[Poek]

I played this series for the first time when playstation plus gave yakuza 4 I believe away for free. It was super awesome. The fighting and little side mission and games...until I had to dress my girls at my bar...stopped playing lol

[BG11579]

WTF !? How on hell did Sir Jim Sterling liked a PS4 exclusive that is a sequel (or prequel)!? Now I'll have to buy it...

[ShowanW]

reviews for yakuza 0 all seem pretty positive...
but im only buying 2 games at full price point in the next 3mos... horizon:zd and mass effect

[_-EDMIX-_]

I recommend you get Amazon Prime because I never buy my games at full price.

[ShowanW]

I got Amazon Prime but, I dont buy physical games..
Im digital only...

Im gonna grab Yakuza, Gravity Rush 2, and RE:7 later on in the year...

Im grinding through a few backlog games until Horizon:ZD unlocks

[slappy508]

Nice one Jimmy

[1060FX8300]

I've never played a Yakuza game before but I would love to get into the series. Would this be a good starting point? Or should I play Yakuza 1/wait for Kiwami and then go from there chronologically?

[Nyxus]

Haven't played it yet myself but according to the reviews 0 is a great way to get into the series.

[akiraburn]

Yakuza 0 is a prequel game to the rest of the series. So you can start with this one and know nothing about the characters or story, and get introduced to everything very easily. And since you mentioned it, Kiwami is a remake of the first game, so if you end up enjoying Yakuza 0, you'll be able to transition right into Kiwami with a solid understanding of the characters, gameplay, and situations happening.

[P_Bomb]

If you're new to the series, you might as well start at the beginning, ie zero. It's as good a jumping on point as you'll get without a PS3.

[_-EDMIX-_]

This is the best starting point simply because it is a prequel to the entire series.

[1060FX8300]

Alright, thanks guys. Looking forward to picking up my copy come launch day!

[Gamist2dot0]

Was thinking about picking up Gravity Rush 2 and now this? FFFFF*&k!!!

[ziggurcat]

I think this is the first score I've seen from him that was higher than a 5/10.

[Inzo]

Another PS4 hit, damn Xbox fanboys must be seriously piiiissed off, I think at this point they are begging for a miss from Sony.

[Movefasta1993]

eventually they'll all give in and buy ps4s

[G20WLY]

Surely anyone who hasn't already is so blind they never will lol

[S2Killinit]

boom

[0Day]

Very interesting.. Might be something I check out.

[georgenancy]

another glorious exclusive for playstation

[TheColbertinator]

Another excellent Yakuza game in the bag

[YAO-BLING]

PS4 SLAYING!

[JCW2005]

9.5? wtf jim? really? this outdated looking shenmue rip off gets a 9.5? jesus

[Why o why]

Triggered!

Chill.....its not like this is the only high score its got...maybe, just maybe its a good game....despite what you feel about its looks.

Lol

[Razzer]

LOL

[guyman]

Yakuza has always been a brilliant franchise

You clearly don't know what you're talking about

Your desperation is beautiful

[IamTylerDurden1]

Yakuza 0 getting great reviews, PS4 is stacked.

[Last_Boss]

Guys support this series, they haven't failed yet.

[theshredded]

Dang, now that's an easy purchase! I should get back to the series.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Pre-ordered, ready boyyyyy

[tyasia0]

I didn't need any review to tell me Yakuza games are good. I have been looking forward to this game since they announced it. I've had my copy pre-ordered for weeks.

In fact the only thing that surprises me is that Jim is only now realizing what a great series Yakuza is. It's not like it's a new thing.

[Rangerman1208]

Never thought that Jimquisition would be this positive towards the game.

[medman]

Nice!!