A history documentary for the Yakuza Endurance Run

UPDATE: I've written a companion piece about Yakuza 0's Japanese pop soundtrack which has seemingly been removed from the overseas release. If it is still in the game, great. If not, this thread is for you. ^^

(This post focuses on Yakuza 0 through 6, and not the spinoffs.)

For those planning to follow the Yakuza Endurance Run, or would just like to know...

The Yakuza series is designed with a “Japanese audience first, world second” mindset. Along with the businesses and products that appear throughout, certain locations have real-life counterparts, with the most obvious example being Kamurocho - the red-light district and Yakuza mainstay based on Tokyo’s Kabukicho.

Japan’s postwar history also plays a role in the background, but there’s few Metal Gear-style explanations - although Yakuza can sometimes feel like a codec conversation with some kicking in it. Sega assumes that Japanese gamers will already know why people are able to spend money like no tomorrow in Yakuza 0 and yet be desperate for loans in all the other games. This definitely saves time for a series that is, to be honest, talky. (Speak for yourself, poster.) You don’t have to know Japan’s history to enjoy Yakuza; however, I hope the following videos help those that are curious.

Here are two episodes of “NIPPON”, an eight-part series made by the BBC in 1991 - just before Japan’s economy crashed. “The Shock Effect” starts in the 1970s and charts the country’s path to becoming a global superpower, while “Risen Sun” shows Japan in 1990 with its wealth and excess affecting the rest of the world. Tellingly, there are hints of the economic collapse that was about to happen, but little attention is paid to the super-inflated real estate prices and overconfidence in lending that would take the blame for the Lost Decade. (Kiryu himself goes into real estate for Yakuza 0, and moneylenders pop up throughout the series - with one in particular becoming a key character.) The quality of these videos aren’t great and they’re definitely not flashy, but I hope they prove useful during the Endurance Run and as a good history lesson in general. There are also many documentaries on real-life yakuza worth seeing.

Finally, for those interested in the Yakuza universe itself and how it came about, I’d like to recommend yakuzafan.com. They’ve been working hard at keeping up with the series and even putting YouTube documentaries together for overseas fans. Thanks for reading!

What Endurance Run? What? Huh?

@pilgore: Gbeast is starting a Yakuza 0 playthrough in a couple of weeks.

@briarpack: I thought they were going to play through the Yakuza games starting at the first one episodically but not in an Endurance Run style format. So it will be more like Life is Strange or Contradiction. I don't think this is going to be an Endurance Run. At least that's what I gathered from the tweets.

I assume they wouldn't be doing a series playthrough, if so i sincerely hope they don't start with 0, the engine, performance and gameplay mechanics have all changed and improved over time and i'm not sure if events in the games which come after are maybe alluded to in 0 as i haven't played it yet, despite being a prequel they might intend for 0 to be played once you're up to date on the story, i believe also the HD re-releases of 1 and 2 only came out in Japan, as well as Kiwami which was a full remake of the first game.
I started my Yakuza journey at 3 which i think is a good place to start, as it includes well made movies explaining the events of the previous games, similar to how Dan and Drew watched a movie for Peace Walker as opposed to playing it, it might be wise to side step the 40+ hours it would take to finish the first two.

Thanks a lot for showing those documentarys, even outside of Yakuza its very interesting stuff. Its oddly interesting as an older documentary of an older time, great stuff!

@cikame: Alex already confirmed they will be starting 0 about a week after launch, then they'll wait for Kiwami (which comes out later this year), then presumably go back to the Ps2 version for 2. That one is going to be the odd one out for sure, but I have no issue with them doing it this way.

@pazy: thanks Pazy, glad you liked it. I've just found out that non-Japan releases of Y0 removed the JPop soundtrack due to licensing stuff :(. I've thought about finding those songs on YouTube...

@gondokasa said:

Ah, seriously? That sucks. I thought they would end up removing some stuff. I'm just glad the "videos" stayed in... hehehe

@omgfather: I'm wondering if they'll keep the Live Chat section of Yakuza 6 for overseas. They probably will... Sega seems to have a good relationship with AV giant Soft On Demand, with SOD actresses playing the hostesses (and appearing in the videos, I think) for Y0, and the Live Chat in 6 is SOD-branded. This kind of thing may put some people off, but at least Sega isn't being cheap about it.

I'd like to see what Phone Dating is in Yakuza 0' although now I'm imagining some horrible pre-Internet Tinder with conversations instead of photos and people "swiping left" by telling you they want to be transferred to someone else.

@gondokasa: yup its a bummer, I immediately noticed there was something off, I saw the intro that starts after playing a bit and thought to myself: " That just sounds wrong, is that supposed to be like this? the music doesnt seem to fit what I'm looking at at all." Looked up how the Japanese game starts out on youtube and indeed its not the music that was supposed to play there. (game is still great though) Fuck expensive licensing fee's.

Skipping yakuza 1+2 for 3 seems insane to me :p 3 is the slowest\worst by far from what I remember. Yakuza 1 definitely plays the worst but that one isnt as long as the rest from what I remember and it has the legendary fucking VO ofcourse.

Edit: NOOOOOOO not kiwami, Alex :( the biggest jump forward gameplaywise was between 1 and 2 on ps2, you'll be missing out on that as well.(Obviously its just a matter of what you care about though) All the other games just basically play like a slightly refined ps2 yakuza 2 .(I wouldnt be surprised if they have been reusing the same engine since ps2 untill finally building a new one for yakuza 6 on ps4, which feels like an actual modern game.)

"(This post focuses on Yakuza 0 through 6, and not the spinoffs.)"

"Yakuza 0 through 6"

"0 through 6"

"[Seven games]"

Uh, how long are these games, by the way? It's totally awesome that they exist, and that GB is going to cover them, but how many hours are we talking here?

@turbopubx16: Often 50+ hours if you engage with side content.

We're potentially in for several years of Yakuza-ing around these parts.

@turbopubx16: The earlier games will probably take them 20-30 hours to get through, but some of the more recent games like 4 and 5 can easily take 50+ hours. It'll depend a lot on how much of the side content they choose to engage with.

If Alex and Dan play on Easy with enough substories to level up (and show some of the best parts of the series), then make sure they buy some good weapons for the final bosses (especialy on 4 and 5), hopefully they can get through the games quickly and still show a good amount of Yakuza. It's still going to be Metal Gear Scanlon long, though, if not longer. 5 is the only game I rushed through near the end - I already had 6, 0 was on the way and 5 is LONG AS HELL. Loved it, though.

I am currently playing Yakuza 0 and I must say this is really great news. Seriously guys get ready for some amazing stuff. Thanks for the insight!

@lestephan: I guess I'm weird for liking 3 the most. It might be due to it being such a huge leap from 2 from a gameplay perspective and me thinking It would never get localised.

I also liked Okinawa quite a bit as a location, and felt like that was the only game to have a decent version of fishing. (not that it matters a whole lot)

It would be a shame if they skipped all the side stuff since that's the best part of these games, for me at least. (Yakuza 0 has some really great ones so far)

@gondokasa: Those documentaries are really interesting, thanks for posting them.

@boozak: You can have your reasons for liking 3 the most, I dont see anything weird about that. Opinions are cool like that :) I shouldve left my dislike of Yakuza 3 out of this.

And to the OP, thanks for those videos and links, very interesting.

I usually take 30 hours each with the games. There's not really a necessity to do side content as you can just punch people for experience.

Isn't 3 the one that was bought over with cut content?

@gkabooz: It was yeah, the hostess visiting and managing part was cut. (not the dating though) They never really gave a clear reason as to why.

I am currently playing through Yakuza 0 and boy...while I love this game it feels that with more polish it would actually be much different. Even though I've played like 6-8 hours I feel like I've not done anything at all.

Before anything, thanks @lestephan and @hippie_genocide - glad you like the videos.

I've just played through the first parts of Kiryu and Goro's storylines in Yakuza 0.

I'm glad my prattling on about Japan's history didn't turn out pointless. :) A loan shark provides the kickoff and real estate is a much bigger part of the story than I expected. One substory suggests Majima as the reason for Japan's consumption tax. It's nice to see many classic Yakuza locations given an 80s look, and I've already run into a few surprise appearances while playing the substories.

Smile Burger in Yakuza 0 and 6

This is all just a parking lot in Yakuza 5.

Goro Majima's relatively normal...

...and proud of his bad puns.

Finally, me after discovering the Maharajah Disco.

The main story has been great so far and I think the substories are some of the best in the series. We have to steer Dan and Alex toward "The Show Must Go On", "How To Train Your Dominatrix" and the Maharajah story for starters. Hopefully they'll visit the video parlor at least once to get the appropriately-named trophy. (that's another thing - I thought the Soft On Demand actresses were just in the hostess clubs and videos, but they pop up in various locations, substories and on the phone cards. There's also a guy willing to pay money to look at your phone card album - just like Wesley the Gunsmith in Deadly Premonition!)

I had to get used to the idea of using money to level up, but because of the setting it makes perfect sense - in that time and place, you're nothing without lots of cash. That Yakuza 0 actually compares your fights to material goods is a great touch - one of my fights was worth 50 VCRs. (The fighting's pretty good - I haven't checked the skill tree but I hope they've at least kept the Essence of Smoking.)

Although I love exploring the world anyway, Yakuza 0 almost forces you to do so many different things for cash, and even then it seems like the abilities I get aren't much. This may be intentional - Kiryu and Goro are pretty young, so they're not going to have a whole catalogue of moves. (what Kiryu does with a box of nails is pretty brutal.) I think Yakuza 0 really doesn't want you to just breeze past what it has to offer. Just fighting enemies to level up can get boring in a hurry, and the substories are more rewarding item- and story-wise. On top of that, I'm trying as many ways as I can to make as much money as possible so I can buy weapons to beat up those Mr. Shakedown guys and make even more money. Those guys are horrible by the way.

Anyway, not to drag on any longer but I'm really enjoying Yakuza 0 so far. Hope everyone's enjoying the game and/or looking forward to the Run. :) Thanks again for reading.

(by the way, someone had mentioned cuts in Yakuza 3 - I had read somewhere that the hostess and mahjong parts were removed because Sega thought it was "too Japanese" for overseas gamers.)

I've written a companion piece about Yakuza 0's Japanese pop soundtrack which has seemingly been removed from the overseas release. If it is still in the game, great. If not, this thread is for you. ^^