Beast in the East: Yakuza 0 - Part 07

My stomach hurt from laughing when I read the jizz line, that came out of nowhere.

Majima's blissful ignorance about the toilet graffiti is the best.

glad next week the focus is back to the story, at one episode a week, distancing themselves from the story and playing so little of it feels like it will burn out the crew's interest on it before it even

truly takes off (majima and kiryu have so many cool dude moments in 0)

The packs you get from Bob (the clown) are not pre-order bonuses - they're just free DLC stuff. You can only access the special costumes in Premium Adventure which is available AFTER you beat the game.

@alex I think the pace has been just fine, keep up the great work!

I played through the game in much the same way, and think it's a great way to play. It frontloads the substories for sure, but the story has a momentum in its later half that I think plays out better without constant interruptions.

I love this game and this video series.

Super bummed though that you can't change clothes in first play-through. Such a waste.

Nearly paid the dark price...

I'm glad they're investing in the side stories because they seriously are all incredible.

At 1:00:56, Mr Shakedown walks into frame and then evaporates into thin air.

@alex Don't feel the need to avoid side story stuff, this Yakuza in particular is really frontloaded with them so you end up finding one every three feet, especially in Sotenbori since it's so much smaller than Kamurocho. At this point they should start slowing down so that they'll be a nice change of pace from the main story rather than a constant interruption.

^that and there is really no reason to try to finish them immediately after starting them. You'll just have a bunch of exclamation marks around you that you can pursue at your leisure. I definitely had some side stories that I would slowly contribute to over a couple of chapters.

If we still haven't figured out how the master skills work I'm going to come back and edit this comment with all caps.

so someone spoil me do you ever meet the little girls mother and can you play it so majama (the yakuza with a heart of gold) marries her mother? It would be a hilarious way for him to get out of the Yakuza (though it would destroy the continuity of the other games I know).

@renegademike Thank you for dropping some real and correct science! As a fellow chemist/patent lawyer I always find the duders here trying to understand science hilarious (MORE KERBAL). Good to see someone add positively and correctly to that discussion.

@alex I mean I would pay to see you beat up someone involved in a game you thought should be better ... maybe someone from the mass effect team...you DO have a wrestling thing going on at the site at conventions now...and I make the "certain set of skills" joke 1 second before vinny did. Heh...

@zaldar: you do meet her mother in the last part of that story (and she can work at your cabaret club later)

I really like the gravity they are giving to murder in this game. I wonder if the rest of the games are like that too?

They definitely do. In Yakuza 4 one of the playable characters is Majimas sworn brother Seajima (who as they mentioned in this episode killed 18 people) and a big theme of his story is about the consequences of killing another human being.

Also, in the other games, encountering enemies with guns is really rare, and while you can buy guns they're incredibly expensive and may have literally one bullet in them because they're quite powerful (if I'm remembering right). I always thought that was a nice touch, but firearms seem to be a bit more commonplace in Yakuza 0.

I am really enjoying this series, mostly because it's so obvious that Dan, Vinny and Alex are having FUN. Play how you want, I'll be happy with this no matter what!

I'm continuing to love this series.

Are there really people complaining about them doing sub stories? That's probably what the Yakuza games are mainly about, when it really gets down to it.

By this point, you should be rejoicing when you spot Mr. Shakedown. He's your payday and you can totally take him now. Seriously, you don't need to freak out about him.

@gregalor: Dan is not that great at dodging yet, and Mr. Shakedown is kind of the quintessential Yakuza boss archetype where you need to get a hit in and then evade. They haven't faced a whole lot of enemies like that so Dan is kinda mashing his way through most encounters which is absolutely fine for street thugs but doesn't work too well on tougher enemies.

I remember playing the very first Yakuza on PS2 and the combat was just not clicking with me until I finally realized how many invincibility frames there were on the dodge move. From that point on combat became a lot smoother as I realized I can just sidestep everything and as long as I'm in the animation all the blows will go right through me. They tightened this stuff up in subsequent entries but the core theory still holds true for the most part.

Dan is the claw machine MASTER. That fucking Bunchan took me, like, 25 minutes get.

I remember when the series started and people were fretting they'd go full-Shenmue and do NONE of the sub stories.

Can't please all the people all the time.

I spent 2 GOD DAMNED HOURS trying to get that Pink Bird for that little girl...... They get it fist try. fml

Too much time on side stories? I say let's get this series in my 100% dark hole. But really the sidestory stuff they are doing will be fine and the 2nd half of the game should speed up for them

Lol Majima will definitely meet a happy Yakuza later on Vinny.

About the slime gun...

Some weapons (guns, tazers, etc) have two "stats": the durability, and the ammo count. The infinity symbol on the slime gun and other weapons is referring to the durability. It just means that you can whack enemies with it as much as you want and it won't break. The ammo, however, is still limited.

The pace has been perfect, I'd hate it if you guys missed any of the major substories. As it's already been seen, most are hilarious. Plus the game gets very story-heavy in the latter half in a way that will prevent you from playing as leisurely as you have lately, so I think it's smart to prioritize substories early in the game so that you can focus on the story when it really gets going. That's how I played and I didn't regret it; the story has so much momentum after these setup episodes.

They've unlocked Erranda! The best hostess in the game.

hashtag: teamerranda

Word. It's the complete opposite of the Shen Mue run. Just fun to watch.

a kiss on the cheek for that beatles impression

@alex Just a heads up on weapon durability and ammo. You can get weapons repaired and more ammo from the chinese weapon master. Speak to his wife, the same person who you ask to do equipment searches.

The dark price and walking erection. This episode was kind to us.

"The Dark Price" fucking slayed me.

Someone needs to give the localization team a god damn award for this game.

That heat move Majima does when they're on the ground is a knee to the chest... which sounds fucking brutal. He does a flip and lands on their chest knee-first.

If you get a good camera angle you can see that Majima is smiling maniacally as he does it... it's great.

Making mondays better, one episode at a time! Thank you beasts, loving this series.

@alex y'all should really do your health restoration outside of combat by going to restaurants, bars, etc. Just in general you should pop into stores and restaurants more often. Not only do you get way more healing by cost (you can order multiple menu items if you're really damaged) but several stores have unique NPCs and substories.

How did you guys take down Mr. Shakedown? I usually used Thug style for Majima and Rush for Kiry, though Thug took a very long time compared to Rush.

personally, as someone who has finished the game, i found the serious "story stuff" to be the least entertaining as the gang stays relatively silent trying to follow along with the plot that yields little material to riff on. on the other hand, i can watch them do side quests all day... their bewildered tourist-like reactions to all the wacky yet lighthearted events/people/places in 80's japan are just priceless.

and agreed with comments above, this the by far my favorite GB series. i sometimes resort to re-watching the episodes in anticipation for the next one.

Well, they have almost caught up to me, guess I should play some more.

Super happy with today's ending, too. Was worried it'd be another week before we got to catch up with our friend. Still, plenty of exciting stuff lies ahead. Oh, so much of it. I'm glad Dan, Alex, and Vinny are clearly having so much fun with this because it's really just getting started and there's so much cool stuff ahead even just from the few chapters I've seen so far.

I really appreciate the gravity they put on it. There are a few moments (up to where I'm at) where murder comes up in various ways that feel way more impactful because of the way they treat it during dialogue and cutscenes. That said, you can hella stab and shoot dudes during the combat sequences, but that feels removed enough that it didn't bother me.

@alex: "I want to play as that guy."

You can later in the series, and boy do you ever:

I didn't get the Mean Mr. Mustard reference. I know the song and all, but how does it apply to the situation?

@alex I'll echo the comments about selling those plates, am curious how much cash you'd get! Thanks for another fun episode.

I'll echo the sentiment on you guys going maybe a little too heavy on the side stories. At the rate you're going, there won't be a lot left for the rest of the game. When you got out of that food stall and immediately engaged in that side story at the park, among others, I groaned a little.

I just think it would be more interesting if you guys engaged in the main story a little more and kept a better balance. There's some incredibly cool shit coming up and I'm getting blue balls here, lol.

Don't just use slugger all the time plsssss

@unitingmilk15: it's good crowd control stance though even against Mr Shakedown.

it's all I used in Chapter 4

Great stuff as always! I'd say you're still doing great on your approach of side and main stories. Just do whatever's interesting I say.

Great job guys! I just finished the game in the past week (83 hours 75% completion), really excited to see how you react to some further stuff on.

Keep up those sidequests. Some of them are really great!

Definitely going to +1 this. The only reason we saw that awesome kettle move was because Alex pushed Dan to do something other than Slugger for a change.

It's all about Ai. ;)

DO NOT SELL THE PLATES

They are your only insurance against an accidental Mr Shakedown encounter. He can steal your cash, but he can't steal the plates. Only sell them if you plan to immediately spend all the cash you get from them, and you get a lot.