Beast in the East: Yakuza 0 - Part 19

I am hungry after a week with no BitE. Feed me!

Oh I forgot about those masks. This is a weird game...

E: @alex: you really need to get more hostesses - not running a full roster limits your options too much (turning customers away/not matching their preferences) as the staff costs are negligible, and as you found out you need to rest hostesses (ALL of their stats, not just HP, take a hit when their mood is low).

BTW, completing the special training leads to various substories.

E: You can throw money as Majima - speak to the guy directly opposite the Grand.
E: And yes, you can order _everything_ in a restaurant at the same time.
E: @danryckert: I'm fairly certain you can't even equip nunchaku without doing the training.

FMU, BitE!

Back to our regularly scheduled programmin' of Yakuza, so jammin.

But what is their face like?

This slugger ability, please. It's absolutely brutal, and only 15,000,000 Yen.

I was at OSAKA recently and really appreciated this game more.

and Across from the crab place is a Takoyaki stand too

It's a shame that dan is not getting the gameplay. It can be so much fun if you know what you're doing. Him getting frustrated just makes me frustrated.

SURPRISE BEAST IN THE EAST AW YISS

@bathala: when I went to Tokyo in 2012 I made sure to go to Kabukicho and the experience was surreal. To see all the stuff they got right and to see where they cheated to make stuff a bit closer or move stuff over a little bit. In my experience seeing the real version of Osaka is a bit more complicated because of the layout with the rivers and stuff, but the main straight with the crab restaurant and everything is still fun to see in real life.

I have been playing along with them and I disagree with Dan about the gameplay. I am having a lot of fun playing the game.

"Do I move faster when I have heat?" - Almost 50 hours in.

If Dan doesn't think it's fun to play, please let Alex or Vinny take over the controls for the rest of the games in the series. I don't know that you'll run into the issue with Kiwami, but once you get to one that's not from the current gen, whether it ends up being 2 or 3, the combat's only going to be that much more unforgiving (0 is by far the easiest). There's just a certain pacing to it that doesn't seem to be compatible with how Dan wants to play.

Oh! I wasn't really expecting an episode this week because I assumed you'd all be recovering from the E3 madness, so this is a very nice surprise. <smily face>

To be fair, the fights with the weapon-guy are bullshit.

Dan really seems to go back and forth on the combat system.

One episode he is doing great on the dodging and pulling Heat moves and tactically picking his fighting style and he is saying the combat engine is growing on him, praising it.

The next he has a bunch of bad fights with one guy and suddenly the game is no longer fun to play?
Bums me out to hear that! I don't feel good watching someone play a game they actively do not enjoy (unless that's the joke).

I'll second this. The Sera fight is more or less a perfect example of how Dan's play style doesn't match what the game wants - it's constantly over-committing to moves, getting knocked out of it, and then stun-locked because the enemy is now behind you (as well as reacting to the Heat icon rather than setting up Heat actions). From when I played, the game expects you to be much more deliberate with your actions and plan ahead.

The alternative of course is to bump the difficulty down to easy, then you can plough through the fights much more quickly and get to the stuff Dan actually seems to enjoy (not sure if that applies to other games in the series - I haven't got to those yet).

I can understand Dan's frustrations here--there is definitely a deliberate quality to the Yakuza fighting system that can feel like you're wrestling against animations. In saying that, it's something that you get a feel for, provided you don't have a week or more between sessions. I think under the current schedule, most games would feel frustratingly complicated.

As someone who has played a bunch of Yakuza, I agree that the gameplay can go from fun and satisfying to downright frustrating on a whim. There were more than a few times in Yakuza 0 where I got straight up stunlocked or downed in weird and confusing ways, and the battles where that didn't happen tended to be completely one-sided affairs.

Some random comments about what came up during the episode...

Dan's really working the girls to the bone in the cabaret club. You need more hostesses to let the ones he has rest, and use the praise girl/give gift options more give them back HP. Else you're going to end up with a lot of them skipping work next time.

It's been mentioned earlier, but Majima can learn to throw cash from a guy hanging out by the Grand in the upper left area of the map. That guy also lets you transfer money and items between Majima and Kiryu.

The Pawn Shop does also have some things for sale. An umbrella for example, which Majima can do some interesting things with.

About the styles, I have to say I agree with Dan that them splitting all the moves between different styles and heat levels made it hard and frustrating to keep track of them. It'll be the same in Kiwami, but the other games are less complicated thankfully. There's one style with all the moves, and you either have heat or you don't.

The fourth style is activated by a toggle in the menu when you get it. As Alex noted you get it from completing the business stuff. Progressing through that is also how you remove locks on the existing styles' ability trees, though the abilities under the locks are very pricey.

Button mashing isn't the proper way to play this game? Shocking!

This is worth bearing in mind; the most problematic parts of the game for me were against that motherfucker.

You know at this point, where the game is opened up and there literally are dozens of things to do, (most of which they have little or no experience with) the guys simply are not going to make everyone very happy.

I have a secret bet with myself about how many more episodes there will be from here out. That is what will fascinate me now, that is what will keep me watching.

Please put the controller in someone elses hands for game of year talks if for nothing else. If you aren't confident do it during side quests or something. The combat is really, really not that hard. It's not hard to turn towards your target while attacking instead of doing an entire attack chain facing the same direction during every single attack.

Internet Dan has slowly matured into late-night jazz radio Dan

@alex Second this. In general, I recommend buying the blue 'Essence of...' abilities; as they give you more brutal Heat actions. Check out how to use em and try triggering them once or twice (the slugger ability is easy to trigger, here).

@jiggles said:

This slugger ability, please. It's absolutely brutal, and only 15,000,000 Yen.

A little Yakuza to cure that E3 hangover, glad to see this up!

Yay regularly scheduled programming

Glad we are back to normal.

@noobsmog said:

Have to say I agree. In some ways I get it might be hard for 2 hours a week, but I really wish someone could just go to the studio and show them how to play. Maybe just have Alex give it a shot so they can at least discuss it among themselves?

Sounds like Dan was having a bad day at the office. I disagree the combat has been fun in all the Yakuza games and this one is no exception.

You can coast against mobs using a group style like break but one on one, unless you got the hang of evading and timing against stronger opponents then your going to have a hard time.

Handy tip, if you save a slotted weapon and just bring them out for heat moves they last a lot longer and more damaging.

Also the forth style is accessed by the menu screen as a toggle, you can't use any other styles when its switched on but both Kiryu's and Majima's are very powerful 4th styles.

Looking forward to next episode. I would like to see Dan try against Mr.Shakedown at some point but maybe save that for "This Is The Run."???

I agree with others. Dan clearly isn't having fun with the combat so please Alex or Vinny take over for the next game. The combat isn't going to change and if Dan's going to keep getting frustrated with it it's just going to continue being frustrating for everyone.

Since the last 4 episodes from Majima, you guys already encountered enough girls to fill the roster, you just need to spend a little money and time on buying the special items the girls need.

@alex: The Girls mood can recover if you let them take a break, by not casting them on duty that day.

I would advise equiping the event finder (its the red button that shows people in trouble on the map) That usually leads to new girls and/or friendships.

In the end Majima works as the same as Kiriyu. If you defeat the first club, a bunch of clubs will open for you to challenge, each with their different strengths. But the great thing about Majima is that you don't need to wait for the collection bar to fill, you can exit and enter the club to progress the business

Edit: You should invest in business, on the CP shop from now on, if you are going to focus on managing cubs, just like you did for Kiryiu when you bought the cooldown for filling in the meter for collection

The combat in Yakuza isn't bad, but it might be my least favorite thing about the series. The heat moves and general brutality/silliness is great, but in general I find it tedious and tend to avoid as many encounters as possible. Especially the ones where you have multiple protags/styles.

Doesn't it literally say at the bottom of the screen if a guest prefers a long / short session?

I'll echo having Vinny or Alex try playing, it'd be good to get their impressions and Dan would get a break.

yakuza 0 tip: don't go for 100%, it is a maddening nightmare

#teamerranda!

oh my god... 10 minutes in and we are doing restaurant management... go in with the story!

1 hour 15 minutes before story starts. I hardly find it fun to read unvoiced boring side quests and management. At least timestamp in video when story starts.

other than that - love the show!

I just want Dan to know that as someone who really enjoys the combat in these games I've never enjoyed the fights against the masters. Actual boss fights are fun, but the masters are always just super cheap and way too drawn out, often only giving you a window to get a single hit in before you have to block another ten string attack. They're just things you just have to suffer through to learn some new moves unfortunately.

If the option to give your club hostesses a gift is there, give them a gift so that they can recover their HP better.

Honestly the combat is not that difficult - even as someone who doesn't like this sort of combat, I had a good time with Yakuza because I learned to be patient and learned to stop mashing the buttons.

For the cabaret all you really need to do is pay attention to the smiley faces. Vinny picks up on it, fortunately.

To throw in my opinion, they should finish the story (because it gets real fucking good) and open Premium Adventure to goof around.

Hearing Dan get exasperated every episode over the combat is sure making this not fun to watch at times.

It just seems like after I spent a while with the combat I didn't always need to see the triangle in the upper corner of the screen to know when to do a heat move. I get Dan's frustration with that, though. I suppose he's made his mind up about the combat at this point.

Whoa, grumpy day for Dan? He's in super complainer mode this episode.

@alex@vinny@danryckert

Here's the explanation of gestures in the sunshine club monogame:

1. Ashtray is basically the shape of a small round ashtray
2. Towel, well we all know the gesture of squeezing one
3. Menu, is the open book / open menu gesture
4. Refill ice, is basically a pail or a bucket of ice. The gesture represents the handle of the bucket
5. Ladies glass, is small glass, thus the C shape
6. Guest glass, is large glass, thus the L shape, guys drink more.

Also, since the club makes money from food and drinks, including those ordered by the hostesses, the ladies drinks are usually smaller (but either same price or more expensive), while the guys / guest glasses are mostly larger, to get them tipsy faster.

@winsord: I agree, pass the controller over either for this game or at least kiwami. Dan's inability/unwillingness to stop trying to button mash thru combat sequences is not serving anyone well. 30 hours in it does seem apparent he is not learning, and he doesn't sound like he is digging it.

I agree. I've been really excited to watch this series but my excitement is fading now. Let someone else play. Dan is gonna button mash and complain when he gets punished for it. He complains and he still hasn't even lost a fight yet. Either move it down to easy so he can button mash or let someone who understands the combat play.

@hiczok: Thanks for the timestamp. I also like the show but there is "too much of a good thing" with ER's and I'm at a point where I want to see the story beats. I mean I love the goofy conversations as much as the next GB fan but I've been fast forwarding through a lot of these lately.

@hiczok: I mean, so much of what makes Yakuza great is the side stuff. And for the real estate and cabaret club storylines, you have to play those games and do that stuff to progress.

And restaurant management? You don't manage restaurants in this game. What are you even talking about?

Good to see that 19 weeks in, Dan -still- doesn't know how to play except for mashing square and crying about it. Amazing!