Did no one else pick this up? The guy at EB said I was the only one to buy a copy :'( this is what keeps this type of games from being translated guys.

I bought it too. I don't think it's very good (though I kinda knew that going in... I just have this weird compulsion for buying Yakuza games brand new). It's basically 70% Yakuza 4, with the other 30% being some clunky, clumsy iteration of Dead Rising. Just if Dead Rising was all about the shooting and escorting survivors. Fun.

I like it. I think it takes some time to get use to the controls and they still aren't the best, but it is fun once you get use to them.

Yupp! you are the only one my special little snowflake!

The demo turned me off quite a bit, so I'll just wait and see if my library gets it.

I'm a pretty big Yakuza fan and even I wasn't insane enough to buy Dead Souls.

The reviews aren't doing it any favors.

I wouldn't want these kinds of games translated anyway. I bought Yakuza 3 and 4, but this is just a stupid spinoff.

I am the one and only.

no im the only one

The one and only.

What stopped me was the general poor reception this game got, which is too bad as I thought it looked pretty cool

YOU ARE NEVER THE ONLY ONE STOP ASKING THAT QUESTION

I remember being really embarrassed when I played the Japanese demo and saw that they had pretty much co-opted all of the Left 4 Dead zombie types. That kind of turned me off to it.

I am the only one...
 
...In my city.

I heard real bad things when it came out in Japan. I hear that Kenzan was way better.

Yup, 1 copy sold so far ...

I totally bought it. The combat is clunky but I still like it. It's not as good as Yakuza 4, but who cares.

You, sir are the Highlander.

It sold one fucking copy, congratulations.

Completely shit controls and generally frustrating. I only recommend it to hardcore Yakuza-fans.

from the videos i've seen, why would ANYONE buy this game?

also, valve should sue them for cut and pasting every special infected from left 4 dead. maybe these guys figured the only people that would play this are in japan, and japanese people don't play left 4 dead so no one would notice.

I will pick it up... some day.

I wouldn't want it to be translated, but yeah this game isn't doing too well. It kinda sucks. I mean the game and the fact that it's not doing well.

I didn't buy it, but I am renting it from Gamefly. I am not liking it anywhere near as much as I liked 3 and 4, but I'm not hating it or anything....just sorta indifferent about it.

I was planning on getting it once I see the price tag. As much as I love the series I'm quite frugal plus the series isn't exactly known for innovation. I'll get it though. Speaking if which, I'm still waiting for all the free DLC that was implied for Yakuza 4.

@Fahrenheit said:

Did no one else pick this up? The guy at EB said I was the only one to buy a copy :'( this is what keeps this type of games from being translated guys.

.....

What?

This game looks incredibly lazy.

All you people saying I bought the one and only are straight up autistic, I was being sarcastic.

I am the only one!

@Fahrenheit said:

Did no one else pick this up? The guy at EB said I was the only one to buy a copy :'( this is what keeps this type of games from being translated guys.

Translations don't happen because usually those games are not worth translating in the first place...

Fuck this title all the way to hell.

I heard at some point, someone says, "Go ahead and touch it, it won't bite."

That's worth $10 right there.

I am biding my time for the price to go down. I can't afford all these new games.

@Fahrenheit: As someone who buys niche garbage like Record of Agarest War (I apologize for nothing!) you just have to accept that games like this are going to be overlooked by the majority.

I'll be picking this up once the price drops. I come to the Yakuza games for the yakuza, not for the zombies.

I'm waiting for a better deal on it. When Yakuza 4 came out the price dropped within a week or two.

After around 15 hours, just only hitting Ryuji Goda's part of the story, I've warmed to it. Mostly due to finally being able to play as Majima. He has so much energy and carries his ''whatever the fuck'' attitude into the sub-stories and cutscenes so expertly; they didn't water him down any and I find it a shame the entire game couldn't of centred around Majima saving the day.

What I found kind of odd while watching the "Now Playing" of this game at Gamespot, were that the characters animation were janky as fuck and the controls seem to be total ass. Of course I do not own Yakuza DS but just looking at it wanted me not to buy it. Binary Domain on the other hand, while still not being totally awesome in the control/Animation department, looks and feels way better. I find it a bit weird that a game from the same studio can animate and control so differently. If I am not totally mistaken, Gamespot mentioned that the Yakuza team already changed the whole control system for the western market.

I'm all for buying the proper Yakuza releases, i've bought all four of them. But this one i won't buy, i played the japanese demo and that was enough for me to know that i wouldn't like it. I would rather have Kenzan than this.

@PhanThomas said:

What I found kind of odd while watching the "Now Playing" of this game at Gamespot, were that the characters animation were janky as fuck and the controls seem to be total ass. Of course I do not own Yakuza DS but just looking at it wanted me not to buy it. Binary Domain on the other hand, while still not being totally awesome in the control/Animation department, looks and feels way better. I find it a bit weird that a game from the same studio can animate and control so differently. If I am not totally mistaken, Gamespot mentioned that the Yakuza team already changed the whole control system for the western market.

All of the Yakuza games are like that. It's astonishing how very little actually changes between each release; Yakuza 3, 4 and Dead Souls you'd be barely be able to tell apart speaking for the graphics. No surprise given it's become an annual franchise. But if they want to pull me for a Yakuza 5, a lot of improvements are going to be needed this time around concerning the presentation. A lot of Dead Souls feels incredibly dated, and half of the game quite literally is just pulled right from Yakuza 4, and that from Yakuza 3. And then there's of course the shooting... but that should be discredited since I imagine it'll go back to its roots after this strange little detour they decided to take.

I bought it day one to show support, without reading about it. Yakuza 4 was awesome and I enjoyed Y3. Yet to start it up.

Since I saw it on one thread, I think it need to be a trend to show up for every thread that needs it:

I was planing on buying Dead Souls on day one but Sega not translate the demo made it seem like they didn't have faith in the game, so as much as I love the Yakuza games I'm going to wait until this goes down in price before I pick it up.

It's taken time, but I'm enjoying the hell out of this. It's just plain crazy.

It's ok. Got used to the controls pretty fast. I really liked the ending.

But other than that not many high moments.

That zombie/mummy gag was pretty good though.

Ahem! I've been known to beat the Yakuza drum once or twice in the past.

They made the switch to a shooter layout smoother than I was anticipating, although lets not get carried away, it does control very much like a shooter contained within the Yakuza engine. If I have any complaints they would be very similar to those that I have with the rest of the series, there is great content to be found, but its all wrapped up in a slightly scruffy shell. For an engine that was showing its age with 3 its getting really long in the tooth at this point. As ever, the animated cut-scenes are pretty amazing, which is at odds with the PS2 era animation of the main game. It still gets points for the attention to detail, but I think even the developers realize that its time for a change after this.

This game should only be recommended to long-time fans, but that was the intent anyway so I don't think its really a problem. I was expecting a little more from the story.I typically dabble in a few side-quests here and there anyway with these games, but even with that I have stormed through the main game, its fairly brief. I think my final time was a little over 10 hours, but that's not to say there isn't enough content, because this is a Yakuza game we're talking about! Going through some of the side-quests now has made me wish they made the partner mechanic more integral to the game though; I only found 2 of the characters during the course of my main playthrough.

It's fun as a spin-off is supposed to be, there is some really funny meta-humour to be found in the side-quests, they clearly had a lot of fun making this. As fan-service its effective, I was really curious to see Ryuji again and getting to play as Majima is crazy. Kazuma's continued involvement is fascinating, and it looks as though they are sticking to a less is more mentality in regards to him because his act is extremely short. Akiyama is treated like an afterthought, considering he was the stand-out of 4 its a little surprising that his involvement is essentially an extended tutorial.

The main story is as self-referential as always, its surprisingly Yakuza 2 centric too. Like I've already said, its a game strictly for fans, but as a niche game already I doubt anyone will accidentally stumble into this one. The end of the game did come across as a farewell to the series so far; I am excited to see Yakuza 5 when it rolls around.

IN SUMMARY:

No wait. Am... I, the only one?

It's worth buying for Majima's dialogue alone. The localisation team went nuts.

Why should this game get peoples attention? It's getting less than mediocre reviews, and it blatantly rips off other zombie games. Even the enemy design isn't original.

This game is alright, its been a bit of a laugh for a yakuza fan, luckily I got it free, I don't know how I'd feel about paying full price for it however.

@Fahrenheit said:

Did no one else pick this up? The guy at EB said I was the only one to buy a copy :'( this is what keeps this type of games from being translated guys.

Well, if they insist on doing a shooter (which there are plenty of), they should at least do it right instead of using some half baked auto-aim mechanic. It's lackluster. Don't get me wrong i absolutely love the proper Yakuza releases partly because it's something different from all the TPS' and FPS' but i won't buy this.