Considering they gave Yakuza Zero about a month before they started, do you think they will do the same or now that the games review season is getting busy again, we will have to wait till next year?

They'll start Kiwami over Dan's dead body.

I've got my fingers crossed

Well.. If Dan is the one to play it, then I'd say around the new year. If they swap him out for Alex, which I pray to the gods, japanese and/or not, that they do, then maybe in a month to two.

And just as a disclosure, I like Dan, but he is far too impatient for this series.

Probably early next year.

I think they'll probably save it for next year. Right now they have Steal My Sunshine, Exquisite Corps and Blue Bombin', with Exquisite Corps occupying the Beast In The East slot.

Beast In The East Kiwami is the feature I'm looking forward the most, but I don't think they'll get into it soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they start playing it once Yakuza 6 comes out in the west, on March 2018.

I would also be ok if they let Alex control the next one. It seems that Dan wasn't much into playing it and Alex was the one already backseat driving the whole thing anyway.

I'd say sometime in November.

At the very least not until they finish this season of Exquisite corps.

I hope ASAP, but I can see it being January.

At this point, I'd be (pleasantly, granted) surprised if it ever happens.

Alex was pretty insistent that it would, after the first BitE was over. I hope it's soon, but I agree they will almost certainly wait until Exquisite Corps or Steal my Sunshine is over.

Also let me again agree with the others to please let Alex/Vinny/Abby take over for Dan, I do not want to watch someone who hates the game they're playing unless that itself is the gag (Mario Party)

Whenever they do it, PLEASE have one person in control of what is going on. Have the other on-lookers just commenting over what is happening. The death knell of BITE was Dan trying to do one thing, Alex vetoing that and commanding him to do something else, then Vinny quietly suggesting something else entirely.

I would think that with the announcement of Kiwami 2, they now have quite a bit of time before they have to finish Kiwami (no official release, but I would guess this time next year at the earliest). I wouldn't be suprised if that pushes any plans they might of had back a bit so they can spread things out more evenly.

Eventually, they will play it for sure, but I hope December. I think watching them play Kiwami during the holidays would be nice.

Question: why would this be the next Yakuza game they play? Aren't there a bunch of these?

When they're ready I hope, no need to rush it when they're not in the mood. They still have XCOM and Mario Sunshine to go through.

You know... maybe 0 was enough, honestly.

I love Yakuza, I don't know that they are up to play all of Yakuza.

If GBEast is going to continue to be a Let's Play machine, as they currently have been, then I honestly think they need to have some more short games in mind. Games less than 10-15 hours. I also think they need to have someone in the driver's seat of the whole thing. And by that I don't just mean "someone who holds the controller", I mean someone who kind of keeps the LP moving, practices for a little while before recording stuff, looks up some hints/tips/guides/etc. Thirty minutes spent practicing controls or something would go a long way in some cases, and having someone who has a pretty good idea of how to go about achieving what they want to in a one-two hour video is a pretty good idea.

...this turned into a less on-topic post than I meant for it to. What I really want to say is, do Yakuza Kiwami later on, it feels like Beat in the East didn't end that long ago and now feels too soon, especially considering that they've already got a few projects in the pipeline (Sunshine, Blue Bombin', Exquisite Corps), at least one of which (Sunshine) looks like it's going to go on for a little while longer. And then find some shorter games to play, with a long one lined-up for later on.

Agreed.

Personally I would so much rather see Shenmue II instead. That is ridiculous enough that it will be fun. It's not as bad as the first game with things that really bugged them either.

I think they can do both of course, but I do like that. I would love more FMV adventure games from them. They are great to finish in like 4-5 episodes and usually have some amazing moments.

Alex seemed pretty into Yakuza, so if they made him play Sunshine then please let him play Kiwami. Beast in the East was awesome and I'd love to see it eventually.

Sorry, Shenmue 2, I have more patience to wait on you.

@dgtlty: because story wise it is the next one in order.

It's interesting that there's no Quick Look for Kiwami scheduled yet. It might because that they are busy with PAX, or maybe it might really be coming as premium content. Hopefully they will talk about it a bit during PAX West

It's gonna be the number one question I'm gonna ask Alex at pax if they don't talk about it on the panel

But realistically, probably next year if anything I'd say, especially if they are treating their shows like "seasons", and it's likely kiwami 2 will see an English release by late 2018-early 2019

I'm just curious how they'll react to it. Zero made Majima into such a focal character that I wonder if they'll come around on Kiryu through the course of Kiwami. Also curious if they retconned any of the Majima scenes where he originally acted like a complete lunatic to be a bit more toned down.

Nope! It seems like they have only added stuff to the story and not changed or removed anything. With Majima specifically it creates some real jarring moments in the game because in the Majima Everywhere encounters/scenes Majima acts like he does from Yakuza 2 and onward, so it`s really weird going from lighthearted playful Majima to violent psychopath Majima.

Best new character : Goromi

I lol'd so hard when I saw this. And the fact they continue the gag if you play along and get to max affection. They make a lot of references to the events of zero during this event.

Vinny said on that other podcast he was on recently that Beast in the East ended up being counter to how the majority of GB audience consumes their content due to subtitles, I could definitely see them moving away from doing the rest of the games.

Considering that Yakuza is already super iffy with things like that I was kinda leery when that happened but playing it completely normal salvaged it.

I'm guessing february or march as the earliest dates. They have a lot on their plates now, and as autumn is coming with it's share of games they have stuff to do until december and GOTY.

@dgtlty: It's a remake of the original Yakuza, and is the next game in the timeline after Yakuza 0.

If they do it (not sure they should), I just hope that whoever's playing spends some time off air to get to grips with the combat at least, watching Dan understand/use a small fraction of what was at his disposal then whining about the combat was deeply frustrating for me. If they do I reckon early 2018.

It is encouraging that Alex has already tried a bit of Kiwami, as mentioned on today's podcast. At the same time, does this mean he's less likely to be at the helm? Next year would be my guess as well.

If they do continue, based on how the combat has been the few hours I've played so far, DO NOT put Dan at the helm. It's definitely a step up in difficulty from 0 and Dan will get destroyed if he plays the sane was as the last game.

Yeah, there's some really annoying fights in there.

Judging by how things have been it seems they like to stick with the same person playing each time in the same series.

Thatd be a shame cause i think literally everyone would be happier with the decision.

I don't even mind how Dan plays he just didn't seem to have a great time either.

@efesell: I wouldn't mind either way, but Alex said he's been playing it so i am 90% sure it will be dan playing if they do it again.

If they do Kiwami I don`t think Dan will be on the controls again. In other series like Blue Bombin and Vinnyvania the person playing enjoys playing the game and they have a special fondness for the series that made them choose to play the games to begin with. Dan dislikes playing Yakuza and seems to have kinda soured the games, so it would be weird to have him play the next game just because he played the first one. Alex on the other hand seems to be the person the most invested in both the video game series and the video series and he has also said that he enjyed playing the games.

Even if Alex playing the game now disqualifies him (which I don`t think it does) I actually think it makes more sense to have Vinny or even Abby play since they at the very least do not already dislike playing the game from the start.

I just finished Yakuza Kiwami, having never played the original Yakuza 1 and 2, and here's my feeling about it:

• The scope of the game is way smaller than Zero
  • One protagonist, and one main location
    • You might have memorised the map by now.
    • There are some new sub-locations located in Kamurocho
  • Mainline story is shorter
    • It moves quicker, and I find the story interesting.
    • I like that anyone could die.
    • It doesn't start as slow as Zero.
  • Sidequests are less interesting
    • There are some weird ones with cutscenes, but has no bearing with the main storyline. But I assume it's introduction for future character?
    • There are couple of side stories that tie with the mainline story, and I find those interesting
    • There are couple of side stories (involving mini games) that call back to sidequest characters from Yakuza 0
  • Less mini games, I was hoping for playable arcade games and fishing, but sadly both aren't there.
• Combat is more or less the same, but it's Kiryu:
  • So it's less bombastic than Majima
  • Majima Everywhere is both challenging and funny, and at times forces me to switch to other fighting stances

In the end, Kiwami feels more like Yakuza 0.5, than Yakuza 1 (in comparison to Yakuza 0).

If the Beast crew wanna do another Beast in the East (or playdate), I'd say

• Do it a bit sooner, maybe around end of Sept / early Nov.
  • Since it's more or less story continuation of Zero, waiting too long means that you might forget some of the characters from Zero.
• Let Alex or Vinny control it
  • Since the combat is more or less the same as Zero, Dan might suffer from gameplay fatigue.
• Mainline the story, the side quests are not as funny as Zero's, and you have seen most of the mini games.

Also hoping its not Dan at the wheel for Kiwami. I can't stand watching videos of someone forcing themselves to play through a game they're not enjoying. It's why I fell off of Metal Gear Scanlon pretty fast. Its also why I tend to skip through Alex's turns on Steal My Sunshine.

As for who should replace Dan? Alex is the obvious choice. Also, he'll probably bring the most skill to the game for those who care about those kind of things. Vinny's open world shenanigans would be fun. Abby....I have no idea, total wildcard.

It's a double-edged sword, really. While I also really do not want Dan on the controls (and I imagine Dan doesn't want to be the one playing again either), him having to at least sorta focus on the game kept his need for tangents in check. I mean, I love the wacky tangents as much as the next guy, but I get the sneaking suspicion that if Dan wasn't actually playing the game then every cutscene would just be him talking over it and distracting everyone else.

If I wanted to watch people actively not pay attention to the game to the detriment of the viewing experience, then I'd still be watching Kingdom Heartache. The whole "podcasting while someone plays a game in the background" approach works for stuff like Blue Bombin', but not for anything story-driven or where dialogue and cutscenes are actually important to understanding whats going on.

All that aside, I'd like to see Kiwami done sooner rather than later, but I don't mind waiting until early 2018. With only 1 Megaman game left and the Exquisite Corps looking like it's going to be crashing and burning within the next couple episodes, there should be some spots opening up on the GBeast schedule for new/returning features. Speaking of which, Abby, Ben and Jason all have yet to do an Endurance Run. You can't be a Duder without an ER under your belt!

Well still no Quick Look so..... maybe they are in the planning stages for Beast in the East Kiwami since doing a quick look would just retread the same ground.

I wasn't expecting a quick look last week since Alex was sick with PAX Pox but now that two weeks have gone by i'm a little more wary that we will ever get a quick look.

I'm more optimistic that this will happen at some point now precisely because there's been no QL yet. :)

Still wouldn't be too surprised if it didn't happen, but I'm hopeful!

Ten years from now.

Same, no QL == possibility of it happening.

There is now a Quick Look happening.

So, this is dead? :(

Unless it's a west coast QL then that pretty much confirms it, sadly.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Pretty sure Alex said on twitter they are still planning to do it at some point, but who knows when they'll get around to it? Hopefully it'll be mentioned on the QL, maybe they'll surprise us and it will actually be the start of their full playthrough.

I still haven't finished Kiwami so don't mind waiting a little longer regardless.

Pretty sure Yakuza 0 had a quick look and a UPF segment, so not necessarily.

Beast crew are doing the quick look this time.