back on the yakuza train
i haven't had this much trouble getting into a yakuza game in a long time, let me tell ya. part of it is my fault. y'see, i bought the ps4 version ages ago, because i wanted to have a physical copy of all the games in the series (at least the ones i played). i own all the ps4 entries, from kiwami 1 all the way up to 6. i even own an import copy of (the original) ishin! the only games in the series i don't own physical versions of are 7, dead souls, kenzan, ishin kiwami, and the two psp games. given the fact that half of those didn't even come out in america, i'd call it a pretty complete collection. this is even further bolstered by my girlfriend owning the original ps2 entries (although they're not mine, obvious).
annnnyway, the point is that i had the game on ps4. paid money for it, damn it! so i wanted to get my proverbial money's worth. but there is a problem. i just can't stand playing the ps4 version. 😑 it was easier to tolerate when i was first getting into the series, since a) the only entry in the series i had played before having to put up with 30fps was kiwami 1, and b) i knew all the other games in the series were nice 60fps, so i could just suck it up and put up with it for kiwami 2 and 6 (this was before judgment was out i believe). it's not like i really had a choice, either, since the idea of a pc or xbox release was pure fantasy at the time. so i put up with it. i didn't like it! it was sluggish and kinda blurry and laggy, but it looked fantastic in cutscenes and whatever, more yakuza!
but between playing kiwami 2 and 6, a half decade had passed. in that time, all the (modern) games have been ported to pc and xbox. all those same games are free on game pass. and cherry on top, those two games that frustratingly launched on xbox also sporting a 30fps cap had received FPS BOOST on a series console, which i own. so my problems are solved, right? wrong. cuz my stupid brain, despite knowing this, wanted to be stubborn. so i tried playing yakuza 6 on my ps5, and just was not enjoying my time with it. it just felt so so bad, especially coming off of yakuza 5 and 0. so, i put it down. i just couldn't put up with it anymore.
and this is when another bad brain came up: i didn't (or really couldn't) just start over on the xbox. it's not like i'd even gotten that far. the point i stopped playing was not long after the plot gets sufficiently rolling and kiryu heads down to hiroshima. but there's this part of my gamer brain that just can't handle losing progress well. anyone who has been around me these past two weeks dealing with this re4 remake save corruption bug will know how much of a bitch i am about lost progress. so despite yakuza 6 being on my xbox immediately after deciding i was going to switch, i didn't actually start playing it for like 4 or 5 months.
now that i have gotten over it, im already a third or so into the game. i've had some big twists, some dumb setpieces, and characters that you initially can't stand and start to slowly warm up to (although the clear rikiya-replacement is harder to accept as cool since he's a friendzone guy. but i still like him despite that). the more i play of it though, god i hate the combat more. it's so limited, man. it just feels the worst when a guy blocks mid-combo. or just how often you get attacked by guys directly behind you. or how gutted heat feels. this is probably worse than the combat in 3? 3's problem is that as you get later into the game, the ai just starts blocking everything you do, turning it into a glorified tiger drop fishing game. however, for like 2/3rds of the game the combat is still pretty enjoyable. it's really just the bosses and coliseum that is the problem for it. this just feels bad most of the time. not good.
anyway, that's it. just wanted to blog again. bringing this page back to it's original purpose: yakuzaposting.