Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Yakuza 3 is Actually Really Good!

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 152021
 

My journey through the Yakuza Remastered Collection began last year when I started Yakuza 3 Remastered, but then it got put on hold for Bloodborne (which got put on hold for 13 Sentinels), so it took me a while to get back to it.

But once I finished Bloodborne, I returned to Yakuza 3 and reached the end this weekend… and even though it gets a lot of criticism, I actually really enjoyed it.

There are two main things people often name when criticizing Yakuza 3.

The first is the combat. Enemies block nearly constantly, although in return it felt to me like Kiryu’s attacks hit a lot harder when they do land. You end up spending a lot of time waiting for an opening, so while the combat is fine, I’d agree that it’s less fun than in the others I’ve played.

The other big point people bring up is the slice-of-life sections. Kiryu has moved to Okinawa to take care of the orphanage, and you spend a significant amount of time there early on.

So while the main plot is teased before flashing back to the events that built up to it, your early objectives will involve playing with the kids, helping them with trouble at school, dealing with conflicts that come up between them, and so on. It’s a quieter, calmer look at life in the series with a lot of cute moments, and I enjoyed it.

The main story itself is also really good. It starts out with a bit of mystery and goes through some entertaining twists and turns as it builds. Some moments late in the game are seriously emotional, and the main antagonist is great.

Click for major Yakuza 3 spoilers
The whole Chapter 11 section was impactful, and Rikiya’s death hit especially hard. He was such a pure, loveable person, and losing him like that was just too sad.

Meanwhile, Mine was unsettling in how he could appear so quiet and mild-mannered and then suddenly go berserk, and yet by the end, I was pulling so hard for him to redeem himself and stick with us as our ally.

(Mine’s sacrifice required some suspension of disbelief; I feel it would have been better if he grabbed Richardson and immediately pulled him off the roof, to show there was no other way to stop him. But since they wanted him to give that final speech, we instead get the awkwardness of him holding Richardson on the edge of the roof for about five minutes while talking.)

Yakuza 3 has a number of entertaining substories, too. Some are bland, but others are really good. Then there are some of the fun little details in this game, such as how Kiryu learns certain special moves by witnessing wacky events in the city and blogging about them.

It was also interesting for me to see not only how the Yakuza series progressed, but also what seemed to be the earliest groundwork for systems used in Judgment. Chases, a substory where I had to follow someone… and one of the most fun substories was even a murder investigation!

(Oh, and that samurai movie substory? Yeah, that’s not making me want Kenzan and Ishin any less!)

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Yakuza 3 and was delighted to find out that it’s such a great game. I’ll be taking a break from Yakuza for now, but I expect to return to the Yakuza Remastered Collection later this year to start Yakuza 4!

If you’ve played Yakuza 3, what did you think of it?

Top Untranslated Games I Want to See in English

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Jan 222021
 

Over the years, we’ve talked about a lot of untranslated games and localization campaigns to finally see them in English. Sometimes our hopes have been fulfilled… other times, not so much.

Today I’d like to highlight some of the ones I’m still waiting for. It’ll be structured like a Top 5 list, but based on series rather than individual game (so an entry might have multiple games).

Here are the top untranslated games I most want to see released in English.

5. Tales of Destiny 2, Rebirth, Innocence R

There are a lot of Tales games available, but there’s still a handful of notable ones that never came out of Japan.

One of the biggest is Tales of Destiny 2. Don’t confuse it with Tales of Eternia, which was confusingly released in North America under the title Tales of Destiny II for the PlayStation.

The real Tales of Destiny 2 is a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny, and it seems to have been well-received. Speaking of which, Tales of Destiny also received a remake that didn’t come west, either.

Then there’s Tales of Rebirth, a main entry in the series that was never localized despite positive previews from English publications ahead of its launch.

Meanwhile, Tales of Innocence didn’t get localized either, not even when it was enhanced as Tales of Innocence R. Being a Vita game might have doomed it, despite Tales of Hearts R coming out.

I’d love to see all of these Tales games released in English, especially if the older games could be released in some sort of collection to celebrate the anniversary (or maybe a Tales of Destiny/Destiny 2 dual-pack like they did with Symphonia). I still have a lot of Tales games to play, though, so who knows? Maybe by the time I’ve worked my way through the series, these Japan-exclusive titles will finally be localized.

4. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

This year is also the anniversary of Fatal Frame… and you know what I’d love to see? A translated Switch port of the fourth game in the series, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

Unlike the Fatal Frame II remake, which at least came out in Europe, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was never released outside of Japan. A European release was actually planned, but later was cancelled. I guess they really didn’t have high hopes for Fatal Frame in the west at that point.

Fatal Frame IV, or Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, was co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, with Suda51 being a co-writer and co-director. They seem to be on pretty good terms with Nintendo, and other Grasshopper Manufacture games have been re-released in recent years, so maybe there’s still hope.

Again, I have quite a few Fatal Frame games to play in the meantime. If I play them all, perhaps the localization fates will reward me with an official Fatal Frame IV translation.

3. Ace Attorney Investigations 2, The Great Ace Attorney, The Great Ace Attorney 2

You knew they were going to be on this list, right?

Once upon a time, I went into every gaming event hoping to see an English announcement for Gyakuten Kenji 2, or Ace Attorney Investigations 2. My hopes have diminished greatly since then, but I still don’t think a Switch collection is out of the question.

Meanwhile, last year’s supposed leak claimed Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney, and its sequel are planned to be released in a new collection and translated.

There hasn’t been any official word from Capcom yet about this, but I really want to believe it’s true. I’m also all caught up on the Ace Attorney series, so these unlocalized titles are the last ones I need.

2. The Trails Crossbell Arc

Now let’s head back in to the land of JRPGs, where have the long-running Trails series. Fans interested in the overall Trails story will get the best experience if they play all of the current arcs… but unfortunately, one of them is exclusive to Japan.

Set between the Trails in the Sky arc and the Trails of Cold Steel arc, Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki make up the Crossbell arc, and they’re highly praised in addition to being important for the overall story. There have been several hints that the new PS4 versions could be localized, so here’s hoping it finally comes true.

I’ve got a few Trails games to play before I’d need to decide if I want to skip Crossbell or play the fan translation… which means there’s plenty of time for official translations to be announced.

1. Yakuza Kenzan, Ishin, Black Panther, Black Panther 2

And of course, you probably anticipated that my new favorite series would make the #1 spot on my list.

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the Yakuza games, and there are still four important spin-offs that have never been localized, starting with the historical spin-offs Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin.

When these games first came out, it’s no surprise they weren’t localized. Yakuza itself was still a pretty niche series in the west, so spin-offs grounded in Japanese history probably looked like a risky bet.

But now? Yakuza’s popularity is growing, we have all of the mainline games in English, and the success of games like Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima certainly show that there’s an audience here for that setting. They’ve gone on record saying that Kenzan’s best chance of localization is if it gets the Kiwami treatment, since it was a PS3 game, but Ishin being a PS4 game still has a chance of coming over as it is.

The spin-off Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho, or Black Panther, and its sequel have never received official translations either. The demand is smaller and I don’t think our chances of getting them are particularly good, but I’d never say no to more Yakuza games.

And… yes, I have five whole Yakuza games and two spin-offs to play before I run out of Yakuza, so once again, maybe all I need to do is get through those games…

Conclusion

Tales, Fatal Frame, Ace Attorney, Trails, and Yakuza – all great series with untranslated titles I keep hoping to see localization news about. Right now, Ace Attorney feels like it’s the closest to coming true, while the others still have a mountain of translated games for me to work through first. Here’s hoping the games on this list are translated in the future!

What unlocalized games would you most like to see translated?

Ryuji Goda Yakuza Spin-Off: Real or Fake?

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jan 202021
 

A supposed leak suggests RGG Studio is working on a new Yakuza spin-off starring Ryuji Goda from Yakuza 2.

According to the information, it features locations from Yakuza 5 and 6 and is based on Ryuji’s story in Ryu ga Gotoku Online, the Japan-exclusive mobile game.

(If I were you, I wouldn’t read the comments in that thread. Just look at the screenshots.)

The first screenshot shows Ryuji’s RGG Online character model standing in what appears to be one of the areas from Yakuza 6. The second screenshot shows him again, with Joon-gi Han (a Yakuza 6 character) apparently following him, and a debug menu open along the side of the screen.

There’s good reason to be skeptical about this leak. For one thing, it was only a few months ago that a screenshot began circulating of an Omi Alliance spin-off starring Watase, only for it to be confirmed fake.

However, it would have to be a fairly elaborate fake to use Ryuji’s RGG Online character model in a Yakuza 6 area, and several people say the debug menu in the second screenshot looks legitimate.

If the Ryuji spin-off is real, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I loved Yakuza Kiwami 2 and thought Ryuji was a pretty cool character, so the idea of a Ryuji game is neat. I’ve also completely fallen in love with this series, so I want to play anything that RGG Studio has lined up next.

On the other hand, I’ve been really, really hoping that the long gap between Yakuza 7 and anything new will provide the space we need to get Ishin (and Kenzan!) in the West without oversaturation concerns, so I wouldn’t mind a little more time without a new announcement.

(Please give us the unlocalized spin-offs, I’m begging you!)

So what do you think? Real spin-off or elaborate fake? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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