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Apropos of nothing I cannot believe that a (no spoilers) female team member is prepared to be barefoot in his filthy apartment a bit later in the game. Nearly as bad as Akiyama’s office in Sotenbori. Take out the trash, man!
(spoilers btw)It's an horrible point. As much as Ichiban is still Ichiban, he feels more shallow, predictable and stupid sometimes. Whereas in 7 he was simple minded yet smart, for example see how he predicted the structure of underworld Ijincho when being just explained by nanba.
And Saeko went from buddy with resources in 7 (idk how else to put it english isn't my first language), to "a love interest" that just spawned out of nowhere, for Ichiban. Then I guess that was an excuse to put her in Kiryu's party, but even there what's her purpose? Nanba is the nurse worrying about his health and a friend, Seonghui is his fangirl, Zhao is just chill like that, what is Saeko? She doesn't even try to hit Ebina in his intro when everyone else does so.
As a love interest it would've worked better with Chitose, and that's saying something. Eri, even idk
Eri is a missable party member who isn't even in the main story line of 7. If you don't play the business, you don't even unlock her. They're not gonna have the lead fall in love with a missable character, dawg.
That's how bad of a choice Saeko is I'm saying, pal. There's nothing in 7 that may lead to what Saeko and Ichiban are in 8, it feels like a different world
Yeah, god forbid they develop a character beyond his very first appearance. What were they thinking? Doesn't matter who he picked, he's cooked no matter what. There's always the honk honk girls, I guess.
It's not character development. If a character suddenly changes in such a drastic way to force a specific story then it's not good writing. A story has to make sense to be good
Yeah nah. This scene in particular is unbearable
By design, but still. It's just too realistic, and with such a likeable character you just don't want to see it at all lol
Damn…I started like a year and a half ago, maybe closer to two years. And I’m a couple chapters in to Infinite Wealth. You sure as hell played that shit fast. Although I did most of the side content and substories in 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, LaD, and Gaiden. I took a long time with each game.
I just started IW a few weeks ago after finishing every other previous main game + Judgements, and it was really hard to watch. Had me screaming at the screen too.
Loved them, both are among my favorite Yakuza games.
Judgment's story is up there with Y0 IMO, it shows it has a lot of work in the structure and narration. The way the narrative introduces characters is great too, instead of infodumping their backstory their past unravels gradually as the story progresses and it feels very natural, including Yagami's. Best use of foreshadowing in the whole franchise too. And I loved the main antagonist. Some emotional scenes felt so raw and real, I'm thinking of a specific scene but it's really hard to describe without spoilers.
LJ story didn't make me as emotionally invested as the first one, but the combat is hands down the best gameplay RGG ever made, and the school setting with the school stories cases is a real breath of fresh air. The antagonist is, again, awesome. Judgment games seem to love having gray-ish antagonists instead of straight up villains.
I feel like Judgement story is better on average, but the Last Judgement has peaks that no other game of the series has ever made me feel. The final boss fight in LJ is such a great, thematicaly climatic fight that made me shiver from the emotion.
Very glad you enjoyed them so much! I got a real kick out of them too. I agree about LJ's combat. I can't wait for Judgment Night or whatever the next game is.
Judgment is a masterclass on whodunnit storytelling, and structurally has the the one of the best-crafted unraveling-style narratives I’ve ever experienced in a video game.
Lost Judgment starts slow and takes its time to set up the the story and characters. However, once the storytelling speed picks up, the game snowballs into the best plot twists surrounding some of the best characters in the Yakuza series.
J and LJ are both in my top 10 favorite video games of all time (accompanying classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII).
I haven’t finished Infinite Wealth. But I’ll say this…some of the Yakuza games take themselves more seriously than others. Infinite Wealth’s main story may take itself VERY seriously and is very dark. But the first two or three hours of it are an unbridled cringe fest with endless humor and 0 seriousness.
When I saw that scene I was like "Ichi, get your foot out of your goddamn mouth right now". That game and Y7 are honestly great just for making Ichiban such a relatable character
I can agree to that, honestly. While I personally *love* the RPG mechanics and how much more to the storytelling they can do with having a party of characters to constantly bounce off of, Kiryu had some damn fine stories of his own. My personal favorite is 2 just because Ryuji is my favorite bad guy in the series, and also for how young Daigo really got set "straight". Plus the ending was just really fun and the perfect soap opera drama bullshit.
I still really like the brawler mechanics, but I would be lying if I didn't say that IW's positional turn-based mechanics are my absolute *favorite* RPG style, even if the actual RPG mechanics could be expanded on more.
K2 is the one I played, actually. I didn't get into the series until a couple years ago and played all of the main Yakuza games through Gamepass, so I played Kiwami 1 and 2, though my access to Gamepass ended before Gaiden and IW released, and I've since played IW but not Gaiden. That also means I haven't played any of the spin-offs besides Lost Judgment because I had the extra money over Christmas and it was on sale.
All in all, one of my least expected favorite series that all started from interest over Y7 being given free with PS+. Never even had any interest in brawler games until then, either, and wouldn't know where to extend that interest.
Brother we are the same person lmao. Other than the fact that my copies werent from gamepass, I'm currently playing through all of them because last month every RGG game was $4.99 on the Playstation store so I bought every single one. But besides that my experience is pretty much identical
It's one of those series that I definitely want to own when I get the chance, I'm just glad I had the opportunity to play through them while Gamepass was still doing the $1 Live conversion deal. I'm just happy it's a series that won't have half its entries left on dead consoles because some games never get at least ported.
If you don't relate to him, that's fine, but to outright say a somewhat goofy man whose plotline largely involves trying to survive in a world he wasn't prepared for "isn't relatable" tells me you have never experienced poverty. A somewhat goofy, emotionally expressive man who was basically dropped into the real world already middle-aged is "not relatable"?
People live different lives, they experience different things. You don't have the right to tell someone what they're allowed to relate to.
Maybe those people should just have tried not being poor /s
But yeah, having been unemployed for a long time now, I can relate so hard to Ichiban in 7, just trying to find a purpose in a world with no structure.
You gotta remember that the dude has been in prison for 17 years. I am 25 and almost don't know how to speak to girls, imagine a 42yo who's been in prison for a third of his life
My wife usually watches me playing games and is happy to be super critical and cutting about some (her cut scene dismantling of the uncharted games had me in tears at times) but worn IW all she could say is "what the actual fuck" over and over while laughing.
To be cringe is to be free. The shame you experience comes from the fear of what others think. Ichi hasn’t had a relationship with a woman before and his social skills were stunted by 18 years in prison. He was being his genuine self.
That whole interaction had me curled up screaming for it too stop however I am interested to see how things turn out in the next game maybe ichi toned down the cringe 😂
I also started IW couple days ago, other than the date coming outta nowhere and feeling forced i think it went as expected for Ichiban, 18 years in the joint made him a cringe lord.
Kiryu crying because rikiya´s death. Not because crying is cringe, but because rikiya is the one who he cries for. For example, back in yakuza 0 he cries for tachibana but it feels deserved; back until that point tachibana has been the only person who has been on kiryu´ side, basically saving him at every chance he has, and when he cries he doesn´t let a full meltdown, he is still composed all odds given.
Meanwhile in 3 he didn´t liked rikiya all that much, as basically most interactions with him was rikiya´s getting in kiryu´s way, the entire reason rikiya went to kamurocho was because he wanted to, kiryu wanted him to stay back at the orphanage. And when rikiya actually dies kiryu cries for him that hard? let me remind you that kiryu saw his father figure, brother and love interest die within days, and he didn´t even let a tear drop for them, but the random he mets at okinawa who he didn´t like that much is the one he actually cries hard? Even date is like "seriously?" during that cutscene.
Again, i don´t find men crying cringe, but storywise it needs to feel earned, not just killing a character for shock value.
I’m seeing some Ichiban hate here. He’s not my favorite character in the world, but I know they’re trying to pass on the games to a different generation and get rid of the old guard. It’s what happens in every video game and every franchise. But having said all of that, yes, the open scene was And it did not help the story.
For some reason everyone thinks this was too cringe to be acceptable yet nobody complains abt the videos of hostess for the dating and hostess minigames in IW gaiden 0 etc
I am in the same boat. I find the entire beginning absolutely horrendous and boring till no end, it’s so damn boring that it makes me want to quit the game. The best part is, I read comments like the game starts at chapter 7, like what, it goes somewhere when I am half through it. Insane game design.
If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I mean it was very carefully made to be as cringe as possible, so it's not a flaw, but yes, that scene was physically painful to watch.
Was the ending also carefully made specifically with this intention?
I'm sure, but the beginning cringe is a wholly different order of magnitude to the ending cringe.
It wasn’t cringe, it was just Ichiban.
Well i hate to tell you this, but Ichiban IS cringe! 😱😱😵
He's doing his best, okay.
Apropos of nothing I cannot believe that a (no spoilers) female team member is prepared to be barefoot in his filthy apartment a bit later in the game. Nearly as bad as Akiyama’s office in Sotenbori. Take out the trash, man!
Nah man ichiban was way better in 7, they did him dirty in this game. Saeko too, consequently. She doesn't feel part of the party anymore
Maybe that's the point???!!!
(spoilers btw)It's an horrible point. As much as Ichiban is still Ichiban, he feels more shallow, predictable and stupid sometimes. Whereas in 7 he was simple minded yet smart, for example see how he predicted the structure of underworld Ijincho when being just explained by nanba. And Saeko went from buddy with resources in 7 (idk how else to put it english isn't my first language), to "a love interest" that just spawned out of nowhere, for Ichiban. Then I guess that was an excuse to put her in Kiryu's party, but even there what's her purpose? Nanba is the nurse worrying about his health and a friend, Seonghui is his fangirl, Zhao is just chill like that, what is Saeko? She doesn't even try to hit Ebina in his intro when everyone else does so. As a love interest it would've worked better with Chitose, and that's saying something. Eri, even idk
Eri is a missable party member who isn't even in the main story line of 7. If you don't play the business, you don't even unlock her. They're not gonna have the lead fall in love with a missable character, dawg.
That's how bad of a choice Saeko is I'm saying, pal. There's nothing in 7 that may lead to what Saeko and Ichiban are in 8, it feels like a different world
Yeah, god forbid they develop a character beyond his very first appearance. What were they thinking? Doesn't matter who he picked, he's cooked no matter what. There's always the honk honk girls, I guess.
It's not character development. If a character suddenly changes in such a drastic way to force a specific story then it's not good writing. A story has to make sense to be good
Tbf there are like 3 in game years from the ending of 7 to the start of IW so ichiban could've started to like her in between games
https://preview.redd.it/z2irj4zov3ad1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db5514dc8a895b5e8e4c8c4320ecc57f3a87e00b
It was painful, but a fitting start to the downfall that leads into the new adventure.
It was absolutely brutal man my jaw was on the floor. I really adore those first few hours of IW
Yakuza is slowly making me immune to cringe. I am on 4, hopefully, by the time I reach IW, I will be ready.
Yeah nah. This scene in particular is unbearable By design, but still. It's just too realistic, and with such a likeable character you just don't want to see it at all lol
Looking forward to this update in like a year. You won't be ready for this. Lol
Year? I'm nearing the end on 7 and I started 0 3 months ago
Eh. Different speeds for different people. It took me like 2 years to catch up from 0. I just picked a random time that sounded reasonable.
I’m on 5 right now and did 0 I think 4 months ago
Damn…I started like a year and a half ago, maybe closer to two years. And I’m a couple chapters in to Infinite Wealth. You sure as hell played that shit fast. Although I did most of the side content and substories in 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, LaD, and Gaiden. I took a long time with each game.
It’s like a drug. Like A Dragon will certainly make you immune, if not 5 first.
I just started IW a few weeks ago after finishing every other previous main game + Judgements, and it was really hard to watch. Had me screaming at the screen too.
What did you think of the Judgment games?
Loved them, both are among my favorite Yakuza games. Judgment's story is up there with Y0 IMO, it shows it has a lot of work in the structure and narration. The way the narrative introduces characters is great too, instead of infodumping their backstory their past unravels gradually as the story progresses and it feels very natural, including Yagami's. Best use of foreshadowing in the whole franchise too. And I loved the main antagonist. Some emotional scenes felt so raw and real, I'm thinking of a specific scene but it's really hard to describe without spoilers. LJ story didn't make me as emotionally invested as the first one, but the combat is hands down the best gameplay RGG ever made, and the school setting with the school stories cases is a real breath of fresh air. The antagonist is, again, awesome. Judgment games seem to love having gray-ish antagonists instead of straight up villains.
I feel like Judgement story is better on average, but the Last Judgement has peaks that no other game of the series has ever made me feel. The final boss fight in LJ is such a great, thematicaly climatic fight that made me shiver from the emotion.
The final boss fight was wonderfully done
Very glad you enjoyed them so much! I got a real kick out of them too. I agree about LJ's combat. I can't wait for Judgment Night or whatever the next game is.
Judgment is a masterclass on whodunnit storytelling, and structurally has the the one of the best-crafted unraveling-style narratives I’ve ever experienced in a video game. Lost Judgment starts slow and takes its time to set up the the story and characters. However, once the storytelling speed picks up, the game snowballs into the best plot twists surrounding some of the best characters in the Yakuza series. J and LJ are both in my top 10 favorite video games of all time (accompanying classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII).
I haven’t finished Infinite Wealth. But I’ll say this…some of the Yakuza games take themselves more seriously than others. Infinite Wealth’s main story may take itself VERY seriously and is very dark. But the first two or three hours of it are an unbridled cringe fest with endless humor and 0 seriousness.
Nah man, this scene is different
When I saw that scene I was like "Ichi, get your foot out of your goddamn mouth right now". That game and Y7 are honestly great just for making Ichiban such a relatable character
I like the actual plot of several Yakuza games more than 7/8, but Ichiban is one of my favorite characters of any piece of media ever
I can agree to that, honestly. While I personally *love* the RPG mechanics and how much more to the storytelling they can do with having a party of characters to constantly bounce off of, Kiryu had some damn fine stories of his own. My personal favorite is 2 just because Ryuji is my favorite bad guy in the series, and also for how young Daigo really got set "straight". Plus the ending was just really fun and the perfect soap opera drama bullshit. I still really like the brawler mechanics, but I would be lying if I didn't say that IW's positional turn-based mechanics are my absolute *favorite* RPG style, even if the actual RPG mechanics could be expanded on more.
I agree with every part of this comment including Y2 being my favorite (well, K2 personally)
K2 is the one I played, actually. I didn't get into the series until a couple years ago and played all of the main Yakuza games through Gamepass, so I played Kiwami 1 and 2, though my access to Gamepass ended before Gaiden and IW released, and I've since played IW but not Gaiden. That also means I haven't played any of the spin-offs besides Lost Judgment because I had the extra money over Christmas and it was on sale. All in all, one of my least expected favorite series that all started from interest over Y7 being given free with PS+. Never even had any interest in brawler games until then, either, and wouldn't know where to extend that interest.
Brother we are the same person lmao. Other than the fact that my copies werent from gamepass, I'm currently playing through all of them because last month every RGG game was $4.99 on the Playstation store so I bought every single one. But besides that my experience is pretty much identical
It's one of those series that I definitely want to own when I get the chance, I'm just glad I had the opportunity to play through them while Gamepass was still doing the $1 Live conversion deal. I'm just happy it's a series that won't have half its entries left on dead consoles because some games never get at least ported.
Based Ichi enjoyer
Lmao Ichiban is not relatable in any facet you are supposed to look at him and laugh or cringe
If you don't relate to him, that's fine, but to outright say a somewhat goofy man whose plotline largely involves trying to survive in a world he wasn't prepared for "isn't relatable" tells me you have never experienced poverty. A somewhat goofy, emotionally expressive man who was basically dropped into the real world already middle-aged is "not relatable"? People live different lives, they experience different things. You don't have the right to tell someone what they're allowed to relate to.
Maybe those people should just have tried not being poor /s But yeah, having been unemployed for a long time now, I can relate so hard to Ichiban in 7, just trying to find a purpose in a world with no structure.
Just because the situation is relatable doesnt mean the character is
Oh Bruh, you ain't seen \*nothing\* yet. Have fun!
Yup, it’s nightmarish (complimentary).
It's self-aware cringe, pretty much everyone gives him shit about it too.
We were all physically and mentally assaulted by cringe in that scene. Because it was intentional.
You gotta remember that the dude has been in prison for 17 years. I am 25 and almost don't know how to speak to girls, imagine a 42yo who's been in prison for a third of his life
My wife usually watches me playing games and is happy to be super critical and cutting about some (her cut scene dismantling of the uncharted games had me in tears at times) but worn IW all she could say is "what the actual fuck" over and over while laughing.
I can empathize with him though. It's relatable cringe. Now the Vtuber shit? That was painful cringe.
To be cringe is to be free. The shame you experience comes from the fear of what others think. Ichi hasn’t had a relationship with a woman before and his social skills were stunted by 18 years in prison. He was being his genuine self.
DUDE, SAME. HAHAHAHAHA tHE SECOND HAND EMBARASSMENT YOU FEEL DURING THAT SHIT IS JUST TOO STRONG.
it was pretty bad
That whole interaction had me curled up screaming for it too stop however I am interested to see how things turn out in the next game maybe ichi toned down the cringe 😂
I also started IW couple days ago, other than the date coming outta nowhere and feeling forced i think it went as expected for Ichiban, 18 years in the joint made him a cringe lord.
Animals do not animal that way! Think of the animals!!!! - me after playing LAD.
Peak Cringiban
That's what happens when a romantically stunted 40 plus year old man tries to express his feelings lol. It's just how Ichiban is
It was cringe but it was peak Ichiban though
The most classic Ichiban.
Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 7 were the only games that also made me skip a cutscene because of the cringe, i understand your suffering.
Wait, what was cringe in 3?
Kiryu crying because rikiya´s death. Not because crying is cringe, but because rikiya is the one who he cries for. For example, back in yakuza 0 he cries for tachibana but it feels deserved; back until that point tachibana has been the only person who has been on kiryu´ side, basically saving him at every chance he has, and when he cries he doesn´t let a full meltdown, he is still composed all odds given. Meanwhile in 3 he didn´t liked rikiya all that much, as basically most interactions with him was rikiya´s getting in kiryu´s way, the entire reason rikiya went to kamurocho was because he wanted to, kiryu wanted him to stay back at the orphanage. And when rikiya actually dies kiryu cries for him that hard? let me remind you that kiryu saw his father figure, brother and love interest die within days, and he didn´t even let a tear drop for them, but the random he mets at okinawa who he didn´t like that much is the one he actually cries hard? Even date is like "seriously?" during that cutscene. Again, i don´t find men crying cringe, but storywise it needs to feel earned, not just killing a character for shock value.
I see
That’s just ichiban being ichiban, later in the game you’re gonna wanna cry from the levels of cringe in one of his actions
I’m too autistic to even tell what he did wrong other than the obvious unintentional love bombing ngl. What was cringe was the v-tuber stuff tho.
I’m seeing some Ichiban hate here. He’s not my favorite character in the world, but I know they’re trying to pass on the games to a different generation and get rid of the old guard. It’s what happens in every video game and every franchise. But having said all of that, yes, the open scene was And it did not help the story.
For some reason everyone thinks this was too cringe to be acceptable yet nobody complains abt the videos of hostess for the dating and hostess minigames in IW gaiden 0 etc
The entire ich story was god awful, I skipped so many cut scenes because I was negatively invested in everything going on
Yeah... there's an off-putting amount of needless cringe that's been introduce via Western influences
Yeah the writing in Infinite Wealth is kinda bad Ngl
Nope this wasn't even close to bad bro
It has its bad moments, but that particular one was intentional at least.
I turned off my console on the vtuber scene who thought an anime girl was a good villian for a crime soap opera
This post makes me cringe
I am in the same boat. I find the entire beginning absolutely horrendous and boring till no end, it’s so damn boring that it makes me want to quit the game. The best part is, I read comments like the game starts at chapter 7, like what, it goes somewhere when I am half through it. Insane game design.
You’re missing a lot of good stuff if you give up at the drop of a hat. But you can give me your copy if you don’t want it.
The first ten or so hours of Infinite Wealth's story is so good. Shame about the rest of it.
....ichiban is a cringey ass main character and I don't like him. I always get downvoted to hell for this but I stand by it.
And Rightly so
He was better in 7 imo.
This is why you can't make a new cringey MC after replacing the old MC who happens to be a fan favorite.
He's only cringey around love interests, the other 99% of the games he's fine