Zero Punctuation: Yakuza 4

[OuendanCyrus]

I completed Yakuza 4 recently and I loved it to hell, I gotta agree with Yahtzee that the story is just complete nuts to follow and you'd have to play through the games a couple times to understand it fully. The fight areas didn't bother me at all.

Also, glad to find out he likes Akiyama =D

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

That game about being a bobbie who heals by eating fish and chips sounds awesome. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[Alar]

So, are we fearing karma now Yahtzee?

Probably more an outpouring of absolute dickery if people misconstrued (which people so easily do on the interwebs, especially if they're stupid) his sentiments over the game and some of the stranger aspects of Japanese culture as actual dislike for Japan.

All in all, good review. I doubt I'll get the game, though. Not really my style.

 

[rawion]

Alot of the "reaction noises" that yahtzee commented on are actually WORDS. Nani? means What?; Hi and Uhn mean yes and yeah respectively, and Ne?(pronounced Nay? if you're redneck) means right?. I'm sure there are others, I only know that much because I occasionally watch anime when I'm bored and I started paying more attention to the subtitles to try to figure out why the characters were grunting so much.

 

[rawion]

for info on "hostess clubs" do a wiki search for "Geisha". It basically means that the Japanese (traditionally) would rather pay to have a stimulating conversation with a beautiful, intelligent woman, than pay to have sex with a hot, stupid one.

 

[daxterx2005]

The lack of dolphins saddens me

good review as always tho.

Cheers Yahtzee

 

[Kanatatsu]

Why are Japanese games full of weird reaction noises? Wah? Huh? I've always thought they were there because of the translation from Japanese to English, but if they're in the Japanese VO as well? Could somebody explain?

The correct answer to this is that it is considered borderline rude in Japan not to continually assure your interlocutor that you are fully engaged in the conversation, and the way this is typically done is by reaction noises of affirmation, approval, understanding, etc. Sometimes these are accompanied by short bows.

If you stand there silently and listen to a Japanese speaker without nodding or making any noises, they will wonder if you are paying attention (and some may be offended).

 

[A Gray Phantom]

I forget. What is the name of that other game that Yahtzee showed the box art of at the beginning? He's displayed it before. Is it some sort of peeping-Tom sorta game? I'm just asking because I'm curious.

 

[A Gray Phantom]

Actual Yakuza members have played Yakuza games. They say the gameplay is fun and makes sense (the commented on how different real world drinks in the game give effects that they would expect and the like), but say that no Yakuza would actually act like that before getting killed by his own group within a day for being so stupid and causing so much trouble.

Interesting. Could you site your sourc?

 

[RedBeta22]

Thanks

 

[RedBeta22]

Why are Japanese games full of weird reaction noises? Wah? Huh? I've always thought they were there because of the translation from Japanese to English, but if they're in the Japanese VO as well? Could somebody explain?

The correct answer to this is that it is considered borderline rude in Japan not to continually assure your interlocutor that you are fully engaged in the conversation, and the way this is typically done is by reaction noises of affirmation, approval, understanding, etc. Sometimes these are accompanied by short bows.

If you stand there silently and listen to a Japanese speaker without nodding or making any noises, they will wonder if you are paying attention (and some may be offended).

Ok, thank you.

 

[captaincabbage]

For the record, I would TOTALLY buy that game about the English Bobby.

 

[mikespoff]

That Darwin artwork at 4:25 was pure win.

Great episode.

 

[Scud422]

Now all Yahtzee has to review is one of the many Quake games to complete the alphabet. Either that or Q-Bert.

 

[A1]

I've always found the best way to enjoy the plot of a Yakuza game is to have a friend with you and laugh together through all the cutscenes. It's absolutely mind-boggling how insane the stories can get without the writers ever seeming to notice.

Oh, and the whole "visual novel" thing makes much much more sense when you realize that they're supposed to be digital choose-your-own-adventure books rather than games. People who play them always insist to me that some of them have really good stories, but I remain skeptical.

I would recommend that you pick up Phantom of Inferno from Amazon.com if you ever decide to try out a Visual Novel, especially with the recent Anime adaptation of Phantom of Inferno. The translation of the Visual Novel is a just a little bit iffy (although still perfectly understandable) but the story is intriguing, interesting, engaging, and surprisingly realistic. The characters are also interesting and/or likable.

So there's my two cents for what they're worth. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[A1]

Everyone wanting to try Yakuza can just start with 3, as it's a lot smoother than the first two. The story there is awesome, but not necessary to follow the events. Hell, part of the fun is half the time you don't know what's going on just look at those cute yakuza's acting all tough.. Ow and there's something immensely hysterical about clapping and yelling to bad kareoke songs.

Oh, I don't know. In all honesty I kind of like those karaoke songs. They seem to have a certain charm about them.

 

[Unhappy Crow]

I still want to buy Yakuza 3 before playing this. The demo sold me, and the price in Amazon is temptimg me.

 

[archvile93]

does anyone get a "God hand" vibe from this game.

PS what is a hostess club?

a brothel where the clients don't get to sleep with the slappers, just pretend that their going out for an hour, and pay a lot for the privilage.

OT waiting for "constable Blimey Chips" to be released!

So you pay for the privilage to make it feel like you threw your money off a bridge?

OT: Some of those jokes had me burst out laughing, such as god of dentistry. Also, this game seems fairly wellgrounded in reality, and I'm assuming the other ones are too, so why does the next one supposedly involve a zombie apocolypse?

 

[balol]

Totally random comment time: Japanese language is structured so that most subjects (or verbs, depending) come at the very end of the sentence. Basically, it forces real Japanese conversations to sound very much the way you described, or very much like an anime. Which, is actually the opposite, those two are actually just sounding terribly Japanese. Seriously, Japanese is the hardest language to interject or interrupt someone in, because half the time you don't know what they said until they already finished. I to Japanese language have anger! Bastards...