Zero Punctuation: Yakuza 4

[KingofallCosmos]

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.

 

[Rainforce]

German Yahtzee? I think I died when heard that.

Fantastic episode as always!

Being german myself, I probably missed it, but what part are you reffering to/talking about?

 

[Number-14]

I would LOVE to hear more of Deadly Premonition, hope he'll review it.

 

[solidstatemind]

I can't believe that we've had 93 comments, and not one person mentioned the balls-shaped opening on the Guillotine...

That was the funniest part to me, but then I usually like the visual aspect of ZP as much as his rants.

 

[Zydrate]

-Post delete-

 

[mjc0961]

Okay, so, who wants to take bets on how long it takes the Yakuza 4 character noise remixes to start showing up on YouTube?

I don't see why you had to have a disclaimer when commenting on a culture's seemingly odd interests doesn't imply you want horrible things to happen to them.

Because some people out there are dumb and will go "HEY YOU SHOULDN'T MAKE FUN OF THE JAPANESE THEY JUST WENT THROUGH A TRAGEDY YOU ARE A MONSTER!" or some nonsense if you don't give a disclaimer.

 

[powercall]

how would that have offended me if that pointless intro hadnt appeared? Its Zero punctuation for gods sake! even then ive almost completely forgotten about the whole earthquake tsunami thing. But if it stops people from complaining I guess it couldnt hurt.

 

[A1]

Bwahahahaa -- nice opening loved it! "Japanese are into some crazy shit!" right after a heartfelt balanced statement over the recent tragedy -- ah Yahtzee you cheeky bastard -- Another good quote "sumptuous fruit basket for your fist" -- Milk. Nose. Mess. I wasn't going to buy this game anyways - having watched the earlier Escapist review -- but now I am definitely not. I don't want to read the bottom of my tv for the sake of "realism". Realism where I am a kung fu god single handling kicking the ass off of everyone as long as I am in the right place to do it. Pshhhfft. Meh.

It's not about "realism" as few if any video games are truly realistic, it's about authenticity. When a game takes place in Japan it's only logical that the people actually speak Japanese.

And Kung Fu is Chinese, not Japanese.

Wow thanks for that. So a game that's not realistic (as few games are) needs to be authentic? Well that makes sense, when it's actually a game and I am waggling thumb sticks. Surely the game would have been ruined to have the English option. Don't mistake authenticity for cheaping out on additional voice acting... Technically, if you want the experience to be authentic there shouldn't be subtitles... I don't believe subtitles pop under folks in Tokyo while they are talking. I guess you are taking exception to the my use of the word "realism" and instead prefer authenticity -- for me and for the purpose of what I was saying the two could be interchangeable.

An on the Kung Fu thing being Chinese. You best get on Yahtzee for that -- check out 01:22 of the video. That's what he called it.

Edit: http://thesaurus.com/browse/realism

Main Entry: realism
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: authenticity
Synonyms: naturalness, reality, truth, verisimilitude, verism, verity
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2011 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source

About authenticity and realism, well that's fair enough. The two are similar.

But the thing is I never said that the game wasn't realistic, just not truly realistic. As in not 100% realistic. The thing is it's not just a matter of being realistic or not realistic. There are differing degrees of realism and authenticity. And striving for a degree of realism and authenticity in a game is certainly not a shameful thing as it can make the game more relatable and believable, or at the very least more interesting. And the Yakuza series is certainly big on authenticity. Yahtzee after all did comment on the large amount of Japanese culture found in Yakuza 4.

And there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing for sure what the designers intentions were in just including Japanese audio: whether it was for cheapness or authenticity or both. And I do acknowledge that "both" is a distinct possibility. What I do know is that the decision to dub the first game in english made people unhappy because it made the game less believable.

And no matter which way you cut it, it is more logical for a game that takes place in Japan and has a realistic inclusion of elements of Japanese culture (even if the game as a whole is not ENTIRELY realistic) to have actual Japanese audio as opposed to English.

And as for the Kung Fu thing, yes Yahtzee did indeed make that mistake. But with all due respect so did you.

 

[powercall]

Oh well i still enjoyed this game

 

[Aptspire]

Good review (what's wrong with Visual Novels, Yahtzee?)
also, I wonder what he'll review next week/in 2 weeks
hmmmmmmmmmmm...

 

[lobster1077]

I would be interested in hearing a bit more about Deadly Premonition...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMuwlchhmM

Deadly Premonition is incredible, it's quite like a mix between Silent Hill and Grand Theft Auto with brilliantly bizarre dialogue and storyline.

 

[A1]

That's quite frankly getting borderline racist.

Japanese isn't a race, it's a nationality. Calm down it's just a joke, bro.

Fair enough. A more precise word to use would be prejudiced. So let's instead use "borderline prejudiced". And I know that it's a joke. But even so it's still a joke that could easily offend someone. Even if a person doesn't actually mean any harm that doesn't excuse the use of offensive language. It's like if a non-African American person used a certain N word in a humorous and off-handed manner without meaning any harm. I think it's safe to say that any self respecting African American would still take offense, and understandably so.

I guess it's all a matter of respect and good manners. Which are arguably things that Yahtzee arguably often lacks. But even when your purpose is to be ill-mannered in a humorous and sarcastic way there are still certain lines that are best left alone.

 

[Nurb]

I don't see why you had to have a disclaimer when commenting on a culture's seemingly odd interests doesn't imply you want horrible things to happen to them.

Better safe than sorry. You'd be surprised how easy you can unintentionally rub someone the wrong way with how you word things.

Then where was his disclaimer for his gay joke(s)?

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I may have to make Demon Alligator Charles Darwin my avatar.


Also, someone should make a video containing all of Yahtzee's analogies to explain how the gameplay and story SHOULD interact, followed by how the interact (or don't) in a particular game.

Because he's made a lot of them.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I would be interested in hearing a bit more about Deadly Premonition...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zv0w6k1VQ4&list=SL There you are.

OT: I always get sandbox games, all excited to play them and have a fun times romp around, but then I end up bored within a week.

 

[A1]

I loved this game.

That being said, I haven't skipped so much dialogue since Mass Effect 2. The Japanese dress-up game was weird as well.

The betrayals play like a bad soap opera. "Good" sop operas at least give you a breather in between plot wrenching back stabbing. This game gives them out like candy. One character even comes back from getting shot like a comic book character. He's perfectly fine, and can kick your ass if you aren't careful. A bit like Uncharted 2, actually. Drake gets shot, sleeps for 3 days, good to go!

Overall, great review. Sucks that Japan is shaking to bits. Also a pity that the next Yakuza game has been delayed indefinitely because it was set in earthquake stricken Tokyo. I wonder if the people who thought up the concept have bought lottery tickets yet, or at least gone to a pachinko parlour to turn a wheel to win stuffed animals.

Actually, a new release date for the next Yakuza game has been set for June 9. It's not all that surprising really. Yakuza is one of Japan's most popular video game franchises after all.

 

[OceanRunner]

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?

Even the english dub of Shenmue had "I see."

 

[orangecharger]

Bwahahahaa -- nice opening loved it! "Japanese are into some crazy shit!" right after a heartfelt balanced statement over the recent tragedy -- ah Yahtzee you cheeky bastard -- Another good quote "sumptuous fruit basket for your fist" -- Milk. Nose. Mess. I wasn't going to buy this game anyways - having watched the earlier Escapist review -- but now I am definitely not. I don't want to read the bottom of my tv for the sake of "realism". Realism where I am a kung fu god single handling kicking the ass off of everyone as long as I am in the right place to do it. Pshhhfft. Meh.

It's not about "realism" as few if any video games are truly realistic, it's about authenticity. When a game takes place in Japan it's only logical that the people actually speak Japanese.

And Kung Fu is Chinese, not Japanese.

Wow thanks for that. So a game that's not realistic (as few games are) needs to be authentic? Well that makes sense, when it's actually a game and I am waggling thumb sticks. Surely the game would have been ruined to have the English option. Don't mistake authenticity for cheaping out on additional voice acting... Technically, if you want the experience to be authentic there shouldn't be subtitles... I don't believe subtitles pop under folks in Tokyo while they are talking. I guess you are taking exception to the my use of the word "realism" and instead prefer authenticity -- for me and for the purpose of what I was saying the two could be interchangeable.

An on the Kung Fu thing being Chinese. You best get on Yahtzee for that -- check out 01:22 of the video. That's what he called it.

Edit: http://thesaurus.com/browse/realism

Main Entry: realism
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: authenticity
Synonyms: naturalness, reality, truth, verisimilitude, verism, verity
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2011 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source

About authenticity and realism, well that's fair enough. The two are similar.

But the thing is I never said that the game wasn't realistic, just not truly realistic. As in not 100% realistic. The thing is it's not just a matter of being realistic or not realistic. There are differing degrees of realism and authenticity. And striving for a degree of realism and authenticity in a game is certainly not a shameful thing as it can make the game more relatable and believable, or at the very least more interesting. And the Yakuza series is certainly big on authenticity. Yahtzee after all did comment on the large amount of Japanese culture found in Yakuza 4.

And there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing for sure what the designers intentions were in just including Japanese audio: whether it was for cheapness or authenticity or both. And I do acknowledge that "both" is a distinct possibility. What I do know is that the decision to dub the first game in english made people unhappy because it made the game less believable.

And no matter which way you cut it, it is more logical for a game that takes place in Japan and has a realistic inclusion of elements of Japanese culture (even if the game as a whole is not ENTIRELY realistic) to have actual Japanese audio as opposed to English.

And as for the Kung Fu thing, yes Yahtzee did indeed make that mistake. But with all due respect so did you.

I think you are splitting hairs on that, but what we are really trying to say is -- you like that it's Japanese and I don't. You don't have to justify why you like it any more than I have to justify why I don't. I was simply stating I would not buy that game for that reason -- but that I did not have it on my "to buy" list anyways.

With all due respect to you, why are you so set on telling me I made a mistake or that my opinion is wrong? In lieu of my opinion (I believe I have settled that case above)why do you keep harping on my use of Kung Fu in reference to a Japan-based game. I didn't make a mistake I was using the terminology from the video. Yahtzee said the 4 had amazing Kung Fu skills -- I made reference to that in my post. That's where I got it from -- it was not a "mistake" it was referential. I was not trying to offend your or any other person's cultural sensibilities. Having done ZERO research into each individual's fighting style (again not interested in the game) I figured going with what it was called in the video was a safe bet.

 

[Distorted Stu]

The intro just made it for me, brilliant

 

[tryfan]

Actually, a new release date for the next Yakuza game has been set for June 9. It's not all that surprising really. Yakuza is one of Japan's most popular video game franchises after all.

Hm, perhaps they are assuming they would have cleaned up the bits of civilization by then...