Anyone Played Yakuza by Sega Yet?

[CMoon]

UGH! US version of Yakuza 3 has content cut.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1071367p1.html

Sega is really starting to blow lately.

[Ruldra]

Someone at Neogaf showed that the US version has a few less trophies compared to the JPN one. No more Mahjong and Shogi thophies, so they're probably gone along with the hostess club.

[Elixir]

Terrible. This was on my preorder list (I have the JP version but wanted to play it in English), until all this news of cut content came up. It doesn't even make any sense, especially considering that Rina calls you during the demo. The host in front of Club Ageha even says that the hostess club will be available in time for when you purchase the game. Clearly it isn't, so that's false advertising right there.

I may just end up having to get FF13 instead.

[CMoon]

I'd like to know the total of what's been cut. A lot of the more esoteric shit I never played anyway, but I'm rather nervous to see how substantial the losses are. Apparently the massage parlor is gone too.

[junkeR]

We should probably be thankful it is getting overseas. I'm probably fine with some cut content... just happy I can play it. I never thought it was going to make it over honestly.

[ZOM]

FUCK Sega. Seriously, those bastards just had to cut exactly the features I was looking forward to the most.
And what's up with this whole "westernize the game" bullshit this gen? Sega, Squeenix, Capcom, 573... boy they're losing it.

[Ganelon]

It's not a big deal to me that the quiz is removed although it'd have been a lot cooler to have the questions changed a la Quiz & Dragons in CCC2. I never planned on messing with the hostess bar either so I can't say that really matters either. But the lack of respect given to the franchise is disheartening and if mahjong is cut, that would be crazy. You have full minigames worth hundreds of development man hours being stripped out of the game. Sure they're still minor but there's just no reason not to leave things in. I can't imagine translating those minigames would be that time-consuming. But I think they're just removing the trophies so westerners won't have trouble with them, which most no doubt would (even though mahjong and shogi are both really easy to learn the basics).

I still have Yakuza 3 pre-ordered and won't budge out of support, but Sega seems really intent to just kill the game for everybody. In that case, why even bother? The first 2 games didn't do well and now they're alienating their core fanbase. It's just a recipe for disaster.

[Elixir]

It says something when ThePatrick is even disappointed with this: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessa ... c=53632787

Sega have addressed this so if you want to let them know how you feel, now is the time: http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2010/02/24/wh ... ment-21621

[robthebanks]

So bummed about this. I really hope it doesn't impact the game that much... No history quiz, okay I guess I can handle that, but no hostess bar management?! Thats a pretty big minigame isn't it?

[Elixir]

Without the hostess club, over three quarters of items are redundant.

[robthebanks]

Fucking Sega. I thought they might've been getting their shit together too.

[handsome_rakshas]

The hostess club cut I'm disappointed about. I'll still pick this up day one, most of Yakuza 3 is better than no Yakuza 3.

[kengou]

I have no problem with a cut to a japanese history quiz, or whatever that is, because how are americans supposed to know that? But any other minigames ought to stay in, even if they have to write out a bit of background info and substantial tutorial for americans to understand (like shogi for example? I didn't even know that was in the game and now I'm sad it won't be anymore). Even so, it's a few minigames being cut out from what seems like a very large game and as rakshas said, most of yakuza 3 is better than no yakuza 3.

[Elixir]

It doesn't make any fucking sense. Half of the items are now useless because there's no hostess club.

So far from what I can see, the following things have been removed:

- The opening song "Loser"
- Hostess club
- AnswerXAnswer (Japanese quiz thing)
- Shogi minigame
- Mahjong minigame
- 50%+ of all items or maybe they're still in there just useless, I dunno

So yeah we're getting an English version of MOSTLY Yakuza 3, but a lot of stuff seems unnecessarily removed. It's like they didn't even consider to change the questions in the Japanese quiz to something less Japanese. It seems like a really half assed decision by Sega. They are adamant in wanting this to be released in time for FF13 which is a terrible decision, since most people are probably not going to impulse buy Yakuza 3 with FF13. I mean, would you rather buy FF13, a game which is graphically superior and has English dubbing, over a game which has no dubbing, and a bunch of content cut?

[handsome_rakshas]

It doesn't make any fucking sense. Half of the items are now useless because there's no hostess club.

So far from what I can see, the following things have been removed:

- The opening song "Loser"
- Hostess club
- AnswerXAnswer (Japanese quiz thing)
- Shogi minigame
- Mahjong minigame
- 50%+ of all items or maybe they're still in there just useless, I dunno

So yeah we're getting an English version of MOSTLY Yakuza 3, but a lot of stuff seems unnecessarily removed. It's like they didn't even consider to change the questions in the Japanese quiz to something less Japanese. It seems like a really half assed decision by Sega. They are adamant in wanting this to be released in time for FF13 which is a terrible decision, since most people are probably not going to impulse buy Yakuza 3 with FF13. I mean, would you rather buy FF13, a game which is graphically superior and has English dubbing, over a game which has no dubbing, and a bunch of content cut?

I could give two shits about the dub but since I read your post Yakuza 3 is seeming a lot less interesting to me. Damn, this was the only PS3 game I've been looking forward to! I wish Lords of Shadow came out next month.

[Ruldra]

I'll still pick this up day one, most of Yakuza 3 is better than no Yakuza 3.

If you must pick the game, then you should wait for a while. The content cut plus the release of FF13 will really hurt the sales of Yakuza, and a price drop will surely follow after a few weeks.

[Daigohji]

Is the karaoke still in? I enjoyed that in the demo.

[CMoon]

Everything in the demo is in.

I am also pretty shocked about ThePatrick's post. Sega has been really questionable for a long time (I mean, look how they killed off the Saturn), and it seems like they are doing it again. I am starting to wish Sega would die off so some other company could handle these developers.

I'm also curious about all those items. They say you can still date the girls...how the hell does that work?

[Skykid]

Man, this sucks.

I suppose it's just wishful thinking that the European release might not be censored (such oddities have occurred in the past I think? )

...Nah, never gonna happen. Sega are total idiots.

[ZOM]

They say you can still date the girls...how the hell does that work?

I'm guessing the normal hostess bars are still intact, they just got rid of the one where the management sidequest takes place. But that was the actual good part on this whole hostess business...

Sega have addressed this so if you want to let them know how you feel, now is the time: http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2010/02/24/wh ... ment-21621

Yeah, I particularly like this bit here:

"Regardless, I don’t think anyone’s buying this statement. If it were just the history trivia, I think we could accept that. But this feels like a forced corporate misdirection covering up some sort of internal issues with bringing over the hostess bar."

It has more or less on what I was getting at with "westernize" in my previous posts; some of those bigger companies think some features in some games are just too "Japaneseay" for the rest of the world. While I partly understand that mindset, of all games the RgG series is just the wrong game for this thinking. It's a damn Yakuza game! People interested in Japanese culture watch Yakuza flicks!

[Ruldra]

In other news, Yakuza 4 demo will be available next week. Ironically, it'll have the hostess club and the Answer x Answer quiz.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/0 ... za_4_demo/

[ZOM]

LoL oh the irony...

Anyways, looking forward to playing ping pong with the misses, dragon-style. uhm, yeah, bouncing things and such.

[Skykid]

Apparently the PAL release will have a Japanese language option with subtitles. Is this the same in the North American release anyone know?

[Daigohji]

Apparently the PAL release will have a Japanese language option with subtitles. Is this the same in the North American release anyone know?

I believe Japanese with subtitles is the only option. It looks like they're foregoing an English dub to keep localisation costs down, as with Yakuza 2 and Shenmue 2.

[Skykid]

Apparently the PAL release will have a Japanese language option with subtitles. Is this the same in the North American release anyone know?

I believe Japanese with subtitles is the only option. It looks like they're foregoing an English dub to keep localisation costs down, as with Yakuza 2 and Shenmue 2.

Ah right, that's perfect! I was reading the wiki at work and must have misunderstood. Thanks.

[Rob]

It looks like they're foregoing an English dub to keep localisation costs down, as with Yakuza 2 and Shenmue 2.

Xbox version of Shenmue 2 had an English dub.

[Elixir]

Something which I thought needed to be brought up. The filesize of the JP demo is the same as that of the English one. Meaning the hostess clubs are still in the game, they've just been blocked from the demo. If it's like this for the US release, chances are the content will still be there but inaccessible. It's possible that Sega could add them as DLC although it wouldn't technically be DLC, just an unlock key.

I'm still undecided. In one hand, I'm not patient enough to play through the entire game and post-game in Japanese. In the other, it seems like a lot of people have raised concerns with this and I'm hesitant to preorder. With all the bad press that has been floating around regarding this issue, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was half price in a month's time.

[CMoon]

What I hear from a lot of people (and this is my position as well) is just the uncertainty regarding how much is cut. Given that Sega weren't forthright about the cuts and that it seems (given missing trophies) that there is actually more cut than they've admitted to, the only safe position seems to be to wait it out. If the cuts are minor, I'd have little gripe purchasing it at full price, but at this time it isn't clear at all how substantial these cuts are. Everything is speculation until the game comes out and we get some real reports.

[Ruldra]

Someone at Gamefaqs got a copy of Yakuza 3 already, and is reporting that you can walk inside the Mahjong and Shogi buildings but you can't talk to anyone there.

Can you play Shogi & Mahjong right away in the japanese version or do you need to do some missions beforehand?

[Skykid]

It's a good game, I'm enjoying it so far - more than FF13 anyway. The initial install takes forever though.