Nighto4

This console would be literally what I had asked from the Xbox Series before it was announced: an Xbox that can also play PC games.

It's the natural next step following the brand strategy. The key aspect they will need to improve either way is, like, a tenfold investment in marketing.

@FraserG You did well. Start with Y0, then Kiwami and then K2.
That's currently the best start.

Peace Walker never was available in my region anyways

I'm finally playing the DLC. It's been great so far. I'm right at the end, just in time for the sequel release.

And yeah, we don't need another butthurt review for the sequel, so I'm glad you seem to be covering it this time lmao!

Hyped for this as a big fan of the series. The overhaul to the Morning Glory both in gameplay and story is what I wanted most out of Kiwami 3!

@Lup
It seems like you are missing the point. If you read the posts chain, I gave reasons for each of the things I said. Maybe stop repeating the same empty claims without engaging with the actual points I've been making all this time. Your points only hold for the plot, which is obviously the closest to Y1's, but Kiwami isn't a pure remake like I said; it's designed as a follow-up that builds strongly on Y0 for character depth and payoffs.

Closer to gameplay? No! Kiwami uses Y0's styles, heat actions, substories structure, minigames, pacing, long battles, UI, etc. You are not describing the side games, you're just excusing the grind in Kiwami while calling Y0 systems "a waste of time." Both games have grind, that's not the debate. Neither defines "original experience"; PS2 Y1 had none of that. Talking about the game's length is, again, ignoring the core issue: Kiwami assumes you played Y0, and then if you obviously play K2 next Majima Saga will spoil half of Y0.

Your recommended order involves a forced skip by the player in the very next game. It's worse than the modern flow. Y0 can even be played standalone because it presents its characters, world and mechanics flawlessly, while at the same time setting up Kiwami perfectly.

If you are still recommending K1 first, warn about all the cons and future spoilers. You didn't initially, which shows clear flaws in your advice.

The ideal path is RGG porting Y1+2HD. Objectively, the best route is by release order, but few people will understandably go with that given it's stuck on PS2. Again, given everything we said, Y0 → Kiwami maximizes the experience with little downsides. It's the consensus for a modern route for good reason. Agree to disagree if you want, but my logic holds.

@Lup No, it doesn't "work perfectly" as a standalone. It's fundamentally designed to be played after Y0. Kiwami builds its gameplay on Y0; skipping it ruins half the experience from K1. You keep ignoring that.
K1 is closer to Y0 than the original experience. RGG rebuilt it that way thanks to Y0 success.

You can't seriously say all that about "strafing away from the original experience" while, at the same time, you give a pass to Majima Everywhere which is a lot of times a mandatory disruption. And ironically, you need it most to unlock the actual original gameplay for Kiryu. It's cherry picking and honestly not relevant to what we are talking about, which is really simple if you stop ignoring facts.

You mention "researching even a little" in a discussion about at least 3 people actually considering starting with Pirates. Don't be dishonest lmao
Your way has a fatal flaw in that, it should help you come to terms with what I'm saying.

For newcomers: Y0→Kiwami. That's the consensus and I've explained the reasons.

@dreadful You can play them as soon as the first chapter. But keep in mind you only start with a handful of games, the rest you need to buy while playing the actual game!

@Lup I just said it, it's also a sequel to Yakuza 0.
Kiwami isn't the best next thing' for a starting point. It's both a remake of Y1 story and a sequel to Y0.

K1 gameplay is not "classic Yakuza", it literally uses Y0 as a blueprint. You then start expressing your dislike for one of the side games of Y0 when that doesn't have to do with what we've supposedly been arguing about. If we bring the side games into the discussion, then it should be to stage how much of it in Kiwami is a follow-up to Y0, making your point less valid still.

Even though I previously said clearly why Y1 PS2 is the better start and why, with their own downsides, Y0 should always go before Kiwami; I'll add that if some person should follow your advice, then when they arrive at Kiwami 2, The Majima Saga will spoil the living ***** out of Yakuza 0 for them.

Release order, or modern order.
The mix you are suggesting is the worst of both ways.

@Lup You still keep ignoring half of Kiwami.
Kiwami 1 is both the start of the series original story and a sequel to Yakuza 0.

> [...]weird move which takes away from the classic Yakuza experience"
Majima Everywhere from K1 "takes away from the classic Yakuza experience" too, we can do this all day.

Yakuza 0 is a prequel that benefits from playing earlier games. Yes. But it is also a new story, which is FOLLOWED both in narrative and gameplay in Kiwami 1.
So when you recommend starting with K1 to someone, you should warn him that he's going to miss half the experience.
So it's not the best next thing. If Kiwami was just a remake of the first game, you would have a point, but it's not the case.

Blame RGG for not releasing 1&2HD in the west. Again: you either start with PS2 or go the modern way with Y0 to K1, K2, etc.

@Lup Your problem is mixing Y1 and Kiwami like they're the exact same thing.
Y0 after Y5 was as intended as starting with Y1 on the PS2.

>"[...]which can make the next games a little disappointing[...]"
That last argument is used by a lot of people without giving it much thought. If you don't like a game, you stop playing. It's like going from K2 to Y3. Yeah, the transition will be rough, but if you just want to play "the best" instead of following a story or enjoying each game's strong gameplay aspects, then all this discussion is null.
There are people who start with Kiwami and just hate the Everywhere system because they just don't give a damn about Majima, you just criticize starting with Y0 but ignore all the negatives about starting with K1.

Anyway, starting with Y1 (PS2) is objectively the best start, but not without its hard downsides (rough gameplay, not very accessible, ancient gameplay systems).
Y0 and Kiwami are not ideal for different reasons, but if you are not touching the PS2, then the order should be Yakuza 0 → Kiwami.

@Lup It's not a math problem. With Y0 you miss references to those games yeah, and the background on Kiryu and Majima.
With Kiwami you not only miss the Nishiki (and Majima) story impact, but the entire game is literally built on top of Yakuza 0 with mechanics, combat, long battles, substories, pacing, etc.
So you’re not just missing one game’s references, you’re playing what is essentially Y0 Two

@Kezelpaso You sound like you'll most likely end up starting with this one. Just keep in mind that very early in Pirate Yakuza YOU WILL BE HARD SPOILED about the ending of Infinite Wealth.
@Decimateh not really ^

@Lup The problem with that is that Kiwami was meant to be played after Y0, it builds on that instead of Y1. Starting with Y0 is better, but at the same time you miss little references to a lot of previous games.

Starting with Y1+Y2 is objectively the best start if you don't want to miss anything, but that is also a problem by itself lmao

People should play Judgment if they just want to "see what the hype is all about." It's a fresh entry, doesn't spoil a thing, and it's one of the best ones.

It's a great move by Sega.
I hope they can add Genesis titles in a future Yakuza.

GOTY

• Clair Obscur Expedition 33

S

• Monster Train 2
• MGS ∆ Snake Eater

A

• Monster Hunter Rise
• Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments
• Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered
• Yakuza Dead Souls
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves
• Blue Prince

B

• LaD: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Assassin's Creed III Remastered
• Assassin's Creed Revelations
• Assassin's Creed Liberation HD
• Gears Tactics
• Yakuza 2
• Yakuza
• Gal*Gun Returns
• Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
• Terminator 2D: No Fate

C

• Resident Evil 3 Remake
• 007: Agent Under Fire
• SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
• Chorus
• Andro Dunos II
• Divine Dynamo Flamefrit
• Zone of the Enders
• Blue Wednesday
• Streets of Kamurocho
• Girl Fight

Talking about "moving on" when they comment on every article on how wrong they think people are for liking a game too much 😆

@Jonnybekeww You are seething lmao!
The funniest part is that you're going to stay this way until at least the next awards

@Jonnybekeww Sales? Really? Then the same few games should win GOTY every year because they keep topping the charts.

Even so, you are not counting Game Pass players on an Xbox site lmao

We had MANY great games this year.
E33 won GOTY and it really wasn't close!

@RiverGenie Yeah, a lot of people are mad because their favorite isn't considered the BEST like they were personally attacked lmao

This is okay. Honestly, there's no rush, and they got enough goodwill to take all the time they need to release this new game(s) properly.

Damn, I was hoping for BG3 to FINALLY reach +30%off.
Well, I'll consider getting FFXVI for now.

@Naughtyottsel92 Maybe you didn't know the meaning of " ?) ", it's used for sarcasm.

By the way, did you play this game? I have it on PS4 but I haven't started it yet. I think PS4 doesn't have the dlc.

@Naughtyottsel92 It's a joke, kid!

@UltimateKGB Congratz!

It was a good year

Thanks for beta testing PSbros (?

@Kaloudz I've been reading a lot of people upset about E33 winning that many awards. Almost every one of them ends up saying that "it shouldn't be considered an indie" or "it's not as RPG as others." But they still lash out at the fans calling them sheep or bots for celebrating the game's success, instead of focusing their anger on the Awards categorization. It's not a game's fault to be nominated for a category.

This should be fun...

@Kaloudz Every sentiment from people who didn't love the game can be summed up in The Game Awards categories not being clear or "right" (and I agree with that btw)
But then they gang up on the fans, calling them bandwagoners instead of focusing on the real problem. It's not E33's fault to be nominated for this or that award, they need to deal with this.

It's fixed now but only 54%off...

@Kaloudz To be fair, the modders can do their thing just fine with the game as it is.

It's less about the price and more about the actual demand. There are just too many games these days.

Clockwork Revolution and Gears E Day gameplay, and more Game Pass announcements.

I've been meaning to play another TR, having only played TR2013 (and a few of the PS1 ones back in the day).

@Darylb88 The problem there is the industry (and TGA organizers) treating and nominating the game as an indie (I think real indies should have their own show a day before the main TGA, there are a lot of indies now and some kind of line needs to be drawn)

I stand for what I said before.

Lumina Sets is a particularly great addition!

Sore loser if by some chance he isn't just joking

Clair Obscur deserved every award it got.

I honestly can't see what's so good about the gameplay. It looked too cheap IMO.
The good news is that Mega Man is back, of course.

I actually played SW Episode 1 Racer a couple of years ago, and it was honestly just okay (obviously accounting for the year it came out)

This game doesn't need to do much to find success.

I mean, the trailer makes it look good, but I've been fooled by these kinds of things, especially when its genre is this ambitious.

I was not expecting two games from this announcement, they both look promising.

Yeah, 2026 was pretty much expected

As a big Batman fan, I'll play this game not only because it's the closest we'll have to a real Arkham game, but also because Lego Batman is always guaranteed quality (the movie is excellent too).

This trailer teased the f*ck out of Persona fans at the beginning lol

Not the biggest Leon fan, but I'm okay with RE9 returning to dual campaigns.

@themightyant Yeah, this one needed at least 10 seconds worth of gameplay.

A new SW RPG could be good, but I'm more hyped for Jedi 3 even though it's still a couple of years away.

There are always good things coming out of these directs.

The first gameplay trailer was rough. We'll have to wait for the demo.

Netflix ends up being the lesser of two evils when the other candidate was Paramount.

Finally, it's been almost 5 years since the first trailer.