The low popularity of Yakuza outside of Japan is to blame, of course, the publisher. Too easy to blame everything on the strange gaijin oriental flavor – the reason is rather that the new part of the series out to the west late in a couple of years and did not really advertised. Sega does not even try to fight with the wrong positioning of the game in the minds of Western players – those who are not familiar with the Yakuza, its image in the mind is infinitely far from what she like it really is.
Well, since Sega did not want to do it, then Let us us.
Yakuza – this is not GTA
Neither the text of the Yakuza series can not do without the mandatory introduction, explaining that the Western players, ignoring the series, categorically wrong. Since the first part of the Yakuza entrenched stupid association with Grand Theft Auto – in no way justified. The only point of intersection – theme: two series devoted to the criminal world.
The main feature of the GTA – a vast open world; Yakuza in the heroes running around on a small, but very detail-rich area. GTA – it is, in some ways, shooter, and Yakuza – beat’em up. New parts GTA talk about the new heroes, while in each of the Yakuza protagonist or at least one of the main characters – Kazuma Kiryu.
And in Yakuza truly interesting story, unlike any part GTA.
Once a comparison to GTA this wonderful cycle can not describe (except opposition), I will try to draw parallels to other games. Immediately, I note that even though I’m talking about the whole series as a whole, of the release in the release of it does not change so much, and for Yakuza 0 rightly much of what can be said about the entire cycle.
Yakuza – this is a great crime drama
Yakuza 0 tells the story of two characters – still quite young Kazuma Kiryu, Goro and Madzimy, which subsequently will be the key persons of the criminal world of Tokyo. But yet they not only gained fame and prestige, but on the contrary – have fallen out of favor with the yakuza bosses. Kiryu framed, accused of the murder – and the shadow of this charge may fall and its patron. To help out relatives, Kiryu renounced membership in yakuza and sent to investigate the mysterious incident.
Madzima is due to the fact that unwittingly disobeyed the order of his boss (this is discussed in Yakuza 4 ), he lost everything: his blood brother, the status of the clan, freedom and even the eyes. After keeping Madzimu more than a year in the torture chamber, his boss sends the hero into exile in Osaka: here Madzima should live under the tireless care and work in favor of his supervisor, hoping that hundreds of millions of yen would be enough to he put in a word, and Madzimu returned to the yakuza. However, he was waiting for a disappointment and humiliation, while the warden does not transmit an order – to kill a man named Makoto Makimura. To perform a task and become a killer – or forever lose the chance to return to the yakuza?
Yakuza 0 – is the story of the formation of the two heroes. Kiryu has not yet become invincible dragon, which are ready to bow at the feet of the big shots.
Here it is – just too serious, honest and clumsy guy who is struggling to live on the right concepts.
But much more interesting Madzima: in the subsequent parts he appears very eccentric – perhaps a psychopath, not without reason in the English dub of the first part of his voiced Mark Hemill.
Here we see it completely different person – and Yakuza 0 explains what inspired Madzimu become turretless fan Kiryu, which we find in other parts of the series.
Storylines intertwine the two heroes then, rates are rising – at stake is the future of multi-billion dollar construction project – and intrigue twist into a coil with high voltage so that the break is simply impossible.
