Today is Wednesday. The recent release of Yakuza 3 had many fans up in arms over the content Sega cut out of the game for the Western release. The cut content included hostess clubs, sections with Japanese trivia, two side-story missions, and a couple minigames. Now, I am a huge fan of the Yakuza series so when I heard that some of the content was cut I was a bit disappointed. However, that did not stop me from picking up the game when it released. To be completely honest I did not even notice any plot holes or loose ends during my forty plus hours of gameplay. Yes, that’s right: it still took me over forty hours to beat the game even with content being cut out, and I still did not even come close to finishing all the sidequests in the game. I did not even play any of the minigames, of which I saw at least ten.
So, my questions to you, my dear readers, should we really be concerned over the content that was cut? Forty hours of gameplay is a great amount for games these days. However, one could also argue why should the Western release have the content cut out in the first place? Only fans of the series, or of Japanese culture, are going to pick up this game, not a regular consumer browsing the walls at their local game store. Let me know your opinions on these points in the comments!
Lusipurr
Bup
Ginia
Lane
Eric J
Jenifer
2010.04.07 at 10:53
I know NooB is playing this right now, so I would love to heard his opinion on the matter!
2010.04.07 at 15:24
With the amount of content that Yakuza 3 has… Hell no. Most games can’t even rival the amounts of stuff you can do in Yakuza 3 and to be honest, The hostess bars were not really fun to do. And once you do the side-quest to open up the casino, you get about 6 new mini games to do.
Does Sega suck for cutting content? Yes.
Should the view of Yakuza 3 suffer for it? No.
2010.04.07 at 19:44
I am 100% fine with Sega cutting an absolutely tiny fraction of the over-all game. Yakuza’s translation was absolutely top notch (apart for mini-game explanations), so if they needed to loose a few negligible features in order to polish the rest, then I’m all for that, 100%. It might well be a better game for the omission.
2010.04.07 at 19:45
(apart *from* mini-game explanations)
2010.04.07 at 19:52
I’m with SN and Oyahiro. If it was a matter of resource management, and the rest of the game has actually benefited from the time spent, I’m all in favor of cutting out small parts to make the whole better. Honestly, I’m not sure why they couldn’t have pushed the release back a month and had time to translate everything, but considering we weren’t even supposed to get this game initially, 95% of Yakuza 3 > 0% of Yakuza 3.
BTW, does anybody know what kind of supply/demand Yakuza 3 is getting? I’m currently playing Yakuza 1 and will probably get to 3 some time during the summer. Anybody have any thoughts on whether or not there will still be copies available then? Should I just pick one up now to be safe? I feel bad buying another game already having so many still in the shrink wrap X_X.
2010.04.07 at 20:05
I think it will probably disappear relatively quickly, simply because Yakuza 1&2 sold incredibly poorly in the West, leaving Sega disinclined to undertake a massive printing run. Incidentally this is probably the reason that the localisation team wasn’t able to push it back a month, Sega didn’t want to sink too much money into a game that it considered as having a high risk of failure.
2010.04.07 at 21:45
Yeah, I would get it now if I were you. This most likely had a very small print run and will probably not get a 2nd printing.
2010.04.08 at 00:08
Yeah, I agree with NooB and Oya, buy it now while you can still easily find it. Even my store (which is NOT GameStop hint hint!) has three copies of the game, which is what we started off with when it first came out.
Sure you’ll pay the full price for it, but:
A. It’s 100% worth the $60 and
B. It gives Yakuza 4 (which apparently is the story of another character other than Kazuma) a better chance to get a Western release.
2010.04.08 at 00:43
I want Yakuza 4 right NAO!
2010.04.08 at 00:49
I want Yakuza 4 FIVE MINUTES AGO!
2010.04.08 at 01:20
By the looks of the time we posted, My wanting beat your wanting by one minute!
2010.04.08 at 01:28
I want Yakuza 4 FIVE MINUTES BEFORE YOU EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT WANTING IT!
2010.04.08 at 10:32
I was born wanting Yakuza 4.
I just hope the new character is as badass as Kazuma, but that will be hard to do.
2010.04.08 at 18:30
I am MILDLY INTERESTED in Yakuza 4!
I did just order a copy of 3 off Amazon, though, thanks for the advice guys. Do they keep the same random encounter mechanic as 1, where you’re just constantly getting mugged and assaulted by people on the street? I love that mechanic :D, it’s constantly making me laugh.
2010.04.08 at 19:32
Yep, and then crowds gather ’round to cheer!
2010.04.08 at 22:20
To be fair, I know that’s how I’d react if a fight broke out in the street.
2010.04.09 at 03:53
I love the insta-crowd. Reminds me of every time there was a fight in high school. :D