Yakuza 5 is out now in EU/US/AUS/ROW!

[SnakeOfBacon]

It took 2 years to announce a localisation for their 2012 PS3 Exclusive Street Brawling/Crime Drama-RPG and a further one to be released but Yakuza 5 has finally made it out of Japan on December 7 and rejoice, for it is very, very good. Unfortunately only available as a 23GB download and not as a disc release, but great nonetheless.

Those familiar with the series will find it to have the best combat and the most content of any Yakuza game exported so far. Story is looking intriguing so far (20 hours in, but only towards the end of Part 2 due to dawdling)

Those unfamiliar with the series, the Yakuza games involve: walking the streets of fictionalised but realistic Japanese cities, beating thugs over the head with bicycles, 1 vs 100 gauntlet-run battles, buying groceries and eating food in restaurants, generous heapings of cutscenes that build distinctive hero and villain personalities, and huge amounts of detailed and fun fishing/pool/karaoke/ramen dunking/gambling and other minigames.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

I have finished Yakuza 4 (and maybe I should get back to it, it's still a very good game), and I'm happy to see Yazuka 5 being located for non-Japanese audiences. Still, I find it mind-boggling that Sega took the best part of three years to release the game internationally, there is no way localisation would take that long even with the game's massive (and I do mean "massive") content. Again, classic Sega at its best, for no good reason whatsoever...

And with Yakuza 0 slowly approaching American audiences, there may not be enough time for this game to sell all that much, although Sega is still being silly in the form of non-announcements of 0 being released in Europe while America already has a 2016 release date marked in their calendars.

Timing is bad with Yakuza 5, which is a shame, because it is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best Yakuza games in history, and one of Sega's (very few) good games... It even has an idol story and minigames, variety is definitely there!

 

[dr_slump]

Apparently the texture quality is worse compared to the original retail disc version and the game still suffers from flickering.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

Apparently the texture quality is worse compared to the original retail disc version and the game still suffers from flickering.

40 hours in, haven't seen any flickering problem. Also, haven't seen any bad textures except for a few minor NPC faces. Do you have a source?

 

[dr_slump]

40 hours in, haven't seen any flickering problem. Also, haven't seen any bad textures except for a few minor NPC faces. Do you have a source?

I don't understand how it's possible not to see any flickering.

It was mentioned in a games magazine that the digital version has worse texture quality compared to the retail disc version. Can't find any comparisons though.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

I don't understand how it's possible not to see any flickering.

It was mentioned in a games magazine that the digital version has worse texture quality compared to the retail disc version. Can't find any comparisons though.

Now, this flickering. Would you describe it as (1)Frames of black in-between regular frames, (2)Stuttering - a previous frame being shown multiple times, (3)Moire patterns or aliased textures, (4) Some other AA issue?

When I play tonight I'll look for any signs of these and see what I can find, but if there is any problem I haven't noticed it yet.

More on the topic of the game, it's huge! I've spent 60 hours and am still in the third act of the story, and haven't tried all the minigames or finished half of the substories yet, nor explored Kamurocho.