#vg: yakuza 4

[vg-mom-throwdown]

The List is Here!

We’ve gone through all your submissions and picked out the 64 characters that will fight for the title of Best VG Mom! Down below is all the match-ups that will take place, but they haven’t been placed on a bracket up. We tried to keep all match-ups as fair as possible, but please give us feedback if you feel like some of them are unfair. We wanna keep this fun for all, no matter how big or small the game might be. Please take a look! - 🐟

Meta Knight (Kirby) Vs. Olimar (Pikmin)

Ender Dragon (Minecraft) Vs. Minecraft Chicken (Minecraft)

All PC Moms (Pokemon) Vs. Your Mom (Animal Crossing)

Lusamine (Pokemon SM) Vs. Melony (Pokemon SWSH)

Hinawa (Mother 3) Vs. Ness’ Mom (Earthbound)

Persephone (Hades) Vs. Nyx (Hades)

Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy) Vs. Honey Queen (Super Mario Galaxy)

Yayoi Dojima (Yakuza) vs. Yumi Sawamura (Yakuza)

Thora West (Slime Rancher) Vs. Grimora (Inscryption)

Among Us Crewmate (Among Us) vs. Mama Rabbit (The Man in the Window)

Queen (Deltarune) Vs. GLaDOS (Portal)

Dark Enchantress Cookie (Cookie Run) Vs. Mommy Mearest (Friday Night Funkin)

Yoshi (Super Mario) Vs. Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

Crono’s Mom (Crono Trigger) Vs. Isaac’s Mom (The Binding of Isaac)

5-Volt (WarioWare) Vs. Mrs. Sanderson (Chibi-Robo)

Lumera (Fire Emblem) Vs. Palutena (Kid Icarus)

Kyra (Our Life) Vs. Niko’s Mom (OneShot)

Cubone’s Mom (Pokemon) Vs. Kangaskhan (Pokemon)

Urbosa (Legends of Zelda) Vs. Impa (Legends of Zelda)

Milla Vodello (Psychonauts) Vs. Vanilla the Rabbit (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Joyce Price (Life is Strange) Vs. Lisa Johnson-Fisher (Sally Face)

Ei/Raiden Shogun (Genshin Impact) Vs. Cloud Retainer (Genshin Impact)

Freya (God of War) Vs. Morrigan (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Naru (Ori and The Blind Forest) Vs. Masked Songbird (Songbird Symphony)

The Night Mother (Skyrim) Vs. Sole Survivor (Fallout 4)

Kara (Detroit Become Human) Vs. M (Xenoblade 3)

Mother Brain (Metroid) Vs. Lisa Tepes (Castlevania)

Ballora (Sister Location) Vs. Isa (Minecraft: Story Mode)

Sonic Boom (Skylanders) Vs. Worried Mother (Miitopia)

The Queen of all Cosmos (Katamari Damacy) Vs. Hitomi Sagan (Ai: The Somnium FIle)

Justine Courtney (Ace Attorney) Vs. Link’s Grandma (LOZ Wind Waker)

Cooking Mama (Cooking Mama) Vs. Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

#vgmomthrowdown #mod fish #polls #tournament

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 140:

Clay Doll On The Cradle (Like a Dragon 3/Yakuza 3 [2009])

Years ago, I looked through the VG soundtracks that Keisuke Ito helped out in (Because he’s the primary composer of the PMD series these days; the only one to be carried over for 4 games now, when most usually only get to compose in 1 or 2 PMD entries), leading to some incredible tracks from games I’d never look for otherwise. This is one of those tracks, no idea if he’s credited for this in particular, but wow, if this Piano and Electronic-centered masterpiece didn’t steal my heart when I first heard it!

65 seconds in, when you might think it’s just your typical mid-2000s track trying too hard to sound cool, it brings in the Electric Guitar, mystical Strings, and unspeakably beautiful Piano back to back, and it somehow feels natural! Around a half-minute afterward, my favorite part (An opinion I’m sure plenty others share, as it’s kind of iconic) introduces itself, with the Piano now getting to become the heart of such intense Strings, as in the Electric Guitar, traditional Strings, and Synth Strings.

The aforementioned favorite part only gets detoured by a sick Electric Guitar intermission also worthy of mention, before repeating itself with the carried over Electric Guitar complimenting the Piano more closely than ever, also looping to the beginning via an extra sick shred on the Electric Guitar!

In non-looped album versions, there’s another section after the shred that’s more or less the intro, just with a more intimidating Electric Guitar riff to end the track off. It’s not my favorite part, but I appreciate the completeness it gives. The scenarios this track makes my head imagine are often filled with the traits of adversity, uphill triumph, urgency, even hints of vengeance and compassion. No opinions on the game itself as of this writing, but the music I ended up hearing is something I know I’ll never regret!

(Length before loop: 3+ minutes, album version has an extra 35 seconds at the end)

#Like a Dragon 3 #like a dragon #yakuza 3 #yakuza (game series) #playstation 3 #sony playstation 3 #ps3 #365daysofvgm #youtube #Youtube

[basilouija]

Yakuza 4 is a game that gives you no room to breathe.  By the time you’ve finally gotten accustomed to wrangling with a new character, gotten to know them and how they fight, their part is over, and you’re thrust into yet another person’s shoes.  If I felt I was more in control for each of these segments, that maybe wouldn’t be that big of a deal - but the way the story feels it has to coast you along, because it knows it has scarcely enough time to try and make you like these people, it winds up feeling much more like you’re watching a really long and hard to follow movie rather than, I dunno, playing a video game?

I don’t think I’ve finished a single substory over the course of this entire game, and frankly the game doesn’t put me in a position to want to.  With how condensed everything feels, I never felt like I could - there are Things Happening and I need to go Do Those Things before I can do anything else.  Why should I want to stop and smell the roses when I don’t even know who this Akiyama dude is?  And as I said already, by the time I feel like I maybe could take a break and go to the batting cages or help out some squabbling couple on the street, their part is over, and I’ve missed the window entirely.  It’s incredibly infuriating, badly-paced, contrived... It’s a wonder how this game even got made.

The thing is, I actually like Akiyama (Saejima, too, but f**k the cop guy, holy shit, dude).  I would have much rather had an entire game or a half of one to get to know him so I could learn more about him and maybe like him even more, but instead we got this mess.  (I know he comes back in Yakuza 5 - here’s hoping that game is paced much more solidly than this one.)  

And because the game is splintered into quarters and they had to condense all of the story beats in order to tell the story they wanted to tell and be able to actually implement that story into a game, there’s the matter of the problem that nothing that happens leaves a substantial impact. The relationship I was supposed to feel for between Saejima and Hamazaki felt like nothing. What was supposed to be a bittersweet reunion for Saejima and his sister, Yasuko, happened entirely off-screen, and her subsequent death similarly didn’t make me feel for her at all.  Kiryu suddenly putting all of his trust in Hamazaki was bonkers, no matter how in-character it might have been; Haruka’s feelings were completely justified, but her feelings are mostly shoved aside, even though Kiryu’s continued involvement in this type of thing continues to put all of the Morning Glory kids in danger. (I LOVE Kiryu and he’s a GREAT dad and I KNOW it’s not really his fault but CHRIST let these children live in peace.) Also, the Akiyama falling for Yasuko stuff...felt super forced and super corny, expected as it was.  There’s just a heckuva lot going on for a game that leaves almost zero impact, y’know?

I’m at the part in the game right before the finale where Kiryu and the gang are hanging out at New Serena, prepping to go fight the Big Bad, and I just...have absolutely no motivation whatsoever to go running around as any of the characters.  I just want this game to be over with as quickly as possible so I can call it done, and move on.  That’s pretty much the antithesis of all the Yakuza games I’ve played up until now (save perhaps for how I felt nearing the end of 3, but I still had much more fun playing that game over this one), and I think that’s ultimately why I’m irritated enough to be writing this post.  Screwing around and finding substories...is what made the first few games, and especially 0, really, really special.  It sucks that this game has all but sucked the joy out of any of that for me.

Also, the combat in 4 really sucks ass, again, because you have to deal with four different fighting styles and have barely enough time to adjust before the game says “f**k you” and throws you another one.  Christ.

Anyways, Yakuza 4 is bad.

#basil blabs #yakuza #rgg4 #yakuza 4 #yakuza 4 spoilers #vg #text

[smt4]

List of Favorite Video Games (In No Particular Order) [14|?]

Yakuza 4 (2010)

#yakuza 4 #kazuma kiryu #shun akiyama #gif #favorite vg

[metaldragoon]

@justsuha​ filled this out, and I felt like doing the same.  Kinda felt they didn’t have the best categories so maybe I shouldn’t have bothered, also tried not being too repetitive with my picks. Favourite Game - Final Fantasy VI, this was an easy one for me.  One of the first games I ever played, then I came back to it around like 12-14 years old and it was the first game I ever played on an emulator, then it was one of the first games I ever watched an LP on, one of the first game I ever started playing with mods, and yeah, I’ve just played this game a lot in my life. Best Story - Mass Effect (1), could’ve gone with FFVI again but eh, and maybe Hollow Knight but I feel like the world building in ME1 is crazy-deep and unparalleled.  Maybe that’s not story in like a “plot” sense, but it’s what I settled on. Favourite Art Style - Killer7, was a comfortable pick but Persona 5 is also a really crisp game.  Also thought about other things that are more atmospheric like Metroid Prime, Hollow Knight, or Bloodborne. Favourite Soundtrack - Final Fantasy VI, like I said, didn’t want to be repetitive, so there was games that had like a banger of a track like Papers, Please, or something like Super Meat Boy, but I couldn’t really justify anything being equal to FFVI.   Hardest Game - Dragon Age: Origins, Felt like a Soulsborne game was the “gimme” answer so I wanted to swerve a bit.  DA:O is hard as fuck, if you’re not optimizing your build you’re not beating that game.  Even on “easy” I’m like chill man Funniest Game - Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, was tempted to go Undertale but since that’s kind of just a parody game I feel like it had a lot more liberties it could take to still be funny.  TTYD is super funny while still being like it’s own game. Game I like that everyone hates - Gears of War 2, some kid in Gr. 11 said I should get a 360 and play that, and so I did.  I played the online mode so much, but it never really felt like a popular competitive game.  I liked being so beefy, it’s basically just one-shotting people with shotguns is the meta and so the whole stalking someone to close the gap to be in range was super fun to me.  Campaign kinda trash and my friend wanted to get an achievement for co-op beating it on the hardest difficult that was miserable for me, but I think it’s a really fun game to play with some great audio too, the SFX are top notch. Game I hate that everyone likes - Borderlands, hate is a strong word but man I don’t really care about this game at all and people have been hyping it up for a decade. Underrated Game - Catherine, all my irl friends I tell about this game don’t know what it is, until I remind them and they go “oh yeah, that game looked weird/was too hard.” don’t know anyone who’s actually played more than an hour of it.  It’s one of my all-time faves, though. Overrated Game - Breath of the Wild, my wife says I didn’t give it a “fair shake” but I played like 20 hours and zzz... was tempted to go with a Pokemon game too, but it’s more a franchise in general than a specific game. Best Voice Acting - Yakuza Kiwami, I didn’t really have any real opinions on a game having good voice acting; generally they don’t.  Yakuza is all VA’d in Japanese so that’s probably why, but it felt pretty cool and was the only thing that I could think of actively enhanding a VG experience.  Maybe shoulda gone GTA (3 or San Andreas), both are really dated and definitely don’t sound that good anymore but one of my favourite games to listen to dialogue from. Worst Voice Acting - Metroid: Other M, not bad in terms of the actual talent of the VA’s but damn if it doesn’t ruin everything about Samus as a character.  “REMEMBA ME?!” Favourite Male - Kazuma Kiryu, was tempted to go General Leo from FFVI, but couldn’t find an image big enough before I resized this, which I could have easily worked around, but I also really like the Dragon of Dojima! It’s weird because he seems like such a simple design but he’s just badass in the right way, and I don’t know why more games can’t get it right.   Favourite Female - Franziska von Karma, from the 2nd Ace Attorney game.  For some reason had a huge crush on her, when I was younger I even drew some fanart of her which I ain’t done for nobody but her and Broly. Favourite Protagonist - Samus Aran, wanted to go with a “franchise” character and Samus is always super cool (except in Other M), I’ll always be excited to play her in some new game.   Favourite Village - Kakariko Village, felt like kind of a weird question, ‘cuz like if it was favourite area or something, I could have put some other stuff (Greenpath in Hollow Knight for example), and being a village I feel like basically limits you to medieval games but not the main hub either as that’s “a city.”  But Ocarina of Time’s Kakariko Village is always really fun to roll in to, also thought of the Goron Village, or just any village in Secret of Mana because that village theme is soo good. Most Hated Character - Nathan Drake, have barely even played Uncharted, but I just always hate any character with his personality, and he’s the biggest and most well-known.  Maybe he’s fine but meh. First Game You Played - Super Mario World, can’t say for 100%, but this and Super Mario Kart were games I was playing a lot since at like 4 or 5 my older brother owned them and they’re the most baby friendly.  Also remember playing a lot of PC games that my dad had, Timon and Pumba pinball, Chip’s Challenge, Ski Free, and stuff like that.  Skunny Kart Racing for DOS but I never understood how to get to DOS. Favourite Company - Bioware, I don’t really care about gaming companies in general, but Mass Effect and DA:O are some of my favourite games.  I might say Square as well but they do a lot of stuff.   Hated Company - Ubisoft, don’t hate them all but I just feel like they only make games I have zero interest in. Depressing Game - Doki Doki Literature Club, this and creepy are kinda really similar I feel, but I went DDLC but I kinda forget how it even ends.  I just remember feeling bummed about the purple and pink haired girl, and then the Monika scene just being uncomfortable (in a good way). Creepy Game - Doom3, don’t really play creepy games, Doom3 was suspenseful so I don’t know if that counts.  I had it for like 2 years, played it once for like 10 hours straight, and never played it again.  Still lives in my head. Happy Game - Super Meat Boy, is this a happy game? I don’t know, I feel like it’s got a pumped up energy which I equate to happiness.  It’s fun and the music makes it really addictive. Favourite Ending - Metal Gear Solid, don’t really have a great answer to this.  I really like Meryl and Snake riding off on their snowmobile though.  

#me #looking for a sugar daddy

[okamidensetsu]

2018 VG Journal 2

Because last years last years list was so successful in getting myself to complete the games that I own, this is now my annual thing to start at the beginning of the year! I know I’m a little late as it is Februrary 10, 2018 but I have had a rough start to the year...as far as being able to play games x.x. I’m hoping to rectify that this week by starting the list now! Wish me luck! 52 games before the end of the year. Hopefully averaging to a game a week! Wish me luck!

*This list will be edited and redone as the year goes on*

Here is a list of games completed in 2018 [US releases unless marked otherwise]:

Nier: Automata (PS4)

Shadow of the Colossus Remaster (PS4)

Super Hot (PS4)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4 Pro)

Donut County (PS4 Pro)

Tetris Effect (PS4 Pro)

God of War (PS4 Pro)

A.C.E. Another Century’s Episode [JP] (PS2)

Mister Mosquito [JP] (PS2)

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (PSP)

Bayonetta (Switch)

Kirby Star Allies (Switch)

Kamiko (Switch)

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Switch)

Ittle Dew 2 (Switch)

Attack on Titan 2 (Switch)

Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch)

Metal Slug (Switch)

Lego City Undercover (Switch)

Nintendo Labo Robot Kit (Switch)

Night in the Woods (Switch)

King of the Monsters (Switch)

Final Fight (Switch)

Captain Commando (Switch)

The King of Dragons (Switch)

Knights of the Round (Switch)

Warriors of Fate (Switch)

Armored Warriors (Switch)

Battle Circuit (Switch)

Strikers 1945 (Switch)

Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (Gamecube)

Donkey Konga [JP] (Gamecube)

Donkey Konga 2 [JP] (Gamecube)

Donkey Konga (Gamecube)

Donkey Konga 2 (Gamecube)

SD Gashapon Wars [JP] (Gamecube)

Red Steel 2 (Wii)

Sword of the Berserk: Gut’s Rage (Dreamcast)

Halo 5: Guardians (Xbone X)

Big (unbeatable) time sinks:

Overwatch (PC)

Rocket League (Switch)

Musynx (Switch)

Nintendo Labo Variety Kit 1 (Switch)

Lumines Remastered (Switch)

Lumines II (PSP)

Monster Hunter World (PS4)

Fire Wall Zero Hour (PS4 Pro)

Vermintide II (XBone X)

Sea of Thieves (Xbone X)

Black Ops 4 (Xbone X)

Forza Horizon 4 (Xbone X)

Battlefront II (Xbone X)

Games I’m currently playing:

Hyper Light Drifter (PS4)

Furi (PS4)

Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)

Super Hot VR (PS4)

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4 Pro)

Ucharted: Lost Legacy (PS4 Pro)

Darkwatch (PS2)

Darkest Dungeon (Switch)

Severed (Switch)

Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Switch)

Tiny Barbarian DX (Switch)

Axiom Verge (Switch)

Snipper Clips Plus (Switch)

Skyrim (Switch)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)

Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu (Switch)

Katamari Damacy REROLL (Switch)

Dragonball FighterZ (Switch)

Devil May Cry 4 (Xbone X)

State of Decay (Xbone X)

NFL Street 2: Unleashed (PSP)

Steel Batallion (Xbox)

The Thing (Xbox)

Dead to Rights (Xbox)

Donkey Konga 3 [JP] (Gamecube)

Donkey Konga Jungle Beat  [JP] (Gamecube)

Typing of the Dead  [JP] (Dreamcast)

Typing of the Dead: Overkill  (PC)

Portal 2 (PC)

Bionic Commando: Rearmed (PC)

January 1st, 2019 - The 2018 Recap:

This year for me was playing a lot more online mutliplayer games than I have for the past ten years combined! But of course that means I had more unbeatable time sinks than I did last year. So I ended up beating 39 games across 8 systems. Not a bad spread but I am hoping to do better next year. Maybe I’ll play some Saturn and Gameboy color games, the latter of which I haven’t touched in a couple years. But the fact that I put so many hours into 13″unbeatable” games this year is surprising to me. Games as a service is a real thing and just goes to show where the times are. Hopefully next year I can put more time into shorter and simpler more story driven games to counter act those numbers. I do really want to see 52 games beaten. But with that said this year was a success. I technically count those 13 games (of which I definitely sank over 10 hours into each of them) as games that are part of my completed games list. So I did it! I averaged a game beaten a week this year! Two years in a row!

Also holy shit did I start a lot of games this year! And I’m definitely missing a few on that list Q.Q

#ps4 #nintendo switch #psp #xbox #gaming #ps1 #playstation #gamecube #video games #3ds #ds #vg diary #the daily #california #sunnyvale

[okamidensetsu]

2017 VG Journal 1

I’m starting to do this in the hopes that I’ll be better about beating games! I have a bad habit starting titles and getting 75% of the way through with them and stopping, never to return. It helps that @approachingfarewell and I can switch off or pass the controller back and forth to do this too x.x. So let’s get started... 

*This list will be edited and redone as the year goes on*

Here is a list of games completed in 2017 [US releases unless marked otherwise]:

The Last Guardian (PS4) x2

Uncharted 1  (PS4)

Uncharted 2  (PS4)

Uncharted 3  (PS4)

Uncharted 4  (PS4)

Titanfall 2  (PS4)

REZ  (PS4) x6

FFXV (PS4)

KH .2: Birth By Sleep (PS4)

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

Job Simuluator (PS4)

Abzu (PS4)

Dariusburst CS (PS4)

Yakuza 0 (PS4)

Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4) x2

Wonderboy: The Dragon’s Trap (PS4)

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4)

Limbo (PS4)

Rush of Blood (PSVR)

Breath of the Wild (Switch)

Shock Troopers (Switch)

Metal Slug 3 (Switch)

Alpha Mission II (Switch)

Cave Story+ (Switch)

Splatoon 2 (Switch)

Implosion - Never Lose Hope (Switch)

Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (Switch)

Shovel Knight (Switch)

Resident Evil: Revelations (Switch)

Doom (Switch)

Sine Mora EX (Switch)

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

River City: Tokyo Rumble (3DS)

Ace Combat [JP] (PS1)

Ace Combat 2 [JP] (PS1)

Ghost in the Shell [JP] (PS1)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack [JP] (PS1)

Star Wars Lethal Alliance (PSP)

MechAssault (Xbox)

Rez (PC) x3

Dö̶̡́k̷̻̕i̴͔̐ ̴̲̀d̷͓̑ơ̵͚k̵̞͌i̸̯͊ ̸́ͅḽ̸͌i̸̦̓t̸͜͠e̸͇͆r̴̲̀a̶̟͛t̵̠̂ǔ̴͕r̴͓̈́e̵̖̍ ̵̜̐c̶̫͒l̸͓̄u̷̱͑b̶̠̅(PC)

Portal (PC)

Big (unbeatable) time sinks:

Overwatch (PC/PS4)

Animal Crossing Welcome Amiibo (3DS)

Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ (Switch)

Voez (Switch)

Superbeat: Xonic (Switch)

Rocket League (Switch)

Every Extra Extend (PSP)

Gunpey (PSP)

Gunpey (DS)

Didn’t get to finish (*or start):

Nier Automata (PS4)

Astebreed (PS4)*

Hyper Light Drifter (PS4)*

Lego City Undercover (Switch)

Snake Pass (Switch)

Fast RMX (Switch)

Bangai-O (DS)*

Tiny Barbarian (Switch)

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (PSP)

NFL Street 2: Unleashed (PSP)

And Fin! It’s January 1st, 2018! So my goal with this was to do a game a week. 52 games after 52 weeks..and I succeeded! Kind of. By virtue of starting this diary I definitely spent a lot more time playing games this year...and if you’ve followed my over the years you already know I have a hard time just dumping hours into games. I nearly have an existential crisis anytime I think about it too much...so my conceit was if I spent more than 5 (but usually 10) hours in a game that is not story driven/cannot be completed - then it counted towards my completed games. So with 9 unbeatable time sinks added to 43 games with endings, you get 52! I had a lot of fun doing this and it’s made me more accountable for what I’ve been picking up which was the overall goal so I will be starting my 2nd VG diary sometime this week for 2018! And because I have done this and kept a record of the games I’ve completed I think I might do something special and do some sort of game of the year list! We’ll see if I have time x.x! Thanks for reading and have a great 2018 everybody!

#ps4 #playstation 4 #nintendo switch #nintendo ds #3ds #ds #nintendo 3ds #psp #playstation portable #gaming #video games #vg diary #the daily #california #sunnyvale