Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 gets remastered

[Cave Johnson]

11 minutes ago, SnowxSakura said:

Well, there are some people that just don't care if something is censored or not as long as they can play it in their native language

 

Fair enough; the apathy that others have towards these changes just pisses me off. People are free to buy a game for whatever reason they want, of course.

[SnowxSakura]

8 minutes ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

 

Fair enough; the apathy that others have towards these changes just pisses me off. People are free to buy a game for whatever reason they want, of course.

The main issue is the people causing the changes, all of these overly offended people, are ones that weren't going to play it anyways. So these developers aren't really pleasing anyone

[Crispy_Oglop]

The ideal scenario for me would be for me to play it in my native language and have the experience completely uncensored. For me the idea of it is like watching a movie with scenes and segments cut out. It's still inherently the same movie, but it's not the true vision of what it's creators wanted to share. I don't really have much control really, so while it's a bit annoying to get a cut version, I'm still going to play it because it's the only way to do so in my native language.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Crispy_Oglop

[redknightalex]

14 hours ago, Undead Wolf said:

 

People get offended by anything and everything these days. There's no point in game developers trying to please the perpetually offended because they will just find something else to complain about. The substories (there's more than one) are lighthearted/funny to the vast majority of people. If something like this bothers you that much, then I have to wonder why you're even playing Japanese games in the first place.

 

It really isn't that hard to not offend people although some people try their best to make it more difficult than it should be. My only complaint is, in the original version, they referred to a dragon queen as "it," which no person should be called by that term. It's beyond demeaning, and dehumanizing, to someone who represents themselves differently. That is truly the only content I'm glad they cut. Everything else I'm against cutting. I really don't agree with censorship in most forms. Changing things to reflect the more open society we've become in the last 10 years, however, is a positive in my book, especially when they are remaking these games for a new, Western audience in mind.

 

And I do truly enjoy these games, even the wackier and stranger games that come out of Japan that make Yakuza seem tame. I don't find them offensive per se, just different. It also helps that they try to take themselves in some serious fashion that it lessens the blow. And most of those games try to be titillating in some fashion, which just ends up being humorous (to me at least).

 

Anyway, I'm happy with their decision and why they did it. I'm sorry you won't enjoy the games the way you want to but I'm sure, for the majority of fans out there, this will barely cross their minds.

Edited September 10, 2018 by redknightalex
Horrible phone formatting

[starcrunch061]

19 hours ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

Well said. I don't have much to add; I just wanted to say that I agree 100%. Talking to people who are okay with censorship, or worse, those who are for it, can feel like speaking to a brick wall.

 

Which doesn't happen enough, sadly. Censorship apologist ♥s are the reason this shit continues to happen. 

 

You're not OK with a private company making a non-compulsory decision about its own product? I certainly don't want any part of the "freedom" you're touting.

[Se7en]

7 hours ago, starcrunch061 said:

You're not OK with a private company making a non-compulsory decision about its own product? I certainly don't want any part of the "freedom" you're touting.

 

Any potential customer having to be OK with whatever decision company makes about product this person might be interested in isn’t the kind of “freedom” worth having either.

Besides, it effectively denies the lawful right of other people not to be OK with a private company decision to release product they found offensive for some reasons.

[Cave Johnson]

15 hours ago, starcrunch061 said:

You're not OK with a private company making a non-compulsory decision about its own product? I certainly don't want any part of the "freedom" you're touting.

 

Sure, they can do whatever they want. That doesn't mean I have to be okay with it, though. I never said we should force companies not to make changes to their own products. I'm not sure where you're getting that from. If you really want to argue semantics, then no, it's not censorship. As you said, it was a non-compulsory decision. In other words, it's technically not censorship. However, none of that changes the fact that they cut content, and lied about it.

[starcrunch061]

21 hours ago, Se7en said:

Any potential customer having to be OK with whatever decision company makes about product this person might be interested in isn’t the kind of “freedom” worth having either.

Besides, it effectively denies the lawful right of other people not to be OK with a private company decision to release product they found offensive for some reasons.

 

I said nothing of the sort, so put this silly straw man away. Not that this has anything to do with this, but I support, STRONGLY, people voting with their wallets, or even voicing their displeasure with the decisions that companies make.

 

To be clear, I responded to this:

 

Well said. I don't have much to add; I just wanted to say that I agree 100%. Talking to people who are okay with censorship, or worse, those who are for it, can feel like speaking to a brick wall.

 

 

Which doesn't happen enough, sadly. Censorship apologist ♥s are the reason this shit continues to happen. 

 

And this (though I didn't quote it):

 

Fair enough; the apathy that others have towards these changes just pisses me off. People are free to buy a game for whatever reason they want, of course.

 

These decisions have nothing to do, whatsoever, with "censorship apologists". Some people will dislike a decision to cut content, and some will like it. I personally don't give two shits (though, if the American government forced Sega to make these changes for the western release, I would damn sure kick).

 

 

[Cave Johnson]

57 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

These decisions have nothing to do, whatsoever, with "censorship apologists". Some people will dislike a decision to cut content, and some will like it. I personally don't give two shits (though, if the American government forced Sega to make these changes for the western release, I would damn sure kick).

 

Censorship apologists not being the cause of the decision is something I can agree with. However, I still think they are part of the problem. I guess that would make anyone who continues to buy the games equally part of the problem. Those who don't care aren't vehemently defending a company that lies to them, though. I don't expect people to boycott the game over this, especially those who agree with the change or just don't care. Likely what will happen (and is already happening) is this: people will complain on the internet, buy the game anyway, and nothing will change.

[MosesRockefeller]

24 minutes ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

Censorship apologists not being the cause of the decision is something I can agree with. However, I still think they are part of the problem. I guess that would make anyone who continues to buy the games equally part of the problem. Those who don't care aren't vehemently defending a company that lies to them, though. I don't expect people to boycott the game over this, especially those who agree with the change or just don't care. Likely what will happen (and is already happening) is this: people will complain on the internet, buy the game anyway, and nothing will change.

It's not cool that Sega lied about the games being uncut (or at best, made a statement without verifying its correctness first, and then did nothing to correct the error). They should have said the games have 99% of the original content.

 

That said, I don't really understand the vehement stance against any form of self-censorship. Societal views change over time. I don't see why Disney should release Song of the South for people to own in 2018. But the strangest part of this one, is that this is such a small hill to die on. These games are so full of content that new players certainly won't miss the cut content (unless they know to go looking for it). The end result for gamers brings to mind Hyperdimension Neptunia 1 and 2, where the Vita remakes cut out the Gust content. That was contractual and not self-censorship, but the end result is the same for people actually playing the game, and in both cases they can hunt down the original versions. In both cases, it's side content and not story content that got cut.

 

I guess I'm part of that apathetic group that pisses you off...

 

Personally, I'm excited for the remasters. I mostly moved on from my PS3 before really getting into the series, so having them all on PS4 will be nice.

[cckerberos]

2 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

It's not cool that Sega lied about the games being uncut (or at best, made a statement without verifying its correctness first, and then did nothing to correct the error). They should have said the games have 99% of the original content.

 

It wasn't SEGA. The original source for the claim was the game's producer. Or, rather, a translated summary of what he said in a livestream. I'd like to see the original quote because the remaster has a number of changes from the original release beyond just different hostesses and I don't think Nagoshi would have lied about that.

 

In any case, IMHO, self-censorship as a business decision is not something to get outraged over, especially when it only involves minor side content in this case. They're not being forced to do it by anyone.

[MosesRockefeller]

12 hours ago, cckerberos said:

It wasn't SEGA. The original source for the claim was the game's producer. Or, rather, a translated summary of what he said in a livestream. I'd like to see the original quote because the remaster has a number of changes from the original release beyond just different hostesses and I don't think Nagoshi would have lied about that.

Thanks for the correction. I should have gone with the generic "they" since I didn't have all the details about the claim.

[Cave Johnson]

On 9/11/2018 at 1:06 PM, MosesRockefeller said:

That said, I don't really understand the vehement stance against any form of self-censorship.

 

When it comes localization, I don't see it as self-censorship. If the localization team makes a decision to remove or censor something, can it really be called self-censorship? They had nothing to do with the development of the game. For example, just look at the dumb shit NISA has done in the past.

 

On 9/11/2018 at 1:06 PM, MosesRockefeller said:

Societal views change over time.

 

True, but I absolutely despise the idea that works of fiction should be "updated" to fit these changes. It's just part of being a purist, I guess.

 

On 9/11/2018 at 1:06 PM, MosesRockefeller said:

I guess I'm part of that apathetic group that pisses you off...

 

I probably should have been more clear on that. What gets to me is people who miss the point and say shit like "it's just a small change, doesn't matter" etc. To me, it's not about the amount of content being cut, or what it is. I simply don't want anything to be cut, period.

 

On 9/11/2018 at 1:06 PM, MosesRockefeller said:

Personally, I'm excited for the remasters. I mostly moved on from my PS3 before really getting into the series, so having them all on PS4 will be nice.

 

I haven't played any of these games (yet). If/when I get around to it, I'll be sticking to the PS3 versions.

[SnowxSakura]

14 minutes ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

 

When it comes localization, I don't see it as self-censorship. If the localization team makes a decision to remove or censor something, can it really be called self-censorship? They had nothing to do with the development of the game. For example, just look at the dumb shit NISA has done in the past.

 

 

True, but I absolutely despise the idea that works of fiction should be "updated" to fit these changes. It's just part of being a purist, I guess.

 

 

I probably should have been more clear on that. What gets to me is people who miss the point and say shit like "it's just a small change, doesn't matter" etc. To me, it's not about the amount of content being cut, or what it is. I simply don't want anything to be cut, period.

 

 

I haven't played any of these games (yet). If/when I get around to it, I'll be sticking to the PS3 versions.

No point getting pissed at people like that, you're not going to change their minds, and it's a waste of time and energy

[Cave Johnson]

24 minutes ago, SnowxSakura said:

No point getting pissed at people like that, you're not going to change their minds, and it's a waste of time and energy

 

Yeah, I usually avoid these kinds of discussions. It pisses me off, but I'm not losing any sleep over it or anything extreme like that.

[MosesRockefeller]

11 hours ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

When it comes localization, I don't see it as self-censorship. If the localization team makes a decision to remove or censor something, can it really be called self-censorship? They had nothing to do with the development of the game. For example, just look at the dumb shit NISA has done in the past.

Sure, but that's apparently not the case here. It was stated that all versions of the game had those cuts. So it's not strictly because of localization. That said, i don't know what relationship the porting teams have to the original development teams.

 

11 hours ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

True, but I absolutely despise the idea that works of fiction should be "updated" to fit these changes. It's just part of being a purist, I guess.

This gets into an interesting topic. What about creators who want to change their works later on? George Lucas is the famous example with his edits to the original Star Wars trilogy of course, but let's take Steven King as an example too. Modern readers (including me, when I read them a few years ago) have noticed the unfortunate way he wrote African American dialog in his early books (for example, the Dark Tower series), and I think he's commented on it recently. If he edited the dialog for new editions of the books, would that be "wrong" of him?

 

11 hours ago, Cave_Johnson_ said:

I probably should have been more clear on that. What gets to me is people who miss the point and say shit like "it's just a small change, doesn't matter" etc. To me, it's not about the amount of content being cut, or what it is. I simply don't want anything to be cut, period.

I understand your opinion, but I just don't agree. Content gets cut from movies, TV, and games before they come out. Sometimes it fits the creator's vision, and sometimes it doesn't (Metal Gear Solid V is an infamous example, where Kojima didn't have enough time to do everything he wanted to). I have too many games I want to play to get annoyed by minor cut content.

 

By your own statement, I think I fit what you're calling "missing the point". I don't view games in grandiose terms of making a hardline stand on principle. I take a more pragmatic view about games. What matters to me as a gamer, is what the actual game is that I may or may not buy. When it comes to these remasters, I see 3 games with epic stories and massive content. I'm not even batting an eyelash about a few cut and changed side missions.

Edited September 13, 2018 by MosesRockefeller

[Drag-On-Detritus]

Probably shouldn't say anything about this but I thought those cut missions were hillarious at the time. Michiru was so obviously a muscle bound bloke in a dress as opposed to someone who was born in the wrong gender/actually transitioning etc so I didn't think anything of it. People love taking things out of context & applying a black & white blanket rule to things these days & it's such bullshit.

 

Most of the games feature a sub story with someone trying to or actually sexually assaulting Kiryu, it's just part of the fun of a long running & extremely over the top series of fictional games. Anything can & does happen.

 

They could have just quietly changed 'it' to 'her' which is what I thought they would do. Failing that I suppose it wouldn't suit Kiryu's character to stop the chase & ask Michiru about preferred pronouns so the team just axed it. Sad IMO. Really lame. I completely agree with the poster who thought the majority of people who would be outraged by the 'it' bit are mostly people who will not be playing the game & who have no investment in the series.

 

With that said from a gameplay perspective having less chase parts isn't a bad thing I suppose. Thought the same thing about the stuff that was cut from the ps3 version, less to do isn't a bad thing in these games, I'm usually worn out by the time I've done all the sub stories, missions & 70-90% of the other stuff.

[Cave Johnson]

16 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

Sure, but that's apparently not the case here. It was stated that all versions of the game had those cuts.

 

I didn't know that, actually. That's my fault for just assuming it was a localization change.

 

16 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

That said, i don't know what relationship the porting teams have to the original development teams.

 

A lot of that seems to be hard to find out, along with the reasons why these changes get made. From what I've seen, most companies seem to take the "keep quiet and hope no one notices" approach. Needless to say, it never works.

 

16 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

This gets into an interesting topic. What about creators who want to change their works later on? George Lucas is the famous example with his edits to the original Star Wars trilogy of course, but let's take Steven King as an example too. Modern readers (including me, when I read them a few years ago) have noticed the unfortunate way he wrote African American dialog in his early books (for example, the Dark Tower series), and I think he's commented on it recently. If he edited the dialog for new editions of the books, would that be "wrong" of him?

 

I'd be more accepting of a creator wanting to change their own work. However, I get the feeling it rarely happens due to the author deciding it themselves, but rather a group of people calling for something to be changed. As for Stephen King, I haven't read any of his books. That's a good example though, since I have read quite a bit about them, specifically the more offensive parts. (For better or worse, I spend a lot of time reading the news.) There's one passage from The Shining that I couldn't even post here without it being heavily censored. I don't think I can speak on whether it's "wrong" or not for it to be changed. Personally, I wouldn't agree with it being changed regardless of how offensive it may be considered now. I don't think history should be changed, whether it's fictional or not.

 

17 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

I understand your opinion, but I just don't agree. Content gets cut from movies, TV, and games before they come out. Sometimes it fits the creator's vision, and sometimes it doesn't (Metal Gear Solid V is an infamous example, where Kojima didn't have enough time to do everything he wanted to). I have too many games I want to play to get annoyed by minor cut content.

 

I know media goes through many changes during production; that's normal. What bothers me is content being cut or changed after the fact, especially when it has nothing to do with the original creator(s).

 

17 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

By your own statement, I think I fit what you're calling "missing the point". I don't view games in grandiose terms of making a hardline stand on principle. I take a more pragmatic view about games. What matters to me as a gamer, is what the actual game is that I may or may not buy. When it comes to these remasters, I see 3 games with epic stories and massive content. I'm not even batting an eyelash about a few cut and changed side missions.

 

Giving it more thought, I don't think calling it "missing the point" is the right way to explain it. I think it's merely a difference of opinion. Simply put: You don't care, I do, and that's fine.

[pills4louis]

On 9/14/2018 at 0:02 AM, readytofuky said:

the majority of people who would be outraged by the 'it' bit are mostly people who will not be playing the game & who have no investment in the series.

Doesn't matter. When Johnny Rebel released the song "N*gger-Hatin' Me" in 1966, was that okay? Even though the people targeted by his song were Black, and thus not part of his album's sales demographic? The answer is no.

[dermarx]

Yakuza 4 will be released on January 17, 2019 in Japan the latest issue of Famitsu reveals 

 

The magazine also has information about Masayoshi Tanimura, who is one of the main characters of the game. Some of his lines needed to be revised and re-recorded, and since his original voice actor Hiroki Narimiya has since retired from voice acting, his character model and voice actor have been changed. In the PlayStation 4 version of the game, Toshiki Masuda will play Masayoshi Tanimura.
 

Source

[Rafinha_Mikinha]

1 hour ago, dermarx said:

Yakuza 4 will be released on January 17, 2019 in Japan the latest issue of Famitsu reveals 

 

The magazine also has information about Masayoshi Tanimura, who is one of the main characters of the game. Some of his lines needed to be revised and re-recorded, and since his original voice actor Hiroki Narimiya has since retired from voice acting, his character model and voice actor have been changed. In the PlayStation 4 version of the game, Toshiki Masuda will play Masayoshi Tanimura.
 

Source

Do you have information on Yakuza 3 (western versions)?

I know that it has already been release in Japan.

[dermarx]

9 minutes ago, Rafinha_Mikinha said:

Do you have information on Yakuza 3 (western versions)?

I know that it has already been release in Japan.

 

Nothing about a western version was announced, as far as I know.

So, nothing I can tell you, sorry.

[dermarx]

A few more Infos and screenshots for Yakuza 4 remastered:

 

Quote

Due out on January 17, 2019 in Japan, Yakuza 4 for PlayStation 4 recasts the actor who plays Masayoshi Tanimura, one of the game’s four protagonists. Since original actor Hiroki Narimiya has retired from acting, his role is now played by Toshiki Masuda. This also resulted in a character remodeling, since the original character was modeled after Narimiya.

 

Screenshots are here

 

 

Source 

[dermarx]

We might (!) get some more Info on the future release of Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 in the west:

 

Quote

Sega has teased a Yakuza-related announcement for the Kinda Funny Games Showcase on December 8.

Kinda Funny Games Showcase host Greg Miller tweeted, “Hey @YakuzaGame and @Sega. You wanna announce something at #KGFShowcase?” Sega responded, “You know what. You’ve convinced us. Sure!”

It is very highly likely this is a western Yakuza-related announcement and not a new game. The possibilities include:

• A release date for Yakuza: Kiwami on PC
• Localization announcement for Yakuza 3 on PlayStation 4 (and even also the Yakuza 4 and 5 ports)
• An announcement for Yakuza: Kiwami 2 or Yakuza 6: The Song of Life on PC

The Kinda Funny Games Showcase will be live streamed on Twitch on December 8 at 10:00 a.m. PT. Stay tuned.

 

 

Source

 

@Rafinha_Mikinha since you asked earlier, but don't get your hopes too high.

Edited November 27, 2018 by dermarx

[Rafinha_Mikinha]

10 hours ago, dermarx said:

We might (!) get some more Info on the future release of Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 in the west:

 

 

 

Source

 

@Rafinha_Mikinha since you asked earlier, but don't get your hopes too high.

Good news!

 

Thanks for the info!