Yakuza 3 coming to the West March 2010

[Hoshino_Kid]

It's official: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/12/yakuza-3-marches-west

So... FFXIII, GT5, and God of War 3...

[Esper_Crusader]

Hmmm... I never considered that. Four titles I really want in 1 month. Not cool.  I'd like to get Yakuza 3 but it's almost definitely going to be on the backburner for a few months. Why would they release it over here in March when they can obviously see the competition? It's like they WANT it to fail.

[Eusis]

... March is the new November?

Ugh, how annoying. I'd like to support Yakuza's US presence, but then it comes out of nowhere in a month that's crowded pretty much regardless of your preferences.

[Jet16]

So... FFXIII, GT5, and God of War 3...

     

And SMT Strange Journey. Yep, March is going to be great.

[Hoshino_Kid]

Speaking of which, do I need to play Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2 to understand Yakuza 3?

[Lard]

I'll be getting this and SMT Strange Journey.

The rest I know I'll be able to find copies of later.

[Jet16]

I highly recommend actually playing the first two games, it'll make the experience of the third much better. That being said, Yakuza 2 offered an optional recap of the first game's events, so I assume that will be the case for three.

[Eusis]

Honestly, if it weren't for the discount code I used for FFXIII I consider dumping it for Yakuza III. It does help of the high profile games it's the only one I would want right away and without a heavy price slash.

[CDFN]

The demo just hit PSN.

[Kevadu]

I wasn't sold on this game initially, but I loved the demo.  Well, I probably still won't buy it.  Way too many games coming out in that time period.  Let's see, I'm already planning on getting:

Heavy Rain
Lunar: Harmony of the Silver Star
Final Fantasy XIII
Resonance of Fate
Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings
God of War III
Sakura Wars "So Long My Love"

Yeah, I totally have time for another game.  Maybe if I took the entire month of March off and played games 24/7...

[Eusis]

Depending on just how much you really want some of those games you could wait. For example I like God of War well enough, but will gladly dump it in favor of something else because it's going to sell perfectly fine, unlike something like Fragile. Then again I like God of War best when I'm paying $15-30 for it.

[Kevadu]

Yeah, I am being somewhat facetious there.  Since I'm not actually planning on taking the month of March off to play video games, I'm already at the point where I am going to have to delay some purchases.  Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings and God of War III have already been moved to my "must buy, but not necessarily right away" list.  I might have to do that with Resonance of Fate too...then things might be manageable.

Even so, at some point I have to start moving things to the "do not buy" list.  It's just overwhelming otherwise.  And I'm afraid that Yakuza 3 probably isn't going to make the cut.

Oh well, there are certainly worse things in life than to be overwhelmed by the selection of good games.

[moomoofarm7]

I highly recommend actually playing the first two games, it'll make the experience of the third much better. That being said, Yakuza 2 offered an optional recap of the first game's events, so I assume that will be the case for three.

Agreed. The original is sick - really well done, awesome story and characters and fun gameplay. If you are intrigued by mafia, especially Japanese, you'll love it.

I can't wait for Yakuza 3.

[Esper_Crusader]

I just played the demo and it's really good overall. I was hoping they might have refined the fighting engine and gave you some kind of target-lock ability but it's essentially the same as the first 2 games.  Not a major gripe but I still feel that the controls overall are somewhat clumsy. The karaoke mini-game is pretty cool but it's pretty hard:S

I will most likely buy this at some point.

[Akira]

http://kotaku.com/5478862/sega-you-are-once-again-making-a-giant-mistake

Sometimes I think Sega wants to fail.

The hostess club component is not a small part of the game either. I played through most of Yakuza 3 last year and that whole segment is a hoot. It isn't beyond localization either; toss in some funny western slang, tweak the tutorial to give some cultural context, and you're good.

I think I may have to create a separate topic about this. Valkyria Chronicles, Infinite Space, Yakuza, Resonance of Fate. How can Sega so consistently screw the pooch? I just don't get it.