Yakuza 3 coming to the West March 2010

[Eusis]

The rationale comes off as especially idiotic when you consider just what they're rushing the game out to market against. Take the month to localize that crap, maybe you'll also see more sales as a result!

[moomoofarm7]

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.

Wow that's crazy. Good info, but what a let down. :(

[Jet16]

Good article on the localization history of the Yakuza series.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3178466

It certainly would be difficult and unnecessary to localize something like Shogi or Answer X Answer, but I'm still a bit skeptical at the reasons for axing the Hostess Bars. Then again, I barley bothered with them in Yakuza 2 and it sounds like I wouldn't bother with Shogi or a trivia game either so, other than some side quests, I don't really miss all the cut content.

[Jonathan Ingram]

It would neither be difficult nor unnecessary. Answer x Answer is just a trivia game and it could be easily localized by simply replacing the original questions with new ones. Although that would imply spending additional time and money which I guess is a problem with Sega of America. As for Shogi, it was already fully localized in Yakuza 2, and with a nice explanation on how to play it. There`s no reason why Yakuza 3 shouldn`t have it as well.

Anyway, I was initially going to buy the English version just to support Sega`s localization efforts but decided not to in the end because of all this crap. I`ll just stick with my JP copy.

[Kevadu]

There was a recent price drop of this game on Amazon ($40 now) and I decided to pick it up after all.  And you know what?  I'm loving it.  It's actually been a while since I've been this addicted to a game.

Am I upset that content was cut?  Yes.  I certainly would have preferred that everything be localized.  But if you haven't imported and are avoiding the localization just because of that then you're nuts.  There is so much to do in this game that it certainly holds its value compared to most of what's on the market.  The main story alone is worth the price of admission.