It’s so bizarre that they’d change it to his first name but keep the “chan.” Like, people call each other by their last names in America sometimes. It’s not too Japanese.
Pickle Rick Nah see, what I meant was in the original Japanese, Majima refers to Kazuma Kiryu as Kiryu-chan, his last name. In English, they changed it to Kazuma-chan for some reason. I just thought it would make more sense to drop the chan than to have Majima refer to Kiryu by his first name. People call each other by their last names sometimes in English, but we never use honorifics.
Pickle Rick Y’all really keep missing his point for the sake of trying to over explain stuff and sound smart lmao. The reason ‘Kazuma-chan’ is jarring is because while they’ve removed the Japanese custom of referring to people with their last name, they’ve kept the Japanese honorific system. They should have either left it as ‘Kiryu-chan’, or just used ‘Kazuma’, but instead they went for a weird middle ground. That and honestly hearing honourifics in an otherwise English speaking environment usually sounds weird as hell.
I finished playing Yakuza 0 two days ago and I really don't remember when I had so much fun in the game ❤️It's a shame that none of my friends play this game
@@itsbtunes Obviously. Ur talking of a game tht came out after 5 other entries b4 it. So of course the story was more refined. Think of Kiwami on its own merits since it is a remake the very 1st game in this great series.
@@mjc11493 it’s only on PS2 since like he said, it was back when games need localization for the audience. But on the remake, the option’s no longer there, nor needed cuz you’ll see why once you play Yakuza 3.
@@Lucas-Nunes No, after Yakuza 1 all games were in Japanese + English subtitles. They didn't bother to dub kiwami because it'd be rather strange to be the only game in English.
Honestly, it's not that bad, especially at the time. Excessive swearing brings it down, but otherwise the voices are on point for most characters. Of course, excessive swearing did bring gold lines - "10 YEARS IN THE JOINT MADE YOU A FUCKIN' POOSY"
Xeon Master Yakuza 0 is singlehandedly the greatest game I have ever played. It is that good. It is my favorite game of all time. Best game in the Yakuza series. Best game of all time. That doesn’t mean that the others are bad, but it means that Yakuza 0 is just superior.
True but 0 came out after 5 entries of Yakuza, so it had all things locked down and thensome with content. Kiwami is just a remake of the original 1st game but restore content tht cut during development (and add some new bits here and there). So it doesnt hav all the mechanic and content advancement of the later entries; as well as more refined story.
Kinda surprised how Kiryu's jacket's hem has movement physics in the original, but not in Kiwami. It's a small thing, but disappointing nontheless. Even with the simple physics, it accentuates the movement of combat, making it look that much cooler.
Bruh with 4 fighting style it's gonna be very hard to implement physics for that, like imagine rush's quickstep frenzy, how tf is the jacket gonna react?
hey this was a really cool video, you've got a great presentation style. I've been playing Kiwami recently after finishing 0 and it's fantastic, but I forgot a lot about the PS2 original and I was wondering how similar they were. it's honestly amazing how advanced Yakuza was for its time and the platform it was on.
DeadwingDork lol hearing you talk about yakuza on your streams got me back into the games. I played 0 and was blown away. Started kiwame 1 and got extremely pissed off towards the end and almost didn’t finish it. But recently I did and picked up kiwame 2 and I’m loving it so far. I feel like a lot of the charm that was in 0 is in K2 so far.
Spartan Kong Country for me it was I got to the twins, then stopped playing for a month because I got pissed. Played again, beat them, then stopped playing for the night. My game didn’t save, so I had to do it again. I did it 2 months later. After that hopping back on the game was hard, and the rooftop pistols boss fight really tried my patience. To have that all topped of with JINGU I really hated the game by that point. It’s a shame too because the story is awesome, you get really hyped up at that one moment, kiru does the cool thing before fighting the big bad. Then you fight him and it’s horrible. Nishiki fight was fun though, had a good time with that one at least. Didn’t make up for the rest though. I kind of regret playing it after 0, it was still an amazing game and I’m sure if I played it back in the early 2000’s I would’ve loved it so much but 0 is just better in every way. The only thing is that nishiki is barely in the game and I feel like knowing him from 0 made everything mean more with him. You really get to feel his change if you have the context.
Oh hey I know you, you're the guy that does those great streams about weird stuff and sex weirdos. I was just binging your DSP and Wings of Redemption streams today. Hope you feel better soon, my dude, saw you were feeling not great on Twitter yesterday
The most important aspect of Kiwami is that it makes certain narrative elements of the original make WAY MORE sense than they used to. One example is Nishiki's transformation arc, which in the original, seems very random (his sister just dies without much mention and he just turns evil over time, we just assume his jealousy and ambition) In Kiwami it's far more fleshed out, how his insecurities and envy of Kiryu develop and drive him to change. Things like that to me are what really make Kiwami a big departure while also being a great, near shot for shot remake. Also, while I agree Majima being injected more heavily is a big change, I get it because Yakuza sold well in North America largely because of Goro Majima, particularly with Mark Hamill voicing his English dub. The character is money and realistically, if he'd had this large a roll chronologically from the series' inception, people would be no the wiser and thoroughly entertained.
I don’t know if it is more accurate to say that Yakuza was ahead of its time or the industry is catching up to Yakuza. Most PS2 games do not hold up to modern standards but I spent a lot of this video watching the side by side thinking, “holy shit. It doesn’t look bad.”
@@a-ha4940 thats false. it doesnt look better than shenmue wtf. the game looked great for its time. this came out a year after san andreas. and its mindless to compare this to halo a fps game. this was the 2000s. open world game had to make sacrifices for processing. considering all that yakuza 2005 looked fantastic on release
@@Buhbuhfuzz well, Japanese have a thing where they use surnames in conversations so saying "Kazuma-chan" instead of "Kiryu-chan" would be right for english translation
Honestly Majima feels weird in Kawami because of his character arc in Zero. It’d be hard for the character to attack Kiryu relentlessly when he tries to protect Haruka when Majima himself was dealt the same hand in protecting Makato. It threw me for a loop
But see, Majima wasn't putting her in any actual danger. He was just looking for another excuse to fight Kiryu. He's just very hard to read because he likes being unpredictable. That crazy energy that drives his life GIVES him life. He particularly realized this after his fights with Nishitani, and in some weird way I see this as him paying his respects to the guy.
@@noahdavis7406 he took her to a public venue where any one else could’ve intercepted her... he put her life in danger lmao It’s just that when Yakuza first came out, Zero was never a thing. Also I like how you recapped his craziness and it’s purpose like I didn’t just mention Zero in the first sentence of my og comment lol
@@wbhurt01 She was in no more danger than she was in with Kiryu. This public venue was being guarded by Majima's family, which is not something to take lightly.
He just needed an excuse to fight Kiryu Story wise, Majima is an asshole, but in lore he just trained Kiryu. He even found Komaki to make Kiryu even stronger than he was before jail
Actually the animations are the same for the PS2 game, props to the RGG team, the animations back then were so good I only noticed until I saw the Digital Foundry video.
Im glad they didn't dub the Yakuza remakes on PC because I would have hated it. The Japanese voices fit soo well and adds more atmosphere to the story.
exactly, like, western audiences that choose to play this game are doing so BECAUSE they're weebs and want an escapist adventure in japan. why the fuck would i want to have the japan-specific things in kamurocho removed, and have to listen to everyone speaking english? i'm playing this to get away from my mediocre american life, thank you very much
@@domennysometimesplays2484 I dunno, I think dubs have their place. I'd say setting is the most important aspect. Games like Yakuza and GoT, subs. Stuff like Fire Emblem and Metal Gear, English dub. Just feels more natural. As long as the voice acting isn't bad, dubs have a purpose in immersion.
@@domennysometimesplays2484 thats a pretty broad statement to make, and honestly a really childish one. some dubs sound better than subs, that's a given. but what if an adult cant read, or not very well? it could be due to bad eyesight as well. maybe people prefer listening rather than reading, you ever heard of audiobooks? tbh i hope you're trolling
@@Ninjapants237 Not to mention for some people having a short attention span, like myself. But, I can manage for the most part while reading subtitles. At the same time, I greatly understand people saying that the subtitles distract themselves from what is going on on screen as a whole - because you’re trying to pay attention to the translations and the visuals simultaneously.
"Excuse you? No, FUCK you!" I can't lie, that little scene at the beginning let me know I was in for a ride, all those years ago😂. The following games weren't so over the top with their dialogue, and they worked well, but I loved that shit in the first one. I'm thankful for the Japanese audio and subtitles though, authenticity.
Really appreciated you did a really good video on this comparison. This brought my memory of the original PS2 versions back. English voiceover on this type of games would be weird (especially I understand Japanese, it gets weirder) But still I will give my respect to the original English voiceover team. They really did their best. It is hard to localize.
The Yakuza series is truly SEGA at its very best. Unlike the various Sonic games, any Yakuza game is an immersive experience that has me begging for more.
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Sonic since 06 is quite bad, let's be honest. Colors is overrated, as is Generations. Most of them are basically rail runners with obstacles peppered in. Of course this is coming from a guy who likes Sonic CD and Adventure 1 the most, the game having more exploration instead of straight run from A to B gameplay, so yeah.
It's a bit silly that you insist on Japanese pronunciation of zero (when it's not even exclusively a Japanese word), and then you butcher the pronunciation of Majima as "Muh-JEEMA"
What gets me is insisting the Japanese pronunciation of zero but using the western name for the game series. Like going to a Mexican restaurant and ordering "lunch special number dos".
I still prefer the PlayStation 2 version. I mean... I'm a diehard ps2 fan, plus the game felt like it was more natural and realistic to me and the real Shenmue 3 at the time.
7:40 is it odd that I remember Shenmue's dubbing also sounds like this?(The audio quality) I know it's also Sega and it could be the same localization team but MAN this has a nostalgic vibe I'll never trade for anything. It's cheesy but low budgeted dubs are gold for me.
I remember the first time I played yakuza game on the ps2. I feel in love with this beautiful story and graphics. I haven't ever played yakuza kiwami yet at the time. Thanks Pal
It's really hard to learn how to play Mahjong on your own. It starts to be more or less clear when explained to you by someone who is already deep in it. And then you just have to play a dozen of games by yourself - and so you get it all!:)
The original ps2 game had fixed cameras because some parts of the map were actually 2D pre-rendered backgrounds (with added 3D props and npcs to hide it as best as possible)
Great video, I played both the original english dub back then as well as this remake and was quite surprised at how well they recreated the overall comparisons.
I only discovered this series a month or two ago. So awesome to be able to play them all on PS4. I'm about to start Yakuza 3 after beating 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2. Kiwami 2 was excellent.
Well, it is nice to get an idea of what's changed, although I notice some weapons, like the indestructible rope, are absent from Kiwami, and some phrasing, like Haruka absolutely evicerating Kiryu when pretending he's her father to a cop, was toned down. I was hoping to learn more about that. Still, great breakdown!
The swearing may not just be “spicing it up”, it could be due to the fact that Japanese doesn’t have many “swear words”, but not using honorifics or disrespecting people by using the wrong words is the Japanese equivalent of that. It doesn’t really fit into a direct translation, so changing it to swear words gets the original intention across.
Also removes the impact of the "should we really bring back Majima back..?" scene in 2, or the impact of Kiryu and Majima finally canonically becoming friends in 3
I just bought Kiwami and watched this video before I installed it on my PlayStation 4. I love how you compared the dialog side by side in the middle and I hope you will do a lot more of that in future videos because it was really cool to see 2005 dialog matched against 2017 dialog, both in English and Japanese! 😊🙌
I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention it in the video, but Yakuza 2005 was the only Yakuza game to feature an english dub. Every Yakuza game after that used the Japanese voice acting with English subtitles. Honestly, I much prefer it with the Japanese voice acting. Not only because it's excellent as is, but because it makes sense to have Japanese characters in Japan speaking Japanese. It's just strange having Japanese people in Japan always speaking English. Kind of an immersion killer you know?
You're absolutely right. Keeping the Japanese intact is a much more immersive experience, and at a significantly reduced cost no less. I believe I address this in my vid for Yakuza Kiwami 2, where it's a bit more relevant!
If you count the fist of the North Star game the yakuza devs made that also has a dub and its pretty good plus the cartoony/anime art style makes an English dub less awkward
Here to see some differences as I'm currently running through the series (regretting I never played the gem before hand) but literally as you were saying about how the voice acting captures the same feel, I was about to mention they are same person, only to hear you talk about the fact they have a large amount of the same voice actors as the OG game 😂
Yakuza 0 is one of the best prequels i have ever experienced Such a wonderful experience and awesome story too Now im playing kiwami and everything is connected in a perfect way
I didn't expect this video to answer all my questions about this game. Checked your subscriber count and shocked. I hope one day you will get what you deserve. Keep going, thank you for this vid, congrats. i hate subscription btw :) sorry
wow that's the stupidest shit ever. "Gee I really liked 1 video you did! You should have 3 billion subscribers!! I won't be one though because I hate subscribing to people!" Christ
@@irsyadiaryadiva9430 yes he wasn't famous back then so won't it be more the reason he voiced some minor character since it would be cheaper to hire him. but who knows?
I know it's a year later but since some folks were still wondering about this only a few months ago I can confirm Nolan North WAS in the English Dub of Yakuza! According to his IMDb he did "Additional Voices" for the Game. Funny enough Quinton Flynn also did Additional Voices in the Game so it could have been either of them 😆
I played Zero last year as a total newcomer to the series and loved it. a few days ago I remembered I had Kiwami as a PS Plus game and started it as I remembered how good the story was in Zero. 2 days after starting it I bought Kiwami 2, the remastered collection and 6 in the January sale. I'm planning to play through the series with a break of a couple of other games in between each. I've never known a game series that swerves between being utterly bonkers and stupid (in a good way) and genuinely emotionally moving yet stays weirdly self consistent and works. Can't wait to get to the end of Kiwami and continue the story of Kiryu over another 5 games! Also Judgement and Iijizakura are ear worms of the highest magnitude!
The cutscenes are accurate to the original because they literally reuse all the old animations, hence the lip flaps still being present in the cutscenes that were in the original game too.
すごい it's a very good remaster my only problem is that the some of the original music was removed from Kiwami due to licensing issues such as receive you and the battle themes but still it's an awesome start to the series.
I'm so happy I'm not the only one that did not understand Mahjong. Probably the game I'll be playing in hell also. It's like the only CPs I do not get.
Kamurocho and sotenbori are actual places in japan. A lot of the places you go in the game are based on real life that currently or used to exist there.
One of the first things I did when I got 0 (I think it was 2022?) was to go straight to the mahjong parlor as soon as it was available. I've loved riichi mahjong since I got into it in 2020.
The original Yakuza was a great game for its time and when compared to other games that came out for PS2, it has aged visually well for it's time. I disagree with a lot of what you said but I will definitely agree with the end in that Kiwami has a pretty nostalgic feel for long time fans of the original and is definitely worth a pick up for newer fans or for people who wanted to play the original but never got a chance to play it on PS2. Me, personally, I would probably still choose the original over Kiwami. Or would've just preferred they stuck with everything in the original, just with the updated graphics of Kiwami. Ik I'm like the only person who feels this way but oh well lol
I honestly doubt he got that far in the original if he thinks there isn't heat action for downed enemies. That's like lvl 5 or 6 soul iirc, you can get it in the first 20 minutes.
I can't think of a whole lot of English VAs that could make Shimano sound as horrifying as he looks, especially with his "enhanced" look in 0 and Kiwami. That's the face of nightmares.
I have never played a Yakuza game nor do I own a PlayStation. I think I had a friend who had Yakuza but I wasn't allowed to play it, so I only saw the older kids play it back then. But after rediscovering Yakuza, I really want to get into this series. It probably doesn't help that I don't have a PlayStation of any kind, but I have been doing my research. Thankfully, the remaster of Yakuza seems to be faithful to the original and also fixes the issues of localization and some of the gaming mechanics. Which means I only have to buy the PlayStation 4 instead of collecting PlayStations 2-4. I do have an Xbox One and I understand this game and the second Yakuza remastered game are available for the Xbox One, but it would be much easier to buy the PlayStation 4. I don't really have a reason to get the PlayStation 5 unless by the time I'm able to afford a PlayStation 4, all the Yakuza games happen to have a release for the PlayStation 5. Though, I'm not 100% sure if you could play all PlayStation 4 games on the PlayStation 5. I think you could, but this might be my next homework assignment to research before I invest in either console. Growing up sheltered was total trash. My childhood was stolen.... This is my way of gaining experiences I missed out on.
You can play them all on the PS5. The only one that I can see you can't is Dead Souls, a spin off that seem to get no other version for. That you would need a Ps3 for. It a non canon spin off though so it not majorly bad to miss out on it.
I remember back in 2005 i was in a game shop, i saw the game with kiryu's back tattoo as a cover and i was wondering what is this , i had money only for one game, it was this or monster hunter, i choose Yakuza...best decision ever!
but you missed out on all those hip checks. jk. Though this reminds me of a few games where I just pick up because of the cover. beside some crappy tank game, the rest of my choices I did not regret.
When I was a kid there was a magazine calle "PlayStation 2" (yeah, very creative) and there were always discs with small playable game demos for the PS2. And one of those CDs contained a demo of Yakuza 1. All you could do was fighting off some goons and beating them with several items from the environment, but this was enough for me to always wanting to play it. Over 10 years later I found out about Yakuza 0 and this is where my true love for this franchise began.
Both are great but I do like the original just a bit more but I really love how the game looks which is really just me saying muddy 3d graphics appeal to me. They feel mysterious and foreboding.
Most likely not gonna happen as the Kiwami games were made to be replacements. 1 and 2 were actually remastered for the Wii U, but they never left Japan.
its not that baffling to see more than half of the cast retake their roles. People outside don't understand the gravity of being a part of a game that is like a love letter to your own country and for it to be successful internationally. The cast and devs of this game are proud of the Yakuza series and would love to be a part of it every time.
I played a bit of the original yakuza when I played kiwami, and I can say that kiwami is basically a straight 1:1 upgrade in every area. I think they took out 2 of the girls you can date in Kiwami, and some other minor things, but overall Kiwami has more minigames, missions, and the actual storyline content is 1:1 exactly the same with even the same camera angles and translation. It's really the best way to play it. Still, I can see the nostalgia and like of the RE-style camera angles.
