All comments

Yea, the horse minigame isn't too mind blowing.

Graphics are really great, gameplay elements are workable, the game focuses more on the story.

The demos are extremely Japanese heavy, like JRPG heavy, and the dialog isn't as simple as a lot of games either. Still, I can do a little better than just 'get by', and it seems deep with the extras like those animal art scenes where you learn new moves and such.

One of my biggest complaints based on the demo is the atmospheric sound effects seem really muted, there should be way more chatter and other little sounds (I turned up my speakers but then the menu sounds blow my ears out). Maybe it's still something they'll tweak.

MEH, not my kinda game, just a little while ago i finished R&CTOD and that was an awesome game.

Aah, this game rocks. I love those sweet mini-games. Espacially that flirting-game. Hehehe, oh man, I lost a lot of money in the first one ^^ Hahaha, just like in real life, women are expensive *lol* (jk)

The fighting animations already look better as in the first vids. or am I just accustomed to it?
Well, however, day one purchase for me ^^

That 3rd vid is very great!!!!! The grafx are so fluid, and there's no tearing!!!! Just splendid!!
Yeah, and the humor in this game ist just sweet ^^ Very great!

Ermmmmm not my cup of tea thats for sure... but the gameplay didnt impress me a single bit. And music.... am I the only one not understanding how they got in a game like this a score like that one? Sounds more like a electro-punk probotector theme omg.

looking good. Thanks for the vids you two.

Phff, those animations are rudimentary. Gameplay looks boring.

played the demo, not the best textures i've seen and the animations could be better

i regret even watching that...

Yes, the animations were pretty bad, i must say. Too bad since this is a game with potential otherwise.

My god that combat was terrible. Really really terrible.

Reminded me of PS1 (obviously not graphically), just so slow and non-dynamic.

played it and nope, dont want it

What games do better melee combat? Serious question. Sad as it is, everything from Uncharted to Halo 3 to Mass Effect all have way simpler melee than this game. Maybe they could have spruced this game up by adding a ton of thrown objects or something. It's also not like they could just make an actual 3d fighting game in 3d space, unless you bring up Powerstone, which also has WAY simpler combat than this game. This game has tons of moves, it's like Shenmue in that way, and TONS of different fighting types, 1 sword, 2 sword, fists, large swords, a bunch of other stuff I don't remember, but there are videos of some of the other stuff too.I would suggest that anyone that has NO Japanese knowledge absolutely skip this game unless it gets translated, because you're probably not gonna enjoy it at all.I understand how it happened, it's Sega, and they've always done things like that. I also think the music is awesome, and way better than just some fake "old Japan" style songs they could have put in for these parts.

hmm considering that im a anime nut that only watches anime in subbed form or raw. I think i know enough of the language by now to understand some of whats said. So translation isnt a problem to me. Gameplay/animations/combat(not particularly different but you get the idea) was the reason for my assessment.

Can you actually read much Japanese or do you just watch the anime for the visuals though? A point to anyone else, this game doesn't have as much voice work as something like Shenmue, so there's a lot more reading than you might expect.

Besides that, are you taking the entire game into consideration or are you basing your disinterest on the limitations of the demo? Based on the videos the game looks to have a lot of interesting content.

I mean, I see people criticize games for being too shallow but then I see those same people criticize demos when the depth isn't apparent by the demo alone. Not necessarily referring to you GangstaNip.

The answer to that question is both, ive been practically obsessed with anime since back in the dbz days in the 90's, all these years have allowed me to pick up on the language to a degree from a readable prospective and certainly from a listening perspective, no i cant speak or understand it fluently still, it still takes me a few go around to understand alot of things at times when im watching something but i know enough to where i can watch it and understand for the most part whats going on even without subs.

And as far my assessment of the demo as a whole, my assessment is FROM the demo, based on the demo i would not consider buying it, renting it at best. I understand its a demo. It has no barring on the retail tho, my opinion can change once i see it in final form(retail) but based on the gameplay ive played in the demo, i wouldnt as of NOW.

Ninja gaiden, devil may cry, god of war,assasins creed, mark of kri, way of the samurai and onimusha to name a few?And all of that i useless unless they make some serious changes to the animation and gameplay, this is a game set during the samurai era thus swordplay should be a big part of the game, but the fighting is so poorly implemented and it just feels clumsy and arcadish.

I had high hopes for this game, after spending some time with the demo i feel disappointed, it's like they where over ambitious with this game, instead of doing a few gameplay elements well they did lots of gameplay elements badly.
I still have some degree of hope for it but i guess i will buy it anyway just since there aren't alot of samurai games to choose from.
But the music has got to go :)

Haven't used the PS3 in a while. This seems like a good excuse to so I'll check it out ASAP.

OK, well you have a good point with Ninja Gaiden at least. Assassin's Creed is WAY worse gameplay, only one enemy may attack you at a time, blocking is basically perfect as long as you lock on, attacks are these slow, committal things, and once you get the ability to counterattack the game is mindnumbingly easy.

Onimusha has a similar system, but simpler, maybe a bit smoother and closer to NG though. God of War really is just a button masher and while DMC's melee can be good, it has enough variety in gunplay and such that it makes it more interesting in combat than it would be otherwise. Haven't played the others you mentioned, but I heard of them.If you thought Assassin's Creed's combat was fine, then this game should be more than good enough for you. It's not Ninja Gaiden (the recent 3d ones) but it's still good.

Honestly, you seem to have bad taste in gameplay elements. This game does a lot of things well, and it adds nice graphics, story, and depth. It also intertwines these elements well, based on the demo (the money system, which you really can only test out with the geisha demo really).

I'm also glad the music will certainly be staying, it's not like they're gonna change it when the game is less than 2 months off. I just hope they up the environmental sounds volume level.

Everthing seems really solid.
I just regret the fact that enemys vanish after been defeated, even the blood disappears. That's just a Stupid decision.

its gonna be a great game, its in good hands after all, and i'd ignore the whining of those who only watch Japanese Cartoons, and act as if that gives them some sort of insight on the culture and whats good or not. For true Japanese/ Foreign culture nuts, the fact this is love letter to chanbara films and the era they represent, plus the inclusion of the voice and likeness' of some of Japans top acting talent already makes this a must buy.

the fact the yakuza team is working on it means you may not get the best animation, but you will get extremely solid gameplay with more ways to dispatch your opponent than other bloodier and much more over rated games.

wow this game actually looks like trash the way he fights is so garbage if he cant kill more than 3 opponets in one combo this game will be on the $9.99 shelf a week after it comes out because look at the comp DMC4 & Ninja Gaiden 2 come on and Soul Calibur 4 is coming out soon wow this doesent compare to anything

Looks pretty terrible. Too Human has some competition.

Played the demo and the game felt like Yakuza 1-2 so if you hate the combat systems of those games, stay away.

Yakuza is not in the Action/Adventure genre,Yakuza 1 had no initial appeal but after for a few hours you can't leave it. It was a 20+ hours game in basic story and side quests made it around 35 hours +. The story was kick-a$$ and ending was flawless with the entire japanese family systems, multi-tiered fighting and underworld noir.

Yakuza 2 was technically far superior but unfortunately hasn't been released outside Japan yet. With Famitsu giving it a 9.5, its sure to mesmerize the audience.

Yakuza 3 is going for the best, with more minigames, gameplay enhancements and the special focus on true feudal Japan makes it the best. In the genre, its far more beautiful and captivating than even 360's Ninja Gaiden 2...which being in Action/Adventure genre should've surpassed everything else but looks like crap in comparison to PS2's god of war 2 that was also made in 2 years time and on a last-gen system at that HeHeHe.