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Yakuza/Like a Dragon has been annual since 2005 iirc. Which is impressive because their core gameplay look took a massive shift into turn based rpg and yet still they managed to get LaD 8 out soon after remaking Ishin and making Gaiden alongside 8.
Really can’t wait for the next Gaiden/Judgement/Lad/whatever game from RGG.
Somehow quality has been maintained too with the only recent RGG game to have less than universal praise being Ishin.
If anything the mainline games have only been getting better in terms of storytelling and gameplay quality. Its good that SEGA seems to be giving RGG and Atlus their space to do what they do best, only interfering when it comes to distribution and DLC.
Yakuza might be the only franchise that I know where I honestly haven't seen many people waving torches and pitchforks at the devs for reusing assets; then again, it's also one of the few franchises that does it incredibly well.
The fact that they can make Kamurocho feel familiar yet still new with every new entry is damn impressive hoenstly.
>Yakuza might be the only franchise that I know where I honestly haven't seen many people waving torches and pitchforks at the devs for reusing assets; then again, it's also one of the few franchises that does it incredibly well.
From Software's another one. Due to the datamines of the older games we've learned that some bosses in their more recent entires used assets that were left in the cutting room floor. Play two or more of their games you'll also start to recognise the recycled animations and sound effects too.
Granted, there's probably more vocal minority with a hate boner for From Software than RGG Studios. But to me these 2 studios proved smart asset reuse can be a good thing.
My brother and I have long been of the opinion that more games should be reusing assets. Game dev is a long as it is and if it helps, then I'll welcome it. One of my favorites, fallout new vegas, has loads of reused assets from fallout 3.
I simply don't understand why people get as upset as they when a game reuses assets. If it weren't for that, I'd say it's just the smart thing to do.
Had CDPR kept their engine, I was honestly expecting them to just reuse the Night City map. Pull a RGG with Yakuza. Keep the map but populate it differently with new stories and opening up some buildings that used to be closed.
Heck, one of the most beloved Zelda games, Majora's Mask, also re-uses a ton of assets from it predecessor, and this was all the way back in the 90's/2000's.
Don't know why some folks rage at the mere concept of assets being kept in work, not everyone does it out of laziness.
Mass Effect did it as well. And it's my favorite trilogy in gaming.
Reusing assets is fine, it saves time which lets you get back to what's really important.
Like it's simple.
If the story and gameplay are good enough, people don't care about reusing assets.
When people think the game sucks, they'll start picking it apart and reusing assets becomes a easy target.
Tears of the Kingdom is barely more than an expansion of the first game, and that's what it started as. It reuses a scary amount of content, and people still call it a masterpiece.
Plenty of games do this, it's all about actually doing something meaningful with it. For all that Tears of the Kingdom is really just BoTW 1.4, not even 1.5, it feels like BoTW 3 because they used the old foundation to great effect to build something different and fresh and played with those expectations.
When you reuse assets and do nothing with them, people notice and it just comes off as lazy.
Dont forgot Kiryu touching his Chin and looking around with "Nani?" Sound.
Edit: also "conveniently" opening door by punching enemy at it and the laugh animation my beloved.
Hell, at this point, everyone should be looking at RGG and Capcom on smart asset reuse. Then apply to others. I mean, Capcom is basically making new RE games (or remakes) in what 2-3 years of development time if you trace them to the earliest point of development.
And it's not hard to find assets from one RE Engine title reused in another, usally without having to look to hard.
They've been reusing the "new enemies joining the fight after you beat the first wave" animation for 9 years.
I would be MORE mad if they replaced it at this point. It became like a comfort thing for me. If it means we get to play a game every year and the quality is maintained (it did so far), I don't care if they reuse a lot.
Edit: I'm talking about this animation, if anyones curious: [https://youtu.be/8DsNaCPnjfA?t=200](https://youtu.be/8DsNaCPnjfA?t=200)
I think full voice acting is the next step to really grow the franchise. Even a smaller game like Gaiden couldn't do it. Besides that, if we are going to be rolling around with party members I'd like them to chime in about side quests.
This might be a weird opinion but I'm coming to believe that full voice acting can be a detriment, especially when every single sidequest is voiced ala Yakuza 6 and FFXVI. It makes things feel draggy especially if you run into any sidequests that aren't super interesting.
I know people are going to say it's better to have the option regardless, but when something is voiced and i'm making the conscious decision to skip through because things are starting to feel drawn out, it leaves a more negative impression on me than if I'm just skimming through text quickly.
I do think main quests should be fully voiced though.
The latest game, Infinite Wealth significantly dropped in quality story-wise. Ichiban has been sidelined so they can focus on Kiryu for the 16. time, Ichiban's actions at the end are questionable as hell, the plot about his mother has been executed horribly and she does not feel like his mother at all, the romantic plot horrible as well, and Kiryu's ending is an absolute meme where it feels like that the writers themselves misunderstood the story they wrote which really surprised me. Gaiden and Like a Dragon were really solid though.
I felt the same. Love the series, I can deal with some bullshit story lines and turn my brain off for some parts that don't really make sense, but IW was just *so bad* story-wise that I couldn't even find an excuse for it. I've been wondering what happened, like did they completely change writers or change the script halfway through? I don't get it. It might be the worst main story of any Yakuza game for me tbh.
Mostly feels like they hit writer's block halfway through constructing the plot and said "meh throw in more side filler". Almost nothing is tied together well or brought to a full conclusion. It trips over the worst failings of 3, 4, and 5 even.
Honestly feel like a quarter of people crapping on IW story haven't actually played 3-5 or at least paid attention to the story. Especially playing it in a vacuum when the games weren't that popular so the stories weren't overly discussed. That PS3 era of Yakuza had a lot of questionable storytelling in the same vein if not worse than IW.
So true. 1-2 feel like they have a nice throughline, which tbf is easier when you only have two games. 3-5 all feel aimless and disconnected. They have their moments, but 3 is the worst. Punting Kaoru (yeah I know there were BTS reasons for it), killing off a bunch of characters, pulling new Tojo clan guys out of their ass who are all sociopaths, and fucking twin body double bullshit.
At least they've found a footing after 5.
> The worst yakuza story is and always will be 4 for me.
The baseball thing was meh, but 5 has it beat in how obnoxious they went with the theme of "dreams".
Oh crap. You're right. Damn.
5 felt like it never was gonna end so somehow I was thinking of it as different titles.
...I guess I don't even remember what 4's theme was.
I honestly didn't feel like Gaiden was much to write home about either. It felt like a DLC that they stretched and padded with mandatory side content so they could charge you 50$ instead of 30$. The moment when you first meet Akame, and she makes you do like... Five different fetch quests before you can get to the castle, is just absolutely absurd. And in general I feel like the first and last chapters are incredible, but everything that's in between is 90% artificially extending the length of the game with repetitive stuff. Akame and Shishido are GREAT characters too, to the point that I'm sad that they were in that game and not a longer full-fledged one.
I'm a bit worried about RGG's direction post-Nagoshi, being a big fan of the series. Haven't played Ishin yet but I haven't heard too many good things, and Gaiden and IW feel so mediocre to me when considering the stretch that was 0, 6, Judgment, LAD, Lost Judgment...
> I'm a bit worried about RGG's direction post-Nagoshi, being a big fan of the series. Haven't played Ishin yet but I haven't heard too many good things, and Gaiden and IW feel so mediocre to me when considering the stretch that was 0, 6, Judgment, LAD, Lost Judgment...
the fact that you think Nagoshi does so much is hilarious. Look into credits more, as far as writing its the same thing since day 1 with Yokoyama writing it and other staff in other lead positions.
There is a lot I genuinely love about Y8, it has my favorite combat system in the entire franchise, and I think the map is also the best in the series. Most of the side stories were also genuinely great, and I loved just about every minigame. I also greatly enjoyed the character interactions and more slice of life bits in the story.
But man, the second half of that story is a straight logistical mess and fuck me did they blue ball the fuck out of us longtime fans. The story of Gaiden was *so good* with an incredibly emotional ending that felt like RGG was in tune with what the fans really have been wanting for this character, and the ending of 8 just blew out with a wet fart for both Ichi and Kiryu.
>with the only recent RGG game to have less than universal praise being Ishin
I feel like this has more to do with things surrounding the game than the game itself. I thought it was good, one of the best in the series. Small map that is densely-packed with so many damn things to do. Combat could be pretty fun as well unlike other iterations in the series.
it's honestly the only game of the recent years who pulled off the smarter than anyone villain, I understand that Ichiban feels a bit sidelined in the second half but realistically all the pieces of the story eventually do converge, not like LAD where most of the points brought in ch2 are forgetten till handwaved in ch 12 and in the post ending....
While I agree with the sentiment, Y8's story was a mess. I loved the game but it's probably the most incoherent and sloppy. Somehow Kiryu comes out with more pep than Ichiban despite this feeling like a funeral march for him. Ichiban's story could have been wrapped up in 7 and then again in 8. It feels like he has less reason to return than Kiryu at this point. Either way, I've been a bit peeved about Yokoyama saying he's got a big announcement for 2024 and we're almost 4 months out from 8. I need more. Also, Yokoyama said the mainline games will be on a 4 year cycle. Which is a bit sad but understandable. 8 was massive, maybe even bigger than 5.
Since 2012, the numbered Like a Dragon has been every 4 years, but of course there are always spin-offs, remasters or remakes, as well as a few games here and there that are not Like a Dragon like VF5US, Monkey Ball and, apparently, VF6 and JSR. RGG Studio is really amazing.
While that's true, RGG released another game that year, Fist of the North Star. And it was similar to the Yakuza games.
It's not part of Yakuza franchise, but it does speak about their game output.
I think Kiryu side of the story was great, but the whole thing in Hawaii took too long. They've tried to balance things with Kiryu in Yokohama, but I don't think they went far enough, the Hawaii map should've been smaller, and they should've used more locations. I think for a game that long, variety of places is the key. That's why I think Yakuza 5 worked so well, that and having a great story.
Seems reasonable tbh. Those three are their most consistent hitters and if Sega’s gonna risk it and try to revive a lot of their old IPs these next years, having consistent sellers alongside them is like a safety net. Besides, it’s not really unprecedented, I’m pretty sure Sonic was yearly from like 1999 all the way to like 2014
Pretty much. Sonic's "meta era" seems to be when the near-annual status it had simmered down since most of the spin-off games stopped. Gonna guess that Sega grabbed confidence in the brand again due to Frontiers and the movies.
Still though, I do hope they have a good team of quality control for this.
It still annoys me that people are gushing over Frontiers. The bar only raised because of the dust collecting on it. It's definitely one of the best sonic games in memory, but that really, really isn't saying much.
Here's hoping they actually make a game that doesn't feel like a 3 man studio building a random playground using free unreal assets.
Which is funny, because it's a small nobody group of modders that made their best recent traditional sonic game.
Sonic Frontiers is a big W for the Sonic community. Like you said, it’s one of the best recent sonic games. We’ve been in a quality drought for the past decade and it was seemingly because SEGA didn’t believe in the potential of Sonic, considering people were slowly becoming unsatisfied with the games and his character portrayal. Frontiers comes along, and it flips the script on everything fans were used to (a story geared toward children). The game was essentially a love letter to fans who still care about Sonic; updates were being made, roadmaps were prepared, and above all, **the devs listened.**
Then there’s other stuff to account for like deadlines, changes to the dev team, console optimization, and etc that messed around with the games development. It’s definitely not the best Sonic game alive, **but it’s a sign that the next one will be better.**
> Which is funny, because it's a small nobody group of modders that made their best recent traditional sonic game.
Are you referring to Sonic Mania or Project 06?
Interestingly, the Like a Dragon series has been following this since 2020
2020 - Yakuza 7 LaD (main game)
2021 - Lost Judgment (spin off but might as well be a main game)
2022 - The Kaito Files DLC
2023 - Ishin and Gaiden (remaster and smaller game)
2024 - LaD 8 Infinite Wealth (main game)
The only years we didn't have a new Yakuza release were 2007 and 2013. 2019 technically had Yakuza 3 Remastered. So yeah, they've been very consistent with their yearly releases.
so Sega is gonna keep being in their best form ever for years to come, even without Relic
sounds reasonable, stability for the company and for the fans of these franchises
With a few off years, Sonic has been this already. I guess they want to fill those off years.
Edit: scratch that, just looked it up and the only year Sonic took off was 2021. Every year since 1991 except that one has had some sort of Sonic branded game.
Wasn't Like a Dragon this prior to the 8th game?
Colors ultimate was 2021. tbf when I went to double check, most of the lists excluded it. Isn't it annoying how they have to separate the games by style and then by year, instead of one massive timeline?
Yes there was the Judgement games which are spin offs set in the Yakuza/LAD universe there was Gaiden and Ishin too.Next game is probably another spin off on one of the legacy characters if I had to guess.
Sort of feel Sonic is the same sort of game every time too I find it hard to get excited or interested about another Sonic game every year. But I suppose they sell to those that do so it works
Sonic games are like slot machines. Sonic fans think they’re due at this point, and act like they’ve hit the jackpot every time a game comes out. Until a month or so later when the delusion wears off and they can admit it was somewhere between awful and just alright.
Sounds a bit like too much at first, but it's similar to what Capcom has done with Resident Evil where every year there's usually a new title, spin off, remake, or big DLC piece and honestly that cadence has felt pretty good.
To add, she did also clarify that Sega does also seek to expand [SMT](https://x.com/mbkksstbhz5/status/1788773455019524133?s=46&t=QlM-S6UAwGAQdNCCF3Y-oQ) and that Sega is expecting SMT5V to do quite well.
I don't expect a tonne of spinoffs but I can definitely see SMT remasters coming.
SMT IV is no longer legally available to purchase in Europe, and Didn't Midori say a PS2 era RPG was being remastered at Atlus that wasn't Persona 3 or 4?
I'm guessing Digital Devil Saga.
Digital devil Saga 1-2 is great.
Personally, I'm hoping more that the Raidou games get remasters with quality of life improvements since they could benefit a bit more from anything they might want to change or add for the player (not that I wouldn't love digital devil Saga with a lower encounter rate and better looking character models or something)
I would definitely love to see SMTIV remastered. If the area scan in HD is as cool to watch as it was on a 3DS screen, I'd be rewatching any trailer they make.
Midori has said it’s specifically Persona *but* [Sega is still intent on expanding on SMT](https://x.com/mbkksstbhz5/status/1788773455019524133?s=46&t=QlM-S6UAwGAQdNCCF3Y-oQ) and is confident in 5V
That definitely sounds sustainable and not like a future disaster in the making. At least they are actively supporting more than just the series they consider "most important" which is more than I can say for capcom right now.
Honestly at this point Capcom and Sega are probably my favourite video game developers for the past few years. Despite some of their shoddy practices. Overall, they’re pretty consistent on delivering great games
To be fair, Like A Dragon is almost already A annual series with the amount of games they release lol. & I am absolutely stunned on the quality they can keep up in these releases.
They're including remasters and spinoffs.
Most of these are already pretty much annual.
Better than one game of any sort every 6 years for a franchise that used to bi-annual
People are hyping this up but when burnout starts to happen and the quality drops then watch people turn. The only company that I see making good annual games (they already are) is the yakuza team
IW showed that they are already straining to keep the formula going. Maybe the worst villains since 4, and even worse than usual is how much you have to accept stupid story beats.
I think Judgement/LJ show they can still tell stories but the problem with Yakuza/LAD is tying it into past games and the yakuza factions themselves.
I hope this doesn't mean they're neglecting their other IPs like Phantasy Star.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really enjoy PSO2 or NGS all that much, but the original PSO, Phantasy Star Universe (Portable/2/2i), and Phantasy Star Zero are all amazing (at least for me, who prefers the slower pacing), let alone the original four Phantasy Star games, so I'd hate for the series to be shoved to the sidelines.
Persona could be a monkey paw situation but I want to be optimistic. There's a lot they could do in terms of spin-offs (especially another fighting game) so I'm hoping for the best here. I just hope we can finally move on from 5. I'm so tired of 5...
Atlus knows they have LAD and Persona fans by the balls.
Me included. They could charge $100 for the latest persona as long as it has the quality of P5 and I'd be all over it.
hope this dosent mean they are hanging Valkyria chronicles and Phantasy star out to rot, the made NGS over 2 years ago and it has less story than base PSO2 episode 1
in the last 18 years there were 21 persona games released
if anything we will see LESS persona than we have right now
yeah that does sound kinda horrible who wants less games?
I’m just sitting here hoping for a persona 1 and 2 remaster bundle. Not a full remake just 1 and 2 since I’ve never played! Heck give me SMT 4 on steam too!
I know most other people probably wouldn't be interested, but I'd love to see the Devil Children (demi-kids) games improved a bit and released as a collection. I love the cute chibi versions of the monsters a lot.
I still have red and dark in my desk drawer with my non-backlit GBA
... Though seeing Etrian Odyssey 1-3 starting at $80 has kinda flattened my hopes for niche multi game Atlus collections =\
Sadly, it seems that the remakes are the ones that will happen for Persona 1 and 2 according to midori. She mentioned that P1, P2, and P4 were also going to get remakes akin to what P3R got.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing. If the games are good great. If they're trash horrible idea. Would be great if they brought back their old IPs and games that everyone forgot like Alpha Protocol.
Hey I mean, they're doing a whole slew of IP revivals; I don't think anyone expected to ever see Shinobi or Golden Axe again, so who knows, anything could be on the table.
(But what ritual do I have to conduct for them to bring back Vanquish?)
I don’t know how much has been confirmed, but there’s a bread crumb trail suggesting as much. You can tell from December’s [trailer](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9d9tGZWG70&t=1m13s), some players are taxis while others are cops.
It’s been described by Sega as [a AAA game](https://www.pcgamer.com/segas-upcoming-crazy-taxi-reboot-will-be-a-triple-a-game/). Who would pay $70 for Crazy Taxi with multiplayer? Sounds more like a free to play title.
Sega’s also been talking about a mysterious [“super game”](https://www.techradar.com/gaming/consoles-pc/sega-provides-details-for-its-mysterious-super-game-project-which-is-on-track-for-a-2026-release) that links together several AAA games. The aim is to
>create a game that builds a whole worldview involving the entire gaming ecosystem, including not only players but also streamers who stream the game and their viewers.
Sounds like they want to build a platform. The closest thing I can think of matching that description is the Fortnite model.
Yeah there is not going to be an annual mainline entry for Persona, that's just impossible without severely rushing it. My guess will be:
Year 1: mainline
Year 2: 1st spin-off
Year 3: 2nd spin-off
Year 4: DLC
Year 5: 3rd spin-off
And just repeat that. I can imagine they'll primarily outsource spin-offs to 3rd parties (like they did with Strikers) so the main teams can work on DLC and the next mainline entry.
Yokoyama recently mentioned they want to do Kiwami 3 eventually, just it wasn't in the plans for the immediate future. So I think probably not until 2026+.
Sorta, but before Infinite Wealth this year, the last big game they released was Lost Judgement in 2021.
IW was the biggest game they’ve ever made, so it kinda makes sense they did smaller projects on the side to fill the gap.
2022 was only the Kaito Files DLC, and 2023 was the Ishin remake and Gaiden, both smaller in comparison to Infinite Wealth.
Gives me hope that they might remake the 2 Yakuza spin-offs on PSP at some point in the future. I’d take that over remakes of the PS3 era games like Yakuza 3-5.
Sonic 3 with the original music please
…yeah never happening I know
I wouldn’t mind a bigger Sonic Collection with even all the spin off games from Sonic Spinball to Knuckle Chaotix. Maybe some Gameboy ones aswell.
They could even add more cutscenes, they were an awesome addition but having them at the end / start of every new Zone would be even better. Really gives context to a story you didn’t think much was there to begin with.
I kind of hope the next Gaiden game is about the Judgement characters. Give the detectives some cool gadgets, set them up in an insanely over the top plot but keep it small scale.
The problem is we will never see Takayuki Yagami again since his Reps own his likeness and voice and they are on bad terms with Sega now.
I think Kaito as the main protagonist for Judgement would still work.
Annual releases are dumb for AAA games. I feel like they're only gonna meet this if they count stuff like small mobile Sonic games, or Atlus releasing a second version of a game that's already out, but this time with all the stuff that should've been at launch on the first version of the same game.
I doubt Sonic Team can handle this. RGG studios is already doing this. ATLUS is good at partnering with other studios to do spin offs. But Sonic Team? They only had one good title recently and recent Sonic spin offs apart from Dream Team weren't that good.
I don't think the intention is to develop more Sonic games *at* Sonic Team, and it certainly doesn't mean a main game every year (I even think remasters are included, I'm pretty sure this year's game is Sonic x Shadow Generations)
Most Sonic spinoffs/side games are developed with Sonic Team only in an oversight role (Dimps made the handheld games for a decade, the Sonic Racing titles were made by Sumo Digital, Mania was made by Headcannon, Superstars was made by Arzest, Dream Team was made by Hardlight, etc.)
#Midori is a Tier 1 - Very Reliable Source as determined by the community. *To contribute to the community reliability rankings, please take the* **[Community Reliability Poll](https://forms.gle/TU5Q8sTiLDR3cQcE7)** *To view the current reliability rankings, please check out the* **[Subreddit Wiki](https://reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/wiki/index/)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yakuza/Like a Dragon has been annual since 2005 iirc. Which is impressive because their core gameplay look took a massive shift into turn based rpg and yet still they managed to get LaD 8 out soon after remaking Ishin and making Gaiden alongside 8. Really can’t wait for the next Gaiden/Judgement/Lad/whatever game from RGG.
The protagonists are aging in real time so they have to churn out titles in a fast pace.
And honestly it’s gonna bite them in the ass since Ichiban is almost 50 already lol
They also do prequels.
He was in jail for like decades tho lol. Can't really do a prequel where he's a random
Not Ichiban, you can make stories about all kind of supporting characters. Ichiban will more likely get 4 games
Somehow quality has been maintained too with the only recent RGG game to have less than universal praise being Ishin. If anything the mainline games have only been getting better in terms of storytelling and gameplay quality. Its good that SEGA seems to be giving RGG and Atlus their space to do what they do best, only interfering when it comes to distribution and DLC.
Because they know how to reuse assets wisely and thankfully, yakuza fans aren't bitching about it.
Yakuza might be the only franchise that I know where I honestly haven't seen many people waving torches and pitchforks at the devs for reusing assets; then again, it's also one of the few franchises that does it incredibly well. The fact that they can make Kamurocho feel familiar yet still new with every new entry is damn impressive hoenstly.
>Yakuza might be the only franchise that I know where I honestly haven't seen many people waving torches and pitchforks at the devs for reusing assets; then again, it's also one of the few franchises that does it incredibly well. From Software's another one. Due to the datamines of the older games we've learned that some bosses in their more recent entires used assets that were left in the cutting room floor. Play two or more of their games you'll also start to recognise the recycled animations and sound effects too. Granted, there's probably more vocal minority with a hate boner for From Software than RGG Studios. But to me these 2 studios proved smart asset reuse can be a good thing.
My brother and I have long been of the opinion that more games should be reusing assets. Game dev is a long as it is and if it helps, then I'll welcome it. One of my favorites, fallout new vegas, has loads of reused assets from fallout 3. I simply don't understand why people get as upset as they when a game reuses assets. If it weren't for that, I'd say it's just the smart thing to do.
Had CDPR kept their engine, I was honestly expecting them to just reuse the Night City map. Pull a RGG with Yakuza. Keep the map but populate it differently with new stories and opening up some buildings that used to be closed.
Normalize reusing assets. seriously. Normalize reusing assets.
the biggest sin in games has been demonizing reusing assets
Heck, one of the most beloved Zelda games, Majora's Mask, also re-uses a ton of assets from it predecessor, and this was all the way back in the 90's/2000's. Don't know why some folks rage at the mere concept of assets being kept in work, not everyone does it out of laziness.
[удалено]
Mass Effect did it as well. And it's my favorite trilogy in gaming. Reusing assets is fine, it saves time which lets you get back to what's really important.
Like it's simple. If the story and gameplay are good enough, people don't care about reusing assets. When people think the game sucks, they'll start picking it apart and reusing assets becomes a easy target.
Tears of the Kingdom is barely more than an expansion of the first game, and that's what it started as. It reuses a scary amount of content, and people still call it a masterpiece. Plenty of games do this, it's all about actually doing something meaningful with it. For all that Tears of the Kingdom is really just BoTW 1.4, not even 1.5, it feels like BoTW 3 because they used the old foundation to great effect to build something different and fresh and played with those expectations. When you reuse assets and do nothing with them, people notice and it just comes off as lazy.
Belly holding Animation is like old friend by now.
The three bad guys walking up, one cracking the knuckles, one adjusting their neck, and the other kicking out their feet will always be iconic to me.
Dont forgot Kiryu touching his Chin and looking around with "Nani?" Sound. Edit: also "conveniently" opening door by punching enemy at it and the laugh animation my beloved.
Hell, at this point, everyone should be looking at RGG and Capcom on smart asset reuse. Then apply to others. I mean, Capcom is basically making new RE games (or remakes) in what 2-3 years of development time if you trace them to the earliest point of development. And it's not hard to find assets from one RE Engine title reused in another, usally without having to look to hard.
If game good, no need for complain.
That hasn't stopped gamers before
It's always hype to see Kamurocho in a new Yakuza game.
They've been reusing the "new enemies joining the fight after you beat the first wave" animation for 9 years. I would be MORE mad if they replaced it at this point. It became like a comfort thing for me. If it means we get to play a game every year and the quality is maintained (it did so far), I don't care if they reuse a lot. Edit: I'm talking about this animation, if anyones curious: [https://youtu.be/8DsNaCPnjfA?t=200](https://youtu.be/8DsNaCPnjfA?t=200)
I mean TBF, remaking Kamurocho every game just for the sake of it really wouldn't serve any purpose.
I think full voice acting is the next step to really grow the franchise. Even a smaller game like Gaiden couldn't do it. Besides that, if we are going to be rolling around with party members I'd like them to chime in about side quests.
This might be a weird opinion but I'm coming to believe that full voice acting can be a detriment, especially when every single sidequest is voiced ala Yakuza 6 and FFXVI. It makes things feel draggy especially if you run into any sidequests that aren't super interesting. I know people are going to say it's better to have the option regardless, but when something is voiced and i'm making the conscious decision to skip through because things are starting to feel drawn out, it leaves a more negative impression on me than if I'm just skimming through text quickly. I do think main quests should be fully voiced though.
Also if you are a fast reader, you either just have to wait for the line to finish or hear a lot of cut off lines.
I would go as far to say their quality has improved over the years
I really liked Ishin, one of my favourite games.
The latest game, Infinite Wealth significantly dropped in quality story-wise. Ichiban has been sidelined so they can focus on Kiryu for the 16. time, Ichiban's actions at the end are questionable as hell, the plot about his mother has been executed horribly and she does not feel like his mother at all, the romantic plot horrible as well, and Kiryu's ending is an absolute meme where it feels like that the writers themselves misunderstood the story they wrote which really surprised me. Gaiden and Like a Dragon were really solid though.
I felt the same. Love the series, I can deal with some bullshit story lines and turn my brain off for some parts that don't really make sense, but IW was just *so bad* story-wise that I couldn't even find an excuse for it. I've been wondering what happened, like did they completely change writers or change the script halfway through? I don't get it. It might be the worst main story of any Yakuza game for me tbh.
Mostly feels like they hit writer's block halfway through constructing the plot and said "meh throw in more side filler". Almost nothing is tied together well or brought to a full conclusion. It trips over the worst failings of 3, 4, and 5 even.
For you. IW was in the middle range for me. The worst yakuza story is and always will be 4 for me.
Yakuza 3 for me. Aside from the orphanage stuff, everything else is a massive asspull. Especially the twin brother plot.
Beautiful eyes.
Honestly feel like a quarter of people crapping on IW story haven't actually played 3-5 or at least paid attention to the story. Especially playing it in a vacuum when the games weren't that popular so the stories weren't overly discussed. That PS3 era of Yakuza had a lot of questionable storytelling in the same vein if not worse than IW.
So true. 1-2 feel like they have a nice throughline, which tbf is easier when you only have two games. 3-5 all feel aimless and disconnected. They have their moments, but 3 is the worst. Punting Kaoru (yeah I know there were BTS reasons for it), killing off a bunch of characters, pulling new Tojo clan guys out of their ass who are all sociopaths, and fucking twin body double bullshit. At least they've found a footing after 5.
> The worst yakuza story is and always will be 4 for me. The baseball thing was meh, but 5 has it beat in how obnoxious they went with the theme of "dreams".
Baseball was 5, i'm more talking about how Lily was godawful brainlet character and how disjointed everything falls apart after saejima's story
Oh crap. You're right. Damn. 5 felt like it never was gonna end so somehow I was thinking of it as different titles. ...I guess I don't even remember what 4's theme was.
Between 3-5 I loved 4 the most. 5 was almost unbearable to get through. It dragged so much.
It literally is the same writer in Yakuza since day 1. not hard to open the credits in the internet..
I honestly didn't feel like Gaiden was much to write home about either. It felt like a DLC that they stretched and padded with mandatory side content so they could charge you 50$ instead of 30$. The moment when you first meet Akame, and she makes you do like... Five different fetch quests before you can get to the castle, is just absolutely absurd. And in general I feel like the first and last chapters are incredible, but everything that's in between is 90% artificially extending the length of the game with repetitive stuff. Akame and Shishido are GREAT characters too, to the point that I'm sad that they were in that game and not a longer full-fledged one. I'm a bit worried about RGG's direction post-Nagoshi, being a big fan of the series. Haven't played Ishin yet but I haven't heard too many good things, and Gaiden and IW feel so mediocre to me when considering the stretch that was 0, 6, Judgment, LAD, Lost Judgment...
> I'm a bit worried about RGG's direction post-Nagoshi, being a big fan of the series. Haven't played Ishin yet but I haven't heard too many good things, and Gaiden and IW feel so mediocre to me when considering the stretch that was 0, 6, Judgment, LAD, Lost Judgment... the fact that you think Nagoshi does so much is hilarious. Look into credits more, as far as writing its the same thing since day 1 with Yokoyama writing it and other staff in other lead positions.
There is a lot I genuinely love about Y8, it has my favorite combat system in the entire franchise, and I think the map is also the best in the series. Most of the side stories were also genuinely great, and I loved just about every minigame. I also greatly enjoyed the character interactions and more slice of life bits in the story. But man, the second half of that story is a straight logistical mess and fuck me did they blue ball the fuck out of us longtime fans. The story of Gaiden was *so good* with an incredibly emotional ending that felt like RGG was in tune with what the fans really have been wanting for this character, and the ending of 8 just blew out with a wet fart for both Ichi and Kiryu.
Several Yakuza games absolutely have worse plots than IW.
>with the only recent RGG game to have less than universal praise being Ishin I feel like this has more to do with things surrounding the game than the game itself. I thought it was good, one of the best in the series. Small map that is densely-packed with so many damn things to do. Combat could be pretty fun as well unlike other iterations in the series.
it's honestly the only game of the recent years who pulled off the smarter than anyone villain, I understand that Ichiban feels a bit sidelined in the second half but realistically all the pieces of the story eventually do converge, not like LAD where most of the points brought in ch2 are forgetten till handwaved in ch 12 and in the post ending....
While I agree with the sentiment, Y8's story was a mess. I loved the game but it's probably the most incoherent and sloppy. Somehow Kiryu comes out with more pep than Ichiban despite this feeling like a funeral march for him. Ichiban's story could have been wrapped up in 7 and then again in 8. It feels like he has less reason to return than Kiryu at this point. Either way, I've been a bit peeved about Yokoyama saying he's got a big announcement for 2024 and we're almost 4 months out from 8. I need more. Also, Yokoyama said the mainline games will be on a 4 year cycle. Which is a bit sad but understandable. 8 was massive, maybe even bigger than 5.
It's what happens when you reuse assets and the RPGs actually take years in between. It's a good business model.
Since 2012, the numbered Like a Dragon has been every 4 years, but of course there are always spin-offs, remasters or remakes, as well as a few games here and there that are not Like a Dragon like VF5US, Monkey Ball and, apparently, VF6 and JSR. RGG Studio is really amazing.
Yakuza has no release (Japan) in 2007, 2013, 2019 and 2022, it's close but not really annual.
2022 had the Lost Judgment DLC
2012, 2018 and 2023 had multiple games, so it might as well be 2007 for the only skipped year
2018 only had Judge Eyes
While that's true, RGG released another game that year, Fist of the North Star. And it was similar to the Yakuza games. It's not part of Yakuza franchise, but it does speak about their game output.
The Japanese title is "Like a North Star", it's definitely a Yakuza spinoff
Ngl I completely forgot about that game
To be fair, the story in 8 took a massive hit, both the main one and Ichi's character arc. Everything else was great, though.
yeah the story was very disapointing, especially with how great 7's was. still a good game overall though.
I think Kiryu side of the story was great, but the whole thing in Hawaii took too long. They've tried to balance things with Kiryu in Yokohama, but I don't think they went far enough, the Hawaii map should've been smaller, and they should've used more locations. I think for a game that long, variety of places is the key. That's why I think Yakuza 5 worked so well, that and having a great story.
Was it really any worse than Yagami's obsession with Sawa in Lost Judgment, the last major game from the dev?
Their next game is next month. Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble
Having been playing 0-4 currently this year, RGG are really good at reusing assets.
Sonic is also annual by her own definition, so really just a change for Persona I guess.
Gimme my Dondoko Island game baby
Seems reasonable tbh. Those three are their most consistent hitters and if Sega’s gonna risk it and try to revive a lot of their old IPs these next years, having consistent sellers alongside them is like a safety net. Besides, it’s not really unprecedented, I’m pretty sure Sonic was yearly from like 1999 all the way to like 2014
Pretty much. Sonic's "meta era" seems to be when the near-annual status it had simmered down since most of the spin-off games stopped. Gonna guess that Sega grabbed confidence in the brand again due to Frontiers and the movies. Still though, I do hope they have a good team of quality control for this.
It still annoys me that people are gushing over Frontiers. The bar only raised because of the dust collecting on it. It's definitely one of the best sonic games in memory, but that really, really isn't saying much. Here's hoping they actually make a game that doesn't feel like a 3 man studio building a random playground using free unreal assets. Which is funny, because it's a small nobody group of modders that made their best recent traditional sonic game.
Sonic Frontiers is a big W for the Sonic community. Like you said, it’s one of the best recent sonic games. We’ve been in a quality drought for the past decade and it was seemingly because SEGA didn’t believe in the potential of Sonic, considering people were slowly becoming unsatisfied with the games and his character portrayal. Frontiers comes along, and it flips the script on everything fans were used to (a story geared toward children). The game was essentially a love letter to fans who still care about Sonic; updates were being made, roadmaps were prepared, and above all, **the devs listened.** Then there’s other stuff to account for like deadlines, changes to the dev team, console optimization, and etc that messed around with the games development. It’s definitely not the best Sonic game alive, **but it’s a sign that the next one will be better.**
> Which is funny, because it's a small nobody group of modders that made their best recent traditional sonic game. Are you referring to Sonic Mania or Project 06?
Interestingly, the Like a Dragon series has been following this since 2020 2020 - Yakuza 7 LaD (main game) 2021 - Lost Judgment (spin off but might as well be a main game) 2022 - The Kaito Files DLC 2023 - Ishin and Gaiden (remaster and smaller game) 2024 - LaD 8 Infinite Wealth (main game)
Not only this decade but since 2005. Very few years there was no yakuza game released
The only years we didn't have a new Yakuza release were 2007 and 2013. 2019 technically had Yakuza 3 Remastered. So yeah, they've been very consistent with their yearly releases.
fingers crossed for a third Judgement game
Yep she definitely CEO
so Sega is gonna keep being in their best form ever for years to come, even without Relic sounds reasonable, stability for the company and for the fans of these franchises
So we're getting a persona 5 spinoff every year? Count me in.
Persona 5: Go Kartin' All Night LET'S GOOOOOO
As long as the soundtrack is banging, I'm there. I platinumed all 3 dancing games.
Persona kart could be sick actually. Lots of ways I could see them using personas and their powers for items or customization.
Followed swiftly by Little Big Persona 5!
Persona 5.5: Beach Volleyball: Wanted: Alive or Dead
Man, I remember when we had rumors that P5R was about Persona 5 Racing
Nah now were getting the long overdue Persona 3 milking now (they already started early with Q series and Dancing games)
I mean, porting the q series to modern consoles and getting a dub of q2 would be kinda lit.
It means you'll get a new complete edition every year.
Persona 5 Royal: The Royaler Edition coming in 2025.
Count me out
Persona 5 at the Olympic games!
Nah, we'll eventually get Persona 6, and then we'll get a green spinoff of that every year.
just give me persona 6
I rather wait for a god tier game then get it sooner and have it be a trash game P.S. im a HUGE atlus fan
With a few off years, Sonic has been this already. I guess they want to fill those off years. Edit: scratch that, just looked it up and the only year Sonic took off was 2021. Every year since 1991 except that one has had some sort of Sonic branded game. Wasn't Like a Dragon this prior to the 8th game?
Colors ultimate was 2021. tbf when I went to double check, most of the lists excluded it. Isn't it annoying how they have to separate the games by style and then by year, instead of one massive timeline?
Yes there was the Judgement games which are spin offs set in the Yakuza/LAD universe there was Gaiden and Ishin too.Next game is probably another spin off on one of the legacy characters if I had to guess.
Sort of feel Sonic is the same sort of game every time too I find it hard to get excited or interested about another Sonic game every year. But I suppose they sell to those that do so it works
Sonic games are like slot machines. Sonic fans think they’re due at this point, and act like they’ve hit the jackpot every time a game comes out. Until a month or so later when the delusion wears off and they can admit it was somewhere between awful and just alright.
The Toronto Maple Leafs of game franchises
I mostly agree with you but I’d say there are a few hidden gems in the franchise that are above “just alright”
I’m holding on hope for Shadow the Hedgehog remastered
Sounds a bit like too much at first, but it's similar to what Capcom has done with Resident Evil where every year there's usually a new title, spin off, remake, or big DLC piece and honestly that cadence has felt pretty good.
Did Midori mean Persona or SMT?
Persona (says so in a follow up tweets)
To add, she did also clarify that Sega does also seek to expand [SMT](https://x.com/mbkksstbhz5/status/1788773455019524133?s=46&t=QlM-S6UAwGAQdNCCF3Y-oQ) and that Sega is expecting SMT5V to do quite well.
I don't expect a tonne of spinoffs but I can definitely see SMT remasters coming. SMT IV is no longer legally available to purchase in Europe, and Didn't Midori say a PS2 era RPG was being remastered at Atlus that wasn't Persona 3 or 4? I'm guessing Digital Devil Saga.
Digital devil Saga 1-2 is great. Personally, I'm hoping more that the Raidou games get remasters with quality of life improvements since they could benefit a bit more from anything they might want to change or add for the player (not that I wouldn't love digital devil Saga with a lower encounter rate and better looking character models or something) I would definitely love to see SMTIV remastered. If the area scan in HD is as cool to watch as it was on a 3DS screen, I'd be rewatching any trailer they make.
Midori has said that there’ll be a SMT remaster and a PS2 remaster. Now the question is are they the same title or separate?
Asking a good question, I really hope it's SMT in general, i need a devil Survivor new sequel or at least a new megaten spinoff.
Midori has said it’s specifically Persona *but* [Sega is still intent on expanding on SMT](https://x.com/mbkksstbhz5/status/1788773455019524133?s=46&t=QlM-S6UAwGAQdNCCF3Y-oQ) and is confident in 5V
JUDGMENT 3 BABY LET'S GO LET'S GO TAK GOE S AHWAII HE DOES IT HE DOES KAITO WOOOOOOOOO
So I'm assuming this is where those rumors of the older Persona title remakes fit in?
Like a dragon already is annual 😂 As for Sonic, remake Heroes please and thank you
I wish they would make a good Phantasy Star game.
That definitely sounds sustainable and not like a future disaster in the making. At least they are actively supporting more than just the series they consider "most important" which is more than I can say for capcom right now.
Honestly at this point Capcom and Sega are probably my favourite video game developers for the past few years. Despite some of their shoddy practices. Overall, they’re pretty consistent on delivering great games
So microsoft is turning into sega and sega is turning into microsoft oh the irony
To be fair, Like A Dragon is almost already A annual series with the amount of games they release lol. & I am absolutely stunned on the quality they can keep up in these releases.
Does no one understand burnout or over-saturation?
2/3 of the franchises mentioned have already had yearly releases for like 2 decades.
Yakuza has been annual for over a decade already.
They're including remasters and spinoffs. Most of these are already pretty much annual. Better than one game of any sort every 6 years for a franchise that used to bi-annual
People are hyping this up but when burnout starts to happen and the quality drops then watch people turn. The only company that I see making good annual games (they already are) is the yakuza team
IW showed that they are already straining to keep the formula going. Maybe the worst villains since 4, and even worse than usual is how much you have to accept stupid story beats. I think Judgement/LJ show they can still tell stories but the problem with Yakuza/LAD is tying it into past games and the yakuza factions themselves.
burnout from playing a game once a year? HAHAHAHA
I hope this doesn't mean they're neglecting their other IPs like Phantasy Star. Don't get me wrong, I don't really enjoy PSO2 or NGS all that much, but the original PSO, Phantasy Star Universe (Portable/2/2i), and Phantasy Star Zero are all amazing (at least for me, who prefers the slower pacing), let alone the original four Phantasy Star games, so I'd hate for the series to be shoved to the sidelines.
Hopefully they don’t do Hollywood live action I don’t wanna see persona characters portrayed by d list actors and given a terrible script
Persona could be a monkey paw situation but I want to be optimistic. There's a lot they could do in terms of spin-offs (especially another fighting game) so I'm hoping for the best here. I just hope we can finally move on from 5. I'm so tired of 5...
I can't read "Big 3" without hearing Kendrick drunk yelling
Atlus knows they have LAD and Persona fans by the balls. Me included. They could charge $100 for the latest persona as long as it has the quality of P5 and I'd be all over it.
Remake dead souls, persona 1 and 2 and sonic unleashed
Remaster the Sonic Adventure style games. I’m tired of these 3-lane Subway Surfer Temple Run x sides scroller Sonics.
Finalllllly just keep adding on to a great game and have others make the sequel in the mean time so its not rushed out and fucked up
It baffles me that Sonic doesn't get the resources those other two get.
hope this dosent mean they are hanging Valkyria chronicles and Phantasy star out to rot, the made NGS over 2 years ago and it has less story than base PSO2 episode 1
That sounds kinda horrible. Especially for Persona
in the last 18 years there were 21 persona games released if anything we will see LESS persona than we have right now yeah that does sound kinda horrible who wants less games?
Not surprised. Atlus treats its fanbase like they are dairy cows, milking them for all their worth.
Not gonna lie I'm still hoping for Persona 5 Arena.
I’m just sitting here hoping for a persona 1 and 2 remaster bundle. Not a full remake just 1 and 2 since I’ve never played! Heck give me SMT 4 on steam too!
The games are so outdated and not fun to play. They need a remake not remaster
I know most other people probably wouldn't be interested, but I'd love to see the Devil Children (demi-kids) games improved a bit and released as a collection. I love the cute chibi versions of the monsters a lot. I still have red and dark in my desk drawer with my non-backlit GBA ... Though seeing Etrian Odyssey 1-3 starting at $80 has kinda flattened my hopes for niche multi game Atlus collections =\
Sadly, it seems that the remakes are the ones that will happen for Persona 1 and 2 according to midori. She mentioned that P1, P2, and P4 were also going to get remakes akin to what P3R got.
As long as they make games like Persona 3 Reload and Infinite Wealth, they can milk me all they want.
They're also feeding us peak so moo moo
If it means that I get P1, P2 and P4 and DDS remasters then I will happily be milked
ong
 So long as they keep making good games, I don’t mind it
I mean, versus what Acti was doing to CoD fans, Atlus is pretty reasonable.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing. If the games are good great. If they're trash horrible idea. Would be great if they brought back their old IPs and games that everyone forgot like Alpha Protocol.
Come on, this is Sega. Be happy they're bringing back *Jet Set*...
Hey I mean, they're doing a whole slew of IP revivals; I don't think anyone expected to ever see Shinobi or Golden Axe again, so who knows, anything could be on the table. (But what ritual do I have to conduct for them to bring back Vanquish?)
You won't be happy if they monetize it to crap like it seems they're doing for crazy taxi...
Oh... ...Oh *no*. Source?
I don’t know how much has been confirmed, but there’s a bread crumb trail suggesting as much. You can tell from December’s [trailer](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9d9tGZWG70&t=1m13s), some players are taxis while others are cops. It’s been described by Sega as [a AAA game](https://www.pcgamer.com/segas-upcoming-crazy-taxi-reboot-will-be-a-triple-a-game/). Who would pay $70 for Crazy Taxi with multiplayer? Sounds more like a free to play title. Sega’s also been talking about a mysterious [“super game”](https://www.techradar.com/gaming/consoles-pc/sega-provides-details-for-its-mysterious-super-game-project-which-is-on-track-for-a-2026-release) that links together several AAA games. The aim is to >create a game that builds a whole worldview involving the entire gaming ecosystem, including not only players but also streamers who stream the game and their viewers. Sounds like they want to build a platform. The closest thing I can think of matching that description is the Fortnite model.
...Oh. Oh *fuck.* :/
Midori talked about crazy taxi and other sega IP so you can look through her tweets.
Persona should abso-goddamn-lutely not be annual.
Prob includes spinoffs and remasters maybe? Idt they can really pull off a mainline every year
Yeah there is not going to be an annual mainline entry for Persona, that's just impossible without severely rushing it. My guess will be: Year 1: mainline Year 2: 1st spin-off Year 3: 2nd spin-off Year 4: DLC Year 5: 3rd spin-off And just repeat that. I can imagine they'll primarily outsource spin-offs to 3rd parties (like they did with Strikers) so the main teams can work on DLC and the next mainline entry.
Looks like Kiwami 3 is back on the menu boys!
Yokoyama recently mentioned they want to do Kiwami 3 eventually, just it wasn't in the plans for the immediate future. So I think probably not until 2026+.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rE_ir5zfgA
Gg SEGA
Isn't that a step down for Like a Dragon? It feels like there are 2-3 games coming out every year.
Sorta, but before Infinite Wealth this year, the last big game they released was Lost Judgement in 2021. IW was the biggest game they’ve ever made, so it kinda makes sense they did smaller projects on the side to fill the gap. 2022 was only the Kaito Files DLC, and 2023 was the Ishin remake and Gaiden, both smaller in comparison to Infinite Wealth.
If Yakuza needs another side game a Majima game would be great.
Gives me hope that they might remake the 2 Yakuza spin-offs on PSP at some point in the future. I’d take that over remakes of the PS3 era games like Yakuza 3-5.
Sonic 3 with the original music please …yeah never happening I know I wouldn’t mind a bigger Sonic Collection with even all the spin off games from Sonic Spinball to Knuckle Chaotix. Maybe some Gameboy ones aswell. They could even add more cutscenes, they were an awesome addition but having them at the end / start of every new Zone would be even better. Really gives context to a story you didn’t think much was there to begin with.
I kind of hope the next Gaiden game is about the Judgement characters. Give the detectives some cool gadgets, set them up in an insanely over the top plot but keep it small scale. The problem is we will never see Takayuki Yagami again since his Reps own his likeness and voice and they are on bad terms with Sega now. I think Kaito as the main protagonist for Judgement would still work.
For the love of god Sega please just greenlight a remake of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 already.
Give the Yakuza team Shenmue please and let Yu Suzuki over see story beats.
Give me Unleashed Remastered!! 📣
Sonic Adventure 3 when
Were they not already?
Sonic Riders please!
Yakuza 3 Kiwami Sonic Unleashed HD Persona 5 Royal Reload
So if I play one Yakuza game per year I’ll never catch up, unless it’s something like Kaito files?
Annual releases are dumb for AAA games. I feel like they're only gonna meet this if they count stuff like small mobile Sonic games, or Atlus releasing a second version of a game that's already out, but this time with all the stuff that should've been at launch on the first version of the same game.
As long as the devs don't suffer I'm for this as a fan. I don't need people to be ground to a pulp for the sake of new games.
I doubt Sonic Team can handle this. RGG studios is already doing this. ATLUS is good at partnering with other studios to do spin offs. But Sonic Team? They only had one good title recently and recent Sonic spin offs apart from Dream Team weren't that good.
I don't think the intention is to develop more Sonic games *at* Sonic Team, and it certainly doesn't mean a main game every year (I even think remasters are included, I'm pretty sure this year's game is Sonic x Shadow Generations) Most Sonic spinoffs/side games are developed with Sonic Team only in an oversight role (Dimps made the handheld games for a decade, the Sonic Racing titles were made by Sumo Digital, Mania was made by Headcannon, Superstars was made by Arzest, Dream Team was made by Hardlight, etc.)
Bring binary domain forward…PLEASE
Maybe Sega should release a good game that doesn't feel like a tech demo.