Introduction
Yakuza 3?
This is the third Yakuza game, released in 2009. There's a PS4 remaster coming at some point, but I have no idea when, so we're playing on PS3. We played the first game in 2015 (holy shit) (LP Archive Link). We also played Yakuza 2 throughout 2016 (LP Archive Link). AP hadn’t really come into contact with Yakuza before meeting me, and he’s still liking it so we’re gonna keep going as long as that’s the case (and we can make our schedules work!).
It’s also worth noting that there was another game between 2 and 3 called Kenzan what never came west. Since it’s not in English we’re going to be skipping it (though I may stream a bit at some point). If you want to see that game, I played a little bit during Extra Life 2015. Egomaniac also did a fully translated LP of it that’s very good (http://lparchive.org/Ryuu-ga-Gotoku-Kenzan/)
Who are you?
Game Kiwi is an internet in-joke turned into a real thing. Once again I’ve got AP joining me at the wheel. AP lives in Wales, and I live in California. This is our 4rd LP together! It’s getting to be a lot of them!
Anything else?
Yakuza has gotten a lot more popular since the last thread, so this is probably a good starting point for people who have only played 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2! Our individual recording setups have also changed a lot in the last year and a half, so there will probably be some audiovisual differences between 1-28 and the rest. Hopefully it won't be too jarring!
Spoiler Rules: Please don’t. This is a very story-centric game, and AP is getting it for the first time (as may be other posters). Please don’t ruin it for them. If you really really want to talk spoilers, there’s the Yakuza General Thread for that, or you can PM me for spoilery tips or things you want me to try and check out. If you absolutely have a burning need to talk spoilers, then blackbar tag them and any responses to spoiler comments, otherwise AP can’t read the thread. Please don’t make AP sad he’s a very sensitive boy.Episode List: (Series Playlist)
Recap Episodes:
Art Will Go Here:
Captain Walker in the last thread posted:
Yakuza 1 Recap Summary
This is a really dense game and most of the relevant plot happens right near the end, sorry if this summary is crap!
Kazuma Kiryu was an up-and-coming young yakuza working for the Dojima Family, a subsidiary of Tokyo's dominant organized crime syndicate, the Tojo Clan. His foster father, Shintaro Kazama, ran the orphanage where Kiryu grew up with his fiancee Yumi Sawamura and best friend Akira "Nishiki" Nishikiyama. But Kiryu's fate is changed forever when the Dojima family boss kidnaps Yumi, and is killed in retaliation by Nishiki. To protect Nishiki, who joined the yakuza to pay for his ailing sister's treatments, Kiryu takes the blame for Dojima's murder, and is sent to prison.
In late December of 2005, Kiryu is released, and returns to his old turf in Kamurocho, the heart of Tokyo's red light district. Almost immediately, he's back in the Tojo Clan's crosshairs; 10 billion yen is missing from the Tojo vaults, the Chairman has been assassinated, and it's civil war in the Tokyo underworld as Tojo underbosses vie for the top spot, including the ruthless Futoshi Shimano, Shimano's unstable lieutenant Goro Majima, and a corrupted and cold-hearted Nishiki. At the center of it all is a young orphan named Haruka, who grew up in the same orphanage as Kiryu and came to Tokyo in search of her aunt Yumi. Haruka is believed to possess the key to the missing money, and is pursued not only by the Tojo Clan, but also by Osaka's Omi Alliance and the Chinese Snake Flower Triad, headed by Lau Ka Long. The mysterious assassin known as Jo Amon has nothing to do with any of this, but attacks Kiryu anyway and loses, becoming one of Kiryu's most dangerous recurring enemies.
Taking Haruka into his protection, Kiryu sets out to find Yumi. Along the way, he makes a number of allies, including Date, a disgraced police detective; the Florist, a mysterious information dealer also known as "Kage"; and Terada, a lieutenant of the Omi Alliance. Ultimately, Kiryu reunites with Kazama, who had worked to find Yumi and discovered that Nishiki, not Kiryu, was Dojima's killer. learns his true enemy: Kyohei Jingu, a government official with sinister aspirations for Japan's future, the owner of the missing 10 billion yen, and Haruka's father. It was Jingu who abducted Yumi after Dojima's murder, and the key to locating the missing money is a pendant given to her daughter: Haruka. As the truth is revealed, Shimano attacks. Terada kills Shimano, but not before Kazama gives his life to save Haruka from certain death, and entrusts a document revealing the late Tojo Chairman's chosen successor to Kiryu.
Mourning the loss of the man he called father, Kiryu storms the location of the missing money: Millenium Tower, a massive skyscraper in the heart of Kamurocho. Upon arriving at the top of the tower, Jingu reveals himself and attacks Kiryu with his private army and a number of turncoats from the Omi Alliance. As Kiryu defeats them handily and incapacitates Jingu, Nishiki appears, intent on retrieving the money. Only Kiryu, chosen by Kazama as the next Chairman of the Tojo clan, stands in his way. As Nishiki is defeated by Kiryu, Jingu attacks again. Yumi gives her life to save Haruka, and an enraged Nishiki kills Jingu. Knowing that Haruka and Kiryu will never be safe as long as the criminal underworld hunts for the money, Nishiki kills himself by detonating a bomb, destroying the vault where the money is stored. The 10 billion yen scatters across the streets of Kamurocho. Despondent from loss of his true love, best friend, and foster father in one night, Kiryu considers turning himself in to the police, but finds new hope in Haruka, now an orphan. Kiryu relinquishes control of the Tojo Clan to Terada and abandons the criminal underworld, beginning a new life as a foster father.