Console & Gaming Thread

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
You'd have to check by the time you're ready to sell as prices shift a lot. Also depends on your local market to some extent. It's crazy that I sold my previous GPU for like 50% over what I bought it for, lol, and that's after getting a lot of use out of it. The guy buying it still thought he's striking an amazing deal because I felt bad and sold it for less than what they were typically going for at the time. That said I still got death threats because its more than what they were going for 3 years ago. I just wanted to sell my old GPU after upgrading to the 3080 without being too much of an asshole, but there's an entire generation of pissed teenagers who are suddenly priced out of gaming out there.

The shortages likely won't last, or at least prices will be significantly better, past Q1 2021 though. Amongst many other factors, Intel's releasing their own mainstream volume gaming GPUs, and it's a perfect timing for them to enter the GPU market to say the least.
I've heard of sellers getting death threats, which is why I was thinking about going the "bid" route on eBay and just setting it at $450 or so. I'd have lost maybe $50 from what I bought it for but after almost 3 years of use.

Or I could go local and skip the service fee an eBay or Amazon would charge but then I gotta meet up with the guy and trust him.

I tried looking at completed auctions on eBay and just the card alone was going for $400+, used. But then you also get eBay scammers.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I didn't know Judgement and Lost Judgement were Yakuza games. I've probably been out the gaming...game..for too long and I do remember seeing headlines on Twitter and Reddit about Lost Judgement but didn't look past it. I still have a lot of catching up to do, almost twenty years worth of games, so I'll stay clear of those.
They're basically Yakuza games with an added detective mechanism. Judgment is set in Kamurocho, has brawler mechanics, the same areas for the most part, and of course the Tojo Clan plays a big role, although you don't run into any of the same characters. What's super fun is that there's some elements that you couldn't do with Kiryu, like the girlfriend mechanic - there's various girls that Yagami can take on different kinds of dates. Of course, Ichiban has a similar mechanic in Like A Dragon, but they did it in Judgement first.

My favorite part of the first game was probably two of the side games. There's one side game that's like a virtual reality simulation of Kamurocho with random characters popping up. And then there's the drone racing, which you can activate from the ground floor of the Millenium Tower. That one is super fun also.

What's going to be really cool about Lost Judgment, is that much like Like A Dragon, it's set in both Kamurocho AND Yokohama Ijincho. But, because Like A Dragon switched to the turn-based mechanic, this means that Lost Judgement is the first time we get to play Yokohama with a brawler mechanic that's closer to the first 6 Yakuza games.

It's funny because since it's staying as a brawler, the two Judgment games feel more like classic Yakuza than Like A Dragon did. I don't hate the turn based mechanic, I actually enjoyed it more than expected, but I definitely prefer the brawler style.

In the future it would be good if they could combine them, as Square Enix managed to pull off with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Best of both worlds.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Lost Judgement reviews are starting to roll in. Scores vary between 7-9/10. I'll be hitting these up in the future after making my way through all the other Yakuza games but I'm still keeping an eye on this one as well as Judgement before it.

I have to say, the difference in style from LaD has me not as glued to Yakuza 0 as I was to LaD. It's still good but I was anxious to finish LaD and see the story play out. I don't think the story is the problem with 0 and instead is the fighting style and landing combos. The story is just as good as LaD, otherwise.

Or maybe I need to take a break from Yakuza and play something else, just to switch it up. I still have to start The Ascent.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
I bought FIFA 22 on Google Stadia (my first ever game purchase and second ever game I've tried on Stadia after the free version of Bomberman).

My PC is over 11 years old and I am using my LG G4 as a WiFi modem (upstairs, away from the router on intermittent internet at 35Mbps of which some of the bandwidth is being used on Google Nest cams). When I put it like that, I can say that I am impressed with Stadia so far.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
I ended up picking up an Xbox Series S on a whim. I've never played the PS5 I got my son on release day, but bought an Xbox anyway. And now he has a gaming PC that he prefers....
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
You guys see/hear about the new "structure" at the Yakuza dev studios?

http://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/studio/en/

I got some more time to play 0 over the past week and it's getting good. I no longer feel like it's a bit of a bore like I did early on. It just needed a little more time. Or I needed more patience after two hours of playing.

I will say that I regret playing LaD first. As fun as it was, it has ruined some characters for me, especialy Majima. To see him in 0 (so far) as a normal guy, kind of like Kiryu in the beginning as well, was really strange. In LaD, he kind of looks like a crackhead with an eye patch. He doesn't look that way in 0, though. I understand that 0 takes place much earlier on in his life and he's younger but still...

Just got through the cut scene that shows why he wears an eye patch. I paused there and I'll pick it up later on. But I'm hooked on another Yakuza game again.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
You guys see/hear about the new "structure" at the Yakuza dev studios?

http://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/studio/en/

I got some more time to play 0 over the past week and it's getting good. I no longer feel like it's a bit of a bore like I did early on. It just needed a little more time. Or I needed more patience after two hours of playing.

I will say that I regret playing LaD first. As fun as it was, it has ruined some characters for me, especialy Majima. To see him in 0 (so far) as a normal guy, kind of like Kiryu in the beginning as well, was really strange. In LaD, he kind of looks like a crackhead with an eye patch. He doesn't look that way in 0, though. I understand that 0 takes place much earlier on in his life and he's younger but still...

Just got through the cut scene that shows why he wears an eye patch. I paused there and I'll pick it up later on. But I'm hooked on another Yakuza game again.
I'm glad you're getting hooked on Zero. Like I said, that game started off slow for me as well and then I got hooked, as it's just getting better and better. I also think it makes sense to start Yakuza series with it. I regret playing LaD before finishing all the Yakuza games. I'm on Yakuza 5 at the moment (which is an absolutely enormous game), so LaD was full of spoilers for me. You kind of see what the characters ended up being. But it's still awesome to play through the journey. .

As for the changes to the studio, I heard the dudes leaving were a major part of what made Yakuza what it is, which is why it made the news. Apparently the previous studio head was basically a Hideo Kojima of the Yakuza series. An eccentric dude whose input into those games has always been very large. The good news is that the writers and main designers are staying and apparently working on a sequel to LaD, as the departure was amicable, and following a long process of knowledge transfer, they say. There's hope they'll be able to carry the torch, as the studio still consists almost exclusively of Yakuza-making veterans.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
You kind of see what the characters ended up being.
Yeah, as I mentioned before, Majima in LaD looks very different than in 0 and had a whole change in attitude, it seems.

There are a few sites that make suggestions on what order to play the game and the one I saw recommended 0 first. I'm not sure what's after that but I will stick to that order so I don't further ruin the series by hopping around different games. I think I started Kiwami on PC, but I'm not sure which one. But Majima was in that one too. It's the one where you start off buying a gift for your GF, or something like that.

Good to hear about the creative team showing some promise on keeping what makes the series so good despite the departures. Not gonna lie but if LaD 2 comes out before I finish the series, I will stop and play that. I still prefer the RPG style of LaD over the button mashing of the main series.

I wonder how much longer Yakuza will remain on Gamepass. If it leaves, I'll be getting caught with my pants down.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
Update:

Stadia on my TV downstairs runs flawlessly and using my PS4 controller, it's just like I'm playing on my PS4. This platform is really good so far, just needs a wider adoption and a larger library.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I got a few more hours in to 0. The dialogue has opened up a good bit more and I'm seeing the humor from LaD more often now. It's not 100% serious like I thought it was going to be. People told me the humor is toned down in the rest of the Yakuza series and that LaD was really over the top with it, but I'd say it's maybe a step down in frequency. Still the same internal thoughts/monologue from Majima and banter between Kiryu and his bro.

Also, I think Kiryu's bro (Nashiki?) is going to die at some point. I'm at the part where the squatter just got ousted after you beat up the clan and then head to the bowling alley to talk to the property owner. But I get the feeling it's coming soon.

Masta, since you've been on Xbox for quite a while, are there any good sales expected for Halloween, Black Friday, and Christmas on the MS Store? I've got some points pooled from Bing Rewards so I may just buy a game with a gift card, one that isn't or won't be on Gamepass.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
You're still up for a long loooong ride in 0! Things are only getting started around chapter 5, which I think is the one you're on. Speaking of bowling and humor, you can win a chicken once you score a turkey in bowling, who can become one of your best real estate managers. Also, I can't believe I just wrote this.

Masta, since you've been on Xbox for quite a while, are there any good sales expected for Halloween, Black Friday, and Christmas on the MS Store? I've got some points pooled from Bing Rewards so I may just buy a game with a gift card, one that isn't or won't be on Gamepass.
I haven't been buying many Xbox games for a couple of years now and Gamepass has replaced purchasing games for me whenever I play. But if I recall correctly last time I browsed the Xbox store on Black Friday was two years ago and there were some really sweet deals, with discounts that were far ahead of any other promos.

For PC, the Steam Black Friday / Fall sales are also by far the best times to refresh you collection if you're looking to try a lot of games you might have missed, including AAA titles released over the last couple of years being severely discounted. I remember Fallout New Vegas was like $3, Sleeping Dogs with all DLCs were also low single digit $, Far Cry 3 for $3, all Bioshock games for ~$10 total, as was a lot of great games priced like that. It's my favorite time to shop games I wouldn't have played otherwise, or that I was on the fence about. For $20-40 you can stock up on so many new games for your library that you have enough play until the next year's fall sale. It's definitely my favorite games sale.
 
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dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Speaking of bowling and humor, you can win a chicken once you score a turkey in bowling, who can become one of your best real estate managers. Also, I can't believe I just wrote this.

lol that's not the weirdest thing. Remember in LaD, if you did the Lobster side quest, you get Nancy as a Poundmate? lol she helped me in quite a few battles. I think LaD had a secret hero, too, if you did well in the stock market side game. I never got her but I heard she was especially helpful when you fought Kiryu since he didn't hit women. Call me an incel but that's a BS game mechanic.

For PC, the Steam Black Friday / Fall sales are also by far the best times to refresh you collection if you're looking to try a lot of games you might have missed, including AAA titles released over the last couple of years being severely discounted. I remember Fallout New Vegas was like $3, Sleeping Dogs with all DLCs were also low single digit $, Far Cry 3 for $3, all Bioshock games for ~$10 total, as was a lot of great games priced like that. It's my favorite time to shop games I wouldn't have played otherwise, or that I was on the fence about. For $20-40 you can stock up on so many new games for your library that you have enough play until the next year's fall sale. It's definitely my favorite games sale.
I'll definitely be looking at the PC sales too but I didn't want to invest anymore in PC games since I'm probably going to sell my RX 580 at some point. I don't think games would run well on the dGPU on my MBP, the Radeon Pro 555. That's like 2 GB of VRAM, if I remember correctly. Anything after 2013, or something, is going run like shit beyond Low settings, I think.

I have the MS Rewards GCs, or will have them, so that should be about $100 if I redeem all my points from the past year. I may just do $50 or something for actual games and continue to pool points for an MS Store GC for a controller when this one inevitably gets the stick drift.

If I were to get the GC and get some games, I'd look at some RPGs. I recently beat 12 and was making my way through 13 on PC before getting the Series S. I may get 15 and keep it on the backlog. I don't want to build too large of a backlog because the big games I wanted to catch up over the next few years are some of the Bethesda games like Dishonor, Fallout, etc., and they're all going to be on Gamepass indefinitely. Maybe I just use those Rewards points to extend GPU.


Also, Rockstar announced a remastered GTA Trilogy: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/10...rilogy-definitive-edition-coming-november-11/

$60 seems a bit much. I've read comments justifying it by saying each game is definitely worth $20 or so, so together they're worth $60. You'd think for 15+ year old games, it'd be closer to $40 but...I guess not. I'm sure it'll go on sale for Christmas or something. SA is coming to Gamepass so that's something. I'm more interested in GTA 3. I owned SA and Vice City on PS2 and bought 4 a year ago for the 360 for like $5. I also got GTA V for free from the Epic Store giveaways, but haven't played it. The first GTA I ever played was 3 at a friend's house in 2003, but I never owned it or got past the first 20 minutes or so of the game. That's the one I'm more interested in getting, if I were to start back in to it. And I don't think GTA 1 and 2 were played by most people since 3 was what really put the series on the map.

Also, do you recommend the Atmos or DTS app? I do have the official Xbox wireless headset but I'm not sure on its capabilities. Kind of dumb MS makes you pay for the license for one but, again, if I'm using a GC....might as well?
 
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dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Also, I looked up the Yakuza Wikipedia. So after 0, I would want to go Kiwami, since it's a remastered Yakuza 1? Then Kiwami 2, since that's remastered 2? Then the Yakuza Remastered Collection, or whatever it's called, for 3-5, and then finally Yakuza 6?
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Anyone a racing game fan? Forza Horizon 5 comes out in 2 days and I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably delete Madden and have FH5 as my chillax game that I can just pick and play as I please, and keep Yakuza 0 on tap. I also have The Ascent and DQ11 downloaded and queued up to play for story-driven games.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Do all Yakuza games have this "sphere grid" method of leveling up abilities and health? I like it. Reminds me of FFX. And 12. And 13.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Do all Yakuza games have this "sphere grid" method of leveling up abilities and health? I like it. Reminds me of FFX. And 12. And 13.
Some will have different systems as the studio experimented quite a bit. Especially you will see it more old-school in older non-remakes (Yakuza 3-5).

Also, I looked up the Yakuza Wikipedia. So after 0, I would want to go Kiwami, since it's a remastered Yakuza 1? Then Kiwami 2, since that's remastered 2? Then the Yakuza Remastered Collection, or whatever it's called, for 3-5, and then finally Yakuza 6?
Yup, that's the sequence! I personally found 3 and 4 to be less exciting as as mentioned above these are much older-feeling games. But I had a good time with Kiwami 1 & 2, the 5 is very cool, and I heard 6 is great again.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Some will have different systems as the studio experimented quite a bit. Especially you will see it more old-school in older non-remakes (Yakuza 3-5).



Yup, that's the sequence! I personally found 3 and 4 to be less exciting as as mentioned above these are much older-feeling games. But I had a good time with Kiwami 1 & 2, the 5 is very cool, and I heard 6 is great again.
Did you find three and four less exciting because of the story or were the mechanics different from the rest of the games?

I've made it to chapter 10 now and things are heating up. I think the game has 17 chapters so there's quite a bit left of the story to go through. I am anxious to see how it pans out
 

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