GHOST OF TSUSHIMA

Let’s start with the most obvious choice, because obviously, there was no way Ghost of Tsushima was not going be to in the list. Living the samurai power fantasy in a vast, richly created, beautiful open world that is brimming with striking vistas- Ghost of Tsushima accomplishes is defined by all of this, and so much more. Just as deserving of praise is the combat, which serves up the perfect samurai experience- and as you play more and Jin keeps moving further and further away from the code of honour he’s been bound by his entire life, those gameplay mechanics begin changing as well, allowing for much more brutal, deadly, efficient, and silent ways of dispatching enemies.

When you think of Yakuza, you don’t really think of samurai, but it’s something that the series has tried its hand at- twice. Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza Ishin were both spinoff entries in the series that completely tore up the rulebook and went for samurai-infused historical action, but neither game, unfortunately, has ever been released outside of Japan, in spite of praise for both from series fans.

However, if we are to believe Yakuza series producer Daisuke Sato, that could change some time in the future. Speaking in an interview with Game Blog, when asked about the two games, Sako said that thanks to Ghost of Tsushima’s massive successive from both critical and commercial viewpoints, western audiences seem much more open to samurai stories and games, which means there’s a chance that Yakuza Kenzan and Ishin end up releasing in the west sooner or later.

“Even long before Ghost of Tsushima, I did want to release samurai games like Kenzan and Ishin in the West,” Sato said. “Unfortunately, after Yakuza 0, we were very busy with remastering the numbering Yakuza titles for the PS4, so we missed the opportunity to work on some of these other games. However, if anything, Ghost of Tsushima has helped Western gamers become more interested in samurai, so I should think of it as now is a more opportune time to release these titles.”

The Yakuza series has enjoyed incredible success in the West in the last few years, especially once it broke out into the mainstream following the launch of Yakuza 0, so the hope is that the more offbeat titles like Kenzan and Ishin will eventually come westward as well. Fingers crossed.

The Yakuza series has had somewhat of a renaissance over the last few years in the west. The series has always been healthy in Japan, but there was a period where the series wasn’t getting localized, or doing so at a snail’s pace. While it may never make it to that blockbuster AAA status in the west, it’s definitely gotten a higher profile that bodes well for the next game in the franchise. And it seems that profile may actually help bring a “lost” episode of the franchise over in the form of Yakuza Ishin.

The game originally released in 2014 for both the PS3 and PS4. A spin-off of the series, it takes the setting to feudal Japan with the same classic gameplay. The game was never localized due to both the niche nature of the series in general, as well as the specialized setting. But in a recent IGN Live interview, Producer Daisuke Sato said that the entry was being considered by Sega for a localization.

With the recent announcement of several Yakuza remasters coming westward, it would be a great thing for fans outside Japan to have a fuller collection. The games are notoriously text and speech heavy, so a localization would also be no small feat. Hopefully, we will manage to see the game outside Japan at some point.

Characters Modeled After Real Actors

Getting the likenesses right for a group of bad-asses like the Yakuza cast isn’t easy. However, it’s interesting to note how many of the characters are modeled after and voiced by well-known Japanese actors. Takeshi Kitano, for instance, serves as the template and voice for Toru in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Meanwhile, Riki Takeuchi lends his face and voice to Daiki Awano in Yakuza 0.

Yakuza Kiwami 2, the remake of Yakuza 2, is now out in the West, the fourth Yakuza game to launch within the last year and a half. And just like Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza 6, it’s absolutely excellent- perhaps even more so than all of them. More than anything, these recent releases have seen a boost in popularity for this franchise outside of Japan, and it seems Sega are becoming very aware of that fact.

In Japan, remastered editions of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 are also releasing between this year and the next. Until now, we’ve had no information regarding whether these remasters would make it to the West, but a recent official Sega survey suggests that they’re definitely considering bringing over these games, maybe even along with some spin-offs, at some point to markets outside of Japan.

The official survey asks questions regarding how interested users would be in buying remasters of Yakuza games, new games in the series, and other games created by the team, such as Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which, in fact, is bound to launch outside of Japan not long from now. The survey also asks a question about spin-off titles such as Yakuza: Ishin! and Yakuza: Kenzan! which were never released in the West. The very fact that Sega is asking these questions means there is a chance that we’ll be getting to see more Yakuza games (and more) releasing in the West in the future.

Sega’s definitely been working on expanding Yakuza’s audiences in the last few months. Outside of a string excellent releases, they’ve also released Yakuza 0 on PC. A PC release for Yakuza Kiwami is also in the pipeline, and recent reports suggest one for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life might be too. In the meantime, you can enjoy Yakuza Kiwami 2, as it’s now out for the PS4 across the world.

GamingBolt got in touch with Sega Japan to talk all about Yakuza Ishin, the advantages of PlayStation 4, a possible Xbox One version and whether the game will see a western release given its success in Japan.

Leonid: Why did you decide to make Yakuza Ishin a spin-off, instead of the next main entrry in the franchise?

We had the idea of making a spin-off based on the Edo era from the start. In the previous Yakuza 5 game, we were able to put one break off to the modern time version and wanted to add more of an RPG type of gameplay in the next title. We felt the idea of the new game and the time setting of the Edo era matched and so Yakuza Ishin was created.

Leonid: What does the PlayStation 4 allow you to do with Yakuza Ishin as opposed to PlayStation 3?

The gameplay quality for both systems are exactly the same. We developed the game so that players won’t see any difference. However, with the enhanced capabiltiies of the PS4 graphical qualities will reflect that.

"The biggest challenge we had while developing the game was the connecting feature with PS Vita. If you have PS Vita, you can level up even when you are outside, so we had hard time estimating the playtime using the 2 platforms and adjusted the game balance considering this."

Leonid: What sets Yakuza Ishin apart from previous games in the franchise?

One big difference is the battle system. In the modern Yakuza game, the main battle was fighting with bare hands but in Yakuza Ishin, you can switch your battle style at anytime from the 4 different styles, which allows for much more exhilarating feeling of fighting than the previous titles. Also, the volume of customizing your own weapon and level up features are the most in the series and allow players to customize things in various ways dependant on the individual’s playstyle. They can power up weapons and skills. We think the game genre has changed from action adventure to action RPG with Yakzua Ishin.

Leonid: What was the inspiration to go with Japan’s Edo period thats between 1603 and 1868, instead of something else?

We chose this era because we wanted to create a story based on Ryoma Sakamoto, a hero who existed at the end of the Edo era.

Leonid: Has the combat system been changed in any particular way for Yakuza Ishin if you were to compare it to older games?

As noted previously, we changed the battle system to allow players to change the style from 4 types. In Yakuza Kenzan, where we had Musashi Miyamoto as the main hero, we had a system where we had styles changing dependent on the weapon you use, but in Yakuza Ishin, we enhanced this feature and made the battle to be more up-tempo.

Leonid: What was your biggest challenge while developing Yakuza Ishin?

The biggest challenge we had while developing the game was the connecting feature with PS Vita. If you have PS Vita, you can level up even when you are outside, so we had hard time estimating the playtime using the 2 platforms and adjusted the game balance considering this.

"For both PS3 and PS4, we wanted to have as many people as possible to play the game."

Leonid: How long does it to take to finish the main storyline?

If you just go through the main story, it would be about 15 hours.

Leonid: Will Yakuza Ishin ever get a western release considering the fact that it’s the #1 PlayStation 4 game in Japan?

There are currently no plans at this time.

Leonid: How long was Yakuza Ishin in development?

It was 1 year.

Leonid: Why did you decide to make the game on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, instead of just PlayStation 4 or just PlayStation 3?

For both PS3 and PS4, we wanted to have as many people as possible to play the game.

Leonid: What kind of challenges did you faced for the PlayStation 4 version, specifically given the fact that it’s running in full 1080p resolution and 60fps?

It changed from 30fps to 60fps, so we had to adjust the collision detection of the actions animations and AI which were used in 30fps to fit 60fps. Also, we changed the things like resolution and compression ratio of motion data to better ones. We didn’t feel that much challenge to these things.

"This time, we created common assets and then worked on optimizing those assets for the PS3 and PS4. After that, we worked on how much we can do to pull out the machine power of PS4 and show the game in rich quality."

Leonid: What are your thoughts on the PlayStation 4’s unified GDDR5 memory and how has this helped in the development process?

The benefit is that it allows putting on things like huge design data as it is on the memory. We feel that we won’t have any problem with the memory thanks to this.

PLeonid: The game looks absolutely goregous on the PS4, how are you using the GPU to have performance gains in Yakuza Ishin?

Higher quality of visual effects like real time shadows are used in PS4 using the GPU’s power.

Leonid: It’s a well-known fact that the PS3 is hard to develop for but at the same time the PS4 is easy to adapt to. How did you go about developing the PS4 in terms of assets creation and memory usage?

This time, we created common assets and then worked on optimizing those assets for the PS3 and PS4. After that, we worked on how much we can do to pull out the machine power of PS4 and show the game in rich quality.

Leonid: Do you think the game will be ported to the Xbox One? If not, why?

There are currently no plans at this time.

After the initial launch of the PlayStation 4 in Japan, and with a full week to affect the sales of software and hardware alike, it was rather surprising to see Knack – previously last week’s number 1 – get knocked down to second place by Harvest Moon: Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi according to the latest Media Create software charts.

While Harvest Moon sold 130,782 units in its debut, Knack managed to sell 66,772 units by sheer future of being bundled with the console. Lifetime sales up to this point are 376,076 units, which is pretty much the PS4’s lifetime sales in Japan. Another new entry was Kaseki Horider: Mugen Gear which managed to sell 58,329 units in its debut.

Rather unsurprisingly, the PS3 version of Yakuza: Ishin held fast in the charts with 54,148 units sold while the PS4 version collapsed down to 22,466 units sold this week. The 3DS had a relatively strong week in terms of software though, with games like Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Wonderful Mysterious Keys and Yokai Watch selling 53,276 and 37,493 units respectively.

Despite only being on sale for two days, thus making it eligible for this week’s Media Create hardware charts, the PlayStation 4 managed to quickly rocket to the top of the hardware sales list. It launched on February 22nd in Japan and dethroned the long-reigning Nintendo 3DS XL.

The numbers that Media Create reported are slightly lower than Famitsu’s though, as the console managed to sell 309,154 units within two days. The 3DS XL managed to sell 22,253 units, down from the previous week’s 27,650 units, while the PS Vita sold 16,857 units compared to last week’s 17,081 units.

PS3 sales are also slightly down this week, with 9,983 units sold – which is surprising considering that the PS3 version of Yakuza Ishin managed to sell over 130,000 units. Then again, the install base in Japan is fairly strong already. The PS4 version of Yakuza Ishin still managed to make it to third place, with bundled game Knack selling the highest on the console’s debut.

The PS4 launched in Japan on February and immediately rocketed to the top of the sales charts. While not as amazing as the North American and European launches, with the former averaging a million units in just 24 hours, the next gen console’s software placed very strongly throughout Media Create’s top ten. Keep in mind that the PS4 has only been on sale for two days in Japan, with Media Create’s sales accounting for the week of February 17th to 23rd.

The PS4 Starter Pack of Knack managed to sell 309,304 units which is nothing special since it was bundled with the console. Yakuza Ishin on the PS4 did fairly well, with 82,450 units sold though the PS3 version saw 138,158 units sold. Killzone Shadow Fall managed to sell 32,336 units while Battlefield 4 sold 24,799 units.

The remainder of the chart was dominated by 3DS titles, with previous week’s number one Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Wonderful Mysterious Keys selling 72,350 units for a lifetime sales total of 634,433 units sold.

We’re only a day away – or a couple of hours, if we factor in time zone differences – from the launch of the PlayStation 4 in Japan. One of the major titles launching along with the next gen console will be Sega’s Yakuza Ishin, a follow-up to the popular open world series that takes place in feudal Japan and focuses on Ryoma Sakamoto as he hunts for his father’s killer. Check it out above.

Yakuza Ishin will be a lot like the other games in the series in that you’ll be free to explore the land and take up different missions. These can range from playing mini-games to wailing on a few poor saps with your trusty katana. You’ll have the chance to upgrade your weapon along with learning new abilities and even equipping fire arms. It’s like Yojimbo, only you’re the man with the gun now.

Also launching for the PlayStation 3, Yakuza Ishin is currently only slated for release in Japan.