kurono Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Yakuza 3 Loses Content in the West Hostesses out, strippers still in. by Greg Miller February 23, 2010 - With the release of Yakuza 3 just two weeks away (March 9th in the States and March 12th in the U.K.), fans are beginning to go off the deep end about the beat'em up/RPG-like/Grand Theft Auto-like game that has you wandering the streets of Japan and wailing on bad guys silly enough to get in your way. However, one of the biggest questions on the minds of readers like you is did everything that made the game a hit in Japan make it into the U.S./U.K. versions? The short answer is "no," but it's not as bad as you might think, according to a SEGA representative. "The content between Yakuza 3 US/UK and Yakuza JP is a little different in that we took out certain bits in order to bring the game to the west in the time alloted for us to do so. The parts we ended up taking out were parts that we felt wouldn't make sense (like a Japanese history quiz game) or wouldn't resonate as much (such as the concept of a hostess club)," the rep told IGN. "We didn't replace the parts we took out, but we made absolutely sure that the story continuity stayed intact so that the story experience was the same as the Japanese version and that it didn't take away the human drama so inherent to the Yakuza series." The good news? Even though the hostess clubs are out, you can still go on dates with the girls. Better news? The strip clubs are still in Yakuza 3, so plan on dropping some Yen there. Source Geez SEGA... are you really trying to make this game fail in the West? First you decide to release it at the worst possible time, then create a hideous cover, then make the DLC that was free in Japan exclusive to one retailer in North America and Collector's Edition only in Europe, and now you're cutting content? This game is already a niche title and by cutting content you're just going to end up ****ing off some of the people who were originally going to buy it. I find the whole "wouldn't resonate as much" statement to be BS. Part of the appeal of the game is because the game's culture is set in Japan - people want it to be different! If you're not going to put the effort into localizing it properly, maybe you should have handed it to another publisher. /rant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ienhz Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 From GAF Assuming everything that lost a trophy is cut, this is more than half of the "side content" in the game. It also renders particular shops, a significant amount of items, and particular locker keys useless, as well as ****ing around with several missions (which I assume will be cut now). No kidding, most of the shops that sell handbags and stuff are pretty much completely useless now. I'd expect most players will be game-breakingly rich about half way through now too. Pretty much everything except weapons, armour, and combat health/spirit boosters are all going to be pawn shop fodder now. I was actually looking forward to picking this game up too. The 1990s text bubbles were already a turn-off for me and now I'm not sure about a half-assed Yakuza game since it seems like the "side content" is (or was) a good chunk of the Yakuza experience. I agree with the OP. Anyone who even has interest in this game at this point are probably savvy enough to enjoy the Japanese-centric content in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lingwo Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Not good news. I was hoping it was just a trophy cut but they've actually removed the content! Ok the japanese history quiz i can live with but remove the hostess section is stupid. Like ienhz post states, it is making certain shops pointless and for people who haven't realised the content is cut will just be wasting money in there thinking there will be a "pay off". They're certainly not giving Yakuza the best of chances for sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoredBozirini Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 I played the demo and I didn't like it, so I guess this won't affect me. But for people that do like it, what a bummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x9248 Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Are Westerners too dumb to look up the quiz answers on the internet? Obviously not. Just because we wouldn't know the answers immediately doesn't mean we don't like learning new things. A little culture never hurt anyone. But then again I guess not everyone has access to the internet (or that's just a bad excuse) so whatever. I like hostess clubs... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurono Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 What?s up with Yakuza 3?Hey everyone, Today?s blog is a little different than most for us, but it?s something that our community teams are very passionate about, and we want to make sure gets out there. While it?s already been rumored in a couple places, we wanted to confirm that there is some content in the Japanese version of Yakuza 3 that didn?t make it over to upcoming Western version, mostly involving the Hostess Clubs and the Japanese History trivia sections. At the same time, we also want to explain part of the reasoning behind that, and be up front with you guys, our fans, about that fact. Ultimately, the choice that had to be made was either no Yakuza 3 in the west, or a version of the game that was almost exactly the same, but with a little less trivia. That said, our teams also understand that many of you guys love games like Yakuza because of that experience, and rest assured that we?ll continue fighting on your behalf to make sure that going forward, we can provide as close to the full experience as possible ? no matter how foreign. Even so, Yakuza 3 is still a game packed to the brim with things to do, places to see, and people to fight ? offering a massive amount of options for fans of the series and new players alike. In addition, the western versions of the game will come pre-packaged with codes for the DLC, already localized and ready to be enjoyed. With gameplay that you truly won?t find anywhere else, we think that Yakuza 3 is genuinely one of the PS3?s best titles, and we hope you?ll think so too when you play it. As Yakuza 3 nears ship, we?ll have lots more on the massive amount of things to do, see, and experience in the game ? and truly, you?re in for one awesome ride. Until then! Source And the pathetic PR cleanup begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lingwo Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 Why would leaving the hostess section in mean no Yakuza 3 for us? I'm right in thinking Yakuza 3 is an 18 anyway, so the hostess section wouldn't have bumped the rating up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 25, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted February 25, 2010 Why would leaving the hostess section in mean no Yakuza 3 for us? I'm right in thinking Yakuza 3 is an 18 anyway, so the hostess section wouldn't have bumped the rating up. Only possible thought I have is trying to cut back on the budget. The Japanese trivia thing might be quite in depth (in terms of translation text) and of course, it's Japanese trivia. In some way I do believe them, this game isn't going to sell much and they get forced by the hand to even bring it to us in the first place (Yakuza 4 even has a trailer in Japan now!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacemf Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 I played the demo and I didn't like it, so I guess this won't affect me. But for people that do like it, what a bummer. same here, by gum the demo was bad! looks like a ps2 game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted February 25, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted February 25, 2010 Just as I thought... "Regarding Yakuza 3, we had a tight schedule to abide by for localizing and releasing Yakuza 3 in the west," said the rep. "Due to the limited time we were given, we had to leave certain bits of the game out and we chose portions we felt didn't resonate with western culture i.e. a Japanese history quiz show and the concept of hostess clubs."We understand that this is not the optimum thing to do, but given the options of releasing the next chapter of a beloved game so that our fans can experience the story of Yakuza vs. not releasing it at all, we felt it was worth it to release it with 99 percent of the content intact. "We made sure that the story in no way, shape or form changed from the lack of the quiz show or hostess clubs. You can still go into Cabarets and on dates with the ladies in the game and Kazuma still kicks major ass." Source: http://www.vg247.com...ore/#more-82477 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilo Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Looks like this is one game I won't be getting. Axed content = no thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lingwo Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Well i feel very sorry for you. While it is disappointing the content was axed, there is still plenty of game in there. This isn't Fable 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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