Spigot

Yeah, I knew about the recap of Yakuza 1 in Yakuza 2, but since I've had the first game for about 2 years, it behooved me to actually get off my butt and start playing it so I can move on to Yakuza 2 with a clean conscience.

And I did the Yakuza write-ups about a month ago.

Good, good! As long as you have it. Don't know why, but when I started to play it I was like "I gotta make sure Spigot's got this on his shelf!" You can "reminisce about the past year" at the start of Yak 2, so even if you don't finish the first, don't worry! The game will get you caught up, or you can skip that if you like.

I preordered the import of Yakuza 3, and while I'll miss the subtleties of the story with my lack of Japanese (which will grow this summer if I get my wish and move there as planned), the trailers and the minigame potential just tell me I must own it, and the visuals are amazing.

I didn't know you did a Turning the Spigot on Yakuza, and I tried to find it before buggin' ya here! More people should play Yakuza 2, though, for sure. It's a really well made game that is charming its way to becoming one of my favorite games for the PS2 (and mind you my PS2 library alone is about 200 strong). It's got a story and characters I actually care about, and the attention to detail and look into Japanese culture it gives continues to impress. It's got a few annoying technical issues, but I can totally overlook them given the platform vs the ambition in the title. I may make my own little thread about it in the console forum, but it'll mostly be a repeat of the gushing here.

Well, Tayaya, I have Yakuza 2. I actually really like the first one (I restarted Yakuza 1 the other day just so I can get through it and start working on Yakuza 2) and can't wait to play the second. I really, REALLY hope that Yakuza 3 makes it over here. If it does get announced for a NA release, well, it'll be right at the top of my must-buy games for 2009.

And I wholeheartedly agree about the comparisons to Shenmue (which I believe I made in my Turning The Spigot entry for the Yakuza games). It's like Shenmue with less sailor-chasing and more punching.

Hey Spigot! Have you ever played Yakuza 2? I passed on the first one due to the horrendous dub it supposedly got, and because I had the game pegged as a generic Final Fight style Beat 'em Up. Watched a few trailers for the upcoming Ryu ga Gotoku 3 and decided to give the second one a chance based on that, and I'm glad I did in a big way.

It's like a spiritual successor to Shenmue with its attention to detail, and believable recreation of Tokyo and Osaka, and of course all the mini games and other distractions from the main story. And speaking of story.... I can't remember the last PS2 game to deliver a great narrative like this one outside of MGS. Definitely worth a look!

I think I have a copy of Thousand Arms in my PS1 cabinet. I should go take a look for it.

Have you ever played "Thousand Arms"? It's an obscure PS1 RPG/dating sim. I had a copy in college, but traded it in for BoF III. I kinda want it back because it was really unique and interesting. You played a blacksmith and you could enchant weapons with the love of various females around town. The more they loved you the stronger the weapon was. I think it had a pretty unique battle system too... damn.. I need to find another copy of that game.

Thanks for the idea, Lon Lon. I'll do that in the future. EDF only has hotseat co-op, no Live co-op... alas.

Damnit I don't have enough posts to comment on blogs yet... Good job this week with the double feature.

Does EDF have co op over live?

As I wondered that I was just thinking it might be cool if you include stuff like that (e.g. Players: 1-4) in the game info section where you have platform info and such.

Just so that people know, I'll be posting them in the blog portion of CoG. Stay tuned!

I can't wait to see the new entry! You should PM me when it goes up - I'm not really used to navigating this site just yet.