Japanese vs English versions – why I’ve decided it’s okay if they’re different

Yakuza, or Ryu ga Gotoku?

This post was just going to be a note that I put the Yakuza 6 story summary back up, but then I realised something: it’s not a summary of Yakuza 6, it’s a summary of Ryu ga Gotoku 6. They’re different games. Maybe that’s an obvious thing that I’ve just figured out, I don’t know. But from now on, I’m going to make a clear distinction: between the Japanese Ryu ga Gotoku games, and the English Yakuza games. 

Yakuza 6 interview with writer/producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, from Dengeki Online

This long (really long!) interview was first published in Japanese way back in January 2017, right after Ryu ga Gotoku 6 was released in Japan. With the English release imminent, this felt like a good time to post a translation. Yokoyama answers several questions I’ve seen being asked a lot recently, like where did the minigames go, why was Kamurocho reduced in size, why is the Rizap food challenge so … well, challenging? And lots, lots more. And he doesn’t shy away from addressing the controversy over the story either. Enjoy.

Hokuto ga Gotoku – battle results screen

After a battle you get a rating of how well you fought, and you can press Options to see your detailed results. I got curious about what the targets actually were, so I translated them.

Hokuto ga Gotoku – limit break

Once you’ve fully upgraded one of your skill trees, you become able to break your limits and become even stronger. The instructions read:

About limit break

When you have unleashed all of your Heart, Skill or Body abilities, Kenshiro becomes able to grow beyond his limits.

• Heart: by using a Heart sphere, Burst time is extended
• Skill: by using a Skill sphere, attack power is increased
• Body: by using a Body sphere, Vitality is increased

You can do this a maximum of 200 times.

Press Circle with the centre sphere highlighted to break through your limits, and increase your power.

 

Hokuto ga Gotoku – equipment and useful accessories

While I don’t want to translate every equippable item in the game, and in most cases you’ll be fine by just picking the thing with the highest defence number, there are some items which have special powers which I’ve found useful, so I’ll highlight a few of them here.