Yakuza 5; 5 cities, 5 main characters

[Majima]

Hmm... Am I really the only one who's really disappointed that Majima won't be playable again? I mean, the game looks great and yeah, I'll buy it, but I was hoping he'd be one of the main characters. Maybe Dead Souls spoiled me. :/ I think it'll be hard (for me, at least) going back to seeing him as NPC (He will have screentime, right? ...Right?!? ;_; ).
And to be honest, I don't get it. Most Yakuza fans love this character and reading the comments on youtube and blogs I got the impression many people who didn't like the whole zombie idea bought this game only because of him (and his legendary karaoke performance ).

Now don't get me wrong, please. I'm not trying to be the party pooper here, I'm just surprised that nobody here seems to feel the same way about this decision.

(Btw, English is not my first language ...as you already might have guessed. )

[heyitsdeven]

http://andriasang.com/con1jf/yakuza5_another_drama/


Driving CONFIRMED!

[whitepomfret]

So Taxi Battle will be a minigame exclusive to Kiryu only. I wonder what is Akiyama's minigame will be.

[heyitsdeven]

So Taxi Battle will be a minigame exclusive to Kiryu only. I wonder what is Akiyama's minigame will be.

Probably hostess maker again lol

[Deekman]

This sounds great! Although I'm really concerned about them adding driving race missions to the game in the cab, heck even timer based ones wouldn't be fun (especially if it can cause a substory failure!).

Akiyamas one could be about collecting cash. They were always my favourite missions in Yakuza 4! Anytime we got to see what condition he made with his clients I was happy.

[whitepomfret]

Guys, additional details posted at usual place andriasang.com

You can customize Kiryu's taxi. Saejima with hunting gun. Haruka has quiz minigame.

Probably hostess maker again lol

lol that's so like Akiyama. Gotta recruit them all I suppose.

[Deekman]

More details on the Another Drama games!

Kazuma Kiryu

When Yakuza 5 begins in December 2012, Kazuma is a taxi driver in uoka. One day, he comes into contact with Devils Killer, a group of street racers, and ends up taking part in a Race Battle on the uoka highways.

Your goal in the Race Battle is to avoid other cars and construction areas and get to the goal first. You'll be able to customize your taxi, adding tires, turbos, wheels, body decals, and other items. While driving, you can drift and make use of special moves like "Explosive Race Heat Action" and "Secret Explosive Acceleration."

Outside of the Race Battle, you'll also be able to drive passengers to and from their destination. Famitsu shows Kiryu in conversation with his passengers.

Taiga Saejima

Saejima is in the snowy mountains of Hokkaido when he loses consciousness following an accident of some form. Just as he's about to freeze to death, he's saved by an elderly man. The old man tells Saejima of his pursuit of the legendary giant dragon Yama Oroshi.

Saejima's Another Drama is described as "hunting survival." Equipped with a hunting gun, you'll need to use stealth to approach and catch beasts. You'll also be able to make use of traps to catch your prey.

Haruka

Haruka's goal is to come out on top of Princess League, a tournament that determines the number one idol in Osaka. She was breezing through the tournament when she suddenly met the ultimate rival.

You'll need to help Haruka out in her live performances by playing a rhythm game. This involves tapping circle, triangle, square and X buttons as they move across a cursor. Different from the Hatsune Miku series, the cursor stays in one position. Sokuho says that it looks more like the rhythm-based games in Dream Club.

Outside of the rhythm game, you'll need to take part in hand shake meetings, where you use the d-pad to determine Haruka's reaction. You'll also take part in simple quiz programs, respond to magazine interviews, and make talk show appearances. These will contribute to Haruka's idol knowledge.

Tatsuo Shinada

We detailed Shinada's main background story earlier. His Another Drama story involves his meeting up with an old high school teammate. While he'd been hiding his baseball past, he ends up challenging his old teammate at batting.

This, of course, is played like a batting mini game. As you bat, you'll learn skills, gaining the ability to make the ball slow down for instance. Shinada will also meat his former coach and will be able to strengthen his skills even further.

[Yakuza_Ark92]

Wow now thats some HUGE new gameplay features. Are there any pictures or scans from this Famitsu article?

[persuid]

Excellent news!!!

I'm sure that Akiyama's sidestory will be connected to the Miss Ryu Ga Gotoku girls,but the voting is still working until 29th of June so this could be the reason why we haven't got any info about him.

I think we get details after the voting will be closed...they won't be hostesses as it was confirmed earlier,but what will be the role of the five girls of five cities???

I'm very excited!

[Shenmue3please]

it all sounds great so far, i love how we all pretty much guessed correctly the gameplay mechanics for each of the characters when the first lot of info was released, apart from Saejima and Akiyama because we didn't have much info at the time. if Saejima is hunting animals then some of the game must take place in the wilderness, which i assume he does on his way to Hokkaido (after escaping prison maybe?). this will be the First time we will visit a rural area since Kenzan.

but we still don't know hardly anything about Akiyama's role in the game and what his story is by Y5. he goes to Osaka at some point 'for business reasons'. are we to assume he is still a Loan Shark? we know he must meet up with Haruka at some point since she is also in Osaka. there must be reason why a lot of his stuff is being held back. i hope he doesn't die. or any of the other main characters. Maybe i could tolerate Saejima dying or new baseball guy.

can't wait for more info