Bowling, pool and fishing are some old staples that I'd love to see back in Shin Yakuza, but what else could they put in these games that would be cool, fun and refreshing? Here are my personal ideas, would love to hear yours! Here goes.
Alright, I'm gonna leave it there for now. Hope these ideas can spark some suggestions of your own. If so, please let me know, very interested in what others have in mind.
submitted by gameovernate to yakuzagames [link] [comments] - Indoor fishing. I know I mentioned fishing earlier, but I think indoor fishing is an even cooler idea. In Judge Eyes (no spoilers) a character is found doing some indoor fishing when Yagami meets up with him. I had hoped that it would be a minigame, but it doesn't appear to be the case. Nevertheless, I started thinking about the possibility of indoor fishing and it seems more exciting than it sounds actually. Not only can we get a cool (imo) minigame back, but it can be combined in an interesting way with other systems as well. Like, you could have a place that offers indoor fishing at a fee, and you can do your usual fishing there and most likely not only catch fish but also interesting items (like a ring or wallet for example). But then you're like okay, that's enough for now, let me go have a bite somewhere. So you go to some type of fish based restaurant and you can use that same minigame to fish your own meal! Obviously they'd have to make it much easier, since the actual indoor fishing is where skills are tested, but at a restaurant it should be a fun and pleasant experience catching some fish and getting that served to you. Maybe we can even have some live fish on a plate like IRL. This way you put a really cool Japanese thing in the game while also adding a minigame! I think this is the type of activity that RGG Studio should focus on making. A mechanic that you make once, but can carry over to pretty much every following game, so you don't put in work for something that's gonna be just in one game, considering how little development time there is. Plus it makes more sense than needing a river or sea for traditional fishing that's not always available in the setting of some games.
- A game console inside your hideout. So the SEGA arcades are cool, but what's even cooler is having a console in your own hideout/apartment. I'd love if you could get the console itself from a substory like in Fist of the North Star and from there you can play it in your hideout. Let's for example take a Dreamcast as the console, a great game to have on it would be something like Daytona or Rez. Something straightforward and easy to pick up with graphics that aged gracefully. Stuff like Shenmue is too much like the game you're already playing and Crazy Taxi is probably too rough in the graphics department to be something appealing to play. But man, this would be such a cool thing to have.
- As far as arcade machines go... I'd personally love to see some arcade games in Club SEGA like Super Monkey Ball or maybe a Hatsune Miku arcade machine (since SEGA does own the rights). I definitely feel that music/rhythm based arcade machines popular in Tokyo should make their way into the games regardless. It's another great example of a minigame you implement once and then it can return for each game as a staple. All you'd have to do is update the song selection. Probably invades karaoke's territory a bit, but I feel that karaoke is so beloved, that there's not much danger in that disappearing. The two can coexist.
- Ping Pong/Table Tennis could be cool. As you may know, there is a building at the end of Nakamichi street called TAT (Total Amusement Tower). It's not enterable, but the wall displays certain minigames you can play there like pool, bowling, darts, and...table tennis. Personally I'd love for that building to become enterable someday and it's an entire entertainment tower with a different activity on each floor. 1st floor can be bowling, second can be pool etc. Even better if you can drink there as well and bring dates to it or just enjoy the atmosphere. The Yakuza games, especially on the new engine, are becoming seriously good at simulating the vibe of having a good time in a playspot, so I hope things like this can become a reality soon. I keep saying it, but it's activities like table tennis, pool, bowling that can be made once, and then you can reuse them in each game with a few updates like a new substory, a tournament, an extra feature here and there. That way you avoid giving Dragon Engine games a barren feel and can focus on adding other things for the future.
- Baccarat and Roulette. These minigames were missing from the casino in Kiwami 2. Unsure if they are in Judge Eyes, but I enjoyed playing them in Yakuza 0. Some people aren't fond of them, but I want them mostly to have more things to do in the casino. I loved the fact that there was so much choice in what game you could play in the casino in 0 and was disappointed to see them cut back in Kiwami 2. Similarly, and this is a weird nitpick about the casino that I can't understand, but I feel like I should be able to drink at the bar of the casino surely? Bars exist elsewhere in the game, so it's not like I'm asking for an all new mechanic or anything. I feel it fits nicely in a casino setting. Celebrate your luck with a drink at the bar! In fact, you could even use it to your advantage by maybe giving players the option to buy a round for everyone, getting them a little tipsy in the process. A cool trick to cause them to make more mistakes and make the game a little easier if you need it. So many options! So easy to implement! Be creative, RGG Studio!
- More interactivity in common places (e.g. Poppo). This is more of a minor feature than really an activity, but I appreciated it so much that you could look at magazine covers inside Poppo in Yakuza 0. It built the world up nicely and gave an interesting look in what would actually be sold in a store like that. Unfortunately, this didn't make it over to the Dragon Engine titles. Now when I walk around inside the Poppo with full freecam and have the ability to fight there etc, I really feel there should be more things to interact with now. Having the item box guy in there was a nice addition, so you can do more than just talk to one guy. The ATM is cool, especially when it ties into a substory, but it sadly doesn't have a menu of its own. You just choose from a few options how much you wanna throw in and that's that. I personally feel there should be more to it. The ATM should have its own interface, you should be able to store money or take it out, be allowed to go in the red a little bit, maybe have it be involved in the story (like someone hacking your bank account or making you keep money safe for him, could be cool). Similarly, the scanneprinter inside could be cool to be able to print your photos and put the in a physical album and display that album in your hideout. Maybe even print them in poster size and have them on your wall, would love to see what kind of things people come up with. That's sort of stuff would make these places so much more interesting I feel.
Alright, I'm gonna leave it there for now. Hope these ideas can spark some suggestions of your own. If so, please let me know, very interested in what others have in mind.
