Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio held on December 8 a special live stream celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Yakuza series. The first Ryu Ga Gotoku game released 15 years ago on PS2 on December 8, 2005. Note the stream is still ongoing and we’ll keep adding details to this article so keep F5-ing.
The stream was MC’ed by Yurika Tachibana. It featured the seiyuu of Kiryu and Ichiban: Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya. The three Yakuza Series Producers were present as well: Toshihiro Nagoshi, Daisuke Satō, and Masayoshi Yokoyama.
The stream had the staff retrace the history of the Yakuza series, game per game. Spinoffs and stage plays included. We got to hear development stories on each game, and fans watching the stream via Zoom were able to ask some questions directly to the Producers. The fans also got to answer questions themselves, like how many games in the series they played in total.
We most notably heard how Yakuza 4 was initially supposed to be a spinoff, with how it’s the first game where you can switch protagonists. But then, Toshihiro Nagoshi told the staff it’s fine to cal it “Ryu Ga Gotoku 4”. That’s also when the series started using sub titles for the games’ names in Japan.
One fan asked the staff which Yakuza character they’d like to work with or have as a subordinate. Toshihiro Nagoshi answered the question: “None of them, they’d all cause trouble”.
Toshihiro Nagoshi also talked about some of his inspirations for the PSP spinoff Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō. Mainly how he always loved battle drama stories like Ashita no Joe.
Moreover, we heard how Ryū ga Gotoku Of The End / Yakuza Dead Souls could’ve featured aliens instead of zombies. Toshihiro Nagoshi wanted Kiryu to tell the aliens “don’t just barge into people’s planet like you own the place”.
Next, we also heard stories on Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!, PS4 launch title in Japan. They wanted to either make a game based on The Three Kingdoms, or the Shinsengumi. In the end, they went with the later, with Sakamoto Ryoma as the protagonist. Masayoshi Yokoyama also explained Tosihiro Nagoshi didn’t know much about the historical facts. Similarly, he actually didn’t know much about Hokuto no Ken before making Hokuto Ga Gotoku too. And only thought it’s the story of a “quarrel between brothers” which technically isn’t wrong at all.
Yakuza 0 possibly could have been called something else. Main reason they made it is because a lot of fans wanted a game with Majima as the protagonist.
As they reached Yakuza: like A Dragon, Nagoshi reexplained why the game is a JRPG. Mainly how they thought they pretty much did everything they could with Action games. And the protagonist change was a good opportunity to change the rest too.
Another fan question: Do you often change a character’s design or setting during development: Nagoshi explained for the main cast of characters they tend to set everything in stone at the beginning so they don’t change much. They do up the screentime of characters who end up very popular like Majima though.
Following next, we had the announcement segment, with new collabs, goods, and events. The official logo for the 15th anniversary was revealed as well.
Yakuza 15th anniversary musk, with a limited edition.
Yakuza Like A Dragon collab in PSO2 Japan coming in January 2021.
MJ collab event
Shonan no Kaze stream concert coming December 20.
【『龍が如く』15周年 記念特番配信決定】
本日20時より
龍が如く15周年を記念した生放送番組を配信！ゲストに黒田崇矢さん、中谷一博さんをお迎えし、
15年の歴史を振り返ると共に、龍が如く最新情報も！視聴URLはこちらhttps://t.co/LuDiquRGkb pic.twitter.com/3PmF80K2CV
— 龍が如くスタジオ 公式 (@ryugagotoku) December 8, 2020
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