Yakuza 4 Hard Mode

Ok it doesn't look like I will be able to revive my old system long enough to retrieve the save data onto the  new system. At the very least, I managed to get the disc struck inside back - Yakuza 4 which I have yet to complete at that time. I have been grinding the game to about 80 hours plus when my old system failed leaving the story unresolved just before the conclusion.

Once I realised I have to start all over again from scratch, I decided to jump straight to Hard mode and skip the side mission, focus on finishing the story. This is sort of uncharted territory for myself because when I finish the Hard mode for part 3, I had the luxury of using the leveled up characters from my Normal mode save.  I guess I wanted the extra challenge when playing the game again since I already played the entire game up till the last boss encounter.

So one weekend of nothing about Yakuza 4 later, I have finish the story mode on Hard mode in a new save file. I remember having a harder time on part 3 even with a leveled up Kiryu perhaps part 4 has a lower difficulty curve as Sega was incorporating three new characters into the fray.

Blink Blink it's Foxdie

Here's the photograph of my playstation 3 system when I first brought it home from the dealer's shop. It was a great day, sometime four years+ ago despite paying a bit more for the Metal Gear 4 bundle but you do get your money's worth with the game and dualshock3 thrown in the package. Not to mention a coupon for free download of the PSN game PAIN which I never bother to claim.

Recently it just wouldn't start up anymore without any warning signs, it stop responding in the middle of my yakuza 4 grinding session. It's the sort of things you often hear about but never expect it to happen to you. Now the game disc is still stuck inside along with all of my precious save files which I forgot to transfer to thumbdrive.

I have since move on and got myself a Playstation 3 slim but there's this nagging feeling that I might jump into things a little too soon. Should I have gotten a Wii U instead?

Will the Playstation 4 announcement later this month cause the PS3 current price to drop?

Eye Opening Revelation

If you haven't notice by now, I have been playing a lot of SEGA's Yakuza lately. Upon starting slowly but surely on Kenzan, I went back to finish my second run of Yakuza 3. Playing Kenzan in Japanese made me realised I haven't got around to viewing the cut content from the english localization of Yakuza 3 which should be a breeze now that I'm taking the hard way with Kenzan. If only Yakuza 3 was a better game I would have felt more compelled to play the import but as it's, part 3 is pretty inferior when compared with the rest of the series.

Kenzan is a fun diversion even if only because of the novelty factor, like ThePatrick said it best "It's almost as if the cast of Ryu Ga Gotoku were suddenly hired to be actors in a play about Musashi". It makes you appreciate the characters even more, there's a scene in Kenzan where Majima Gorohachi loses his eye and although they aren't the same character, you can't help but glee in fanboy delight. Then there is Yakuza 4 I just started last week but haven't play enough to really get into it here, I did notice there were scenes of Majima before the eye patch in the opening video. Not sure if it’s revealed how he lost his eye in this timeline or if it’s as dramatic as Kenzan but I’m sure it will be a nice revelation for fans.

Dragon's Quest

There's a dragon on a mission right now and that mission is to earn as many missing trophies as possible in Yakuza 3. Free from the constraints of the story mode, I'm able to focus my attention to areas which reward you with trophies for your hard work and so far, the trophy hunt has been the ultimate thrill. Some are getting exceedingly difficult to achieve like finding the remaining locker keys but having Kiryu adequately level up does help and certainly make you feel up beating the hell out of anyone who gets in your way.

I actually dislike trophies that require you to go out on a limb beyond the context of the actual game and the trophy that best describes this is the 'careless dragon' trophy. I'm just glad to have gotten that out of the way but there's still a ways to go as I'm only about 50% done with the game. Hopefully I should be able to get most of these done and also put some time into the japanese import before the localised Yakuza 4 ships early next year.