Looks like mahjong is once again sidelined

[retsa2b]

Seems to be basically the same thing it was in Like a Dragon. Or, perhaps more accurately, Lost Judgment. A couple of tables at a few parlors, a final table that requires wins at the other tables to play at, and a SO-CALLED "cup" that amounts to exactly ONE set. The reward for winning isn't a unique item either—cash only.

Why it gotta be like this?

In Yakuza 4, all four characters you played had their own "cup" and it was a PROPER cup that you had to play MULTIPLE games to steadily climb, and then when you won, you got a unique item out of it. The item didn't do anything mechanically, but it was nonetheless something you could only get by putting the time in at mahgong. That's not much to ask! Nobody would complain about not being able to get a tiny, useless trophy icon without playing mahjong! In the game Judgment, which wasn't very long ago at all, they had a whole SLEW of mahjong-focused goodies, including substories centered around it, a unique new way to play it, and some 100% optional bonus challenges (which could also be cheated through, if you really wanted).

SEGA's attention to these details is a frustratingly mixed bag. When they don't give a f, like in Infinite Wealth, it impacts how *I* feel about the game as a whole. They do this with the retro arcade games as well. Sometimes the classics from the 80s are well represented; sometimes they're utterly absent. Sometimes there are legitimate challenges tied to taking the arcade games seriously; sometimes they're literally only there for flavor and serve less purpose than playing the damn things in an emulator.

[VB Driver]

Oprindeligt skrevet af retsa2b:

Oprindeligt skrevet af VB✠Driver:

"Once again sidelined"? So......like......it's THREE Mahjong parlors with 3 tables each again and all required for 100%, right?

Yep. In other words, the actual least amount of mahjong any mainline Yakuza (or Judgment) game has ever had. Even Yakuza 1 had a ranking system.

It's debatable whether this game has more or less mahjong than LaD did. They both mechanically have identical amounts of mahjong. But the prize for winning the "cup" in this game is 200,000 yen, whereas in LaD it was the same bottle of sake you could by at a convenience store for 1000 yen. Both are "hurr durr we don't care" phoned-in content, but which is more phoned in? Some money, or a worthless item you can acquire in unlimited quantities?

My point was - There's too much Mahjong in recent games.

[Amaterasu]

Oprindeligt skrevet af lainiwaku:

at least i feel like they reworked difficulty
in other yakuza i felt like AI cheating even on easy table, 3 turn and AI was already like "RIICHI" 2 other turn and they win with broken hand
i did a mahjjong game yesterday on easy table in infinte wealth, and it was feeling fair

Three turns? ♥♥♥♥, you got lucky. I'd get to turn two and hear "Riichi! Riichi! Riichi!"

[retsa2b]

Oprindeligt skrevet af VB✠Driver:

My point was - There's too much Mahjong in recent games.

Wait. Did they make completing all the game's challenges an achievement this time around? I'm trying to sort out why this matters to somebody who doesn't even want to play the minigame.

[retsa2b]

Oprindeligt skrevet af sungoddess14:

Three turns? ♥♥♥♥, you got lucky. I'd get to turn two and hear "Riichi! Riichi! Riichi!"

I think you might bend one of this thread's followers out of shape with this implication that there's luck involved in mahjong. Fair warning.

[Amaterasu]

Oprindeligt skrevet af retsa2b:

Oprindeligt skrevet af sungoddess14:

Three turns? ♥♥♥♥, you got lucky. I'd get to turn two and hear "Riichi! Riichi! Riichi!"

I think you might bend one of this thread's followers out of shape with this implication that there's luck involved in mahjong. Fair warning.

I was saying he was lucky that the computer waited til turn 3 to slam down a Riichi. It's possible to be 1-3 tiles from Tenpai after your initial draw. Three people being 1-3 tiles from Tenpai is statistically unlikely. It happening several times in a row is straight up the AI cheating.

I play Mahjong. It's a multilayered game. Sometimes, the dead wall doesn't give you the tiles you need and you have to get tiles from other players, hoping you don't run afoul of the furiten rule. While you do not know what's in your opponents' hands, you can look at their discards to get a feel for what tiles are still around and what tiles are safe if someone announces Riichi.

I'm not great, but there is one thing I get a general feel for... when and if I call Riichi. Speaking of which, I'm gonna go play a couple games of Mahjong now.

[YCCHAN]

mahjong is fun , try to learn it

[VB Driver]

Oprindeligt skrevet af retsa2b:

Oprindeligt skrevet af VB✠Driver:

My point was - There's too much Mahjong in recent games.

Wait. Did they make completing all the game's challenges an achievement this time around? I'm trying to sort out why this matters to somebody who doesn't even want to play the minigame.

Because it hurdles otherwise easy and fun 100%. Having 1 parlor table to win is already enough trouble. But 3 of them? Why no other minigame has multiple Completionist entries?

[fejota]

Oprindeligt skrevet af retsa2b:

Oprindeligt skrevet af VB✠Driver:

"Once again sidelined"? So......like......it's THREE Mahjong parlors with 3 tables each again and all required for 100%, right?

Yep. In other words, the actual least amount of mahjong any mainline Yakuza (or Judgment) game has ever had. Even Yakuza 1 had a ranking system.

It's debatable whether this game has more or less mahjong than LaD did. They both mechanically have identical amounts of mahjong. But the prize for winning the "cup" in this game is 200,000 yen, whereas in LaD it was the same bottle of sake you could by at a convenience store for 1000 yen. Both are "hurr durr we don't care" phoned-in content, but which is more phoned in? Some money, or a worthless item you can acquire in unlimited quantities?

Winning a bottle of sake as a mahjong prize is laughable. Imagine if you didn't read it and spend a lot of time, sweat and tears to get a single bottle that cost I dunno? 1000 yen?
I love Mahjong (I learned how to play due to Yakuza 0, the first game I played from the saga) but don't care about achievements and 100% completion but I get your point. It's not that much effort to grant simple prize or achievement apart from the money.

I don't get why people want to remove the minigame. I don't like shogi because it involves skill and I'm not that good but that doesn't mean I want the minigame out.
I found out in this game that the shogi puzzle awards you with points if you don't use any takeback; so you can farm points by playing the same puzzle again and again. I'm talking about the open shogi in Yokohama available from the start.

[retsa2b]

Oprindeligt skrevet af VB✠Driver:

Because it hurdles otherwise easy and fun 100%. Having 1 parlor table to win is already enough trouble. But 3 of them? Why no other minigame has multiple Completionist entries?

You may find this rather surprising, but mahjong is a big damn deal in Japan, and these are Japanese games. This is the reason. For the Japanese audience, plus folks like myself and others in this thread who have taken a few moments to actually learn the game, those challenges ARE "easy and fun", and if anything, it's many of the other minigames that could easily be categorized as tedious. From the perspective of the target audience, you may as well be complaining about having to play Poker or Bridge, or Monopoly—you may not personally like it, but you should at least appreciate that bi---ing about it makes you sound silly.