How to use a hint to skip some battles and break scripts? What hidden power do ordinary drinks from vending machines hold?? How to trick the game into removing enemies from the map? Why QTE failures are mandatory in speedrunning? And how to win a talent competition without doing anything?
I present to you a budget version of “Speedrun in detail”, and the text was written by me – NikitosShilka. Buckle up, ’cause there’s no stopping.
Introduction
In this blog, I will look at speedruns from parts 0-7 of the Yakuza series from speedrunner Froob, who set records in some parts and still makes new speedruns in the Ryu Ga Gotuku series of games and their spin-offs. He recently held a stream marathon, where he sped through all (almost) the main parts of the series and I will try to analyze each of them.
Believe me, there are many interesting moments there.
1) Yakuza 0
It’s worth making a reservation right away. A huge amount of time in speedrunning is spent running around. There’s a lot of it here.
In part 0 and Kiwami you need to learn how to sprint correctly. When the hero begins to tilt his head, the speedrunner stops running to restore stamina.
The speedrunner knows in advance, like a guest from the future, where to run and what to buy. Therefore, in the first chapters of Kiryu we see how the speedrunner runs into stores and buys the necessary goods for the plot, namely Scotch, Beer, Sake, Potato Infusion and Champagne for the homeless from the second chapter and a Sushi set for the homeless from the sixth.
In the second chapter, the speedrunner begins additional. quest “Password Protected”, since as a reward he will receive a shotgun, which will be more than enough in the early stages of the game. So far, the usual routine is happening in the initial chapters: introduction and training of styles, skipping cutscenes and speeding up dialogues on P1+X.
Only at the first meeting with Mr. Extortionist, the speedrunner deliberately allows himself to be beaten in order to immediately trigger a cutscene with the thug’s escape.
In the first chapter of Majima everything is unchanged: Training and skips of everything that may take time. The only interesting thing here is that the speedrunner is undergoing training in finding equipment from Fei Hu’s wife in order to open a weapons store.
And in the second chapter everything is much more interesting.
First, the speedrunner buys 3 knives and 2 shotguns. Since Froob plays on easy difficulty, the damage from hit actions is increased and when used repeatedly, the game does not reduce the damage, which means that a speedrunner can safely abuse the same hit action on bosses and enemies.
The speedrunner also uses and upgrades the Beast and Breaker styles, since Beast has increased damage, and Breaker is fast and does a lot of damage.
But after two bossfights in this chapter, the longest and most boring part begins, namely, Escorting Makoto. You need to get from point A to point B without getting caught by the bandits, and if you get caught, you will have to fight and prevent the enemies from kidnapping the girl. But ugh, what stealth, we have a speedrun here!
And this is where glitch comes into play.
The speedrunner was saved in advance in the 4th and 8th chapters just before the accompaniment. He chooses the optimal route for himself, where bandits usually stand and force the player to look for another path. Our hero rolls through all standing units and defeats them.
But what is the essence of the glitch??
And the fact is that already at the moment of the speedrun itself, the game thinks that the player has already defeated standing units of enemies and removes them from the map, clearing the way for the speedrunner. Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work with scripted enemies.
The third chapter of Kiryu is a tutorial for his mini-game with buying buildings and you need to do what the game asks. There is only one important point.
When the hero is asked to wander around the city so that the character can do something, a lot of time is spent waiting for the call. In order to speed up the process of receiving a call, the speedrunner enters the gaming room and starts the slot machine three times. Thanks to this, the game seems to waste time for the call trigger.
In the fourth chapter of Kiryu, the speedrunner buys shotguns and knives. This chapter is just a mess with enemies and a boss, which can be easily solved with the help of shotguns and hit action sequences.
The third chapter of Majima is also a tutorial for a mini-game with a cabaret club, and since you can’t exit it, you can leave the game in AFK mode and use it as a short break, although the club won’t earn anything, but that doesn’t matter.
From the 5th to the 12th chapter you can observe only one running around or a mess with bandits and a boss, which are easily passed with the help of weapon abuse. So let’s go straight to chapter 13.
Here again you will have to wait for the character’s call, but in order for it to work, you need to check the location of the car explosion near the massage parlor. And then rewind time using a slot machine.
There will also be a car chase, but the difficulty is easy and the enemies here are more stupid, killing them won’t be difficult.
The streamer goes through the final chapter as quickly as possible, using weapons.
Our hero misses the first skirmish with enemies for Kiryu by killing the fat guy with the couch, and he has to fight with the rest. The speedrunner also selects first aid kits for the final bossfight
Majima’s ending is no different from Kiryu’s. Unless you can’t skip battles and have to destroy everything in your path. The final bosses of Majima, the hero quickly kills with the help of hit actions and breaker.
And the final boss of Kiryu is generally easy to go through, thanks to the hit action on Bist, which does a lot of damage.
The last blow, the boss is defeated and it’s time to speedrun 3:39:38. Let’s move on.
2) Yakuza Kiwami
Kiwami goes through patterns 0. We learn how to sprint correctly, play on easy difficulty, buy a bottle of water, a plate and dog food for the dog in advance in Chapter 4.
After the prologue, the streamer tries to defeat Majima in the first skirmish, as he will receive a lot of experience, which will be enough to upgrade damage, health and some skills.
In the third chapter, the hero runs through the city to find the keys to the lockers and from there receives an Ancient Coin and Stamina Spark, which he sells to a buyer. He also goes through a substory with the Bouncer, as a reward he receives gloves that cost 500,000 Yen and sells them. With the proceeds, the speedrunner buys knives, shotguns, pistols and a headband, which increases the damage from weapons and the hit of action games.
Unfortunately, there are no interesting skips in Kiwami. Just an upgrade of skills, damage and hit bar for more damage. Therefore, the final bosses are completed very quickly, since hit action games destroy a large strip very quickly. And it’s speedrunning time 2:11:50.
3) Yakuza Kiwami 2
The fastest part of the series, after Kiwami and 6. The speedrun recipe for this part is simple, you will need:
Easy difficulty, buy 10 pieces of Muscle Soda from vending machines (to increase the damage by 3-5 times) and Poseidon power (to increase sprint) and pick up weapons in Long battles (for a speedrun, a Nameless katana, a crowbar, a wooden katana from an old tree will be enough). Do a heavy hit and right before the weapon hits the enemy’s hitbox, drink a Muscle Soda in your inventory and voila! One-shots of ordinary enemies and high damage on bosses are guaranteed to you!
In Chapter 3, while the hero is waiting for Mom to call from the bar, the speedrunner wastes no time and runs around the city.
He starts a substory with an old millionaire and gets 30 thousand Yen for the correct answer.
Then he runs through the hiding places and finds two gold plates and one platinum one. For selling them, the hero will receive 400 thousand Yen, which is needed for the plot.
And finally, the speedrunner finds 3 locker keys to get a Wooden Katana, a Cloak that increases damage and a training manual that gives 100 green experience.
Most battles with bosses and enemies are completed by simply plugging enemies with weapons with a bonus from Muscle Soda. However there are some points:
The speedrunner does not forget to upgrade his skills, the main priorities are: Increasing weapon damage, increasing Kiryu’s damage and increasing sprint.
In the Amano building, Froob picks up pistols from his opponents, which will help him in the bossfight with Shindo. If the first two fights follow the old rules, then before the final stage, in order not to waste time, the speedrunner takes out a pistol and, right from the entrance to the arena, damages Shindo with an aimed shot and triggers QTE.
In the final, in the bossfight with Terada, the speedrunner fails the QTE with beams, since it is very drawn out, and getting hit in the chest with a beam is better than wasting time. And in a bossfight with Ryuji, the hero loses a little time, since he was unlucky and Kiryu fell, and Ryuji’s fall in the second phase triggers a very long QTE section. But still, 1:40:26 — speedrun result
3) Yakuza 3
Since this part suffers from the disease of blocks from enemies, speedrunning methods are changing.
The first two bossfights against Majima and Rikkiya, Froob passes by simply pinning the boss in the corner.
Then, the hero sells all the Stamian X that he has in his inventory and buys simple bits with all the money. The following actions are a tedious, but still obligatory routine:
Solving children’s problems, playing mini-games without the opportunity to leave and running around, running around, running around.
Most Long Battles, the speedrunner will just run through. He fights only in those moments where the game forces the player to confront enemies.
In bossfights (up to chapter 10), our hero uses a special attack on the bat. First he hits with a light attack, and then presses O (or Q on PC), launching an attack that deals a huge amount of damage.
When catching a dog, Froob selects two dialogue options that involve a bone for the dog. This needs to be done, because this is the best option to get rid of the storyline with the dog. In other options, you will have to run to the shelter to get the necessary thing. And when the player is told to wait a little, the speedrunner enters the Mahjong hall and leaves from there, the task is immediately triggered to return to the girl with the dog and a cutscene.
In Okinawa and Kamorucho, the speedrunner picks up the keys to the lockers, where he finds: Body Armor, 2 Blackjack Amulets, Sword, 2 Shotguns, Revolver and Stamina Spark.
Ballast in the form of used bits, Stamina Spark, sword and Body Armor, the hero sells to a buyer and buys new bits.
As for leveling up, the speedrunner only levels up the Heat and Tech sections.
In Kamorucho, the hero finds a weapon store thanks to a secret code.
While searching for Rikkiya, the hero chooses options related to Taihei Boulevard, Theater Square and M Store, since with these options there will be a successful path to our would-be traveler.
In Chapter 10, a speedrunner goes into a casino and uses 2 amulets in blackjack and plays there until he wins 30 thousand chips. At the exchange point for all the won chips, the hero buys platinum plates, which he sells to the buyer.
With the money received, Froob buys revolvers, which are very helpful in the final bosses, since revolvers fire very quickly and cause a lot of damage.
And as a result, the speedrunner runs through the final Long Battle, and he kills the CIA Agent and Mine with the help of revolvers. And besides, the total time is 2:16:05
4) Yakuza 4
In the fourth part we have four protagonists, new movesets, but old speedrunning techniques.
Akiyama starts first. The speedrunner immediately purchases Tauriner+ to fill the hit gauge and get through the first battles and boss as quickly as possible. Speedrunner fails boss QTE because it takes a long time.
In the second chapter, the hero sells https://betswaggercasino.co.uk/bonus/ the remaining tauriners, the radar found in the locker and buys bits. Lots of beats (come up with a joke about beats in the comments).
In sections with chases, you no longer need to hold the sprint button, the character is already running, which means you can do a jump, which looks ridiculous, but speeds up the character and allows you to catch up with fleeing enemies very quickly.
In the fourth chapter, the player is taught how to manage a cabaret club. You won’t be able to stand in AFK mode here, but speedrunners are cunning people and have found a way.
As soon as the hero enters the hall, the speedrunner checks where the hostess is (is she booked or just sitting), interacts with her 3 times, walks a little further and now, the hero thinks that his work is finished, although in fact he had to go around the entire hall.
The final long battle and the two final bosses in Akiyama’s chapter are completed with the help of bits. Akiyama’s chapter is over.
The head of Saejima is not rich in tactics. Before escaping, our hero buys upgrades for a double finisher, a stronger combo, combo speed and the ability to charge even when you are hit by enemies. The entire first chapter is tedious running around and an equally tedious escape from prison. Only on the roof, the speedrunner runs through all the enemies in order to save time.
As Saejima, the speedrunner uses charges on downed bosses to prevent them from standing up and triggering QTEs. True, it didn’t work in the bossfight with Kiryu, so the speedrunner had to fail the QTE.
The third chapter is still the same routine and running around. Unless the hero finds the key to the locker and takes out the Dragon Eye from there.
In the final chapter, Saejima is forced to take a roundabout route due to police patrols, here the speedrunner deviates slightly from the route given by the game and saves quite a bit of time. On the way to the shelter, the hero stops by the buyer, sells all the heals, the Dragon’s Eye and buys bits. A few more minutes of running and wow! Bossfight with Majima’s family, Minami and Mad Dog himself! Which are passed with the help of a bat. Saejima’s chapter is over.
Tanimura’s chapter is more dynamic. From the very beginning, the hero buys bits (no, seriously, you can write a joke about this) and two fake silver plates. As for leveling up Tanimura, here the speedrunner buys finishing off prone enemies, hit actions after combos and increasing combo speed.
The long battle in the port is easy to complete. We beat the first boss and run all the way to the final bosses of the location, however, at the moment with oil, the speedrunner walks, since any sudden movement and Tanimura will slip and fall. Well, bosses with a katana and a pistol, I think you know what they use.
The second chapter, after running around with the suitcase, is complicated by the fact that while escaping from Katsuragi’s people, the hero cannot use weapons other than the suitcase, which damages enemies well. When the hero’s suitcase is taken away, you can again play baseball with the heads of the bandits. And there is a chase and again a fight with a suitcase, then again a chase and a fight with bandits.
In the final chapter, we fire all guns and ram the final boss’s boat. And during the bossfight we beat him with a bat. Tanimura’s chapter is over.
And now it’s Kiryu’s turn. He has the shortest chapter. The speedrunner immediately buys an upgrade that increases the speed of the combo and thus runs through the first Long Battle and passes the first boss with a pistol.
The speedrunner also finds the key to Kiryu’s locker, there is a figurine there, sells it and buys bits. And with the help of a bat, the hero goes through a boss fight with Tanimura and Akiyama.
Then Long Battle in Kamorucho Hills. The recipe is simple: Fight bosses, but run where necessary. Kiryu’s chapter is over.
And what about the finale?? Nothing. The speedrunner transfers the remaining bits between the heroes and goes to clean the faces of the final bosses. On Saejima’s boss, the speedrunner fails a QTE to save time. And so, the last enemy is defeated and the final time for our speedrunner is – 2:58:10
5) Yakuza 5 (stuffy)
Now get ready. The longest part of the series awaits you, both for normal playthrough and for speedrun. There is twice as much running around and unskippable dialogues, and describing everything here would be suicide of the purest form. So I’ll just go over the main points.
The game starts with Kiryu’s chapter and in the first chapter, the speedrunner buys Tauriner+. After a rather long walk, the hero reaches the first boss fight against Yamagasa’s people. The speedrunner uses his taurineers to quickly eliminate one of the bosses with the help of hit action with chairs. After defeating one of the drunks, the second one will immediately trigger a QTE that will one-shot him.
Then the hero meets his master, who teaches Kiryu such a technique as Dragon Spirit – this is Kiryu’s superpower, which is a Rage mod and allows you not to take damage and very quickly beat bandits and move between them. To activate this thing, you need a full hit bar, and the speedrunner has a lot of tauriners. Do you understand what I’m hinting at?? The speedrunner uses this technique in small battles with opponents.
The second chapter is essentially a tutorial for Kiryu’s mini-game, namely working in a taxi. First, we will be asked to give a ride to a client, but we don’t give a damn about traffic rules, sneakers on the floor, and here we are. You need to drive quickly and carefully, as one wrong turn and the game will throw the hero back to the checkpoint.
And then, unexpectedly, Yakuza 5: Nagasukai Drift begins. Yes it’s a race. But since it is educational, if you are far behind your opponent, the enemy will kindly break down right before the finish line (hello, Mafia Definitive edition).
And so, bossfight against Morinaga and “this is definitely not the final boss” Aizawa. But there the matter is resolved with the help of Dragon Spirit and killing Morinaga. There is also a QTE that damages both bosses and can finish off someone from this duo.
In the third chapter, the hero will have to give a ride to one pervert and chase the car, but this surveillance is quite long. So, hit the floor and oh-oh they noticed us. The pervert will say that the hero is an idiot, and we will be glad that we don’t need to waste time on useless surveillance (if only it were like that in the Fourth Assassin).
Next will be the first Long Battle at the Yamagasa family headquarters. During this long battle, the speedrunner decides to level up and levels up the Heat branch to level 4, and the Tech branch to level 8. Thanks to the 8th level of technology, the hero will unlock Bounding Throw, which allows you to endlessly pin bosses in the corner and not let them get up.
The Long Battle itself is run through quickly eliminating enemies where the game requires it, and in the final we just run to the doors.
Bossfight with Yahata is completed with a clamp using Bounding throw, and escaping from the headquarters is also simple: We hit the enemies to open the passage, run, climb onto the thing, pretentiously jump down and finish off the remaining enemies.
The final chapter of Kiryu is easy to complete. First, a run through standing squads of bandits, then a chase in which you need to pick up and hit with bottles for more damage. And oops! The speedrunner is already at the Yamagasa family’s hideout.
You can simply run through the shelter itself, but in some moments (the boss with the sledgehammer and the boss in front of Yahata) you will have to fight. During this long battle, a rather interesting glitch occurs, namely – Textbook stuck.
What is its essence? Dialogues during battle appear in the form of a small window with text: usually these are dialogues or reminders from the game, like “you are going the wrong way” or “you can’t go there”.
After the hero puts out the fire, the speedrunner turns around and runs to the place where he came from. The game will immediately react “HEY, WHERE ARE YOU WHERE” and remind you that your goal is at the top. And as soon as this text appears, the speedrunner quickly turns around and runs upstairs. Thanks to this text, the hero broke the game script, since after extinguishing the fire, a cutscene and a battle with three bandits armed with fire extinguishers should have started. Because of the text box, the game thinks that a dialogue important to the plot is happening now and cannot run the script.
And the bossfight with Yahata is just a QTE battle. Yes, hello David Cage
And the final battle against a hundred people of the Tojo Clan is easy, thanks to the lying weapon. Kiryu’s chapter is over.
The second part is dedicated to Saejima. But his entire chapter up to the 3rd chapter is a simple run through triggers, fights and another prison escape. Before the first boss fight, the hero upgrades his Soul tabs to level 4, and Tech to 8. Saejima now has double finishing moves, powerful moves, and the ability to complete a combo even when the hero takes damage. After the escape there will be a chase on snowmobiles (just like in that mission from Kalda), but it’s just a chase. And also a boss fight against a bear, but there is a simple clamp with the help of charge attacks.
Saejima’s third chapter is a tutorial for his hunting mini-game. Here, according to the precepts of RDR2, we must track down prey and move like a “little bitch mouse”. But since we have a speedrun, the speedrunner will move using a somersault. Also, you need to shoot the animal, the hero gets as close as possible to the deer and kills one of them with a well-aimed shot to the head.
Towards the end of the tutorial, the heroes will be attacked by a hungry bear! In order not to waste time on useless shooting, the speedrunner waits for his partner to be beaten half to death by the bear. And before the end of the chapter, the hero sells all his swag to get 50 thousand Yen.
In the final chapter, the heroes will prepare a kidnapping. And the speedrunner will again have to run through the plot triggers. In the Ambitions bar, the hero will meet an informant who is ready to tell information if the hero pays 50 thousand Yen or wins it in billiards. Froob gives away 50 pieces and runs further according to plot triggers. After all preparations are completed, the final Long Battle against the Kitakata family will begin. But there the matter is solved by a simple selection of scooters.
Then we pursue Baba, he will want to kill the hero, and Saejima will break his face with a scooter for this insolence. Saejima’s chapter is over.
The third part is the general chapter of Haruka and Akiyama. The first two chapters we play as Haruka. And her part in the game is just a set of dance and simple mini-games. There are a lot of them here. And also performances at a talent competition. In short, horror that takes a lot of time. Or not?
No matter how ironic it may sound, you can simply skip all mini-games, training sessions and performances in the “Princess League” by simply quitting them. Yes. And I don’t care that these are plot-important moments. Never mind that Haruka wins them anyway without essentially doing anything. Apparently, Majima not only arranged a concert for Haruka, but also bought everyone so that Kiryu-chan’s daughter wouldn’t lose. Well, besides mini-games, there’s a lot of running around on plot triggers. Only in the end, the player will be forced to play the local “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, here you just need to spam with the same answer option and that’s it.
In the third chapter we are given control over Akiyama. After training, the speedrunner runs into the weapons store and buys 5 clubs (Blackjack) and with the remaining money buys Tauriner+. With the help of spamming the hit action on the baton, the speedrunner will complete all boss fights as Akiyama. As for leveling up, the speedrunner levels up the Soul, Tech and Heat branches, slightly increasing Akiyama’s speed and damage in hand-to-hand combat.
In the final chapter, the speedrunner will have to do a training session before the Princess League final, since it cannot be missed, but you can leave the game in AFK mode and use it as a break.
Akiyama’s long battle can be completed using Textbook stuck, at least the first part. During the second wave of enemies, the hero leaves one enemy and tries to bug the game reminder, stubbornly running into an invisible wall. As soon as the text is triggered for the 5th time, the hero finishes off the enemy and runs further. This breaks the game scripts and it does not trigger two QTEs and two larger groups of opponents.
The bulldozer that never appeared
There should be a QTE and a group of enemies
There should be a QTE and a group of enemies
After the cutscene, the speedrunner runs through the first group of enemies, and inside the building he very quickly deals with the enemies, using hit actions and a baton.
The final bossfight against Kanai is easy to complete. The speedrunner focuses only on the boss and hits only him, so as not to trigger the second group of enemies and to immediately get to the ending QTE. The Haruka/Akiyama chapter is over.
The fourth part is dedicated to the former baseball player and just a darling – Tatsuo Shinada. And here I don’t even know. Shinada’s chapter is the most boring in this speedrun, because there are no glitches here. Shinada’s chapter is easier because he has a pipe with an infinite amount of durability and hit actions that work when the hero draws a weapon (like Majima in 0). As for pumping, the speedrunner pumps Soul to level 2 and Tech to level 4.
In the first chapter, the hero will need to play baseball to win money.
In the next chapter, the speedrunner forcibly exits the mini-game and after meeting the baseball coach, the hero receives a worm for fishing, which will be useful later. And so, the first two chapters are a run through triggers and boss fights.
In the third chapter, the hero will have a rather long Long battle and a run from the forklift in the port. There are no skips, so the speedrunner goes through this battle fairly. Only after the QTE with logs does Froob beat up only Naguya, since by defeating him, the enemies will disappear from the location.
In the final chapter, Daigo has an unskippable intro, so the scene can be used as a breather. And listen to the best soundtrack in the game.
And the final bossfight against the Kuroha family can be simplified a little. First of all, the speedrunner eats the worm he got in chapter two. The worm immediately reduces health to a critical level and this immediately triggers an exclusive QTE, after completing which the player will one-shot the miniboss.
The speedrunner replenishes health and finishes off the remaining gang members, and also performs another QTE that kills 5 bandits at once.
After the bossfight there will be another important moment. The hero must hit a home run in the final, in the form of a QTE, if he fails, it will be a gameover. Shinada’s chapter is over.
And now the final chapter for all characters. In the first chapter of Kiryu/Saejima, there are only two boss fights and a lot of running around.
The second chapter of Shinada/Akiyama is just a lot of dialogue and running around. Even without bossfight.
The third chapter is the assault on Kamorucho Hills. Here the game offers a choice: who we will play as, Kiryu or Saejima. Speedrunner chooses Saejima as he has very high damage and takes out crowds quickly. QTE with falling decorative items, the speedrunner fails because it takes a lot of time, and Saejima gets hit on his bald head with a flower.
Just before the elevator, the hero will be met by a fairly large crowd of opponents, while they are shouting about how they will bury the hero alive, the speedrunner quickly turns around and while the window with the text is active (the game does not have time to put an invisible wall in front of the elevator), the speedrunner runs to the elevator and skips the fight against the crowd.
On the top floor, the hero faces two boss fights against mini bosses in which the speedrunner uses Saejima’s Ultimate Hit Action.
On the roof of Kamorucho Hills, two boss fights will await the hero: one boss for Kiryu, one for Saejima. In the third bossfight, the game will again offer a choice between heroes. Speedrunner chooses Kiryu and defeats Saejima with Bounding throw spam.
The fourth chapter is the final chapter for Haruka, and for the rest it is a brainstorming session before the final batch. There’s only one run around.
And here it is, the finale! First, the speedrunner will experience an unskippable cutscene with a battle near the Millennium Tower. In the first battle and the battle on Theater Square, the hero chooses Kiryu and uses Bounding throw to the maximum.
In the sewers, the speedrunner chooses Saejima and makes Textbook stuck again. During the second wave of enemies, the hero runs to the end of the arena and while somewhere behind, Saejima will be called out by Shinada, the speedrunner triggers this dialogue 5 times, finishes off the last enemy, while the window with the text is active, the hero runs through groups of enemies and runs to the mini boss. And again the game scripts broke, because after the second wave of enemies, a very long dialogue between Shinada and Saejima should have been triggered, during which the enemies cannot damage the player, and the player cannot damage the player. During the battle with the mini boss, there will be a QTE with Shinada, if you fail it, there will be a game over.
So, the final boss fight is Saejima vs. Majima. QTE that does not damage the boss, the speedrunner fails. And Mad Dog himself is very difficult to stun with charges, plus the phase with doubles is very disgusting.
Shinada’s next final boss is Baba. The tactics are the same as Majima’s, if the QTE damages the boss, we perform it, if not, we fail. And so, the boss himself is passed with the help of spam hit actions.
Akiyama’s final boss – Kanai and a very large crowd on Theater Square. The tactics are the same as in the finale of the third part. The speedrunner focuses only on the boss and hits his hit with baton actions, simultaneously completing all QTEs.
And now, the final boss of the game – who would have thought, but this is Aizawa. Bossfight against him is easily completed using Bounding throw spam and it is advisable to do this longer, since the more damage is dealt, the faster the boss will move to a new phase. Kiryu’s ultimate hit action, the speedrunner holds until Aizawa begins to restore his health. The final QTE must also be completed, as failure will result in a game over. The last boss is defeated and it’s time for the speedrunner – 6:10:03.
6) Yakuza 6
I’m done with the 5th part and I could end the blog here, but no, we still have two parts left. But it won’t be so long here.
Unlike K2 (and 6 was the first game on the Dragon Engine, so the combat and some mechanics here are neutered), the hero cannot buy ten cans of Yaga and drink it at any time. Noooo. Now Kiryu can only buy ONE can and drink it from his hands instead of from his inventory. Therefore, the hero juggles drinks:
-If there is no batch planned in the near future, the speedrunner drinks Green Daruma (increasing sprint).
-If there is a Long Battle or a fight with a boss, then the hero buys and drinks C.C.Lemon or Orange Soda, which increases the damage of the hero’s attacks. And in combination with pumped up damage + the hero is in Extreme mode, which increases damage + bonuses from equipment – this is a very lethal thing.
In the first chapters we see running around the new Kamorucho, purchasing Sushi sets for a plot point, showing the way to taxi drivers who can take us anywhere in the city and fights with bosses. Unfortunately, there is no inventory for weapons here, so the speedrunner picks up all sorts of cones, benches and bicycles.
As for leveling up, Froob puts all the experience into damage, increased sprint, increased bonus from drinks, increased damage from hit action, Heat Rush and running dropkick. This is the entire arsenal of a speedrunner.
Arriving in Onomichi, when the hero is shown his apartment, the speedrunner reloads the autosave and removes the limited speed from Kiryu and the accompanying person, and the entire trip takes place in first-person mode, since the hero goes faster in this mode.
While searching for milk, the speedrunner makes small manipulations with saves. I explain:
Having received the task of finding milk, the game sets a timer for a minute (approximately), during which time the player must find the right path to advance through the plot. When the timer expires, a mini-game starts where you will need to calm down the little one and after that, the timer rolls back to the next 60 seconds. BUT! The speedrunner, having received a new task (get to Kiyomi’s bar, get to the barbershop), reloads the autosave to roll back the timer to 0. During this time, it is quite possible to reach your destination without triggering the mini-game. Using the same method, you can remove enemies from the map if they appear in the wrong place.
By the way, in Onomichi the speedrunner finds two keys for caches and finds equipment that increases damage.
In the fifth chapter, the hero is introduced to the RTS strategy that we saw in Kiwami 2. It can’t be missed either, so the speedrunner quickly goes through the tutorial mission.
This is followed by a long battle in the hotel and a bossfight against Someya, but the matter is resolved with the help of soda and improvised means.
In Chapter 7, the heroes must quietly get into the Chinese mafia restaurant and there will be stealth here! Which immediately fails in the kitchen, because why waste time on stealth if you can kill all the enemies.
From the 8th to the 11th chapter we see the usual routine: Running around, soda, Long battle, bossfight.
In the 12th chapter after the boss fight with Nagumo, the game tells you to find all the stones with quotes from philosophers in order to complete the puzzle. The speedrunner quickly runs through all the places, destroys the workers at the antagonist’s dock and beats Takeshi Kitano himself! (What a bastard!)
Final chapter. After the showdown in Onomichi and the reunion with Haruka, the coolest Long battle in the series will await the hero – Assault on the Millennium Tower. We drink soda and go kill the bastards.
After the Long Battle, the speedrunner will face the saddest bossfight in the game – the final battle with Someya. And here you can save a little time. To begin with, the hero turns on Extreme Mode on P2 and beats the boss with ice containers to cause a lot of damage. At the moment with the QTE, the speedrunner fails it and due to the fact that Kiryu is in extreme mode, the game removes the second part of the QTE and Someya remains with a katana, although in any outcome, he should have lost his weapon.
And now the final bossfights. Koshimizu goes through quickly, the main thing is to beat only him and he will immediately go to the second phase, and the enemies will disappear by themselves.
And then the final boss fight with Willows, but it’s damn easy. And besides, the time of the speedrunner – 1:56:22.
7) Yakuza: Like a Dragon
I will consider this part separately from the marathon. Because during that same marathon, Froob’s speedrun was ruined several times, so I take his best speedrun as a basis.
Firstly, the hero puts on Japanese voice acting. Not because the English is crap, but because the dialogue is shorter (hello, Resident Evil). It is worth making a reservation that the speedrun of the 7th part is very different from other parts of the series. JRPG combat and level system here are merciless and can ruin a whole wound. I’ll tell you more about this in the analysis of the Persona 5 speedrun.
The first chapter doesn’t stand out at all. Speedrunner spams the same move since he is strong and can stun enemies.
In the second chapter, the speedrunner runs to the buyer and buys more or less good equipment and a smoke bomb. When the game gives us Adashi in the squad, the heroes will go down into the dungeon, where there will be a lot of enemies and who want a serious thrashing! Or not? Escape from battle is also a way out. If the battle is not plot-related (a boss or a group of opponents), but, so to speak, simply appears on the hero’s path, then you can simply run away. But there are pitfalls here, and the main one is the space between the hero. If the hero has a lot of space, then the escape will be 50% successful, and if the hero is squeezed into a tight “box” meter by meter, the speedrunner will come to the aid of a smoke bomb, which allows him to escape from the battle.
After running through the dungeon, the heroes will have a series of story battles with opponents. And here again, the speedrunner spams the most powerful move in the heroes’ arsenal. Bossfight with Sawashiro is also possible.
In the third chapter, the hero is taught the delights of life as a homeless person. Collect change on the street, brew 1/6 of Doshirak a day, ride a bike and collect cans before others overtake, and so on. In short, plot routine.
Another important point. There are no taxis in Yokohama. At first. To open a fast travel service to the point you need, you must find a taxi driver in the area and talk to him. Only then will Fast Travel open to you. Therefore, the speedrunner interacts with all taxi drivers who meet on the way. It also opens safes with useful equipment.
In principle, boss fights can be done the same way: hit the enemies’ weaknesses and use the most powerful move in your arsenal.
In the fourth chapter everything is much more interesting. But only at the end. Towards the end of the chapter, the hero will discover “Friends” or the call of a powerful ally. This feature allows you to quickly deal with enemies or debuff them. After training, the speedrunner goes through a substory with gangsters who love to cosplay kids and for its completion, the hero can count on help from the Patriarch.
Then the hero purchases powerful equipment and sets off to storm the Seiryu Clan building. But there’s nothing to describe: we hit with strong techniques and use the enemies’ weaknesses to the maximum.
In the fifth chapter, Sae Niji will join the squad… Oh, sorry. Saeko Mukoda – first female partner. According to the plot, the heroes will meet the head of the local company “Hero on Call” and now Ichiban’s squad can carry out all sorts of assignments and save people from bandits. We’ll come back to this a little later.
Also in this chapter, Ichiban will meet Eri and help her with her business. We’ll also come back to this later.
Before the end of the chapter, the speedrunner takes a short break and begins preparation, which consists of the following:
Starts Eri’s business line and helps bring the company to the top 100. After this, she will become a member of the squad, and she has very good characteristics, damage and a high chance of escaping from battle.
In "Hero on Call" begins two quests to find cats and Kappa figurines. For the first, you can get the “Super Cat Punch” call and a million yen, for the second, one and a half million.
Purchased with ingredients, mystery seed and growth booster. Plants seeds and grows a mysterious fruit. With all the ingredients received, the speedrunner makes Lunch sets at the Survival bar, so they can replenish health and mana for the entire squad. Also, the speedrunner performs tasks to find objects for the “Hero on Call”.
Upgrades friendship with Adashi and Saeko to level 1 to gain more experience when they are in reserve. On Saeko, the speedrunner makes a glitch for experience: He gives her flowers and as soon as the window about leveling up appears, he skips her. The game glitches and starts adding more points.
Chapter 6 is one big Dungeon, the battle in which can be easily escaped with the help of Eri or Smoke Bomb. In Chinatown, the hero finds a seller and buys many rings that increase the character’s damage. Bosses in the 5th and 6th chapters are played in the old way (hit the weakness and use a powerful move).
In Chapter 7, the speedrunner changes Eri’s profession to Croupier, and Adashi to Enforcer.
The dealer has very powerful moves, such as: Dart Barrage and Mysterious Hat. And the Enforcer has a paralyzing grip.
Also, in place of Nanba (since he will disappear from this chapter due to plot circumstances), the hero puts Adashi.
One more thing, the speedrunner goes through a substory with a Korean actor to open his call in “Friends”.
The chapter with the Korean mafia follows old patterns, sometimes the speedrunner gives Eri a Kiwami drink to increase damage.
In Chapter 9 there will be a difficult boss fight against Nanba and Ishioda. The problem with this bossfight is that even with upgraded weapons and bonuses, Ishioda can one-shot Ichiban (and this will be a gameover). Therefore, Froob tries to kill Ishioda as quickly as possible and uses Super Cat Punch to quickly neutralize enemies.
In Chapter 10, Jun Gi Han will join the squad and have a long Long battle in a Chinese restaurant. There are three bossfights here: With a tiger (which is weak to gunfire), Mabushi and Ishioda. But they are going through the old tactics.
In the 11th chapter there is only one running around and a long battle against the people of the Omi Alliance. But there is an interesting point here, namely, the speedrunner goes through a substory with Mr. Masochist and receives his call in “Friends”.
In the 12th chapter, the speedrunner needs to prepare thoroughly, because the most difficult part of the game’s speedrun begins.
Firstly, the hero goes through several tasks to save people in order to level up his characters.
Secondly, he sells the watch for 1 million and receives the necessary 3 million to advance the plot.
In Sotenbori, the speedrunner goes through caches and gets new equipment, and buys grenade launchers from the buyer. There is a level grind ahead, so the speedrunner goes through the arena up to the 11th floor using grenade launcher spam and local hit actions. The speedrunner purchases grenade launchers, upgrades weapons and goes to the headquarters of the Omi Alliance.
Bossfight against Majima and Saejima is very difficult with incomplete leveling. Majima the speedrunner tries to hit with the most powerful techniques; in the phase with doubles, Froob uses the “Super Cat Punch” and kills all the doubles. When Saejima enters the fight, the speedrunner uses a grenade launcher, since Saejima is weak to explosions. When the brothers buff themselves, it’s definitely worth healing, since on the next turn the brothers use “Kill with a Blade”, which damages Ichiban very badly. And the fight against Omi’s people is just a joke compared to this.
In the 13th there will be debates, and the hero will also get back the 3 million that the speedrunner spends on upgrading weapons. Bossfight with Sawashiro is quite simple here.
Chapter 14 will have another difficult boss fight, this time it’s Kiryu. Kiryu’s only weakness is Ice (host profession) or Shaman (host profession). Therefore, Speedrunner returns Saeko to the squad and uses Kiryu’s weaknesses to the maximum (and Eri’s darts under the buff). Bossfight vs Ishioda and Mirrorface is also easy.
And here is the final chapter! The hero immediately goes to the Milenium Tower, where there will be a lot of opponents, and in the end, the most difficult boss of the finale is Tendo. Tendo has no weaknesses (electricity, but Adashi is not in the party, and other characters do not have electric attacks), he can walk twice, and he also has very strong attacks and a one-shot move. But the speedrunner manages to cope with him, with the help of darts and hit actions.
Bossfight against Ryu Aoki is very simple, thanks to the call of friends. And the final battle against Masato is completed with the help of hit actions and friends. It was on this stream that Froob set a world record in the speedrun of the 7th part. Time and current world record – 3:22:56.
Phew, well, this is the blog I ended up with. I hope you were interested in learning about speedruns in this series of games. Write your opinion about the blog and see you in the next blog!