Toshihiro Nagoshi, making Yakuza
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- čas přidán 18. 11. 2020
- The Yakuza series celebrates this year its 15th anniversary. With more 12 million units sold worldwide, it is a critical success praised for the story, action and sometimes over-the-top gameplay of its games.
As part of the Archipel "Caravan" series, we've met with the series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, SEGA CCO and head of the Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, who recollected on the origins of Yakuza, its evolution as one of SEGA's top IPs and his perspectives towards the future.
If you enjoy our content, please share, subscribe and/or consider supporting us on Patreon: / archipel
Thanks to SubTube for the Portuguese (BR), Charlotte for the French and Tsvetoslav 'SEAN' Shalev for the Bulgarian subtitles!
#sega #yakuza #龍が如く - Hry
19:32 "If I get to see a smile on a players face, it doesn't matter how mad the company gets at me"
Damn Nagoshi-san seems so pleasant.
Its difficult to describe how much of an impact Yakuza had on my life.
Thanks to this series, I managed to get through the hardest chapters of my life. I got to see how fun life can really be, even if things go wrong. I got the chance to become a better person thanks to the values I got from Kiryu and the other characters.
As cringy as it may sound, Yakuza was a life-changer for me. And I am so thankful for Nagoshi and all the staff that worked on these games for making these gems come to be.
Thank you for everything.
It's not cringy at all if this had an impact on you in this way. Art can impact you in many ways, and values exist in media to teach you things as well as provoke you. The series has had a similar effect on me as well, and I'm glad there are people like you and I who can share experiences like this and grow because of it.
Not cringy. My life was so empty and pointless like in Nier Automata. That was before I found out the Yakuza series. I learnt so much from every single character and even from bullshit in the series. The series itself help me not only overcome some hardships in life, but also heal myself. I realize that sometimes our inspirations don't come from big serious things like books or motivation speech, but from some unconventional but wonderful things like this.
Welcome to the "Extreme Path", where extreme drama, extreme brutality, extreme badass, extreme fun, extreme dumbness and extreme bullshit combine and somehow work well together!
Not cringy. We learn a lot from stories being told through any medium, Be it Video games, books or movies. I definitely learnt a lot from Yakuza since playing it from young, the values and hardships of its characters and how not to give up living life. In fact the most recent game that has the most profound impact on me is Red Dead Redemption 2.
not cringy at all. I've never played these games but thanks to this video and your comment now i'm really intrested in them. I'm probably going to buy a title
@@lucafruttarol287 Only did the Yakuza with the zombie's invasion on ps3 and it was a blast. I'm gonna buy the last one soon because nier automata broke my soul and I need a reset.
And with this focus on a specific demographic that gave the Ryu Ga Gotoku series ironically its world-wide appeal. Keep that focus~
I've heard most players in Japan are women, surprised that wasn't mentioned in the video.
@@MrMister681 with all these hot old dudes, what can you say? Nah jokes aside, I've read interview snippets where Takaya Kuroda said that the fan gatherings and whatnot were mostly women, so I'll take his word
@@MrMister681 LMAO, I remember watching an interview with Kiryu's VA, where he mentioned that he was shocked at the difference between the Japanese and French fanbases. According to him, Japanese fans were mostly women, while the French fans "mostly looked like bodybuilders". I laughed hard, hahaha. Still, I'd say that the female fanbase in the West is growing rapidly as well. Twitter is full of actual thirst tweets about Kiryu, Majima, Akiyama, Daigo, Ryuji, Korean Vergil (Joon) and even Date, lol.
@@MrMister681 Not so much I think. But I'm sure that this game series is popular with women in Japan, too!
@@MrMister681 One of the characteristics of Japanese Live Entertainment is the large percentage of female consumers. We don't know exactly why, but it's often said that men are too busy to spend money on real-time entertainment. Movie theaters, plays, classical music concerts, Nou, Rakugo, Kabuki, all are said to be predominantly female. On the other hand, there are very many men in indoor hobbies. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest reasons for the large number of male consumers in otaku culture in Japan.
God, Archipel documentaries are absolute works of art. Brilliant work, guys!
@Chloe Poppies I'd like to know this too
@@mangabu5124 same
Really sad to see Nagoshi leave Sega, but hopefully the new heads of RGG studio have learned from him and fully understand what makes their unique style of games special.
they never do. you live in the moment where games become another milking buisness. let it go.
Actually, Nagoshi used to have a more normal fashion before he got involved in the Yakuza series 😂 After becoming the director of the Yakuza series, he started to look like a thug😅
Wow
I kinda miss his Super Monkey Ball look lol
Yeah I think we all seen pictures of him wearing fancy clothing almost like a character in his own games.
He made a promised to sagawa
@@muneshxge well what's funny is Sega & Nintendo both used to deal with yakuza in real life. Nintendo got their start with playing cards used to gamble, with the numbers hidden on them because the government was cracking down on gambling. Pachinko places to this day frequently deal with yakuza, & they even used to to trade out the prizes for them.Theres a video on here that goes into more detail on yakuza dealings with game companies
Nagoshi: "...we decided that it's okay if women didn't like the games."
Also Nagoshi: *put Giga-Chads like Kiryu and Majima as main characters in the games*
lol exactly. yakuza is like a heaven for anyone who likes men
@@pigeondance687 I like everyone :)
@@sheevpalps3846 i love you except hitler - it's ok kanye does because he is an accentric though!
Damn another great work. This hyper focus on the Japanese style and demographic is something I miss a lot in gaming these days. Back in the 1990s, Japanese games dominated and they had a certain flair and take on creativity I just don't see in Western games (which are also great, but for other reasons). Gotta thank people like Nagoshi, Koji Igarashi and so many others interviewed here for keeping that alive!
Big agree. It is quite something to see all the imaginative games that launched on the PS1 et al in the 90s. Such a shame you'd certainly never see titles like that nowadays, especially a lot of the titles that never left Japan.
@Ahry Mahry yeah try translating japanese puns to english. That always works out well.
@Ahry Mahry Can you elaborate please? I know Scott and his way of working, thus this comes as a surprise for me.
I'd like, precisely, to know what was changed into what. Please quote the original japanese script and compare it with the english one if you do, otherwise your comments might be misleading as well.
Yeah, one of the things I love about this series is how japanese it feels.
Never change Nagoshi, please keep going. The Yakuza series is the only reason i'm still a gamer.
From still images and interviews, one might assume Nagoshi has a cold heart with a tough guy exterior. It was a delight to hear his reflections on his career and the past failures he took to heart. Loved this doc.
English, Portuguese and Bulgarian subtitles are available under the "CC" menu.
Thank you for following Archipel and if you enjoy our content and want to help us keep going, please consider supporting us on Patreon (patreon.com/archipel) or via CZcams memberships (czcams.com/channels/3zoY9LapZERsN7caDKqz0w.htmljoin ).
Great interview, you can see he cares a lot about his creations and the people he works with. I love the mix of hard-boiled crime story with silly side-quests, Yakuza games never fail to surprise me.
プロとしての話は聞いていて涙が出る。
この人だからこんなに感動できるゲームが作れるんだなと納得できた。
ありがとう名越さん。
I started the Yakuza Series this year because I couldn´t travel to Japan and because it was on my bucket list for so long. I fell in love with Kiwami 1 and short time after I bought Kiwami 2, 0 and the Remastered Collection. I´m so ready to play all winter long!
Thank you Toshihiro Nagoshi and thank you Archipel for this cool inside look and one of my now favorite series in all of gaming!
i've probably commented this before, but this is THE most underrated channel on CZcams. More people need to know about it :(
Thanks for the kind word :)
literally every word he said brought smile to my face, what a positive guy
Thanks for featuring one of the key masterminds behind what must be one of the greatest video game franchises of all time.
For a year and a half I thought the April Fool's video was a proper tease, not just a joke video. RGG is full of insane people, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
it s really rare to have an interview with Nagoshi san ,he represent a trully essence of video game creator.
取材お疲れさまでした。
7の時で反対意見が出なくて「やるんだったらこういう事ができるよね」と意見が大量に出たということは
裏を返せばそれだけ名越さんのチームがハイレベルになっている、それだけチームを成長させてきたということだと思います。
何より龍が如く1の段階でそこまで考えれていた人は本当にごく僅かな中からこのシリーズが続いてきているので
今後の名越さんのチームの作品がまた楽しみであります。
こういう動画が見られるのは嬉しいです☺️
People play 3 coming from Kiwami and go "rrrough" but at the time it released I couldn't have been more amazed. So happy that this series continued in the West when they were thinking of stopping its release here.
Yakuza 3 is my favorite in the series. I don't think it's the best in the series, that title likely goes to 5 or 0, but 3 is my favorite. The game just has a certain charm to it that I adore.
which is really a disservice to the whole series. Yakuza 3 is also my fave in the series, not necessarily the best. 3-5 are integral games
I like 3 more than kiwami 1 tbh
That’s good to know I’m almost done with Kiwami 2 and will start yakuza 3 soon after. I play a lot of retro games and enjoy them so presume I can stomach an aged game and enjoy it for what it is. I’m so glad I’ve discovered this franchise it’s so good!
Yakuza 3 has one of the best stories in series along with 6 and 0
It’s amazing how the Yakuza games have evolved alongside Nagoshi. He went from being a supervisor/producer to being the Executive Director of the last 7 titles (0, both Kiwami’s, Yakuza 6, Lost Paradise, Judgement and Like A Dragon) which for the most part receive unanimous praise. Judgement in particular was extremely impressive to me as it’s a game I was not expecting to be so invested in. The story of that game, which he wrote, has to be up there in the franchise for the best main plot in the series. The only game I’d say that has an equally great main story is Yakuza 0.
It’s also really impressive how he’s progressed as a director too. The way some of the cutscenes and set pieces are set up in the latest game is some really superb stuff.
Finally, I've been waiting for this!
I am playing Like a Dragon now. It is my first Yakuza game and I am enjoying it vey much! 😍😍😍
make sure you play yakuza 0.. it will change your life
@@JimmyChao273 Change your life? how?
How could u start there, u should start at yakuza 0.
you should play yakuza 0,best of the best in the series
@@MrNetsecure it's game made for men
This guy is so damn wholesome. I love it.
I especially love the part where they first floated the idea of making it an RPG as a joke but then the ideas off the RPG concept just kept flowing and they decided to run with it.
I think this is one of the best interviews with a game creator I've ever seen. Keep doing what you are doing Nagoshi-san
Thank you!
ここのチャンネル最近知ったけど、どの版元サイトより上質。とても良いです。
Peter Moore, in his IGN interview said that he sat down the studio heads at Sega and told them to make more Western style open world games like GTA 3, and they told him where he could go. I always wondered if Yakuza was a sort of push back against that, with how hard it leaned into Japanese culture.
This channel is gold, thanks! Arigatou.
Wow, just wow. As an aspiring Game Designer, this touched me and made me shed tears. And I’d like to thank you for it. 👏
8:00- When he says “Romantic”, he’s probably referring to the “Otoko no Roman(ce)” concept instead. Google it for elaboration.
12:15 I’m really sure he’s referring to the Super Monkey Ball series here with its harsher difficulty curve here, seems like a good fit to the story.
The ending is much more balanced on Sakurai’s take in not liking to work on sequels.
If you want more details, check out Yakuza Fan’s videos on the series development.
Yes, “Otoko no Roman” shouldn’t be translated as Romantic. It’s about men’s adventurous spirit, and according to this interview, Nagoshi san and the team (SEGA)’s journey was somehow related to the theme of this franchise. I was impressed.
I'll never forget picking up a copy of Yakuza on the used games shelf totally on a whim and being utterly blown away. It's such an amazing franchise that I still feel like flies under the radar. Loved the video and the insight into the creator.
Its always crazy to me how japanese devs/directors are so much more sincere and straight forward when talking about games and development than americans. You'd ask those questions to a Corey Barlog or Todd Howard, you'd get the classic "we pulled together, making games is HAAAARDDDD, we want to make the best games blah blah". And then you got Nagoshi, saying he doesn't wanna please everyone, he doesn't want to make huge games, he doesn't want to compromise the experience for a bigger world, prettier graphics.
He's a gamer who understands : you can get to many kinds of people, enough people, while having a clear direction and not aiming for everyone.
For real lol, and when Western devs speak up their mind, they behave obnoxious and arrogant like that Phil Fish guy, or David Jaffe, probably just a culture thing.
peter molyneux...
I must say that among all the things you do so right in all of your documentaries. Music is one of my favorite aspect, you always choose amazing tracks to go along with amazing people ! I think i'm gonna become a patreon this month. I really want to see this channel continue.
I've been waiting for this interview and so happy to finally have it! Absolutely love this man.
Amazing interview, loved every second of it. Great job!
Thank you for doing these, guys! Your work is greatly appreciated! ♦
I started playing the very first game of the Yakuza series when I was 19, fresh from high school and struggling with depression (among other things on top of that). I'm not gonna say this series saved me, but it gave me a chance to hold my head up high and continue forward. It taught me that no matter how grim something is, you can't go back to the times before where it was peaceful and calmer. I legitimately changed with the help of this series. At the time when I played the original English dub (which was hilarious since the dub was so bad that it was funny), it was in 2008 and the writers strike had ended back in February that same year. I played video games constantly at the time and I felt refreshed with Ryu Ga Gotoku.
I remember laughing pretty hard whenever Majima was on screen (or at random times due to the English voice cast would say a line and it was so hilarious o me.) and just vibing whenever he was on screen. As I got each game, I found myself wanting to aspire to that level of creating when it came to me being a writer. I'm still suffering from depression, but the series (save for RGG 7 and Judgement.. Haven't started one and finished the other yet). Had a lot going on between when I got Judgement a couple years ago and Ryu Ga Gotoku 7 this year. However, these games have inspired me in ways that I'm thankful for.
Thank you, Nagoshi, for bringing out this series and Judgement. I hope the next game is just as awesome, regardless of what it is. Stay well and keep going strong.
Thanks for sharing your experience and glad that you're feeling better!
YO,THAT'S RAD
You guys are doing amazing work!
The Man, The Legend
Thank you for such an amazing video.
Thanks for these great documentaries
Archipel truly feels like a gift to me. All you videos are pieces of art.
Thank you Nagoshi-San... what a contribution to gaming you have made and continue to make. A series that I only discovered a year ago, fell in love with and now completed every single one - motivated me to visit Japan when the world goes back to normal!
Love this video. It says so much about how Nagoshi thinks.
Great as always!
I would absolutely love to see a translation and physical release of Ryu ga gotoku kenzan in europe and the states 💕
Thank you for a great video as always 💕💕💕
Amazing interview and Nagoshi is such a legend, you can immediately tell what kind of creator they are by the games they make, and its heartwarming to hear how much love he pours into his team and games. Glad that Yakuza series is getting so much more fame and recognition now, it is truly a life changing series.
every documentary Archipel puts out is wonderful. some are just beautiful to watch because of the camerawork, some are just awesome because of the people interviewed. the music selection also is great and I find myself looking up the artists on youtube.
I agree, this is the most underrated channel on youtube. please keep making more videos. thank you.
I was only looking for some Yakuza content on this channel just this week. Thank u
This series is gold
I love hearing what Nagoshi thinks ever since discovering his Edge column back in the early aughts. I like being surprised by games too and the way he keeps doing that on such unbelievably tight schedules is amazing.
Man, I'm kinda new to yakuza series but it has became one of my all time favorite series!
Thank you and Mr. Nagoshi for this heart felt interview. It is nice seeing the franchise getting the recognition it deserve outside Japan!
Keep up the awesome work
Thanks for interview! I had really lot of fun with Yakuza series, so Mr. Nagoshi and his people did the good work!
To think Sega almost never made Yakuza series, the series that would keep them alive for a decade.
I picked up Yakuza on PS2 at a gamestop thinking it was like a GTA clone but boy did that change. Im a forever fan now if you guys keep making these games i will keep buying them and the collectors editions too like with Yakuza 6. I will always look forward to a new edition thanks guys.
Great documentary!
Thank you for the subtitles !! Nice interview !
Thanks for watching!
Pouco tempo atrás joguei yakuza kiwami e foi uma experiência simplesmente incrível. A narrativa desse jogo prende você cada segundo nesse mundo!
This was so interesting!
Thanks for the great series
I like Nagoshi san so much, he is the greatest game designer of all time. He makes his games like they could be playable forever, you never gets tired of it. And his goal to achieve happines of players is very greatful.
So much love and passion in this creator, he reminds me important points, very inspiring thanks for your video!!
Thanks for watching!
i remember OG yakuza being my first japanese game experience with subtitles back in ps2 days. Good times
Yakuza series is masterpiece.
Fantastic documentary.
thanks for the vídeo!
Ryu Ga Gotoku is absolutely inspiring, as is Nagoshi-san. I was really directionless in life when I first found this series, but now all I can think about is achieving my dreams by all means. I've realized so much of what makes me happy by playing these games, and feel eternally grateful and indebted. Thank you to everyone involved for this interview!
Thanks for watching!
The only man at Sega with a perfect track record who over achieves every single time!
Yakuza Dead Souls and Initial D 3DS say hi
@@budgiecat2885 yakuza dead souls is a masterpiece thanks to that game we got majima singing get to the top
Yu Suzuki!!
@@budgiecat2885 dead souls sold well in japan
Tellement intéressant ! Merci beaucoup pour ce documentaire !
So interesting ! Thank you for this documentary !
Lovely interview. Love his dedication to brining joy to players.
Thank you.
Man Toshihiro Nagoshi is really an underrated legendary director.
24:10 Nagoshi-san says "Surprise" is the keyword for him, I can tell you Yakuza was a surprise franchise for me; I've heard of them but didn't really see myself playing them for some reason and then when Yakuza 0 came to gamepass, I took the chance to try it and I've never looked back. Now I've played through 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2 and Like a Dragon, and it's become one of my favorite video game franchises
The Yakuza series is so fun. Even the spinoffs like Judgment and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise are fun. After plyaing the Fist of the North Star game I really want the studio to make a Gintama game. I think Gintama would be the perfect manga/anime for that studio to turn into a game.
Black Lagoon also please.
I wish I could thank Nagoshi in person. The mainstream attempt at pleasing everyone and not offending anyone has made videogames more boring than ever. The games he creates reminds me why I fell in love with videogames in the first place.
The ironic thing is, that the yakuza series is even way more progressive and less offensive than most other games. The series doesn't shy away from dark or difficult themes but handles them with a lot of care, it shares a lot of great values, treats people and minorities with a lot of respect etc. Yakuza is super insane and hyper down to earth at the same time. It's truly one of the best and coolest series of ever.
Wow, thank you so much for this, I love this channel.
Thanks for watching!
What a lovely and insightful interview. Seems like they wants to explore online/multiplayer angle.
I have full faith in them.
Loved judgement on ps4 . Wish I could play all of the Yakuza games ...thank you archipel and thanks to this legend
that was such a nice interview . while i really like the gameplay of Yakuza 1-6 , i want to see if others proyects (movies and other game genres) in Yakuza can be as.good
I fell in love with his work since the PS2!
wow im so appreciative of how much love he puts into the game, good service
Just wish I could give a big warm hug to this absolute legend of a man!
sega and the people working at sega are the craziest people ever
they would die literally and still give their wild ideas another shot they are really amazing
Love the guy, he's such a genius and he actually cares about his work and how affects players.
Thank you, Nagoshi-sensei. THank you for believing in this franchise and for putting everything on the line for it. It was absolutely worth it.
That was great!
I absolutely love this video. I absolutely love the Yakuza games. Can't say enought how much I love the yakuza games.
great great video man, Toshiro nagoshi is also a great man and a cool guy, his words about his creation is wonderful
i subscribed to this channel after watching the video about puparia it's good to see a video about my favorite game
Totally addicted to these doc videos. Public service no less.
Thank you Jorge!
Nagoshi-san, thank you for creating Like a Dragon series! 🙏
Wow. You did it again, this interview is absolutely amazing.
I've watched/read some others interviews with director Nagoshi and none of them have been this reveling.
It's really heartwarming hearing about the human side of video game development and the effects it produces in a person, I hope we continue to hear more stories like this.
Again, thank you to all the crew for your amazing work.
merci Archipel !
Merci de nous suivre!
Yessss, just finished Yakuza 6, and this is the perfect complement to it
love these docs
Thank you.
It's so crazy that this little series that always aimed so high actually ended up like this from trying to please a very specific audience, and that the games have changed a lot of people and helped a lot of people not in that original demographic. it's kinda beautiful
Nice video
I hope the next video is talking about Terada Takanobu aka man behind srw
Over the years there have been a somewhat small handful games series that I get obsessed with and leave a lasting impression (since the early 90s in this order: Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Smash Bros, Tony Hawk, Max Payne, Splinter Cell, Time Splitters, WoW, Persona). Those kinds of series don't come around as often as an adult, but Yakuza joined that list a few years ago. I've played all the games released in the west at least twice and they're some of the best games ever made. There have been 100s of more games that I've played and were great, but I never come back to them and I've forgotten a lot of them...... also, localize Kenzan and Ishin!!!
What a legend. (Just don't offer to bring him out to eat cheese gyudon 😂)
So many insightful tidbits in this interview as well -- thanks for making it happen Archipel!
What an inspirational man Toshihiro Nagoshi is!!! It's no wonder that it's reflected in the characters he creates. I thank him from the bottom of my heart for producing amazing role models for anyone to follow, especially for adult males (seeing that it is becoming a rarity in Western media).