Ryu Ga Gotoku is a solid game with great voice acting. With the game was localized for the West, SEGA made the mistake of dubbing over the voices in English with folks like Michael Madson and Luke Skywalker. It didn't work. At all. Sure, both of those are talented actors, but the dubbing didn't fit. It was, to put it nicely, a "criminally bad f*ck up". But SEGA listened. SEGA cares. According to SEGA's Associate Producer Kevin Frane:

When Yakuza was released in the U.S. without a Japanese voice track, there was actually a significant fan outcry. Obviously, this is a very Japanese game, set in Japan and dealing heavily with Japanese culture, and quite a lot of people thought that not having the original Japanese dialogue affected the game’s sense of authenticity. When definitely took that fan reaction into account when making the ultimate decision to go ahead with the Japanese voice track for Yakuza 2.

Bravo, SEGA. Nice to know you're listening!

Sega tells us why they kept the Japanese voice track in Yakuza 2 [Siliconera]

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