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Yakuza: Like A Dragon


AndyKurosaki
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Yakuza is undoubtedly one of my favourite gaming franchises. It’s been consistently excellent for many years now. Yakuza Zero is one of my favourite games of all time. So,I’m always up for more. 
 

This entry has shifted from the usual over the top action, to an RPG style. Quite the difference. The reviews have  said that it’s paid off, for the most part. Though there are some massive difficulty spikes near the end, that require some hefty grinding.

 

Anyway, I’m a couple of hours in. There hasn’t been much gameplay yet, it’s almost entirely cutscenes thus far. Yakuza games always start slowly, this entry apparently takes about 10 hours to get properly started.

 

Another new addition is a brand new character, Ichiban. He seems decent enough, though it’s too early to say how he compares to Kiryu.

 

We will see how it plays out. 

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It’s possible that the switch to an RPG mechanic may have put some people off. And it’s definitely the slowest starting entry to the franchise. I’m on Chapter 3 after 4 hours of gameplay, and the vast majority of that has been cutscenes. So it looks like the reviews that claimed it takes 10 hours to get going may be right.

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Made it to Chapter 4. The reviews weren’t kidding when they said it’s a slow start. I’ve only just got to a point where my Party has 3 members. 
A slow beginning to a Yakuza game is hardly new. They always take a while to get going. It seems to be the longest yet, as the vast majority of my playtime thus far has been cutscenes. 
 

But when the story is enjoyable, I’m fine with that. Hopefully the training wheels will soon be off, and I can get properly into it. 
 

And the series insane humour appears to be present and correct. I bumped into a flasher, who inflicted me with ‘silence’ when he flashed his genitals at me. Which lead to a Pokemon inspired Professor asking me to “catch em all”. Because...Yakuza.

 

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I’ve been really enjoying this, its a bit like persona crossed with yakuza. Been spending too much time on the mini games, the can collecting one is fun, the management one is really confusing at first but now I’ve got my head round it, after reading a few guides, I want to finish it. it’s not really a next gen showcase graphically but it does look pretty nice at times (also looks like a ps3/360 game at times) and runs smooth, the lighting is really nice, I though it was was some next gen raytracing but apparently not.

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  • 2 weeks later...

10 hours in, just started Chapter 5. Still got a ton of stuff I haven’t encountered yet, so early days yet. The difficulty seems a bit all over the place, one minute I’m thrashing everyone, the next I’m getting my arse kicked. 
Good to see that the series over the top humour is still present. From trying to stay awake while watching a film in the cinema as Ram headed enemies try to make you go to sleep. To adult baby clubs. It’s absolutely insane.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I’m 17 hours in, just reached Chapter 7. And though this has some fun moments, it’s also got some flaws that i really don’t like. It’s definitely my least favourite entry in the series thus far.

 

So, what don’t I like? First of all, the management mode. In Yakuza Zero,you had the Property buying/Hostess management mini games. Fairly simple, and give a decent amount of cash. It took a long time to reach the Management part of this game, and thus far I don’t really understand it.

 

If Ichiban falls in battle, it’s game over. I hate RPGs that do that. It should only be game over when your entire party is down. So that sucks.

 

You eventually unlock the ability to change jobs for each character, so you can learn different skills. Unfortunately, there’s only one place in the map that lets you change your job. Why can’t you do it whenever you want, to try out different things? 
 

If you die in a random battle, you lose a TON of cash. There is absolutely loads of random battles everywhere you go. Quite often you’ll finish one battle, and another group of enemies will be almost on top of you. Usually they’ve been piss easy. But I got into one battle where enemies were way stronger, so I died and lost ¥50,000. And you can’t get that back, it’s gone forever. 
You can stash money in ATMs at corner shops. But some can be a distance away. It’s less than ideal putting money in your account, only to fanny around taking it out when you want to buy stuff. Wouldn’t be so bad if shops had an ATM in them. But very few do. 
 

Heat combat is completely gone. One of the best parts of the series, thrown out the window.

 

Don’t get me wrong, some of it has been good. The over-the-top summons have been pretty amusing. But I do miss the previous style, and I hope future games go back to that.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm around 20 hours in to this now and just realised I'd not really posted about it...

 

This being my first ever Yakuza game I'm not really sure where it ranks on the "wacky" meter but I've found it pretty surreal in places, it's also pretty funny but the actual content and tone can be all over the place.

 

I like Ichiban as a character, although I can't help picturing Snow from Final Fantasy 13 whenever he talks... this isn't helped when he starts going on about being a hero.

 

I'm up to Chapter 6 in the story and I'm supposed to be going somewhere urgently to stop something happening but I've become hooked on trying to get Ichaban Confectionerys into the number one spot on the shares index in management mode, so now I have this really urgent music playing while I'm just stood in an office doing fuck all.?

 

In regards to the management mode, I wasn't overly looking forward to this but now I've gotten my head round what your supposed to be doing in the shareholder meetings it isn't so bad, I'm up to around mid forties now and have Eri in my party and I've moved headquarters... I'm also making some pretty sweet money.

 

Anyway tldr... I'm enjoying my time with it.

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I was wondering how you’re supposed to be making decent money. Everything the shops currently sell costs obscene amounts of cash. And I’ve not really been making much from combat or side missions. 
 

I did the tutorial for the management mode, but it did such a poor job of explaining what I was supposed to be doing, that I haven’t bothered with it since. Sounds like I should go back to it. 
 

This definitely remains my least favourite Yakuza game. The combat isn’t bad. I just miss the previous style.

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18 minutes ago, AndyKurosaki said:

Everything the shops currently sell costs obscene amounts of cash.

 

Well I'm not making that amount of money (yet) but yeah, successful shareholder meetings do net you cash. 

 

I think there's supposed to be some sort of arena that gets you money later in the game too.

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Ah right, I haven’t found that yet.

I’ve reached the part of the game where grinding is required. And although there’s plenty of shops selling better gear and armour, the prices are piss-taking astronomical.

You can visit one shop to use stuff you’ve found to craft upgrades. But they also cost an extortionate amount.

 

Its probably why I’m having the least fun of any entry in the franchise. As I can see I’m going to need wallet battering amounts of cash to improve my gear, but the game does fuck all to tell you how to earn the required dosh.

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?

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Got my company to rank number 1, probably took around 4 hours (ish) all told... definitely wasn't as difficult as I'd made it up to be in my head. It's taken my personal cash pot up to around 17 million but as Andy said that's still not really a lot of money in this game... I can still carry on with management whenever I fancy it though as shareholder meetings pay out over 2 million a pop for success.

 

Oh... and for getting rank 1 I can now fire an Orbital Laser Beam at enemies, apart from I can't as it costs 200mp and my stats aren't that high yet.?

 

Managed to max out my relationship level with 3 of 4 of my party (the 4th is stuck at 2 until chapter 10) so now I'll carry on with the main story arc I think.

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Ive honestly no idea how you’re supposed to be making decent money in this game. I need to get some serious cash to upgrade my gear, as boss fights are becoming difficult now.  But random battles give you hardly any money at all. It’d take hours upon hours of grinding, and frankly I can’t be arsed with that.

 

I’ll go back to that management sim to make what cash I can. But this is the only entry in the entire series that I am struggling to get properly into. I don’t think switching to an RPG model was a good idea.

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There's the rub i suppose, this is normal to me.

 

Had my first fight today where I thought I was actually going to lose. Just hit Chapter 7 and was notified a dungeon had opened up (previously visited but now repopulate with new enemies) so decided to hit that straight the way, couldn't leave the way I'd entered (to be fair I was warned) so had to get through the first floor at least. The last group really fucked me over and made me realise I've neglected anyway to bring back ko'd team mates. Anyhow managed to scrape by barely and got to an exit/saveroom, I don't think I'll be pushing any further without visiting a store and stocking up.

 

Things are starting to get more interesting in regards battles.

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I’ve just made a start on this. What a opening!!! Loving it so far, not played a Yakuza game since 3 just due to the time and access issues. But this is exactly what I want so far. Brilliant. Literally just started it though. So far just got

Spoiler

out of prison and done the whole graveyard scene

then turned it off. Not liking what I’m hearing above about the money and grinding issues later but I’ll worry about that when I hit it. 
 

Threw me off a bit at the beginning too, was wondering where the crazy looking guy on the cover of the box was, now it makes sense. 

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