AndyKurosaki Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Doing Chapter 3 took ages, as I’m doing all of the side quests as they come up. At Chapter 4 currently, and I’m doing the same thing: clearing all the side missions, before I even glance at the story missions. This game has consistently made me laugh, and smile, and I’ve barely made a dent in it yet. This week has been extremely upsetting for me, losing my precious hedgehog Coco. My continuing poor health is also a concern. This game is a massive bringer of joy to me. Ichiban really goes from strength to strength. The LAD franchise is in very safe hands with him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 15 hours in, and I’ve only just reached Chapter 5, of 14 I believe it is? The side missions are were the vast majority of that time has gone. Some have been pretty funny, others quite emotional. All have been well worth playing. Chapter 4 introduced the Sujimon story, which isn’t even trying to be subtle about its Pokemon inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 With the help of my partner the shitty Dondoko island bit is done!!! Thank fuck for that. Now I’m rich! To an extent anyway. Now I can focus on the fun bits again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 I just reached Dondoku Island yesterday. And spent 9 in game days messing around with it. I’m quite enjoying it 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 I’m at Chapter 8, which is just brilliant. I can’t say why without some minor spoilers. It was mentioned in the preview footage, but people may have missed it. So, here goes… Spoiler Kiryu is back in Japan, with Nanba supporting him. With Kiryu’s health declining, Nanba suggests Kiryu do a ‘bucket list’. So now I’m walking around Japan, triggering Kiryu’s memories of past LAD/Yakuza events. It’s very emotional. However, it’s not all good. Chapter 8 has quite often been extremely annoying, combat wise. Prior to this chapter, if an enemy you see while walking around has a “crown” over his head, it was a warning they would be quite difficult. If the marker above their head was red, and had a crown, it’d be quite tough. Well, Chapter 8 introduces a new colour, Purple. These fuckers are no joke, and are extremely difficult to fight. If they’re purple, and have a crown, fighting them is suicidal. They’ll kill you in a matter of hits, and your attacks will do basically nothing to them. You’re probably thinking “Well, don’t run into them”. That’s the thing, the bastards are practically everywhere in this chapter. For the most part, I’ve avoided them like the plague. Theres one “memory trigger” I would like to get. Thing is, it’s purple crown enemies. So for now, I have to leave it. It’s the first time in the game so far where I’m actively avoiding the combat. I’m quite high level, with some pretty decent gear. But those purple twats are an utter chore, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 49 minutes ago, AndyKurosaki said: Well, Chapter 8 introduces a new colour, Purple. These fuckers are no joke, and are extremely difficult to fight. If they’re purple, and have a crown, fighting them is suicidal. They’ll kill you in a matter of hits, and your attacks will do basically nothing to them. They were around in Hawai for me if I went to the wrong areas too early. Easy to avoid though when I came across them. You’ve overtaken me now. I’ve just reached the part you’ve Spoiler tagged. But not explored at all. Literally saved at the house and that was it. Going back to chapter 7, I found that part as Kiryu was Spoiler going back quite emotional. The way he spoke to Kasuga and shook hands felt like a real passing the baton moment. Although that’s happened like 2 or 3 times now between this, Gaiden and the end of LAD 7 haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 I most definitely agree about that Chapter 7 moment. The thought of Kiryu being replaced by anyone didn’t sit right with me originally, when Like A Dragon was announced. But Ichiban has rapidly grown on me. To the point now where I consider Ichiban to be just as integral to the franchise as Kiryu is. People in game often comment on how charismatic Ichiban is, and it’s absolutely true. Which is definitely helped by his English voice actor, who absolutely knocks its out of the park. At well over 30 hours now, I’ve seen plenty of Jong’s voice performance as Kiryu. It undeniably still feels weird, hearing Jong’s much younger voice coming out of Kiryu’s mouth, who is way older, obviously. But to be fair, it’s not a terrible performance. And there’s been a fair few emotional moments recently that Jong has managed to pull off. This has remained consistently creative, and often absolutely hilarious. As well as very emotional at times, when Ichiban and his friends rise up to overcome the odds. It’s extremely good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Hit my first major difficulty spike today, in Chapter 12. Before a boss fight, the game warns you with what level you’re best being, and what star rating your equipment should ideally be. Here, it suggested for my team to be level 41+. I was at about 35 ish, and thought I’d be ok. Nope. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. To say why, it’s spoiler city. So, unless you’ve hit Chapter 12, avoid this next bit… Spoiler Kiryu and his 3 team-mates go up against his former Tojo Clan crew, Daigo, Saejims and Goro. Goro is an utter nightmare. When he gets below half health, he summons two copies of himself. And can do that repeatedly. I very quickly became utterly overwhelmed. Now, In regards to levelling up, there are two dungeon areas, where the further you progress, the more XP you’ll gain. I’m now swimming in more cash than I know what to do with. And passed that spoiler bit on my second attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 And that’s the story mode finished. I won’t say a word about what happens, to avoid unintentional spoilers. I know there’s tags, sure. But I’ll play it safe for now. What I will say, is that it was extremely enjoyable, from start to finish. The last few chapters of LAD were relentlessly difficult, with bosses that took the absolute piss. They’d tank damage, deal out huge amounts of damage in return. I absolutely bloody hated those boss fights. Mercifully, apart from that event I mentioned above in Chapter 12, it was fine. If they make only one improvement for the next game, I’d say “For the love of god, stop making it an instant game over if the main character dies in battle”. It just makes later fight a bloody chore, as you end up having to ensure their safety. Which isn’t helped by later bosses have attacks that can rip through your health bar, regardless of how good your gear is. Ichiban eventually learns an ability that allows him to resurrect once if killed. Unfortunately, Kiryu doesn’t. So that’s fun. There’s still absolutely loads to do. I’ve found Dondoku Island strangely addictive, so I’ll be going back to that for sure. One of the best LAD/Yakuza games ever? It’s a definite Yes from me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Nicely done. I’m still on chapter 8. Just got Kiryu’s special ability. Enjoying doing the reminisce stuff even though I know or can only remember a quarter of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 The Reminiscence bits are great, I’m definitely going to get all of those done. I had to abandon some of them, because very high level enemies were guarding them, and I’d get my arse kicked if I had a crack at them. Now I’m much higher level, I should be able to finish those off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 Ok, so despite the story being over, I played this pretty much all day yesterday, bringing my time spent so far being 83 hours. It’s such a bloody amazing game, bursting with content. It’s a genuine joy to see Ichiban and his mates interact with each other. And the new additions he meets in Hawaii, soon bring their own benefits to the team. Good luck finding an unlikeable member of the squad, as I think they’re all ace. Much of yesterday was spent getting trophies I’d missed during my story playthrough. I finished all of Kiryu’s reminiscence missions , some of which are guarded by some very strong enemies. After finishing the story, I’d done a bit of grinding, and could thus easily get the ones I’d not been strong enough to do. As a long term fan of the series, these were brilliant, and put a huge smile on my face. Each one consists of Kiryu remembering past events, and reflecting on how it impacted on his life, and those around him. These memories are brief, but for fans of the series, will doubtless trigger memories of their own. Even ‘Dead Souls’ gets a mention, probably the only time it ever will (shame, as it was brilliant). The second part of these, are called “Life Links”. There’s 5 of these, each is basically a lengthy side mission. I won’t say anything more than that about them, but I strongly recommend you do them all. And it’s not just because you get some XP, and unlock more powerful “Poundmates” (the return of the last game’s increasingly insane summons). These were all very emotional, though I say that as someone who’s completed all of the Yakuza games. Newcomers almost definitely won’t have the same reaction. But if you know Kiryu, like I do, these Life Links are a must see. I then took on the 3 optional dungeons, the last of which (Big Swell), is locked behind a paywall. Either you get it by having one of the more expensive digital versions, or you can buy a separate bit of DLC. New Game Plus mode is also locked behind that paywall. I’m not going to lie, that’s a bit shit, as it’s more than just an extra dungeon, really. But I’ll come back to that… So, first I’ll explain how the “non DLC” dungeons work. There’s two of these, one for each region. I didn’t play the dungeons in the previous LAD, so I can’t compare them. Anyway. Each dungeon consists of 30 floors in total, filled with increasingly higher level enemies, with plenty of loot waiting at the end of them. Each dungeon has 5 civilians, being guarded by some pretty tough enemies. If you manage to save all 5 by the end of that dungeon, you’ll get a pretty decent item. You’ll also get some high level armour, and some character exclusive gear that you won’t get anywhere else. Prior to jumping in, it gives you details of what level you’ll need to be at, to stand a decent chance. You’ll soon get some cracking XP, and cash, so it’s worth doing. When you reach floor 5, there’s a save point, and a HP/MP refresh, so you can save up before fighting the boss of floor 5. Kill them, and you can carry on. When you get to the elevator of any floor, you can choose to either keep going, or bail. Bail before the save point though, and you’ll have to restart if you come back to it. The final boss on floor 30, can be bloody hard. But, if you’re prepared, you stand a good chance. When you’ve beaten that boss, you then unlock an additional 10 floors, with the difficulty cranked a bit higher, typically enemies are level 55+ by that point. Get to floor 40, and it’s the real final boss of that dungeon. And you’re in for some pain with these fuckers. I’ve managed to beat all 40 floors of the Hawaii dungeon. It was challenging, but fun. I reached the final boss of the second dungeon…and it utterly takes the piss. It’s by far the hardest fight in the entire game. You’re put up against 5 extremely tough opponents, that fans of the series will be very much familiar with. And unfortunately, this boss has an exceptionally cruel, bullshit trick up its sleeve. The main boss is supported by 4 others, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. With great difficulty, and about 40 minutes of struggle, I killed 3 of them. I figured I had the fight under control, until I got the main boss to under half health. Unfortunately when that happens, he casts a spell that brings back any minions that were killed, all to full health, while curing the rest of his crew to full health also. When that happened, I legitimately said “You must be fucking joking”. All 5 of them then attacked Kiryu, wiped out his entire health bar, which was at full. And that was that. Brief cutscene, game over, kicked back to the hub of that dungeon. Ive said it before, and I’ll say it again: making it so that if your hero dies, it’s an immediate game over is absolute bollocks. Ichiban can at least learn a spell that resurrects him if killed. Unfortunately, Kiryu never gets an ability like that. Im not really sure how I will beat that fight. You might think “Ignore the minions, focus only on the main boss”. The problem is, they frequently use tag team moves, that do an obscene amount of damage. So yeah, you could do that, but good luck surviving a constant barrage of tag team attacks. Thing is, there’s a trophy for completing that dungeon. So if I want the Platinum, I’m going to have to beat it, somehow. Hmm… Now, usually for each dungeon, you’re restricted to a choice of 4 characters, 5 as you progress the story. But when you hit “Premium Adventure” after finishing the story, you can use absolutely any character, in any combination. So it’s probably easier to do it then. Ok, now to discuss Big Swell, the dungeon locked behind a paywall. You can’t access this one at all, until you’ve beaten the story. Unlike the other two dungeons, there’s only 5 floors per area, making a grand total of 20. There’s 5 civilians to save again. A boss fight at the end of each 5th floor, but unlike the other dungeons, although there is a HP/MP recharge before the boss, there is no save point. Ive killed the first boss, on floor 5, on my first attempt. It was quite challenging, but fun, something that other final boss I described above, very much wasn’t. Before the dungeon is revealed, Ichiban and his friends are enjoying themselves in Hawaii, with a lengthy cut scene showing them having a great time. After I finished the first boss, another long cutscene played, showing the gang bonding further. It genuinely made me smile, laugh, and feel various emotions. I’ll definitely be trying my luck at the other floors, as I want to see what happens. But yeah, frankly, paywalling this dungeon is a bit of a shit practice, and I really hope it’s not the start of the series going down the wrong path. I can hardly complain though, as I’ve bought it myself. Yet I love this series, and these characters so much, that I want as much content with them as possible. Anyway, I will be back to tackle those dungeons soon enough. For now though, I’m very much addicted to Dondoku Island, I’ve got my resort to 2 stars out of 5. And you can bet your arse I’ll be batting my way to a 5 star rating. If you want the Platinum, you’ll have to do that, as there’s about 4 trophies related to it. But, I’m finding it utterly addictive, so I’m fine with blazing through it. I really, really love this game. You can probably tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 95 hours later, that’s the Platinum done. Managed the dungeon boss I was struggling with, and blazed through the DLC dungeon thanks to being high levelled and fully kitted out. What an absolutely phenomenal game. My life is currently pretty shit. This put a much needed, massive smile on my face. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metroid66 Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 It was enjoyable reading your posts enthusing over this game. I never tackled the first one because I'm not sure about turn based stuff and grinding for hours to beat a stubborn boss. But I might try this second one based on your experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 I can’t deny, I was very dubious when the original LAD game decided to change from its typical combat style, to a turn based RPG. It had me thinking it would either be a huge mistake, or a new take on the franchise. Though I did initially enjoy LAD, I did end up quitting my PS4 playthrough about halfway through. I didn’t like doing that, as I love the franchise. But the constant difficulty spikes became too much for me. After I finished The Man Who Erased His Name, I decided to restart LAD on PS5, and use a guide to get through it. It was still bloody difficult, the boss fights towards the end were a massive chore, often taking at least 30 minutes. It also sucked that the only real way to make significant amounts of money, and therefore afford the obscenely priced weapons/armour, was to play through the business management side mission. But I absolutely bloody hated doing that. It’s a confusing, tedious chore, and I was definitely being penalised financially for not taking part in it. The need for grinding has thankfully decreased, but it’s not gone completely. At certain points later in the game, a warning will pop up saying “There’s some tough fights coming up, I should probably save”. Some even come up with a separate warning saying “Recommended Level/Star Level of Equipment. Chapter 12 was the first time where my party were slightly below the Recommended level, but I thought I’d get away with it. Sadly, I was very wrong. I ended up playing through all 30 levels of one of the optional dungeons. By the time I’d done that, I was more than strong enough to beat it on my second attempt. I do sincerely hope they stop making it so that if your main character dies, that’s an instant game over. It’s just really bloody annoying. Ichiban does eventually learn an ability that brings him back immediately after death. Unfortunately, Kiryu never does, so that makes playing as him quite challenging. Thankfully, money is a lot easier to come by this time around. Towards the end of the game, I had a small fortune that i didn’t have anything to spend it on. I quite enjoyed playing through Dodoko Island, it was quite addictive. And it’s definitely worth finishing the story there, as that unlocks a skill for Ichiban that does huge amounts of damage, to all enemies in a room. Was a literal game changer for me So yeah, basically, I loved this game, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 I’m still well into this. Taking my time, just reached chapter 13. Luckily I didn’t struggle at any bosses in chapter 12 - but I have been doing basically everything so was probably avoided a grind because of that. That triple boss was still difficult though but fucking awesome!!! Also, this scene. Spoiler Beautiful. I haven’t really got much more to add what Andy hasn’t already said but it’s fantastic. Started unlocking some of the ultimate attacks now too - got 7+ jobs up to level 30 and they do not disappoint. Same with the later poundmates. Just amazing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 I absolutely love the Poundmates attacks. Not only are they extremely useful, they’re often utterly hilarious. I did a New Game+ run on Hard, which wasn’t too bad due to my crew being level 70+. The only thing I’ve left to do now, trophy wise, is finish the game on Legendary. I’ll do that, someday. But it’ll take some serious grinding. The final boss is Level 95, and will utterly destroy you if you’re not at a similar level. This isn’t just one of the best Yakuza games ever. It’s one of the best games ever made, full stop. An incredible game. I genuinely don’t see anything beating it this year. But FF7 Rebirth will be a strong contender… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Did you unlock the level 28 Ultimate for the Desperado job? Holy shit that made me laugh so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKurosaki Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 I didn’t to be honest. In regards to Jobs, I stuck with Hero for Ichiban throughout my playthrough. 111+ hours, and there’s still stuff I missed 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Google it. Trust me. I’ve been swapping jobs as soon as I hit level 30 (when you unlock their final Ultimate) because I want to see them all lol. The Sujimaster job is shite! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now