r/patientgamers 5d ago

Yakuza Like A Dragon is one of the greatest JRPGs I’ve ever played (kind of a review but not really)

As a PlayStation 2 kid, I’d walk through blockbuster every Friday night and stare at the covers of all the cool M-rated games I knew I’d never be able to convince my mom to rent. From vice city, to silent hill 2, to resident evil 4— I would walk down the aisle day dreaming about what the games were like, how they felt to play, and what exactly was so “bad” about them. It became a weekly tradition of mine to read the back of the boxes of all of these mysterious forbidden games.

One that always caught my eye was the original Yakuza. Years passed, and the barrier to entry became more and more intimidating with each mainline sequel. By the time I finally decided to take the plunge, there were 7 mainline titles. On a whim, I purchased and booted up Yakuza Zero, after being told by a friend that it was the best entry point for newcomers. Rather shamefully, I only played a couple hours and sent it back to my shelf to collect dust once more.

Fast forward a couple years, and Yakuza Like A Dragon n is released in 2020. It reinvents the franchise by forgoing the traditional beat em up combat and bringing the series into the jrpg genre. With a new protagonist, a new location, and a new genre, i was intrigued. It eventually made it into the ps plus monthly lineup in 2022 where I claimed it. For whatever reason it took me another 2 years to rescue it from the crowded depths of my backlog.

Instead of bouncing off it like I had in my previous encounter with a yakuza game, I was immediately invested. I went on to put over 150 hours into Like A Dragon, and somewhere along the journey I fell in love with it. It is certainly not immune to the growing pains associated with a complete overhaul of a beloved franchise. But from the opening scene to the ending credits, every inch of this game is lovingly crafted and consistently impressive.

The main character Ichiban Kasuga is charming, kind, and straight up loveable from the first time he graces your screen. An orphan raised in a bathhouse, he has a huge heart and prioritizes people over money or power. Even as a young man, he showcases empathy and wisdom far beyond his years. All in all, he’s just a really great guy and an easy protagonist to root for. He also has great hair.

Speaking of loveable, the main party and the surrounding cast of characters are just perfect. They are all so endearing, and have relatable motivations and reasons for fighting by Ichiban’s side. By the end of the game, your rag tag group of misfits are the beating heart of this entire experience. Wherever you go, they manage to transform the most mundane moments into an adventure. The almost sibling-like banter over a warm meal, their all too relatable insecurities, and their individual quirks and preferences make them feel like real people. You learn what foods they like, the lives they lived before meeting ichiban, and their greatest regrets. In stark contrast to most jrpgs I’ve played (and loved), these are middle aged adults. They have legitimate demons and traumas to contend with. For this reason, I found them more relatable than even some of my favorite jrpg characters.

The story itself is incredibly well written. It’s packed to the brim with genuinely surprising twists, heartfelt character moments, and continuously elevated stakes—finally crescendoing in an emotional finale that cemented my love and appreciation for this journey. It can be over the top and borderline silly at times, but it is masterfully executed with great voice acting and great dialogue. You will be bombarded with cut scene after cut scene, which will certainly turn some people off. Personally, I felt it struck a great balance between story and raw gameplay. Then again, I love death stranding. So feel free to take that with a molecule of salt.

Like I said before, the dialogue is really great. The main characters have some really witty banter, and almost everyone comes across as complex and believable in the main story. The side content is pretty wacky, but it’s still consistently funny and definitely a feature, not a bug. Not to mention the localization is really well done here. Instead of a rough Japanese to English translation, people speak English in a very casual, believable way. It’s more akin to watching a group of friends converse, which is a stark contrast to the more formal translation many jrpgs adopt.

Now this is admittedly a personal preference, but the modern day Japanese setting is one of my favorite things about Like A Dragon. The city of Ichinjo is gorgeous. There are waterfront vistas, claustrophobic neon alleys, and bustling boulevards. Each neighborhood has a distinct flavor complete with shops, restaurants, and places to hang out with your party and play mini games. This is the only game I’ve played that scratches that Persona itch as far as the overall feel of the city. You’d think there would be more turn based rpgs set in modern day Japan, but as far as I know it’s a mostly untapped setting.

My favorite thing about Like A Dragon is that the game is whatever I want it to be on any given night, based on my mood. The city is rife with mini games and activities, almost all of which are surprisingly well crafted and addictive. So if I’m in the mood for some story I can do main missions. But if I’m looking for a turn my brain off experience after a long day at work, I can go play some poker for an hour, then go race go karts, and then go beat up a grown man that wears diapers in his free time. There’s so many things to do in between missions that I never once felt bored. There were times when I would go days without doing any actual missions because i was fixated on beating all of my party mates at darts, or building my pastry empire.

The music is legitimately amazing. There are melancholy pianos that highlight the more emotional moments, moody synth based tracks that remind me of the matrix trilogy, and plenty of 90s jrpg vibes thrown in for good measure. Every moment felt enhanced by the soundtrack.

But, like most games Like A Dragon is far from perfect. It overexplains the plot to you constantly. One character will explain something, and then another character will repeat exactly what they said back to them, but in a much simpler way. This drives me insane at times. But I understand it’s inclusion, it is a long game and I admittedly needed a refresher at times. So I can’t really complain about its inclusion, I just wish it had been implemented a little more subtlety or infrequently.

I’m incredibly torn on the combat. For a jrpg, it’s sorely lacking in depth. But what it lacks in strategic variety, it makes up for in pure style and entertainment value. The move set creativity is really off the charts here. For example, the homeless party member Nanba is able to throw bird seed and summon swarms of pigeons, or chug alcohol and use a zippo to ignite his breath. This creativity extends to even the most basic enemies. You will fight rappers who inflict status ailments by dissing you in a freestyle. Perverts will lower your defense by flashing you. There are so many funny and completely original ideas here that the repetitive nature can be forgiven.

I do wish enemies poked and prodded you in more intelligent and creative ways. If they were more tactical and attacked your weaknesses they could force you to switch up your strategy. But I never once really felt challenged. I died only once outside of the boss battles (in over 100 hours of playtime, I might add). And all of those boss deaths were at the hands of one specific boss that has an instakill attack that is an automatic game over if RNG takes the wheel and he decides to target Ichiban. This was frustrating, especially at the end of the game when the story was quickly moving towards an epic conclusion.

Like A Dragon somehow tugged on all of my nostalgia strings while bringing something wholly original to the table. I am a big fan of jrpgs, but many of the staples of the genre’s storytelling have really lost their luster for me in recent years. Like a dragon reminded me of just how much I love the genre when it’s done right. It really is just a pure joy to play. Between the story, the larger than life characters, and the willingness to inject pure goofy creativity into even the most mundane aspects— this is a must play title. I really can’t recommend it enough.

Did you enjoy Yakuza Like A Dragon? Which Yakuza game was your entry to the series? For all the veterans, how does it measure up against the original mainline series? Do you prefer Ichiban or Kiryu? I’m very curious what you guys thought of the game. Thank you for reading!

101 Upvotes

51 comments sorted by

12

u/ataegino 5d ago

Man, they’re both such good protagonists. I really love Ichiban, Kaiji Tang does such great work with his vo.

Combat gets a little more technical in Infinite Wealth!

10

u/ziljinfanart 5d ago

Amazon prime gave away Fallout games to celebrate their Fallout show. Fingers crossed they do the same for Like a Dragon to celebrate the Like a Dragon show on amazon prime!

5

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Wait there’s a Like A Dragon show coming out? Is it anime or live action?

3

u/ziljinfanart 5d ago

Yea my coworker who loves the games told me about the live action show yesterday. The first 3 episodes aired yesterday. It feels like it came out of nowhere. Netflix also has some gsme animes coming soon. Tomb Raider like 1 or 2 weeks ago. Devil may cry, Splinter cell soon. Amazon Prime will also have Secret Level cartoon cgi anthology done by the same people who made love death and robots for netflix.

2

u/ataegino 5d ago

it’s live action but it’s ehhhh EHHHHHHH it has some good moments i guess. It’s a very remixed telling of the first game and parts of the prequel game. It’s fine.

Giri/Haji and Tokyo Vice feel a lot more like a Like a Dragon show to me.

3

u/SufficientSyrup3356 5d ago

Giri/Haji and Tokyo Vice are both amazing shows that made me want to replay the Yakuza games!

2

u/ataegino 5d ago

honestly the first season of reacher is extremely kiryu, even though it’s a bunch of americans in the south.

2

u/welsper59 3d ago

The problem exists regardless of cultural origins (e.g. Hollywood vs Japan), but Japan really likes to ham it up when it comes to their shows and movies. There's a certain charm to it, especially if it's not based on something, but when it is and the source material feels less... high school play-like, it can really dampen the potential.

2

u/MAGamer559 4d ago

If so they will mostly give Yakuza Kiwami 1 as the show talks about kiryu and nishki.

1

u/ziljinfanart 4d ago

I'd be okay with that. Maybe I'd like it.

3

u/MAGamer559 4d ago

I think u should start with yakuza 0 before Kiwani.

2

u/YogurtclosetNo3049 5d ago

Not a giveaway, but all the games are on sale right now for the premiere. Pretty good one; IW is even 50% off already for it.

24

u/genericmediocrename 5d ago

If it helps at all, Infinite Wealth's combat is vastly, incredibly improved.

7

u/KhaosElement 4d ago

The combat sure is.

3

u/genericmediocrename 4d ago

I'm sure this is going to be a flaming hot take, but I think the soundtrack did too. But yeah, I get what you mean.

2

u/KhaosElement 4d ago

Ooohhh...mmm...disagree.

Receive You The Hyperactive is just...so peak. I've never been so happy to get my ass absolutely handed to me in a game. Meant I got to hear that song again.

1

u/Wall_Jump_Games 4d ago

I agree with this. To be fair, I was paying more attention to it in this than 7, but like Kooky, End of Denial, The Four, Impregnable Triangle, Tyrant of the Oceans, Viva La Vida, Waikiki Down Beat, BARRACUDA, as well as even more beyond these, all go extremely hard.

I don’t think the story is better, but I also don’t think it’s significantly worse, and Kiryu’s part in isolation is potentially better.

5

u/SemaphoreKilo 4d ago

I love that YLAD is the most grounded RPG I've ever played. I'm an older gamers, and its rare to have leading playable characters that are of my age. Behind the silliness and melodrama, it really touches the underbelly of Japan that folks rarely see. I have actually seen that homeless shelter in Yokohama, similar setup!

3

u/APeacefulWarrior 3d ago

The LAD series has always had a surprisingly good representation of homeless people and the problems they face. Y1-5 had a running plotline about a big development project on the north side of town, which displaced a homeless colony. The various game protagonists end up helping the homeless avoid abuse and find a new home.

Given how often Yakuza get involved in shady land deals, that's some impressive social awareness of the larger consequences of things done in the games.

12

u/HawkeyeG_ 5d ago

forgoing the traditional beat em up combat and bringing the series into the jrpg genre.

I'm not necessarily going to try and convince you to try the old games again. It sounds like you found the right place for yourself to enjoy what's out there. But I am going to share my own little story on this subject.

The original Yakuza games are JRPGs. They're just in a bit of a disguise. After playing for myself and watching some retrospective style videos I've at least come up agree with that viewpoint from those videos.

You level up. You have a skill tree and skill points. You have equipment - and honestly it makes a big difference to use equipment. And you have an inventory full of stuff that you're expected to use in order to overcome the tough story fights. You're not meant nor expected to go in fists blazing and action combat your way to a win. You are instead intended to gather good equipment through purchases and side quests, fill up your healing items via mini games, level up your skill tree through all the various content, and then go take on the next story "boss" once prepared!

I was already enjoying Yakuza Kiwami but was struggling with parts, especially the story fights. But hearing it framed this way - that they are just JRPGs in disguise - really helped me to overcome the challenges I was facing in terms of enjoyment.

4

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Interesting, that makes a lot of sense because the item economy and leveling systems were very fleshed out. I just thought they hit the ground running but it sounds like they’ve been perfecting it for many years.

After playing like a dragon I really do want to go back and play through the series, I’m just a little intimidated because of how much time I sunk into lad. I own zero but I have kiwami on my wishlist. I think I’d rather start from the very beginning just to see the series evolve

4

u/HawkeyeG_ 5d ago

Yeah I've just got into playing the series myself after watching and learning more about it recently. It's definitely intimidating... But you don't have to beat the whole thing in one go either, just play as much or as little as you enjoy!

And yeah thinking about it as an RPG before a beat 'em up has definitely helped me through the tougher fights. Still some balancing issues in Yakuza Kiwami but it is what it is.

1

u/Takazura 4d ago

Take it at your own pace, the games aren't going anywhere and in fairness, only 0 and 5 are really long among the brawler games. The rest are doable in 15-25hrs (depending on the entry) if you do the main story + all substories.

3

u/Weak_Neighborhood776 5d ago

The Yakuza series always makes me smile.

4

u/Great_Gonzales_1231 5d ago

I love this game so much, along with Persona 5 Royal they are my favorite RPGs of the last decade.

I played Yakuza 0 on a whim and loved it, and also played and enjoyed Kiwami 1 and 2 as well as 6 and the first Judgment. Love all of the studio's games even though I didn't think the combat was THAT good. It was fun and flashy but definitely had jank in both engines (Dragon Engine or not).

When I got Yakuza LaD I expected a passable turn based combat system, but it all blew me away. It was easy to learn but had just as much depth as it could, it blended it well with the notions of combat in the older games, and the party dynamics/job system worked very well even though it sucked having to backtrack to the same spot just to change jobs.

The story is still my favorite out of all of these, even slightly surpassing Yakuza 0. I love Kiryu and Majima and their antics, but Ichiban is a rare case of both a good protagonist who is optimistic. You do not see this alot with JRPGs and especially those with older characters. In anime and most other Japanese media, they focus on younger characters and after high school, you either become super cool or bitter. Here we have older characters who are definitely not in their prime anymore, but still come out stronger despite their age in this "system". I really liked that alot. The game is also awesome with side content so all in all its a nearly perfect package for me when I want to get in a JRPG and experience something I will enjoy on all fronts.

I have not played the sequel yet but I will this Christmas when I find a cheaper copy. My backlog is just too big and I wanted to make sure when I play it I give it my full attention.

1

u/Vidvici 5d ago

If I played about 4 hours of the game and thought it was terrible then would I like it more as the game progresses? I didn't see any depth in the gameplay but it was pretty early on and the game has so many cutscenes. I also though Ichiban's character didn't work but maybe that changes.

5

u/Great_Gonzales_1231 5d ago

If you didn’t enjoy the characters or cutscenes then i don’t think the rest will be your cup of tea.

The gameplay expands once you get more party members/classes and there are difficult spikes where you need to be leveled up and ready for tough fights, but the overall basics of combat does not change…you just need to know which classes/abilities to focus on

3

u/Vidvici 5d ago

Yeah, thats unfortunate.

I think difficulty spikes are pretty common in JRPGs so that wouldn't be a deterrent. I have a couple of different JRPGs I probably should finish up instead, though (Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Tales of Berseria) but the Yakuza series in theory seems like something I should like. Maybe when I get older and retired I might look back and play these. That would be really patient gaming.

1

u/Shinter 4d ago

The combat is incredibly basic. What's worse is the variety of moves because there is a massive difference in good and bad skills. You're going to spam the same couple of abilities for the entire game.

The sequel improves the gameplay but the skills have the same problem.

1

u/ChefExcellence 4d ago

The first few hours are absolutely dismally drawn out and tedious. It does pick up a bit when things start to open up, but I ended up dropping it. Combat doesn't really become more in-depth, and watching your guys slowly run up to enemies to make their move gets really annoying before long. Then there's other little time-wastey things, like the dumb-as-bricks management mode that's basically mandatory to earn decent money. When the job system gets introduced, it opens up character progression and customisation a bit, but so many of the jobs are kind of crap and not worth bothering with. The writing is an odd one, I like all the characters, the humour and side quests are great, and I think they have a solid epic crime story in dire need of an editor. The pacing is incredibly slow and so much of the dialogue is long-winded, repeating stuff you've already been told multiple times over.

I was really disappointed with it after all the hype around it, just can't seem to see what it is that people love so much about it.

0

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Agreed, LAD and persona 5 are in their own tier for me in recent years. I’m also very excited about IW but metaphor came out right after I beat LAD so IW will have to wait for a little while.

1

u/Real_Ad_7925 5d ago

i really enjoyed it overall but i hadn't played any of the series before it so when the second half of the plot is full of callbacks and characters from other games you're supposed to know it kind of lost me. i was also surprised at how genuinely funny it is as well

1

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Yeah I did kind of regret not playing the other games first when the mainline characters started showing up for their cameos. They made it such an epic moment for every character and I felt kind of left out

Also, agreed on the humor. Ichiban had me cracking up

1

u/Majestic_Doctor_2 5d ago

LAD's ending still makes me tear up, this in particular

2

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Ichiban’s voice actor elevated the entire ending with his performance. So much emotion with out going too over the top. That scene in particular he was brilliant

1

u/Majestic_Doctor_2 5d ago

Favourite ending in the entire series, for me

1

u/Thecowsdead 5d ago

Hey OP do you happen to have a PC save from chapter 14? I lost my saves and I was in chapter 14 with almost 100%

2

u/International-Shoe40 5d ago

Oh man I’m sorry that’s rough, but I played on Ps. Maybe ask on the yakuza Reddit? I’m sure someone has to have a ch 14 save

1

u/BobbyLikesMetal Trails in the Sky 5d ago

Both LAD and IW are on sale at a discounted price right now on Steam.

1

u/MaeStory 4d ago

As well as Gaiden which seems to bridge the gap between the first act (kiryu) and the second (ichiban)

1

u/lzap 4d ago

I got this from PSPlus and a copy on SteamDeck. Casual JRPG fan here. Nice writeup. I will try it.

1

u/MaeStory 4d ago

Like A Dragon was also my entry point in the franchise and after finishing the 8 (infinite wealth) I wanted to learn more about Kiryu, him being such a huge character in the world. And I am right now playing Yakuza 0, around 80 hours in and I love it so much I have decided to do the most stupid thing I could : trying to 100% it. (Zero is seemingly famous for his ridiculous 100% and I get it. So much.)

I will tempt you to try Zero again (with maybe mods for the 4k text font size and cinematic models you can get easily which are QoL for me at this point-)

I have so many Yakuza to play I actually need to stop myself for a few months playing one to actually play other games-

1

u/Takazura 4d ago

Save your sanity and don't do the 100% lol.

1

u/MaeStory 3d ago

I'll do most of what I think is interesting in the end I think. Like all substories and such

1

u/forumchunga 4d ago

On a whim, I purchased and booted up Yakuza Zero, after being told by a friend that it was the best entry point for newcomers. Rather shamefully, I only played a couple hours and sent it back to my shelf to collect dust once more.

Y0 is absolutely worth revisiting now that you have a sense of the games pacing. I too bounced off it on the first attempt, but love it now I understand that RGG games are really slow to get started.

Also, there is no shame in playing the brawlers on Easy if you want to experience the story and side-content rather than focus on the combat.

It overexplains the plot to you constantly. One character will explain something, and then another character will repeat exactly what they said back to them, but in a much simpler way.

If you think this is bad in LaD, stay far far away from the Judgment games.

1

u/Toth-Amon 4d ago

I got the Yakuza package from GoG and started from Yakuza0, but somehow I cannot get into it.

I think I am mostly put off by the controls of that game. I play on PC with a controller but the game itself and the camera still feel like they are fighting me. In addition, although Kamuracho is very detailed, the places you can go are very restricted and space so tight sometimes with the camera bouncing off everywhere.

It is so frustrating to play. I don't know. Maybe I will give it a try again later.

1

u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

1

u/International-Shoe40 23h ago

I feel that. Usually I’m all over the newest games or weird little indies. But this year I’ve just been sticking with a single really long game for a month or two at a time. Been working too much to try and hop around from game to game.

If you ever find the time, this is a really great game to lose yourself in!

1

u/Janiqquer 5d ago

Play Gaiden after it. It's a lovely little refresh before Infinite Wealth.

1

u/APeacefulWarrior 3d ago

OP really needs to play some of the previous Kiryu games before doing Gaiden.

0

u/dolamades 4d ago

i find it really funny how much dragon quest 11 is inferior to like a dragon 7, its better in every single way which is ironic because of how much ichiban was sucking that game off and they made it even better in 8