Yakuza: Like a Dragon

[Soldier13Fox]

Figured that since there are a couple of us playing this game it was time for its own thread.

Gotta say ... I was looking forward to this game, I've enjoyed the other Yakuza games but wouldn't claim they are anything more than good games, but I wasn't planning on liking this as much as I do. It has easily become 2021 GOTY for me. I'm about 30 hours in and believe I'm near the tail end of Chapter 10.

Main story is fantastic. Don't want to get into spoiler territory, but it's good. Some stinging betrayal with some awesome redemption already. Really invested and interested to see where it goes.

Side-quests, same old zany Yakuza fare. Except this time some of the rewards result in gaining new summons (poundmates) to use in battle. Can't say they help all that much in the fight, but the cutscenes when they are summoned are amazing.

Turn-based JRPG combat works great. The brawling in the previous games is what it is, it got old pretty quick IMO. The move to turn based combat is great. Minor nit-pick though, I wish the random enemies strolling around would scale up to your level, a lot of wasted time or wasted MP dealing with enemies that are way below you.

I don't get the business management sim, I think I've already tanked the business and am scared to go back to it for another couple of rounds for fear of disappointing my buddy Nick. Probably need to read a guide, I just don't get it.

Party and jobs are Ichiban (Hero). Adachi (Enforcer). Nanba (Homeless Guy). Saeko (Idol). Don't use the Korean mafia guy much.

All in all ... review in progress ... it's a solid 10/10 so far for me.

Click to read more...

 

[samabam]

I got majorly sidetracked in the middle of chapter 5.
I found myself constantly running out if money to do the things I wanted to do, so I got into business management and binged that thing to rank 1 in basically one very very long session.
Then I had the money to max the forge and go into materials farming for the best gear, finished vocational school, played dragon kart and can quest as far as I could progress (there appears to be a story requirement to advance in dragon kart).
Over the course of this I apparently unlocked a secret character for the party and maxed my bond to adachi and saeko (secret character got max bond in a different way)
Now I am taking care of part time hero requests.
All of that even though I actually am invested in the main story and curious to see how it will progress.
Definitely a strong candidate to be my goty 2020.

 

[John Price]

 

[Soldier13Fox]

I got majorly sidetracked in the middle of chapter 5.
I found myself constantly running out if money to do the things I wanted to do, so I got into business management and binged that thing to rank 1 in basically one very very long session.
Then I had the money to max the forge and go into materials farming for the best gear, finished vocational school, played dragon kart and can quest as far as I could progress (there appears to be a story requirement to advance in dragon kart).
Over the course of this I apparently unlocked a secret character for the party and maxed my bond to adachi and saeko (secret character got max bond in a different way)
Now I am taking care of part time hero requests.
All of that even though I actually am invested in the main story and curious to see how it will progress.
Definitely a strong candidate to be my goty 2020.

Dang. I need to sit down and figure that management mode out. I took out a loan and bought another property ... but I think I messed up both now. I certainly need some yen to upgrade the weapon shop to level 3, 2 million yen is so far away from what I have right now.

 

[samabam]

Dang. I need to sit down and figure that management mode out. I took out a loan and bought another property ... but I think I messed up both now. I certainly need some yen to upgrade the weapon shop to level 3, 2 million yen is so far away from what I have right now.

For Management Mode there are a few things that make your life easier.
1.) Hire the employees that unlock via the side stories, the baseball guy was awesome up to rank 10 and the Vocational School guy even a bit longer
2.) Train the employees so that their level is always a bit above the oponents you face in the board meeting (you can check their level by going into the board meeting in the main menu
3.) Managing the properties that they earn a profit was not that hard for me, I actually found out that it doesnt matter too much if one of the parameters is in the red
4.) The most important thing is to have a good deck for the board meeting!!!
You will want 1 green 1 red and 1 blue employee with the lowest command cost (For example for blue this was always omelette for me. I called them the breakers
the 4th employee should be the one with the highest carisma to command cost ratio (used to be the baseball dude for a long time for me). I called him the Damage dealer
5.) In the board meeting use the breaker employee with the color that beats the argument to break the defense and then the Damage dealer to defeat.
6.) Save your apology at least up to level two, that refreshes your command points. (The most common problem for me was to run out of command points)

As a general tip, save before the board meetings, they have by far the most significant impact on your ranking. And bring all your employees hapiness to maximum by using auto cure right before the meeting (you'll need to save money for this, especially for higher level employees this can get expensive)

Edit: Especially at the beginning it is only important to train the employees that are on your board meeting deck (to keep the other employees at a lower level and keep their salaries and auto cure costs low). Training them to keep your properties in the blue only became important for me when I started buying the most expensive properties

 

[MD thaivuN]

management shareholder was difficult until i realized you could just cycle through the board team until the word "Weak" appears on the enemy's question (as long you have all 3 colors on your team), which kills all 3 shields in 1 shot.

As far as battle goes, Han as the Hitman is just the best damage dealer. He doesn't ever leave my party. Him and Saeko makes level and job farming in Battle Arena pretty easy.

 

[samabam]

I have now spent more than 41 hours with this game in less than a week...I can't remember the last time I binged a game like this, probably Persona5 for the first time, so this is definetly my game of the year

 

[John Price]

Sounds like this game is pretty fun

I was wary of the new combat system at first which seemed more turn based so not sure how reception is on that. I need to finish replaying Yakuza 3 first then go to 4, 5, and 6 before playing this one.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Took a pause from the main story and maxed out the management sim, workshop, vocational classes, and all side stories I hadn't hit through Chapter 10. Boy, did they do a poor job explaining the management sim. Once you take some time to figure it out though, it's pretty simple and is now a quick way to hoard some yen when needed. Progressed on to Chapter 11, but haven't done anything yet. Story is coming together nicely. Favorite karaoke song = Like a Butterfly. Ichiban's rapping is fun.

 

[MD thaivuN]

finished the story. Started a new game+ on legend. I very much recommend farming permanent stats from other jobs and also leveling the beginning jobs (especially free-lancer and homeless) before starting Legend mode because low level mobs hits like a truck lol.

 

[John Price]

Game is 20% off on Steam

Sounds good

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Game is 20% off on Steam

Sounds good

It's good!

 

[MD thaivuN]

been farming a lot on Legend Difficulty. Level 20 mobs pretty much can deal 1000+ damage to your HP

 

[John Price]

I beat 4 today. Now need to play 5 and 6 and then I'm ready for Like a Dragon.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

So, I gotta ask...how lost am I going to be having never really played around in this series before?

Yakuza has always intrigued the hell out of me, but its genre has always kept me far away and I just can't fathom myself finishing 1 of those games never mind 6. Now that it's in my favorite genre it almost feels like it's made for me, but I don't want to be completely lost either. I know the different main character and all that stuff, I'm mostly just asking about how many plot points and references will be based around things I just won't understand/get. I understand that it's manageable without playing the other games, but have heard mixed things as to how lost I'll be.

I already picked the game up, it's just a matter if I jump it to the top of my queue or if I slot it in under other 2020 games I haven't played/finished yet.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I am also curious about that question, though I have played 0 and Kiwami 1 and 2. I started 3 but couldn't get into it, which is kind of a shame because I own 6 as well, and am not sure if I can skip 4 or 5 along with 3, or if I should just slow my roll and try again.

From what I understand, there's only the most general references to the earlier games in 7, so it's largely self-contained. Also, @Big McLargehuge I am sure you have heard this before, but 0 is phenomenally fun. There is something to the gameplay loop of just beating the ever-loving shit out of hoodlums with various insane objects and combos that really carries the game, and the story is insane and fun. For me it just got repetitive after playing three of the games and I'm not sure when I'll feel like playing the 3-4-5 collection, or if I'll turn to 6 which if I recall correctly has the same engine as 0.

 

[samabam]

I played through Yakuza0, Kiwami1 and halfway through Kiwami2, I am not entirely through the whole story of Like a dragon, but so far, there is nothing that I would have missed if I hadn't playes the mentionend three games, maybe a nod here and there and a little fan service but nothing big.
@Big McLargehuge : It was the same for me, I didn't like the fighting style all that much in previous Yakuza entries and I do like JRPGs so this game doesn't just feel like it's a Yakuza made for me, it actually is.
Only my job currently keeps me from finishing it

 

[John Price]

3 4 are pretty good IMO. 3 sets up 4 and 4 recalls on 2.

I would think Like a Dragon is something new and a reboot but I've never played. I also like the fighting style in 0-6 and was wary of the combat system but reviews for LaD are very good.

I also don't' think they get repetitive at least with combat. Beating someone up with environmental objects never gets old. Having to x by dialogue gets old though.

As for the guy talking about not finishing 3 it's worth it. The games always take 10 or so hours to complete anyway. I recently finished 3 for the 2nd time.

 

[Blitzkrug]

As someone who only mildly dabbled in the other Yakuza games (not a ton but enough to know who all the returning characters are generally) I absolutely ****ing loved this game

For a first try at a turn based RPG they did really well. Few kinks to work out but a really solid experience nonetheless.

Everything else is just...chef's kiss. The soundtrack slaps, the world is full with just enough shit to do where it doesn't get repetitive and the story, outside of a couple wtf worthy twists was super enjoyable.

Ichiban is such a contrast to Kiyru as a protag and his crew is almost as lovable as he. By the sounds of it he's taking over the rest of the way and I'm super excited to see where they take his story.

Gonna give the rest of the series a good try since I'm more interested to get a deeper look into the timeline, especially with that crazy bastard Goro lol.