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Yakuza: Like a Dragon LTTP - From someone who hasn't played any other Yakuza games

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Man, am I late to the party on this game. But, better late than never! I've been playing this for a couple of weeks now, am 60+ hours into the game, and getting close to the end (I think). I played maybe the first 30 minutes of Yakuza Kiwami several years ago, but it didn't gel with me at the time, so I would consider myself a newcomer to the series.

This is one of the best turn-based RPGs I've ever played. It's such a refreshing take on the genre that I consider it to be in the same league as something like Earthbound, my favorite game of all time.

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The seamless blend of modern day Yokohama with turn-based combat is amazing. You can grab stuff off the street like traffic cones, bicycles, etc. to do extra damage. You can pummel a guy into oncoming traffic to kill them.

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Instead of treasure chests, there are briefcases that have cash and items in them stashed around town. You can search vending machines to try and find loose change, in addition to using them as standard item vendors. There's an amazingly deep class system - but the twist is that your characters jobs are... actual jobs. Chef, bodyguard, musician, bar hostess, etc. One of the jobs is "homeless guy", that learns the ability to nap on the spot to recover HP.

Summons in this game are also incredible - you use your cell phone to call an NPC (that you've previously done a quest or side quest to unlock their backstory). Some of these are absolutely brilliant

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The characters in this game are all amazing, fun, and ultimately flawed. The main character is in his 40s, but still loves old school RPGs. Another is a 60-something near-retiree. And then a homeless guy who used to be a nurse, but got let go. Having a party member in your main lineup will earn you "bond points" after each battle, and leveling up your bond meter gives you access to additional cutscenes that explain the character's backstory more, or furthers your friendship with them.

The minigames are out of this world too. I spent hours just running a company, and advanced from having a single location to branching out all over Yokohama (while apologizing to shareholders the whole time). There is a surprisingly competent Mario Kart clone baked in. Optional dungeons. Crane games. ROMs of old SEGA games you can play in the arcades. And yeah, Karaoke.

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As someone who hasn't played the other games in the series, I know I'm missing out on a lot of references. Still, I feel like this is a pretty solid entry point into the series. If you're like me, and you love JRPGs (and especially turn based ones), then you'll love this game.

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And - since it's Golden Week, it's on sale right now for $15-$18, an absolute steal.



It's also on Game Pass, if you have that.

Have you played it? Did you like it?
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
It's a nice change of pace and ends up being a solid RPG with an amazing story, but I'm glad Judgement took on the action oriented mantle of Yakuza and RGG Studios didn't fully dived in into the turn-based genre.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Yea brilliant game. Try judgement next.
That one looks interesting, but I'm on the fence since its not-turn based and doesn't seem to have many, or any, RPG elements (and that's my favorite part of Like a Dragon).

I am, however, very much looking forward to this game's sequel next year.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Have you played it? Did you like it?
Much like you I totally missed this bus and HOLY CRAP am I glad I played it. It was my GOTY pick for 2021 and 2022. I had not played a Yakuza game before I picked this one up (since then I have played through all of them) and I loved everything about the game.

It just felt so good to play a turn based RPG that felt like the old school days of FF but with QoL improvements all over the place.

Of course the game was a totally banger considering the game areas were so densely populated and felt really lived in, the voice acting and characters were awesome, and the music is fantastic.

Some of the later fights (even with folks I had no previous knowledge about) were epic and I felt the game had an fantastic payoff.

Glad you liked it....you are a person of Exquisite Taste (tm) (your NES collection was already a testament to that).
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
The enemies (and their names) I've also been endlessly amused with.

The shuggler

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Beerzerker

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Battle bum

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And so on. There are 252 types of enemies in this game (and a pokemon-like mini-game to "collect them all"), nearly all of them are some form of pun, and nearly all of them are hilarious.
 
I'm with you. I still have no interest in the rest of Yakuza, but this one was fantastic. It's great to see a AAA game can go TO turn-based gameplay instead of running away from it.
 
Absolutely loved the game, but it does get a little bit more grindy than it should towards the endgame. Still love Yakuza 0 and the Yakuza Kiwami versions of 1 & 2 better. Also want to say that even though the other Yakuza games (as well as the Judgement series) have live action instead of turn based action they are still like Like a Dragon in every other way. I absolutely still consider them to be JRPGs.
 

Skifi28

Member
It was a nearly perfect Yakuza & RPG experience. My only gripe was the balancing of the game towards the end. The last few chapters had a big jump in difficulty and I had to spent 3-4 hours grinding just to finish the darn thing.
 
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j0hnnix

Member
I enjoyed the story and fun , but turn based really killed this form me coming from all other Yakuza games.
 

jonnyp

Member
Hate the turn-based system they've changed to but at least we have Judgement. The main character is a fucking tool too.

The difficulty spike was also quite ridiculous at the end.
 

nush

Gold Member
I was enjoying it until the grind got too much, got to the double boss fight and got my ass handed to me even after grinding in preparation. It's going to be the Yakuza game I won't finish.
 

Teletraan1

Banned
Yeah I liked the Turn Based combat a lot. Glad they ditched archaic real time combat that nobody enjoys but a bunch of dusty ass grandpas. Yakuza games have always been about change so the complete genre change was totally expected and organic. If you need to play a real time combat game that is easy all the way through with no so called difficulty spikes go play Final Fantasy 16.
 

Gambit2483

Member
Going from turned based (to possibly) real time action...Honestly if you love the style of storytelling and characters you'll easily be able to enjoy the previous Yakuza's...unless you just absolutely hate real-time action games (just as old-school Yakuza fans did the opposite)
 
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Hells Yeah I love Like a Dragon! Ichiban is such a great hero too.

When people are on the fence about it I can usually sell them on playing this game using this one short 30 second clip.

BEHOLD! The resurrection spell of Like a Dragon:



When I beat the game I was like "what's senbei? I gotta get me some senbei to celebrate this awesome game!" So I bought and ate some. Turns out it's just fancy rice crackers lol
 
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Doom85

Member
I played some of Yazuka 1 (the remake) and liked it well enough, but yeah not to the point I was open for 7 games of it. I’ll definitely check this one out sometime though.
 

Humdinger

Member
Loved Yakuza 0. Liked Yakuza 1, got tired of it with 2. Don't see myself going back. Tired of the punchy-punch.
 

Justin9mm

Member
I didn’t like it.
I absolutely positively fucking hate turn based combat, I hate it! Doesn't matter how good of a game it is.. Pokémon, Persona, whatever it is. Probably my biggest hate when it comes to style of video games. It's not for me and never will be.
 

NanaMiku

Member
One of my favorite JRPG lol
Personally I enjoyed it more than Persona 5 Royal (I like vanilla Persona 5 more)

I really like this commercial lol
 

Lasha

Member
RGG7 cracked my top ten games of all time. The game had a perfect mix of surrealism and gritty drama to frame the excellent turn based combat. I love the caveat that all of the turn based battles take place inside ichiros head.

We as the player see essence of glow stick fury:


While your party beating the shit out of a guy with makeshift weapons is reality.
 

Roberts

Member
I have only played Yakuza 1 and this one - while I don't have a clear favourite, Ichiban is way more fun as a character than the guys from the first one.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Too much story for my taste
Probably my biggest gripe, especially in the beginning. The first chapter was 90% cut scenes, I'm kinda glad that ratio dropped in the later chapters. Now that I'm through that part, I can appreciate that they were just setting up the story/characters.
 
Going through it right now at around chapter 7 and have so many mixed feelings on it. There's a charming goofiness that at first was enjoyable that has steadily started wear thin. Imo the game is perfect when it takes things a little more serious with the sincere almost child like nature of Ichiban.

The world itself has this dated PS3 feel about it that's dull to travel around in. Just finished a rather long not so fun corridor dungeon that sapped the fun of things partially due to design and I'm just straight up over turn based combat now despite how much they try to dress it up. Side content while varied has little of anything I want to engage in. Animations are rough at times, non-main cast voices are a bit oof, and combat is standard fare.

The cast of characters are fantastic - thank fucking god it's not another team of anime teams saving the world. That's really the best part of the whole game. Hell I'd be happy just to have a movie/series with this group more so than a game at this point.
 
This game was charming, fun, packed with content, polished, and did I mention charming? I can't think of another modern game with such effortlessly likeable characters. I wanted to see Ichiban & Friends succeed and, by golly, they do.
 

stn

Member
A very good entry overall, its up there for me. I still prefer 2, 1, and Zero over it, and maybe 6. Just in terms of story.
 
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