Yakuza: Like a dragon Preview

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the eighth main installment of the yakuza series. Shining the light away from Kazuma Kiryu, the series’ usual protagonist. Instead, Like a Dragon introduces Ichiban Kasuga in the leading role. The game will feature a story that revolves around Ichiban’s involvement in the Tojo clan. How they betrayed him and left him for dead on the streets of Yokohama.

From Streets of Rage to Wait your damn turn

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Yakuza is now a Turn-based combat RPG, similar to Dragon Quest and Persona 5. A lot of the fans welcomed this change, realizing that it provides a much needed variety from the brawler gameplay, which did indeed get stale after playing Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1 and 2, as well as 6, in the last two years. Sega was like a well-oiled machine, churning out a new Yakuza game every few months. That’s great and all, but the gameplay did get repetitive at times.

It should be noted that this change makes sense in the context of the Like a Dragon. Ichiban isn’t a loner like Kiryu. He’s charismatic, constantly says what’s on his mind and always surrounds himself with his friends. He’s not a one man army like Kiryu, he needs his friends to defeat the never-ending waves of thugs he’s always facing.

However, we can’t deny that the choice to adapt such a radical change in the gameplay has also alienated a large number of fans. fans that have grown fond of the old battle system and are sad to see it go.

After playing a few hours of the Demo, it’s safe to say that the Turn based combat is as fun and engaging as the old battle system. It doesn’t subtract from the Yakuza experience at all. It’s not without its faults though, which are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Let’s take turns talking about this

If you’ve ever played a JRPG game then you know what to expect. You have a party of four characters, each taking their turn successively by doing an action. Each of your characters has an MP bar and an HP bar. HP is your health while the MP is the amount that determines how many special actions you can take. Basic attacks can be used without costing any MP. If you’re near items that your characters can use, they automatically hit the enemies with them or throws the items at them.

As is the norm in a JRPG, you can use items or even some special actions to buff up or heal your allies. Some of the special actions can anger your opponents and cause them to attack you prematurely or they can lower their attacks and defenses. There’s also the addition of a few jobs that can be assigned to each character. Jobs are basically the same as character classes, and they change up the move set of each of your party members.

Adding a bit of a challenge

The turn based combat introduces a layer of difficulty that the series was always lacking. Previous Yakuza games were always a breeze, even on the hardest difficulties. It’s so rare to break a sweat playing a yakuza game, with the exception of a few boss fights that employs cheap tactics such as having more than one health bar. Yet, even those boss fights get tedious after a few minutes, since Kiryu’s move set gets a bit repetitive after a while (Yakuza 0 being the exception)

Street encounters are harder to win this time around, but they’re easier to avoid. When you’re spotted on the streets, the thugs no longer chase you. All you have to do to avoid them is just get out of their sight quickly by pressing X and running away from them. In Like a Dragon, you no longer need to constantly mash X to keep running. My controller is extremely happy about that.

The worst thing about the new combat system is the level gating. Certain sections of the map are filled with enemies that are several levels higher than you. Preventing you from comfortably roaming wherever you like. As mentioned previously, they’re easier to avoid this time so it isn’t that much of a hassle.

Another thing that can get frustrating, especially in a 50 hour game, is the amount of post-fight screens that the game throws at you. It was annoying in Persona 5 and no doubt it’ll get annoying very quickly here as well.

As wacky as ever

Like a Dragon doesn’t hold back with the wackiness and the silliness that the series is known for. The demo starts with Ichiban and his companions coming across a baseball bat stuck in the asphalt ground while out roaming. They all take turns trying and failing to take it out. That is until Ichiban pulls it out as the skies roar and lighting strikes in the background, and he wields it like a Japanese Thor brandishing his mighty Mjolnir. They later all acknowledge that their lives are becoming more and more like an RPG.

The new activities are as fun as they are weird. You can go watch a movie at the theater with your companions. This consists in trying to prevent Ichiban from snoozing during the movie by smacking human-looking sheep, quickly pressing the corresponding button that shows up above their heads. It’s a fun minigame but I don’t see it taking much of our time as it could get boring real quick after a few rounds.

Mario, I mean Dragon Kart and Trash collecting

Two of the other activities available in the demo are vehicular based. The first is called Dragon Kart, which as you expect, is a karting game similar to Mario Kart. You race against 6 other people, collecting power ups and weapons along the way, and driving over speed boosters. It’s a fun diversion and the kart handles really well, surprisingly.

My favorite activity though, has to be this last one. This one has you driving a bike that has a wagon attached to it, and you have to go around and collect discarded cans off the streets. All the meanwhile, other homeless people are doing the same and if you come across them, they try to crash into you to make you drop your load. As soon as you collect enough cans, you have to quickly bike your way back to the finish line.

Three playable districts to roam in and cause mayhem

The new district Isezaki Ijincho, based on Yokohama’s real-life Isezakichō district, is a godsend. It feels like a real expanded city, unlike Kamurocho and Sotenbori. Instead of feeling like a small part of a city, it actually feels like a large lived in district, with more traffic and more pedestrians than ever.
Even if Isezaki isn’t up to your standards, you can always rejoice about the fact that the game also has a large portion of it set in Kamurocho and Sotenbori, the cities that we’ve grown so familiar with.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is shaping up to be one hell of a Yakuza game. We’re looking forward to get our hands on it once it releases internationally on the 10th of November. The PS5 version is set to be launch on March 2nd, 2021.

Are you excited about it? Are you bothered by the fact that it’s now turn based? or not? Let us know down in the comments below.

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