Yakuza / Like A Dragon Megathread

Zero-Cool

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The man who erased his name, will not only have the old school combat but confirmed last night that the cabaret club manager 'mini' game will be in. GOTY 2023.

Penn

Started Like A Dragon: Ishin last night. Fun so far. Slow start in terms of what all there is to do in the game, but as per usual the story and presentation is terrific so far. Only complaint is the camera can be a pain in indoors areas, especially with the fast movement of your character.

quokula

Want to play this but I got burned by Yakuza Like a Dragon appearing on game pass shortly after buying it. The entire series is on there so feels like it's just a matter of time before this one is too.

brady12

I was debating whether get it when I picked up ps vr 2 this morn. 2 hours in now and I'm enjoying it . Only yakuza 0 have i played before this !

Penn

I just finished Chapter 3 earlier. Really enjoying it. My only concern is there doesn't seem to be a lot side activities to do, or at least they haven't become as apparent yet. But then I remember with Yakuza 0 the game only really kicked off in Chapter 4 where a lot more things unlocked.

brady12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120280963#Comment_120280963

The less the better because iv my hand in about 10 diff games at moment 😅

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120280963#Comment_120280963

Doesn't seem to be a lot of side activities...

*two hours later*

If I just go fishing and can catch another crayfish, I think I can make a stew, and then I can fill most of the orders from the local shops and re-arrange my crops so I can grow some garlic and peppers... HEY LOOK! THIS CAT NEEDS A BATH!

Penn

Still enjoying the game but disappointed with a lot of the side stuff. There's no real killer side content like the Cabaret Club in Yakuza 0. Might just power through story for the rest of the game unless something else pops up.

Mr.Saturn

Currently 35 minutes into Yakuza 6 and exactly 2 minutes has involved gameplay. Series really knows how to outdo itself.

DeSelby83

I'm about to start into this series, have played a few hours of like a dragon (7) but think I'll go back to the start now after enjoying it more than I thought I would. Presumably it's best to start at Yakuza 0 or would by modern releases he better?

Zero-Cool

Yakuza 0 is the best start, modern engine and excellent gameplay and story. Just plough through the first few hours of cutscenes. I think chapter 4 is where it opens up with all the fun side stuff.

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120562169#Comment_120562169

Have got about 3 hours in now and there certainly a lot of cutscenes but it's pretty enjoyable so far. I'm about an hour into chapter 2 looking for info on the real estate company

johnny_ultimate

Yakuza 0 is definitely the best starting point and neatest distillation of the main series without all the baggage of a half dozen sequels. I will say, it’s an easy series to burn out on given the mammoth running times of quite a few of the games and often repetitive core gameplay loop. Unless you really love them, it’d be a bit of an ordeal to play through the whole series sequentially. I love Like a Dragon but that’s also a nice, relatively clean slate to jump into. Ditto Judgement, or Ishin which I’ve just started.

Zero-Cool

Yakuza Gaiden looks incredible! Although the live action cabaret club is definitely gonna get people into trouble :D Awesome story/dialogue, combat mini games, retro games, everything I want from a Yakuza. This will also have a special trial of Like a Dragon 8 Infinite Wealth, clip of that at end of this trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOdffRw16GI

Retr0gamer

The demo is only available to people with a save game from the previous game. Also it will have scenes not in the final game so sounds like it's worth playing.

johnny_ultimate

While Gaiden seems to have some interesting mechanics - and I also like the idea of a shorter, smaller Yakuza game - I just find Kiryu hard to go back to after Ichiban, as the latter is an infinitely more charismatic and entertaining protagonist.

Zero-Cool

Right, installing Like a Dragon again. I can't remember where I left it last time, think I had just unlocked business management and was a bit overwhelmed by it. I'm determined to like this game haha The characters are brilliant, great side quests, I'm still not fully sure about the whole job bit of it and I'm not sure if I should set combat to auto or try to engage with it more.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121006427#Comment_121006427

The Business management is great fun. Stick with it. You get a new party member out of it and it's also the easiest way to make mega bucks.

Zero-Cool

Jumped back in, chapter 5, couldn't remember game mechanics or main mission i was on so ran around doing side quests and part time hero stuff, quickly got back into the rhythm of things. I had 120k on me and got into a random fight but they were much higher level and killed me only to find i lost half my money. Jesus, that was harsh! Also 1 hp across the board so if i got into another fight, down another 30k. Only then i noticed you can insta fast travel by phone instead of running to nearest taxi.

I fot how to continue with the management mini game, must look that up. I just got a bit at a train station where it said to make sure i was level 15 and bring enough items(I'm 17) so i made a save to be safe.

Should i focus on business management before proceeding or good to come back to it? Those high level goons have me worried I'm a bit under prepared.

johnny_ultimate

It’s worth focusing on the mini game for a few hours as a) you’ll make quick progress once you get past the initial learning curve and b) you’ll completely break the in game economy by earning so much money and be able to afford to upgrade your characters to take on pretty much anyone.

There are IIRC parts of the city where there will be more powerful enemies about. But generally in the normal course of play you should always be a level or more ahead of anyone you’ll encounter in the main campaign. It only really throws some tough enemies and bosses at you in the final third (and optional post-game stuff).

Zero-Cool

Right, so googled where the business location was and headed there to find i had to attend a board meeting, failed it as no idea what was going on. Looked up 3 videos and it's still a bit confusing but I'm about to break into the top 100 companies and went from 60k to 360k in the space of an hour. It's so addictive, I can't wait to unlock more slots to buy more businesses, upgrade, recruit and profit profit profit!

I can't remember how i ended up with a chicken working for me but twice I've had 2 donations of 5 mil into the management fund because of him so I'll keep him around. Gonna keep ploughing into this anyway as it's **** great. Will then look at how great to spend my money and back to the main game.

Retr0gamer

The Chicken is the most OP thing in Like a Dragon

Zero-Cool

Haven't touched another game since going back to LAD, I'm rank 17 in the management game and things are getting testy. I went from 60k to 360,000k mental. I feel like I'm missing out on high end employees from side quests and exploring the map but i don't want to leave my office!

My employees are starting to lose strength though, need some SR ones to bulk up the squad.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054687#Comment_121054687

IIRC I did most of the management mini-game in one big block as well, only really going back after that when I needed a big cash injection (it basically becomes an infinite money pool if you're willing to put the graft in). So I didn't really use too many of the sidequest employees first time around.

You should be getting to a point soon where just paying to rest your employees makes little impact to your overall earnings, and you can just pay to boost their stats without any worries. It's been a little while, but the key is to maximise the rest period timing - timed in relation to the board meetings, so they're at full strength when you're going into those.

Zero-Cool

Just saw i made a mistake in my post, went from 60k to 3,360,000. Currently on 4.5 mil, gonna see this through before getting back to the Jain game, absolutely addictive.

Zero-Cool

Yakuza Gaiden playable demo at Pax West. This guy has his priorities right, straight into the live action cabaret :D

Zero-Cool

RGG Direct last night showing off Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth story and Gameplay. Story trailer is very spoiler heavy so be warned. The gameplay looks FANTASTIC!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEQlr3yqVsU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeTFK18PjnM

Zero-Cool

Year of the Segway

johnny_ultimate

It looks outrageously good. I love the Yakuza Japanese city sandboxes, but a radical shift in location is a very welcome change of pace and hopefully will allow the designers to go a bit wilder. Going by the trailer, that looks like it'll be the case :)

sniper_samurai

It's just been announced there on the Xbox TGS stream that Gaiden will be a day 1 release on Game Pass.

I can't wait to install it and get stuck in to Daytona USA 2.