Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the seventh main title in the popular Yakuza series, but it’s the first to step out of the franchise’s comfort zone and into a new genre – that of an RPG. Like a Dragon is also the first main title to not feature Kiryu as a protagonist, and instead, Ichiban takes center stage with a new crew.
With the move to an RPG format came many changes, most notably when it comes to battle, but there are other additions too. However, it’s understandable that trying to blend the beat ’em action-adventure style of Yakuza with an RPG style wasn’t ever going to be an entirely smooth process, so naturally, some RPG elements work better than others.
10 WORKS: Weapon and Armor Crafting/Upgrades
The crafting and upgrading of weapons and armor in Yakuza: Like a Dragon works really well, with players being able to take advantage of this as soon as they can access Romance Workshop, which is unlocked during Chapter Five.
Players can also pay money to upgrade the workshop, which increases the number of weapons and gear that they can craft. Ingredients needed can be found around the city, dropped from enemies, or even purchased from NPCs in some cases, which can make crafting a little easier.
9 DOESN’T WORK: Gathering
Yakuza: Like a Dragon added gathering to the game, but unfortunately this feature falls flat. The number of places that you can gather naturally is rather low, with there being a few areas in dungeons to gather plants, and bugs being the only other thing that you can gather in the wild.
Players are able to grow their own items, with there being many seeds and bulbs that they can find or purchase, but this is where it gets annoying. There are two planting pots outside of Survive Bar, which is a handy location, but for players wanting to plant more – the other planting pots are dotted around the city. This makes gathering a bit of a chore as it means a lot of running around. It’s far easier, though obviously more expensive, to just buy the ingredients from the vendor Hamakita park.
8 WORKS: Summons
A feature that RPG fans tend to love is the ability to summon an ally into battle, with the Final Fantasy series utilizing mythical beasts for this, which have since become synonymous with the franchise. Of course, as Yakuza is set in the real world, it’s harder to explain this feature, but Like a Dragon does it very well.
Poundmates is a service where Ichiban pays people to come and fight on his behalf, and Ichiban’s imagination does a lot of work and making them even better, such as seeing Robson the cat as a fierce tiger. There’s still some far out craziness when it comes to the summons, but the Yakuza series always had a little craziness to it.
7 DOESN’T WORK: Other Crafting (Food/Medicine/Gifts)
Players can craft other items, such as medicine, certain foods, and plant items (such as bouquets), however, it’s not actually Ichiban crafting these but rather the barkeep of Survive Bar. While this works relatively easily, it’s a shame that it isn’t Ichiban himself crafting the items and as one of the job roles is that of a chef, it feels like a missed opportunity.
There could have been a great cooking minigame that tied into cooking and crafting, while the barkeep could still have made the gift items and medicine if really necessary.
6 WORKS: Boss Battles
The Yakuza series has always made boss battles pretty fun, with Kiryu even taking on tigers in a previous title, but of course, when it comes to RPGs, especially fantasy titles, the boss battles are on a whole other level and players normally expect some larger-than-life enemies to defeat.
However, Like a Dragon manages to raise the bar, with Ichiban and crew still taking on larger bosses in the form of machinery, such as bulldozers and cleaning robots, among other things.
5 DOESN’T WORK: Character Gear
There’s a couple of aspects to this issue. Firstly, depending on the job role chosen for each party member, the character’s outfit changes, and players can actually choose between a few variants. However, this isn’t reflected while walking around the city for most of the game, and all characters are still wearing their default clothing instead, which is disappointing. This does change after the player has completed the game, but it means most playtime involves default outfits.
Secondly, players are actually able to equip different gear to the party members, including hats, tops, and boots. Yet none of these have a visual impact on the character whatsoever. The only item that players equip that actually has a visual change is the choice of weapon.
4 WORKS: Status Ailments
Status ailments are a big part of RPGs, especially as they usually go hand-in-hand with job-specific roles that are specialized to inflict status ailments and debuffs on enemies. Of course, in a real-world setting like a city, inflicting status ailments on opponents is a bit more eye-brow raising.
However, Like a Dragon makes this work really well as it utilizes ailments in a more realistic way, such as sleep being the result of a sleeping powder attack, or for example, the paralyzed ailment being the result of a stun gun attack.
3 DOESN’T WORK: Dungeons
Dungeons are a common element in most RPG games, so it’s no surprise that Like a Dragon decided to incorporate them when it went down the RPG route. However, in the real world, any kind of dungeons are never going to be that interesting as the game lacks that fantasy element.
For example, most of the dungeons in Like a Dragon are in sewers and underground bunkers, with every path looking exactly the same and the whole dungeon crawling element becoming tiresome very quickly.
2 WORKS: Job Roles
The ability to change the job roles of all the characters in the party is a welcome addition, with all the jobs being natural choices that make sense for the setting of the game, such as hosts or idols. Additionally, the way in which players change the characters’ jobs via a job center where people look for work makes it all the more realistic.
True to RPG style, different jobs fulfill different roles, with some being tanks, healers, damage dealers, and more. Of course, there are mixed roles for players who want more of a jack of all trades character.
1 DOESN’T WORK: Romance
Romance is something that fans absolutely adore about RPGs, with there being a lot of fan art and fan fiction surroundings the fictional couplings. Like a Dragon does contain some romance options, but they’re rather lackluster and there are restrictions on who you can romance based on how leveled Ichiban’s stats are.
The main issue that fans have with the romance in Like a Dragon is that you can’t begin a romantic relationship with any of your party members. You can pursue relationships with Eri and Saeko as part of their sub-quests, but ultimately neither ends romantically.
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