I wasn't lying last blog. I don't know how to open these anymore. We're looking at another blog regarding the Inside Xbox Event. Yeah. But at least this is one game that I can happily approach with smiles and expectations because yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am a fan of this franchise. For that reason I'm super excited to see 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon' coming to Xbox Series X and thus landing in the hands of so many more players. (Although, full disclouse, I'm only really invested for the localisation that this release promises, my Yakuza platform is PC.) So before I've even looked at any footage for this game I already know that is hails from an oddball, intense and often epic franchise that has never managed to disappoint me so far. (So expectations are understandably high.)
Although I will start my delve into this game by actually addressing a point I've made in practically every single 'Inside Xbox reveal title so far', namely what this game does to deserve being showcased in a next-gen focused event. Previously we've had very few titles who boast a scope beyond that which the current gens can handle, and mostly just games that have resolutions just a tad above what the One and PlayStation 4 are currently comfortable with. It's a trend that certainly calls into question whether or not this jump to the next stage of development tech is really necessary at the present, but no where does that question blaze brighter than with the trailer for 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon'. And why is that? Well, because 'Like a Dragon' just looks like a Yakuza game, not bad but not exactly cutting edge tech either. Since time immemorial Yakuza games have been jumping through seemingly long redundant loopholes in order to make their games work, (The tiny play areas seem like a holdover from Playstation one) their strength comes from the gameplay and story, so why did anyone think this game was a headliner worth touting to the world about? It just doesn't make any sense...
That aside the trailer itself is pure Yakuza magic and makes me personally beyond excited to try this title out for myself. It's seems the story will follow a run-of-the-mill Yakuza grunt named Ichiban Kasuga as he is convinced to take a fall for his family. (That's 'criminal family', by the by.) However once he's out of prison he is only met with an attempt on his own life by the boss he willingly went to lockup for, and so the game will follow Ichiban's rise from the ashes to find out what happened and, I assume take his revenge. Now, for a Yakuza storyline this actually does seem rather by-the-numbers however the strength of these stories do come from the characters themselves and if that really is Majima I saw briefly in this trailer, then 'Like a Dragon' is going to have no shortage of them going around.
The rest of the trailer is filled to the brim with all that bizarre off the wall nonsense that we all love the Yakuza series for, only to the point where it might just eclipse anything they've done before. We've already seen that this entry wishes to evolve upon the series by adopting a party system, (is it still considered 'evolution' when every other Japanese game ever made has a party system?) which has given the team the opportunity for weird party skins and members, but this trailer pushed beyond that. We see power blasts of blue energy flying out of character's fists, wrecking balls, battle lobsters and even an orbital strike from space. (And I still don't know how much of that is typical exaggeration and how much I'm supposed to take seriously. I suppose the lobster is the former. Probably.)
From personal experience, I can attest that the Yakuza series manages to quite deftly manage the absurd with the impactful in quite a satisfying and enjoyable manner, something which I imagine this game will be no slouch at either. There's something about going through a vicious battle to the death and Yakuza bosses one moment and consorting with a half-naked lunatic who can't stop dancing the next moment which is so uniquely whimsical and, quite honestly, Japanese. That's the same sort of unmatched entertainment that I look to anime for and what I get out of some of my favourite Japanese games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear and Xenoblade Chronicles. (Yep, I'm going so far as to compare Yakuza to those greats!) With the way that this series constructs itself there is something especially intense yet magical to it's execution that I simply can't get anywhere else. Think 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure' only without Hamon energy as a plot point. (Which by my reckoning is a 100% improvement.)
If there is one problem I must bring up, and yes it's an elaboration upon my earlier point, but does this game have to carry the shortcomings of it's predecessor? Ever since this series began it has pulled of this 'simulation-light' of the city space in which the game is set, and whilst it may have been sort of impressive in the first entry nowadays it seems a little lame. Every time you're between main story events, you'll find yourself in an instanced area of free roam that basically just serves as a staging ground for the game's many sidequests, and I feel like it could be just so much more. What would become of a game like this is work was put in to make that in-between world feel alive and consequential? I know that's my expectations for western game design values getting ahead of myself there but I like to think the concept of quality would be universal. (If nothing else it would make the story locations feel more immersive and less like the 'fight arenas' that they absolutely are.)
But I do know why it is that Microsoft lined this game up for it's Xbox Series X reveal, contrary to what I might have implied earlier. You see this wasn't their way of showing off 'the power of Series X' like it was for most of the other entries, no this was an attempting of boasting about the relationships that they've built since the last generation. At the start of Xbox one's lifecycle, there was still quite the perplexing divide between the western and eastern gaming world, a bridge that only Sony, with their natural connections, could bridge. It's this separation which helped keep many decent Japanese games as exclusives to Japan with the odd exception to the titles that Sony could drag up. (And they ended up being PlayStation exclusives anyway.) There was the 'Dragon Quest' franchise, the Persona games and even Yakuza. Microsoft have dedicated themselves to making up the slack in that regard, and they've already secured Yakuza 0 on the Xbox One. This was clearly their way of showing that the team haven't forgotten this new focus and that it's working for them to some degree. Personally, I'm currently unfazed. (Get me a PC version of Persona 5, then we'll talk.)
At the end of the day 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon' looks like more of the same, and that is absolutely fine by me, knowing the quality that entails. I don't really think such a title really had place being exhibited in this setting, especially in a trailer that seemed completely uninterested in showing off the headlining attraction, but I won't complain when it's something that I like. Of course, the other reason this game was shown-off was because it would be making use of Xbox Smart delivery, allowing folk to purchase the game on current gen and port it over to next gen at no additional cost, but that could have been accomplished with a tweet, guys. (That's what CDPR did with Cyberpunk. Although now I've thought about it, that tweet was in the place of another potential Cyberpunk trailer! Dammit, Microsoft, no matter how I twist this you've still done us dirty!) But hey, what do I know about console marketing anyway? I'm just the target audience...
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