RGG got me again...

 

It's barely been a few weeks since I celebrated the fact that the sheer awfulness of RGG's new mobile online Yakuza shovel wear app was so useless that I could happily ignore it upon release. I could take this as an excuse to have a year off from the Like a Dragon franchise and play some other things, not get burnt out on the games I love and maybe find a new obsession or two down the line. (Currently trying to get into the wider spectrum of ATLUS games- Souls Hackers 2 is a bit of an odd one I'm dealing with right now.) See, I had heard the comment earlier in the year about how the next RGG game was absolutely not going to be something that we're expecting and I assumed that was designed to foreshadow that crappy mobile game. Turns out that was such a non-entity they didn't even consider that an actual game upcoming on their docket. This was what they meant.

So by now you've probably heard the news but if you haven't hear it is- RGG are going to release 'Like a Dragon: Pirates in Hawaii' which is going to do pretty much what it says on the tin, give us a new look at the Hawaii setting from the high seas controlling a pirate. And who is this pirate? Do you really need me to tell you that? Which of the cast they chose to become a swashbuckling, sea surfing, treasure hunting plunderer of the deep seas? The only member of the cast to already have an eye-patch rocking up his visage! Oh yeah, it's a Majima starring game making this actually his first run as a leading man since Yakuza 0 (and the short extra campaign designed for Kiwami 2 I suppose- but I really just see that as a wrap up to the 0 storyline) and I believe his first time ever as the sole principal character of a game, barring some obscure side title I currently don't know about.

I wanted an offering so paltry that I had no reason to dedicate my time towards it- and instead they served me up something I and the community have been waiting for since a lot of us first got invested in this franchise to begin with... it's not fair I tells ya! There's so much we don't know about the character of Majima and what's going on in his world. From the end of Yakuza 0 onwards he purposefully puts on a mask of fake-insanity so potent it feels like genuine whip lash when his personal life slips into the forefront for a brief while. Who remembers the stun-lock of learning that Majima had a wife for several years and they got divorced? Just slipped that one into Yakuza 5 and carried on like it was nothing. I've waited so long to touch base with the real man underneath the mask I don't even know if we'll recognise who he is anymore.

Of course, it's not just having Majima be our starring man which has me invested- it's also the fact that this is going to be a real time action game, like all of my favourite games from this franchise are, and it isn't going to just be a copy-paste of fighting styles we've already seen in previous games. Not that I really expect that from RGG, they haven't ever resorted to that before, but considering they're making these games every year and literally just put out their biggest game ever earlier this year- they'd be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas pedal for just a little bit. But of course, RGG are a demonic entity that can slap out game of the year contenders every year whilst western studios struggle to put out high quality sequels with 4 year (at minimum) development cycles. It's like we're looking at totally different industries out there!

Pirate game lovers have of course been pretty raw served in recent times thanks to the 10 year wait for Ubisoft's soft fart of a project, the AAAA 'Skull and Bones' sleeping aide/ game. I can't help but wonder whether this game will provide something more akin the swashbuckling fantasy that people wanted? It's hard to say because, despite a seven minute trailer, there was hardly any actual gameplay to tell us what to expect. It was mostly all story teases and wonderment at the sheer fact this was a game being made at all- I can merely glimpse the odd shot of Majima performing a ship docking or riding into port of the franchise's next ridiculously overt underground pleasure club and assume that means we'll have some sort of ship gameplay. What sort? Hard to say.

At the very least there's going to be a lot more down and dirty sword to sword fighting come this game, and given this a Majima story that means a lot of hand-waving and assuming that what is being done somehow isn't fatal. Majima's new sword movement set literally cuts ribbons of slashes into his opponents, but we're just gonna pretend nothing vital is hit and they get prompt medical treatment after fading off the screen. They did the same thing with Ishin, where despite the fact Ryoma wasn't squeamish about killing every now and then his supremely lethal sword-gun combo was proposed to only cause flesh wounds in most every encounter. I wonder if Majima's ship has canons? Does he fill them with confetti shot?

What I'm struggling with most is the framing device of this, because by all accounts this seems to be a spin-off title: what one might refer to as a... gaiden. But there is no 'Like a Dragon: Gaiden' naming convention whatsover and no information on what to expect- is this a full game's worth of content or not? That price certainly makes it seem like a full game- but then I need to remind myself that 60 is the old premium and not the new premium that Infinite Wealth was sold at... but does that mean this is being treated as a lean side game, or an unrelated but still very much complete (Ishin sized) side game? These are the things I really would like to know, and probably won't get to.

But all this means nothing in the grand scheme. Why? Because the 'grand scheme' is that I'm going to play this game. Because it looks silly and I come to this franchise for silly. I wonder about this new ship-based game mode, it has the potential to be a bit shoddy if not given the full amount of love and attention, but I've not regretted playing a single Like a Dragon game yet. Apart from 3. (Screw 3.) So yes, RGG have got me again and I'll never be able to shake this game from my mind long enough to miss it. Woe is me.

I'm happy that Yakuza wars in the next RGG game.

 

Ryu Ga Gotoku, better known as 'Yakuza', is one of my favourite video game franchises ever created- it's one of the most consistently quality processions of video games ever devised- and as a lover of consistency and greatness- yeah, Imma gravitate towards that. The drama, the humour, the characters, the set pieces, the worlds and the combat- everything has been refined to such an impeccable pinnacle that every new entry staggers the mind to think where they could improve their craft next. Their craft as system crafters, world designers, story tellers- there isn't a facet of RGG that fails to grow game after game and I just can't wait for the best of the best to show their face once again. But let me clue you in on a little something- I'm also so very tired.

Now I'll admit this is something of a me problem by definition- but I have spent the past few years playing and completing every single game in this franchise to such a degree that I can experience everything they have to offer and asses they against one another. With the exception of 'Three', for which I only endured the main story because that game controls like a drunk pensioner with two broken hips. That ain't no mean feat either- as opposed to some other franchise retrospectives I've done over the years, wherein the rule is typically 'small numbers of long games' or 'large number of small games'- pretty every single adventure in the RGG franchise of games is a 70+ hour adventure with the exception of the original 'Kawami' (A mere 50 hour) and 'Like a Dragon: Gaiden'. (A comparatively lean 40 hour) Their recent RPG games? 100+ hours both. 'Lost Judgement' and 'Ishin' scrap the 90 hour limit. That's a lot of game.

And I love these games, I absolute do. But sometimes you have to ween yourself away from the thing you love before it becomes something that you hate. Something you feel so often that it's ever familiar beat resonates a deep hatred instead of a familiar 'aww'. And to be honest- I was scratching that way with Infinite Wealth. I didn't like it as much as some of the other recent RGG games and I think the only reason why might be that bias- because everything substantive about the game was so admittedly steller. I still loved my time with it and consider the money well spent. (Except for the extra dungeon which should have just been rolled into the game.)  And if through shear overload I hated up despising the thing I love, I couldn't think of a more sad state to wallow in.

Which is why I got so very scared when rumours began to abound about a brand new Yakuza game being unveiled this very year- just a few months after the humongous 'Infinite Wealth' dropped. (The RGG output machines is friggin' insane!) To be fair there were rumblings about how this was going to be 'surprising' and 'unlike anything you expected', which might have meant a refreshing entry that didn't strike at my 'too much' nerve- but in my heart I knew it wasn't going to quite enough to free me of my discontent. And so I sat there terrified of what might occur- at which point another leak deflated all the air from the room. Worry not guys, it seems that the next title for the RGG franchise is 'Yakuza Wars'.

Now, ignoring the fact that this game's name blatantly disregards the unified naming convention that the games just started abiding to, a title like 'Yakuza Wars' really does strike up some interesting imagery- doesn't it? Maybe you'll think of sweeping strategy titles like 'Total War' which evoke control over massive heaps of units as that tactically traverse wide open battles that challenge composition, planning and reactionary decision making. But then you might think- hang on, isn't that just the Majima Construction minigame from Kiwami 2? Nah, I guess that was more 'base defence'... wait, no there was a 'Kiryu Clan' minigame in Yakuza 6 that was actually just a tactics game... so which direction does this one go? Neither, it's a mobile game.

Such words run the blood cold, don't they?  A 'mobile game'- is there anything more base, more beggarly, more disconsonant with the very soul of art and creation? Oh and you bet this title just stinks of Gatcha crap! Low quality Jpeg renders of popular characters mixed with absolute nobodies that have never been heard of in this franchise- you don't even need to see the thing in action because if you've played one of these 'collect a crew' style mobile games you've played them all. They a dime a dozen, carry no creativity and exist only to siphon funds out the pockets of the bevies of pocket gamers who don't invest in consoles, don't appreciate going on experiences and just want to waste a couple of minutes. It is a beautiful example of the "Sorry but we're closing our service" a year down the line, meta. And I have happy this is the next game.

I am happy because I feared whatever the next RGG game would be- I would lose my next month engrossed in it. I was afraid I would be hopelessly sucked into another all-consuming adventure whilst everything else I needed to do slipped helplessly into the wayside. I no longer need to fear because I won't be buying this game. Or downloading it for free, as the case may usually be. I don't want to play it, because it looks utterly unrecognisable as a Yakuza game. This is the equivalent of just releasing no Yakuza game, because everyone knows this isn't aimed at the cultivated audience. I fear this also won't earn a billion bucks like they're hoping for because the mobile market is saturated with identical trash- but I bet the company don't care either. This is lip service for investors, nothing more.

As for the real Like a Dragon that I care about? Well, I've still got the Amazon show coming very soon. That'll be worth a watch I'll bet. And beyond that? I really appreciate the space for the franchise to breath and I'll bet the developers do too. Todd Howard has himself a bit of a skewered reputation these days, with his words often used as a group spittoon for his many detractors but I think recently he poised a very solid bit of marketing wisdom. He said that he doesn't think it's bad for people to miss things, and I would agree having felt that very way when Mass Effect Andromeda dropped so soon after the franchise had laid itself to rest. Let me miss Like a Dragon for a little bit- and a couple years off could really do that. (I'm begging you, RGG!)

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review

"The bigger the Yakuza, the bigger and better the future they promise"

With grit and perseverance I've finally spent enough of my life energies to reach the very end of the Like a Dragon franchise, for now, and coincidentally enough it has also been a journey following the entire life trajectory of principal main character Kiryu Kazama on his journey through the crime, love, sacrifice and an unending search for redemption. (Redemption for what? It's unclear. Kiryu is the squeakiest clean Yakuza to ever exist, if anything he's doing an apology tour for literally every other criminal who has ever existed and isn't as moral as him.) We've seen Kiryu rise from a little pissant thug beating down a tardy debtor in an alley to a legendary mythical being who is still dismantling men in their peak physical fitness whilst pushing sixty through the sheer force of will power alone. But now, at long last, it seems that the Dragon can finally rest easy.

Infinite Wealth was always marketed to imply the end of Kiryu's journey, and that spectre of finality, in the form of sudden cancer, has been dangling over this game ever since. I've seen these as the twilight entries in the Like a Dragon franchise and fittingly enough both this and 'Gaiden: The Man who Erased his Name' have leant themselves heavily to the idea of being 'retrospective' entries looking back on the various characters that shaped the franchise throughout the years and giving us some needed closure on all of them. Although I must say this game did give me the strange sense that it was the middle entry in a trilogy for some strange reason, perhaps wherein finally Ichiban and co will go up against the Daidoji- but enough guessing at the future, let's finally wrap up all that has been.

From the get-go, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth brings the franchise out of Japan for the first time ever as far as I can recall- which means for the very first time we're entering a country that doesn't speak predominantly Japanese. And right off the bat that means we are treated to some of the frankly worst English dubbing ever known to this franchise- even the native English speakers, all four of them that exist in the cast, speak as though they aren't aware that the recording has already started and they're just reading their lines off a page. It's bad. And it gets worse when you come across the poor Japanese cast members that this game forced to speak in English despite their clear lack of proficiency. That's how you get characters who are native English speakers, like Tomi and Bryce, giving us gem line reads on the par of "Beautiful Eyes!"

And whilst we're on that note- I was absolutely stunned to realise that for some insane reason the Japanese dub isn't being treated as the main dub in this Japanese franchise. The team scored two famous actors for the cast in the form of Danny Trejo and Daniel Dae Kim but their talents only appear in the English dub. Even when these character's speak English (Okay, Kim's Ebina never speaks English by Trejo's Dwight sure does!) They prefer to bring someone else in- despite these line reads already existing as evidenced by the other dub! I cannot wrap my head around this insanity and it makes me wonder if I actually missed out playing this in it's native language, which I've never felt before in a Yakuza game!

But I digress. When you look past the performances and sometimes awful English line reads, what we have is an interesting continuation on Kasuga's story that promises off the bat to further expand on our hero's character. I had wondered how a follow-up story would progress Ichiban, given how that is an aspect that Like a Dragon had struggled with regarding Kiryu for several stories following Yakuza 2, but Lost Judgement relaxed my concerns that the current scenario team knew what they were doing to ensure that at the very least each outing landed with undeniable consequence. Given the springboard topics for Infinite Wealth- I felt justified in anticipation.

And what are those springboards? Kasuga going to Hawaii in order to meet with his mother, the same who sequestered him away as a baby and stuffed him in a coin locker before allegedly being caught and killed by the Yakuza- apparently alive and wanting to meet him finally. A decent hook for an emotional reunion, tempered by the surprisingly sobering motives of the game's second protagonist, Kiryu, who is struggling with advanced terminal cancer that is set to kill him in a few months, but is trying to complete one last mission before he's taken out. Both salient concepts, although I had more interest in what Ichiban would achieve emotionally, which is why I'm a little bit surprised on the otherside that it was largely Kiryu who stole the stage once again. (I guess this is why he only got a cameo in Yakuza 7.)

Picking up several years after the events of 7, Infinite Wealth deals with the realms of cancel culture and the effect of malleable public perception on the lives of the world around them- and on a much grander scale the concept of 'redemption' and the capacity to make up for your past wrongs- expounding on the idea of 'starting again' presented in Yakuza 7. In fact, the very title of 'Infinite Wealth' is more in reference for the capacity to redeem than it is for actual physical monetary gains, despite how ludicrously-loaded running Dondoko Island makes you. These ideals end up actually slotting much cleaner into Kiryu's 'end of the road' journey than in Ichiban's: "already made a fresh start and now just making the most of living up to my father's morals" arc.

Speaking of Ichiban, he finds himself roughly ousted out of his only real purpose in life, trying to help the former Yakuza of the Tojo/Omi alliance disband following 'The Great Dissolution', and it's in this disillusion that we are introduced to a whole new country and a new core cast including one of the most relatable everymen wracked with a sobering backstory in the franchise, Tomizawa, paired next to perhaps my favourite member of Ichiban's cast, the peppy and oft indiscernible Chitose Fujinomiya. Only two brand new additions to the core cast, but strong enough personalities that I demand we see more of them in the future. Especially Chitose, she is my new favourite character after Ichiban. (And Majima.)

As a grand return to the new RPG play systems introduced by 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon', Infinite Wealth does not present as stark a surprise once you get into the game. It does, however, improve on the base formula in order to create robust enough gameplay to be considered competitive to other modern JRPGs, all of which try to offer something unique. New to this game is the 'positioning' mechanic that allows players to freely move their character around a limited space before targeting and picking an action, as opposed to how it was back in Yakuza 7 where you just kind of had to make do with where the AI left you after the last turn. This feeds back into the gameplay systems wherein now tactical positioning is a fundamental part of the gameplay loop!

Before all that positing really meant was that sometimes you'd use an environmental item and if you ran past an NPC on your way to hit another they would interrupt and cancel your turn with a free action. Now they're removed interruptions (which I like considering their only utility in the first game was to punish the unattentive) and added 'back attack free crits' and 'bouncing chain attacks' to feed off the 'follow-up attacks' from the first game. You'll be placing your attacks in order to angle the knockback into another companion who'll score a free chain attack, landing that enemy in the perfect place for a free 'follow-up' action. Three attacks in a single attack turn is significant and you can bet that adds up in the late game when you start speccing out weapons for basic attack bonuses and crit damage boosts.

Enemies too have been buffed up to keep the player on their toes, sporting guard stances that resist knockback and auto-resist damage which require the player to start using new 'Grapple' skills in order to 'guard break'. It's just an intuitive little addendum to the gameplay arsenal that fleshes out the RPG to feel more active than 'stand around and select your action'. Although I will say that this new 'Guard Break' modifier appears to have been added only to new skills brought with the new jobs and haven't been baked into the legacy classes for Yakuza 7- which seems like a bit of an oversight given that they ported over pretty much every class from that game except for the DLC ones. Makes for odd moments of powerlessness in the late game.

One aspect of the new area of Like a Dragon that makes it so dear is the ever lovable character of Ichiban and his totally adorable cluelessness. After spending 15 years in jail he seems to have come out the other side not having aged a single day mentally and still operates with the absurdity of a somewhat dimwitted twenty-five year old. But in that immaturity is a frankness and a morality that is so enviable you'd have to be heartless not to route for the man. There are plenty of fictional characters that are written with that indefinable quirk to draw personalities to them, but Ichiban is one of the few with whom I understand it on more than the fictional level. He is the kind of person with a vision of the world so innocent and robust that you want to be true, for your own sake as much as for his.

All that being said, I have to say I've found Ichiban's sudden obsession with Saeko to be utterly perplexing on a fundamental level. When did he ever express such a deep attraction to Saeko, or when could that have developed even remotely? Throughout Yakuza 7 Saeko seemed like just another one of the group around Ichiban and in fact, considering you never had any stretch of the game with just her as a companion, she seemed the least close to Ichiban out of the original three. Yet Infinite Wealth kicks off with the assertion that he has always deeply crushed on the hostess and has been working up the nerve for months to confess to her. And though I find it slightly contrived, it is just so fitting for a character like this to be a doomed hopeless romantic. (How relatable.) The will-they won't-they dynamic is more a sprinkle atop the narrative than a heart to it, which I appreciate, and it's a potent drop of friction justifying Ichiban's return to solitary adventuring at the start of the game. Especially after he (spoilers for the first chapter) proposes to Saeko after their first date. (Yikes, and I thought my game was off!)

I honestly respect RGG for not just sticking with the Great Dissolution status quo shift from Yakuza 7, but panning out it's consequences further than just the big fight at the end of Gaiden and 7. Those disaffected Yakuza, now legally banned from applying for a job or having a bank account for the next 5 years, are essentially being pushed into the gutter by society and being expected to starve out. Ichiban's arc has always revolved around the 'grey areas' of society, or the 'unfortunate ugly sides of society' that people like to pretend doesn't exist or lash out against. In many ways Ichiban is a representation of that world, always being torn down and left with nothing and being forced to start again in whatever scrappy way that he can. It's such a atypical glance at modern society that speaks to the admirable worldiness of RGG. Maybe the Yakuza brand started as something of a 'cool' and 'romantic' aesthetic with Kiryu, but under Ichiban there's a genuine reality and vulnerability undercutting everything I find enthralling.

Hawaii marks the very first time that the franchise has left the confines of Japan, although don't believe for a second that means they've given up on the core identity of the Yakuza franchise- virtual cultural tourism. Infinite Wealth will still have you touring up and down Aloha Beach, picking up cones of shaved ice to chow down on whilst enduring the odd brief squall overhead in what is this franchise's very first toe into dynamic weather- for what it's worth. Hawaii simply glitters on the modern RGG engine, and given the amount of time the game gives to the simple pleasure of gazing out at the sunset burning across the gentle beach waves- the team are very well aware of how far they have come graphically.

Of course, as with any RGG game that doesn't take place directly in a one-to-one recreation of a modern Japanese city- the setting does mean the studio get a bit wackier with their side activities to flesh out the open world fun. Rather than touch on local Hawaiian customs and cliches in their side games, (which are instead reserved for the 'Tours' system) RGG decided to seek inspiration from other properties. One such being Crazy Taxi which has been converted into 'Crazy Delivery'- a game wherein you speed across the street on an 'UberEats' analogy bike collecting food delivery icons floating along the street and performing huge leaps and tricks to keep up a combo as you deliver orders. Or there is the 'Pokemon Snap' analogy where you ride the slow touring trams around town with your camera out shooting pictures of the local pervert 'Sujimon' who parade around town in Speedos. Oh, and speaking of Sujimon- perhaps the biggest send-up the game does it to the world of Pokémon.

The 'Sujimon' concept existed as a joke-reference to Pokemon in the original- justifying the inclusion of a 'SujiDex' and operating as another extension of the team's love for RPG franchises being shown off on full display. This time around the idea has been expanded out to hilarious extremes- with Sujimon now representing an entire Pokemon-esque capture and battle metagame! That's right, you'll be tracking down and fighting creepy perverts, 'capturing them' by offering them gifts in a minigame more involved than Pokeball throwing has ever been, and then forming them into teams that you fight against other organised groups of Sujimon formed by other trainers in order to rank up your Sujimon league rating and eventually challenge 'the Discreet Four'. (The amount of puns makes my head hurt.)

Now don't get too excited, Sujimon fighting itself is incredibly rudimentary compared to even the most stripped back Pokemon games over the years- it's just about spamming the single attacks that each Sujimon has, occasionally matching opposing types and switching out Sujimon to your reserve team when necessary, and then charging up for a special attack that I always get screwed over by thanks to the spin wheel of 'effectiveness' tacked on there every time you pull a special. It's more the fact the team had the idea to do any of this in the first place that boggles the mind and yes- the Sujimon content can span the length of the entire campaign if you choose to engage with it. There's even a means to challenge bookmarks of your team against other players of the game through the other mega metagame Infinite Wealth heavily advertised, their grand Animal Crossing send-up: Dondoko Island.  

Dondoko Island is perhaps one of the most effective time vacuums this franchise has ever concocted, baring in mind that 'creating Time Vacuums' is literally one of the core principals of their design philosophy. Dondoko presents a pretty much fully realised island resort building and management simulator with resource collection nodes that recharge every in-game day, an expansive crafting system that drops more structures than you could ever hope to fit on one island, an AFK farm and Sujimon training facility and an online Sujimon phantom-team battler and cross-island visits. It is damn near sickening how much effort went into expanding this one game mode. And you know what? The end product is really good so I guess it was worth it.

I lost perhaps half an entire day to Dondoko. Just that rhythmic pattern of doing all your daily activities in order to earn credits that you don't really need because you earn more than that just by keeping guests happy but you'll do it anyway because it's on the screen. Then the day and night cycle which keeps your days strict so you always go to bed thinking about what you want to do tomorrow. The loose franchise-typical metagame narrative that ropes you in with the veneer of a mystery that will inevitably evolve into a 'surprise' sob story regarding the main villains struggles because that is literally the pattern for all of these questlines. And, of course, the simply outrageous amounts of money I was making through Dondoko! The island is a drug. But I guess that was what the team were going for so... mission accomplished?

Of course, when you're done sinking your life into years of side content you'll eventually come back around to the main game where one of the biggest mysteries I had around this game finally becomes unravelled. Learning about the incoming new cast and the returning old cast, with the newly renamed 'Seonhee' to boot, I was rather naturally confused about how Infinite Wealth would balance all of them at the same time. How would you give them all opportunities to grow close as a party as well as to simply be present in the party! How many games give you so many more companions than you need to the point where you end up never using half of them? Too many! Well to my surprise, they thought of this. You see- Kiryu has his own set of chapters as Party leader!

That's right, we have a dual party set up with one team in Hawaii and one back in Japan, both following different threads of the same narrative as you jump back and forth between them. RGG don't always get the chance to tell their stories like this but whenever they do the team make it look effortless. Allowing individual narratives to blossom out and plant seeds that bare fruit at the climax when all the disparate parties, and various themes, come crashing together like a symbol clash. Plus I never had more than a single party member on the reserve bench so I never felt like I was leaving my team out of the action whenever I picked my party!

Having Kiryu lead his own section throughout the game allows the story to really focus in on a series retrospective as we conduct a 'where are they now' with pretty much anyone worth talking about throughout the franchise. We also get to have Kiryu go to many of the key locations throughout the years and give his modern perspective on events that shaped who he is, now recontextualised through a lens of maturity and a newer detachment. Given Kiryu's state of being throughout the game, his illness, there's a sobering sense of finality that never existed before. Even at the most dire circumstances, when Kiryu was up against the wall so badly he had to literally 'die' to save his family- you never felt like he was done. But seeing Kiryu ponder on the importance of the famous Kamuroucho archway that seemed to hang above him all these years, really hammers home the finality of it all. I almost choked up a little bit when Kiryu told Amon that they weren't going to meet again. (How sad is that?) Also, I have to shout out with the way their retrospective even found ways to reference Ishi and Kenzan by calling them 'vivid dreams'. Very coy.

Of course, the split between parties also allows us to go through the 'getting to know you' stage of relationships in this franchise all over again because Kiryu hangs out with Ichiban's old gang whilst he lives it up big with the new team. Actually some of my favourite moments of the game were seeing his gang who knew the important person Kiryu was and sort of marvelled at the legend whilst finding ways to be human around him. Brought best to life during the impromptu Karaoke night for which we got renditions of the two songs that best symbolise our boy- Baka Mitai and Judgement! Is there any better way to christen an old team into a new one with the Dragon himself at their head?

These new teams are put to the test with the specialised multi-tiered dungeons designed half to really put you to the endurance test and half to power level. These are long-form delves covered in boss battles and challenge fights which payout the most cash you'll find in the game, finally rewarding the core activity of the game, and give a more concentrated activity towards testing out Job builds, party makeup and making sure you're equipped for the challenges ahead. They also happen to house some of the game's strongest equipment at later levels, and are imbued with a random generator for rewards that incentivises repeat go-throughs. At the very least it makes for more fun grinding than that one dungeon floor with the XP hobos from Yakuza 7.

Part of what makes this new breed of Yakuza so interesting to me is that Ichiban has been treated with the breadth of intelligent care that a three-dimensional character deserves, rather than having that depth applied retroactively as the team tried to repeatedly with Kiryu. There's always so much more to learn about who Ichiban is, even with his core morals on display- and we get to see those unseen facets brought out by the supporting cast. This story in particular, focusing so heavily on family following the last game's late-story revelation, gives us several angles from which to view the concept. Chitose is largely estranged from her family and relishes in the divide, whilst Tomizawa had his family ripped away from him. Ichiban searches for his family even whilst regularly downplaying the importance of blood family, seeing his Boss as his father more for the person he was than for their likely blood connection.

It's actually surprisingly late into the game that you start unlocking the ultimate abilities of the two protagonists, being Ichiban's group special attack and Kiryu's 'Dragon Resurgence', which allows him to break out of turn-order and just go nuts on his targets. Resurgence in particular stands out so starkly, allowing Kiryu to host an incredible boss fight against the old legends of the franchise wherein he beats them to a pulp in turn based and then finishes them off in a special Resurgence showdown whilst enthralled in a special bizarre dimension flooded with their music. (Extra points for Majima getting 'Bite and Receive you' again!)

Ichiban's is once again just the most loveable spearhead for this franchise, and following his journey to discover his past honestly overshadows even the inevitable grand conspiracy plotline destined to come our way. His personal quest is so strong, in fact, that it creates something of a void in the narrative when it takes a backseat to that conspiracy. Unlike in the original where Ichiban's personal quest is tied so intrinsically to the perpetrators of Bleach Japan and Aoki- this time around Ichiban's quest is very much at odds with the overarching badguys, and he needs to face them in order to reach his personal actualisation. It's a totally valid way to tell the story, however when handled in a particular way it can somewhat feel like two disparate plot-threads struggling to win out over one another.

At the end of the game, those final few chapters, Ichiban fully wraps up his own personal quest and from then on just sort of glides through to the end of the story. Sure, he wants to unravel the evil schemes because it's the right thing to do- but a 'the right thing to do' plot doesn't really do justice to the brand that typically excels at propelling the struggles of the heart, the strife of relationship and the future of your immediate world into a single spearpoint of narrative focus. It's such a stark contrast that it almost feels desperate when in the very last act they introduce a totally rogue familial connection that, to be honest, doesn't even make sense when you stop and think about it. It sounds like the kind of thing you'd read in a medieval fantasy story- children being made out of necessity to appease an overbearing authoritarian father character- it just seems like a dumb way to try and gell the disparate pieces of plot motivation back into one.

Kiryu, on the otherhand, really does feel like he has something to prove in these final few chapters that seem to be the culmination of his journey not just throughout the game but maybe, in a small way, throughout his late franchise journeys as a whole. Faced with the sins of the Yakuza and the consequences of his legacy, Kiryu really is ready to just lay it all down and finally go to rest until the embers of it all starting again from scratch force him to put it back to rest. At the pinnacle Kiryu comes to terms with the very same lesson he taught Nishki all the way back in Yakuza 0 in the woods when they stood at gun's length from one another. Dying solves nothing, only the living can make amends. It's a moment made powerful specifically because we know the strength of the context behind it- coloured by Kiryu's long life of fighting roughly the same battle over and over again. He sees the chance to finally make an impact that sticks and he's fight to his last breath to make it happen. I wonder if it has the same effect on someone new to the franchise with the past two games- but I found it almost breath taking in the moment.

Of course, never one to be outdone, Ichiban does have his moment to shine right at the end of the game by merit of his sheer hopelessness. In a moment that I can only think is designed to compare with the simply incredible Like a Dragon 7 standoff against Aoki where Ichiban has to talk the man down from committing suicide- once more Ichiban gives us a chance to glimpse at the sheer magnitude of his near-inhuman compassion and the impact it has on the seemingly irredeemable. It is a powerful scene in it's own right, hampered for me by the way the main game kind of left Ichiban's tale to rot nearer the end chapters. But I got the chance to touch base with people at Comic Con and many of them found the scene enough to move them to tears so I'll confess- it's a great moment that works for some. 

Summary

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth might just be one of the biggest games the team have ever made, rivalled perhaps only by Lost Judgement. And it carries all the characteristics of an epic in it's scale, ambition, scope and bloat. There's so much genuine worthwhile side content, small and large, that it can almost overwhelming to consider it all- and every bit is imbued with a flurry of passion sparked by a desire to make this the biggest Like a Dragon ever made! From a 'Like a Dragon' universe Vtuber to the surprise return of Kiryu's Yakuza 0 styles, the novelty darts borrowed from Gaiden and the sly little Lost Judgement crossover snuck in there in the later chapters: there's so much loving detail snuck into every aspect of the game. In that desire to do absolutely everything, perhaps some of the most important aspects slipped a little bit- the main narrative is not as strong as it could have been in parts, but the rest of the package picks up the slack significantly. Summarising it all into a single grade is a toughy, especially following Lost Judgement which I consider to be the franchise at it's absolute best. But considering the package as a whole, and weighing the wanting against the over delivered, I find it impossible to give the game anything less than an A Grade, where it misses out on the plus simply for the fact the final dungeon in the game is held off as DLC- which is ridiculous for a dungeon that, light spoiler, doesn't even have a unique boss fight at the end! Infinite Wealth is Like a Dragon at peak- and of course earns my recommendation. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say that after all that, I'm a bit happy to be putting the franchise behind me for at least a year. I don't know what else they could possibly do with these games to be honest without slipping into 'overstuffed' territory. (Personally I'm hoping the next game will be another 'Judgement'.)

'Lost Judgement' Review

 Why do we put so much value in truths if all they do is crush us?

The original Judgement felt like a breath of fresh air to the Yakuza franchise that I wasn't really aware that I needed until it arrived. Witty, thrilling, humanising, exciting- Tak's journey hit many of the notes that were no longer reachable with the immortal Kiryu, or Joryu, as the lead of this franchise- and playing on the, somewhat, right side of the law as a detective opened up a whole new bevy of gameplay opportunities as well as avenues for narrative exploration that RGG utilised to spectacular ends. But what would a sequel to that look like? Honestly, I found the satisfying personal journey of Tak to clear his own conscious for his past failings to be a gripping narrative hook that couldn't simply be recycled for a follow-up, and that worried me for wondering how I would come out my Lost Judgement experience.

From the outset Lost Judgement clearly focuses on smoothing out the seams between gameplay verticals. Tailing you target is no longer treated as a separate form of gameplay but a hidden style applied on the player that allows them to lean against cover or activate a limited 'be casual' button if you get spotted out in the open. (Which is a lifesaver on those long tails where you make that one mistake. Would have killed for something like that in the original!) There's even a new parkour mode which is applied similarly, and a stealth mode given just the same. It's a really smooth way of transitioning gameplay that speaks to the not-yet-latent ingenuity of RGG as developers. Even in the heights they haven't gotten lazy with success.

Along with these systemic improvement come gameplay ones. Crane is actually far more useable as class with faster combos and I think even an improved switching time. (Although switching times were never really a detriment to useability thanks to the slow-down effect they apply.) Dodge windows and perfect dodge effects are more impactful this time around, heightening the feedback of being that lithe ninja brawler- and the ability to literally fly for a full second before performing a gravity defying air strike literally never gets old. They turned Crane around from one of my least favourite styles to one I couldn't stop toying about with. And that isn't all the combat improvements.

Yagami now has three styles, four with DLC! The Snake Style is essentially Tanimura's misdirection style from Yakuza 4 but revised to be far more useable with powerful punishments. It also offers some of my favourite heat actions- the 'surrenders' wherein you threaten a frightened opponent with particularly close judo kicks until they literally feint out of fear. (Love it!) Then there's the boxer class which is pretty useless at the start, but once you start the boxing 'school story' quest line, which unlocks skills simultaneously with the combat style, you'll find it to be a surprisingly effective single target duel move-set with quick dodges and counters so effective they honestly outpace even Tiger style at their peak!

A new welcome edition to the combat is the 'Battle Rewards' system which provide Yagami with extra SP (level up points) if he meets certain milestones during each fight. Take out an opponent without getting hit, knock someone out with each style, use an EX action- stuff like that. Naturally these kind of incentives encourages players to change up how they play the game, find the strengths in all the different Styles and then be all the more equipped in the late game when you really do need to understand when to switch effectively. Those late game bosses really do put you through your paces in all the best ways! 

Lost Judgement begins at a much slower pace than the original, which you might recall practically threw the serial killer in your face from the word 'go'. Lost Judgement is more interested in weaving something of a web of mystery that pulls itself together with time, which results in a much different early game where, unlike in the original, I honestly had no clue what Yagami would be faced with on a character level. Some not small part of me even considered it to be a much weaker opening for that very reason, but in hindsight that same decision to dynamically pace the game as the story progresses proved very much to this story's benefit. Even if it does make this game feel twice as long as the original, at least to start with.

Bullying is actually the major hook to start with, as Tak is hired to investigate claims of harassment as an upper class prep school in Yokohama called Seiryro High. Couple that with a new gang of ex-Yakuza forming in Kamurocho and a seemingly impossible murder tucked in there for good measure and you'd be justified in wondering how all of this can come together in a sensible manner, let alone result in a conclusion as powerful as Yagami's return to lawyering at the climax of Judgement. But would you believe it, I think RGG do such an incredible job juggling all of these I might actually consider it better done than the Mole investigation, at least for how many plot points are juggled and how long the mysteries are allowed to unravel- as opposed to in Judgement where you kind of fell onto the core leads of the serial killing nearly immediately.

Outside of the investigation Lost Judgement of course presents a plethora of side activities, including a huge meta-game investigation known as 'School stories'. These are not just questlines, they all feature fully developed minigames for wildly different genres that have progression built into them and all bleed into something of a larger investigation for the MRC (Mystery Research Club) at Seiryo High. Yagami stumbles into the position of 'outside council' for the club and, through an investigation into the identity of the mysterious 'professor' who appears to be orchestrating the downfall of many Seiryo school mates, becomes embroiled in just about every club in the school! You'll go through about half-a-dozen fully developed minigames on this journey. And yeah, it's a lot!

Yakuza 5 was the last game in this franchise to leave me feeling seriously overwhelmed, but Lost Judgement has to take the cake- I honestly thought I would never finish this game for all the tasks this one side story dumps you with. I'm talking a rhythm-action dance minigame like Haruka for Yakuza 5's but much harder, a competitive biker-racing minigame, an entire boxing league, a robot-wars/ Splatoon hybrid- you spend so much time in this darn School you start forgetting that Yagami isn't actually a teacher. Although, with all the clubs he ends up juggling, and the genuinely heart-warming way he ends up guiding and uniting his wayward club charges, I honestly wonder if the future of this character is to enrol as an official teacher, at least part time. I would actually be interested to see how Yagami grows further in this otherwise side gig of his.

But would you believe that these huge school stories aren't the only large-scale side quest that Lost Judgement throws at you? You will also be expected to scour Yokohama and Kamaurcho hunting down Squirrel stencils that lead towards goodies tucked away in the open world requiring simple gadget utilisation in order to reach in a manner not a hundred miles away from Arkham Batman Riddler trophies. And then there is the extensive bugging questline that has you chasing after the 'Illegal detective agency' across town as their services infiltrate ever corner of daily life. Although School stories have the most cohesive narrative to them as well as quite possible the best laid out mystery in the entire Judgement series so far. I was genuinely impressed when I figured out who the culprit was for how naturally they managed to lay out all the clues over the course of the extended questline.

Covering all of this content is a lot less daunting with the new edition of the Skateboard, making travelling around the two maps a lot more feasible now you can ollie and jump kick through the streets! There's even an entire skateboarding metagame built into School stories! (Unfortunately it's one of weakest vectors of that questline.) The skateboard serves as a clever little edition to your travelling repertoire that makes the journeys not just fun but speedy- which is a life-saver in the huge Yokohama world space imported right of Yakuza 7. There's only so much Yen you spend hiring Taxi's day in and day out!

My initial worries regarding how the story would evolve upon Yagami proved to be wasted concerns, because whilst this may not be a personal narrative delving into Tak's past- what we get instead is an amazingly direct story that stab right at the heart of Tak's core convictions with his foil, an opponent with similar morals but contradictory convictions! It's the classic beautiful clash between exclusionary ideologies that bring erstwhile brothers to arms against one another, brought in this game under the banner of the nature of justice itself and, if I were to be so bold, of the role that the concept of 'Judgement' can play in the pursuit of absolution. I was totally gripped by the intensity of these debates as the lines between friend and foe constantly seemed smudged and the electrifying performances of the leads were dragged to the forefront to shine.

A narrative about school-age bullying had every right in the world to be fluffy and cringe-worthy after school special style trite: but RGG pull absolutely no punches bringing these matters to their absolute darkest extremes. Systemic abuse buried beneath conformist corruption, the utter extremes of self harm and even suicide, and the extents that ordinary people can be pushed to in extraordinary circumstances. This was a narrative I honestly found thrilling. Sure, perhaps the story does not pick up quite as quickly as Yakuza 0, what I consider to be the team at their writing best, but I wouldn't question the team's pacing choices for a moment in hindsight. Bringing children into the narrative as more than just bundles of sympathy points required care and consideration- which RGG brought in rare droves. (They didn't even have any school girls inappropriately crush after Tak like they absolutely would have done in literally any other Yakuza game. RGG were taking this one extremely seriously.)

When the fireworks start flying things truly shoot fully off the rails, thanks in no small part to what I'm going to executively call a fresh legendary villain for the Yakuza hall of fame- Soma. It is extremely difficult, at this point in the franchise, to give us a villain who is genuinely frightening- but the utterly cold Soma, with the way he calmy walks (walks!) into scenes and callously causes hell. He's not portrayed as some inhuman monster like Lao Gui, nor a braggadocious cartoon like Sadamoto. He is just efficient and empathy-free, quietly 'just' and subtly commanding. He is one of those villains with a bigger presence than his screen time, which makes the moments where he does show up all the more special. And don't get me started on that theme! I cannot get 'Viper' out of my head, it is simply supreme!

In the end the final fight is actually not all that consequential in the grand scheme of events like it typically is in an RGG game. There's no 'battle in front of a ticking time bomb' or 'duel to inherit the Dragon of Dojima'. That last battle, as excellently choregraphed and dynamic as it ultimately is, transcends the boundaries of 'winners' and 'losers'. Without slipping into pretentious babble let me just gush about how it is a fight of almost primal necessity, with either side representing utterly distinct shards of the conceptual that is 'Justice' clashing as their conflicting ideals must, in pursuit of a truth neither can confirm but both must believe in. It is art. Possibly my favourite finale in a RGG game. Sublime.

The Kaito Files DLC is more traditional RGG fair, only with a heavier player character in Kaito who seems to suddenly refer to himself as Gorilla all the time because the new translation team who took over for this DLC found that really funny for some concerning reason. That being said, it is by no means shoddy in it's execution. The files present what is something of a retelling of Yakuza 1 with a bit of Yakuza 5 mixed in there for good measure, as Kaito tracks down his lost love whilst accompanied by a child that he kind of extra-legally adopts. (Seriously, did Kiryu ever actually officially adopt Haruka? Could he have orchestrated the most successful kidnapping in history?)

Kaito is a supremely endearing side character for the Judgement games and these files prove he makes for a charming protagonist too, in that same sort of way that Ichiban is- a traditionally dense guy with the street smarts to make up for it. It's particularly cool to see Kaito stretch his detective muscles without Tak around and solve mysteries on his own, and though the mystery in question is rather obvious from the outset- (Particularly directly after experiencing the web that was Lost Judgement's main game.) I do take a bit of solace in the familiar. Sometimes you just want to pummel a completely unquestionably evil bad guy on a rooftop whilst flailing around with Kiryu's Beast style that the team have renamed to 'Tank' for some incomprehensible reason. (They wanted to call it 'Gorilla' style, didn't they?)

Last and extremely least, I might as well discuss RGG's continued attempt to make me lose my mind and commit a violence on myself. Lost Judgement's Amon is nowhere near as insane as Judgement's. He doesn't steal your phone, thank god! Do you know what he does do? The biggest crime any boss in any franchise can do. He heals. A lot. And he stun locks you so you cannot stop him from healing unless you stun lock him first. (Hint: two or three Warrior Onslaught's when he hits his second stage will get the dick.) Not impressed. And once more I scream unholy hatred at those who crossed every line of decency to bring that monster into this world. Thank you RGG, now get out of office.

Summary

I do think that Lost Judgement might cross the line in being too big just by a scant few mission chains. But if you are willing to overlook a bit of bloat (and as long as it's not Assassin's Creed Valhalla levels of bloat, I'm fine) then Lost Judgement might just be one of the best Like a Dragon series games ever made. Fantastic progression, balanced gameplay, a thrilling mystery, searingly contemplative core themes, a fantastic core cast, a series icon for a chief villain, ample amounts of side content and an entire Sega Master System emulator chucked in Yagami's office for the hell of it. And Sonic The Fighters in the arcade. They really did stuff this one full of everything. Of course this is a recommend, that pretty much comes standard with this entire franchise. (With the staunch exception of Yakuza 3.) And I'm willing to slap an A+ grade. Where it might have lost points for it's length, it won them back with the surprisingly worth-my-extra-time Kaito Files. And with that, the last seal is broken. Now my journey can finally begin- towards INFINITE WEALTH!

'Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name' Review

"You're the most gorilla-ass looking Mother----- I've ever seen"

Finally, with perseverance and many hours playing minigames, I am lapping at the heels of Like a Dragon's forefront. With this spin-off inbetween-quel, I would finally be up to date enough in the franchise to enjoy the wonders of their most recently released entry. After getting through the gigantic Lost Judgement, of course. But Like a Dragon Gaiden did hold some nugget of interested to a series veteran like me that I wasn't quite expecting. Given the consequence of Infinite Wealth, and how I already know some of the ways that game treats itself as a series flashback, I wasn't expecting Gaiden to hold so much in the way of fan-service regarding the many adventures that Kiryu Kazama has travelled down. But what I ended up getting was such a neat jaunt through the long history of Kiryu that I ended up actually 100%-ing the entire game- which is not quite the undertaking it sounds considering this is the smallest Like a Dragon game by about half a game.

'Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name' exists to fill a gap in the void of time between Kiryu's supposed death in Yakuza 6 and his abrupt resurrection in the final act of 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon'- given us the details in where he was and how he played a part in the biggest world upset this franchise has ever undergone- the dissolution of the Yakuza. As such, you might think there would be a deficit of genuine stakes and tension the narrative could dig at, given that we know where all the important characters end up, but just like Yakuza always does this game introduces a whole host of new characters who, I guess are just supposed to be hidden in the background during the representative 'Yakuza 7' moments; so we can enjoy a whole new cast of people we come to somewhat respect and then fear for the lives of as the situation becomes more dire. Yippie!

First of I would like to commend RGG for giving me the option of picking Japanese audio whilst loading into the game, which saved me from the annoyed panic-quit I've ended up doing in every game since Yakuza 7, as I start the game all excitedly only to recoil in disgust at the English tonation of the first spoken words. Why is English the default language choice in a franchise starting Japanese characters taking place exclusively in Japan? Gods, it frustrates me! Of course, I would also like to offer a curious head tilt RGG's way for their brand new studio trailer intro that mimics the stylings of Marvel Studios in a way I find both cheesy and slightly endearing. But certainly a lot more cheesy. Remember when the 'Dark Universe' tried that? It foretold grim tidings.

Like a Dragon: Gaiden gives us Kiryu some time on from his hospital visit by sweaty politician-man-who-fakes-deaths. Now he is a lacent agent for the Daidoji faction- a secretive political faction that seem to be a mix between gadget powered secret agents and surveillance-state extra-judicial enforcers. They have Kiryu is a curious position wherein knowledge of his continued existence needs to be withheld for the potential international security threatening knowledge he gained at the end of Yakuza 6, but the man is too useful to just kill off and so they hold him vaguely hostage- preventing Kiryu from visiting Haruka and Haruto or any of the other kids at the Morning Glory Orphanage. Which naturally has Kiryu existing in something of a malaise, lacking his reason to be whilst being employed as a blunt instrument for the, somehow more political ambitious, Japanese CIA.

Most significantly from a moment-to-moment perspective, this means that Kiryu- renamed to Joryu- is now the proud owner of a brand-new combat style to compliment his classic brawling antics. The 'Agent' style seems like a set of attacks designed specifically to show off the capabilities of the modern Dragon Engine through the use of flashy and physics challenging gadgets. You shoot out glowing 'Spider Wire' that wraps around enemies allowing Kiryu to chuck them whatever direction they so please, sending anything in their path flying like a wrecking ball. Summon swarms of drones that encircle you in a protective field, or charge down your targeted enemy to keep them distracted. Or just blast your way around the battlefield with rocket boots that knock back anything in your path. They mostly turn screen fodder into putty to be moulded and taken apart at the player's discretion- and that's what makes the Agent class so very fun to use!

RGG actually put a lot of emphasis behind not only making this new style of play visually interesting, but also narratively significant for the way Kiryu gradually refines his mastery of the style by growing closer to the man who invented all the tools. They've also managed to hit a surprising amount of on-screen enemies at once, allowing the player to really go to town with the way they throw about badguys and upset physics objects without a classic Dragon Engine freakout ruining the cohesion of the scene. (RIP to that meme but god is it fun to blast through twenty enemies in a huddle using the rocket boots!) Also this might be the very first game in the franchise where you'll be approached by a giant hoard of thugs in the cutscene and actually face that exact number of guys in the gameplay. (Parity at last!)

My only real gripe with this class is simple- the activation of most all these tools are awkward. They all require a hold-down button prompt in order to set off, which can all too easily be overridden by a punch or kick or dodge if you are too close to an enemy. It makes it difficult to activate these seemingly precise crowd control tools when you're in a precision moment to benefit- requiring some brute forcing to get the effect you want now and then. Also, this is an odd one, but there's a single Agent Action where Kiryu performs a few judo-style limb pops on his opponent, with each pop accompanied by a rather distracting screen flash effect. This is the only agent heat action to display such an effect, which leads me to believe this aesthetic was originally designed to permate the entire style but they scrapped it after not liking how obnoxious the screen flashes were and forgot to remove the first one. Not really a game breaking issue, but just a curiosity I noticed.

In narrative, 'Like a Dragon: Gaiden' takes us up to events coinciding with 'Yakuza 7', and as such you can expect to see 'the new Kamarucho' Yokohama make some appearances, as well as sly (and not so subtle) references to the background events going on in that game. For example, did you know that Kiryu had a giant fight against a crew right outside of the homeless camp where Ichiban was being treated by Nanba after being shot? Of course, you didn't. This whole story is very much written in the 'Oh yeah, all this crazy stuff was actually happening right off screen' manner which veers on the edge of cute and overbearing fan servicing. I sort of wobble on the fence about it. On one hand, stuff like that example does make me roll me eyes- but on the other end, the finale of this game, which matches up neatly to it's sister scene in Yakuza 7, is genuinely badass and gratifying to experience. 

I do think, however, that Gaiden takes significant liberties with it's narrative in order to create some sort of plot for our iconic spiky haired godling to tackle outside of the struggle to end the Yakuza. Kiryu works hard to keep evidence of his existence secretive, which would be simple in any other Yakuza game where the man could literally bump into another character who literally worships the ground he walks on and not get recognised. (No, I'm still not over the fact that Akiyama didn't immediately know who Kiryu was when they met in that sewer in Yakuza 4!) In this game, however, literally every thug in the street can spot the man at a glance. It gets to a point where Kiryu has to employ Clark Kent hypnosis sunglasses just to get about public- as though the only six-foot man in Japan can hide behind a pair of slightly darkened shades!

Not too long into the story it becomes very clear what the real purpose of Gaiden's story is, however: to give us an excuse to revisit much of Kiryu's greatest hits. The Castle, probably my new favourite 'underground red district' area in the entire franchise, hosts an arena that treats us to recreations of the most significant moments in Yakuza history- re-enacted as exhibition matches that Joryu, amusingly, steps into. My favourite out of these being the recreation of the Yakuza 1 finale fight, where Joryu has to fight some one dressed up as Kiryu wielding a sword and a gun (for some insane reason) and seemingly using moves plucked right out of Sakamoto Ryoma's 'Wild Dancer' moveset. The fan service cuts deep in this one! 

Speaking of- goodness knows I all but fell out of my chair when I saw how the new big bad introduced to loom over Joryu's new narrative was none over than Nishitani III- grandson of the psychotic SOB I think we all remember from Yakuza 0. Talk about a call back! Nishitani was famously the crazed model upon which Majima based his own brand of insanity after noticing how effective it was in making people underestimate what was, at heart, a principled and oodly dependable man. Nishitani the 3rd strangle inherits less from his grandfather than Majima did. (Which I guess makes sense, seeing as he never met him.) His is a pretty boy narcissist with a sharp eye and a seemingly rare intellect. I almost wonder if he could have made into being one of the great Yakuza villains if he wasn't relegated to this spin-off title.

When he's not risking his life to change the course of the criminal underworld, Joryu spends his time interacting with the world with perhaps the best free-roam encouragement this franchise has come up with to date- the Akane Network. Akane, a new red-haired crass-witted character, runs a kind of underground informant network that ties to everyone in Sotenbori, the open world map for this game. As such, pretty much everything you do contributes to the expansion of her network, opening up new lucrative missions and the ability to buy bonuses from her store such as increased item drop rates and cash multipliers. RGG know how much players like to see progress bars increase, so by tying literally every open world activity to an overarching completion bar, they're pretty much chummed up the waters for all us open world freaks out here.

And with this revolution of how they decided to present the open world comes a revision to one of Yakuza's time honoured traditions: The Hostess club. As much as I would happily jump onto the very next Hostess club running minigame, I doubt we'll get another anytime soon. (although they did make an explicitly mention of Kiryu's time at Club Four Shine, because the fan train is never out of service!) What we do get, however, is a hostess club featuring- oh my god it's FMV! There's something so disconcerting about watching a live action video of Kson flirting at a camera which makes my skin shrivel beneath my bones- I have no idea who thought this was a good idea but frankly- I would have preferred the 3D models. (I believe Kei returns as a 3D model in Infinite Wealth. Thank god.)

Alongside the Hostess clubs we also get a return of Toy car track races! And they're just as hopelessly prone to inexplicable physics engine screw ups as ever! And there's... character customisation? That's right, Kiryu can be customised to your heart's content at the boutique, and of course RGG gave as Kuroda-san's iconic hat so I figured it only made sense for famous Yakuza Kiryu Kazama to go through the game disguised as famous voice actor of Kiryu Kazama: Takaya Kuroda! (They won't suspect a thing!) And the creme of the crop of side activities has to be the genuinely brilliant arena side quests- they had me hooked!

The new Joryu-clan meta game has the player gathering tough allies across the game world that can be employed to take part in group death matches in the arena, which are offered alongside your typical one-on-one and one-on-many style match-ups. These fights level with experience, grow closer to Joryu to expand the duration of their special abilities- the typical level of depth you'd expect from an RGG game. What blew my mind, however, was the discovery that every hireable character was actually playable. That's right, you can select almost any of the fights, from the groups ones to the solo bouts, and play as your gun-toting support character, or (if you have the DLC) any of the legendary Yakuza members plucked from the series such as Majima or Daigo! They have their own move-sets and special abilities as well- which is a crazy amount of effort to put into a mostly hidden feature in an optional game mode!

And when you're not winding away the hours grinding against some of the genuinely tough arena challenges, you can delve into the dozens of side stories that take you done familiar routes. Such as searching for blonde stick-up artists all attempting to cosplay as Ryuji Goda for some reason- as though the man is going to come back from the dead and return to Sotenbori not having aged a day- (actually, if Kiryu can do it- why not his golden other half?) Also, much to my shock, Kaito makes a surprise appearance! And I only spoil that reveal because I think I'll explode if I don't mention the frankly insane amount of times Kaito and Kiryu are compared to 'Gorillas'. It's this weird quirk of the new localisation team that took over from 'The Kaito Files' DLC for Lost Judgement- they want Kaito to seem as animalistic as possible and literally call him a Gorilla every chance they get. Not gonna lie, it makes me a little uncomfortable. Not sure what they were trying to get at, truth be told.

Given the squashed length of Gaiden, being only 5 chapters long, the plot doesn't quite unfold with the same grace as some of the full RGG games, and some characters with simply incredible write-up blurbs you might expect to be epic series stable characters, such as Shishido, never really get their chance to blossom. I would even say the narrative starts to get a bit rushed during the middle chapters, with Joryu getting shoved into the colosseum for one chapter, then pulled out again and then shoved back there within the space of a single chapter- you kind of end up more following objective markers than trailing along the breadcrumbs of the story. I actually think there might have been a cleaner way to do this, perhaps if RGG had committed more to either the Agent storyline or the Castle storyline, but mashing them both together in a runtime these condensed was simply a recipe for... a little bit of a mess.

That being said, as far as 'doing all the hits' is concerned, the team did not miss. You even get to have a brawl in Cabaret Grand in a bid to draw out Nishitani- it's just an absolute crime that you didn't get to battle the man himself there, in the same building that his grandfather duelled Majima within all those decades previously! Perhaps RGG allowed that 'fan service' mind to overright their clean storytelling duties, because the Kaito files proves they should have no trouble pulling off satisfying smaller narratives when they put their mind to it. (Then again, the Kaito files didn't have to bridge a gap between two major entries, now did it? Maybe the scale of the task was just a tad too overwhelming.)

Of course when it comes down to it, those moments of sheer drama, Like a Dragon always delivers. I had expected a bit more in the way of peril, and thus expected one of my new favourite side characters, Akane, to be at least in mortal danger at some point, if not killed off entirely! (Maybe playing Lost Judgement at the same time coloured my expectations a little. Kept expecting Soma to literally melt out of the shadows and ice someone!) But I guess when you're dealing with the Dragon of Dojima, peril never really enters the conversation, does it? Especially with his Agent powers. I'd wager to call this iteration of Kiryu the most 'in his prime' since Kiwami- which naturally makes the man something of a physical embodiment of the coming, unstoppable, force of change. We already know the Yakuza are going to end, Yakuza 7 already played out that plotpoint, Kiryu is simply the hammer to ensure it is neatly smashed to dust.

I cannot withhold my critique of the finale boss, who shares almost the exact same problem as the Aizawa final boss in Yakuza 5. ("What are you doing here?" "I'm not so sure myself!" Those words are burned into my memory!) This boss kind of feels like a rehash of that one, both in general motives and even in build. Although Gaiden's boss is significantly better placed in the narrative to make his convictions blaze in opposition to Kiryu's iron will, making that final fight classical symbolic of the core theme- putting behind the 'undying spirit of rebellion', like the hippies floating into the rat race after the swinging sixties- if Kiryu was there to punch the Beatles into submission. (Oh! I've got a great idea for the next spin-off!)

The spectacle of the fight itself? Epic. One of the very few four stage fights in this franchise that drags us all over a famous, but underexplored, location in the franchise- (that isn't Millennium Tower!) gives us a brutal meat wall meets meat wall style duel with dynamic stage transitions and one of my actually favourite 'dispatching' scenes in the franchise. (I don't want to think about the state of those kneecaps. Ouch!) Plus, I'll always award extra points to the kind of finale that brings so many of the old school crew back together. Always good to see Majima and Saejima fighting side by side! They even found time to give us a direct lead in to Infinite Wealth with a call back to literally the very first thing the player is told to do in the very first Yakuza game. (after beating up the alley thug, of course.) A game for the fans.

But if I may be permitted one final gripe- I was aghast to find out that this game was more than 80gb in total size, more than Lost Judgement! Which turned into straight perplexment when I saw that Infinite Wealth was less than 60gb! And only after finishing the game do I think I understand why. Gaiden comes with a two hour special demo for Infinite Wealth installed with the game, it's dragging around the baggage of Like a Dragon 8 and my hard-drive is forced to suffer for it's sin! I can't believe they hard-coded an entire demo into the game, what where RGG thinking? Not about condensing their game files, that's for sure!

Summary

For a side game, Like a Dragon Gaiden overperforms it's role sensationally- overstuffing the game with so much to do you'll forget what you're playing is essentially a sawn-off RGG title. Unfortunately the snub-nosed campaign does hurt the scope of the typically epic tales that RGG tells and the genuinely promising new characters they place within this new playset. (I hope we get to see more of these characters in games to come.) The new gameplay editions may have been as much tech showcases as they were gameplay additives, but I never got bored breaking opponents to pieces using them so I won't complain. (Plus it feels so good having a nimble style of Kiryu once again, I've missed feeling agile!) This may be a side title in the Ryu Ga Gotoku franchise, but the team did enough right to make it a worthwhile diversion to the core games. Heck, you might even tear up at little during the ending scenes. (I almost did!) Of course, the game gets my recommendation. And as far as grades go, I'll give this a B+. Another solid outing for the franchise that never seems to fall off. Which brings me one step closer to the front lines!