If you’d told me back in 2006, when the first Yakuza game
had released on Western shores, that I’d not only still be playing new installments
nearly 20 years later, but that the series would achieve a major resurgence in
worldwide popularity in the 2020s, I’d have never believed it.
Though it initially struggled to find a foothold in Western
markets, success in Japan has enabled the Yakuza games (where the series is
named Like a Dragon) to release on an almost annual basis for its entire
lifespan. The previous installment, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which was known as
Like a Dragon 7 in Japan, saw the series shift from being a brawler into being
a turn-based RPG, and with that, a renewed effort to re-establish the series
worldwide took place. Featuring a new main character, an entirely new battle
system, and a brand new setting, Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon also saw the return of
English voice acting for the first time since the original, along
with the retiring of the Yakuza name in favor of bringing the Japanese Like a
Dragon title worldwide.
Though I loved new main character Ichiban Kasuga and thought
the turn-based battle system demonstrated a surprising amount of promise, I
wasn’t a big fan of Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, which devolved into hours of dull
level grinding, a plot that took forever to go nowhere, and a new city that
frankly showed almost no sense of life compared to the series’ iconic
Kamurocho. But the game proved to be an incredibly successful series rebirth,
and Sega was riding high on its success when Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth
released at the beginning of 2024.
As someone who’s been playing this series from the
beginning, through what I’ve seen to be its many ups and downs, I’m extremely
happy to report that Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth not only improves upon
its predecessor in every possible way, but it’s by far the best game this
long-running series has seen in many years, establishing itself not only as a
must-have JRPG, but as one of the best games of the year.
Taking place in 3 massive cities, including the brand new
and aesthetically vibrant Honolulu, Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth also
includes the city of Yokohama from the previous game, along with series
mainstay Kamurocho. The hilarious and charismatic Ichiban leads his party
on their adventure in Hawaii, while longtime main character Kazuma Kiryu leads
his party on their adventure through Yokohama and Kamurocho. The two parties
initially meet in Hawaii, but split after a series of major events, and the game
alternates between the two as the series’ typically action-packed Yakuza-driven
storyline propels things forward.
The characters and the often-hilarious dialogue are the true
stars of the show here, along with the vibrant cities and the vastly improved
turn-based battle system. Though it feels like the never-ending dialogue
sequences have been scaled back slightly from their truly excessive lengths in
Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, it’s true that like with all modern entries in this
series, the cutscenes and dialogue sequences go on for far longer than they
need to, and the storyline becomes hard to focus on and follow as a result.
Similarly, the number of things to do while exploring these gigantic cities is
never-ending, and wandering off the beaten path of the storyline is not only
very easy to do, but encouraged. By the end of the game I admit I had little
idea what was going on in the story, which has the series’ usual twists and
turns and large cast of villains and near-death encounters. But I cared so much
about main characters of Kazuma and Ichiban that it drives the story enough
where I saw it through to the end.
Helping with this is a truly reinvigorated turn-based battle
system, which remains one of the most action-packed turn-based battle systems
I’ve seen probably since Final Fantasy XIII. Depending on your bonds with your
party members (which increase through interacting with them in the cities and
at the 2 bars which serve as home bases in Yokahama and Honolulu, respectively)
new team-driven moves are unlocked, and your party members will run up and
attack an enemy when they’re knocked down, or respond when you knock another
enemy into them, hitting them a second time. Battles are relatively quick
(especially when compered to its predecessor) and almost always exciting.
Infinite Wealth also includes a great feature, wherein enemies you encounter
when wandering the city who are at levels lower than yours can be essentially
skipped, with you still awarded with the EXP for engaging with them. Kazuma
also has his own series of moves, and his own gameplay mechanics, such as
recovering his memories throughout the cities he visits, that differentiate his
side of the story from Ichiban’s, and his battles from Ichiban’s. This is a
seriously massive game, and it always manages to keep itself fresh and
interesting.
In terms of difficulty, while Infinite Wealth has its share
of challenging fights, I almost never felt the need to level grind, even though
a dungeon exists similarly to the previous game for that purpose. I got
the necessary EXP from the storyline’s main events and through wandering around
town, which is how it should be and which makes a huge difference in terms of
pacing. Grinding for cash is gone, and the game also helpfully lets you know
the recommended Level you should be at before progressing through the story at
various points, which is always a good thing.
As has become customary in many modern RPGs, Like a Dragon
8: Infinite Wealth also warns you when you’re about to enter a lengthy series
of battles, or when you’re about to enter a bunch of story sequences where
it’ll be a while before you get to save your game. Though it’s certainly
helpful to know what’s coming ahead of time, I can’t help but wish that this
series would do away with these extended sequences where you can’t save your
game. It adds nothing to the difficulty, as dying simply restarts you back at a
checkpoint or the beginning of the boss, but the fact that you can’t save adds
stress to certain situations that I don’t think needs to be there. The same
goes for slightly unforgiving dungeon design towards the end of the game; once
you arrive at the bosses at the ends of the final two dungeons, the game
thankfully allows you to save, but doesn’t allow you to backtrack through the
dungeons to level up, if necessary. It gives you no warning before hitting this
point of no return, and though reloading a previous pre-dungeon save file is I
suppose always an option, it’s not something that people should have to worry
about, and all that it does is create a potential roadblock that stands between
someone finishing the game, and I don’t think design choices like these are
necessary or add anything to the adventure, just frustration.
Aside from those thankfully rare issues, the only glaring
weak point to an otherwise fantastic combat system is the Job System; as with
Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, characters begin with their own jobs and move sets,
and eventually these can be swapped out for others; since doing so essentially
starts you back at 0 in terms of your character’s development, I really don’t
understand the appeal at all of doing this. The good news is that Infinite
Wealth, unlike its predecessor, doesn’t expect you to do this as a means to
beat the main story, so at the very least it’s not something I had to bother
with. It is though frustrating that, when buying equipment for your characters,
you need to scour the map for stores that sell equipment for your character’s
particular Job, as opposed to them all being located in one Equipment Shop.
It’s time-consuming, feels unnecessary, and really only further adds fuel to
the idea that these games would be better off without the Job System entirely.
With those flaws out of the way, though, it’s almost
impossible not to acknowledge everything that Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth
does so well. The game has a truly great sense of humor, and it’s something
that carries over to everything; from the dialogue, to the battle system, to
the characters and situations that you encounter. Humor has always played a
role in this series, and this element has only increased in prominence as time
has gone on. Gone are the days when Like a Dragon presented itself as a gritty
crime thriller, though of course the plot still contains many deadly-serious
moments. Instead, Infinite Wealth is a laugh-out-loud comedy, and though it’s
been a jarring change, it’s where this series has been heading for many years,
and it’s hard to argue with it when the resulting game is so entertaining.
Though I continue to feel that Yokohama is by far the least interesting of the
3 cities here, it’s improved from its predecessor, while Honolulu and of course
Kamurocho more than make up for its blandness. Honolulu in particular is
dripping with atmosphere, beautiful lighting, tons and tons to do, and just a
really fun, established sense of place. Each of the 2 parties has their own
home base in the form of a bar, (Revolve Bar in Honolulu and Survive Bar in
Yokohama) where Drink Link sequences are unlocked with your party members; the
dialogue drones on an on, but the combat benefits for developing your bonds
with your characters are important and addictive, and the two bars are
ridiculously atmospheric, so it’s a really great addition to the Yakuza
formula.
After finishing Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth, I have to
say that I was blown away. The ending may be somewhat anticlimactic and
underwhelming, and the unannounced “points of no return” during the final two
dungeons are unnecessary frustrations, but I genuinely didn’t want the game to
end. Filled with humor, a ridiculously entertaining turn-based battle system,
no shortage of vibes and atmosphere, two compelling main characters, and 3
massive, mostly-memorable cities to explore, this is, quite simply, one of the
best Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, whatever you want to call it) games ever made,
and definitely the best in many years. It demonstrates why the Like a Dragon
series has slowly, over time, become an Iconic Sega Series, and after this
installment, I couldn’t be happier for it. There are areas for improvement;
cutscenes and mini-games are in desperate need of dialogue editors, and I wish
that optional mini-games (such as Dondoko Island) weren’t introduced with such
lengthy, mandatory tutorials, especially for those of us who have no interest
in re-visiting the mini-game to begin with. But after being burnt out by the
snooze-inducing Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, it’s not only a relief to see how
great Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth turned out to be, but also a promising
sign that this series could be heading to truly great places going forward.
Definitely recommended, both to Yakuza fans, as well as to fans of Japanese
RPGs and Japanese games in general.
4/5
Note; this review is based off the PS5 version.
No comments:
Post a Comment