Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020) Review — The End Of Yakuza
The late 2010’s saw big developments in the Yakuza series, as 2016 “wrapped up” with the series’ most notable faces of the last 11 years. 2018 saw the release of Judgment, a spin-off with a different theme and cast of characters, and April Fool’s Day 2019 saw the unveiling of what was to come next for Yakuza, showing off four new faces in turn-based combat.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon (which will be referred to from here on in as Yakuza 7) is the eighth main instalment in the series, the first to not feature Kazuma Kiryu as a playable protagonist, and the last to use the name “Yakuza” in the west, marking a transition in its subtitle to the name “Like A Dragon,” the literal translation of the series’ name in Japan.
Like Judgment, Yakuza 7 marks another clean jumping-on point for new players. It acts as a soft reboot for the series; this story follows Ichiban Kasuga, another Tojo Clan yakuza adjusting to life after prison. What he lacks in pure strength compared to Kiryu, he more than makes up for in heart and personality. In my Yakuza 1 review I noted that the story felt like “Kiryu vs the world,” and that’s even more true with Ichiban. He and his friends have hit absolute rock bottom, but together their team is greater than the sum of its parts.
GAMEPLAY
In the overworld, gameplay is largely similar to previous Yakuza games on the Dragon Engine. The biggest changes are accommodating to the RPG style, such as weapons and equipment being vital to the new gameplay. The other addition is Ichiban’s personality stats, notably akin to Persona’s social stats. Activities from the completion list and speech choices while drinking with fellow party members boost Kasuga’s life stats, with things like secret areas and black market dealers locked behind personality level requirements.
Persona isn’t the only turn-based influence on our nerdy new ex-yakuza friend; his obsession with Dragon Quest is the canon reason for Ichiban’s perception of the forms his allies and enemies take in battle alike, and thanks to a quirky professor of “Sujimon,” one of the game’s side-ventures is filling out the game’s Pokedex archive of enemy types.
As mentioned before, this marks the series’ first non-mobile game to ditch real-time brawling for turn-based combat. Rather than battles taking place in preset, relevant locations (like the PS2 Yakuza games did), these take place where they start in the world. This is a double-edged sword; it opens the doors up to retaining the feel of Yakuza combat but the AI pathing really struggles when attacking, often finding itself running along walls and confused by knee-high railings that it can step over.
When it’s at its best though, the core Yakuza combat can be felt, such as when picking up nearby objects like bicycles to deal more damage. In addition to regular skills, there are heat action skills which, coupled with Ichiban’s creative imagination, are wilder than ever. Many regular skills also have optional button mashing or timed inputs to deal bonus damage, pressing guard when an attack hits you numbs the blow, and smaller objects in the world like trash piles are automatically kicked when going for regular attacks. It’s little additions like these that go a long way to keeping it a fresh and faithful turn-based experience.
At its worst however (besides the aforementioned pathing), all ally and enemy idle movement is handled by the AI, making it hard to line up for certain object or knockback attacks. Regular attacks that are intercepted by other enemies can be blocked, and some of the worst traits of the turn-based genre are in effect as well; sponge enemies (usually bosses but not always), enemies that spam reinforcements, and difficulty spikes.
The game is otherwise generally not difficult, unless it wants to be. There’s a notable spike in chapter 12 that will absolutely punish the player for not engaging in the newly-unlocked dungeon, and another huge spike in the game’s finale that punishes both those who are unready. Ichiban’s main job “Hero” unlocks a must-have skill called Peerless Resolve, which acts like Sturdy from Pokémon games, only it’s not passive; you have to cast it. Since the game is over if Ichiban dies, it’s an incredibly useful skill to bring to tough fights as it wins you a second chance, albeit at 1HP. This is critical for difficulty spikes like the finale, where you’ll have a rough time without it.
The problem with these spikes, besides their inconsistency, is that it doesn’t seem to recognise its audience. No matter how much it’s marketed as a new take on the series, many existing fans of the series (myself included) aren’t so fussy on turn-based games and didn’t buy the game to be put into a punishing JRPG experience. The game only has difficulty options in New Game+ (originally released as DLC in Japan, meaning the game wasn’t developed around it), but these should’ve been applicable to New Game as well. I was one of the many caught out in chapter 12 and it made me groan, having to backtrack to my last save and grind the dungeon to be strong enough to continue.
STORY
As a soft reboot of the series, Ichiban’s story initially begins somewhat similar to Kiryu’s. It’s after his much-longer prison sentence that the game’s story begins to really shine on its own from its predecessor, teaming up with an ex-detective, a homeless man and a hostess to fill out the main party. It deals with themes of betrayal and where to go when you’re at your lowest low, taking Ichiban from scrounging for loose change under vending machines after narrowly avoiding death, all the way to encountering yakuza elites and witnessing actual threat to the yakuza. For real, this time.
With Masayoshi Yokoyama at the writing helm again, you know what to expect from this — a promising story and cast of characters that crumbles before it’s over. It’s one of his strongest outings, but it’s also by no means perfect and fumbles a lot along the way. I’d be remiss to ignore the inclusion of Mirror Face, a stupid plot point that’s gone as quick as it arrives solely for the purpose of fighting a mirror match, as well as the expected damp finish from his game.
The main black cloud hanging over the story though is its contrived “passing of the torch” to Ichiban. There are six notable returning characters from the series’ past, as well as two more cheap fanservice returns from characters who were last seen dying on screen. Since most of them are yakuza, it makes sense for them to be present during the more notable scenes regarding the two biggest yakuza clans. What doesn’t make sense is why you have to fight three of them. Well, there is a logical conclusion, but it’s entirely fanservice.
Previous series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is the most egregious of these. After the poor cop-out ending of Yakuza 6, the legend himself is once again present for the yakuza drama and once again doing a terrible job of pretending he’s someone else. Why has the ultra suspicious Daidoji Faction let him attend this and later fight Ichiban and his crew in his original suit? He gets two more games as protagonist to answer for that, and no, his three comebacks (so far) since 2016 have not been worth it.
And yet, the biggest problem isn’t even that this is happening at all, but that it’s meant to be a fresh start to the series and that it will be the start point for many new players. These “final appearances” should’ve taken place in Yakuza 6, which had a running theme of having only one chance at life. Instead, interactions like these just splash water on the new party’s parade. Worse still, they hinder the experience for new players. Fanservice works at its best when it’s something missable, like the NPCs in Judgment who talk about preferring the original Ono Michio (a mascot played by Kiryu in Yakuza 6).
I would also argue this feels better to geek out over than when it’s the lowest common denominator that expects everyone playing it to understand; if everyone gets it then it isn’t special. In this case, these interactions are more of a “Majima Saga” from Kiwami 2 kind of deal, where the whole thing exists solely to satiate the love for Yakuza 0. If you aren’t familiar with these people, the interactions will leave you correctly feeling like you’re missing context, which is a big no-no for a game advertising itself as a fresh start. In that sense, Yakuza 7 feels less like a beginning and more like the transition bridging the old and the new.
In my Judgment review I pointed out why I preferred its protagonist Takayuki Yagami over Kazuma Kiryu after only one entry, and the reasons were “for having more personality, more moral quandary, and for trading Kiryu’s unmatched strength and predictable wins in any fight with someone who is frequently outnumbered and outgunned, but who always gets back up.” Those thoughts echo true for Ichiban as well; probably even weaker than Yagami, his determination and teamwork is what drives him through being treated worse than Kiryu and ultimately takes him from zero to hero.
The game isn’t just about Ichiban though, as a group is only as strong as its individual members. the bold Koichi Adachi, unrefined Yu Nanba and the blunt Saeko Mukoda are as ragtag as it gets, but they bond with each other and the player very quickly.
SIDE CONTENT
The game begins and ends in the series’ staple city Kamurocho, but most of the game takes place in a new map named Isezaki Ijincho. Ijincho is the series’ biggest map to date, which feels bigger than all other maps in Yakuza combined. This isn’t necessarily a good thing though; Ijincho is far more diverse, like a microcosm of a city than just a single red-light district like most other Yakuza maps, but this also leaves it feeling underdeveloped. Activities and side ventures on the map are more sparse, with the whole northern part of the map feeling empty and devoid of much life. As of writing, it has appeared in two games since, both of which introducing faster modes of travel to deal with the bigger landmass.
Yokohama isn’t new to Yakuza though, it’s actually been its go-to “events happening outside of Kamurocho” location since the series began. Sometimes it’s generic stretches of road and other times it’s areas now recognisably within Ijincho’s Chinatown, such as the restaurants featured in Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 3.
You’re probably already aware, but a big part of what makes Yakuza is all the other things you can do in its world besides the main story. There’s a ton to do in these games and this one is no different. It’s largely the same assortment, mind you, but a lot nonetheless. If you enjoy mahjong, shogi, golf, baseball, karaoke, eastern gambling and the exact same arcade machines as were available in Judgment, you have a lot you can dip in and out of.
What makes Yakuza 7 shine most in this area is actually its brand new content; Can Quest (a race against time and enemy homeless to haul back trash with your bike, Vocational School (where you take a quiz in the form of an exam just like the ones you took, or for some of you, will take, in school) and the Movie Theatre (where you swat away sheep to stay awake in the cinema). There’s also Dragon Kart, a kart racer… the less said about that the better, though it’s at least miles ahead of the taxi racing from Yakuza 5.
Ichiban also unlocks access to an app called Part-Time Hero during the story. Its main purpose is to pinpoint and rescue locals in need, but it also doubles as an in-universe completion list as we saw with Judgment. In lieu of the game lacking any freedom with upgrades (all skills and stat upgrades are learnt at set character and job levels), objectives from this list give Kasuga personality stat points instead.
Alpy’s Final Thought
Yakuza 7 is a good first outing for its new line of adventures, but it lives in the shadow of the series’ former self. The story is the weakest core of the game, as per usual, but barring some new lows for Yokoyama like Mirror Face, the contrived cameos of series regulars drag down the experience for everyone. It’s just not worth the cheap pop to see them back, especially when it gets in the way for the new characters who deserve their chance to shine.
The game was previously reported to have been made in only 9 months after positive reception to the April Fool’s trailer, which later turned out to be a misinterpretation from series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi. It says a lot however that this was believed and reported on as actual news, because the company’s quick turnaround of releases with varying degrees of combat quality (and in this case it’s quite ropey) is just incredibly believable.
That all being said, it is fun, but pretty much everything you can break down about the game is very hit and miss.
Score: 78%
