Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS4/5, Xbox, PC - 09/11/2023)

[Hero-of-Time]

This is a side story of what happened to Kiryu after Yakuza 6 and it leads up to the events of Yakuza 7 and Like A Dragon 8. Also, confirmed to be a traditional Yakuza game. No tun based antics here, @Happenstance.

 

[drahkon]

Oh my goodness. The Yakuza games are coming in hot and I'm all for it  

Can't wait for the remasters and Yakuza 6 to arrive on PS+ Royale With Cheese Edition so I can prepare for the onslaught of new titles next year.

[RedShell]

What is going on?! 

Well, at least this barrage of Yakuza titles has helped me to forget about yesterday’s Nintendo Direct.  

[bob]

I'm confused. Is Like a Dragon the new name for Yazuka? Are these all spin-off games?

[Cube]

1 hour ago, bob said:

I'm confused. Is Like a Dragon the new name for Yazuka? Are these all spin-off games?

It's the new name for the series, a translation of Ryū ga Gotoku, which has been the Japanese name since the start.

 

This one and Like a Dragon: Ishin are spin-off games, but Yakuza: Like a Dragon was essentially Yakuza 7 and Like a Dragon 8 is the next main game.

[Happenstance]

Nice. I'd been missing being able to play them so I'll definitely get this.

[Julius]

Just announced at SGF to be arriving on November 9th!

The Dragon of Dojima rises! 

[Julius]

Overview and updated trailer: 

 

[RedShell]

I may have dribbled slightly watching that.

Anyway, looks like the Yakuza series without Toshihiro Nagoshi is going to be just fine.

[Dcubed]

Whelp, guess I have to buy this game now...

I can't believe that after 25 years, the only home release that Daytona 2 will ever have is as a hidden minigame in a Yakuza title, but there ya go.  Would much prefer this to have been a standalone release, but I'll take it nonetheless!  @S.C.G, this is certainly relevent to your interests 

The Model 3 arcade version of Fighting Vipers 2 is also going to be included! Insane!

Let's hope that Spikeout is next

Edited September 7, 2023 by Dcubed

[RedShell]

Holy crap, this comes in at almost 90GB on PC!

Played through the opening section, loving it already. Man, Kiryu's movement in this is crazy! The way he picks up weapons off the ground is so slick!  And what's with this Spider-Man web move!? This is absolutely insane, even by Yakuza standards.

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Holy crap, this comes in at almost 90GB on PC!

Probably due to the Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth demo being part of it.

[RedShell]

36 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Probably due to the Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth demo being part of it.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.
I imagine all that video footage for the hostess stuff is a pretty big chunk of it too.

[Dcubed]

For those of you playing, how far in do you have to get before you can unlock the ability to play the arcade games?

[Julius]

38 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

For those of you playing, how far in do you have to get before you can unlock the ability to play the arcade games?

Not playing, but I read somewhere that between skipping cutscenes and completing the mandatory fights it probably takes 30 - 40 minutes to get to the arcade. 

Considering just how cutscene-heavy Yakuza games are from the outset in setting things up story-wise before opening up for you to explore, which can take up to an hour or two in many of the other games, that sounds about right to me! 

[Dcubed]

Thanks.  Time to start the grind I suppose!

[drahkon]

13 hours ago, RedShell said:

I imagine all that video footage for the hostess stuff is a pretty big chunk of it too.

It's getting bigger.

YOSH!

[Happenstance]

I'd forgotten these go to game pass now as well. I've still got an active subscription from Starfield so I've just started downloading it.

[RedShell]

Spoiler

 

How calm is the geezer that got caught up in the fight with the bicycle? 

The combat in this feels just like Yakuza 6 but with physics and particle effects dialled up to 11! I bloody love it!
They've also made some crazy additions to the gameplay with...

Spoiler

 

Gadgets.

You start off with the Spider, which can be used to grab opponents from a distance and temporarily immobilize them, or chuck 'em around. Lots of fun. But I've recently obtained the ability to also use drones (these can be released during a fight to distract enemies) and explosive cigarettes (these... well you can guess what these do)!

It's all a little bit 007 which is hilarious.

 

While I eventually ended up loving the new turn-based direction with Like a Dragon, playing Ishin recently and now Gaiden has reminded me how much fun the real-time combat is too. Hopefully RGG studio is planning to keep using both gameplay styles going forward, because they're both fantastic.

[RedShell]

It's Pocket Circuit time!:

Spoiler

 

Absolutely loving that there's an Ono Michio decal.

 

 

[martinist]

Switched over to the english dub since i was curious and whoever is voicing Kiryu in english really sucks. Guy is supposed to be in his late 50's and he sounds like a nasily young guy in his 20's

The dub for everyone else is fine but Kiryu just doesn't sound right at all.

I'll be sticking to Japanese

[RedShell]

10 minutes ago, martinist said:

Switched over to the english dub since i was curious and whoever is voicing Kiryu in english really sucks. Guy is supposed to be in his late 50's and he sounds like a nasily young guy in his 20's

The dub for everyone else is fine but Kiryu just doesn't sound right at all.

I'll be sticking to Japanese

Have they changed his English actor since Like a Dragon? That's the only game in the series that I've ever played though with the English dub, but yeah, don't think I ever will again.

[RedShell]

OK, I've never been so damn distracted by side content in a Yakuza game as I have with this! Over 12 hours played but I'm still only at the very beginning of chapter 3!
Once the game opens up it really opens up, and is packed with so much highly entertaining stuff to do. I love the way substories are handled in this version as well, it's super streamlined compared to previous games. Also, the coliseum mode in this is pure crack, cannot get enough of it. Especially since unlocking... more on that bellow:

Spoiler

Did you spot an unusual opponent in that vid? His introduction cutscene (and Kiryu's reaction, combined with the mask he was wearing at the time) had me in stitches!
Check it out:

Yeah, this game has the humour down to a T, but action scenes are still top-notch too, I was particularly floored by this one:

The reveal of the Castle (Gaiden's Purgatory) was another great moment:

And that's where I've been spending so much time since, as it's the home of the coliseum, casino, another cabaret club , gambling hall, fighter's lounge and the boutique. Plus it's just a awesome place to run around and explore, with hidden items to grab via the spider. I found a Master System ROM in there (not sure how to use it though) and, this...

...which I believe I need to collect 7 of for yet another Yakuza sidequest to feature a Pokémon reference. Remember Sujimon in Like a Dragon?

Anyway, in the boutique you can completely customise Kiryu's appearance, for both the main game and the coliseum. And when I saw what one of the available options was, well, I simply had to buy and equip it right away!

You get a little fashion show scene afterwards:

Small head version still (unfortunately ) but even so, a very welcome addition. Can't see me changing it to anything else now.

Has obviously been my outfit of choice for coliseum fights since, as you'll see in the vid bellow:

It just makes everything funnier.

So yeah, that's where I'm at with the game so far. I should probably get back to focusing on the main story, but they really are making it extra difficult to do so this time around.

[RedShell]

Whoa! Looks like I was actually further through the main story than I thought, as...

Spoiler

...chapter 5 is the final chapter?!

I'd heard this game's story was shorter than your typical Yakuza game, but that still came as quite a surprise. However, I've done so much side content stuff now that I'm approaching 20 hours of game time anyway, and I still have a few substories left to do, quite a bit of mini-game stuff, plus a big chunk of the coliseum as well. So I reckon 100% completion will probably end up taking around 30 hours.
But for anyone that isn't a fan of the extra content in these games, if you were to focus purely on story I get the impression you'd be done with it pretty quickly indeed.

[martinist]

Done. I'll take a look at the infinate wealth demo later.