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

[RedShell]

10 minutes ago, martinist said:

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

Nice. What was your playthrough time?

Edited November 18, 2023 by RedShell

[martinist]

44 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Nice. What was your playthrough time?

log says  41 hours.

[Hero-of-Time]

This arrived yesterday.

With The Diofield Chronicle done and dusted, it means...

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[drahkon]

There's a physical version of this?

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, drahkon said:

There's a physical version of this?

Yeah, just gotta import/ebay it.

[drahkon]

6 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, just gotta import/ebay it.

I see. Prices seem to be quite high for me, unless I go with a Japanese version from PlayAsia.

Oh well, will wait for a digital sale then

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, the game really comes flying out of the starting blocks, doesn't it? Gotta say, I have a smile on my face every time someone starts mouthing off to Kiryu. You just how how it's gonna end.

Spoiler

Love how things are tying into Yakuza 7 so early on. It was great hearing the mention of Ichiban in all but name. So I guess this is set parallel to his story in 7?

I like how most people from the Yakuza world know exactly who Kiryu is. It hasn't really gone all Superman/Clark Kent where a pair of glasses is enough to hide who he really is. 

I wandered into an arcade hoping to see Daytona available to play. Sure it enough it was there. I wasn't expecting to find it so early on. Needless to say I had go of it. Didn't come first though. I always sucked at Dayonta and this was no different, what with cars slamming into me left and right.

The combat is as fast and fluid as ever, with addition of the Spider-Man webbing being very fun to use. I like how you can use it outside of battles to pick up goodies. I've been wandering around the town looking up at a height just so I can spy some things to pick up. 

I'm only a couple of hours in and I'm loving it. The excitement of a new story and having a great sense of familiarity with the characters and town, is making for a great time.

[Julius]

It was supposed to arrive last Thursday after ordering it close to the end of my time with LAD, but got lost in the shuffle somewhere (thanks FedEx), so I'll also be joining you guys back in Kamurocho shortly 

Yeah, I was never going to go without a physical edition of this. Still think it was a super weird decision to not have a physical English version released, but whatever  think physical is the one spot RGG have kind of started to drop the ball (what, between this and the PS4 version of LAD remaining steelbook-only).

Got another game I'll be wrapping up today and some other things to get to in the meantime, but hoping to dive into this tonight 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

Yeah, I was never going to go without a physical edition of this. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Just read your early game impressions, @RedShell (figured I was far enough through the game now to take a quick peek)

Spoiler

007 indeed. I thought the exact same when getting the exploding cigarettes from the old woman who is essentially Q.

Visited the hostess bar earlier and burst out laughing at one of the responses when I was asked what I was staring at.

Spoiler

That blunt reply of how big her boobs were had me creased. To be fair, they were pretty big.  She took it as a compliment. 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Spoiler

Yeah, I lost it at this point. 

[RedShell]

I managed to get myself stuck doing coliseum and substory stuff all over again. But yeah, have completed every battle in the coliseum now, so at least that shouldn't distract me from the main story any more. Well, unless I find myself in need of more cash (it's crazy how much money you can earn there!).

11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Visited the hostess bar earlier and burst out laughing at one of the responses when I was asked what I was staring at.

  Hostess (Reveal hidden contents)

That blunt reply of how big her boobs were had me creased. To be fair, they were pretty big.  She took it as a compliment. 

 

Spoiler

Hahaha! Yeah, I went for exactly the same response. Was really surprised when all the sparkly hearts appeared.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

20 minutes ago, RedShell said:

 

  Hide contents

Hahaha! Yeah, I went for exactly the same response. Was really surprised when all the sparkly hearts appeared.

 

[drahkon]

Not looking at the spoilers but you guys are talking about boobs, right?

[Hero-of-Time]

11 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Not looking at the spoilers but you guys are talking about boobs, right?

[Julius]

Played the first chapter of this earlier this evening. 

Spoiler

• having just completed LAD...man, the amount of name/group drops where I was going " WAIT AS IN THE OGIKUBO'S GRANDDAUGHTER?!" and then straight up "oh hey, that guy was here just/the other day/is sleeping in that tent!" is awesome but also really caught me off guard, just seeing as this was sold as an in-between for 6 and LAD...and already it's just landed at the opening moments of LAD?! You can take the Yakuza out of the man but not the man out of the Yakuza, it seems 

• it is straight up disrespectful that LAD did nothing to talk about Kashiwagi...just...existing, and then having Kiryu show up in his bar in this on the one night he's out?! I'm going to be flipping tables if they don't talk - even if it's under the guise of their new aliases, with a bit of a wink and a nod - by the end of this game. 

• Kiryu just being like "nah Kiryu who dat? My name's Joryu" as if that has ANY BEARING AT ALL on people believing he's actually dead is outrageously funny to me 

• the absolute nerve of RGG to cut between in-engine cutscenes and live-action set-the-scene clips is hilarious to me. It feels like they're so confident and proud in their vision now, and rightly so! 

• the Spider Gadget is so dumb, random, and unexplained – in all of the best ways. I love it 

• can already foresee the boss fights in this game getting a little grating, a lot of blocking/super armour to contend with already. I'm getting 3 flashbacks. 

• Kiryu having a main mission for a moment to find a spot to smoke after seeing any of the Infinite Wealth marketing is making me go "oh, Kiryu, no...don't do that" and makes me want to grab the cigarettes out of his hands through the screen. 

• the menu sounds and handling of food definitely feels like we're going back to the style of 6/Kiwami 2, which I guess makes sense for when this is positioned, but is a subtle but interesting direction to head in after LAD handled those things so differently. 

Man, as much as I loved LAD and enjoyed Judgment, it feels damn good to be back in the shoes of the Dragon of Dojima some 2½ years after I played 6. Feels like coming home 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Julius

[RedShell]

The credits have rolled...

Spoiler

 

...and so have the tears. Down Kiryu's face and my own. Wow, that scene where he breaks down is just incredible, it's like the super emotional part in Yakuza 3 multiplied by a million! These games have been getting better and better when it comes to portraying emotion, and they've raised the bar once again.
It's actually all the more impressive when you consider just how mental and downright ridiculous the majority of the scenarios are in Yakuza games (and Gaiden is no exception ) I cannot imagine how impactful these type of moments would be if the story/writing was more normal, don't think I'd be able to cope though.

Anyway, as for the final story/combat sections that preceded the moment I mentioned above, it was your typical Yakuza end-game stuff, crazy plot twists, lots of guys to beat up and really cool OTT action cutscenes. I love how it all links up with Like a Dragon and Kasuga too, getting to see that event from Kiryu's perspective was awesome.
Only thing that perhaps spoilt it ever so slightly was the fact that I'd done so much side content before progressing the story (including defeating Amon) I'd powered up Kiryu a bit too much. Which made the last fight super easy, but even so it was still very enjoyable.

 

But yeah, what a game. Bring on Infinite Wealth!

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by RedShell

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm currently on Chapter 4 at the moment (just started it) and I'm happy with the way things are coming together.

Spoiler

I couldn't believe the cheek of Hanawa. You just risked your life to save his and then he goes and stabs you in the back and sets about you! Thankfully he seen the error of his ways but still.

I quite like Tsuruno. Dude feels like a proper Yakuza character and I did enjoy him telling Hanawa to just shut the hell up.  

It's great to see how all the pieces are starting to fit in terms of it fully linking with Yakuza 7. Kiryu now knows that the clans will be dissolved and what the final goal is. Also, I loved this moment in the battle that just occurred...

I'm really enjoying the Coliseum. I've been running around trying to find extra fighters for the group battle mode. I struggled to finish the silver rank and so methinks I'll need to grind (yay) some earlier matches in order to raise the ranks of my fighters a bit. Loved that some of the ones I have found are familiar faces from the franchise, such as this very important character...

Spoiler

I was overjoyed to find that this is one of the Master System games that I could play on.

I never owned it myself but I remember playing it at a friend's house. It was a real blast from the past seeing this pop up in the main game.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I reached the final chapter last night but decided to stop with the main story and start doing a few of the other things on offer. I've finished all of the gold challenges at The Castle but I need to raise my network level a bit before I can unlock the platinum stages. 

I was struggling during some of the team battle matches and just barely beat a couple of them with time to spare. I then realised that the 4 man team restrictions had been lifted on some of these events and I could now take 10 fighters with me! No wonder I was struggling. I found them quite easy after that.  

[drahkon]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I then realised that the 4 man team restrictions had been lifted on some of these events and I could now take 10 fighters with me! No wonder I was struggling

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, drahkon said:

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by Hero-of-Time

[Hero-of-Time]

My adventure is over.

What a journey. They managed to pack so much into such a small game. They've done an amazing job in making it feel like a fully felged release. Personally, I wish more developers would do this. Miles Morales, Uncharted and now this are fine examples are creating smaller scale games that have a purpose next to the mainline entries.

I ended up finishing all the side stuff before moving on to the final battle. 

Spoiler

I honestly thought I would struggle with these fights but I came across this guy and he's ridiculously OP.

Once I have him at a decent level, he could easily take care of everything on his own. It's just a question of waiting for his uzi to charge and you can then decimate the enemies around him.

The final chapter was something very special.

Spoiler

First of all, Watase had me in stitches with this line.

Dude ain't wrong.

I was so hoping the game would go all the way to the events that occur in Yakuza 7 and I was smiling like a Chesire cat when I got to see this again.

I thought the game would wrap up here but it just kept escalating until the tops came flying off and we got to see this epic scene.

Absolutely loved this moment. Having all the legends standing ready for battle was amazing to see.

I completely lost it when Kiryu seen the kids again. I couldn't hold back the tears.

The guy has been through so much and it was awful watching him cry his eyes out as he looked at the video being played. I really want him to be reunited with them.

There's certainly a lot being set up for further sequels and it's gonna be interesting to see if certain characters crop back up again. No doubt there will be some backstabbing going on. They really need to learn not to P off Kiryu.

I was wondering how they were gonna explain why Kiryu is in Hawaii and now we know.

The final shot of him placing the ring was just perfect.

The Yakuza team have once again smashed it out of the park. How they constantly manage to churn out this many games and still come up with cracking narratives is beyond me.

I'm not gonna bother with the demo for Infinite Wealth. I know I'll be buying it and so I may as well go in with fresh eyes once it releases.

I can now go back through the thread and read RedShell's posts.

[RedShell]

16 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What a journey. They managed to pack so much into such a small game.

And all with a development cycle of only six months! Remarkable.
I was slightly concerned about the fate of this series following the departure of Toshihiro Nagoshi and several others from RGG Studio, but if Gaiden is any indication, then Yakuza/Like a Dragon is going to continue being great.

Anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[Julius]

Soooooooo I'm 11 hours in and have only just wrapped up Chapter 2  I've completed Pocket Racer up to challenging Ran, completed all of the Stroll n' Patrol missions available up to this point (50+, so I doubt there's any more?) and all but 8 substories/Akame Requests (those remaining are locked behind story and Coliseum progress). 

Firstly: don't think I've ever done so poorly in karaoke before, I was laughing my ass off when I got to a ahem certain song  

Updated Kiryu's style when I got the chance; still wanted the black and white, but a bit more stylish and more suitable sunglasses for an agent, so: 

My head canon is that this is the first chance he's got to lean into the leather of the 90s he would've seen in magazines while in prison  curious that you can't use Kiryu's traditional colours (white jacket, red shirt) but can use Ichiban's, so waiting to see if that unlocks or if it's just a case of "nope, don't do that, he's JORYU now" from the devs. 

Combat is still pretty meh, rapidly alternating between Square + Triangle in throughout my time with these games has been my go-to tactic, and along with my go-to being to dodge rather than to block (I don't have time for that!) and healing if I do get badly hit, I've been parrying left and right just playing these games the same way I always do. Which is kind of cool, because there's nothing new to learn? But also just means it doesn't add the level of depth for me that I think it might others, and it's a bit grating that every boss and mini-boss wants you to parry them in that way. The level of super armour/blocking in this game like I mentioned before definitely seems to want to be challenging 3, and I'm curious to look up after the game if there's a reason for this other than to stretch out encounters because of it being a shorter game by design. 

On the other hand though: Agent style is still cool as heck, as are the gadgets, now that I've got them all unlocked  having a lot of fun playing around with them and seeing what combos well together. 

To talk about the substories/main story a bit...

Spoiler

• bro, how many people are we going to see dressed up as Ryuji Goda in this game?! He's my favourite Yakuza antagonist so that's been a real treat, as has Kiryu defending his honour in weird and wonderful ways. 

• the Coliseum stuff where you re-enact certain events from the POV of the Omi is freaking perfect and super nostalgic. 

• being mostly done with the substories/smaller quests, holy hot damn do so many of these have returning faces, links to other games, or end with Kiryu looking up at the sky and pondering what some of his fallen adversaries and friends would think of the man he's become. This game is an epilogue to 6 and his time in the series in the same way that 6 was to 5, which I find really interesting. It feels like a love letter leading to a farewell. 

• Kiryu saving Hanawa and then 5 minutes later having a gun to his head is hilarious and you can't convince me otherwise 

Overall, really enjoying the story so far and a lot of the substories/side quests, even if I did end up skipping Akame's preamble for every one of her requests as soon as I realised it kicked you out of the menu/conversation with her after agreeing to each and every one. Not too sure if I'd want to see substories handled in this way in future main games, but for a game of this length, I don't really mind it. 

Got to mention QoL because it's so rare that RGG do QoL things, but placing a pin down on your map and then having it also appear when choosing which taxi stop you want to go to is EXACTLY what I wanted in LAD with how big Ijincho is. So that's awesome, please don't take that away from me in Infinite Wealth! Hopefully they add that to dungeons in that game too if some are going to be bland and void of a sense of direction (LAD weirdly had the same map key in dungeons as in the main game, meaning it tells you that you can place a pin down in a dungeon...but you can't). 

Anyways, in Chapter 3 I'll likely head back to the Coliseum to see what I can wrap up there given the chance, seeing as a good few of the Rival Races in Pocket Racer and remaining Akame Requests are locked behind progress there. Still having a fantastic time 

[RedShell]

A few more vids from my time with the game that I finally got around to uploading:

Spoiler

 

 

Interview with the actress for Akame:

I'm glad she ended up in that role rather than just being a hostess, it made Akame a great character.