Yakuza / Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

[Tobal]

Playing on PC via gamepass, seems to be a tightened up engine used in K2 and 6 while fighting plays more like Zero outside the (so far) lack of cinematic heat moves for finishing fights with named opponents, something i really miss from Zero and 1 to 5, major fights just end like a wet fart just as in 6, then follow up with a cutscene. Not exactly the most nextgen looking game either, looks like high res PS4 game with more stuff in it, but at least it runs smooth.

Played up to finishing chapter 1, nothing out of ordinary when it comes to yakuza gameplay, 2 fighting styles to switch on the fly, agent mode is a fun little spy gadget to use and is basically agility mode, which Legend mode is classic Kiryu heavy fists which feels really good. Moving around the open world is faster with more QoL advancements like unlimited run, fast ladders, more things to vault. You can also put it into full time first person mode during these bit to, not sure why you would want to outside of spying items to nab with the watch (similar to looking for locker keys in 1st person in the older games). The usual grinding of exp to unlock moves, equipment slots and quest/job finder stuff is present.

Story seems ok so far, more into it than i was with 6, as long you accept Kiryu silly plan at the end of 6. I've still not played 7 yet, so im not sure if this takes place before or after 7... but because of early mention of a 'scruffy haired man', i think it's after 7.

Arcade games... both VF2 (virtua and viper) and sonic fighters make a come back from the recent past yakuza. Sadly no outrun, but we do get Daytona 2 which is great and Motor Raid which isn't so great.

Still like to walk through the 'dungeons' than run, just feels like something Kiryu would do, strong stride into any suckas thinking they can take the old man on.

[fuse]

Been playing this a bit too, and as with everyone who's familiar with the series there is definitely a comforting familiarity with the characters, the environments and so on. I am finding it weirdly jarring that they have ditched the usual font they go for.

The "MAN WHO ERASED HIS NAME" angle is hilarious as it takes about 5 minutes before the cover is blown by practically every person he meets. It even used "Kazuma Kiryu" as the name when I went and played billiards in a bar last night.

[Dogg Thang]

I don’t fully know what the gaiden distinction is in this series, having only payed Yakuza 0. Do these play differently?

[fuse]

Think of it just as meaning side story. In this case given it was only in 7 that they pivoted with a new lead into combat being via turn-based RPG, this is more of a return to what 0-6 were doing without saying they're going back on the new direction after one shot.

[Tobal]

Still in chapter 2 after spending hours in it. Got a good grasp of why it's a side story and not something fully fledged out, it's basically nearly all the stuff from the PS4 games rebundled into the ultimate side content/handyman experience with alot of references to every game in the series.

Akame Network is where all the sidequests are for doing Kiryus on brand handyman work, from the classic silly stuff in the bigger sidequests (that i love about Yakuza) to dozens and dozens of tiny fetch quests and beat the bully stuff. Doing these get cash and exp, both are needed to unlock skills and power ups. As normal, the sidequest stuff will guide you into all the side activities which mostly come with there own shops to buy stuff which they feeds back to other side activites... quite the web.

Not long into the main story you'll get the guaranteed turn up of the coliseum which acts are the other main half of the content (so far) where you do the normal tournament for cash and prestige level ups to enter other areas of coliseum, the slightly 'new' bit is them creating a team battle royal based roughly on what they did with the gangs stuff in 6 but with Kiryu directly controllable and able to issue special orders, win or lose levels up the your 'gang' and help recruit new fighters.

The story isn't front and centre as it normally is in the early chapters so it mostly small stakes stuff as framework to lose yourself in billiards, golf, darts, pocket racing, hostesses, countless gambling forms (though i've not seen fruit machines or pachinko yet). I've found alot of master system cartridges but no way to play them yet, hopefully i'll find master system(mk1) lying around. Still waiting to see baseball and few other mainstays of the side content catalogue but it's likely to require a change of location (if we get one, no idea)

Bit more on the combat, agent mode does get alot of silly extras as you go through the early story which are great but not that useful against tough enemies, so i'm find him back to yazkua/power mode alot to take tough guys on. Which fine, it's where most of my favourite heat moves are like the tiger drop and chucking yobs of a ledge. New moves i like are the agent mode counter throw and taking a fight into the poppo store for a fun heat move.

[Finsbury Girl]

tiger drop FTW

I've got 6 all loaded up and ready to go next!

[Tobal]

Found the master system.. just had to advance the story after spending hours in chapter 2 just needlessly grinding akame rank and cash which in the end just makes me well over powered for fights (which is why i do it). When i did go back to the story, i breezed through the rest of 2, into Ch3 and started 4 in about 50mins and there is suppose to be only 5 chapters, so it looks like it is short game if you ignore the Akame Ranking quests.

Surprised by the effort that went into the Master System emulation (in game model a Mk1 under a CRT), save states, a decent CRT filter and Bezel, certainty a massive step up from the 'easy access, legal' mini consoles and NS online offerings.

[fuse]

Could've made the above post myself. Yeah, I played more last week and spent a lot of time in chapter 2 doing nearly all of the Akame quests, getting platinum ranked in the coliseum, and generally hoovering up everything I could find. When it came to actually moving the story on, I spent maybe a third of that time pushing the game what feels like near to completion already.

So yeah, worth bearing in mind - it is a short game but with the typical amount of sideshow stuff going on.

[Tobal]

Got into Chapter 5... which had alot of spoilers for 7 in it, ah well i still play it anyway. So i think this gaiden starts before and maybe ends after 7 or at the same time as 

Life also got much easier in the hell tag team stuff once i realised i could take 10 fighters in with me instead of 4, pays to read descriptions.

[fuse]

Some of them are still pretty rough even coming in with a full quota. 

I've also pushed on into the last chapter, and while I've done most of the coliseum guff I'm not sure I've got the staying power to go through to the end of it. 


 

[Tobal]

Finished it, didn't 100% everything as the late akame and coliseum stuff got annoying, so stopped shy of level getting to level 29 and beating all the 4 kings. For as short at the main story is, i really enjoyed it but it contents isn't one that should be classed a 'side story' as it wraps up everything the games have lead up to and gives Kiryu a proper send off,

->Open Spoiler<-

even kids at the grave scene which very hammy, got to me as it's the freaking Dragon of Dojima breaking his tough man composure for once

. Finishing the game opens the yakuza 8 demo which i haven't played yet.

[fuse]

I pushed on for the platinum in the end and just got it this weekend. Coliseum's difficulty curve is slightly odd; I found the peak to be the third of the four kings, and then everything after that was a much smoother ride, particularly the solo fights seeing as Joryu was at max upgrades long before. Per usual, one of the biggest challenges was trying to do the cabaret/hostess stuff without invoking severe "what the hell are you playing" judgement, particularly as we've now moved to unskippable, full motion video soft porn in some instances. Thanks, game.

Ending thoughts -

->Open Spoiler<-

Agree it was a little hammy, but it also broke me too. On one hand I agree it's finally a proper send-off for the character, but that was meant to be 6 - two games ago! Then you stick on the demo for 8, and find that he's STILL bloody hanging around! Hilariously, he's meant to have another new identity, and yet it takes about 5 minutes again before everyone's calling him Kiryu again

Didn't play too much of the 8 demo, especially as the full thing's meant to be out in a couple of months, but it does seem like it's building on the RPG side of things quite a lot - way more than you ever saw going from say, the battle system in Y3 to Y4.