In all honesty, my love for Yakuza: Like a Dragon weighed heavily when getting in to Infinite Wealth and for sure, RGG writing sometimes is not always the sharpest, 4 being the worst entry in terms of consistency, so I was surprised just how consistent Infinite Wealth maintains itself through the story.
The stuff with the Palekana was kinda whatever because it feels so foreign to what this series is and how it doesn't feel well incorporated in the story, the humour is so effortless I was dying of laughter, Yamai the goat, Bryce was kinda sauceless and Ebina was alright, not as impactful as Aoki was, but serviceable.
Believe me when I say that Ichiban remains one of the greatest protagonists in gaming, the amount of compassion and confidence he exudes through all of his bravado and silliness makes him a force to be reckoned with, and Kiryu this time around breaks down that burden of flying solo as he was always and learns to be more cooperative and inviting to see this through his end, it wasn't just his death that loomed constantly, but he had a proper arc with a ton of depth not seen since Yakuza 6 to be honest.
Under the guise of dynamism, every single gameplay system cooperates with each other to not only deliver the best combat system the series has seen so far ever since the shift to turn-based, but also for the bonds you develop with your companions, from being invested in their weird personal things, like Namba fighting a raccoon once, Saeko getting a heavy cooking pan that beats going to gym, or Joongi being into films and forgetting to return the DVDs he borrowed, and consequently, how those moments influence the flexibility of combat, like tag team attacks, combos, and what have you. ICHIBAN QUITE LITERALLY HAS A "WITH THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP" MOVE THAT DOES A FUCK TON OF DAMAGE, IT'S WILD.
Some of the big negatives from combat, however, is the excessive grind (again), especially in the last chapters, the rate at which you level up, which is ridiculously stupid, and how for me, turn-based games fall into this trap where once you're powerful enough, you can just rely on the most powerful moves constantly with no consequences, in turn making you rely less on the ones that output less damage. You may be thinking of the MP bar, but what's stopping me from chugging down another Staminan and keep going? I respect the decision to be open like this, but it kills the incentive to make use of all your tools when you can just rely on the best moves constantly
All in all, it's another great entry in the series, with some of the best dynamic turn-based gameplay gaming has to offer at the moment and a story that really does everything it can to honour both my Ichimans, the hero of Yokohama and Kiryu, the legendary Dragon of Dojima
Bon Voyage.
The stuff with the Palekana was kinda whatever because it feels so foreign to what this series is and how it doesn't feel well incorporated in the story, the humour is so effortless I was dying of laughter, Yamai the goat, Bryce was kinda sauceless and Ebina was alright, not as impactful as Aoki was, but serviceable.
Believe me when I say that Ichiban remains one of the greatest protagonists in gaming, the amount of compassion and confidence he exudes through all of his bravado and silliness makes him a force to be reckoned with, and Kiryu this time around breaks down that burden of flying solo as he was always and learns to be more cooperative and inviting to see this through his end, it wasn't just his death that loomed constantly, but he had a proper arc with a ton of depth not seen since Yakuza 6 to be honest.
Under the guise of dynamism, every single gameplay system cooperates with each other to not only deliver the best combat system the series has seen so far ever since the shift to turn-based, but also for the bonds you develop with your companions, from being invested in their weird personal things, like Namba fighting a raccoon once, Saeko getting a heavy cooking pan that beats going to gym, or Joongi being into films and forgetting to return the DVDs he borrowed, and consequently, how those moments influence the flexibility of combat, like tag team attacks, combos, and what have you. ICHIBAN QUITE LITERALLY HAS A "WITH THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP" MOVE THAT DOES A FUCK TON OF DAMAGE, IT'S WILD.
Some of the big negatives from combat, however, is the excessive grind (again), especially in the last chapters, the rate at which you level up, which is ridiculously stupid, and how for me, turn-based games fall into this trap where once you're powerful enough, you can just rely on the most powerful moves constantly with no consequences, in turn making you rely less on the ones that output less damage. You may be thinking of the MP bar, but what's stopping me from chugging down another Staminan and keep going? I respect the decision to be open like this, but it kills the incentive to make use of all your tools when you can just rely on the best moves constantly
All in all, it's another great entry in the series, with some of the best dynamic turn-based gameplay gaming has to offer at the moment and a story that really does everything it can to honour both my Ichimans, the hero of Yokohama and Kiryu, the legendary Dragon of Dojima
Bon Voyage.