Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is the 16th Installment in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon/Ryu Ga Gotoku Franchise and is a fantastic experience.

I won't go too long in my review but I can absolutely say this game does an amazing job with having so much too do, along with exploring all of what Hawaii has to offer.

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Story wise, it's a fine enough story with call backs to previous games. Ichiban's mother being the central focus for the first half was very interesting and really heartwarming when he eventually does meet her. I do think the storyline is a bit convoluted, and if anything I just couldn't take Bryce seriously, especially since in the regular japanese voices, they forced the voice actor to speak English when the guy doesn't know it. If anything they should've done what they did with every other bilingual character and have a japanese and english va whenever they had to switch speaking languages in the regular japanese voices.
Kiryu's story is about his cancer and how he tries to push his way through til the very end, along with cleaning up the remaining remenants and after effects of the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance's past sins.
The final boss for Ichiban, I couldn't take seriously because of how out of place he was, Kiryu's final boss was fantastic as being the embodiment of the Yakuza's Victims.
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The new party members introduced are all lovable and you take time to appreciate them as you journey throughout the game with them. I especially love Chitose, with her being this new and really REALLY likable female party member, who outshines Saeko and really makes you question whether Ichiban really should be going after Saeko.
Tomizawa is a great addition as well, being an Japanese-American guy who just got into a bad group, and his sarcastic self always makes scenes with him having to be apart of Ichiban's antics hilarious.

The game does a great job with the Anti-hero Yamai who is voiced by Takehito Koyasu and his amazing voice. The character in general is not 100% good or evil, but he does his own things, that make you question how he is.
Some of the other characters who are either minor antagonists are your run of the mill "evil mustache twirling villians" like Police Chief Roman, or Baraccuda Mafia Leader Dwight (played by Danny Trejo).

I think the way Daigo, Saejima, and Majima were depicted is fine because they're feeling the after effects of the dissolution, I just wish they were playable, if anything there are characters who should've been replaced with Daigo, Saejima, and Majima.
Those characters being: Zhao, Seonhee or Saeko, and Joonji-Han, reason being is because YES JOONJI AND ZHAO WERE IN 7 but they barely do things of value in LAD8, they're there for support but don't really do anything worth while. The only party member who probably wouldn't be worth replacing is Seonhee because her interactions with Kiryu are generally heartwarming and cute when she simps and flirts and fangirls over Kiryu. Saeko had a major downgrade as a character, and is essentially the reason for Ichiban leaving for Hawaii, and not speaking to her for a year over his embarassment of a confession. Saeko really is unlikable in 8, and it's not because she rejected Ichiban, but because she never told him what he messed up on and throughout the game Ichiban has to learn what she wanted, which is just stupid.

Saeko really does become the most unlikable character in the game for no reason, I think the biggest problem as well is she never apologizes either, it's ALWAYS ICHIBAN who has to, except her actions and her overall way of acting in 8 is awful. While the game tries to bring you back to liking her with her interactions with Kiryu, she completely destroys what she tries to rebuild when you play and finish her Substory.

I think the game should've had her not be a party member and save her for the end sort of as a last scene with her and Ichiban, I think if you cut: Saeko, Zhao, and Joonji as party members, and replace them with Saejima, Daigo, and Majima, it would've been more satisfying. Not saying they should be cut from the game, they should be in there as npcs or as secondary characters, with Saeko still being the crux as to Ichiban leaving, but also having Ichiban and her grow seperately and having Saeko seeing she was in the wrong too.
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The gameplay retains it's TURN-BASED RPG Style from 7, but has improved it way more in this game, along with introducing new jobs for both the male and female party members, only thing is that we lost 2 jobs, those being:

- Officer Worker (makes sense since this one was connected to the extra character Eri, who is based on Eri Kamataki, a japanese woman who won a contest to be in the game along with 4 other women who appear in 7)

- Dealer (this one is weird because there's no reason why the Dealer should've been removed, my only guess is because of the "ESSENCE OF RUSSIAN ROULETTE" but that's just an assumption, if anything I always joke and say it's a PERSONA 3 reference.

However with Kiryu being a party member, it's so amazing that his own unique Job "DRAGON OF DOJIMA" brings back the style switching from Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1, allowing you to switch between Brawler, Rush, and Beast Style with each having their own advantages and disadvantages. 1 thing that's disappointing is that they didn't bring back the 4th style of the "DRAGON", imo they should've included it in the final boss fight.
Kiryu also has his "DRAGON RESURGENCE" mode which allows you to break the turn base system temporarily and allows you to annihilate enemies in the classic beat em up style we know and love from Yakuza 0-6, Gaiden, Kenzan, Ishin, Judgment, and Lost Judgment. It is a bit dumbed down as the developers needed to implement a timer for how long you can use it.
It's best used in the Majima, Saejima, & Daigo fight by it having 2 phases, with phase 1 being the standard turn-based style from 7 & 8, and phase 2 having you fight Majima, Saejima, and Daigo in a beat em up part individually as Kiryu, it's fantastic.

I will say, they should've done the same thing with the final boss for Kiryu with the 2 phase system, though for the final boss he does has 2 phases, I would've included a 3rd beat em up phase as a send off to the beat em up style for Kiryu.
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Minigames are back and they're fantastic absolutely love the new additions as well as returning favorites, along with Karaoke including new amazing songs and fanfavorites. We even got a "BAKA MITAI" 2 in "BAKA DAROU"

The dondoko island mode is essentially like a beat em up Animal Crossing mixed with Yakuza, having you rebuild and refine the once withered and trashy island into a beautiful paradise that allows you to create your own island along with inviting tourism to increase revenue to make more stuff on it. I will say it's a bit of a time waster, but it's SOOO FUN, you'll have a great time with it if you love games like Animal Crossing.
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1 disappointing part that should've been expanded on was Kiryu's bucket list should've feature cutscenes rather than inengine dialogue scenes, and also have Kiryu interact with some of those old characters he met along the journey, especially with Kaoru Sayama.

His moments with Date and AKIYAMA ESPECIALLY were so heartwarming, it just makes you want to cry when you see Kiryu speak with them, especially at the end. But like I said I wish they were actual cutscenes in some of those parts.

Another pet peeve is how they could've featured the cabaret club minigame from 0 and Kiwami 2 again here, along with Pocket Circuit again, I know we got Pocket Circuit in Gaiden but still. The trailers made it seem like 8 was going to reintroduce them again as playable modes, but they were just minievents in Kiryu's bucket list.

Still for what it's worth the substories and memories throughout the cities with Kiryu's bucket list are heartwarming since it makes you remember the journey we as fans have been through.
And this game canonized Kenzan and Ishin which is lit, though they're canon to Japan's history in the Yakuzaverse, Kiryu overexaggerated them because the game makes it so the historical events in the universe really happened but they're also Kiryu's overexaggerated dream. Which is even more funny since it explains that Kiryu also dreamed up Dead Souls.
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1 Final this, the ending is beautiful but I won't go to into it. Only criiticism I have is that it should've been longer and we should've seen what happened to Majima, Saejima, and Daigo after the finale.

I hope for the sake of that little criticism I have they resolve this issue with LIKE A DRAGON 9, doesn't mean Kiryu has to be playable in 9, just a cutscene with him in Okinawa retired. Along with cutscenes showing retired Majima, Saejima, and Daigo living a peaceful life.
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Overall this game is fantastic, it has a bit of hiccups but it's another amazing addition to this franchise that I hold so dear.
The DLC problem is something SEGA messes up alot with in their games especially with YAKUZA and PERSONA, but regardless those aspects didn't influence my score.
I won't give it 5 stars, but my enjoyment with it lasted so long that it makes me happy I put my time into it, really amazing!
Overall I'm giving it a 4.5 out of 5 stars, it's really fantastic. I can't wait for whatever RGG STUDIOS is working on next.

We know so far they're making:

- Judgement 3
- NEW IP GAME
- Potentially Kenzan Kiwami
- Potentially 3 Kiwami

We'll see, regardless this game really makes you feel LIKE A DRAGON, and it endless amounts of fun, it brings you INFINITE WEALTH.

Thanks for reading! :D