i feel like both this and yakuza 6 were made to flex a lot of skills for rgg, but this was way more enjoyable than y6 even if it also had some bloat/pacing issues. i agree that the finale is a hard carry for the rest of the game, but i enjoyed my time with it. i'm also probably fond of it because the ending is also a great companion to yakuza 3 in terms of narrative, but also because takaya kuroda is also allowed to flex his range and give us another immaculate performance of kiryu at his most emotional.

docked some points for the mentioned bloat / deliberate slowdown with the pacing and also lack of new game plus. people want to replay short games that were gonna be dlc that were originally gonna be a small chunk of infinite wealth / a flashback, let them

genuinely wild that rgg studio was truly considering making kiryu's final game a glorified tech demo for the first outing of the dragon engine.

first time i have not enjoyed my time playing a yakuza/like a dragon game. great that everything is voiced until it feels like everything is being strung out to justify that. it just feels so slow and poorly placed, and i realized it was over when i actively avoided trying to activate substories, which should never happen. at least my dislike of yakuza 2/yakuza kiwami 2 was because the backhalf of it tanked my opinion. here i was fighting uphill from chapter 1.

i don't even have thoughts on controversial plot points other than 'that happened, sure' because i was just wanting to finish the game because i was bored. i shouldn't be bored playing these, i haven't been bored playing these until this one! again, it feels like a showcase for the new engine than prioritizing the usual aspects of the franchise (y4+5 pending, i'm moving onto gaiden and infinite wealth after this).

Gameplay flaws and all, but for me? This is a masterclass of gameplay and story integration and rolling out a new protagonist for such a long running franchise. Ichiban Kasuga, I fucking kneel.

I am so glad Ichiban isn't Kiryu 2.0. From the contrast of their looks (we love the reversed color palette!), to their temperaments, to even the small shit like how they're addressed (the menus might call him Kasuga, but we're all on a first name basis with him, that's Ichiban vs. everyone who says Kazuma is dead, say Kiryu), both of them are so distinct from each other and I think this is one of the best protagonist switch ups I've experienced. I love that Ichiban's personality traits, built up through battles, substories, party chats, etc., are actual things seen in his actions with kindness and passion being the lead ones (charisma for days as well, don't forget that!). I love that all of his Hero support skills, his best class by the way, are multitarget abilities because he loves his friends and their influence is vital to everything he does. The description for Hero's Embrace, his best healing skill? "Emanate an aura of genuine love, restoring all allies' HP". GOD SO TRUE, YOU GET IT, RGG. Yes, going from real time combat beat em up style to turn based RPG is a wild switch and there are issues, but it makes sense for Ichiban. It's not just Dragon Quest being his favorite game of all time and being a hero, it's also just nice to watch him assemble a circle of friends around him and have his party grow. He's well liked enough in his opening chapter, people are fond of him, but it absolutely warmed my heart to see him connect with people who care for him and will also protect him. Solid signs of a good party dynamic, I love everyone in this bar, all my fellas, etc. etc.

It did not take that long for him to be my favorite character in this game and in this franchise. One of the all time greats. I push back on people who say they made him too old when the game keeps telling you that it's not too late to get a fresh start and live life to its fullest. BUT, RGG please, maybe relax on setting each game within a year of release, maybe the next one can be in 2024 even if it doesn't come out until 2028. I would like to spend as much time with Ichiban as possible. Kiryu, love you too, but god, hold that #2. Speaking of, I am so excited for their team up in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the smaller stuff between them here and the comparisons made me absolutely fucking feral for more.

In terms of story, I think this is one of the best of what I've played in the series so far. I spent about 70 hours on the game and was surprised by how fast some chapters moved. There are multiple gameplay choices made in the absolute final battle that fucking floored me and even though the fight is not at all difficult and you can say it's basically story mode, you can't lose, that didn't matter to me because what it meant for the characters involved. It just highlights what I love about this series and again, I have to say I think this game excels at tying story and gameplay together.

Although the English dub is great, Kaiji Tang fucking hard carries as Ichiban Kasuga for me, he does what a lead VA should do. He excels at the big emotional scenes, but he also nails the smaller moments, many voice lines in the party chats and drink links had me shrieking with laughter or smiling at how cute Ichiban is. My biggest compliment to the dub is that I'm genuinely going to struggle with choosing between English and Japanese for LAD: IW. Tang is Ichiban to me like how Takaya Kuroda is Kiryu. Hopefully by the time I hop on IW, I will have some idea of Ichiban v. Kiryu centric chapters and can just switch between languages if I'm unable to make an actual decision.

This is my fifth game in the franchise and my genuine main complaint across all entries is when the hell is RGG going to learn proper music mixing and how to release some of the more melodic tracks officially, oh my god. Such good music, learn how to do a proper fade out and transition to the next thing, someone please, we've needed an intervention for years!!!

Gameplay-wise, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the direct follow up to this game, looks like it takes great steps forward with the turn based gameplay that was presented in this game. You can move your character around to take advantage of positioning, which has always been important in this series. Normal attacks can restore MP for all jobs not just mage-like jobs, which was the biggest change in Y:LAD that baffled me as for all intents and purposes, Mental Points is basically equivalent to heat and skills are basically heat actions. All characters can pick up and use weapons, instead of it being RNG and limited only to Ichiban. Kiryu can switch to real time combat for a limited time (call that a limit break slaps knee), a sensible approach compared to the demands of some that the game be split down the middle of two gameplay modes. Character and job levels seem to be more balanced, making job switching more viable and less grind heavy. There is probably more I'm missing, but I'm looking forward to that. Which is probably why I'm not harping on the gameplay flaws here as I knew them going in and might have felt differently about it if I had played upon release in 2020.

As I played this before and during IW's release window, I've been seeing a lot of comparisons between the two and the one sentiment that stands out is people frequently saying Y:LAD to LAD: IW is basically the leap between Kingdom Hearts I and II in terms of gameplay refinement. That makes a lot of sense to me and may be true (even though there are combat aspects in KHI I like better than KHII vs. LAD seems a step up in all regards). However, I don't know if I'll like LAD: IW as much as this. Which is also how I feel at the end of the day with Kingdom Hearts I v. II where the first is just something that can't be captured again and has my heart and soul. IW can be a 10/10 banger, but god, this one is just something special to me as a first outing for Ichiban and building this entire system around him. I'm looking forward to it, I've been excited since it was announced in late 2022, right before I dove into Yakuza 0, but man. This is going to be so hard to beat. Flawed, but had me in an absolute vice grip.

Ichiban Kasuga, my hero from rock bottom, who always crawls back up to the top. We're really in it now. On to the next.