This review contains spoilers
I'm not exactly a Yakuza veteran, having only played 0 and Kiwami when I picked up Like a Dragon on release.
Being a huge fan of the turn-based RPG genre, I was really interested to see how Yakuza would translate to the genre, and this game definitely didn't disappoint.
First of all, the combat is incredible. The button prompts keep a degree of activity to the combat aside from just selecting attacks, and the skills for each party member and job are mostly really inventive (Nanba's signature attacks are some of my favourites). The battles almost never dragged on for too long, keeping things short and satisfying like in the past games, which is definitely to be praised.
The new protagonist, Ichiban, might have endeared me to him more than Kiryu has (granted I've only played 2 of the Kiryu games). Why? Because his obsession with Dragon Quest is on par with mine if not greater. The new supporting cast are also excellent, and made Ijincho a setting on par with Kamurocho and Sotenbori for me. Speaking of which, the sub stories and other side content like mini games are just as fun as I've come to expect them to be and help add to the charm of this new setting. New to this game are the Drink Links and party chats, similar to the bonding systems other JRPGs use between their MCs and party members. These help to develop the party members and give them more fleshed out side stories, and helped especially to develop some of the later recruited party members who didn't get too much of their background explained or have their past explored in any great detail in the main story (Joon-gi Han's drink link was really good, and I wouldn't like the character as much if the Drink Links weren't a thing). I should also mention that the returning characters in this game were masterfully handled- Where it would have been easy for them to have felt forced into the game, not one of them did- Their appearances felt organic, and the game would have felt incomplete without some acknowledgement of what came before it. I think there was no better way to usher in a new era for the series.
The main story of this game is maybe one of my favourites in any JRPG, and it didn't have to be a tale about a fated hero setting out to kill a God to earn that title. All it had to do was have heart, and this story about an average yakuza grunt starting over from rock bottom turned into much more than that- A story about family, those you're born with AND those you choose, that could be inspiring and triumphant at times, but was full of twists and turns that could lead it to be incredibly shocking, thought provoking and even heartbreaking.
TLDR: This game was absolutely amazing, please play it.
Being a huge fan of the turn-based RPG genre, I was really interested to see how Yakuza would translate to the genre, and this game definitely didn't disappoint.
First of all, the combat is incredible. The button prompts keep a degree of activity to the combat aside from just selecting attacks, and the skills for each party member and job are mostly really inventive (Nanba's signature attacks are some of my favourites). The battles almost never dragged on for too long, keeping things short and satisfying like in the past games, which is definitely to be praised.
The new protagonist, Ichiban, might have endeared me to him more than Kiryu has (granted I've only played 2 of the Kiryu games). Why? Because his obsession with Dragon Quest is on par with mine if not greater. The new supporting cast are also excellent, and made Ijincho a setting on par with Kamurocho and Sotenbori for me. Speaking of which, the sub stories and other side content like mini games are just as fun as I've come to expect them to be and help add to the charm of this new setting. New to this game are the Drink Links and party chats, similar to the bonding systems other JRPGs use between their MCs and party members. These help to develop the party members and give them more fleshed out side stories, and helped especially to develop some of the later recruited party members who didn't get too much of their background explained or have their past explored in any great detail in the main story (Joon-gi Han's drink link was really good, and I wouldn't like the character as much if the Drink Links weren't a thing). I should also mention that the returning characters in this game were masterfully handled- Where it would have been easy for them to have felt forced into the game, not one of them did- Their appearances felt organic, and the game would have felt incomplete without some acknowledgement of what came before it. I think there was no better way to usher in a new era for the series.
The main story of this game is maybe one of my favourites in any JRPG, and it didn't have to be a tale about a fated hero setting out to kill a God to earn that title. All it had to do was have heart, and this story about an average yakuza grunt starting over from rock bottom turned into much more than that- A story about family, those you're born with AND those you choose, that could be inspiring and triumphant at times, but was full of twists and turns that could lead it to be incredibly shocking, thought provoking and even heartbreaking.
TLDR: This game was absolutely amazing, please play it.