Yakuza (7): Like a Dragon - Gotta Dispatch 'Em All!

[Kayin Amoh]

22 minutes ago, df0 said:

💪

 

Ill stock up on drinks and give it a shot. A shame the Sotenbori weapon can not be upgraded.

 

Spoiler

That's because the Sotenbori weapons are upgrade materials in and of themselves.

 

[df0]

Huh? So is it possible to merge?

 

edit: oh right, I get it now. Thanks for the info.

[Kayin Amoh]

8 minutes ago, df0 said:

Huh? So is it possible to merge?

 

Spoiler

Ichiban, for example - his 'Hero' ultimate weapon comes from the bat he picks up during the storyline. At some point during its enhancements you can merge the Dragon Soul Bat from the Sotenbori arena with it, as well as a cough drop tin you get along the way (unsure if it's a 'bonus' objective, don't think so). This unlocks the strongest form, which can be upgraded itself to an EX EX version.

 

If you check google for 'best weapons' it'll tell you which ones are the best. Usually early, trashy ones upgrade to their best form. Zhao's an exception, he's the... agh, don't remember the name of it. His is the General's Sabre or something that comes from a shop in Chinatown. Bulletproof Shield is the starting weapon for Enforcer, The microphone from the Dragon Kart Minigame (cheap prize) for Idol... ah hell, one sec, I'll dig out a guide.

 

 

 

Pretty sure you don't need confidence 8 for the Bulletproof shield, but I could be wrong.

 

 

[df0]

I asked google and a world of knowledge opened up. I finally learnt how to open those gold safes, like 40 hours too late  

[Benny]

I do feel there is a fairly large amount of random shit in the game you can miss without being absurdly attentive, but fortunately very little of it is required to finish the game. Apart from 

 

Spoiler

The battle arena, obviously

 

Overall I'm tempted to rate this as even better than Yakuza 0, as the party interaction dynamic is really quite special. The constant little chats with them as you wander the streets really brings the world alive.

[Benny]

One thing that's really annoying about reviews of the game though: they always can't help themselves from showing examples of the funniest mini games. So much of great humour comes from surprise, so it's a shame when video reviews just straight up spoil sight gags. I imagine trailers probably showed a lot mind, but I'm honestly glad I avoided any before playing it, as it was a constant feast of unexpected belly laughs.

[spanx]

Every time one of those lubed up guys slips on his lube in battle it gets me

[df0]

I have that reaction to the fellas with the large hammers.

[Qazimod]

The best enemy interactions are when you perfect guard any of those heavy types (with the massive slow wind-ups) and the attack still takes off half of your HP. 💀

[Benny]

I quite like how your penalty for trying to brute force the hidden status buffs by just buying everything on restaurant menus (which usually include alcohol), is basically going into battle hilariously drunk.

[df0]

That's how I do the hostess club stuff. Order the entire menu because why not, have a grand time with the ladies, get into street fights.

[Down by Law]

*carefully reads hostesses likes and dislikes*

*orders items that match to see small satisfaction gain*

*order a 10,000 yen bottle of bubbly even though one of the doesn't like alcohol and watch the satisfaction bar max out*

 

Them ladies be hustlin!

[spanx]

So close to the end but I’ve hit a wall and losing the will to persist

 

Spoiler

Fucking Kiryu fight. Can’t get close. 

EDIT: Ignore that. Course I did it straight after my grumpy post

[footle]

I finished, but half an hour before the football wasn’t enough to get through the post final fight story and credits scenes.

[footle]

So I’ve really liked this, where the first two hours of Yakusa Zero didn’t grab me (i suspect because it wasn’t as outright ridiculous immediately via the JRPG aspects)

Do I:

- try playing more of Yakusa Zero, despite it not being a JRPG homage

- wait for the inevitable sequel and buy on day one?

[Kayin Amoh]

Both. You might have a newfound appreciation for the series that'll get you into Zero, and even if you don't the sequel's gonna be coming down the pipeline anyway.

[the_debaser]

Blackjack in this is so broken. I can’t win at all, lost 500,000 in a few mins. 

[p b]

And it's over. No more Yakuza games for me 😞

 

When will the next one be out?

 

[Kayin Amoh]

3 hours ago, p b said:

And it's over. No more Yakuza games for me 😞

 

When will the next one be out?

 

 

Lost Judgment's out in September. 

[p b]

Oh, I haven't played Judgement.... should I?

[Kayin Amoh]

26 minutes ago, p b said:

Oh, I haven't played Judgement.... should I?

 

Absolutely. There's a few iffy detective segments involving trailing people a la Assassin's Creed or looking for a clue by panning the camera around looking for the thing you need, but most of it is very much another Yakuza with another excellent new protagonist. 

 

Intro just drips style, too. 

 

[Let us measure]

Judgment also has one of the best villains in the Yakuza series in Kyohei Hamura - a properly threatening and unsettling antagonist, but not in a zany Majima way. Especially when the game makes it pretty clear he'll do absolutely anything to get what he wants. 

[footle]

Ok, so loading my save into xcloud and the two DLC jobs have unlocked?

[spanx]

Aaand finished. Cracking overall although it did start out staying its welcome a bit towards the end. I am a Yakuza convert though, will definitely be in for a sequel. 

[the_debaser]

On chapter 12 now, spent a bunch of time on the business mini game and ended up with a shit load of cash. Now I’ve moved on elsewhere and, oh good Lord, it’s fucking solid.  I think I need to get my characters up a bunch of levels and get some new armour or something. I thought I was on the home stretch but seems not. About 40 hours in so far. 

[the_debaser]

On 27/06/2021 at 07:29, Mr. Gerbik said:

Top tip for everyone encountering the management shareholder meetings. It's dead easy once you understand this:

 

That's all there is to it. Red beats green beats blue beats red.

 

A shareholder will start with a question of a certain colour - counter that question by selecting the colour that beats it. Ie look at the colour of the word balloon. If it's a red question, let your blue employee counter.

 

Then after you counter, look at the colour of the shareholder who asked the question. For example a blue shareholder - then you select your green employee and mash the button to dwindle the shareholder health bar down.

 

The above image is always on screen so you don't need to memorize which colour beats which 

 

That's really the basics!

 

The most important thing is the red green blue thing, use the colour that destroys the block then move to the colour that defeats the shareholder colour. It’s also important to know that your persuasiveness is equal to the characters charisma. If you get some good super rare employees their persuasiveness will be around 800 once they’ve been promoted and trained, which will batter any shareholder. 
 

Also, try to go into battle with low speaking numbers (Can’t remember what it is called?) too (usually 11 or below) as it doesn’t use up as much of the gauge at the bottom of the screen. 

[BitterToad]

I've tried a couple of times to get into the Yakuza games. I really liked the world and was a fan of Kiryu but the combat just never properly clicked with me and there seemed to be a lot of it. When they announced it was switching to JRPG my ears pricked up, I'm a big fan of the genre and maybe this could see me through the bits of 0 that just didn't click with me personally?

 

But it didn't. 

 

Because I'd already fallen head over heels in love with the game before the combat properly started. Because of Ichiban. I'm only at the start of chapter 3 but he's just such an utterly brilliant creation that I'd play though any old shit to see more of his adventures. I was in a proper funk last night after a mixture of the football and work, just sort of sitting there jumping between Netflix shows I wasn't that interested in. I chucked this on again and all of that went out of the window and I was grinning from ear to ear for a good two hours. The storytelling is so good. I did several big laughs at the end of chapter 2, not because it was funny, just because it was so bloody good. I can't wait to get more stuck in tonight, I think I might be a Yakuza fan everyone!

[Benny]

I actually would put forward a good argument now for anyone unfamiliar with the series to just play Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

 

A few reasons:

 

1. Ichiban is enormously likable. Majima will always be the best character in Yakuza, but Ichiban is just such a wonderfully positive human being that's it's infectious.

 

2. The sleeze factor is hugely toned down. While it fits the 80s setting of 0, it's a lot more welcome and accessible that those elements are not as prominent. They still exist, but it's usually in a specific narrative context.

 

3. The combat being turn based and waiting on user input is much more accessible to players of all skill levels and abilities. The only specifically real time "skill" based play is found within mini games, which vary widely and include board games and simpler games all the way up to Fantasy Zone (which I find impossible)

[deerokus]

Either is a good starting point, but LaD also has much better graphics which does make a difference. 

[the_debaser]

Finally got around to finishing this. The last chapter was a bit of a slog, it could’ve done with a few save points, but overall a great experience. 
 

Amazing that they nailed the turn based combat on their first attempt.