Yakuza: Like a Dragon - Review @ MXDWN

MXDWN checked out Yakuza: Like a Dragon:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon Review

For a very long time, the Yakuza series has been one of SEGA's lesser known flagships due to it not being crazy popular in the West. Spanning more than 6 games and boasting a few remakes and remasters, the Yakuza series has been going strong for a very long time now. The only constant has been the main character, Kazuma Kiryu. Yakuza: Like a Dragon departs from the story of Kiryu and deviates from the real time action combat to create a wholly new experience for the franchise, and ultimately delivers with incredible style. The loveable cast and gripping story set Yakuza: Like a Dragon up to be one of the stronger releases of 2020.

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon has very easily become one of my favorite JRPGs in the week that I've played it. While there are some aspects that can get grindy or boring, like the relatively repetitive combat and the lack of movement in fights; the gameplay, sheer breadth of side activities, reclassing, and charm of the game more than make up for it. There is just so much to do that it'd be hard to encompass it all into an article, and it's a ton of fun discovering just how much crazy stuff you can do. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an incredibly solid launch title, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it if you want an RPG to sit inside with this winter.

Score: 9 out of 10

More information.

Launch title? To me, you can't call a game a "launch title" for a new console when that exact same game is also available on older consoles.

Finished it so won't read the review.

Pros:
- visuals are good
- music is godlike
- everything is playable with k+m
- job system instead of classes is superinteresting
- classic minigames are not a must! yea, you don't have to cheat karaoke on PC for benefits
- new minigames are all crazy and interesting
- trashmobs variety is not just recolor, moves and skillsets get different too
- switch to turnbased combat came out good
- stories and substories are fun
- characters are fantastic
- Kiryu/Majima cameo
- ridiculous summons*
- all the time the game trolls itself, trolls your teammates, trolls NPCs, trolls videogames industry and trolls - you!

Cons:
- some parts sure are grindy, to get enough of $ for everything you'll need to repeat the final management step like 20ish times and for weapon crafting mats you'll repeat certain arena stages cca 5-6 times
- a few jobs (classes) are cut and sold in form of DLC, aren't necessary to beat the game or complete something though

* - One of "let's mock Final Fantasy Eidolon summons rubbish" by making it totally crazy (and OP ofc):


To cut it short:
This flawed masterpiece gets my goty vote.

Originally Posted by joxer
This flawed masterpiece gets my goty vote.

I seem to recall Genshin Impact & Troubleshooter had your vote already.

I enjoy theses game myself but Cyberpunk 2077 will always be my GOTY.

(If it gets released this year.)

Anyway not to many RPGs I enjoyed this year. Most are stuck on Early Access and I don't consider unfinished games as GOTY contenders. Overall bad year for RPGs.

(Personal opinion based on my tastes in games.)

Your memory is not as it used to be. Age?
Troubleshooter, yes, gets my vote.

Genshin Impact has bundled microtransactions scam. There is absolutely no way I'd ever vote for such thing. Even if it was cure for cancer.
You forgot I've disqualified AC:Odyssey from my list because of bundled microtransactions last year.

Originally Posted by joxer
Troubleshooter, yes, gets my vote.

There can be only one GOTY winner.

(You can't have two.)

So no my memory hasn't gone bad yet.

I'm enjoying it, although it has a little too much cutscenes. That wouldn't be bad, but it's so slow (any competent movie or tv editor would make everything much more dynamic).

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
There can be only one GOTY winner.

(You can't have two.)

So no my memory hasn't gone bad yet.

But it did.
We get three titles to vote for. I have two reserved.

Which game will be a winner depends mostly on popularity. If we voted today, this year's winner would be Wasteland Online.

Originally Posted by joxer
But it did.
We get three titles to vote for. I have two reserved.

Which game will be a winner depends mostly on popularity. If we voted today, this year's winner would be Wasteland Online.

No doubt it wil be Wasteland 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and who the hell knows. As I said not many mainstream RPGs besides small TB games this year. Next year looks better.

Still only one game gets the crown though. If your not first your last.

joxer calling this his GotY is enough for me to know that it's probably not my cup of tea.

I wouldn't recommend it to you definetly:
- it's more than 50 hours long (isn't 10hours long Doom)
- you can't pick nightmare difficulty at your initial start
- the story is not dark and gritty but completely crazy and ridiculous
- characters are no deadly misters and mistresses of doom but, again, crazy and ridiculous
- one of the best NPCs in the game is a chicken. not human nor any other animal.