This week on Fully Ramblomatic, Yahtzee reviews Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Support us on Patreon: / secondwindgroup Second Wind Merch Store: sharkrobot.com/collections/se...
His story is over. Cameos are fine but it's time to leave the man alone already. Constantly bringing him back only makes it look like the writers are unwilling to commit to advancing a story or supporting a new set of protagonists. The man is canonically in his sixties or something now, he has an adult daughter and a grandkid.
I like the new style ... except for one thing: It's distracting how every character is now wearing glasses. I thought I would get over it, but it keeps surprising me every week. It might be because the positioning makes me feel like every person except Yahtzee is slightly cross-eyed. Not a big deal - but I do wonder why that stylistic choice was made.
@@khamjaninja. Virtually guaranteed that one of the trademarked design details of the ZP art style, along with the imps, was the simple black-on-white eyes
Hell, it's not only him. They even brought back the DEAD. At this rate, we will get every dead character from Yakuza 3 onwards, one dead character per game. And each one will either be a twin, doppelganger or the same person but owning a bar now.
@@RetroRadianceLightActually, the series being a JRPG came from an April Fools joke that RGG Studio made & then they decided “Fuck it, let’s make it a full blown game.”
Thanks alot now i can never unsee Eric Andree as the main protagonist. I see that Yahtzees work on getting the proper dialect for staring in a Ken Loach film is comming along nicely.
When I saw Ichiban the first time in 7, I had to check if he really looked like the 'let me in meme' guy or if I was seeing things. Yes, that's what I looked up. Don't shame me.
4:23 I couldn’t tell if the ‘ride a dolphin back to the main plot’ was one of yahtzee’s weird metaphors or something that actually happens in the game.
@@forestaysaIL Reminds me of in 7, if you're playing the game in English and you run into the sidequest where you run into an English speaker, Ichiban will say "Oh shit, he's speaking English" then he'll slowly turn to the camera, but only if you're playing the game in english.
His whole character arc in this game is essentially looking forward to the sweet release of death, until everyone shows him how great the previous games were
The combat is changed quite a fair bit actually. You get to move around and aim your attacks, something that you had to just hope the game would do that in the previous entry.
@@Owlsnerf The man's always been very opinionated. Perhaps to the point of nitpicking sometimes. But it suits his review style. If I had to agree with all his takes I'd have stopped watching a long time ago but luckily that's not a requirement.
And there's the handy dandy press-CTRL/LT-to-skip-battle button that takes care of his whinge about low level encounters (if, you know, just simply running around them is too challenging for you, that is).
Personally, it was the part about ants starting fights that got me. Maybe it was just the exact right joke at the exact right time, but that was the first time I've ever had to pause one of these to laugh.
Admittedly, they did add a "skip this fight" button... that you press during the still momentum-killing intro to the random encounter, then you still get to wait for all the characters to throw out a token basic attack animation that kills all the enemies. It would have been a lot nicer if they had let you instead just run them over with your brand-new segway. Especially considering that the segway has an autopilot that you might want to turn on and not pay attention to, rather than having to still swerve every random encounter to avoid having to auto-defeat them and then get back ON your segway and start the autopilot back up again.
I don't get it, we had the perfect "how to deal with wildly underleveled enemies" thing down perfect 30 years ago in Earthbound. Why is it still so hard for games to deal with?
In addition to all the other problems with the auto-win button, it also just plain doesn't pop up when it should. These 3 enemies that are 10 levels lower than me will not get a chance to do anything, but the game still classifies them as a regular threat and doesn't give me the auto-win button. It's in dire need of fixing for 9. Also, auto-pilot for the segway still needs supervision anyway. I still have to swerve around cars, otherwise Kasuga or Kiryu will ride right into them and get exploded. Once that happened to me, I never used autopilot again.
Think if they did something like Persona 5 Royal where you can burst through low level enemies that would be ideal. It shows a cool splash screen but doesn't take away too much time. Though in that game you got it through a social link.
As a long time Yakuza player, I gotta be honest, I was FAR from disappointed. The new map, the new mini games characters, and even side quests. I’m not really sure I agree with what Yahtzee said about side quests because everyone I’ve done has had some new crazy mini game or something that sets it apart. I’ve been really loving this game, and I’ve played through every single yakuza game multiple times
@@MoskalMedia Its quite a long franchise but I recommend you start with yakuza 0 as its a prequel, then the yakuza kiwami games as those are remakes of the first few, then just follow the series up till 6, then play the like a dragon games. its a long ass series but its so worth it :)
I WAS SO CURIOUS ABOUT THIS! Like it’s surreal enough playing a Like A Dragon game set in the US, but it’s gotta be wacky seeing your home island Yakuzafied.
I honestly thought the game improved in so many minuet ways over 7. Being able to move around in combat to line up abilities is solid. I never feel so underpowered that I need to get perfect alignment of my abilities. They just need to be good enough (I honestly hammer away at abilities to keep things moving as a brisk pace as the game seems to try to encourage w/ extra damage on downed enemies.) Healing w/ group-wide items has always been a bit more reliable compared to some of the healing abilities too. I could be wrong, and Its nice having both options regardless. (On top of the auto recovery in the pause menu which is a bit broken alongside this game's economy the moment you sink any amount of time into side content.) As a veteran of the series this has been one of my favorite stories so far. The basic details of the plots have indeed always been samey when it comes to the basics, but I feel like most interest in the Yakuza games come more from investment into the characters, and central themes each game/protagonist explores (Majima's story in 0, Shinada's perfect one and done story in 5, etc) The games have a lot of meat behind all the tone shifting wacky hijinx, and scowling shirtless men. Kiryu's self loathing being a key detail I always point to. He blames himself for any trouble he has faced in life, seeing his legacy as the Dragon of Dojima as toxic to those around him, and tricks himself into believing his loved ones would ever be better off w/o him around. He has such a strong moral compass that he never compromises on, but w/ that comes a stubborn refusal to change his mind once he has made it up. It takes a lot for him to accept help, and not put the entire world on his shoulders. He is such a great well balanced character w/ a lot of postives to look up to, but also some major character flaws and self doubt. There is a reason he has remained the fan favorite. He has so much to both look up to, and relate with. I haven't finished this game, but between the start of this game, and Gaiden It finally feels like RGG are confident in letting Kiryu retire as a protagonist. Its far better compared to the uncertain conclusion in 6 where RGG left the door open just in case the series couldn't continue w/o their poster child. As a long time fan I hope they finally let Kiryu rest. Just like Kiryu himself has needed to accept for a long time now.
I started playing Yakuza during the quarantine era of COVID as a way to travel without, well, leaving home. Now I take an "annual trip to Japan" every summer, spacing out the games so they stay fresh. So far I've gotten thru 0-3.
The main problem with this game is the brutal corporate greed. Not only is the base game expensive (70 USD), but the day 1 DLC locks basic features like New Game+ behind an additional 40 USD upgrade.
All AAA games now are costing $70 USD. That’s not yakuza being greedy (at least more than the competition). And the new game plus dlc is $20 USD (still scummy as hell but if you’re going to criticize them, use the right numbers)
BTW, Kiryu is very fun in this game as a turn based character, cuz he can hot swap between his three combat styles whenever it’s his turn. Brawler gives him Heat Actions that do bonus damage whenever he attacks near contextual objects, Rush gives him two basic attacks and a wider range to walk, and Beast makes his basic attacks Grapple moves that guard break automatically. Also he gets bonus damage whenever he’s close to his opponents, so you literally do the JoJo “I have to get close to him” meme to yourself by accident.
My favorite is late-game where you can also pick up heavy objects like Motorcycles with Beast style for crazy damage. Dragon of Dojima is by far the most fun class to play in this game.
A complete game, with brilliant storytelling and over-the-top action, becoming an instant critical and sales success? By God, ya love to see it! ...So of course Sega of America celebrates by giving 61 folks the axe. :(
When I think the Japanese versions of all these companies would've done the same by now were it not for the anti-layoff laws in place there, this is why.
I love going on lunch break to find a new Yahtzee video! Been watching since 09, have no intention of stopping! I'll be a patron soon, too. Recovering from the holidays still lol.
Ok so, you can move your character now (limited range that changes with your stats) which makes the positioning and combo attacks so much better, and you get an Auto-Defeat button whenever you’re overlevelled. Small XP penalty, but can still collect your Creepy Pokémen. Just a mild fact check, the combat has definitely improved (And it was already kinda tight.).
Just a nild fact check, you don't get an auto-defeat button when you're overleveled. I could be 10 levels higher than a group of enemies and still had to press the auto-combat button because the auto-defeat button wasn't offered. And even when you do get the auto-defeat button, it still takes way too much time. Teleport to combat, press the button, watch my character do a three hit combo before the enemies will fall over, sit through the results screen, finally go back to the world. This is way too slow, it saves almost no time compared to a regular battle without the button. The entire auto-defeat mechanic is in dire need of improvement, frankly it sucks as is.
@@mjc0961 It depends on if you have a 'miniboss' in the encounter (one of them had a crown over them before fighting). Also in story dungeons you can't skip encounters this way even if the dots above the enemies are blue (so you're overleveled)
@@AcenMasterX And I guess they figured a) the plot is moving away from Yakuza as a thing because they're fading into obscurity in real Japan, too, b) new protagonist and playstyle means you can kinda rebrand the series as a new starting point. Hilariously, they kinda did the opposite with the Judgment side-games. The first was "Judge Eyes" in Japan, and Judgment internationally, but the sequel was "Lost Judgment" in both. (though "Judge Eyes" as a title makes more sense considering the plot of the original)
PSA on the low level enemies constantly picking fights, there is usually some sort of item that can be equipped that prevents open world enemies from attacking you. This was the case in like a dragon so I presume it will appear here as well. It was a reward for a late dungeon or something I believe
I adore the game, but even I was at a certain point going "please, no more side content, I beg of you, please just let me play the main game." Of course then it was four o'clock in the morning, I'd just spent the past hour building up Dondoko Island and needed to actively stop myself from going to level up my Sujimon.
@@Lucifronz It's honestly not *that* grindy if all you care about is getting through the main story. Where things get a bit ridiculous is the side content, which is *massive*. And if you care about 100% completion, get ready to sacrifice several weeks to grinding out those last few achievements. That being said, that's an edge case and 100% unnecessary to simply finish the game.
Personally, I realized long ago that the main plotline was typically one of the least important things about a Yakuza/LAD game. As far as I'm concerned, each new one is basically a virtual vacation where I occasionally have to stop wandering around and instead watch angry men growl at each other for an hour, before I can get back to the wandering and mini-games.
"If I wanted to be teased this much I'd use the gloryholes in the toilets at the dementia hospital" might be the best line ever uttered in a review. I had to pause while laughing. Absolute top tier.
Understand where Yahtzee is coming from but as someone who’s played all the games. And been a long time fan. This is the best one in years. Worth the time if you’re an RPG fan at least. I was more disappointed with the Man Who Erased His Name. But that’s understandable considering that was a low budget side game.
Rare Yahtzee miss, these games are much more than what they might seem and what he describes storywise, and the gameplay is vastly improved in this sequel And these games always have incredible characters, Ichiban is such a delight and Kiryu has so much on his shoulders by now
I'm going to disagree heavily with this one and a veteran probably gets more out of this game than any other, particularly due to the Kiryu plot stuff as his story finally comes full circle with things that had been started since Kiwami. The job system could have been a touch sooner but honestly I had a blast with it. The music has some absolute bangers, the characters were fun, it keeps up with modern trends (A friggen vtuber) and the combat is a lot more improved from 7. Honestly I am amazed you didn't cover *those two* fights Ichiban has in the later parts of the game.
Yakuza 6 was to be the final game as per Nagoshi's words (and the hubbub surrounding it). Didn't take them long for them to flip the bird to the ending and the message of 6's ending and bring him back. Even before this Kiryu's inclusion has been all but redundant by bringing him back after 2's ending. There was never any reason for him to be back after the end of 2. It was quite literally a good ending for him. After that it's been succumbing to the fanculture where fans won't let go (this is both western and eastern fans), so they devs/writers are actually afraid to do something decisive and replace him. Case in point 4 where he clearly wasn't meant to be around. Hell, 3 just blatantly throws the ending of 2 off the cliff in its first moments and apparently Kaoru was altogether forgotten by the writers as "just a love interest". Ironically, they then have kept Kiryu as a victim of oneitis fondly remembering Yumi but paying no mind to the existence of Kaoru, the woman she quite literally kissed and was clearly into. Kiryu as a character hasn't even gone anywhere so I can't even say in good faith this continuous inclusion has been building him up. I honestly felt just like laughing with all the melodrama that gets shown in Gaiden, especially the ending. The writing has just been a continous downhill since 2 to me. 0 would've been alright if it had been there from the beginning, but the dumb Majima retcon was just off-putting (not to mention what they did with him in Kiwami). Sometimes I feel like they're unintentionally writing a parody of their own games that they still try to play seriously.
I walked up a toilet and pressed the X button unsure of what would happen, and Itchiban picks up a poo. If I had a nickel for everytime a video game let me do that, I'd have ten cents, which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice (with Nuke Nukem Forever being the other).
My favorite is how Duke starts bitching like he's mad you made him pick up a turd. I may have carried that turd with me as far as I could, throwing it at people
I actually loved this game, one of the best and a great passing of the torch. And yes, I have played all the other main games. I started 0 in October 2022 and have not stopped since. I went all the way to 7, finishing just in time for Gaiden in November, and then beat that in time for Infinite Wealth. It has never gotten boring for me, and yes, I do everything there is; all the substories, all the little side things with more story, minigames, character links, and so forth. It's just so addictive.
So, to conclude, Like A Dragon: Inexplicable Walrus is a Yakuza game. The pacing is slow, the violence is intense, the side games are well and truly batshit and Kiryu hits people with furniture.
Also one other thing I'd like to add, what makes Yakuza 4 special was that this was probably the first Japanese game besides Symphony of the Night that Yahtzee liked well enough to start considering Japanese games. It's what I link to him as the first step towards falling in love with the Persona franchise.
OK as an elder myself, I very much enjoyed the slightly different accent and speaking pace you used at the end and now I look forward to hearing "Fully Walkermatic" when you're 75.
3:00 Except that makes sense for Hawaii since many Japanese immigrants who came to the U.S have immigrated to Hawaii & it’s also a popular travel destination for the Japanese. Because of this, many people living in Hawaii have learned Japanese, enough that is passable.
*Laughs in Southeast Asia* seriously it's only $95 in Singapore. That's about $71 USD. Did I mention that was the price for the Ultimate Ripoff Edition? SEA got best prices. I will take it as an apology for region locking the YLAD for half a year.
Bold of Yahtzee to criticise this game for not differentiating itself after he recently reinvented his own 15 year old review show by… changing the background colour.
The girl party member speaking Japanese despite being American actually makes sense though considering the girl who plays her actually IS Japanese American.
