95%PC

This was the game that made me wanted to start playing the Yakuza series and it did not disappoint! Though the JRPG elements are what attracted me, it's really the story that stands out here, with a great new protagonist and an equally compelling antagonist. Ironically, after waiting to get to the turn based mechanics for so long I found myself missing the traditional Yakuza battles at first, but ultimately the new system totally won me over. My one complaint - I found I got the best results sticking to just one class per character and not really exploring all my options. Overall, though, a great game and a great series

90%Xbox Series X/S

a great and fun turn based RPG

90%PC

Still haven't scratched the surface of side content in this one. A good Yakuza game that is carried by it's story and characters, I am a Old Yakuza head and I still prefer the action combat over the turn based RPG combat. Ichibum is fucking amazing though. I streamed this one.

90%PlayStation 4

할인도 했고 유명하기도 했고 주인공이 바뀌면서 중간유입도 괜찮다고해서 시작함
턴제 jrpg를 좋아했어서 추가된 병맛에 매우 재미나게함

100%PlayStation 4

Man this game is perfect 👌 best Turn-Base RPG, with funny element & movement 🤣, gameplay is overall nice & catchy for playing long time. The story is not hard to understand but not boring & the side story is best, the story mix between funny, sad, epic & others feeling. I think Like a Dragon nice too for newcomer who never play & know Yakuza Series because will not confused (Maybe just the story before LAD who mentioned and some characters from the previous series)

75%PC

Stopped playing it because it became way too grindy. Otherwise a good game. But I would only recommend this to people who are fine with the boring, repetitive grind part.

100%PC

This game is ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!!

90%PC

Finally a game as good as 0

85%PC

The game i was planning to start "Yakuza series" with few months ago ended up as... 9th i played... oh boi - that was an crazy ride so far.
So... How good first "Turn-based" Yakuza game is?
Great!
In my opinion ofc.
In terms of the Story it only losses to 0, 6 and Judgment
Substories? It's at the top together with 0
Side Content? Only beaten by 6, 5 and ofc. 0
Combat?
Hmm... Yeah... Thing is... Brawler games aren't my cup of tea being honest and i love turn-based ones... despite that i must say LAD was an disappointment in terms of combat.
Animations are amazing
The hardest dungeon in the game was hell of an fun ride.
BUT 99% of the combat is just too easy and don't make you use mechanics at all - whole game being as hard as last challange would be insane but there clearly should be at least an normal and hard difficulty to choose above what we got.
I have huge hopes they will fix the combat in Infinite Wealth.

BUT! For now it's time to have a break from turn-based combat and see what they cooked with that one guy who erased his name.

85%PlayStation 5

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an amazing game. The game world is so detailed and varied that you feel like a tourist exploring a new city. The characters are funny, especially Ichi, and the main story is well-written and exciting. The graphics are great, with some impressive details. The game is very long and can get repetitive at times, but it's designed so well that you stay interested. The deep game mechanics keep you from getting bored and let you experiment throughout the adventure. The attention to detail is incredible, and there are so many side activities and missions that you can keep playing for a long time.

80%PC

It's a good Like a Dragon game. It does require what I consider to be grinding, but the grind wasn't bad at all admittedly. It was pretty fun to grind, though the game will ask you to interact with a lot of its side elements if you want to do all substories, which can be a bit frustrating, more frustrating than past LAD games. When the game is hard though, it's really fun. It's a must play as your 8th, or 9th, or 10th, or 11th Like a Dragon game. Yeah. Play the others that released before this first.

Great story too. Bit "power of friendship"-like but it was fine. It hooked me more than some prior Like a Dragon games such as 4.

100%PC

Dame da ne dame yo dame na no yo
Anta ga suki de sukisugite
Dore dake tsuyoi osake demo
Yugamanai omoide ga baka mitai

Baka mitai hontou baka ne
Anta shinjiru bakari de
Tsuyoi onna no furi setsunasa no yokaze abiru

100%Xbox Series X/S

Buenardo historia 10 de diez

80%Xbox Series X/S

It has a compelling story and side quests are entertaining but definitely felt like a slog at some parts, grinding got a bit old quickly but thankfully I enjoyed the combat a ton. I wish jobs had been a bit more dynamic in terms of their role for the game, it felt like they didn't matter too much and one could just gain XP with default ones and beat the game all the same. Then again, that would've made the grinding even worse, I guess. 54 hours did fly by though, it didn't exactly feel like that much so it was a nice experience

100%PC

Didn't get every achievement, but got a lot. Loved it

80%PlayStation 5

Good time.

100%PC

I wasn't expecting much, but it ended up being one of the best RPGs I've ever played.
100% recommended to anyone, even people who don't play turn-based RPGs.

100%PlayStation 5

One of the best Yakuza games I've played.

100%PC

Loved it.

100%PC

Really fun RPG, great humor. The story is a little predictable, but it throws some curve balls here and there. I will say I don't like how Ichiban is so forgiving and is based on all the crazy events that unfold in the story. All in all however the game is great, I haven't enjoyed a solid JRPG in a while and this has been a wonderful experience with a lot of fun twists to how this game can be a RPG.

100%PC

This game is peak every time I replay it, finally decided to go and do the post game dungeons and its was very fun, great story, great gameplay, great side content. Play it.

85%PlayStation 4

This game is where RGG decided to change up the Yakuza combat system, going from beat-em-up to turn-based, and I actually thoroughly enjoyed this change. I still prefer the beat-em-up style, but I thought this was a nice change and the animations were pretty fun to watch. This game also has my second favorite story from a mainline Yakuza game, yeah sometimes it can feel like a bit of a slog to get through in specific parts, but I was hooked for about 90% of the time. There is also SOOOO much to do in this game, this is the longest amount of playtime on any RGG game because I was constantly doing activities like the Dragon Kart minigame, an unhealthy amount of karaoke, doing the movie theatre minigame, doing vocational school tests, and of course the Ichiban Senbei property minigame. Side stories also took up a large portion of playtime, but they were all super fun, and at times really sad.

Ichiban has also quickly become one of my favorite RGG protagonists, he's such a silly little guy and I think he should be protected at all costs. Having the same voice actor who voiced Nishiki in Yakuza 0 and Kiwami play Ichiban made me so happy. The other characters are all really great too, I love the relationships they have with each other, and doing their little individual character stories to boost the bond between them and Ichiban in Survive Bar is also really sweet.

Now for my biggest gripe with the game, the difficulty spike that occurs in chapter 12. The boss fight in this chapter basically requires you to spend hours grinding in the battle arena to get to at least level 50 if you want to stand a chance. This is just really dumb to me, I feel like the bosses of the main story should kinda be at level with where Ichiban and his party are at so it's a fair fight. Forcing players to grind for hours isn't really that fun, and it was because of this that made me drop the game for months. Thankfully, after reaching level 50 you don't really have to grind for any of the other bosses, which is a relief. Still, it just seems like a really annoying way to pause story progression in order to get players to spend time doing some really repetitive grinding. That alone is enough to stop me from giving the game a 90.

Despite that, I still ABSOLUTELY LOVED this game. Picking it up again after months reminded me how much I love these games.

60%PC

This game has me feeling pretty conflicted because it's a good game but it's held back so much by it's gameplay it's sad.
-Amazing story and characters, a slow burn for the beginning but it really paid off near the final chapters so whatever.
-The music is incredible, the majima theme is my favorite maybe in the whole series ! i hope the same style of music is in Y8.
now however for the gameplay... it's bad. Really bad.
RGG clearly never did turn based combat and it shows, the combat is so awkward it's actually frustrating sometimes.
For exemple characters getting stuck in walls/obstacles so they can't get the opportunity for fallen foes, attacks missing because of dumb character placement just to name a few.

And also i have been warned about the difficulty spike near the end of the game and i was actually baffled by how much i... couldn't do anything except grind. I hate spending 2 hours in a colloseum before the famous fight in the omi HQ just to have a chance.
For context, i don't skip combats by running away or avoid fights. I make sure to level up every once in a while and it STILL wasn't enough. So for this reason:

WHY DOESN'T THE GAME HAVE A DIFFICULTY SLIDER ??? This isn't a souls game what happened ???

I feel like i played on hard mode near the end with boss fights that were so long i had time to watch a youtube essay of 30/40 minutes.
I can understand the fights with Majima, Saejima and Kiryu being really strong but why the rest afterward feel like an entire mountain ? Especially Tendo, cool character but horrible boss fight.

I hate when you're forced to do grinding, one thing that would make it better: substories that gives you ACTUAL exp not useless objects.

Anyways, i really like Ichiban. Not more than Kiryu but of course he has only 2 games so i'll just have to wait and see what they do with him.

Good game 6/10 :3

100%PlayStation 5

Great game! Great Story! I like the over the top humor while having some everyday topics and als very deep story moments.

100%Xbox One

Yatte yare appare na jinsei Ichi kara yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah 🗣🗣🗣

80%PC

This game was truly a great passing of the torch from Kiryu to Ichiban (to preface a bit, the only other Yakuza game I've played is 0 though). The whole theme of comradery and being true to one's self/values was executed really well with the integration of a whole party as the primary cast. The story was also very good in reflecting the themes and values of the characters, although more so Ichiban specifically for obvious reasons. I really like that there is a lot of events where it seems like they're random in the story but looking at it overall it really feels like Ichiban is always doing what he values the most at that time. The new cast apart from him are also pretty good. I liked the integration of some of them more than others but all were fairly good and had good personal substories/bonds apart from Joongi and Zhao imo (not really counting Eri since hers is tied to a minigame and also not really part of the main cast). The supporting cast is also very good and the group dynamics are well done. The only critique I have for story related things is when Majima and Kiryu show up as if you've never played another Yakuza game it will be kind of like a Spiderman NWH moment where its cool that its there for those that get it but if you don't then its partly like "huh?" which I feel is kind of lazy writing but otherwise I have no complaints. The antagonists are all pretty well laid out too with their respective roles and values.

Moving onto gameplay, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that they veered into turn based combat well given how saturated they are and RnG likely looked at many of its peers for that. The implementation of it with old heat style moves and traditional items was great though and mostly only the combat is changed up a lot. I will say the party members idling around I'm a little mixed on overall only because at times you just keep pushing an enemy super far or get weird AI decisions for movement which wouldn't normally matter if there wasn't an emphasis on attacking a downed enemy before they get up. That's one aspect I wish would be changed a little along with AoE attacks as enemies tend to spread out some or get knocked around so then having AoE feels pointless and is not uncommon of a scenario to be in until you get moves that surehit everyone regardless of where they're standing. Combat aside, I felt the way substories were done here are great, where each most have several parts to them that make them feel much more memorable, a nice quality over quantity deal that I experienced from Y0. However, the main big minigame in the company management I felt was not that good. The UI is nice but the UX when playing that minigame is pretty terrible since you never know who's assigned where or have a way to order by the stat that you need which just makes it kind of frustrating, not to mention that other than the assigning part, there's not much else to it since the shareholder battles are fairly easy basic Pokemon formula. I do like the Sotenbori battle arena and doing the floors with challenges for bonuses as those are engaging and quick but wasn't a huge fan of the dungeons introduced as I felt they were kind of a slog with not much incentive to do outside of maybe grinding which you don't ever really need to do much of in the game if you do other combat related activities. I also played the go kart, theater, can course, and vocational school minigames which are what I'd consider the slightly more significant ones and found most to be interesting and a decent supplement to stats or unlocking more substories.

Overall its a very solid game and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

40%PC

The story is fine. I think if I were to give it more time the story would develop. However, the turn based system is too simple and not engaging at all. I've tried to pick it back up twice and it's just not clicking.

80%PC

yes i surely love this new yakuza direction

in fact i find Ichiban to be even more relatable than Kiryu and he seems more of an actual person

also story is great, one of the best in the series

90%PC

Really enjoyed the game. Too slow in sections. Better review later

35%PC

Boring

100%Xbox Series X/S

As my first ever Yakuza game, this one definitely delivered. I loved everything about this game. This was the very first Yakuza game to adapt that "Turn Based RPG" format, as the previous games had a "Beat Em Up" style. Following the story of a new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, I really liked him as a character. He was full of energy, noble, had a great heart, and always looked out for his friends. I really think that Ryu Ga Gotoku did a great job of nailing that "RPG Hero Trait" for a series like Yakuza, and it meshes well together.

The story was so Phenomenal. As you follow Ichiban's story, it begins with him going to Jail for 18 years and after he gets out, a lot has changed in Japan, and in the Yakuza world. Ichiban ends up winding up in a City called Injicho where you'll spend most of the game. Ichiban meets all of his party members, and you come to find out later that an old Yakuza family member that was with you, is now the Governor of Japan. You see returning characters in the previous games like Majima & the protagonist of Yakuza 0-6 himself Kiryu. The finale of that game was Incredible as well, and had me in tears because it was really THAT GOOD! (Honestly it's up there with Persona 3's ending, and that's one of my favorite video game endings of all time!)

Gameplay wise, I'm a sucker for turn based RPGs, so I really enjoyed it! I really liked how you could assign jobs to each character giving them unique abilities so you can mix and match your combat. I thought that was really good, and it gave a lot of variety to the gameplay. There's different mini games as well that will have you hooked with my personal favorite being running a business! I spent a few hours doing that alone, because it was that addicting! Other than that, there's a Mario Kart type mini game and much more!

Overall, Yakuza: Like a Dragon gets a 10/10 from me! I strongly recommend this game!!

90%Xbox Series X/S

Un gioco davvero fantastico, componente principale la storia, in questo lunghissimo jrp da 60h e passa non ci si annoia mai tantissime storie da scoprire lato gameplay si mantiene fresco con un combattimento a turni svecchiato e molto più dinamico.
Personaggi ben caratterizzati, comparto tecnico forse non all'avanguardia

9 PIENO

90%PC

Absolute masterpiece.

90%PlayStation 5

Fiz praticamente tudo do jogo, 100% da história principal e sidequest, faltou apenas a Última Millennium Tower e as corridas do Dragon Kart.

95%Xbox Series X/S

Amazing game

65%PC

I hate the combat but the rest is fantastic.

90%PC

A little clunky on combat / traversal but also a kick ass JRPG, great story and characters.

70%PC

Combat was repetitive and boring and took forever without CE speedup. Found it so annoying I rushed through the story afterwards missing the side content because it just wasn't that much fun.

100%PC

Cried 4 times

95%PC

If you like turn-based combat, this is easily the best game in the series (prior to Infinite Wealth's release). If you don't, it could be one of the worst.

Personal preference aside, the story is excellent & the new main characters are all very memorable and likable. I can only think of two mildly stupid plot points off the top of my head, which for this franchise, is impressive. The substories & side content are great and never once felt like a drag.

The new protagonist, Kasuga Ichiban, is extremely refreshing with his bright and compassionate personality, a stark contrast to Kiryu's. LaD is like a fresh breath of air if you're already into the series, and it works as a perfectly fine entry point if you're new. (You will understand the main story well, but there are a few scenes and a lot of side-content that are targeted towards those who've already played RGG games in the past.)

It occasionally can be a bit grindy in the usual JRPG fashion but it's not too bad. If you go for 100% completion you will certainly feel it, though. The difficulty spikes aren't troublesome if you stay prepared.

The ending made me cry.

80%PlayStation 5

I love the cast, and the exploration of this world does seem a good fit for an RPG. It's just that you can see all the aspects of a first attempt at the genre. The dungeons are horrible (too long, rote, ugly). Combat is too slow and simplistic with no way to speed up it up. The class changing feels unfinished. Basically no unique classes to switch to. Most of the important characters storylines are pushed to side content or simply skipped over. I also have problems with some of the twists. And yet I do still love this game. Everything about the side content, story, and characters is full of heart. It's easy to look over the bad.

90%Xbox Series X/S

Must play. Story is incredible

85%PC

great story wish it took like 20 fewer hours to get through it

90%PC

I'm waiting for the eighth game now.
Şu an 8. oyunu beklemeye başladım.

100%PlayStation 5

Really fun

75%PC

There's a lot to like about this game, but the combat is pretty jank. It feels more random than strategic. Having abilities to group enemies together, split them apart, maybe being able to attack with the INTENT of picking up something to bludgeon someone with rather than it usually being accidental would be nice. All the classes are varied and interesting but having to go all the way back to the agency to swap jobs every single time honestly kind of sucks. The main story is fine, it's not particularly interesting, but the mini-games are what kept me engaged during long slogs of listening to political talk.

I like all of the characters but I don't think they really meshed with me. Sae really just becomes a background character for most of the game, and honestly it just becomes all about Ichi for the last like 40%. Which is fine, but I expected a little more involvement by his friends. It's a good game. I had fun. And there's so much stuff to do that honestly if you start to get annoyed by something you can easily go and do so many other things.

Dungeons are awful, easily the worst part of the entire game. You're just walking in straight lines and fighting groups of enemies and the bosses are equally awful. While they are some flashy cutscene moments, most boss attacks just repeat, there isn't much or any variety, and if you aren't properly prepared they are just damage sponges and kind of suck to fight.

Having to level each class individually legitimately sucks, and not being able to swap costumes until you finish the game is incredibly stupid. The side romance options are threadbare, and, with some exceptions, a lot of the substories are barely reaching mediocre.I also have no idea why the game starts with a chase scene, and introduces you to a bunch of mechanics for it, and then it literally never shows up again. Ever.

Despite feeling like a half-baked game that started as something else and changed mid-way through, I still enjoyed a bit of my time with it. I loved Ichi, I enjoyed all the minigames, walking around the different areas and talking to party members was awesome, it was exciting to learn new abilities. It's just a shame that enjoyment is hidden under layers of tedious grinding or watching unnecessarily long cutscenes (Although not as bad as XC3 which is legit trash).

Side-Note: Unfortunately the honk honk achievement is locked behind what appears to be either random or broken spawns and that is so annoying that I couldn't even be bothered trying to 100% the game.

80%PlayStation 5

This game took me 2 years to finish because other games kept coming out and taking focus and I wanted to really pay attention to this one. I'm glad I did though because this was a fantastic game from beginning to end. There is so much to do and it has the usual mix of super serious and ridiculous stuff happening that the Yakuza games are now known for but I believe this is the best story that they have told (from the ones I've played anyway).

Combat is very customisable through the ability to change jobs and carry over certain skills to other jobs as well as the mix of characters with their own stats that lean them towards certain play styles. This does make some combat encounters pretty easy which can cause a bit of a difficulty spike when you reach a boss, especially the last 3 or 4 main bosses.

Tons of minigames and side activities to keep you occupied and every single one is well written and engaging so you actually want to see where things go and not just for the extra gear or XP provided.

Looking forward to playing Infinite Wealth now but I think I need to go back and play the games I've missed first to get the full story now.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Западные игры приятно смотреть, в японские - играть.

Якудза всецело заслуживает неироничного позыва к сблёву от качества своего исполнения в три полигона вокруг пиджака Ичибана: делать такой визуал сколько-нибудь позже 2005го - архи-преступно, твердят наши гайдзиновские глазёнки; но пальцы продолжают набивать кнопочки..
Пока закостеневший игровой конгломерат пропихивает в нас повесточку с тарелочки при голубой каёмочке, ниппонцы адово отрываются на поприще самой сути игр, задача которых не показывать и рассказывать - а погружать и развлекать по самое не могу добрый десяток часов, с чем те самые три полигона и горсть бюджета на них прекрасно справляются.

И продолжение и работа над ошибками и успешность чуть ли не со старта были вопросом времени, когда во главе движухи стоит таргетированная веселуха, а не ублажение малоимущих духом господ.
Браво!

85%PlayStation 5

The only thing I have to complain about is infrequent autosaves, in one situation I had no autosave for 4 hours, causing me to lose 7 levels worth of progress. Turn-based combat is fun, being able to reposition would make this next level, which they have done in the sequel. The story is pretty good, just drags on a little in the beginning, however, all Yakuza games seem to be that way.