Yakuza: Like A Dragon was a huge departure for the series, as it was the first turn-based Yakuza game. Screen Rant called Like A Dragon one of the best games of 2020, but there is room for improvement in any upcoming sequels.
Like A Dragon ditches the stoic Kiryu Kazuma for the excitable Ichiban Kosuga. Ichiban is a huge fan of the Dragon Quest series, which is why he sees all fights in JRPG terms. This is the framework for the genre shift, as Ichiban imagines himself in the shoes of Erdrick or the Luminary, as he battles groups of thugs on the streets of Isezaki Ijincho. Ichiban is a member of the yakuza, and he takes the fall for a crime he didn’t commit in order to prevent a bloody war between different clans. When Ichiban leaves prison, he is betrayed by his former friends and left for dead. He forms a gang of other losers in life and sets out to restore the honorable reputation of the yakuza.
Like A Dragon is the first RPG in the series, and there are elements of its gameplay systems that could use some refining. It’s an excellent game, but there are parts of Like A Dragon that need to be improved for any future sequels.
Yakuza’s Next Game Should Balance The Job System
Yakuza: Like A Dragon‘s character class system is a great idea, but it’s hamstrung by its lack of balance. The main issue is that many of the characters have unique jobs, with abilities that far outstrip the generic jobs on offer. Ichiban’s Hero job and Eri’s Clerk job stand out as some of the best in the game, so there’s never a reason to experiment, especially as it takes a long time (potentially the length of a full story run) to max out the abilities of a job.
There is one exception to the generic jobs being useless, and it’s the Idol. The Idol is a female-exclusive job that is so overwhelmingly useful that the party should have one in the group at all times. The reason for this is due to the Idol’s health and status healing songs, which can affect the whole group. The player only has access to two female party members, and the Idol is vital for surviving some of Yakuza: Like A Dragon’s end game encounters, due to enemies getting multiple attacks per turn. This restricts the player’s options for group composition unless they want to be at a major disadvantage.
One way in which a sequel to Like A Dragon could improve the job system is by taking a mix and match approach, similar to the jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics. Give each character a specific number of active ability and passive slots, in order to incentivize experimentation. This will also cut down on all of the junk commands the player needs to cycle through in every battle.
Yakuza’s Next Game Should Apply Ichiban’s Delusions To The Dungeons
Yakuza: Like A Dragon is set in contemporary times, and the game’s equivalent to dungeons include locations like sewers, warehouses, and secret hideouts. It makes sense for these locations to act as dungeons, but it means that they have a tendency to look bland and use repeated rooms.
One way to fix this problem is to apply Ichiban’s delusions to the dungeons. The turn-based battle system in Like A Dragon is attributed to Ichiban being a huge Dragon Quest fan and seeing everything in video game terms. There’s no reason why these same flights of fancy shouldn’t apply to the dungeons as well.
Players can see a glimpse of this in action at the end of the game, when Ichiban envisions the Millennium Tower as a creepy castle from a JRPG, but it turns into a regular building when he enters. The developers can cement the Like A Dragon/Persona 5 crossover by making the dungeons reminiscent of the Palaces encountered by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Yakuza’s Next Game Should Tone Down Boss Health Bars/Make Fights More Dynamic
The biggest problem with Like A Dragon is the end game grind against Yakuza’s bosses, as they have a ridiculous amount of health and only a few weaknesses. These fights can easily take thirty minutes of repeating the same commands, and they bring the game to a screeching halt. The bosses themselves aren’t that interesting in terms of the abilities, as they mostly just switch between combat styles and perform multiple actions every turn. In short, the later boss encounters in Like A Dragon aren’t very interesting, and they boil down to spamming the same handful of moves over and over again.
Outside of decreasing the gargantuan health bars of the boss encounters in Like A Dragon, the battles could be made more dynamic by using elements from the environment. The ability to pick up items on the battlefield is a woefully underutilized aspect of Like A Dragon‘s battle system, and it could be used to make these lengthy fights more interesting.
Maybe certain moves alter a character’s position on the battlefield, and they need to be able to reach specific points or grab certain items in order to deal damage or weaken an enemy? Anything would be better than spamming Bat Breaker every round.
Yakuza’s Next Game Should Make Eri A Full Party Member & Spotlight Optional Ones Better
Like A Dragon pulls the old Final Fantasy 7 trick of including optional characters. In this case, it’s Eri Kamataki, who needs Ichiban’s help to restore her family’s confectionary business. Eri can only be unlocked by playing Yakuza’s management minigame, and there is no indication that she is intended to be a party member. As such, it’s easy for players to miss her, as the management minigame takes a lot of getting used to, and it’s tempting to just drop it and go back to the main story.
Eri is an incredibly useful party member. She’s one of only two female playable characters, which means she is one of the few party members who can become an Idol. Her unique Clerk class is one of the best in the game, thanks to attacks that lower enemy stats and inflict status effects. Despite this, Eri has no role in the main story of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and she is excluded from all cutscenes even when present in the party. It’s likely that the developers didn’t want to put extra time into a character that players might miss.
Eri is deserving of a role in the story, but more than that, the developers could have signposted her party member role more clearly. There are sections of Like A Dragon where the party only has three members, and her optional presence helps a great deal in keeping the team alive. If a Yakuza: Like A Dragon sequel is in development, then Eri should be part of the story, and the game should give players a heads-up about optional party members.
