The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss the Like a Dragon / Yakuza series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
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I want to like these games so bad. Most of my friends are super into it but it just hasn’t clicked for me. There’s just… Sooooooooo much to do in these games. I get that is the appeal but it burnt me out hard. When 0 turned into a real estate management mini game I ended up calling it quits. I may get back to it eventually but dang. These games are huge despite their smallish maps
I kind of feel that - I think the issue for me is that there’s a lot going on in each of these games that is tangential to the primary gameplay loop that on the surface isn’t obligatory, so if you find it not to your liking you can choose not to engage, but avoiding the secondary activities locks you out of some rewards for the PGL often and severely enough that you do feel obligated to engage to the point you can get these rewards. Especially in the gambling minigames, I often feel relieved when the points you buy end up being the same points you exchange for said rewards because it means I can just engage in the fighting a little more instead of having to gamble.
Case in point, I’m playing Infinite wealth right now and it feels like a big step up from the first Like a Dragon, but I’m still finding myself pulled into the Sujimon quests even though I personally don’t like monster tamer games. I don’t even know what the rewards are but half of the map icons are raids and trainers, so I feel like I should at least be putting time into maintaining a team with the ones I can catch just from grinding out fights for Job XP.
I started with 0 and worked my way chronologically from there (with the remakes for 1 and 2), and 0 is my pick for best if the series. I think the thing to know about the real estate sub-game, and others of its ilk like the host club in the same game (I think), is that they are completely parallel, non-consequential, optional content.
I personally feel that you could go through every single Yakuza game playing only the main story and side stories without missing anything of value. I would frequently force myself to play batting cages or karaoke or dancing because fans talk a lot about that stuff, but there’s really very little there to compel your attention unless you enjoy it. You can totally skip all that.
You could probably also skip the side stories if you just want to follow the main path, but those I do think are more crucial to Yakuza’s experience and identity - the outrageously silly flip side of the coin to the main story’s soap-opera-esque melodrama.
I had similar issues until I gave myself this rule: only do side stories and main story quests. If they require playing a mini game, sure, but only play the minigames as a novelty, don’t try to complete them!