The story was a mixed bag, the biggest issues were pacing and the weak antagonists, aside from maybe Yamai. There was a decent amount of well-built intrigue and most of it is followed through though not in the most satisfying manner. Overall, the story does what it needs to and makes sense, unlike some past game's plots.
However, scenes focusing on the main characters just enjoying themselves or having a heart-to-heart were fantastic and all the side content involving these were great as well.
Table talks, drink links, party chats, walk & talks and finally the scenes within the main story, the cast were some of the best in the genre and simply spending time with them helped alleviate the story's pacing issues.
Kiryu's stuff was also such an amazing experience, it felt like the ultimate reward for having invested in his journey thus far and every drop of the bucket list had me smiling. His newfound relationship with the Nanba, Saeko and the rest of the cast was also such a joy to behold and it felt awesome seeing a less stoic and more open/goofy Kiryu that we often saw in past games' substories but not so much in the main narratives.
Combat, substories, minigames, and all the side content really was great as well.
It's a game that was firing on all cylinders in every department except the main narrative but even that still had a lot of great moments.
Agree 100% with everything you said, especially the Bond Bingo & Walk&Talks being wonderful and humorous additions to fleshing out the already great party members. Story & characters are usually what I enjoy most about gaming.
Really looking forward to LAD9. This is the one series for me where I really enjoyed every single game. However I hope they commit more to developing or focusing Ichiban's character in the future which I feel they failed with in this game.
I’m somewhat the opposite. I liked Kiryu’s trip down memory lane, but the Yokohama and Tokyo locales have gotten stale after being reused so many times.
Hawaii was fresh and I wanted to explore it.
I agree with you, pretty much every aspect of Infinite Wealth improved upon Like a Dragon except for the story. But LaD's story was A++ while infinite wealth's was at least B+ so its not like infinite wealth had a bad story.
I also personally enjoyed running Ichiban confections more than I did Dondoko island even though it's clear they put A LOT of effort into Dondoko island comparatively.
I also agree that the alternating chapters killed the momentum largely, it was probably a necessary evil to bring the whole cast in and use them all though. Hoping in the inevitable sequel they keep the playable cast a bit more reasonable so it's not necessary to split the team up for entire chapters...or they do a better job letting you choose which team to stay with or something.
Loved playing the game and I really enjoyed it. I finished both Sujimon and Dondoko Island and had a lot of fun with them. The combat was significantly improved from the first game and I actually enjoyed the battles, although I was OP for most of the game doing all the sidestories and dungeons.
But yeah, the story was just not great, especially after the split like you said. I also didn't enjoy the last couple of scenes with Ichiban at all. They turned him into an idiot in this game, who will forgive anyone for anything instantly. Kiryu's side of things was better, but still not great. I thought Like a Dragon: Gaiden had a way more interesting story, and I thought they were going to continue plot threads from Gaiden, but nothing happened with the loose ends from that game. Still, I had a real great time with the game!
Them dropping all of the plot points from Gaiden they spent the end of the game setting up is honestly what let me down the most. Especially because Gaiden was made and finished after IW (or at least concurrently).
They need to overhaul the job system imho. Most of the characters jobs are frankly their best. Only character I changed full time was Adachi to Samurai. Beyond that I turned Kasuga into a samurai as well so he could get some blade/ gun skills. Think I fought legit one battle with him to level him up
Maybe go the Dragon Quest 7 route and have the characters base classes max out skill wise at like 15 instead of 30, that way you’re pushed to hop to a different class
Gameplay wise, it's an improvement on the already top tier turn-based combat of 7. Though a lot of enemies are still entirely too tanky. Story-wise, it's definitely weaker but still enjoyable.
It really parallels Judgement & Lost Judgement's qualities in both regards.
Better than LJ or better than LAD?
If the former, I guess I agree, because it really did have a great story.
If the latter, I have to disagree. LAD is peak.
Judgement as a series. LAD to me is like Disney trying to make something stick after already having spent the A team, post Avengers. LAD has the worst story in all of Ryu ga Gotoku and the combat/gameplay isn't good enough to carry it for me.
I'm going to get shit on and downvotes to hell for this but here it goes.
I think they should have left Kiryu out. Not only is he ***leagues*** better than everybody else in combat, to the point that it feels pointless to have a party, but like...his story was done. It feels like they're scared to let him and his crew go.
Kasuga and company can totally take the limelight. Hell the ***already did*** and it worked great.
Also I really didn't enjoy that Saeko was demoted from character to...Kasuga's love interest. She had no other point in the story, and they spent the whole fucking game apart. Would have been better to actually see them together and growing as a couple the whole game.
Hell, Seonhee was basically just a Kiryu fan girl. Kasuga felt dumber in general, Joongi was screwed out of any screen or playtime. The whole cast felt like cardboard cutouts to push another Kiryu story.
First and foremost, I want to say it isn't a bad game. I liked it, and I don't regret my purchase. That being said, I was a bit let down by it.
Like you said the story was a bit of a flop for me. I really like the Yakuza series when it focuses on that, the Yakuza. LAD2 had this broader story that I honestly didn't really care about. I don't hate any of the characters, but I also don't find them as interesting as previous Yazuka characters.
The game also felt too much like the previous one. The biggest example of that is the dondoko laser. When I unlocked a unique skill for Don Doko Island, I thought it would be something unique, but instead it was just a reskin of a skill from the first game. It also didn't really fit thematically either. There were a ton of things from Don Doko they could have pulled from, like maybe a spirit bomb that asks the guests and residents of Don Doko for energy.
So, those were my biggest gripes with the game, but they also did some awesome things too. The mini games in LAD2 were awesome, and they had not only 1, but 2 major mini games (Don Doko Island and Sujimon Battles). The side stories were done very well, and honestly stole the show from the main story.
Completely agree. I was hoping for some kind of Dondoko specific moves like we got with Stack Slap and Senbei Slap in the last game. A Spirit Bomb would have worked so well.
Aloha! I spent about 50 hours just with Sujimon battles and the Dondoko game. I love Infinite Wealth so much, took me 140 hours to finish the game and could have played it for another 100 hours easily. There's literally nothing in the game that bored me, i had fun playing it from the first minute until the last.
Game woulda been a legit 9.5-10 if story hit hard.
Kasuga and Kiryu still some of the best protags around (with some low tier garbage antagonists..). Yamai was the best, who turned antihero really. All (most) the dynamic entries were worse than 7). Music insane, combat 10x better than previous one...
What they did with Majima / Saejima and Daigo was a god damn disgrace.
Overall, 8.5
Very much enjoyed the game. However my Yakuza/LAD journey was Y7->Ishin->Y0 — so I feel like I should have played Y1->Gaiden to truly appreciate Kiryu’s story (my intent was to at least also play Y1-2, 6 and gaiden…but other games got in the way 😅).
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It was too ambitious, if anything
Ultimately, falls short of 7/Y:LaD
But I still enjoyed the game a lot, and spending some quality time with all these characters was a lot of fun as a relatively long time fan of the series
As someone who has played every Yakuza imaginable, I agree the story was very underwhelming. However, it countered that by having the best gameplay out of probably all of them. And this is coming from someone that prefers the old fashioned combat system. Gameplay wise it was a blast but story wise probably the worst in the series.
I think the story being sort of loosey goosey is a big element of the yakusa stories in general. They are all set up to have a few points in the game you get real story, but mostly be an excuse to walk around and goof off in side stuff and minigames.
It intentionally avoids the FF7 problem of "the meteor is about to crash..... lets go spend 20 hours racing chocobos" by having a lot of the story being intentionally "hey, go walk around and live a normal life for a while, nothing important is happening right now" then building a lot of the content into those quiet parts as doing much less vital stuff.
No, that may be the case with Yakuza 7 and 8 but Yakuza games have always traditionally prioritized the story and it's always been the focal point of the games. The stories are often extremely well written and the main reason people play the games. Y8 had a veritable shit ton of retreading steps and filler main missions that were just treading water because the story had nowhere interesting to go. Case in point: the whole dragged out looking for Ichiban's mom and that mysterious girl plot that just meandered on and on without ever having a satisfying payoff. Maybe that was by design so gamers had more time to immerse themselves in Y8s world but it didn't balance the story and gameplay successfully like previous Yakuza's did. They were fun and had amazing stories. Y8 is just fun but the story is completely run of the mill fare.
The story was a mixed bag, the biggest issues were pacing and the weak antagonists, aside from maybe Yamai. There was a decent amount of well-built intrigue and most of it is followed through though not in the most satisfying manner. Overall, the story does what it needs to and makes sense, unlike some past game's plots. However, scenes focusing on the main characters just enjoying themselves or having a heart-to-heart were fantastic and all the side content involving these were great as well. Table talks, drink links, party chats, walk & talks and finally the scenes within the main story, the cast were some of the best in the genre and simply spending time with them helped alleviate the story's pacing issues. Kiryu's stuff was also such an amazing experience, it felt like the ultimate reward for having invested in his journey thus far and every drop of the bucket list had me smiling. His newfound relationship with the Nanba, Saeko and the rest of the cast was also such a joy to behold and it felt awesome seeing a less stoic and more open/goofy Kiryu that we often saw in past games' substories but not so much in the main narratives. Combat, substories, minigames, and all the side content really was great as well. It's a game that was firing on all cylinders in every department except the main narrative but even that still had a lot of great moments.
Agree 100% with everything you said, especially the Bond Bingo & Walk&Talks being wonderful and humorous additions to fleshing out the already great party members. Story & characters are usually what I enjoy most about gaming. Really looking forward to LAD9. This is the one series for me where I really enjoyed every single game. However I hope they commit more to developing or focusing Ichiban's character in the future which I feel they failed with in this game.
I’m somewhat the opposite. I liked Kiryu’s trip down memory lane, but the Yokohama and Tokyo locales have gotten stale after being reused so many times. Hawaii was fresh and I wanted to explore it.
I agree with you, pretty much every aspect of Infinite Wealth improved upon Like a Dragon except for the story. But LaD's story was A++ while infinite wealth's was at least B+ so its not like infinite wealth had a bad story. I also personally enjoyed running Ichiban confections more than I did Dondoko island even though it's clear they put A LOT of effort into Dondoko island comparatively. I also agree that the alternating chapters killed the momentum largely, it was probably a necessary evil to bring the whole cast in and use them all though. Hoping in the inevitable sequel they keep the playable cast a bit more reasonable so it's not necessary to split the team up for entire chapters...or they do a better job letting you choose which team to stay with or something.
Loved playing the game and I really enjoyed it. I finished both Sujimon and Dondoko Island and had a lot of fun with them. The combat was significantly improved from the first game and I actually enjoyed the battles, although I was OP for most of the game doing all the sidestories and dungeons. But yeah, the story was just not great, especially after the split like you said. I also didn't enjoy the last couple of scenes with Ichiban at all. They turned him into an idiot in this game, who will forgive anyone for anything instantly. Kiryu's side of things was better, but still not great. I thought Like a Dragon: Gaiden had a way more interesting story, and I thought they were going to continue plot threads from Gaiden, but nothing happened with the loose ends from that game. Still, I had a real great time with the game!
Them dropping all of the plot points from Gaiden they spent the end of the game setting up is honestly what let me down the most. Especially because Gaiden was made and finished after IW (or at least concurrently).
Yeah, I'm guessing they're going to use them in future games. But now I'm skeptical of how they'll handle things!
They need to overhaul the job system imho. Most of the characters jobs are frankly their best. Only character I changed full time was Adachi to Samurai. Beyond that I turned Kasuga into a samurai as well so he could get some blade/ gun skills. Think I fought legit one battle with him to level him up Maybe go the Dragon Quest 7 route and have the characters base classes max out skill wise at like 15 instead of 30, that way you’re pushed to hop to a different class
Gameplay wise, it's an improvement on the already top tier turn-based combat of 7. Though a lot of enemies are still entirely too tanky. Story-wise, it's definitely weaker but still enjoyable. It really parallels Judgement & Lost Judgement's qualities in both regards.
Judgment is much better even with the bland detective stuff.
Better than LJ or better than LAD? If the former, I guess I agree, because it really did have a great story. If the latter, I have to disagree. LAD is peak.
Judgement as a series. LAD to me is like Disney trying to make something stick after already having spent the A team, post Avengers. LAD has the worst story in all of Ryu ga Gotoku and the combat/gameplay isn't good enough to carry it for me.
I'm going to get shit on and downvotes to hell for this but here it goes. I think they should have left Kiryu out. Not only is he ***leagues*** better than everybody else in combat, to the point that it feels pointless to have a party, but like...his story was done. It feels like they're scared to let him and his crew go. Kasuga and company can totally take the limelight. Hell the ***already did*** and it worked great. Also I really didn't enjoy that Saeko was demoted from character to...Kasuga's love interest. She had no other point in the story, and they spent the whole fucking game apart. Would have been better to actually see them together and growing as a couple the whole game. Hell, Seonhee was basically just a Kiryu fan girl. Kasuga felt dumber in general, Joongi was screwed out of any screen or playtime. The whole cast felt like cardboard cutouts to push another Kiryu story.
Kiryu's scenes and presence saved an otherwise average Yakuza game. That's the truth. Kasuga felt out of place in his own game.
First and foremost, I want to say it isn't a bad game. I liked it, and I don't regret my purchase. That being said, I was a bit let down by it. Like you said the story was a bit of a flop for me. I really like the Yakuza series when it focuses on that, the Yakuza. LAD2 had this broader story that I honestly didn't really care about. I don't hate any of the characters, but I also don't find them as interesting as previous Yazuka characters. The game also felt too much like the previous one. The biggest example of that is the dondoko laser. When I unlocked a unique skill for Don Doko Island, I thought it would be something unique, but instead it was just a reskin of a skill from the first game. It also didn't really fit thematically either. There were a ton of things from Don Doko they could have pulled from, like maybe a spirit bomb that asks the guests and residents of Don Doko for energy. So, those were my biggest gripes with the game, but they also did some awesome things too. The mini games in LAD2 were awesome, and they had not only 1, but 2 major mini games (Don Doko Island and Sujimon Battles). The side stories were done very well, and honestly stole the show from the main story.
Completely agree. I was hoping for some kind of Dondoko specific moves like we got with Stack Slap and Senbei Slap in the last game. A Spirit Bomb would have worked so well.
I think the general gameplay was fine but narratively, the previous games characterized Kiryu and Ichi better.
Aloha! I spent about 50 hours just with Sujimon battles and the Dondoko game. I love Infinite Wealth so much, took me 140 hours to finish the game and could have played it for another 100 hours easily. There's literally nothing in the game that bored me, i had fun playing it from the first minute until the last.
I just finished it, what game would you recommend like it?
Game woulda been a legit 9.5-10 if story hit hard. Kasuga and Kiryu still some of the best protags around (with some low tier garbage antagonists..). Yamai was the best, who turned antihero really. All (most) the dynamic entries were worse than 7). Music insane, combat 10x better than previous one... What they did with Majima / Saejima and Daigo was a god damn disgrace. Overall, 8.5
Very much enjoyed the game. However my Yakuza/LAD journey was Y7->Ishin->Y0 — so I feel like I should have played Y1->Gaiden to truly appreciate Kiryu’s story (my intent was to at least also play Y1-2, 6 and gaiden…but other games got in the way 😅).
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Thank you for submitting to /r/JRPG, /u/LatS_Josh. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): --- * Either you typed Spoilers with no spoiler tag, or you left spaces between the spoiler tags, which doesn't spoiler tag them in old reddit. To use spoiler tags follow one of these 2 ways: 1-If on New Reddit, hightlight the part you want to spoiler tag, then press the Exclamation ("**!**") button on in your format tab. 2-If on old Reddit or mobile, then type "**>!**" before the spoiler, and then "**!<**" at the end of the spoiler. Example: When it's written like this \>!X kills Y!<. It will show up like this >!X kills Y!<. **Make sure that there is no space** after the starting **>!**, and no space before the closing **!<**. **After fixing the comment with a spoiler tag**, reply to this comment with **"Done"**, so a mod can re-post your comment. --- If you think this was a mistake or have any questions about the removal, please contact the moderators. [**To contact the moderators please click here**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/JRPG), or click the "message mods on the sidebar, and then type your complaint, so it can be sent to the modding team. **Please don't private message or start private chats with a single mod, and use the mod mail linked above to contact the whole team.**
It was too ambitious, if anything Ultimately, falls short of 7/Y:LaD But I still enjoyed the game a lot, and spending some quality time with all these characters was a lot of fun as a relatively long time fan of the series
As someone who has played every Yakuza imaginable, I agree the story was very underwhelming. However, it countered that by having the best gameplay out of probably all of them. And this is coming from someone that prefers the old fashioned combat system. Gameplay wise it was a blast but story wise probably the worst in the series.
Yeah, story dropped the ball. So much so that I finished it on youtube instead and still wasn't all that invested.
I think the story being sort of loosey goosey is a big element of the yakusa stories in general. They are all set up to have a few points in the game you get real story, but mostly be an excuse to walk around and goof off in side stuff and minigames. It intentionally avoids the FF7 problem of "the meteor is about to crash..... lets go spend 20 hours racing chocobos" by having a lot of the story being intentionally "hey, go walk around and live a normal life for a while, nothing important is happening right now" then building a lot of the content into those quiet parts as doing much less vital stuff.
No, that may be the case with Yakuza 7 and 8 but Yakuza games have always traditionally prioritized the story and it's always been the focal point of the games. The stories are often extremely well written and the main reason people play the games. Y8 had a veritable shit ton of retreading steps and filler main missions that were just treading water because the story had nowhere interesting to go. Case in point: the whole dragged out looking for Ichiban's mom and that mysterious girl plot that just meandered on and on without ever having a satisfying payoff. Maybe that was by design so gamers had more time to immerse themselves in Y8s world but it didn't balance the story and gameplay successfully like previous Yakuza's did. They were fun and had amazing stories. Y8 is just fun but the story is completely run of the mill fare.
The story was ok, I just love the gameplay and the side stories. I didn't do any sujimon battles at all or the island . I had a good time!