Yakuza: Like a DRAGON QUEST

The Yakuza series is one of the most famous games in the beatemup genre. This is a franchise I’ve developed a strong fondness of lately, having been chipping away at the first six games in the Yakuza series. Yakuza, known as Ryū ga Gotoku in Japan, Like a Dragon, is the video game equivalent of a crime drama set in Japan, it follows the struggles between different crime families in the game’s Tojo Clan. The gameplay of the series has typically been a brawler/beatemup brought into the realm of 3D with the players taking on dozens of enemies per stage, being able to pick up objects in the environment to use as weapons and even being able to execute special sometimes hilarious finishing moves. Its fast paced, its chaotic, its fun. There’s a reason why Yakuza has quickly become one of Sega’s most popular franchises in its 15 year lifespan.

00:50 - The stories are typically very complex with a lot of characters, politics, new enemies popping up every now and then and more. So far the games have all taken place in the district of Kamurochō, an open city where you can explore, engage in different side quests and play a bunch of fun mini games. These mini games have made the series especially famous. You can play pool, go to the arcade and play Sega Classics, there’s darts, racing, karaoke and just too many things to list. Its overall a good franchise with quite a legacy built up.

01:23 - Now the latest entry in the Yakuza series happens to be coming out in the West very soon. Yakuza Like A Dragon is releasing and it features a new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga in the district of Isezaki Ijincho. This is a really big change as the first six entries in the series starred series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu in the Kamurocho District. Players would see how the same exact city evolved over the course of six games and now we’re completely moving away from all of that with a fresh start, kind of like a soft reboot. The game’s title in Japan is Ryū ga Gotoku 7, which directly translates to Like A Dragon 7.

01:57 - Now in the West, Sega has dropped the 7 from the title and just called it Yakuza Like a Dragon, so this is kind of like a Resident Evil Biohazard kind of move, probably to entice newer players without making them feel like they have to finish Kiryu’s entire story. And its not just the location and title that is changing. Its also the gameplay. You see, Yakuza Like a Dragon is not a beat em up like the first six games. Its a turn based RPG. Like a Dragon Quest. You see, the main character Ichiban Kasuga is a huge Dragon Quest fan in the game’s lore and as a result, he actually perceives fights as being turn based which is crazy. When the game got announced with this kind of plot I had a bunch of people sending me messages telling me that the new protagonist is basically me and its funny.

02:39 - Up until now the series has made references to a fake Dragon Quest knockoff in the Yakuza universe called Arakure, a play on the word Dorakue, however this time around Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and his team actually got permission from Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii to namedrop the series and that is exactly what is happening. So this is a really big change for the series. Action combat to turn based. Now the way I see this is its like the opposite of what usually happens. You see, most turn based game series become action RPGs, to the point where there’s only a few different turn based RPGs still around since they all go action based eventually due to following the trend. This is like the turn based fans saying “hey how do you like it!” Now there’s a vocal minority of people who think this is not a good idea, but really it is.

03:21 - I’ve played the demo, the combat is actually very fun and there’s even a job system like Dragon Quest III where you actually go to… an employment center to literally change your job to different things like a musician, a host, a chef, its funny and a cool feature. Now you see, Yakuza’s combat has never really been the same, every entry in the series has tweaked the combat enough that they all play slightly different to each other and after six entries, you can only punch your way through a hallway full of goons so many times. In a Japanese interview in Famitsu January 2020, translated by @KKristof100 on Twitter, Yuji Horii and Toshihiro Nagoshi were both being interviewed. It is here where Nagoshi sheds light on the changes and connections to Dragon Quest. Turns out Nagoshi is actually a big Dragon Quest fan and looks up to Horii-sensei a lot.

04:07 - He says that “when [he] was in University, Dragon Quest taught [him] what an RPG was. [He] was grinding as much as [he] could.” He also mentions he was a big fan of Horii’s other work, The Portopia Serial Murder Case which he only tried because Horii was attached to it, at the time there were only two famous game “directors”, Yuji Horii and Shigeru Miyamoto and people typically were interested in new games by either of them the same way you’d watch a movie because of a certain director. Nagoshi says that his reasons for the game’s direction is that the main character Ichiban is “an outlaw who likes games and that it would be too vague to just say he likes RPGs without actually naming a game, so they decided to namedrop Dragon Quest with Yuji Horii’s permission as a way to show that he is a simple person. This is why they decided not to go with a franchise like Final Fantasy instead as Nagoshi said that it would not fit. He said that if Yuji Horii had refused to let them use the Dragon Quest name, he would have scrapped Ichiban being a fan of RPGs altogether.

05:01 - Now Yuji Horii was optimistic and immediately let them use the name. At first he thought it would be used for a small part, but it turns out it is much more deeply rooted than that. Horii-sensei said he was surprised that the game changed to a turn based system, but happy as he isn’t that great at action games. Now upon being asked about some people’s opinions that this is a bad change, Nagoshi acknowledged the complaints and said “There were many who opposed at the beginning but changed their minds when they played the game for real. Of course, I know that there are still opinions like “it should be an action game”.

05:32 - But I thought it would be better to challenge some new battle system rather than to investigate the progress of the action thoroughly. Also I was sure about that it would be a new experience to combine the common, accustomed commanding system with the world of Yakuza.” So he knows that some people don’t like the idea, but sees it as a fresh start for the series and I agree. You see, there’s little elements of Dragon Quest in the mainline Yakuza series already. The games are almost like an RPG with random encounters.

05:59 - As Kiryu you typically walk the streets of Kamurocho, running into groups of baddies every now and then, very similar to how you run into monsters in Dragon Quest. Additionally you can purchase weapons, items for healing and there’s skill trees to level up. Yakuza’s side missions are very Dragon Quest esque with the famous casinos from Dragon Quest being brought straight into Yakuza. Even the monster arenas are replicated in Yakuza 0, though instead of monster fights, they’re cat fights where you can bet on a specific woman to win and the lower her chances, the higher the payoff which is exactly the same as Dragon Quest III’s monster arena. Oh man thats great. Additionally Yakuza’s story and characters have a little bit of DQ in their DNA.

06:40 - Despite being basically a criminal, Kiryu is an honorable person who defends the weak, you typically find yourself saving innocents from thugs and doing side quests to help people. Kiryu is actually very heroic and has a lot of qualities of a Dragon Quest character. And from what we’ve seen of Yakuza Like a Dragon, they’re going all the way with their influences. Ichiban said in the trailer that he wants to be a hero just like in his favorite video games so it is very likely that Yakuza Like a Dragon will be full of game references for fans to spot. To close off their interview, Horii and Nagoshi were both asked to give a message to people who want to play Yakuza Like a Dragon.

07:13 - Horii said he was rather engaged to the point that he wants to finish the game to the end and that everyone should play along. Nagoshi ended by saying that “Yakuza Like a Dragon shows respect to all RPGs, especially its highest peak, DQ and with that meaning I used it in the game. It’s a unique game, but you can see the respect that is put inside if you play it. So including those who don’t play RPGs lately may get a new experience from this Yakuza: Like a Dragon, an RPG with a kind of nostalgia but also brand new features!” So Yakuza Like a Dragon looks like a good game for fans of the series looking for something new and newcomers. A lot of people have asked me if you need to play the first six games before this one and from what I can tell, not really, however the game is still about the Tojo clan and I would highly recommend at least playing Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 1 to experience some of Kiryu’s story and have bit of an attachment before jumping into Like a Dragon.

08:05 - Other than that, the game looks cool, I plan on playing it and I think DQ fans should get it too. Ichi is one of us, its the first game I’ve ever seen starring a Dragon Quest fan so I have to get it. Hope you enjoyed the video and I’ll see you next time. .