Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review - The Final Verdict

[Music] don't underestimate with yakaza like a dragon some years ago rgg studios's long-running crime drama action franchise was reborn as a turn-based RPG it was a symbiotic relationship in fact Yakuza like a dragon felt as energized by the switch to RPG trappings as the well trodden RPG genre felt revitalized by like a dragon spins and takes on long-standing genre tropes and conventions combined with an incredible new protagonist a compelling story a great new setting and location as well as the series regular charm and sincerity and Yakuza like a dragon was a hit the biggest one in the franchise's history so far so it's no wonder that the followup like a dragon infinite wealth I'm really not going to get into the minor nomenclature tragedy that has been the Yakuza like a dragon Series in the West in this review but doubles down on Yakuza like a dragon in every way possible infinite wealth is more of everything that was beloved about the previous game we get more of the protagonist Ichibon we get to see him starting from scratch with a whole new ragtag group all over again we once more switch locations this time to Hawaii you have the return of similarly goofy characters and surprisingly poignant and heartwarming side quests the turn-based battles return the RPG systems and mechanics like the job system return the social Sim elements return even mini games like the legally distinct Pokemon K sujiman returns and it's been expanded even more this time around you get the requisite improvements to a lot of the shortcomings of the previous game including some mechanical and quality of life improvements to how battles work better integration of the social and combat systems improvements to how things like bonds and relationships work and better incentives for engaging with the job systems including tying them in better with the social Sim side of things overall there are a lot of improvements big and small that you'd expect to go along with the new helpings of all the things that you may have loved from the first game as well so yes infinite wealth is a concentrated new dose of the winning formula that made Yakuza like a dragon tick so well for so many but it actually is two stories it's the continuation of the story of Ichiban kasuga The Lovable dork who inherited the mantle of series protagonist in Yakuza like a dragon and instantly won the hearts of longtime fans and newcomers alike and it's also the conclusion to the story of kmak kiru the iconic legendary protagonist of the Yakuza franchise for the bulk of the franchise who is now nearing the end of his very very long very storied career in more ways than one getting into details about infinite wealth's plot would not only be inadvisable due to the potential for massive spoilers it would also be missing the point like with all games in the series it starts out as a relatively smaller scale in stakes and motivations but soon escalates and spirals into being a much broader conspiracy involving multiple legal and extra-legal individuals and organizations with conflicting interests and you're smack dab in the middle of it all through this all there are actually a fair few contrivances in the story that it takes to get to where it wants to be and to be fair this is true of the franchise as a whole you can't really point to any story in the series that doesn't require the player to buy into leaps of logic for their narratives to work but it does feel more noticeable in infinite wealth because it happens more often with larger more critical plot points and often stands in sharp ju deposition to how generally well- written the rest of the game seems to be but as I said focusing on the details is really missing the point the Yakuza games have never really been concerned with having logic ically consistent or even coherent plots more than anything they rely on their thumbing and their character payoffs and that's what gives these stories the resonance that they have with so many people and infinite wealth much like its predecessor and even last year's like a dragon giden the man who erased his name is a Masterwork at delivering on emotional characters and the Thematic payoffs the story here leads to some fantastic incredibly charged moments for both of its protagonists and whether you're a newcomer who just got on the ride with ichiban's first Adventure or a longtime veteran who has been following ciru from his greenhorn days there will be some great tearjerker moments long in the making that will togg at the heartstrings much like all the best games in the series infinite wealth has a legendary great final act at least in terms of emotional payoffs and that alone can compensate for a lot of the lapses in storytelling elsewhere unlike the story however the new location has no caveats attached to it and is an out andout win Hawaii was an inspired choice for a new map while this isn't the first Seaside SL coastal location the franchise has had it is certainly the biggest the most realized and the most fleshed out the map here is gigantic definitely the largest map in the series and it's packed with a unique aesthetic and distinct character all of its own that instantly sets its Sunny locals apart from the Japanese Urban neighborhoods the franchise has been largely confined to in the past infinite wealth authentically recreates Hawaii's architecture and streets and layouts and Wildlife and Shrubbery albeit with a tourist's wanderous eye and it's great just walking around the map taking in the ambience of course being in Hawaii does lead to some hilarity where everyone Ichibon encounters magically and conveniently knows and understands Japanese while they themselves only seem to know English which does lead to some Ludo narrative dissonance particularly when the game itself makes ichiban's an ability to communicate with the locals a plot Point early on but again no point focusing on the details naturally given the size of the map simply walking across can be dauntingly timec consuming and thankfully rgg Studios have included multiple fun ways of conveyance from a fun segue to zip around town end to street cars or trolleys that you can get on to travel to predetermined routes Segways give you more control over exactly where you want to get of course and still leave you open to random battles on the other hand troles not only give you a potential better look at town but can also lead to unique convers ations and bonding moments with your party members when you're riding with them apart from also including some mini games unique to them including a great Pokémon Snap style photography title the map is filled with all sorts of content too it's packed to the brim with random battles Collectibles and treasures fun conversations and party chatter to increase your bonds with your party members a lot of mini gamess and also a lot of side quests almost every single one of them as High Caliber as the series is usually known for meaning in simple terms that they rank as some of the best side quests in any game period infinite wealth also benefits from a much stronger cast of primary and playable characters than the previous game while like a dragon had some great characters ichon whom I have already gushed over numerous times in this review was a standout but Rio Aoki the villain is a sharply compelling character as is ichiban's Mentor arakawa on the whole the cast fell flat not only did most of the playable characters not feel too well integrated into the main story with her often being only the flimsiest explanation for why they were even tagging along with an excon homeless bum to begin with their own stories themselves weren't too great the characters felt boring a lot of the time though some such as Yao were more interesting than the others infinite wealth does this better the characters are all better integrated into the main plotline their individual arcs and conflicts feel better and more interesting this time around though of course some are better than others as you would expect there are a lot more character characters this time around leading to some really fun interactions in banter and there are some improvements in how they've been written versus in the previous games as well there do remain some perplexing residual choices in how the party members are handled from the previous game however in the previous game for example whenever Ichibon gets into a side quest or a miname the party members would just not be there they weren't in any of the cut scenes and they wouldn't even be acknowledged the side quests were written only with Ichibon in mind with some exceptions at the time this was easy enough to rationalize like a dragon famously made the switch to a party based RPG very late in development and it was fairly simple to understand why party members weren't better integrated into the side quests as a result but infinite wealth has no such problems it was designed as a party based RPG from the beginning with full awareness of that in mind and yet it still continues to completely ignore party members in side quest except for a few ones which acknowledge the ones that can be used in the quest story at this point it's clear that this is a conscious decision that rgg Studios has made to handle the party and side quest this way rather than it being born out of any time or resource limitation and that's fine it's not really an issue particularly because as I mentioned the side quests are independently great and the party members are independently far better done this time around but it is a curious choice that contributes to that sense of lud narrative dissonance I mentioned earlier at least initially until you make your peace with it improvements made elsewhere are a lot more thorough and consistent battles as mentioned have seen a huge glow up with more quality of life features the ability to better move and line up your attacks more collaboration between party members in the form of follow-up attacks and special tag team attacks an easy grinding method built in with an auto battle feature for lower leveled enemies and trash mobs and jobs and abilities that are just a whole lot more interesting this time around battles also tie into EG B social stats and Social Links with other characters a lot better this time around for example the closer you get to a party member the more they help out with a followup and team up attacks in battle and the more your social stats are leveled up the more effective certain corresponding abilities in battle can be infinite wealth is a staggeringly massive game it's so big that in the entire time I've been talking about it there are entire major systems and features I haven't even alluded to let alone come close to actually getting into for example other than the full-fledged Pokémon Snap and Pokémon battling mini games that I previously mentioned being built into Infinite wealth there is also a full-fledged Crazy Taxi inspired food delivery miname and an alarmingly full-featured and frighteningly addictive to the point that it could have been its own independent release Animal Crossing mini game one in which it's really easy to literally lose dozens of hours in all while ignoring the urgency of the main storyline the game also just does a much better job of incentivizing you actually engaging with all of the mini games activi systems and tasks that it comes packed with more so than most of the previous games in the series you get better rewards you can unlock more party moments there's easier ways to make money in the game otherwise stingy economy they lead to some great party banter and bonding moments and they also sometimes simply serve to reinforce the game setting there's just a whole lot going on in infinite wealth it comes with an absurd amount of side activities and a ton of them really could stand to be their own Standalone releases should rgt Studios have that desire infinite wealth is the first Mainline game in the series to get a simultaneous worldwide release though not the First lost judgment like a dragon Ean and like a dragon guide in The Men Who erased his name I'll beat it to the punch this is obviously great news for a franchise that once not only saw International releases belated by multiple years but at one point was running the risk of not getting Global releases at all however it has led to some very small errors in localization for example I often ran into subtitles missing punctuation or maybe entire work birds or having some fairly noticeable typo on the whole this happens very infrequently and in a game of this size it represents such a minuscule fraction of the overall hole that it's really hard to hold this against it but it is something to keep in mind the bigger controversy with the localization involves the dub in general the voice performances in infinite wealth are incredibly high quality in Japanese and in English once more this is right in line with like a dragon so it should come as a surprise to No One however there is one exception the main character kiru voiced by y yaa is the obvious weak link compared to how Stellar the rest of the English cast performances are it isn't great and Y has obvious inexperience with voice performances compared to the rest of the cast does come through but it's fine it's not bad the issue however is that the voice is entirely mismatched with the character of kiru himself kiru as a character has a very distinct voice even if you've never heard him speak before you instantly have an idea of what he should sound like with one look at him y's voice simply just doesn't fit it's a jarring issue that I think players who choose to play in English will have to spend some time coming to terms with thankfully the Japanese voice track has no such issues other than the foibles with localization however infinite wealth feels surprisingly polished and high budget especially for the series given how big it is and given how much there is in it and how different and flushed out at all is you would naturally expect Jank or polishing at least the ancillary activities and even assume that this is acceptable that is after all how things are in most other games with varied content and side activities but it all feels thoroughly polished and wellmade here inspite of how deep and how different it all tends to get the higher budget also shows in a generally higher standard of production and storytelling compared to previous games which only helps the aformentioned strong emotional beats land that much better like a dragon infinite wealth represents in many ways the culmination of rgg Studio's entire Journey as a developer so far it embodies all of their various strengths polished and developed to their logical Zenith while it also represents their best attempt at addressing most of their traditional weaknesses problems do remain including a lot of unnecessary and unforced errors and there's always the chance that a lot of what worked with previous games don't really hit as strongly this time around without the benefit of the novelty at least for returning players but those uncontrollable intangibles aside this is an incredible game definitely rgg studios's most ambitious title yet and an incredible entry to the series Canon it does an excellent job of setting up Ichibon for the next chapter in the franchise's stored history while closing the book on kmak kiru's Long trist with the Japanese Underworld for all of the various smaller missteps this game makes fans and newcomers alike are going to find an incredibly compelling incredibly fulfilling and Incredibly well-made game that represent some of the best work put forth by this developer this franchise and this genre in general hey did you know that we at gamingbolt upload new videos every day stick around drop a like subscribe and hit that Bell and let us know what kind of content you'd like to 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Id: rr9bvLtgxAc

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2024