Oct 13, 2020
Media Outlets Release Initial Impressions For Yakuza: Like A Dragon
It’s weird and (from what I’ve seen) I love it
The Yakuza series is a long action-adventure opera, as chaotic and over the top as they come. A few people were able to play the series’ newest entry, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and get their thoughts out about their experiences with it before it launches alongside the upcoming Xbox Series X|S.
Outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, and Kinda Funny all spent hours exploring the streets of modern-day Yokohama in what seems to be one of the trippiest things we’ll get to experience this year — and remember, it’s 2020. The charming, chaotic energy emanating from this turn-based action game is sure to capture the attention of even the most committed RPG hater. From a karaoke minigame that looks like something straight out of your roommate’s extremely lucid acid trip story, to a character’s ‘Album Drop’ attack wherein they ‘damage an enemy by physically releasing a CD’, it seems like the game’s carefree attitude is enough to shake up what otherwise would be a pretty cookie-cutter JRPG. Even the game’s classes are organized into ‘Jobs’, like Musician, or Cook, which can completely change combat with that character in hilarious and creative ways.
While this level of wackiness is nothing new to veteran of the series, it certainly helps create a wonderful entry point for new players (like me!). Its self-aware humor seems to help break up the notoriously grindy side quests of an RPG. Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller talks about a specific quest where he throws an inconspicuous-looking Crawfish back into the river (it needs to be in water of course), only to hear a nearby man cry out in horror as his beloved ‘Nancy’ is thrown away like trash. You then have to go around town in a guilt-ridden shame looking for poor Nancy.
IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey also had a story:
“In another open-world instance, I intervened to help a new father who was being accosted by the yakuza for his baby formula. That led to me giving him marriage advice, fetching hot water from a nearby cafe, and ending up fighting a group of diaper-clad adult men (yes, more than one) with baby fetishes…only to end up with all of us becoming friends.”
*record scratch* It’s weird but I vibe with it.
In terms of running on next-gen hardware the game comes with a High Resolution Mode that runs 4k video at a consistent 30fps, and High Frame Rate Mode which presents a good visual experience at 60fps (all according to reports). Most agreed the game’s zippy load times and entertaining gameplay were the highlights of their next-gen experiences with Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
SOURCES.
Kinda Funny Games — First Impressions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC-QAzkC7Ro)
