Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

The Infinite Wealth was the friends we made along the way. <3 Given what I've read online, I didn't expect to come out of Infinite Wealth loving it as much as I did. At the very least, I didn't expect to like it more than Like a Dragon. In short: + An amazing ensemble of characters, both old and new, that I've come to root for. Dethroned Persona 4 Golden/Revival in that aspect for me. And I say that lovingly, because when the Revival releases next year I'll be just as enthusiastic to play it as I am for this game now. In the first few chapters, I felt antsy because I just wanted the old cast to reunite and be playable for me, but somehow they managed to make me love the new characters just as much, shifting my thoughts from "I can't wait to see Saeko, Nanba, Adachi and Seonhee" to "I can't wait for this entire group to come together". + Two different protagonists and the group being split in two didn't really bother me as much as I thought it would. I enjoyed both Hawaii and Japan and found it quite easy to adjust whenever it was switched up. + Combat variety can be created by applying different jobs to characters. + I love Kiryu! As a person who didn't grow up with Kiryu, playing these two games has really sparked my interest in exploring his character within the previous games before coming back for a 2nd replay. + I love Ichiban! I wouldn't wear that on a t-shirt, but I'm absolutely stoked to see him for a few more games. No idea what RGG has in the pipeline though. + There's enough content to play for at least 100 hours for your first playthrough, but you can definitely do it faster if you so desire. This game is as grindy as you make it out to be. My recommendation: This game is a must-play if you love games with a deep focus on a group of friends (or if you have no friends LOL). Play this game if you need a bit of positivity in your life, if you're feeling bleak and need people on your screen that express a deep belief in the good of humanity and the strength one can gather from relationships. Don't play this game if you hate turn-based combat. - New Game+ is paid DLC. Yuuuuuck!!! - Main story can be a breeze if you grind levels a bit too enthusiastically. For the main missions, I would've preferred (an option to choose) enemies that scale up in level with you, to force you to think a bit more strategically in combat and avoid spamming the same powerful attacks. In any case, at least in NG+ I'll be able to adjust the difficulty and hopefully really get the most out of this game. I *will* make Saeko more useful in combat, dang it. - This is just a minor gripe, but it didn't bother me too much due to the voice acting being very solid, but the facial animations can be a bit stiff at times. For Kiryu I understand, and they've got Ichiban's facial animations on point obviously, but I wouldn't mind if they spent a bit more time animating different emotions during table talks or drink links. Again, it's not a huge deal for me and I'd understand if it's an intentional choice to save budget. The voice acting is more important to me. (I'm new to the Yakuza series, having played Like a Dragon before this game.) Infinite Wealth really establishes Ichiban Kasuga as a protagonist and tests if he stays true to who he is even when being lied to and stabbed in the back. Characters from LaD return, but it also introduces new characters and that ensemble is, in my opinion, where this game truly shines. For the longest time, Persona 4 was my number 1 favorite game when it comes to the group dynamic. I can now officially state that it has been dethroned, even with the Revival coming up. Every character feels like an actual person rather than just a checklist to work through. The mechanics are similar to the previous game, but deepened: for instance by offering a personality bingo card to get to know the friend in question. I love the drink links, table talks and the random talks in the street. Connections even come back in combat and unlock chain attacks and combo attacks, as if the mere power of friendship inspires the characters to fight harder. Obviously, this game isn't perfect and there's some things in the story I wish it handled differently. But overall, I like the main theme of the story. It asks whether people can change, whether they deserve a second chance, whether having unwavering faith in someone is a naïve weakness or a strength. By the time the final scenes started showing, I actually found myself tearing up a little. I spent hours in-game leveling up, thinking about how satisfying it would be to kick [redacted]'s ass and I was counting down the seconds. Then I channeled that energy into being happy to see everyone together again and making plans for the future. Now I'm thinking that I'm sad that it's over, but I'm certain I'll see them again and I can't wait for that to happen. I could honestly write a whole essay about every character in this game and how much I loved getting to know them, but honestly, I've made this review long enough. But since I can't help myself, let me at least tell you that RGG managed to make me care about every. single. playable. character. And the funny part is, they're not perfect! Some of them have done crap that could make me think "take a hike", but you (even you as a player) don't simply give up on people, especially when you have Ichiban to inspire you. After spending 85+ with him, I'm reminded that it's true: some people are worth believing in.

Played through in 76,5 Hours with main story , all side missions and activities done. My god this was incredibly fun. This game is packed with so much content , at times it's hard to decide what to do. You've got a pokemon knock off called sujimon , building up your own 5 star resort , mahjong , shogi , a dating app minigame , karaoke , food delivery etc. etc. It's just soo much stuff and that's without all the sidequests and mainquests. The story is great . Has some plot twists and returning characters from the old yakuza games. It has some drama and over the top humor that's almost anime like. Overall great pacing and storytelling tho. Side quests and activities usually lead to useful items too. Combat is round based but with action prompts to either boost damage or perfect block. Strategy and positioning is key here . items and your team set up with classes also plays a role here. Overall i'd say it's pretty rewarding. Soundtrack is marvelous imho with some banger tunes in bossfights. Graphic wise the game looks decent. Animations and facial animations of the characters are decent. There's also weapon crafting and upgrading like in most RPGs . Materials for upgrading are either earned by simply fighting enemies in the open world or by activities. Overall this has been a blast to play . if I'd have to say something negative , it's probably that there are A LOT of cutscenes and dialogue and some of them are quite long too . It somewhat brings the pacing to a halt at times and in a very few cases is outright annoying. Otherwise this has been an incredibly fun open world rpg. Most definetly recommended

for the time I have played I really like the game but the pacing is really slow they were just trying to extend this as much as they can Dondoko island - walking feels slow and controls are clunky completing it takes literally so much time you could have completed a seperate game in that duration Sujimon battles - its a decent concept with a very good execution, but if you dont have the DLC characters I dont know how much more time it could take, still it was far smaller in comparision. the story is also kinda meh at least till now. I wont spoil much but this is the gist ' you are trying to find a certain someone and the game has been going through 7 CHAPTERS!!!!!!! and I still havenot found that certain someone.' This is some god tier story padding. I am pushing through because I love yakuza, but I dont know how many woould complete the game if this is thier first yakuza game.