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Much more enthusiastic and cheerful than the stoic Kiryu, Ichiban is a clear indicator of great change in the series, and a new audience won’t need to know anything about the lore to get to know him and his friends. Ichiban is an ex-yakuza member by circumstance more than choice, and while he chooses to embrace his new life, he doesn’t regret his old one.
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Like a Dragon is a turn-based RPG featuring a whole new set of protagonists and villains, with the old cast still around on the sidelines.
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There’s plenty of incentive for new players to go through the old Yakuzas, at least to experience what each game has to offer.įortunately, Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes what made the old games great and puts its own spin on it. Speaking of Yakuza minigames, a lot of them and their associated sidequests are still only present in one or two game apiece. These are still present in the new game, but recontextualized to more generic special attacks. In fact, even minigames have Heat Actions. While not all of the games are made equal, their main draw is the contextual Heat Actions that nearly every interactable object, environmental feature, and major enemy has. The Yakuza franchise has spent a very long time iterating on its simple 3D brawler gameplay. RELATED: 2021 Will Be a Good Year for the Yakuza Franchise Yakuza: Kiryu's Story is Good On Its OwnĪnother key point of contention for new players starting at Like a Dragon is that it doesn’t really reflect the series’ usual action-RPG gameplay. 6 ended with Kiryu finally succeeding in his efforts to tie up his loose ends, but many of the characters involved are still alive and a few even show up in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. While these games tend to be fairly self-contained, there has still been an overarching story involving Kiryu distancing himself from his former life of crime and ensuring the safety of his adopted daughter. First and foremost, Yakuza 0 to 6 were primarily about Kiryu and his tight band of friends, family, and rivals.
Games u play as a dragon series#
Kiryu’s adventures have spanned most of the series, and there are a lot of series traditions associated with him. Is it safe for new players to start at such a late game in the series? It’s a fresh start, but it’s difficult to ignore the “ 7” in Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s Japanese title.
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6 definitively ended classic protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s story, and Like a Dragon began Ichiban Kasuga’s. This has never been clearer than the transition from Yakuza 6 to Yakuza 7, or Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Games u play as a dragon full#
With eight main games, two remakes, a spinoff series in Judgement, and a whole host of side games covering every setting from the zombie apocalypse to feudal Japan, it’s certainly had a full life. After 16 years, the Yakuza franchise is still going strong.
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