Like a Dragon Gaiden: Thank You Kazuma Kiryu
Ryu Ga Gotoku's flagship franchise continues on its emblazoned warpath through the current landscape of gaming, faithful to a unique approach at telling the story of organized crime in contemporary Japan. What I expect in entering a Yakuza/Like a Dragon is an excellently penned multi-faceted tale of deceit and treachery written with as many twists and turns as a late stage Shin Megami Tensei dungeon coupled with some of the most frustrating combat on the market. Lo and behold, I got that with The Man Who Erased His Name. Is this expectation fair? I think so, did it alter my enjoyment of the game? Not really?
Like a Dragon Gaiden (I'll just call it LADG) serves as a storytelling tool to explain the location and whereabouts of the famed Dragon of Dojima between The Song of Life (Yakuza 6) and Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7,) a game in which Kiryu is effectively non-present. Given the results of the ending of the sixth installment, he dons a fake name and skips town under the alias Joryu. My run-through of the first few chapters of LADG left me with a few qualms, mostly because it felt like I was getting the typical Yakuza formula of breadcrumbing plot in the introductory sequences under the guise of aimless action. You're tasked with taking on miscellaneous jobs and helping around several locations that don't immediately feel like they are transitioning the plot and location of Kiryu from one game to the next like this title is intended to do. Before the Yakuza magic picked up and I was able to identify where the plot was going in relevance to Yakuza 7, I felt like I was too engrossed in the menial and irrelevant for my liking.
The ship rights itself eventually but the second and third chapters largely were a waste of runtime in my humble opinion. There's a section within one of these chapters (nursing a headache so I have forgotten which exactly,) in which you have to help the woman who is assisting you in pointing you in the right direction on your mission. For intel and a safe roof over your head, she requires Kiryu to assist her in building up her network of mostly homeless informants (reminiscent of the Florist and other informant types in the previous entries.) To do this you must assist the denizens of Sotenbori with various tasks that range from getting things out of trees to taking photos of clowns. This isn't bad on paper but the required Akame Points (Akame being the woman you are assisting) to hit rank 10 of the arbitrary story-gated ranking system took wayyy too long and greatly inflated my run time. Unless I was doing something very wrong, which is very possible, I was not a fan of the time dedicated to sprinting all over Osaka to buy people food at various Poppo Mart's just to hope that I would soon be able to move on with the story. I get the importance of helping out in terms of the narrative, but it ran its course and greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the game.
The combat sucks, that’s it, that's the verse.
I had my score of this game a notch lower as a result of the above, but in typical RGG/LAD/Yakuza fashion, LADG resolves itself in an incredible way, tying in the closing sequences of Yakuza 7 and a look into the Dragon of Dojima's immediate future with the franchise. I won't divulge spoilers per usual, but I found myself doing my hardest to hide the waterworks as we at long last have seen Kiryu at his most vulnerable emotionally. Years and years of his life (and our lives as the audience) plays out on a small screen in his hands, leaving him to watch as he learns how the world has moved both with him and around him. For a man who has made a career out of his stubborn valor, it was great as a spectator to get to see him stripped apart at his most relatable and human.
I would absolutely recommend this title to anyone who is a fan of the Like a Dragon franchise. It's a great way to wrap up story of Kazuma Kiryu as our primary protagonist, and a very strong glimpse at what RGG has in store.
Ryu Ga Gotoku's flagship franchise continues on its emblazoned warpath through the current landscape of gaming, faithful to a unique approach at telling the story of organized crime in contemporary Japan. What I expect in entering a Yakuza/Like a Dragon is an excellently penned multi-faceted tale of deceit and treachery written with as many twists and turns as a late stage Shin Megami Tensei dungeon coupled with some of the most frustrating combat on the market. Lo and behold, I got that with The Man Who Erased His Name. Is this expectation fair? I think so, did it alter my enjoyment of the game? Not really?
Like a Dragon Gaiden (I'll just call it LADG) serves as a storytelling tool to explain the location and whereabouts of the famed Dragon of Dojima between The Song of Life (Yakuza 6) and Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7,) a game in which Kiryu is effectively non-present. Given the results of the ending of the sixth installment, he dons a fake name and skips town under the alias Joryu. My run-through of the first few chapters of LADG left me with a few qualms, mostly because it felt like I was getting the typical Yakuza formula of breadcrumbing plot in the introductory sequences under the guise of aimless action. You're tasked with taking on miscellaneous jobs and helping around several locations that don't immediately feel like they are transitioning the plot and location of Kiryu from one game to the next like this title is intended to do. Before the Yakuza magic picked up and I was able to identify where the plot was going in relevance to Yakuza 7, I felt like I was too engrossed in the menial and irrelevant for my liking.
The ship rights itself eventually but the second and third chapters largely were a waste of runtime in my humble opinion. There's a section within one of these chapters (nursing a headache so I have forgotten which exactly,) in which you have to help the woman who is assisting you in pointing you in the right direction on your mission. For intel and a safe roof over your head, she requires Kiryu to assist her in building up her network of mostly homeless informants (reminiscent of the Florist and other informant types in the previous entries.) To do this you must assist the denizens of Sotenbori with various tasks that range from getting things out of trees to taking photos of clowns. This isn't bad on paper but the required Akame Points (Akame being the woman you are assisting) to hit rank 10 of the arbitrary story-gated ranking system took wayyy too long and greatly inflated my run time. Unless I was doing something very wrong, which is very possible, I was not a fan of the time dedicated to sprinting all over Osaka to buy people food at various Poppo Mart's just to hope that I would soon be able to move on with the story. I get the importance of helping out in terms of the narrative, but it ran its course and greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the game.
The combat sucks, that’s it, that's the verse.
I had my score of this game a notch lower as a result of the above, but in typical RGG/LAD/Yakuza fashion, LADG resolves itself in an incredible way, tying in the closing sequences of Yakuza 7 and a look into the Dragon of Dojima's immediate future with the franchise. I won't divulge spoilers per usual, but I found myself doing my hardest to hide the waterworks as we at long last have seen Kiryu at his most vulnerable emotionally. Years and years of his life (and our lives as the audience) plays out on a small screen in his hands, leaving him to watch as he learns how the world has moved both with him and around him. For a man who has made a career out of his stubborn valor, it was great as a spectator to get to see him stripped apart at his most relatable and human.
I would absolutely recommend this title to anyone who is a fan of the Like a Dragon franchise. It's a great way to wrap up story of Kazuma Kiryu as our primary protagonist, and a very strong glimpse at what RGG has in store.