Yakuza (7): Like a Dragon - Gotta Dispatch 'Em All!

[Lorfarius]

6 hours ago, kensei said:

This is my first Yakuza and it's a weird, weird game. However it's weirdest choice appears to be a completely momentum sapping sewer crawl. It's like they wanted to make Persona, but shit.

 

I rushed through that, once you are out you don't have to go back thankfully.

[Kayin Amoh]

Persona, but shit... ah! Persona 5!

[Qazimod]

Persona but shit is more like P2: Eternal Punishment  

 

I agree that the sewer thing is a bizarre diversion though. I didn't mind it that much for grinding battles and finding loot... until I took a wrong exit and ran into the giant Roomba boss way earlier than I was supposed to.  Even so, the later optional activities are generally more fun.

[Benny]

The sewer bit is probably the lowest point in the entire game, as it just goes on and on and you don't have any time saving abilities yet. It never has bits as dull as that afterwards thankfully.

[Kayin Amoh]

Honestly, I think it would have been fine if it wasn't in a sewer. It's just not a very scenic place to batter bad guys - the last dungeon's long enough, but just looks way better to work through.

 

Should have set it at the docks or something so you could look at boats and stare off into the sunset or something.

[kensei]

I think it wasn't helped by the fact I'd just changed classes and that impact my skills and gear so the battles took a bit longer than normal.

 

But it just seemed to never end. The dungeons bits are an okay change of pace but you already get a lot of battles just wandering amount the map. The early shorter ones were much better.

[StephenM]

Hrmph got to the tough battle in chapter 12. 
 

Failed a few times so might bail and level more at the fight club. But wondering whether that’ll be enough - I could do with different jobs/skills. But then levelling those will take an age!

 

[kensei]

2 hours ago, StephenM said:

Hrmph got to the tough battle in chapter 12. 
 

Failed a few times so might bail and level more at the fight club. But wondering whether that’ll be enough - I could do with different jobs/skills. But then levelling those will take an age!

 

 

Just done the exact same. And landed with the wrong set of skills because I was experimenting. It's infuriating.

[Qazimod]

11 hours ago, StephenM said:

Failed a few times so might bail and level more at the fight club. But wondering whether that’ll be enough - I could do with different jobs/skills.

This. Go into the arena and rinse it for rewards. Grind out enough to do all 30 floors, and go back and work on the bonus objectives if possible.

 

Also if you can get hold of a sacrifice stone, it will save a character from a fatal KO, as will the “Peerless Resolve” skill in Ichi’s Hero class.

[carlospie]

Any tips for chapter 9. A boss fight with a 'familiar' person shall we say. (After the bulldozer fight)

 

Im level 25 and they are 27 but they batter me. Iv done all the sidequests I can up to now. I was loving the game up until this part. 

[Steven]

Have you used the sewer to level up a bit? There are two Invested Vagabonds a little past the save point that can rack you some serious XP, the second around 70,000 a pop. If you go down the stairs a little after him, he resets.

 

Getting to number one in the management game also allows you access to a handy skill for Kasuga and funds to buy and upgrade gear at the workshop.

[cassidy]

2 minutes ago, Steven said:

Have you used the sewer to level up a bit? There are two Invested Vagabonds a little past the save point that can rack you some serious XP, the second around 70,000 a pop. If you go down the stairs a little after him, he resets.

Ah those sewers that I run through for 20hrs fighting the same vagabonds for the job xp until I felt ready for the true final dungeon.

 

Good if slightly repetitive times. 

[Steven]

I go into a strange trance-like state when grinding so I don't mind it too much. Weakest aspect of a truly special title, though.

[gossi the dog]

2 hours ago, carlospie said:

Any tips for chapter 9. A boss fight with a 'familiar' person shall we say. (After the bulldozer fight)

 

Im level 25 and they are 27 but they batter me. Iv done all the sidequests I can up to now. I was loving the game up until this part. 

 

I can't remember which fight this. Usual tips are that your character level and job level are cumulative, so if you've been messing around with different jobs equip your highest grade jobs. Other than that, make sure you have as many Pound Mates as possible and get Ichiban to summon one each turn. Dodge to minimise damage.

[KRP]

3 hours ago, Steven said:

I go into a strange trance-like state when grinding so I don't mind it too much. Weakest aspect of a truly special title, though.

Get the podcasts on!

 

Agree it was annoying to have to grind though. Just seems like an absolute relic of gaming. 

[StephenM]

I do have to say that, after finishing the chapter I was struggling with, I’m back in super hard. 
 

For the first time ever, I actually get why the grind - and eventual payoff - is rewarding. Probably helped by having a place to grind that didn’t involve going back hours. 
 

But bashing them up was delightful. 

[cassidy]

54 minutes ago, StephenM said:

I do have to say that, after finishing the chapter I was struggling with, I’m back in super hard. 
 

For the first time ever, I actually get why the grind - and eventual payoff - is rewarding. Probably helped by having a place to grind that didn’t involve going back hours. 
 

But bashing them up was delightful. 

I don't think I had to grind that fight if it's the same one my middle aged mind is recalling. 

 

But lovely to read that. 

 

It's such in my GOTY list to be sure. 

[Steven]

I've just done the bit I think everyone has been talking about in CH 12. I've been pissing about for hours (70 or so) doing all the quests, mini-games , etc so it was clearly a step up but I did it first go (if that was indeed the bit).

[kensei]

Done. I know this game doesn't exactly play it straight but

.

Spoiler

Mirrorface

 

Is such a weird out of place thing.

[Ste Pickford]

I finished this a few weeks back and planned to move on to something else, but it keeps nagging me to keep going.

 

So, I've been mopping up all the achievements and part time hero stuff.  I didn't consider getting the Platinum because I didn't think I'd ever complete the Karting stuff (I really don't enjoy the Karting game), but I sat down with a big mug of coffee on Saturday morning and somehow fluked a win in the final GP (actually got the same points as another racer after the third race, but thankfully the game counted that as a win), then after much cursing and shouting, managed to beat the last racer challenge thanks to the trick of changing the camera angle during the race.

 

That meant I had to go for the True Final dungeon.  Read up a bit and realised I still needed to beef up (everyone was around level 72 when I beat the main game), so I spent sunday in those stupid sewers getting everyone up to 99 / 99, then spent last night making sure everyone had enough levels in other jobs to have a full set of fire / ice / electric attacks available at all times, and buying up every heal and revive item I could carry.  I'm now ready to give it a go...

[cassidy]

10 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

I finished this a few weeks back and planned to move on to something else, but it keeps nagging me to keep going.

 

So, I've been mopping up all the achievements and part time hero stuff.  I didn't consider getting the Platinum because I didn't think I'd ever complete the Karting stuff (I really don't enjoy the Karting game), but I sat down with a big mug of coffee on Saturday morning and somehow fluked a win in the final GP (actually got the same points as another racer after the third race, but thankfully the game counted that as a win), then after much cursing and shouting, managed to beat the last racer challenge thanks to the trick of changing the camera angle during the race.

 

That meant I had to go for the True Final dungeon.  Read up a bit and realised I still needed to beef up (everyone was around level 72 when I beat the main game), so I spent sunday in those stupid sewers getting everyone up to 99 / 99, then spent last night making sure everyone had enough levels in other jobs to have a full set of fire / ice / electric attacks available at all times, and buying up every heal and revive item I could carry.  I'm now ready to give it a go...

Good luck if I can manage it then you certainly can.  Those sewers though takes some time doesn't it. 

[Kayin Amoh]

Just as a heads up, the Legendary Edition is £30 down from £75 on Xbox Live right now - about £1.50 more than the base game. I know you all have at least the core game already, but go harass your Xbox owning friends.

 

You may need a Game Pass / Gold sub to get that price, but hey. Having an Xbox and no Game Pass is a strange thing indeed.

 

(Course, if you have game pass you have access to the game already, and now this post's getting complicated. Short story long - it'll leave game pass at some point and you can get the super edition comparatively cheap right now.

[Ste Pickford]

Woot!

[loathsomeleopard]

Just finished this (regular run, not sure I’ve got the patience for what 100% seems to entail. A very fun ride, hit the same speed bumps that nearly everyone does, though the final tower was done in one hit - I kept expecting to fail somewhere and never did, party at around level 60. Then the, what… 30 minutes+ of end scenes? They felt earned, sort of.. but they just kept on going!

[Lorfarius]

I'm going back into it soon, seems right after finishing the earlier games.

[MardiganX]

Eh hello

 

So I know less than nothing about Yakuza games. I do like and have played a lot of RPGs but the Yakuza stuff has never interested me. With Like a Dragon dropping on PS Plus I'm going to finally see what all the fuss is about but note that this one switches the combat to turn-based and was wondering how do established Yakuza game players feel about this?

[Ste Pickford]

As an RPG fan who didn't get on with Yakuza 0, I suspect you're going to absolutely love Like A Dragon.  I think it's straight up there as one of my favourite JRPGs ever.

 

It's even convinced me to go back and have another crack at 0 when I get the chance, as the game won me over to the whole world and style.

[the_debaser]

I prefer the turn based battles, Sega really nailed the mechanics on their first attempt. 

[the_debaser]

I’d actually like the next Dark Souls game to be turn based battles. 

[Qazimod]

1 hour ago, MardiganX said:

Eh hello

 

So I know less than nothing about Yakuza games. I do like and have played a lot of RPGs but the Yakuza stuff has never interested me. With Like a Dragon dropping on PS Plus I'm going to finally see what all the fuss is about but note that this one switches the combat to turn-based and was wondering how do established Yakuza game players feel about this?

 

It works better than it has any right to, honestly. It still feels surprisingly reactive and dynamic - enemies move and weave around before you pick your action, and there are certain active elements from the surroundings that come into play, like knocking a foe into traffic for extra damage. You're encouraged to act quickly after an attack because of things like bonus damage on knocked-down enemies, and so it doesn't "need" to feel as slow-paced as the change would imply.