I finished Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth last night. It's not as good as the Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, but it would have been very tough to top that game. In the end I had everyone in between levels 50 and 53. At the final dungeon Ichiban was a Hero with some Samurai skills, Kiryu was the Dragon with Host skills, Namba was a Homeless Guy with Chef and Host skills, Adachi was a Samurai with Detective skills, Eric was a Desperado with Cabbie skills, Zhao was a Gangster, Joongi was a Hitman, Chitose was a Housekeeper with Heiress skills, Saeko was a Bar Maid with Night Queen and Idol skills, and Seonhee (best girl!) was a Kunoichi with Assassin skills. All the male characters dipped a level into Samurai for the Fire Arrow skill and I think Pyromancer for the first level cheap area of effect healing skill with the BBQ animation. I'm a sucker for job systems in jRPGs.
+ I actually enjoyed Kiryu being in the party with Ichiban's crew more than I thought I would. He still takes a lot of the limelight away from Ichiban, as I had feared he would, but on the other hand I was really surprised by how much Kiryu and Ichiban seem to compliment each other in scenes and in dialogue. Also, Kiryu figures out that Ichiban is not that dumb and naive and that Ichiban acts ignorant to throw his opponents off. He has a few great scenes of dialogue when he calls that out.
+ The new jobs were great. I especially liked Desperado for the look of the outfit and skills available to the class.
+ The great part of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was seeing through the eyes of Ichiban and thinking "man, Japan has a ton of weirdos." Now I play this game and think "man, the US is full of weirdos".
My favorite generic American villain is the fat dude with the pizza shields and super-sized soda clubs.
+ I had the game set for Japanese voices and English subtitles. It's fucking hilarious when the Japanese voice actors try to speak the American language during the voice over scenes with American villains. Unintentionally funny.
+ I came to like Chitose as a character. I wasn't sure about her because of how her actions negatively affect Ichiban, but when you find out her full story you realize she's just a young kid that's made mistakes and is scared. Ichiban helps her grow a spine.
+ The ending of the game hit me in the feels. The central theme rested on the idea that you need to keep fighting even when the cause seems lost and that there is always a chance for redemption and fixing what is broken... as long as you don't take the easy route and give up.
+ This game made it clear that the insanity of a certain one-eyed character is just an act, in case you hadn't figured that out before.
+ The dating game was a fun distraction. I finally got a date and found out it was with a chicken. The humor in this game still mixes well with the dramatic elements. The side quests are fun, but not as fun as in the previous game.
+ Kiryu's super power is his ability to go into three different types of rage mode. Ichiban's super power is his ability to make friends. As one redditer put it, once Ichiban thinks you are his friend you will never be able to convince him otherwise. Your attempts at murder, arson, and theft are just exhausting yourself and delaying the inevitable.
+ Yamai was a great villain, and the leader of the barracudas was pretty memorable.
- However the two final big bads were as forgettable as the two final bosses in Like a Dragon: Gaiden. I hope the next game breaks this trend.
- I thought Eri had more chemistry with Ichiban in the last game than Saeko, and I also felt that Chitose and Ichiban had more chemistry in this game. In fact I completely forgot the romance subplot with Saeko in Yakuza 7. The writers have seemed to have painted themselves into a corner since even in their own story they make it clear that Chitose and Ichiban just aren't a good match for one another's personality. Unfortunately I think we are going to see further Ichiban/Saeko drama from here on out.
- Don't tease me with a possible return of Sayama into Kiryu's orbit and then pull the rug out... jerks.
- I miss fake Mario Kart.
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Now back to playing through Troubleshooter and Pathfinder: WotR while I await the release of Dragon's Dogma 2.
