Since there is no way I’ll finish this game any time soon, this post is to offer some early thoughts. I am currently in the middle of Chapter 4, with maybe 10 hours or so of playtime.
Combat is Better (But Still Could Use Some Work)
I fell off Yakuza: Like a Dragon almost entirely because of the battle system. While I was very open to Yakuza switching to turn based combat (I do think the standard combat can get a little too button-mashy), I just didn’t think Like a Dragon executed it very well. While it had a bit of the patented Yakuza absurdity, it was overall a very standard turn based system, with almost nothing to make it stand out. To top it off, I felt like I was constantly getting thrown into fights, and I kind of needed to be, as the difficulty required a fair bit of grinding. Grinding plus an uninspiring battle system is never a great mix.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio went to work for their second attempt at this turn based system, and while they didn’t overhaul things, they made a fair amount of small tweaks that add up to massive improvements. The biggest change is the ability to move around and position yourself before attacking. This allows you to actually use area of effect attacks in more impactful ways, as it was very difficult to think about enemy positioning when you had no control over your own character in the first game.
The game also adds in more adjustments, like allowing you to hit enemies into an ally, who then can deal a bonus attack on the enemy. The new movement also makes it much easier to use the environment to your advantage by using a random chair that is on the battlefield as a weapon, for example. Basically, all this adds up to a combat system with more strategy, but also a system that captures way more of the chaos and pro-wrestling shenanigans of the series than the first game did.
I still do wish some things were better. This has the standard old-school JRPG system, where I never want to use skills unless I am in a tough battle because I don’t want to use up my MP, as MP recovery items cost money that I can use on weapons. You are seeing more games avoid this kind of mechanic because skills tend to be the most fun thing in a JRPG to use, so why limit the player on them?
Skills are also tough to use because enemies still randomly move around the battlefield, which can constantly screw up whatever strategy you are planning. If enemies are grouped together, it takes a second to hit your skill button and scroll through 6-7 spells to get to what you want. By that time, they have often moved. If you are patient, you can sit around and wait for your enemies to go back to a more favorable position, but that is way too time-consuming and boring for me.
Either way, I’m very pleased with the changes they’ve made, and I feel much more confident that I won’t get tired of this game because of it, and that’s huge, because most of the appeal of the Yakuza series comes from the story and the minigames anyway.
It’s a Slow Start (But That’s OK)
Infinite Wealth takes a while to get going. Prepare yourself for some extended intros for pretty much all of the characters, some long conversations that don’t always seem directly tied to the plot, and pretty long set ups to any of the new side quests the game has.
That may sound like a criticism, but honestly, I don’t consider it a bad thing at all. As I said before, I didn’t finish the first game in the series and only got myself up to a speed with a 20-minute Youtube video. Despite this, I don’t really feel like I’m missing anything starting this game somewhat fresh. For those like me, where the details of the last game are hazy, or for those who didn’t play it at all, the work they do makes this totally function as a standalone experience, which is important.
After finishing Chapter 3, I realized that there were at least three characters that I desperately wanted to beat down with Ichiban. That right there is great setup work, and with this developer, you just know all of it is going to pay off wonderfully in the end.
I do wish some of the setups for the minigames weren’t quite so long and elaborate. I don’t think I need 4 minutes of dialogue before a mini game where you deliver food to people on a bike and do tricks, but maybe that is just me. In the end, that is my one small nitpick about the opening chapters’ pacing.
Best Yakuza Series Minigames Ever?
I’m making this statement even though I still haven’t even unlocked Dodonko Island yet, the games own standalone Animal Crossing minigame. But early on, I am absolutely wowed with some of the new minigames RGG has thrown in here.
The early highlight is Sujimon. Yakuza: Like a Dragon had Sujimon, which really just served as an enemy codex of sorts in some Pokémon packaging. This time around, you can actually capture Sujimon and battle them against other trainers. I have been stunned by the amount of depth that is in this minigame. There are tons of Sujimon to catch, they have different types and attacks, and you can level them up and evolve them. Best of all, the actual combat is legitimately more compelling than standard Pokémon gameplay. With 3 on 3 battles, where types and positioning of your Sujimon matter, there is a fair bit more depth than you would expect. I’m not far into this, but anytime I run across a fellow Sujimon trainer, I am super excited to fight them.
I’ve also played the Crazy Taxi inspired delivery game which is solid fun. There is a dating mini game that I think is the best designed of any in series history (it is absolutely ridiculous and hilarious), and there are a lot of returning minigames that I am looking forward to jumping back into as well.
And once again, I’m not even to the highlight of the show yet, which is the Animal Crossing minigame. If that one lives up to the hype, I’d say Sujimon and that alone are enough to mean this is the best collection of minigames in series history, and that is high praise for a series that prides itself on minigames.
Keep an eye on this page for a review in the coming weeks, and perhaps some other thoughts on this game if there is anything I want to address sooner than that. Thanks for reading!
Big Nerd Gaming 
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