The most refreshing JRPG
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a turn-based RPG in Hawaii
- Critic score
- 89
- Player rating
- 4.7/5
- Main story
- 57 h
- Genre
- JRPG, Adventure, Action
The Yakuza series left real-time brawling for turn-based combat, and left Japan for Honolulu. The result is one of the largest JRPGs in the catalog.
Two heroes meet: Ichiban Kasuga, the absurdly optimistic newer protagonist, and Kazuma Kiryu, the series' historic figure. The adventure spans both sides of the Pacific, between Japan and Hawaii — an unprecedented change of scenery for a series that had never really left its Tokyo and Osaka districts.
The most important change concerns combat. Where the series ran on real-time street fighting, this entry, like the previous one, works turn by turn with classes, skills and elemental weaknesses. That choice, initially presented as an in-joke — the hero is a Dragon Quest fan who imagines his street fights as an RPG — turned out to be a very good system.
What has not changed is the tonal gap, the series' signature. The main plot is an adult crime drama with betrayals and scenes of dry violence. Alongside it, you manage an island, collect creatures, take a licence exam, sing karaoke and play a dating game. The two registers coexist without transition, and that is intentional.
The volume of side content is considerable, to the point that some players spend more time there than in the story. It is not generic filler: most of these activities are complete minigames with progression of their own.
Expect around sixty hours for the main thread, and without exaggeration double that if you take your time. It plays fine without knowing the earlier entries, though many reunions will pass you by.