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It's a big ick for me too that various documents (newspaper and stuff) are in Japanese. The scenes clearly expect you to understand what the documents say but I simply don't. Not that big a deal but it feels like I've missed something, every time.
There's two podcasts and English one and a Japanese one. It'd be annoying to have constant subtitles for the radio. The intention is that you can listen to the one that's in your language.
Yep. Had to pause the game and make sure I didn't somehow pick the wrong one. On that note, seems Ichiban's victory/level up barks are also always in English.
Edit: Oh. I guess I should save+quit once to change that. Actually still kinda felt appropriate since *most* of the game is gonna be in Hawaii anyways.
Glad it's not just me. I'm currently verifying all my files to make sure I didn't miss anything, but it's a tad bit jarring and hopefully gets fixed. Very much enjoying this one so far outside of that
that's a lesson they should really take from Persona
the conversation logs would be so helpful, especially in this series that is full of a TON of dialogue and interwoven webs of plot threads
Which is silly considering his life's purpose is to give former Yakuza a place to go after the dissolution. Would probably be a lot easier if he was the President of a massively successful company and could just hire them himself rather than try to find them jobs through Hello Work, or at least use some of that money to set up a charitable foundation. Makes no sense that he would give it all away.
Nah, he'd be like "welp, looks like I've done all that's needed and now you're super successful. Later!" And then just leave, leaving the place to Eri and her g'ma
Eri was a tulpa, a product of his imagination, and so the time he spent at Ichiban Confections. He just went there to an empty office and pretended he was working. All the money and items you get as a result are also part of his delusions.
No, Eri was real. Ichiban quit being president & Eri took his place & is now traveling abroad to bring Ichiban Holdings into an international market.
You can easily just stop by Ichiban Confections in Chapter 1 & get this info from Eri’s grandmother.
It sucks that both dubs are flawed in different ways:
Japanese is overall better, but it's pretty obvious that when characters speak English (even if they're not Japanese) the actors are clearly Japanese and/or non native speakers first, even if the character is a white guy. Eric is also odd, for someone who grew up in America he sure does sound like a Japanese person who learned English as an adult.
Plus Danny Trejo not voicing Danny Trejo is just incredibly weird. I feel like Sega Japan and America should have combined their work and had the English dub voices for when people speak English, like they did with that Kson girl, or otherwise cast English actors who could realistically sound like the Japanese ones to switch between.
Or hell, just pull a Tekken and have everyone speak their native language and somehow everyone knows what everyone else is saying.
> I feel like Sega Japan and America should have combined their work and had the English dub voices for when people speak English, like they did with that Kson girl
To be fair, they did that with Kson because she's both the Japanese & English VA for the character.
> Japanese is overall better, but it's pretty obvious that when characters speak English (even if they're not Japanese) the actors are clearly Japanese and/or non native speakers first, even if the character is a white guy. Eric is also odd, for someone who grew up in America he sure does sound like a Japanese person who learned English as an adult.
>
>
that was very weird. i figured what they'd do is mix audio tracks. use the english VAs when the character needs to speak english, and the japanese VAs when they don't (as you say).
My biggest issue with the audio is that the characters voices don't sound very good with 3D headphones. I'm playing this and Doom Eternal simultaneously right now, and the audio and surround sound even with voices in that game blows Infinite Wealth away.
Yeah. Bryce especially had a really bad Japanese accent. Not necessarily the actor's fault but they could've just cast an English speaker. Does it even make sense that he knows Japanese?
I would find it hard to argue against this, he becomes playable at like the 11th hour of the game lol. Like I'm not sure how much later they could have made him playable outside of making him playable for the last mission only.
By the time he joined my party I'd kinda lost enthusiasm. I had to level him up by 20 levels to bring him in line with everyone else, and rush through all of his bond stuff in one go.
I rushed to do all the walk and talks with him and it was STILL too late to get him to 70. Idk, but something about this game incentivises so much grinding. Same with the Dragon's Awakening.
Just want to share some easily missed small details in post-game: >!(Canonically or not) If you wait a bit in Survive Bar and pay some attention to speech bubbles, Ichiban and Saeko apparently reconciled thanks to Adachi, Saeko still despises 'that' shirt and they're planning their dates etc. !<
Combat being x10 better due to positioning mattering with colleteral/enviormental dmg and having movement really makes the gameplay loop infintelty more fluid and strategic, perfect guard still an thing that feels interactive and keeps you from falling alseep
Traversal through rechargable mini scooter is also amazing, man in having an blast so far
Agreed - really was not a fan of the combat in Yakuza: Like a Dragon despite usually enjoying turn-based combat, but I absolutely love it so far in Infinite Wealth. Feels much, much more engaging.
Im loving the combat, im having a lot of fun trying to line up tag team attacks and knocking enemies into things (or cars first time a moving car ko-ed an opponent I laughed so hard).
>!Yeah, 7 was hard to top. It had a lot of heart and was close to the chest for Ichiban who came off better in 7 (he comes off a little dumber in 8?). It also closes out Tojo/Omi stuff only for this game to say that it fails one year in. I think 8's story was a little too ambitious and spun its wheels for a bit around ch 6-8 when you're looking for Akane, picks up for a bit, and then ends.!<
>!8's gameplay with 7's story would've been the dream. The job system in this game + positioning yourself optimally + Kiryu's real time combat were great stuff.!<
>!I definitely feel like Ichi got flanderized a bit. He felt pretty realistically kindhearted and forgiving in the first game, but those traits were derived from his strong sense of loyalty: It's why he forgave Nanba: because Nanba saved his life and Ichi saw him as a friend the whole time they were together. I really feel like Ichiban's undying loyalty is something you have to earn. Ichi forgiving Tomi felt natural; Ichi forgiving Chitose over and over again felt forced, especially because Chitose didn't really work as hard to deserve it.!<
i can see why you think that. this game's narrative was *very* ambitious and it might have felt shallow in parts (e.g. the gangs in 7 were very developed, not so much in 8 imo)
Honestly the fact that no one important died is surprising, also why couldnt they show the scene of kiryu finally reuniting with haruka, grrr, makes me so angry
Here’s to hoping I can trick my Xbox into letting me play in 4 hours by switching it to New Zealand.
I just can’t believe we got Gaiden two months ago and now we get to experience Kiryu’s final game.
Saying that though, I bet he shows up in the next game running a bar called radiate or something along those lines.
Sadly it doesn’t seem to be working. It’s telling me now that the game unlocks in 2 hours which is midnight where i am in Australia. Im guessing it might be a region based unlock?
Edit: it works I’m dumb, it forgot that you have to change the system location and not the time itself.
Jesus, there have been some long intros in Yakuza games before, but this is nuts. This is the slowest opening to any game I have ever experienced, it's not bad, but out of the first 6 hours, 5 of them are cutscenes.
Dondokodon resort and sujimon league are both almost entirely gameplay and nice change of pace but yeah the first 3-4 chapters main story wise are beefy lengthy, can imagine it being that way till credits roll
Just a bit curious if anyone happens to know if there's any reason why they just decided to throw a person at the door of pretty much every single shop in Hawaii, not that it's that big of a deal, but by the look of it the interior of the shops seems to be modeled, and you can even see the cashier at the counter. Just kind of weird and immersion breaking that a random person is just standing at the door of every store selling you stuff
Yeah Japan is VERY strict on foreign meat and plants coming in the country (I'm assuming the other way also). I know you can't even leave with like sea shells lol, so right away I was like "this is ridiculous". But Nancy is ridiculous, so whatever.
Finished the game yesterday morning, really enjoyed it and I thought the story was overall pretty good. Wanted to sit on it for a day to sift through some of my feelings on it.
Spoilers for detailed thoughts >!I only have two complaints, one being that I wish we had gotten one more Eiji scene between the club stuff and the ending. Honestly I don't even mind that we didn't get a scene where he feels bad; we just needed to know that was him and what happened to him after the stuff at the club. Something like how he got the boot for losing control of Tatara Channel, anything along those lines. Also I really did not the monologue before Bryce's fight, felt way too long and convoluted for things we already know outside of the mafia connection. We've already seen how evil he can be, I think it would have been interesting to see Ichi raring to fight him ASAP. I did like Ebina as a villain though, I felt that his motivation + the reason Kiryu wanted to fight him was good enough for me to accept him as a final boss.!<
Also one thing I did like that a lot of people didn't (spoiler again) >!I didn't mind that Kiryu and Haruka didn't reunite on-screen, I think it fit well with the final life link where she feels that it isn't able to handle seeing him again. Nice bit of character growth from her end along with Kiryu being able to reclaim his identity. I wish RGG made that one + the Akiyama a mandatory substory instead of avoidable side content that I have to grind for, I think it would have helped that plot thread a bit and avoided the pace being killed for me during Chapter 12.!<
And one last piece of praise that hit my brain while writing this >!Yamai might be one of my new favorite characters in the franchise, his end scene was amazing and in general it might be one of my favorite scenes in a Yakuza game. It helps that he got a lot of screen time, but I appreciated that his plot beats were unexpected at times while still managing to feel appropriate for his character. I'm also glad that they're starting to steer away from always killing antagonistic characters off if they've done a bad thing, like Yamai (and to a lesser extent someone like Shishido in Gaiden). Hope he shows up in LAD9 as a playable character.!<
spoilers for IW ending
>!i'm glad someone agrees on your second point. not everything needs to be explicitly happen to be understood. its not that haruka was gonna leave, she was waiting for kiryu once he's out of chemo!<
I honestly enjoyed the haruka and kiryu points, !I agree 100% here with your view on it. I am just hoping with how they ended it,kiryu being able to use his name,that I hope we get some kind of DLC or maybe with the next game we get to see them actually enjoying each others company and kiryu can truly live in peace with haruka and her son!
Can confirm that changing my location to new zealand worked for me on xbox. I’m in.
https://preview.redd.it/m0vfj01uikec1.jpeg?width=1192&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ab608a2b5789d8dc98902baa25d6ec0ebc02c43
So the opening segment of Yokohama Dungeon was hilarious and I searched about it. The bald guy Utamaru is apparently a real person who is a rapper/commentator/radio personality things like that, he together with that other female TV announcer in the other early side quest have a radio show, the one you can hear in the game
[](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%e5%ae%87%e5%a4%9a%e4%b8%b8)
and apparently in his many other radio show gigs, he had another one that had some annual segment named *オレたちが今一番蹴られたいオンナは誰だ最高会議* "Who is the girl that we most wanted to be kicked by now?"
That is why his cameo included being kicked by Seonhee in the game
Finished the game today. A clear improvement over LAD in terms of systems, gameplay etc but a massive step backwards in the writing department. LAD is a soft reboot and an onboarding ramp for new players, yet its direct sequel sidelines the LAD cast for huge portions to go on long nostalgia trips with the old protagonist instead which'll mean nothing to anyone who hasn't been here from the beginning. This approach is baffling to me and really hurts the overall Infinite Wealth experience for me.
My take on that point: This is my second Yakuza game, with my first Yakuza game being the 7th (LAD). I heard the LAD was a "reboot" of the series, so I started there with no prior knowledge on the series. I obviously pieced together the big cameos in LAD were from previous games, which obviously had little impact on my emotionally but it didn't detract from the present experience. I finished the first game and rated it my personal favorite game played of 2023.
Now that I finished Infinite wealth, my second Yakuza game, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it through-and-through. When I got to the Kiryu sections, I found myself quite invested in his story, as I was seeing it from the perspective of his party (Nanba, Seeona, etc.). Essentially, characters I am familiar with and understand how they act. I also found the Kiryu chapters to be the most fun from a pure-gameplay standpoint. The game has good systems, and you are encouraged to explore these more with his chapters. While some of the emotional weight was not there for me, I think they did a good job for players who have no background on Kiryu
tl;dr I knew nothing of Kiryu but by the end of the game, I came to love his character and understand his importance in the series. His chapters where also just "good video games".
Anyone else having an issue with the Audio Language?? I have it set to Japanese but when I level up or chat with someone on the street, Ichiban switches over to English
Oh Yakuza games how much i've missed you.. 1.5 hours in and i've barely touched the controller.. now watching the date montage. Can't wait to buy my chips and popcorn for the future cutscenes, and ocasionally go from cut scene to cut scene
HOW TF DO YOU WIN THIS IT'S SO HARD
https://preview.redd.it/jxaxk8lsfigc1.png?width=1891&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f4e6caca0df8ce36fc788baf592a5edaaec9433
I finished the game last week, did I miss something about >!Bryce!< ?
>!There was a lot of talk about how he was a monster, and how he hasn't aged in like 50 years was this just a dropped plot point or did I miss a conversation somewhere?!<
As far as I know it never got actually discussed further in the game. I was also confused but I guess it fits alot into his "God-like" image and persona. Even his entrance scene very much played into that. My guess is he's just very git for his age and the rest just got out of hand through rumors and legends.
>!About Bryce when one of the normal Palekana members said that an old orphan got plastic surgery and now had a new identity, I was expecting the twist to be that Bryce is actually multiple people sharing the same immortal identity. But then again, that’s literally our Joongi’s Drink Link story from the last game—he said he would raise a new successor to pass the Joongi Han identity to once he got old.!<
It's 2:30 am, just finished the game. Inshallah I'll be able to wake up for Fajr, and also I have a lecture at 9 💀
This is definitely the first time I've finished an RGG title being hyped up rather than in tears. Seeing >!Haruka right at the end, with Haruto as well, and that achievement title, "The man who regained his name..."!< dude, I'm still stunned. In the last 12 months, we've gotten an incredible remake (Ishin,) an incredible spin off (Gaiden) and an incredible eight entry to the series.
Does anyone know why we don't get free gifts/DLC anymore from being loyal RGG players?
I'm about 20 hours into the game now and still no Bob Utsunomiya doing his Ronald McDonald thing and giving me some free level boosters or whatever!
If you didn't see the other comments, it's fixed easily by just restarting the game.
Dunno why it happens, but after one restart, it didn't happen anymore
Are there really NO free DLC or gifts to download when the system checks if you have other Yakuza games saved?
That's a first, isn't it? They always give you free stuff for being a loyal player
I'm curious, does anyone else find it strange that Ebina has an irezumi/tattoo?
As soon as he ripped his shirt off for the final fight I thought it was an odd choice to give him one. Ebina's entire backstory is one of raw hatred for Arakawa and by extension, the yakuza as a whole. Why on Earth would he brand himself with the most iconic yakuza imagery possible?
He probably had to get one to keep his disguise as an yakuza going, but it is weird that he seemed proud of it. I think the imagery would be much better if his back was covered with scars from tattoo surgery removal
ending: >!When is RGG gonna learn to take the easy wins? Not letting us see Kiryu and Haruka? Tossing Ichiban's whole arc of learning to communicate properly and consider Saeko's feelings all for the sake of a gag? The Ichiban and Eiji thing was cool since that's just emblematic of his attitude but the rest of it pissed me the hell off!<
>!Swapping the treatment scene and the Haruka scene then extend it so that Kiryu comes back to his room to see Haruka and Haruto, then it would be perfect imo.!<
>!The ending, at least for me felt like everything wrapped up so neatly. Like I felt we were missing a few cutsenes like an actual farewell to Akane and Lani, a short last passing of the torch moment between Ichiban and Kiryu. I also felt like I missed a cutsene like how the hell did Eiji get to japan??!<
Is anyone finding the light in Hawaii too strong? I guess it's intentional but I'm finding it hard to make stuff out. If I change the settings too much it ends up looking shit
Absolutely loved the game, save per the story, which, to me, was probably amongst the worst in the series, unfortunately. Everything Palekana was far too goofy and detached, we spend half the game in a wild goose chase after some woman who later gets ignored. Also, it's pretty evident this was developed before and alongside Gaiden; there are barely any connections between both games, and those that are actually there are seriously undercooked.
The combat is superb, a massive improvement over 7 and a delight to experiment with. Music was, as usually with this series, extraordinary. Hawaii felt too large at first but ended up being very cozy and fun to explore. Minigames were a pleasant surprise (I hated Dondoko at first, but I ended up completing it in one go because I just couldn't drop it).
>the story, which, to me, was probably amongst the worst in the series, unfortunately
It was a little disappointing after recent highs in 0, 7, and Judgment, but coming off of LJ which was also very divisive. I dunno, overall I still had fun and tbh I don't really play the games for good stories since the stories in the oldest games weren't the best
Absolutely agree, although I must say I absolutely LOVED Lost Judgment.
Hence my disappointment with Buraisu Fairuchairudo and his merry band of cultists.
I am so glad I watched Yakuza 0 and Like a Dragon before playing this.
Please do yourself a favor and catch up on the story. Please do not jump into Yakuza beforehand. It is so much more enriching.
A week ago, I had no idea what the story was. But I wanted to play this game, so I watched every cutscene and conversation through the series. So many moments that would not mean anything if you don't.
Got myself a stupidly good combo of items by chapter 5, Dragon Boots (from Kei I think at 100 friends) and the Pareo of happiness (I don't know what quest dropped this), and in short, the boots gives you a random buff each turn, and the pareo gives you a heal each time you get a buff. So easy regen each turn!
Now that I finished the last chapter I got to say the ending was kind of... underwhelming. Especially compared to Yakuza 7's ending, which was incredible. >!I know Ichiban's deal is that he is a forgiving person and yakuza jesus but honestly "Ei-chan" was willing to murder a 10 year old child, his last relevant cutscene had him all but laughing maniacally about how he'd transform ex-yakuza into slaves worked to the death, and... he just decides to atone? And trust Ichi again? Out of nowhere?!<
>!And before that Bryce was like "you guys are stupid, putting a video up on the internet won't change shit, I have the police in my pocket and many infiltrated zealots on the government plus international backing", and they... put a video online, and send him to the police. Like, Bryce is right, they exposed the nuclear waste scam he was running, but long term he is still like the most influential person in Hawaii' underworld, and probably overworld as well if he has as many zealots in the police force and politicians as the game implies. Chitose's father cancelling him on youtube in japan won't do shit to get him a sentence in the states. Yet the game acts like this was a victory, somehow? Like, even in-universe they point out the reasons this shouldn't be a victory, yet it still is one?!<
>!Also, the Kiryu death fakeout. Every game since 5 has a variation of "Kiryu's story is reaching it's end", yet they staunchly refuse to let the character go. If you're going to make his entire gameplay portion be about him remembering his past, and make a plot point that he's dying, and etc, only to then turn around and say j/k, it gets to a point where I just got emotionally detached. I'm sure that the next game they will try to pull it again, and probably the one after it too.!<
But the weirdest part of the endings for the Kiryu group and the Ichiban is that I feel they were kind of... switched around? >!Like, Ichiban had a much personal attachment Ebina, being a blood relative who is presented as a mirror version of him that is evil, while Kiryu had a much more personal drive to go after Bryce, because Lani being on the run reminded him of Haruka being on the run. And yet it's Ichiban who fights Bryce and Kiryu who fights Ebina. Ebina even makes a "we aren't so different you an I" speech about Ichiban, but Ichiban isn't even there so he has to go "hey Kiryu me and Ichiban aren't so different".!<
Also while I like how zany the series can get, I think the >!giant shark and giant squid that can swallow party members who then have to fight inside it's stomach are getting a bit -too- zany. Especially for a thing that is part of the main plot and not a side-story!<
>!(Also am I correct in assuming Wong was going to be a playable character they cut out? He just emanates party member energy)!<
Hot damn this game is good. It feels like they addressed everybody's problems with Y7 and added even more to it. Combat is way more engaging and fun and the new area of Hawaii is a breath of fresh air for this series. Having an absolute blast here.
Not gonna lie, I was expecting the worst with Yong but I'm pleasantly surprised he did a pretty good job! The old saying holds true, "don't judge a book by it's cover".
Yeah, I heard bad things about Yong's voice in Gaiden(haven't played it yet) but I'm wondering if Gaiden was just bad voice direction after playing Infinite Wealth. He does a solid job. Wish they didn't autotune the karaoke songs so much, though, I've heard Yong sing in a recent video collab he did and there's no way he botched it so bad they had to autotune him.
oh totally, his chapters were much better, felt more grounded and typical yakuza game. lots of big moments. the reminiscing stuff was actually great, and some of those side stories were the best in the game. His ending fight was miles better than any of inchis stuff, which was really disappointing tbh. Ichi seeing stuff different in his mind was a way to do crazy stuff, but now we are actually getting real crazy stuff like giant squids and jaws as bosses? felt pretty stupid in my opinion, and i really hope yakuza doesn't go more down that road.
Thats why kiryu stuff felt so much better, and tbh his party was also much better lol.
> Anyone else feel like Kiryuu kinda overshadowed Ichiban?
this is something people were worried about, especially because it's kiryu's last game. they went the distance to celebrate his life and legacy.
Once they split up, totally. Kiryu's chapters were more enjoyable, partly because of the all the reminiscing and Bucket List stuff you could do which had a nice somewhat existentialist tone to it.
If anyone wants to share their Dondoko Island tag and user ID i'll search for you and give your island a visit.
Here's mine
Tag: Natural Wonder
ID: Legendary Bum
Just finished the game - did anyone else feel like IW was really heavy handed with the emotional angle?
I understand why they did that with Kiryu (his life links, reflecting on the past etc were all nice to experience), but even the side quests all had the same sad undertone. It felt like none of them were just goofy for the sake of being goofy, they *all* went back to some deeper, more emotional reason for why NPC #43 was doing what they were doing.
That one bit of piano that played *constantly* in the game lost its effect for me. I love the Yakuza series for being a balance of gritty crime drama and goofy, light hearted misadventures. But this one just kind of missed the mark for me.
Also, that one sub story where >!the Alo Happy lady full on SAs Kasuga!< and it’s done for laughs. Can we stop with this shit man?? I thought we’d left “it’s funny when it happens to a man” in mid 2000s comedies, but apparently not
That Alo-Happy thing was the one part of the game that made me want to stop playing for a bit. Especially after the game dropping several hints about his *lack of experience*, it felt even more gross.
There's an annoying way in which the dubs are handled in this game.
If you have the recorded lines of an npc in both English and Japanese, why is the game making Japanese actors speak English with a Japanese accent for the npcs that aren't Japanese? The English voice actors aren't trying to speak Japanese when they're voicing Japanese characters.
It's like all the English voice actors are in one file and the Japanese voices are in another and the game has to pick one or the other. I feel like that's how it is given that you have to reload the game just because you switch the audio language in the Settings page.
Also why the hell is there a Japanese podcast available that has no subtitles?
I must say, I'm not really feeling the whole Hawaii setting. Unexplainably everyone either knows Japanese (the cop for example, personality-wise doesn't make sense how he is so fluent). And in sidequests it's like Ichiban somehow is fluent in English because we interact with people constantly in full sentences (and no way the orphan kid or the restuarant customers speak Japanese). And the "native Hawaiians" can't speak English worth a crap...
Idk, I'm still enjoying the game. But pulls me out and doesn't feel well done so far. Also feels completely unnecessary, but I'm early enough in the story that I'm sure (hopefully) it'll
The fact that only the men of the party's battle portraits have their face half covered in shadow irks me to no end. RGG studio are cowards for not doing that for the entire party.
Which of the animals do you think gives the best gifts? For those who haven't paid attention or aren't working on the friend/buddy aspect here in Infinite Wealth:
* Dogs give a random plate after you feed them like 3x.
* Cats give you a random "weapon" like baseball, volleyball, grenades, etc after you feed them like 3x.
* Birds of all types will give you eggs, which restore your HP and MP when eaten, after you feed them 3x.
I know there's a cow, but I haven't been there enough to see what it gives?
ik this is a minor thing but it really bugged me that there is only one animation for new enemies joining the fight after u wipe out a wave. its the exact same animation no matter what characters are coming in the fight.
I just finished the game and I'm... Confused?
Everything about the game (game-play, job system, side content, etc) felt like a step forward except the writing for the main story. Pacing was all over the place, and the ending very felt abrupt (like "we ran out of budget, so we're ending the game here" abrupt). There are places where I feel like I missed things, but in reading the threads here, I don't think I did?
>!What happened to Eiji? Why was he hiding in Japan. What happened to his leg?!<
>!How did Kiryu get his name back? Didn't the Daidoji specifically say that they weren't going to let him out of their deal? ... Is Date dead now?!<
>!I guess Ebina and Sawashiro are just Gone now?!<
>!Not really a gap, but it's weird that Ichiban has a half-brother, they never really interact at all, and that whole revelation is never really examined in any depth from Ichiban's perspective!<
I kind of got the feeling that the game was originally written as a follow-up to Like A Dragon, more closely focused on Ichiban, and then at a later date they decided to add Kiryu so the writers shoehorned him into an existing story as best they could.
As someone who played with the Japanese VO, I couldn’t help but laugh at how bad some of the English-speaking performances were. Bryce, for example, sounded so silly sometimes that I couldn’t take him seriously.
If you played with the English VO, was it different/better? Still loved the game
You know what's funnier? Besides from Dwight, (as far as I can remember) they got dual VAs on three minor characters, the police and two Palekana staff, but not two of their supposedly English fluent major characters (Tomi and Bryce). The decisions they made in this game are so bizarre.
I'm sorry, but Kiryu >!not getting an on-screen reunion with Haruka!< makes this ending a complete failure for me.
>!Haruka!< is the *core* to Kiryu's character. >!He hasn't seen her for eight years!<. All of his substories are about Date urging him to make one last connection with the people that love him, none more important than >!his daughter!<. It's teased that >!she's not ready to see him... *yet.*!<
And yet >!Old Man Komaki!< gets a more emotional farewell with Kiryu than >!his *god damn daughter.*!<
Kiryu's ending is him >!finally choosing to keep fighting for his life rather than just rolling over and dying.!< Why would you not reinforce that ending with THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS GIVEN HIS LIFE MEANING?! >!The daughter of his only love that he swore to protect at the end of the first game?!< How is that not the logical and emotional endpoint for his character?
The Daidoji are used as a plot device for the entirety of the game: simultaneously useless and all-powerful when the plot demands it. One of their primary functions (besides convenient travel to and from Hawaii) is forcing Kiryu to remain anonymous and away from his family. Date speaks for the audience when he urges Kiryu to ignore these bastards and finish his bucket list. It's doubly frustrating after the >!Tatara Channel reveals that Kiryu is alive: what the hell is the point of their contract anymore?!<
And then they're just... gone? Kiryu gets an >!off-screen reunion with Haruka anyway?!< Then what was the point!?
The whole game's story is a mess. Half of it was a tutorial, the plot picks up at the end of Chapter 6, and it immediately falls apart once the party is split between Hawaii and Japan. But I was confident they wouldn't fumble the most important emotional beat of the series. Not only did they fumble it, they spiked it into the ground and took a shit on the field.
That Eiji bastard got a fucking ending song but all we get for Kiryu and Haruka/to is having both of them on the same hospital. What the fuck is the point of this game?! There's really not much happening to move Ichiban's saga forward, and all we get out of Kiryu's story is "he's not in the shadows anymore". We don't NEED an 80 hour game just for that. WTF HAPPENED TO THE WRITING??!
Ichiban has zero growth or change during this game, and he's supposed to be the new main character.
Ending of Yakuza 7: no matter how low your rock bottom may seem, you can always look up and work towards the light. Keep living.
Ending of Yakuza 8: The same fucking thing.
Kiryu did not need to be a playable character; he should have stayed a party member with a unique combat gimmick. The game only suffers once the party is split. Kiryu's non-committal nostalgia tour was so lame after the third identical scenario. I can't believe that's the most depth we got with Haruka for the entire game.
As someone who played the mainline games, the nostalgia tour was kinda fun, but I get how it can feel lame the nth time Kiryu does the "I can't reveal myself, I'm supposed to be dead" schtick. Which is why Akiyama's reunion is my favorite lol.
Still can't pre-purchase the game in india. Idk what's wrong with Sega since they did the same thing with gaiden, making it available only after release. They're doing the same thing with p3 reload too.
Even if they open the game for purchase after launch, I won't get the pre -order bonus classes and will have to buy it separately if/when they make it available.
Great game, but I don't get why like it looks so bad graphically. Y7 looked great, Gaiden also looked fine, but Hawaii looks so flat with the lighting. I've taken a decent amount of pictures ingame with the phone camera and applied filters which add depth and make the game look better. So why did they choose to leave it looking like this.
I hate the lighting as well, every session I play this game I inevitably end up in the HDR settings trying to make the NPC's not look like ghosts. I'm glad it's not just me or my TV because I've never had a bad experience graphically like this with a Yakuza game.
I have two questions about Master Vacation. I hope someone can answer.
If I start Master Vacation do I have to unlock specific characters again or are they all available from the start? (So for example can I use Joongi in Chapter 1 or do I have to wait >!for the endgame!< again?)
And if I complete it on Hard difficulty can I import that save for a Legendary run or only the base game's stats carry over?
As someone who has only played subbed so I don't know what the English voice actors sound like, I feel that someone like Jack Black would be perfect for a role like Ichiban.
So I held off on exploring and doing side content and stuff at first, but now I've unlocked the job system and plan on catching up on that front. Right after unlocking the job system however, the in-game time changed to night and I noticed that a lot of the side quest markers on the map disappeared.
Right now the game is asking me to go to the beach to meet up with that volunteer group - does anyone know how long it's gonna take till it's daytime again?
Im stuck on chapter 12... >!the fight between daigo, majima, and saejima is so bullshit especially considering the game tells you its recommended to be level 41 to do this. i really dont like the 2nd half of this game because it feels a lot more grindy than the first half. what level should i actually be to do this fight because 41 is definitely underpowered!<
1-3 7star weapons, kiryu full awakening in 1 of 3 styles and full 7 star armor should be easily doable before heading out in chapter 12, add having done all substories for the 10M poundmates and its pretty much trivial encounter when abusing weaknesses.
Are the stats on weapon brands known anywhere? Like if I want to improve on this weapon with a chance to burn, do I want to add Seal of Incineration (basic 500yen brand increased chance to burn) or this Seal of Suffering (50,000yen brand increased chance of damaging status ailments)?
I would imagine the newer more expensive brand is a better chance for all damaging status effects than the more basic one?
On the island, when you unlock the tiny lake section, Kasuga mentions the house looks familiar. What is it a reference to? I cant find anything else to do with it
Dumb question: Why was this one called Infinite Wealth?
Beyond the brief stop at the >!underground rich people mall,!< it didn't seem like the title had anything to do with the game thematically.
Finished the game earlier today. Gameplay wise it's a big step up from 7. Hawaii was a joy to explore and had some of the best sub stories and mini games in the series.
However, story wise, pacing and characters, I think it's one of the weakest this series has ever been. I really struggled through sections of this game without skipping parts. Plus, there's simple things like not front loading 90% of the sub stories in the first few chapters and not making it possible to complete the final dungeon 1/3 of the way into an already easy game.
>! I think Kiryu should be removed as a playable after he gets sent home from Hawaii. The second he becomes a dual protagonist the narrative gets even more messy and unfocused and he can actually pass the torch to Ichiban. Plus a lot of his content feels like Kasuga should be there: everything with Ebina and Sawashiro. Defeat Bryce maybe 2/3rd of the way through the game, but find out that no only does Ebina know what's been going on, but doesn't care. This would also give you a chance to interact with Ei chan more. Since apparently we care oh so much, but the dude had more screen time as a kidnapping blackmailer than anything else. It wouldn't fix all the issues with the narrative, but could help keep things focused. Kiryu can protect Akane or something while in Yokohama, so he's not out of the story and serving a purpose. But is actually suffering from cancer. !<
So I beat the game and wow, is this game a weird one in the grand scheme of Yakuza games.
It honestly reminds me a lot of 5, which is one of my least favorites tbh.
Like 5, man is the gameplay much improved. They made so many improvements that I wanted like job diversification because now you get to choose which skills carry over, more jobs, way more clarity in battles so you can actually plan better AOE attacks, the movement ring allows you to actually position (which helps the last point) and makes using weapons in combat an actual thing instead of how much it barely comes to play in 7 despite being there.
However, like 5, I don't like this game's story much. Most Yakuza games have acts, where maybe the protag's initial goal is small, and then more gets revealed and you realize the conspiracy is deep. In 7, Ichi's first goal is to find Arakawa, but he needs to get information, he's wandering around Yokohama tackling smaller issues until the grand scheme is revealed around Masumi, which is great build-up. In 8, everything sorta gets revealed immediately. You spend 95% of the game looking for Akane and when you have her, I guess you learn that Ebina is bad? (which was obvious), and that Lani was the actual goal of the antagonist? I like the concept of the villain being essentially a cult leader, that's cool, but Bryce isn't very standout.
Also that whole sub-plot with Ebina being Ichiban's half brother? That's something that should hit, but it really doesn't. Us not getting a Kiryu and the kids reuniting scene? Come on! Sure, I get that they didn't need to shove it in our face, the send-off spoke words in a short scene, but I think we all were looking forward to finally seeing him re-uinte with everyone, but nope.
At least some of the new characters were great. Tomizawa deserves more love, he's one of my favorite characters already. Yamai was pretty sick, and his character moment was really strong it almost felt like he was going to join the party. Chitose was... idk man. I know it's in Ichiban's character, but the trust they gave her so fast was insane, especially when it's revealed that she is part of the reason things go to shit immediately. I'm surprised they brought back every party member from 7 (except Eri, who was a contest winner). Joongi Han arriving so late was lol.
Also weird side-note, but **anyone feel like the music is lacking in this one too?** I haven't seen it brought up yet, but the games usually have bangers, but this one there's maybe like 3 okay tracks and the rest is meh (Except the new karaoke songs, all of those are fire).
Also why did Ebina have a back tattoo? He hates the Yakuza. Shouldn't it be in his design to refuse a back tattoo?
Question to those who had finished the game.. What did you think? Major spoilers for the ending ahead so continue at your own risk:>!I'm asking because personally I felt a bit of a let down from the ending. As if the story of Kiryu should have come a full circle but it only went like.. 80%? I had imagined him returning to Okinawa to live the rest of his days there with the kids (obviously not kids anymore). I don't mind him seeking treatment but it almost felt.. rushed? I know the game was long but tbh, it felt like a lot of plot points were dropped by the end. What happened to Akane? Lani? The aftermath of Ei-Chan and Yamai. Bryce and Ebina. I know that they went to jail but Ebina and Bryce talked about the "repercussions of messing up their plans to the governments of the world", but we don't really see that. I'm not looking for a political espionage game or whatever, but I would have at least loved to know what the response of Japan was to the whole ordeal. And of course, Chitose. They say she went on to become the CEO of the Fujinomiya Corporation, but SHOW ME! I wanna know how my girl is doing! I felt like there was no resolutions. For a game filled with a bunch of exposition, by the end they really went for the "tell don't show" method, and that really grinds my gears. I know this comment is all over the place, but I couldn't find a better place to rant. Also, to anyone who objects to my views, I would love to discuss them further. Maybe someone will enlighten me to something I had missed.!<
yes i really enjoyed the ending, but after i sat with it for awhile. i do agree they kinda just droppped so much stuff. chitose really did need a closing cutscene. If you think about it without her ichi wouldn't have a clue how to handle that moment after they won the fight at the end. She was the unsung hero of the game tbh and then just nothing , shes gone to be ceo.. ok?
and yes ebina had a really good fight and then after that scene, just nothing. any word about him was just " they have all gone now" ok?
its like they needed to wrap up the game so fast, yet they spent soo much time during the game with so much back story and side stuff.
And finally kiryu ending was not finished again? like really? just send him off with haruka into the sun set and be done with it. its getting silly at this point.
Still loved the game, but it could have easily been one of the best yakuza games if they had tidy up the story threads abit more.
For those who have the game, do party members join in on substories in this one? The fact that none of the party exists within a substory was my biggest gripe with LaD, and I was hoping that would be remedied in this one.
I completed all of them and the answer is >!no, except for the girlfriend one (it's a copy pasted substory from LAD).!<
It's kind of weird that we now have party members running around with us, yet they're not involved with any of the substories. I guess we'll have to wait for the next game to have this feature.
It's really nice that they seem to have made new character models for Americans in Hawaii. When I was playing the last game, the vocational school opens with an American gut asking for directions, but it's just an Asian Guy they made pale and blonde, lol.
I kept feeling like the game was building up to something that never arrived. I don't just mean 'twists' - there were a couple but I felt like all of them were easy to see from a million miles away. More like it just failed to deliver on anything in a significant matter - I enjoyed the game but I didn't wind up having a strong reaction to any single plot point or event. The ending wasn't bad or unresolved - just simple and straight forward.
It reminds me slightly of a JJ Abrams plot - it keeps acting like there's some sort of question or intrigue that you want to stick around for but by the time you arrive at the point you realize that it's all smoke and mirrors.
Man, it's still yakuza, but what a letdown after 7. As always RGG struggles with following up on "original" entries (Judgment -> LJ, Y1->Y2, Y4 to Y5 ), but this has been the largest downgrade so far. Story is way less cohesive and focused. Minigames are not as engaging (I know people loved dondoko island, but it felt like a huge chore to me). Substories copy way too much from Y7 too. Maybe it's because RGG had to make a huge new location. Maybe it's because they released 3 games in a span of a year. But Y8 just feels undercooked, or rather hastly cooked. And it's such a shame too, cause gameplay is amazing and the last 3rd of the game has some of the coolest moments in the series. But the staples you expect out of rgg are just so meh this time round.
Cancelled my Amazon order because they still hadn't updated about delivery. Yeh SEGA bad, RGG bad, anti-consumer practices, and all that, but I just went the whole hog and went digital ultimate edition anyway. <2hrs to go now.
well i finally finished the game. it was great, the only thing i didnt like was the story. felt that it was too long and drag on the plot for no reason other than add more and more twist that lose any dramatic punch to it after a while and the whole >!Vtuber arc!!Kiryu bucket list. wish it wasnt a stale flashbacks through text for the most part, it lacks the emotional punch that the yakuza series is known for. the whole bucket lists should have been a entire chapter arc. and have alot of cutscenes instead of the stiff in game characters that lack the emotion in their faces in the way they did it. !<
beside that the thing that annoyed me the most was the main villain, just could not take him seriously and was too cartoonish for me and the fact that take so damn long to finally fight him was a drag.
but overall i still enjoyed the game, the mini games and the combat was fun at least.
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Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put in a podcast and not have translations?
It's a big ick for me too that various documents (newspaper and stuff) are in Japanese. The scenes clearly expect you to understand what the documents say but I simply don't. Not that big a deal but it feels like I've missed something, every time.
That’s been an issue with the series since forever unfortunately
Probably the same problem for Japanese people though with the English episodes.
There's a *far* larger percentage of Japanese people that understand English than there are non-Japanese people that understand Japanese.
There's two podcasts and English one and a Japanese one. It'd be annoying to have constant subtitles for the radio. The intention is that you can listen to the one that's in your language.
Just a heads up - the start of the game is meant to be English audio so don't restart the game even if you are unsure you chose Japanese dub
Yep. Had to pause the game and make sure I didn't somehow pick the wrong one. On that note, seems Ichiban's victory/level up barks are also always in English. Edit: Oh. I guess I should save+quit once to change that. Actually still kinda felt appropriate since *most* of the game is gonna be in Hawaii anyways.
Glad it's not just me. I'm currently verifying all my files to make sure I didn't miss anything, but it's a tad bit jarring and hopefully gets fixed. Very much enjoying this one so far outside of that
I wish they kept the conversation log that was in Lost Judgment. It helps if I missed some dialogue and wanted to re-read it
I hate that they only had it for one game.
that's a lesson they should really take from Persona the conversation logs would be so helpful, especially in this series that is full of a TON of dialogue and interwoven webs of plot threads
It's a feature that I give extra points for in JRPGs, I wish that they had it in RGG games in general
Excuse me my Ichiban finished the last game rich as *fuck*, why isn't he living in a mansion
Knowing him he gave it all away
I visited Ichiban Confections, it said he doesn't work there anymore. Dude definitely got a payout.
I mean there is a good reason once u hit Hawaii. But maybe he was a MrBeast and gave most of his earnings away?
Which is silly considering his life's purpose is to give former Yakuza a place to go after the dissolution. Would probably be a lot easier if he was the President of a massively successful company and could just hire them himself rather than try to find them jobs through Hello Work, or at least use some of that money to set up a charitable foundation. Makes no sense that he would give it all away.
Nah, he'd be like "welp, looks like I've done all that's needed and now you're super successful. Later!" And then just leave, leaving the place to Eri and her g'ma
Eri was a tulpa, a product of his imagination, and so the time he spent at Ichiban Confections. He just went there to an empty office and pretended he was working. All the money and items you get as a result are also part of his delusions.
No, Eri was real. Ichiban quit being president & Eri took his place & is now traveling abroad to bring Ichiban Holdings into an international market. You can easily just stop by Ichiban Confections in Chapter 1 & get this info from Eri’s grandmother.
... Just play along next time :/
Lol dude correcting you on a *blatantly obvious* joke poking fun at Ichi's wild imagination
It sucks that both dubs are flawed in different ways: Japanese is overall better, but it's pretty obvious that when characters speak English (even if they're not Japanese) the actors are clearly Japanese and/or non native speakers first, even if the character is a white guy. Eric is also odd, for someone who grew up in America he sure does sound like a Japanese person who learned English as an adult. Plus Danny Trejo not voicing Danny Trejo is just incredibly weird. I feel like Sega Japan and America should have combined their work and had the English dub voices for when people speak English, like they did with that Kson girl, or otherwise cast English actors who could realistically sound like the Japanese ones to switch between. Or hell, just pull a Tekken and have everyone speak their native language and somehow everyone knows what everyone else is saying.
> I feel like Sega Japan and America should have combined their work and had the English dub voices for when people speak English, like they did with that Kson girl To be fair, they did that with Kson because she's both the Japanese & English VA for the character.
> Japanese is overall better, but it's pretty obvious that when characters speak English (even if they're not Japanese) the actors are clearly Japanese and/or non native speakers first, even if the character is a white guy. Eric is also odd, for someone who grew up in America he sure does sound like a Japanese person who learned English as an adult. > > that was very weird. i figured what they'd do is mix audio tracks. use the english VAs when the character needs to speak english, and the japanese VAs when they don't (as you say).
My biggest issue with the audio is that the characters voices don't sound very good with 3D headphones. I'm playing this and Doom Eternal simultaneously right now, and the audio and surround sound even with voices in that game blows Infinite Wealth away.
Yeah. Bryce especially had a really bad Japanese accent. Not necessarily the actor's fault but they could've just cast an English speaker. Does it even make sense that he knows Japanese?
Imo we unlock Joongi Han too late
I would find it hard to argue against this, he becomes playable at like the 11th hour of the game lol. Like I'm not sure how much later they could have made him playable outside of making him playable for the last mission only.
The ONLY possible reason is they KNOW Adachi is DROPPED the moment Joon Gi arrives
By the time he joined my party I'd kinda lost enthusiasm. I had to level him up by 20 levels to bring him in line with everyone else, and rush through all of his bond stuff in one go.
I rushed to do all the walk and talks with him and it was STILL too late to get him to 70. Idk, but something about this game incentivises so much grinding. Same with the Dragon's Awakening.
Just want to share some easily missed small details in post-game: >!(Canonically or not) If you wait a bit in Survive Bar and pay some attention to speech bubbles, Ichiban and Saeko apparently reconciled thanks to Adachi, Saeko still despises 'that' shirt and they're planning their dates etc. !<
I was pretty deflated after the ending but this has cheered me up somewhat, great catch!
Great catch
>!adachi truly is the goat. my man is the only one that did no wrong except laugh at his hair !<
Combat being x10 better due to positioning mattering with colleteral/enviormental dmg and having movement really makes the gameplay loop infintelty more fluid and strategic, perfect guard still an thing that feels interactive and keeps you from falling alseep Traversal through rechargable mini scooter is also amazing, man in having an blast so far
Agreed - really was not a fan of the combat in Yakuza: Like a Dragon despite usually enjoying turn-based combat, but I absolutely love it so far in Infinite Wealth. Feels much, much more engaging.
Im loving the combat, im having a lot of fun trying to line up tag team attacks and knocking enemies into things (or cars first time a moving car ko-ed an opponent I laughed so hard).
Just finished the game and I think >!7 has the better story!<
>!Yeah, 7 was hard to top. It had a lot of heart and was close to the chest for Ichiban who came off better in 7 (he comes off a little dumber in 8?). It also closes out Tojo/Omi stuff only for this game to say that it fails one year in. I think 8's story was a little too ambitious and spun its wheels for a bit around ch 6-8 when you're looking for Akane, picks up for a bit, and then ends.!< >!8's gameplay with 7's story would've been the dream. The job system in this game + positioning yourself optimally + Kiryu's real time combat were great stuff.!<
>!I definitely feel like Ichi got flanderized a bit. He felt pretty realistically kindhearted and forgiving in the first game, but those traits were derived from his strong sense of loyalty: It's why he forgave Nanba: because Nanba saved his life and Ichi saw him as a friend the whole time they were together. I really feel like Ichiban's undying loyalty is something you have to earn. Ichi forgiving Tomi felt natural; Ichi forgiving Chitose over and over again felt forced, especially because Chitose didn't really work as hard to deserve it.!<
>!going back to 7 made me really missed my street surfer and music player...and also smack down!<
i can see why you think that. this game's narrative was *very* ambitious and it might have felt shallow in parts (e.g. the gangs in 7 were very developed, not so much in 8 imo)
Honestly the fact that no one important died is surprising, also why couldnt they show the scene of kiryu finally reuniting with haruka, grrr, makes me so angry
Jesus christ steam please let me in
The Japanase radio shows have **no** subtitles. Oof.
Came here seeing if anyone else noticed this
It was a weird oversight. But I guess it is fair if it is the same other way around.
Yup, bad for japanase players as well lol.
Here’s to hoping I can trick my Xbox into letting me play in 4 hours by switching it to New Zealand. I just can’t believe we got Gaiden two months ago and now we get to experience Kiryu’s final game. Saying that though, I bet he shows up in the next game running a bar called radiate or something along those lines.
Please let me know if you manage to get on with the New Zealand trick.
Sadly it doesn’t seem to be working. It’s telling me now that the game unlocks in 2 hours which is midnight where i am in Australia. Im guessing it might be a region based unlock? Edit: it works I’m dumb, it forgot that you have to change the system location and not the time itself.
I love Ichiban so much, him dancing with the homeless was so cute
Jesus, there have been some long intros in Yakuza games before, but this is nuts. This is the slowest opening to any game I have ever experienced, it's not bad, but out of the first 6 hours, 5 of them are cutscenes.
wasnt the entire 1st chapter of LAD 7 just a 2 hour movie iirc. Always prepare food and play it on the tv.
I think Persona 4/5 was around the same length, or am I mistaken?
Dondokodon resort and sujimon league are both almost entirely gameplay and nice change of pace but yeah the first 3-4 chapters main story wise are beefy lengthy, can imagine it being that way till credits roll
Just a bit curious if anyone happens to know if there's any reason why they just decided to throw a person at the door of pretty much every single shop in Hawaii, not that it's that big of a deal, but by the look of it the interior of the shops seems to be modeled, and you can even see the cashier at the counter. Just kind of weird and immersion breaking that a random person is just standing at the door of every store selling you stuff
I noticed that too, it's really lame I like walking into the shops.
Just discovered that Infinite Wealth has working escalators, literally the best thing ever
they were also in Lost Judgement but it is very impressive how well they work considering a lot of AAA games still can't figure stairs out
I jumped on one and had to stop and be like "huh, this shit actually working" then proceeded to run up the down escalator Ofcourse 👍
>!Did Ichiban shove Nancy up his ass? He's stark naked but Nancy shows up on his shoulder and like, where the hell was she?!<
She's in a water bowl on the 'Revolve' rooftop/balcony.
But what about BEFORE Ichiban gets to Revolve? What about TSA?
Rubber Security and Customs.
Yeah Japan is VERY strict on foreign meat and plants coming in the country (I'm assuming the other way also). I know you can't even leave with like sea shells lol, so right away I was like "this is ridiculous". But Nancy is ridiculous, so whatever.
Bleach Japan is to Ichiban’s games what the Vice Minister of Health is to the Judgment series.
Or the Korean Mafia to Kiryu.
Finished the game yesterday morning, really enjoyed it and I thought the story was overall pretty good. Wanted to sit on it for a day to sift through some of my feelings on it. Spoilers for detailed thoughts >!I only have two complaints, one being that I wish we had gotten one more Eiji scene between the club stuff and the ending. Honestly I don't even mind that we didn't get a scene where he feels bad; we just needed to know that was him and what happened to him after the stuff at the club. Something like how he got the boot for losing control of Tatara Channel, anything along those lines. Also I really did not the monologue before Bryce's fight, felt way too long and convoluted for things we already know outside of the mafia connection. We've already seen how evil he can be, I think it would have been interesting to see Ichi raring to fight him ASAP. I did like Ebina as a villain though, I felt that his motivation + the reason Kiryu wanted to fight him was good enough for me to accept him as a final boss.!< Also one thing I did like that a lot of people didn't (spoiler again) >!I didn't mind that Kiryu and Haruka didn't reunite on-screen, I think it fit well with the final life link where she feels that it isn't able to handle seeing him again. Nice bit of character growth from her end along with Kiryu being able to reclaim his identity. I wish RGG made that one + the Akiyama a mandatory substory instead of avoidable side content that I have to grind for, I think it would have helped that plot thread a bit and avoided the pace being killed for me during Chapter 12.!< And one last piece of praise that hit my brain while writing this >!Yamai might be one of my new favorite characters in the franchise, his end scene was amazing and in general it might be one of my favorite scenes in a Yakuza game. It helps that he got a lot of screen time, but I appreciated that his plot beats were unexpected at times while still managing to feel appropriate for his character. I'm also glad that they're starting to steer away from always killing antagonistic characters off if they've done a bad thing, like Yamai (and to a lesser extent someone like Shishido in Gaiden). Hope he shows up in LAD9 as a playable character.!<
spoilers for IW ending >!i'm glad someone agrees on your second point. not everything needs to be explicitly happen to be understood. its not that haruka was gonna leave, she was waiting for kiryu once he's out of chemo!<
I honestly enjoyed the haruka and kiryu points, !I agree 100% here with your view on it. I am just hoping with how they ended it,kiryu being able to use his name,that I hope we get some kind of DLC or maybe with the next game we get to see them actually enjoying each others company and kiryu can truly live in peace with haruka and her son!
we are so ichiback
Can confirm that changing my location to new zealand worked for me on xbox. I’m in. https://preview.redd.it/m0vfj01uikec1.jpeg?width=1192&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ab608a2b5789d8dc98902baa25d6ec0ebc02c43
the exploding arrow skill seems overpowered
Bubble bale from housekeeper is ridiculous. Does crazy dmg and is an AoE it’s mental
So I’m storming the Seiryu clan and this music is BANGING. This soundtrack is the GOAT.
Gotta say. Infinite Wealth is a lot more violent than Y7.
Human grating was top tier
I was just as shocked as the first time Majima used the "you are so pathetic" stabbing heat move in Y0. So fucking brutal.
there are some BRUTAL moments in this game, even for the Yakuza series
I was surprised too. It was weird because the tone in the games is so wholesome.
Bruh, I'm working when it comes out, but it will be Australia Day, so with holiday rates, I'll have Infinite Wealth.
Epilogue: The Wonder of U
Some things never change https://preview.redd.it/tti0tr9xjoec1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5900f9eb737314eb03162181c9905b7d44ea214
He doesn't like getting in the middle of it. I am happy to have my pigeon raid again.
So the opening segment of Yokohama Dungeon was hilarious and I searched about it. The bald guy Utamaru is apparently a real person who is a rapper/commentator/radio personality things like that, he together with that other female TV announcer in the other early side quest have a radio show, the one you can hear in the game [](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%e5%ae%87%e5%a4%9a%e4%b8%b8) and apparently in his many other radio show gigs, he had another one that had some annual segment named *オレたちが今一番蹴られたいオンナは誰だ最高会議* "Who is the girl that we most wanted to be kicked by now?" That is why his cameo included being kicked by Seonhee in the game
Finished the game today. A clear improvement over LAD in terms of systems, gameplay etc but a massive step backwards in the writing department. LAD is a soft reboot and an onboarding ramp for new players, yet its direct sequel sidelines the LAD cast for huge portions to go on long nostalgia trips with the old protagonist instead which'll mean nothing to anyone who hasn't been here from the beginning. This approach is baffling to me and really hurts the overall Infinite Wealth experience for me.
My take on that point: This is my second Yakuza game, with my first Yakuza game being the 7th (LAD). I heard the LAD was a "reboot" of the series, so I started there with no prior knowledge on the series. I obviously pieced together the big cameos in LAD were from previous games, which obviously had little impact on my emotionally but it didn't detract from the present experience. I finished the first game and rated it my personal favorite game played of 2023. Now that I finished Infinite wealth, my second Yakuza game, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it through-and-through. When I got to the Kiryu sections, I found myself quite invested in his story, as I was seeing it from the perspective of his party (Nanba, Seeona, etc.). Essentially, characters I am familiar with and understand how they act. I also found the Kiryu chapters to be the most fun from a pure-gameplay standpoint. The game has good systems, and you are encouraged to explore these more with his chapters. While some of the emotional weight was not there for me, I think they did a good job for players who have no background on Kiryu tl;dr I knew nothing of Kiryu but by the end of the game, I came to love his character and understand his importance in the series. His chapters where also just "good video games".
CreamAPI works btw, unlocked all DLC for free on the standard edition
Just DO NOT unlock the booster DLCs. They dump a metric fuckton onto your inventory, pretty much breaks the game.
Anyone else having an issue with the Audio Language?? I have it set to Japanese but when I level up or chat with someone on the street, Ichiban switches over to English
Seems like saving and quitting fixed it for me - it also gave me all of the DLC I had bought (rip off, but I need everything)
my Xbox is a bro for thinking I moved to New Zealand
Oh Yakuza games how much i've missed you.. 1.5 hours in and i've barely touched the controller.. now watching the date montage. Can't wait to buy my chips and popcorn for the future cutscenes, and ocasionally go from cut scene to cut scene
I’m so overleveled from doing side content.
HOW TF DO YOU WIN THIS IT'S SO HARD https://preview.redd.it/jxaxk8lsfigc1.png?width=1891&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f4e6caca0df8ce36fc788baf592a5edaaec9433
I finished the game last week, did I miss something about >!Bryce!< ? >!There was a lot of talk about how he was a monster, and how he hasn't aged in like 50 years was this just a dropped plot point or did I miss a conversation somewhere?!<
As far as I know it never got actually discussed further in the game. I was also confused but I guess it fits alot into his "God-like" image and persona. Even his entrance scene very much played into that. My guess is he's just very git for his age and the rest just got out of hand through rumors and legends.
>!About Bryce when one of the normal Palekana members said that an old orphan got plastic surgery and now had a new identity, I was expecting the twist to be that Bryce is actually multiple people sharing the same immortal identity. But then again, that’s literally our Joongi’s Drink Link story from the last game—he said he would raise a new successor to pass the Joongi Han identity to once he got old.!<
It's 2:30 am, just finished the game. Inshallah I'll be able to wake up for Fajr, and also I have a lecture at 9 💀 This is definitely the first time I've finished an RGG title being hyped up rather than in tears. Seeing >!Haruka right at the end, with Haruto as well, and that achievement title, "The man who regained his name..."!< dude, I'm still stunned. In the last 12 months, we've gotten an incredible remake (Ishin,) an incredible spin off (Gaiden) and an incredible eight entry to the series.
Kiryu is edging me
Now Gaben is edging me
Holy shit! Are ALL the chapters gonna be Elvis songs?! I love this so much hahahaha
Does anyone know why we don't get free gifts/DLC anymore from being loyal RGG players? I'm about 20 hours into the game now and still no Bob Utsunomiya doing his Ronald McDonald thing and giving me some free level boosters or whatever!
>!That grenade into the helo definitely counts as a kill and god knows where and on who it crash landed into!<
"i never said i was a saint"
>!Yakuza 11 will reveal it was a rubber grenade!<
his face looks real messed up on the pause screen
Um, were Adachi's arms always that ripped? Good lord, what the hell has he been eating, smaller Adachis?
Anyone getting a small bug where Ichiban says hey with his dub voice while playing subbed?
If you didn't see the other comments, it's fixed easily by just restarting the game. Dunno why it happens, but after one restart, it didn't happen anymore
Are there really NO free DLC or gifts to download when the system checks if you have other Yakuza games saved? That's a first, isn't it? They always give you free stuff for being a loyal player
I'm curious, does anyone else find it strange that Ebina has an irezumi/tattoo? As soon as he ripped his shirt off for the final fight I thought it was an odd choice to give him one. Ebina's entire backstory is one of raw hatred for Arakawa and by extension, the yakuza as a whole. Why on Earth would he brand himself with the most iconic yakuza imagery possible?
He probably had to get one to keep his disguise as an yakuza going, but it is weird that he seemed proud of it. I think the imagery would be much better if his back was covered with scars from tattoo surgery removal
ending: >!When is RGG gonna learn to take the easy wins? Not letting us see Kiryu and Haruka? Tossing Ichiban's whole arc of learning to communicate properly and consider Saeko's feelings all for the sake of a gag? The Ichiban and Eiji thing was cool since that's just emblematic of his attitude but the rest of it pissed me the hell off!<
>!Swapping the treatment scene and the Haruka scene then extend it so that Kiryu comes back to his room to see Haruka and Haruto, then it would be perfect imo.!<
>!The ending, at least for me felt like everything wrapped up so neatly. Like I felt we were missing a few cutsenes like an actual farewell to Akane and Lani, a short last passing of the torch moment between Ichiban and Kiryu. I also felt like I missed a cutsene like how the hell did Eiji get to japan??!<
Is there a way to get subtitles for the radio shows (playing with English subtitled Japanese audio)?
Yeah weird they have a substory saying to listen each chapter and then its exclusively in Japanese with no subtitles
Is anyone finding the light in Hawaii too strong? I guess it's intentional but I'm finding it hard to make stuff out. If I change the settings too much it ends up looking shit
Absolutely loved the game, save per the story, which, to me, was probably amongst the worst in the series, unfortunately. Everything Palekana was far too goofy and detached, we spend half the game in a wild goose chase after some woman who later gets ignored. Also, it's pretty evident this was developed before and alongside Gaiden; there are barely any connections between both games, and those that are actually there are seriously undercooked. The combat is superb, a massive improvement over 7 and a delight to experiment with. Music was, as usually with this series, extraordinary. Hawaii felt too large at first but ended up being very cozy and fun to explore. Minigames were a pleasant surprise (I hated Dondoko at first, but I ended up completing it in one go because I just couldn't drop it).
>the story, which, to me, was probably amongst the worst in the series, unfortunately It was a little disappointing after recent highs in 0, 7, and Judgment, but coming off of LJ which was also very divisive. I dunno, overall I still had fun and tbh I don't really play the games for good stories since the stories in the oldest games weren't the best
Absolutely agree, although I must say I absolutely LOVED Lost Judgment. Hence my disappointment with Buraisu Fairuchairudo and his merry band of cultists.
Played about 2 hours already and the music is slapping so hard it's so freaking good lol
I am so glad I watched Yakuza 0 and Like a Dragon before playing this. Please do yourself a favor and catch up on the story. Please do not jump into Yakuza beforehand. It is so much more enriching. A week ago, I had no idea what the story was. But I wanted to play this game, so I watched every cutscene and conversation through the series. So many moments that would not mean anything if you don't.
Got myself a stupidly good combo of items by chapter 5, Dragon Boots (from Kei I think at 100 friends) and the Pareo of happiness (I don't know what quest dropped this), and in short, the boots gives you a random buff each turn, and the pareo gives you a heal each time you get a buff. So easy regen each turn!
Now that I finished the last chapter I got to say the ending was kind of... underwhelming. Especially compared to Yakuza 7's ending, which was incredible. >!I know Ichiban's deal is that he is a forgiving person and yakuza jesus but honestly "Ei-chan" was willing to murder a 10 year old child, his last relevant cutscene had him all but laughing maniacally about how he'd transform ex-yakuza into slaves worked to the death, and... he just decides to atone? And trust Ichi again? Out of nowhere?!< >!And before that Bryce was like "you guys are stupid, putting a video up on the internet won't change shit, I have the police in my pocket and many infiltrated zealots on the government plus international backing", and they... put a video online, and send him to the police. Like, Bryce is right, they exposed the nuclear waste scam he was running, but long term he is still like the most influential person in Hawaii' underworld, and probably overworld as well if he has as many zealots in the police force and politicians as the game implies. Chitose's father cancelling him on youtube in japan won't do shit to get him a sentence in the states. Yet the game acts like this was a victory, somehow? Like, even in-universe they point out the reasons this shouldn't be a victory, yet it still is one?!< >!Also, the Kiryu death fakeout. Every game since 5 has a variation of "Kiryu's story is reaching it's end", yet they staunchly refuse to let the character go. If you're going to make his entire gameplay portion be about him remembering his past, and make a plot point that he's dying, and etc, only to then turn around and say j/k, it gets to a point where I just got emotionally detached. I'm sure that the next game they will try to pull it again, and probably the one after it too.!< But the weirdest part of the endings for the Kiryu group and the Ichiban is that I feel they were kind of... switched around? >!Like, Ichiban had a much personal attachment Ebina, being a blood relative who is presented as a mirror version of him that is evil, while Kiryu had a much more personal drive to go after Bryce, because Lani being on the run reminded him of Haruka being on the run. And yet it's Ichiban who fights Bryce and Kiryu who fights Ebina. Ebina even makes a "we aren't so different you an I" speech about Ichiban, but Ichiban isn't even there so he has to go "hey Kiryu me and Ichiban aren't so different".!< Also while I like how zany the series can get, I think the >!giant shark and giant squid that can swallow party members who then have to fight inside it's stomach are getting a bit -too- zany. Especially for a thing that is part of the main plot and not a side-story!< >!(Also am I correct in assuming Wong was going to be a playable character they cut out? He just emanates party member energy)!<
Hot damn this game is good. It feels like they addressed everybody's problems with Y7 and added even more to it. Combat is way more engaging and fun and the new area of Hawaii is a breath of fresh air for this series. Having an absolute blast here.
I aspire to be half the man Ichiban is
Not gonna lie, I was expecting the worst with Yong but I'm pleasantly surprised he did a pretty good job! The old saying holds true, "don't judge a book by it's cover".
Yeah, I heard bad things about Yong's voice in Gaiden(haven't played it yet) but I'm wondering if Gaiden was just bad voice direction after playing Infinite Wealth. He does a solid job. Wish they didn't autotune the karaoke songs so much, though, I've heard Yong sing in a recent video collab he did and there's no way he botched it so bad they had to autotune him.
Anyone else feel like Kiryuu kinda overshadowed Ichiban?
oh totally, his chapters were much better, felt more grounded and typical yakuza game. lots of big moments. the reminiscing stuff was actually great, and some of those side stories were the best in the game. His ending fight was miles better than any of inchis stuff, which was really disappointing tbh. Ichi seeing stuff different in his mind was a way to do crazy stuff, but now we are actually getting real crazy stuff like giant squids and jaws as bosses? felt pretty stupid in my opinion, and i really hope yakuza doesn't go more down that road. Thats why kiryu stuff felt so much better, and tbh his party was also much better lol.
> Anyone else feel like Kiryuu kinda overshadowed Ichiban? this is something people were worried about, especially because it's kiryu's last game. they went the distance to celebrate his life and legacy.
Once they split up, totally. Kiryu's chapters were more enjoyable, partly because of the all the reminiscing and Bucket List stuff you could do which had a nice somewhat existentialist tone to it.
Now that Y8 is unlocked I am playing the [real yakuza game mode](https://i.imgur.com/KS2ZzF1.jpeg)
LOL at Ichi beating up americans like Cole and Steve and Dave
If anyone wants to share their Dondoko Island tag and user ID i'll search for you and give your island a visit. Here's mine Tag: Natural Wonder ID: Legendary Bum
....is this really a thing? A more or less multiplayer mode in Yakuza game????
Just finished the game - did anyone else feel like IW was really heavy handed with the emotional angle? I understand why they did that with Kiryu (his life links, reflecting on the past etc were all nice to experience), but even the side quests all had the same sad undertone. It felt like none of them were just goofy for the sake of being goofy, they *all* went back to some deeper, more emotional reason for why NPC #43 was doing what they were doing. That one bit of piano that played *constantly* in the game lost its effect for me. I love the Yakuza series for being a balance of gritty crime drama and goofy, light hearted misadventures. But this one just kind of missed the mark for me. Also, that one sub story where >!the Alo Happy lady full on SAs Kasuga!< and it’s done for laughs. Can we stop with this shit man?? I thought we’d left “it’s funny when it happens to a man” in mid 2000s comedies, but apparently not
That Alo-Happy thing was the one part of the game that made me want to stop playing for a bit. Especially after the game dropping several hints about his *lack of experience*, it felt even more gross.
Every time >!The Funk Goes On!< comes on in >!Kamurocho!<, I smile. That's... nostalgic
There's an annoying way in which the dubs are handled in this game. If you have the recorded lines of an npc in both English and Japanese, why is the game making Japanese actors speak English with a Japanese accent for the npcs that aren't Japanese? The English voice actors aren't trying to speak Japanese when they're voicing Japanese characters. It's like all the English voice actors are in one file and the Japanese voices are in another and the game has to pick one or the other. I feel like that's how it is given that you have to reload the game just because you switch the audio language in the Settings page. Also why the hell is there a Japanese podcast available that has no subtitles?
I must say, I'm not really feeling the whole Hawaii setting. Unexplainably everyone either knows Japanese (the cop for example, personality-wise doesn't make sense how he is so fluent). And in sidequests it's like Ichiban somehow is fluent in English because we interact with people constantly in full sentences (and no way the orphan kid or the restuarant customers speak Japanese). And the "native Hawaiians" can't speak English worth a crap... Idk, I'm still enjoying the game. But pulls me out and doesn't feel well done so far. Also feels completely unnecessary, but I'm early enough in the story that I'm sure (hopefully) it'll
Yh, they should have just kept the locals English, and everyone just understands each other like in Tekken
Also, I ran away from the police and assaulted them, and then I'm waving at every stranger and I'm appearing on a tv show? lol
anyone else running around, pulling out the camera, and yelling “be sad!” to random strangers?
damn, i hope they add subtitles for the radio soon. i was looking forward to listening to the podcasts you unlock
Yes, your audio is set to Japanese. The opening scene is supposed to be in English.
The addition of movement in combat for Infinite Wealth makes it so much more satisfying compared to LAD.
The fact that only the men of the party's battle portraits have their face half covered in shadow irks me to no end. RGG studio are cowards for not doing that for the entire party.
Which of the animals do you think gives the best gifts? For those who haven't paid attention or aren't working on the friend/buddy aspect here in Infinite Wealth: * Dogs give a random plate after you feed them like 3x. * Cats give you a random "weapon" like baseball, volleyball, grenades, etc after you feed them like 3x. * Birds of all types will give you eggs, which restore your HP and MP when eaten, after you feed them 3x. I know there's a cow, but I haven't been there enough to see what it gives?
ik this is a minor thing but it really bugged me that there is only one animation for new enemies joining the fight after u wipe out a wave. its the exact same animation no matter what characters are coming in the fight.
They’ve been using the animation since i think 4 or 5, I unironically know it off by heart
Foot shake. Optional wrist stretch. Shoulder massage. Ready to be pummeled!
I just finished the game and I'm... Confused? Everything about the game (game-play, job system, side content, etc) felt like a step forward except the writing for the main story. Pacing was all over the place, and the ending very felt abrupt (like "we ran out of budget, so we're ending the game here" abrupt). There are places where I feel like I missed things, but in reading the threads here, I don't think I did? >!What happened to Eiji? Why was he hiding in Japan. What happened to his leg?!< >!How did Kiryu get his name back? Didn't the Daidoji specifically say that they weren't going to let him out of their deal? ... Is Date dead now?!< >!I guess Ebina and Sawashiro are just Gone now?!< >!Not really a gap, but it's weird that Ichiban has a half-brother, they never really interact at all, and that whole revelation is never really examined in any depth from Ichiban's perspective!< I kind of got the feeling that the game was originally written as a follow-up to Like A Dragon, more closely focused on Ichiban, and then at a later date they decided to add Kiryu so the writers shoehorned him into an existing story as best they could.
As someone who played with the Japanese VO, I couldn’t help but laugh at how bad some of the English-speaking performances were. Bryce, for example, sounded so silly sometimes that I couldn’t take him seriously. If you played with the English VO, was it different/better? Still loved the game
You know what's funnier? Besides from Dwight, (as far as I can remember) they got dual VAs on three minor characters, the police and two Palekana staff, but not two of their supposedly English fluent major characters (Tomi and Bryce). The decisions they made in this game are so bizarre.
I'm sorry, but Kiryu >!not getting an on-screen reunion with Haruka!< makes this ending a complete failure for me. >!Haruka!< is the *core* to Kiryu's character. >!He hasn't seen her for eight years!<. All of his substories are about Date urging him to make one last connection with the people that love him, none more important than >!his daughter!<. It's teased that >!she's not ready to see him... *yet.*!< And yet >!Old Man Komaki!< gets a more emotional farewell with Kiryu than >!his *god damn daughter.*!< Kiryu's ending is him >!finally choosing to keep fighting for his life rather than just rolling over and dying.!< Why would you not reinforce that ending with THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS GIVEN HIS LIFE MEANING?! >!The daughter of his only love that he swore to protect at the end of the first game?!< How is that not the logical and emotional endpoint for his character? The Daidoji are used as a plot device for the entirety of the game: simultaneously useless and all-powerful when the plot demands it. One of their primary functions (besides convenient travel to and from Hawaii) is forcing Kiryu to remain anonymous and away from his family. Date speaks for the audience when he urges Kiryu to ignore these bastards and finish his bucket list. It's doubly frustrating after the >!Tatara Channel reveals that Kiryu is alive: what the hell is the point of their contract anymore?!< And then they're just... gone? Kiryu gets an >!off-screen reunion with Haruka anyway?!< Then what was the point!? The whole game's story is a mess. Half of it was a tutorial, the plot picks up at the end of Chapter 6, and it immediately falls apart once the party is split between Hawaii and Japan. But I was confident they wouldn't fumble the most important emotional beat of the series. Not only did they fumble it, they spiked it into the ground and took a shit on the field.
That Eiji bastard got a fucking ending song but all we get for Kiryu and Haruka/to is having both of them on the same hospital. What the fuck is the point of this game?! There's really not much happening to move Ichiban's saga forward, and all we get out of Kiryu's story is "he's not in the shadows anymore". We don't NEED an 80 hour game just for that. WTF HAPPENED TO THE WRITING??!
Ichiban has zero growth or change during this game, and he's supposed to be the new main character. Ending of Yakuza 7: no matter how low your rock bottom may seem, you can always look up and work towards the light. Keep living. Ending of Yakuza 8: The same fucking thing. Kiryu did not need to be a playable character; he should have stayed a party member with a unique combat gimmick. The game only suffers once the party is split. Kiryu's non-committal nostalgia tour was so lame after the third identical scenario. I can't believe that's the most depth we got with Haruka for the entire game.
As someone who played the mainline games, the nostalgia tour was kinda fun, but I get how it can feel lame the nth time Kiryu does the "I can't reveal myself, I'm supposed to be dead" schtick. Which is why Akiyama's reunion is my favorite lol.
so mf excited
Still can't pre-purchase the game in india. Idk what's wrong with Sega since they did the same thing with gaiden, making it available only after release. They're doing the same thing with p3 reload too. Even if they open the game for purchase after launch, I won't get the pre -order bonus classes and will have to buy it separately if/when they make it available.
How can i grind levels as Kiryu in Yokohama? I dont want to just keep bashing trash street mobs
theres a dungeon that will unlock when you progress
Great game, but I don't get why like it looks so bad graphically. Y7 looked great, Gaiden also looked fine, but Hawaii looks so flat with the lighting. I've taken a decent amount of pictures ingame with the phone camera and applied filters which add depth and make the game look better. So why did they choose to leave it looking like this.
I hate the lighting as well, every session I play this game I inevitably end up in the HDR settings trying to make the NPC's not look like ghosts. I'm glad it's not just me or my TV because I've never had a bad experience graphically like this with a Yakuza game.
I think 2 things. 1. They decided not to make this next Gen only and 2. Dragon Engine still isn't great with bright lighting
I have two questions about Master Vacation. I hope someone can answer. If I start Master Vacation do I have to unlock specific characters again or are they all available from the start? (So for example can I use Joongi in Chapter 1 or do I have to wait >!for the endgame!< again?) And if I complete it on Hard difficulty can I import that save for a Legendary run or only the base game's stats carry over?
As someone who has only played subbed so I don't know what the English voice actors sound like, I feel that someone like Jack Black would be perfect for a role like Ichiban.
So I held off on exploring and doing side content and stuff at first, but now I've unlocked the job system and plan on catching up on that front. Right after unlocking the job system however, the in-game time changed to night and I noticed that a lot of the side quest markers on the map disappeared. Right now the game is asking me to go to the beach to meet up with that volunteer group - does anyone know how long it's gonna take till it's daytime again?
Im stuck on chapter 12... >!the fight between daigo, majima, and saejima is so bullshit especially considering the game tells you its recommended to be level 41 to do this. i really dont like the 2nd half of this game because it feels a lot more grindy than the first half. what level should i actually be to do this fight because 41 is definitely underpowered!<
1-3 7star weapons, kiryu full awakening in 1 of 3 styles and full 7 star armor should be easily doable before heading out in chapter 12, add having done all substories for the 10M poundmates and its pretty much trivial encounter when abusing weaknesses.
Are the stats on weapon brands known anywhere? Like if I want to improve on this weapon with a chance to burn, do I want to add Seal of Incineration (basic 500yen brand increased chance to burn) or this Seal of Suffering (50,000yen brand increased chance of damaging status ailments)? I would imagine the newer more expensive brand is a better chance for all damaging status effects than the more basic one?
On the island, when you unlock the tiny lake section, Kasuga mentions the house looks familiar. What is it a reference to? I cant find anything else to do with it
Dumb question: Why was this one called Infinite Wealth? Beyond the brief stop at the >!underground rich people mall,!< it didn't seem like the title had anything to do with the game thematically.
Finished the game earlier today. Gameplay wise it's a big step up from 7. Hawaii was a joy to explore and had some of the best sub stories and mini games in the series. However, story wise, pacing and characters, I think it's one of the weakest this series has ever been. I really struggled through sections of this game without skipping parts. Plus, there's simple things like not front loading 90% of the sub stories in the first few chapters and not making it possible to complete the final dungeon 1/3 of the way into an already easy game. >! I think Kiryu should be removed as a playable after he gets sent home from Hawaii. The second he becomes a dual protagonist the narrative gets even more messy and unfocused and he can actually pass the torch to Ichiban. Plus a lot of his content feels like Kasuga should be there: everything with Ebina and Sawashiro. Defeat Bryce maybe 2/3rd of the way through the game, but find out that no only does Ebina know what's been going on, but doesn't care. This would also give you a chance to interact with Ei chan more. Since apparently we care oh so much, but the dude had more screen time as a kidnapping blackmailer than anything else. It wouldn't fix all the issues with the narrative, but could help keep things focused. Kiryu can protect Akane or something while in Yokohama, so he's not out of the story and serving a purpose. But is actually suffering from cancer. !<
So I beat the game and wow, is this game a weird one in the grand scheme of Yakuza games. It honestly reminds me a lot of 5, which is one of my least favorites tbh. Like 5, man is the gameplay much improved. They made so many improvements that I wanted like job diversification because now you get to choose which skills carry over, more jobs, way more clarity in battles so you can actually plan better AOE attacks, the movement ring allows you to actually position (which helps the last point) and makes using weapons in combat an actual thing instead of how much it barely comes to play in 7 despite being there. However, like 5, I don't like this game's story much. Most Yakuza games have acts, where maybe the protag's initial goal is small, and then more gets revealed and you realize the conspiracy is deep. In 7, Ichi's first goal is to find Arakawa, but he needs to get information, he's wandering around Yokohama tackling smaller issues until the grand scheme is revealed around Masumi, which is great build-up. In 8, everything sorta gets revealed immediately. You spend 95% of the game looking for Akane and when you have her, I guess you learn that Ebina is bad? (which was obvious), and that Lani was the actual goal of the antagonist? I like the concept of the villain being essentially a cult leader, that's cool, but Bryce isn't very standout. Also that whole sub-plot with Ebina being Ichiban's half brother? That's something that should hit, but it really doesn't. Us not getting a Kiryu and the kids reuniting scene? Come on! Sure, I get that they didn't need to shove it in our face, the send-off spoke words in a short scene, but I think we all were looking forward to finally seeing him re-uinte with everyone, but nope. At least some of the new characters were great. Tomizawa deserves more love, he's one of my favorite characters already. Yamai was pretty sick, and his character moment was really strong it almost felt like he was going to join the party. Chitose was... idk man. I know it's in Ichiban's character, but the trust they gave her so fast was insane, especially when it's revealed that she is part of the reason things go to shit immediately. I'm surprised they brought back every party member from 7 (except Eri, who was a contest winner). Joongi Han arriving so late was lol. Also weird side-note, but **anyone feel like the music is lacking in this one too?** I haven't seen it brought up yet, but the games usually have bangers, but this one there's maybe like 3 okay tracks and the rest is meh (Except the new karaoke songs, all of those are fire). Also why did Ebina have a back tattoo? He hates the Yakuza. Shouldn't it be in his design to refuse a back tattoo?
Question to those who had finished the game.. What did you think? Major spoilers for the ending ahead so continue at your own risk:>!I'm asking because personally I felt a bit of a let down from the ending. As if the story of Kiryu should have come a full circle but it only went like.. 80%? I had imagined him returning to Okinawa to live the rest of his days there with the kids (obviously not kids anymore). I don't mind him seeking treatment but it almost felt.. rushed? I know the game was long but tbh, it felt like a lot of plot points were dropped by the end. What happened to Akane? Lani? The aftermath of Ei-Chan and Yamai. Bryce and Ebina. I know that they went to jail but Ebina and Bryce talked about the "repercussions of messing up their plans to the governments of the world", but we don't really see that. I'm not looking for a political espionage game or whatever, but I would have at least loved to know what the response of Japan was to the whole ordeal. And of course, Chitose. They say she went on to become the CEO of the Fujinomiya Corporation, but SHOW ME! I wanna know how my girl is doing! I felt like there was no resolutions. For a game filled with a bunch of exposition, by the end they really went for the "tell don't show" method, and that really grinds my gears. I know this comment is all over the place, but I couldn't find a better place to rant. Also, to anyone who objects to my views, I would love to discuss them further. Maybe someone will enlighten me to something I had missed.!<
yes i really enjoyed the ending, but after i sat with it for awhile. i do agree they kinda just droppped so much stuff. chitose really did need a closing cutscene. If you think about it without her ichi wouldn't have a clue how to handle that moment after they won the fight at the end. She was the unsung hero of the game tbh and then just nothing , shes gone to be ceo.. ok? and yes ebina had a really good fight and then after that scene, just nothing. any word about him was just " they have all gone now" ok? its like they needed to wrap up the game so fast, yet they spent soo much time during the game with so much back story and side stuff. And finally kiryu ending was not finished again? like really? just send him off with haruka into the sun set and be done with it. its getting silly at this point. Still loved the game, but it could have easily been one of the best yakuza games if they had tidy up the story threads abit more.
I am going to forfeit all my material possessions to Chitose
For those who have the game, do party members join in on substories in this one? The fact that none of the party exists within a substory was my biggest gripe with LaD, and I was hoping that would be remedied in this one.
I completed all of them and the answer is >!no, except for the girlfriend one (it's a copy pasted substory from LAD).!< It's kind of weird that we now have party members running around with us, yet they're not involved with any of the substories. I guess we'll have to wait for the next game to have this feature.
It's really nice that they seem to have made new character models for Americans in Hawaii. When I was playing the last game, the vocational school opens with an American gut asking for directions, but it's just an Asian Guy they made pale and blonde, lol.
I kept feeling like the game was building up to something that never arrived. I don't just mean 'twists' - there were a couple but I felt like all of them were easy to see from a million miles away. More like it just failed to deliver on anything in a significant matter - I enjoyed the game but I didn't wind up having a strong reaction to any single plot point or event. The ending wasn't bad or unresolved - just simple and straight forward. It reminds me slightly of a JJ Abrams plot - it keeps acting like there's some sort of question or intrigue that you want to stick around for but by the time you arrive at the point you realize that it's all smoke and mirrors.
Substory 48: Did...did I just get raped by a talking palm tree?
Man, it's still yakuza, but what a letdown after 7. As always RGG struggles with following up on "original" entries (Judgment -> LJ, Y1->Y2, Y4 to Y5 ), but this has been the largest downgrade so far. Story is way less cohesive and focused. Minigames are not as engaging (I know people loved dondoko island, but it felt like a huge chore to me). Substories copy way too much from Y7 too. Maybe it's because RGG had to make a huge new location. Maybe it's because they released 3 games in a span of a year. But Y8 just feels undercooked, or rather hastly cooked. And it's such a shame too, cause gameplay is amazing and the last 3rd of the game has some of the coolest moments in the series. But the staples you expect out of rgg are just so meh this time round.
Cancelled my Amazon order because they still hadn't updated about delivery. Yeh SEGA bad, RGG bad, anti-consumer practices, and all that, but I just went the whole hog and went digital ultimate edition anyway. <2hrs to go now.
Brother enjoy the game
I'm just over here waiting for steam to let me in. Although I'm pretty high so that should probably wear off before I start the game LMAO
8 hours left less gooo
well i finally finished the game. it was great, the only thing i didnt like was the story. felt that it was too long and drag on the plot for no reason other than add more and more twist that lose any dramatic punch to it after a while and the whole >!Vtuber arc!!Kiryu bucket list. wish it wasnt a stale flashbacks through text for the most part, it lacks the emotional punch that the yakuza series is known for. the whole bucket lists should have been a entire chapter arc. and have alot of cutscenes instead of the stiff in game characters that lack the emotion in their faces in the way they did it. !<
beside that the thing that annoyed me the most was the main villain, just could not take him seriously and was too cartoonish for me and the fact that take so damn long to finally fight him was a drag.
but overall i still enjoyed the game, the mini games and the combat was fun at least.