History YMMV / YakuzaLikeADragon

** Ichiban has 6 women that he can pursue a romance with, with 2 of them, Saeko and Eri, being party members. The story also provides ShipTease moments with him and Saeko in particular. However, these romances aren't particularly memorable, and the option for Ichiban to cheat on all six women at once and [[WomanScorned eventually be punished for it]] is seen as out-of-character for him and leads the whole system to be derided as a ''VideoGame/Persona5'' knockoff. It's more common instead to find works that ship Ichiban with Nanba (his first and closest party member, with their friendship leading to one of the most [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] moments in the game) or Zhao (a fan-favourite character who has some fun HoYay moments with Ichiban).
** Saeko, despite her ShipTease with Ichiban, is more commonly shipped with [[LesYay Seonhee]]. Besides the appeal of pairing two {{Action Girl}}s together, Saeko eventually allying with Seonhee despite clearly disliking her can easily be molded into the popular enemies-to-lovers archetype.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** Before you [[spoiler:rescue Nanba from Triad assassins]] you run into a former Geomijul hitman who reveals that he defected from the group and claims responsibility for killing the drunk homeless man the Geomijul hired to attack a bar Ichiban and Nanba were defending. Then he attacks the party and is swiftly defeated. This is never followed up on or mentioned afterward and seems to be done only to make the Geomijul [[DesignatedHero seem less evil]] by having said defector claim that Seonhee disapproved of him doing so.
** Seagull Cinema is essentially a minigame version of this trope. In case the REM Rams and [[PunnyName Alarm Cocks]] (yes, you read that right) weren't obvious enough.

** Before you [[spoiler:rescue Nanba from Triad assassins]] you run into a former Geomijul hitman who reveals that he defected from the group and claims responsibility for killing the drunk homeless man the Geomijul hired to attack a bar Ichiban and Nanba were defending. Then he attacks the party and is swiftly defeated. This is never followed up on or mentioned afterward and seems to be done only to make the Geomijul [[DesignatedHero seem less evil]] by having said defector claim that Seong-Hui disapproved of him doing so.

** Seonhee somehow gets a lot of attention and is quite popular amongst the community despite mostly being in the background, and not doing that much in the long run. She's popular for being one of the rare occasions where a woman leads an organization in the games (last time was Yayoi all the way back in ''2''), for being basically the leader of the new Jingweon Mafia, which already was an EnsembleDarkhorse organization in the games themselves, and because she has an attractive design. She's so popular that, when Famitsu [[https://twitter.com/bk2128/status/1268433687621689344?s=09 held a poll]] for which character players wished were party members, she was voted first, a wish that would be granted in ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth''.

** Korean [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]] or Korean [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Trish]] for Seong-Hui. She's essentially the latter without the ActionGirl traits, and is also the HyperCompetentSidekick to the Ijin Three, being the one who keeps the peace. The fact that she works with Joon-gi Han (a.k.a, Korean Vergil) is also icing on the cake. Like Lightning, Seong-Hui also has a smooth and sultry contralto and, well, pink hair, of course.

** Saeko, despite her ShipTease with Ichiban, is more commonly shipped with [[LesYay Seong-hui]]. Besides the appeal of pairing two {{Action Girl}}s together, Saeko eventually allying with Seong-hui despite clearly disliking her can easily be molded into the popular enemies-to-lovers archetype.

** Seong-Hui is an underground gang leader with a very garish style. Involving purple hair, a biker leather jacket, needle high heels that can easily get stuck in the floor grates in their base, a ridiculously short skirt, and a campy spider necklace. Makes you wonder how she is even secretive in the first place when her entire design just screams trouble.

** By far the most maligned minigame is the already-infamous Riichi Mahjong, which causes many players to just give up on the goal of completing all minigame challenges. You will need to spend a significant amount of time just understanding how the game even works since ''you aren't given the full rules to the game'' but instead a "basic rules" summary that leave out vitally important pieces of information. Once you finally look up the actual rules online, you still have to play and win many rounds of this largely LuckBasedMission spread out at more locations than any other minigame.
*** Making this ''even worse'' are the challenges that specifically require you to win by declaring Ron or Tsumo[[note]]Declaring victory after forming a winning hand by discarding[=/=]drawing a tile[[/note]] without declaring Riichi, which require even more luck due to the fickleness of the tile distribution. Even players who have gotten the rules of Mahjong down pat can still expect these particular challenges to [[LastLousyPoint remain uncompleted for a long while despite their low total requirement.]]

*** Despite the Geomijul formally becoming allies with Ichiban in Chapter 10, Seonhee doesn't get to become a playable party member. [[spoiler:She gets convinced by Joon-Gi to stay behind to watch over the rest of the Geomijul]]. This gets considered a missed opportunity because despite being the leader of the group, you only really get to learn about Seonhee from second hand information Joon-Gi tells you.
*** Most of her dialogue can be considered as practically exposition about current plot events like the fake money, for example, and because of that, she never gets to show her actual character that much, thus leading to people criticizing her for having as much depth and personality as cardboard

* FriendlyFandoms: With ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' fans. From the somewhat similar gameplay to ''VideoGame/Persona5'', to the English dub having ''several'' of its voice actors present in this title (e.g. Ichiban's [[Creator/KaijiTang voice actor]] also having voiced [[EnsembleDarkHorse Iwai]] in ''P5''), to being a [[Creator/{{Sega}} SEGA]] title[[note]] SEGA is a parent company to Atlus, ''Persona's'' publisher and there was also crossover DLC in ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight.'' [[/note]], it's not hard to see why, since ''Like A Dragon'' is basically ''Persona 5'', but with jaded, washed-up adults rather than teens.

** Mitsuo. For someone who was the closest thing that Ichiban had to a [[BloodBrothers brother]], he's is all but gone once [[spoiler:the Omi and the Tojo are dissolved.]] This is especially sudden since Mitsuo was close enough to Ichiban that it's implied he's covered for him before[[note]] He reacts to having to give back the money that Ushio conned out of some horny teenagers in a tone that indicates he's done this before. [[/note]] during his time with the Arakawa Family. Nevermind [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome going out of his way to rescue Zhao]] from the Omi Alliance at the risk of his own life. However, given that [[spoiler:he makes an appearance during the Arakawas' funeral in TheStinger]], it's likely that he may play a bigger, supporting role later down the line.

* FakeDifficulty: [[HarderThanHard Legend difficulty]] is this compared to ''most'' of the games in the franchise, as enemies receive drastically increased health pools and damage that you can't just mitigate by being good at the game (or packing enough healing items to get through). Battles come down purely to luck as you hope you don't miss, hope your enemy misses every single attack or doesn't take multiple turns at a time, and proc enough statuses to buy yourself time to whittle down the tens to hundreds of thousands of points of health enemies have on Legend difficulty.

** Seong-Hui gets a lot of attention and is quite popular amongst the community despite mostly being in the background, and not doing that much in the long run. She's popular for being one of the rare occasions where a woman leads an organization in the games (last time was Yayoi all the way back in ''2''), for being basically the leader of the new Jingweon Mafia, which already was an EnsembleDarkhorse organization in the games themselves, and because she has a really cool, unique and beautiful design and voice. She's so popular that, when Famitsu [[https://twitter.com/bk2128/status/1268433687621689344?s=09 held a poll]] for which character players wished were party members, she was voted first, a wish that would be granted in ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth''.

** Seong-Hui is an interesting case on multiple fronts:
*** Despite being the primary antagonist of Chapter 7, Seong-Hui is never directly fought, keeping to series tradition of not having the main characters engage in violence against women.
*** Despite the Geomijul formally becoming allies with Ichiban in Chapter 10, Seong-Hui doesn't get to become a playable party member. [[spoiler:She gets convinced by Joon-Gi to stay behind to watch over the rest of the Geomijul]]. This gets considered a missed opportunity because despite being the leader of the group, you only really get to learn about Seong-Hui from second hand information Joon-Gi tells you.
*** Most of her dialogue can be considered as practically exposition about current plot events like the fake money, for example, and because of that, she never gets to show her actual character that much.

* ContinuityLockout: Several characters from previous ''Yakuza'' games show up in the later stages of the story. You don't need to know who they are to follow the story, but if ''Like a Dragon'' is your introduction to the series, then your reaction is less likely to be "Hey, it's X! Cool!" and more likely to be "Who is this man, and why is he such a big deal?".

** The fight against returning characters [[spoiler:Majima and Saejima]], if only for the ability to pit protagonists against each other. The fight intro is the cherry to the pre-hype cake, and the energetic [[spoiler:"Receive You"]] remix reflects the mood the players are likely feeling at the moment. It feels respectful to their legacy too, as it takes the combined might of Ichiban's group to even go toe-to-toe against them, and in the scene that follows the fight, it's shown that only [[spoiler:Majima]] (the lankier of the two) receives any kind of injury, and even then, it is simply a cut lip.

** By far the most maligned minigame is the already-infamous Riichi Mahjong, which causes many players to just give up on the goal of completing all minigame challenges. You will need to spend a significant amount of time just understanding how the game even works since ''you aren't given the full rules to the game'' but instead a "basic rules" summary that leave out vitally important pieces of information. Once you finally look up the actual rules online, you still have to play and win many rounds of this largely LuckBasedMission spread out at more locations than any other minigame. Making this ''even worse'' are the challenges that specifically require you to win by declaring Ron or Tsumo[[note]]Declaring victory after forming a winning hand by discarding[=/=]drawing a tile[[/note]] without declaring Riichi, which require even more luck due to the fickleness of the tile distribution.

** The ''extremely'' questionable decision to make NewGamePlus ''DLC'' has similarly sparked a massive debate, especially since the feature was always included in the base game until ''Like a Dragon''. Thankfully, the localized release includes New Game + in the base product.

* SlowPacedBeginning: There's about three hours of cutscene-heavy backstory and exposition to get through before the game reaches Yokohama and you can start doing all of the wacky stuff that you saw on Website/YouTube.

** By far the most maligned minigame is Riichi Mahjong, which causes many players to just give up on the goal of completing all minigame challenges. You will need to spend a significant amount of time just understanding how the game even works since ''you aren't given the full rules to the game'' but instead a "basic rules" summary that leave out vitally important pieces of information. Once you finally look up the actual rules online, you still have to play and [[LuckBasedMission win]] many rounds of this largely LuckBasedMission spread out at more locations than any other minigame. Making this ''even worse'' are the challenges that specifically require you to win by declaring Ron or Tsumo[[note]]Declaring victory after forming a winning hand by discarding[=/=]drawing a tile[[/note]] instead of Riichi, which require even more luck due to the fickleness of the tile distribution.

* ContinuityLockout: Downplayed example. Several characters from previous ''Yakuza'' games show up in the later stages of the story. You don't need to know who they are to follow the story, but if ''Like a Dragon'' is your introduction to the series, then your reaction is less likely to be "Hey, it's X! Cool!" and more likely to be "Who is this man, and why is he such a big deal?". Although amusingly enough, this is reflected with some of the main characters ([[AudienceSurrogate especially Ichiban]]). As most of them seem to be in the dark about the importance and infamy of already established characters from previous entries, such as not knowing who Kiryu, Majima and Saejima are, amongst other things.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: This ''is'' a ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' game, after all...
** Ushio scamming horny teenagers by selling them animal porn[[labelnote:disclaimer...]] More specifically, documentary footage of animals copulating. [[/labelnote]] under the guise of it being uncensored porn. Two things here: one, [[ExactWords he's not entirely wrong]], and two, this exchange:
---> '''Ichiban:''' Stop! Ushio, you piece of shit!
---> '''Ushio:''' What, and get caught?! Get fucked, you cum stain!
** When Bleach Japan drops by to protest Hamako's brothel, Ichiban threatens to drop some garbage on them if they don't scram, which they promptly do. And ''why'' do they leave, you might ask? Remember that Hamako runs a brothel. Now, remember one of the tissues that Nanba asks Ichiban to pick up? [[{{Squick}} Oh, yeah.]] It's ''exactly'' what you think. Now, this wouldn't be nearly as funny if it were anyone else other than [[HateSink Kume]] and, well... [[{{Hypocrite}} Bleach Japan.]]
** Ichiban, Nanba, and Adachi returning to Otohime Land after saving Nanoha's father only to be greeted by [[spoiler:Nonomiya's corpse]]? Pretty morbid. The name of the achievement for completing the chapter being ''[[BlackComedy Soap on a Rope]]''? Funny in a pretty fucked up way for sure.
** Knocking a mook into traffic wouldn't be as hilarious if A, it happens to someone that likely deserves it, and B, ''you get an achievement for it!''

** Like Kiryu before him, Ichiban would come to own a pet chicken as a company mascot. What might this chicken be callled? ''Omelette'', of course!
** Some heat actions from previous titles return as usable skills under the Freelancer class with the [[LimitBreak Essence of Roadside Weapon]] skill. Among those include the infamous Heat Action from ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' where Ichiban tosses a mook head-first into a microwave and asks the cashier to ''heat up the mook's head!''

** Sluggers. High damage output, a lot of health, and often never come alone? Just about checks out.

** Ensemble Dark ''Hen'' in this case. Omelette has become quite well-liked by fans for the same reasons as Nugget in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0''. Yes, just like in ''0'', Omelette is a recruitable employee in the Company Management minigame and to sweeten the deal, she's a Poundmate that Ichiban can summon at anytime during the day for a quick HP and MP pick-me-up.
** Nancy the crayfish has a lot of fans who became attached to her when Ichiban saved her from getting eaten by a homeless man, and also for the hilarious absurdity of her being a Poundmate who can assist you in battle. The fact that she can poison enemies also helps.

* WTHCastingAgency: [[spoiler:Majima]] is no longer voiced by Creator/MarkHamill in the dub. Instead he is voiced by Creator/MatthewMercer. While many acknowledge him as a talented actor, fans of the series believed his voice was too young for the now 54 year-old [[spoiler:Majima.]] Others were at least expecting something similar to Hamill's performance like Creator/TroyBaker as ComicBook/TheJoker.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Ishioda's rugged looks, swept-back hair, baritone, [[BadassInANiceSuit slick suit]] (as can be expected for a yakuza lieutenant) and CoolShades make him quite the looker despite being a [[AxCrazy functioning psychopath]]. The fact that he's voiced by Creator/RinoRomano in the English dub is a nice bonus, too.
** Seong-Hui is the leader of one of Ijincho's criminal factions, and is antagonistic towards the group when she's first introduced. That said, she's very much a gorgeous MsFanservice that's got a very sultry contralto, and she's one of the few (if not the only other one alongside Yayoi, who was only the acting chairwoman of the Tojo Clan in ''2'') [[TheQueenpin Queenpins]] ever to be seen in the series despite her status as a FauxActionGirl. (At least until she was made a party member in the sequel.)
** [[spoiler:Masato]] is considered quite handsome, both [[UnkemptBeauty before]] and [[HeCleansUpNicely after]] he cleans himself up, and is even a ChickMagnet in-universe. That said, he's still one of the major antagonists in the game.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: This ''is'' a ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' game, after all...

** The incredibly-calm and nearly BringIt-type attitude that [[spoiler:Watase has as a scorned Omi Alliance member runs up to shank him during the Omi and Tojo dissolution conference becomes far more hilarious and [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome badass]] if you have played through ''[[VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName Gaiden]]'', as not even ''hours'' before the conference, Watase had already recieved a vicious stab wound from Nishitani III after fighting off his and Shishido's own group of Omi traitors; Watase didn't react to almost being stabbed during tne conference riot because he ''literally'' '''just''' survived a similar attempt on his life.]]

** The incredibly-calm and nearly BringIt-type attitude that [[spoiler:Watase has as a scorned Omi Alliance member runs up to shank him during the Omi and Tojo dissolution conference becomes far more hilarious and [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome badass]] if you have played through ''[[VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName Gaiden]]'', as not even ''hours'' before the conference, Watase had already recieved a vicious stab wound from Nishitani III after fighting off his and Shishido's own group of Omi traitors; Watase didn't react to almost being stabbed during tne conference riot because he ''literally just' survived a similar attempt on his life.]]