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| 10 | ! Spoilers for ''all'' preceding ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' entries will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned! |
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| 15 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yakuza7_2.png]] |
| 16 | [[caption-width-right:350:The legend of the Dragon of Rock Bottom begins here. [[note]]Clockwise from bottom center: [[IdiotHero Ichiban]] [[MrImagination Kasuga]], [[ActionGirl Saeko]] [[WhiteMagicianGirl Mukouda]], [[BackFromTheDead Joon-Gi]] [[LightningBruiser Han]], [[BackAlleyDoctor Yu]] [[SquishyWizard Nanba]], [[OldMaster Masumi]] [[ParentalSubstitute Arakawa]], [[TheRival Jo]] [[TheDragon Sawashiro]], [[FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster Tianyou]] [[ChefOfIron Zhou]], [[FriendOnTheForce Koichi]] [[TheBigGuy Adachi]]. Not pictured: [[OptionalPartyMember Eri]] [[AlmightyJanitor Kamataki]][[/note]]]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ->"''We'll take the top, and it'll be a happy ending! Just like in Franchise/DragonQuest.''" |
| 19 | -->-- '''Ichiban Kasuga''' |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ''Yakuza: Like a Dragon'', (龍が如く7光と闇の行方, ''Ryu ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue'', lit. ''Like a Dragon 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Darkness'') is the eighth major entry in the long-running ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' series. It released in Japan on January 16, 2020 on the Platform/PlayStation4, with a Western release on the Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS, [=PS4=], Platform/MicrosoftWindows, and Platform/XboxOne on November 10, 2020, and Platform/PlayStation5 release on March 2, 2021. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | This is the first game in the main series following ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', the final entry in the story of the legendary Dragon of Dojima, Kazuma Kiryu. Taking over as the leading man of the series is Ichiban Kasuga, of the Arakawa Family within the Tojo Clan. When the family's captain finds himself on the hook for murder, Kasuga happily takes his place, turning himself in to the police and taking the rap for a crime he didn't commit in 2001. Eighteen years later, he finishes his sentence and returns to civilization, only to find no one to welcome him home. Desperate to find out why he was forgotten, he searches for his family, only to receive a bullet from his leader for his troubles. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Now in the coastal city of Ijincho, Yokohama, Kasuga finds himself with more questions than answers, no one to turn to, and danger around every corner as the fragile peace between the local organized crime groups is threatened by forces within and without. He must now fight his way from rock bottom back to Kamurocho, and find out why the Tojo Clan has forsaken him. Thankfully, he won't have to fight alone: joining him in his journey are a motley crew of misfits from all walks of life, including Yu Nanba, a homeless back-alley doctor; Koichi Adachi, a disgraced former detective; Saeko Mukouda, a tough-as-nails cabaret club mama and barmaid; and others. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | ''Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' represents the most radical shift of gameplay in the series's history, changing from a free-roaming action-RPG to a more traditional JRPG. A menu-based battle system was originally teased in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noioqCv92hM an April Fools video]]. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Even with a new battle system, the heart and soul of the ''Yakuza'' series remains strong, as the game weaves a hard-hitting crime drama story with amusing sidequests and a plethora of other amusements to participate in, from new diversions such as go-kart racing to returning classics like karaoke, hostess clubs, and arcade games. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Much like the previously-released spinoff title ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', ''Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' features an English dub -- the first game in the main series to do so since [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 the 2006 original]] -- in addition to an option for the original Japanese voice-overs. Headlining the dub cast are Creator/KaijiTang as Ichiban Kasuga, Creator/GregChun as Yu Nanba, Andrew Morgado as Koichi Adachi, Creator/ElizabethMaxwell as Saeko Mukoda, and Creator/GeorgeTakei as Masumi Arakawa. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | In May 2021, Sega announced that with the success of ''Like A Dragon'', the GenreShift to turn-based JRPG [[https://www.ign.com/articles/the-yakuza-series-will-be-a-turn-based-rpg-series-fully-going-forward would remain for all mainline games for the series]]. The original action-RPG brawler format would remain, however, for spinoffs, including the sequel to ''Judgment'', ''VideoGame/LostJudgment'', and the {{Interquel}} GaidenGame, ''VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName''. A sequel, ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', released on January 26, 2024. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Not to be confused with [[Film/{{Yakuza}} the film of the same name]], which loosely adapted the [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 first game]]. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNmM9pivqQ0 Debut trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9djCUMELyYg TGS gameplay trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79sDRvm8yk8 December 2019 gameplay trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIAYEzinKRE English dubbed trailer]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | ---- |
| 40 | !!''Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' provides examples of: |
| 41 | |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:#-C]] |
| 47 | * OneHundredPercentCompletion: The completion-menu from previous games returns as the Challenge tab in the Part-Time Hero app. Notably you don't need to complete every challenge as they are simply a means to increase your personality stats. To earn the Platinum achievement you will have to: |
| 48 | ** Max out all of Ichiban's personality stats, and his bond level with all six allies. |
| 49 | ** Complete at least forty substories, including all the romance-related ones. |
| 50 | ** Complete enough Part-Time Hero quests to reach the rank of Executive Hero. |
| 51 | ** Reach Rank 1 in the Business Management sidequest. |
| 52 | ** Fully upgrade the Romance Workshop. |
| 53 | ** Win the Dragon Cup and all Rival Races. |
| 54 | ** Complete the Sotenbori Battle Arena, and both bonus dungeons in Premium Adventure mode. |
| 55 | ** Complete the hardest levels of various minigames like Can Quest and Seagull Cinema. |
| 56 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:Even if you, understandably, ignored it, during the final fight with Masato Arakawa, while you are forced into it, you get a fully-leveled version of the Freelancer class]]. |
| 57 | * AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Character levels and job ranks both max out at 99. You can finish the game at about level 60/rank 30 without too much trouble. Progress beyond that point is just grinding for the bonus dungeons, the hardest of which requires level 99/rank 99. Subverted in the original Japanese release, where the job level cap is 30; rank 99 was DLC. |
| 58 | * ActionCommands: Some attacks have additional prompts that appear during the attack, and if you complete them the attacks are enhanced in some way. |
| 59 | * ActionGirl: Saeko and Eri are the first female protagonists in the series who can participate in battles. |
| 60 | * ActionPrologue: Downplayed. The opening starts off with how Arakawa got his scar and some of his past, before transitioning into a playable chase sequence of Ichiban chasing an adult video seller. |
| 61 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 62 | ** In the prologue, when Ichiban talks about how he fights like he's the hero in ''Dragon Quest'', Mitsuo chastises him for doing so before [[NotSoAboveItAll eventually conceding]] that, "[he'll] give this gamer shit" a chance. In the English dub, Mitsuo is voiced by none other than ''Creator/SungWonCho''[[note]]whose online presence as WebVideo/ProZD includes many video game skits[[/note]], of all people. |
| 63 | ** One scene has Namba hide in a box with Adachi watching. The latter is voiced by Creator/AkioOtsuka, who is also the Japanese VA for [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]]. Meanwhile Snake's English voice actor, Creator/DavidHayter, voices the bartender at the ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive Survive]]'' Bar. |
| 64 | *** Adachi also pulls the old NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont trick to disarm a bodyguard, used by Solid Snake in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and his older self in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''. |
| 65 | ** One of Saeko's job skills is a casino dealer, which involves the use of a roulette wheel. Creator/ElizabethMaxwell was the English VA for [[VideoGame/Persona5 Sae Niijima]], who has a Shadow version of herself in a casino with a roulette. |
| 66 | ---> '''Saeko:''' Let's play a game! |
| 67 | ** Near the end of Nanba's 4th Drink Link event, a woman named Futaba speaks to Kasuga. Her voice actor? Creator/EricaLindbeck. Now where have we [[VideoGame/Persona5 heard that before?]] |
| 68 | ** As a quick nod in the localization to a well-known gaming role his [[Creator/WillYunLee voice actor]] was in that is [[VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012 within the same vein]] as ''Yakuza'', Ryo Aoki is referred to as being unable to "let ''sleeping dogs'' lie." |
| 69 | * ActuallyFourMooks: |
| 70 | ** PlayedWith. Roaming groups of enemies around the city streets are usually indicative of however many enemies you have to fight, keeping the numbers consistent between when they're "non-fighting" and battle activates, but there are occasionally times when one enemy will turn out to be several. Conversely, one enemy on their lonesome will turn out to be just one enemy, but a substantially beefier one to challenge the whole party at once. Given this is Ichiban's active imagination supplying the combat scenarios, it's assumed that how the enemies look prior to fighting is the actual number of goons to fight, and Ichiban sometimes adds on more enemies for the challenge of it. |
| 71 | ** It's also {{Inverted|Trope}} in Ichiban's favour, particularly during the sub stories. Despite being the only one involved with the stories and dialogue and everything making it clear Ichiban resolves every scenario on his own, whenever the situation [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer inevitably]] gets to the point that a fight breaks out, Ichiban's party appears out of nowhere to help him beat up the goons, then vanish afterwards once the substory wraps up without being acknowledged by anybody. This does double with Eri Kamataki, whom is not acknowledged by the main quest at all due to being unlocked in the optional Business side quest, but will still appear to help out the party in fights, [[spoiler:most notably, whenever Nanba temporarily quits the party during chapter 7 onwards, leaving you will a 4-man squad advantage still]]. Given the Heroes of Tomorrow are glorified EliteMooks by the standards of the prior protagonists, it makes them a heroic example of the trope. |
| 72 | * AddedAlliterativeAppeal: |
| 73 | ** A lot of the attack names are this. Ichiban's '''S'''tack '''S'''lap, Zhao's '''D'''ragonfang '''D'''ecimator and '''S'''erpent '''S'''trike, '''H'''aywire '''H'''avoc, '''F'''ulminating '''F'''orecast, Essence of '''B'''onecrushing '''B'''at, and so on. |
| 74 | ** All of the animals in the "Ringleader Roundup" trilogy of substories are named '''C'''atherine, '''C'''harlotte, and '''C'''lara. |
| 75 | * AintTooProudToBeg: Ichiban's super move during the Shareholder Meeting has him apologizing to the shareholders. Its level 3 version even has Ichiban dramatically jumping out from his chair before grovelling in front of them. Despite the loss of pride, this move deals heavy damage to all shareholders and briefly stuns them. |
| 76 | ---> '''Kasuga''': My partners and shareholders! Please accept...'''''my most humble apologies!''''' |
| 77 | * AllForNothing: [[spoiler:In a broader series-wide sense. After spending every mainline entry defending the Tojo Clan, it disbands along with the Omi Alliance, rendering all past efforts completely pointless.]] |
| 78 | * AllJustADream: After being blown away by [[spoiler:Kiryu]], Ichiban dreams of himself wearing knight armor and slaying a dragon based on the man's back tattoo. He even sings the ''Dragon Quest'' victory fanfare before he wakes up. |
| 79 | ** The [[spoiler:romance scenes with Eri and Saeko]] are presented as this too - it's not made clear whether what is shown to have happened actually happened, and Ichiban is commented as having been dreaming. [[spoiler:Although they seem to think it did happen, since once everyone has been "romanced" they are both enraged that he's been cheating on them and join in with the other women beating the shit out of him as punishment. And Ichiban is sporting a lipstick print on his cheek the morning after Eri's romance.]] |
| 80 | * AllPowerfulBystander: [[spoiler: Kiryu]]. Going from [[spoiler:his performance in past games]] he’s more than strong enough to handle the conflict all on his own but is [[spoiler:hamstrung by the deal where he has to stay legally dead and therefore can’t draw attention to himself.]] |
| 81 | * AlmightyJanitor: A variation, but one interpretation of Nonomiya would imply he was not only more well-informed but also more forward-thinking than he let on. [[spoiler: After his death, Saeko mentions his dream was a safety net of legitimate business for Yokohama, which is the dream that prompts Ichiban to take up being the president of his businesses. Later in the story, after Saeko tells you this, you learn the leaders of the 3 warring gangs know each other well and cooperated to produce counterfeit cash, an effort which is said to have kept the town together and prosperous despite the gangs being at each other's throats all the time by virtue of each gang being able to contribute and getting benefits from doing so even if they don't know the whole story. If the correct interpretation was that he knew of this story and the operation's role in keeping Yokohama together, then it would mean he was actively trying to build an out for Yokohama in case something ever happened to the single rope holding it all together.]] |
| 82 | * AlwaysAccurateAttack: Kiwami skills, being cutscene triggering attacks, can't be evaded or even countered. The same deal applies when bosses use their Kiwami skills which may potentially devastate your party. |
| 83 | * AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: Inverted. The Japanese cover (as seen on this page) is colored a sharp red, with Ichiban giving a mean look. The international release instead is colored a vibrant yellow, with Ichiban giving a DreamWorksFace and several goofy enemies and substory characters in the background. |
| 84 | * AnachronismStew: |
| 85 | ** All of the arcade games at Club Sega are playable during the prologue set in 2000... including ''[[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown]]'', which was released in ''2010''. There's also ads for ''VideoGame/{{Chunithm}}'' and other more recent Sega games. |
| 86 | ** Also, the car models in the 2000 section are the same as those used in the present, being a set of very 2010's looking models that have been reused since ''VideoGame/Yakuza6''. |
| 87 | * AndYourRewardIsClothes: [[spoiler: In addition to his old man's longcoat for the Hero class,]] Ichiban and Co. can wear their job outfits outside of battles after beating the game. |
| 88 | * AntiClimax: After being released from 18 years in prison, Kasuga loudly proclaiming thanks the people he thought were there to pick him up. When he actually looks around, he realizes that nobody but an elderly woman was in hearing range. |
| 89 | * AntiGrinding: A variant. The game awards two kinds of XP: "EXP" and "Job EXP". EXP is the standard-issue experience points, but Job EXP are "Job Points" which go towards improving your job's ranking. Each job can level up to a cap of thirty (or ninety-nine with DLC/in the international release), giving you stat improvements and new permanent abilities as you go. However, there are severe diminishing returns for increasing your job rank, as the Job EXP needed to gain a level increases extremely, requiring players to progress further in the game to fight stronger enemies that give more Job EXP. You're also immensely rewarded for levelling up several jobs over the course of the game and can end up much more powerful by the endgame if you've been switching between multiple jobs. |
| 90 | ** However, this practice actually stops once you reach the endgame. The final few areas are full of very tough, high-level enemies, so the game gives you the incredibly lucrative [[spoiler: Sotenbori Tower]] to run a few times to bring you up to speed. Completing it rewards copious amounts of EXP and Job EXP, meaning it can take only a few minutes of grinding to be able to enter into the final areas and stand a chance. |
| 91 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: |
| 92 | ** Ichiban now has unlimited stamina compared to previous playable characters in the series by default as opposed to having to buy the ability first. Also, simply pressing the Sprint button[[note]] A or the Right Trigger on Xbox and X/Cross or R2 on [=PlayStation=]. [[/note]] is enough for Ichiban to run; you no longer have to hold the button down. This is especially helpful as Ijincho is significantly larger than Kamurocho and especially Sotenbori before it. Both of which also make an appearance in this game. |
| 93 | ** While you do have to search for them across the city, once a Taxi is found, simply interacting with it unlocks a new Fast Travel point on the map for Ichiban to use. Furthermore, any previously found Taxis are now registered in the new Taxi app for Ichiban's smartphone (accessed by pausing the game) and only cost 1100 yen to use. |
| 94 | ** Try as you might, but while you're out and about in Kamurocho and Ijincho, your allies can't be run over by cars, as the cars will stop in the nick of time, or they'll simply [[OffscreenTeleportation teleport]] out of the way before anything can happen to them. |
| 95 | *** In relation to this, whenever your allies stray too far from Ichiban, they'll automatically be teleported nearby. This is especially helpful if they get stuck in some places right as you get into an enemy encounter. |
| 96 | ** The final boss battle of the game [[spoiler: against Masato]] switches Ichiban back to the Freelancer class. For the players who likely haven't touched that class since unlocking the [[GameBreaker Hero class]], the game will temporarily boost your job level high enough to give you access to all its abilities. |
| 97 | ** You can equip an accessory that prevents enemies from spawning on the street. This comes in useful when the roaming gangs just aren't worth the effort of fighting due to low EXP and JP gains or when you want to find conversation points between the group without running the risk of being interrutped by enemies. |
| 98 | ** The Sujimon app will automatically record the data of any bosses from optional Chapter 4 sidequests you did before you obtained it, preventing them from being LostForever. |
| 99 | * AprilFoolsDay: On April 1, 2019, Sega streamed gameplay of a ''Yakuza'' game that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noioqCv92hM played more like a JRPG than a brawler]]. A few months later, however, Sega confirmed the battle system they had presented then was legit, even demonstrating it in a TGS 2019 gameplay trailer. |
| 100 | * ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Only 4 party members out of seven playable characters can participate in a fight. Nonactive characters can swap with active characters during battle using the tag-out mechanic, however. |
| 101 | * ArcWords: "Rock Bottom", which is used for Ichiban to describe his underdog status as well as for the bottom barrel of society that he inevitably ends up standing up for. |
| 102 | * AreaOfEffect: Various classes are capable of [=AoE=] attacks. However, given that enemies will move around randomly, the attacks have to be timed and aimed properly in order to hit the most targets within range. |
| 103 | * TheArtifact: Gameplay-wise the Kamurocho and Sotenbori maps are this. While the two cities are visited at key-points in the story they lack any sub-stories, and contain no unique mini-games that can't already be found in Yokohama. Their restaurants aren't even counted in the completion-menu. What is to be found are several party-chats and the odd collectible like honk-honks and Tojo crests. |
| 104 | * ArmorPiercingResponse: When Ichiban asks the homeless on why they don't just get a job, Nanba bluntly points out that due to various circumstances, they are unable to. Ichiban becomes rather stunned by his response. |
| 105 | * AsideGlance: In the sidequest "Fast Times at Ounabara", deals with an American tourist, Ichiban will talk about how he can't speak English. If a player has the English dub enabled, Ichiban then turns his head towards the camera while giving a thumbs up. |
| 106 | * AssKicksYou: The flasher enemies use their butts to perform melee attacks. |
| 107 | * AwesomeButImpractical: |
| 108 | ** Assuming you've got the Business Management DLC, which introduces major series characters as Ultra Rare-tier employees, Masaru Watase is an absolute monster right out the gate for both property and shareholder meetings, boasting incredibly high stats for the former and superb Persuasiveness in the case of the latter. A well-upgraded Watase can rake in tons of money when assigned to an Entertainment-type business, and his power can shout down almost any shareholder with ease. To balance this out, he also commands a significantly higher salary than other employees of even the same rarity, and his shareholder attack costs a staggering 12 command points per use, making it hard to maintain consistent use of his power if your own management skill isn't great to begin with. |
| 109 | ** Essence of Orbital Laser, a magic skill that Ichiban earns for completing the Business Management side story. It's the highest damaging thunder-based magic attack in the game, which makes it especially helpful against the penultimate boss. However, it costs a whopping 200MP to use, a cost high enough that Ichiban likely won't have enough MP to cast it at all when it is first unlocked. Even at a higher level and without excessive grinding, you'll likely only be able to cast it once or twice per battle without having to start draining through your MP restoration items. |
| 110 | * BackFromTheDead: |
| 111 | ** [[spoiler:Rather bizarrely, Joon-Gi Han is alive and well in Ijincho, despite being shot in the head by Toru Hirose in Yakuza 6. {{Subverted}}, as this one is a replacement body double named Yeonsu Kim, acting as such after the original's demise.]] |
| 112 | ** [[spoiler:Just as bizarre is Kashiwagi. Yes, the same Kashiwagi that got ''hosed by a minigun.'' He doesn't outright reveal his identity, however; the clues provided by the Survive bar's owner are enough, given his scar and that he once mentions facing an armed helicopter. Kashiwagi's feet are also not obscured by miasma in Daigo's summon, something shared with the Sixth Chairman who is supposed to be the only one left of the original Tojo powerhouses at that point.]] |
| 113 | ** [[spoiler:Lau Ka Long gets shot in the head in ''Yakuza 3''. However, Ichiban can meet a weapons merchant named Chau Kau Long who looks like Lau with a different hairstyle and alludes to being in hiding from Kiryu.]] |
| 114 | ** [[spoiler:In a more metaphorical sense, Kiryu resurfaces after FakingTheDead at the end of ''6'' in order to act as a bodyguard for Daigo and Watase.]] |
| 115 | * BackupFromOtherworld: One of Kasuga's Poundmates is [[spoiler:Daigo Dojima, who summons the spirit of his father Souhei Dojima, along with Futoshi Shimano, Osamu Kashiwagi ([[BackFromTheDead except not really]]), and Shintaro Kazama. And they're all ''packing heat''!]] |
| 116 | * {{Bathos}}: As is the norm in the series, this game has ''plenty'' of it. The very first ten minutes alone when you start the game are a prime example. We're first introduced to a young [[BigGood Masumi Arakawa]] being on the wrong end of his [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]] (who is also likely the one who gave him the scar that he has on his face), and then when Masumi and Toshio go out to get some Peking duck, an otherwise heartwarming moment between the two is cut short by Toshio's sudden death. And just a few minutes later after a flash-forward to 2000, we're introduced to Ichiban chasing down a porn peddler, the latter of whom proceeds to call him a cum stain. |
| 117 | --> '''Ushio:''' What, and get caught?! Get fucked, you cum stain! |
| 118 | * BatmanGambit: The final chapter revolves around Ichiban pulling one off. [[spoiler:He suggests to Aoki that there's a recording of Aoki giving orders to yakuza somewhere in the Arakawa office, knowing that Aoki would be unable to rule out the possibility and send somebody (Tendo) to search for the recording. Ichiban and friends defeat Tendo and have Mirror Face impersonate him, and then allow Aoki to give Mirror Face orders to kill Ichiban and all of his associates -- thereby creating material for the very recording he was seeking to destroy, all because Ichiban knew Aoki couldn't afford ''not'' to take the bait on his bluff.]] |
| 119 | * BattleAura: For the first time since Yakuza 0, this is mostly averted. Ichiban and his teammates don't have any inexplicable battle aura surrounding them in combat, but returning characters like [[spoiler:Kiryu, Majima and Saejima]] still do. |
| 120 | * BeefGate: Much of the northern parts of Ijincho is blocked off by high-level enemies that require the player to level up a bit before being able to properly explore them. |
| 121 | * BigBad: The [[AntagonisticGovernor Governor of Tokyo]] Ryo Aoki, [[spoiler: a.k.a, Masato Arakawa]], and by extension, the entire Bleach Japan movement are the key source of all the conflict in the story. The Omi Alliance are also supporting antagonists once more, being the muscle behind Bleach Japan's back. |
| 122 | * BigDamnHeroes: |
| 123 | ** Joon-gi Han makes a return from ''Yakuza 6'', being the one to free Ichiban from the clutches of Mabuchi's goons after being an UnwittingPawn in one of his schemes. [[spoiler: [[MagicPlasticSurgery Or so]] [[BodyDouble it seems]] ]]. |
| 124 | ** Just when it looks like Watase, also returning from ''Yakuza 5'', is about to be skewered by one of his own men, out comes a mysterious man in a suit and glasses, punching the shit out of Watase's would-be killer. Just who is this mysterious man, exactly? [[spoiler: Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima and Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan]], of course. |
| 125 | ** Ichiban finds himself to be this many, ''many'' times in a lot of his Substories. Whether it's saving a couple of down-on-their-luck teenage bikers from some vicious yakuza or putting an abusive boyfriend in his place, you can always count on Ichi to be there. In the main story, he also does this inadvertently to Saeko by saving Nanoha's (who is later revealed to be Saeko's twin sister) father from Sunlight Castle. |
| 126 | * TheBigGuy: Adachi is big-boned and has the highest health of the party. |
| 127 | * BigShutUp: Ichiban delivers quite an emotionally charged "Shut up!" to [[spoiler: Masato]] in a very heated moment after [[spoiler: the latter's defeat]]. |
| 128 | * BilingualBonus: The English version leaves UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics untranslated, giving a bonus to people who know the significance of -kun, -chan, -sama and so on. The Geomijul at the end of Chapter 3 speaks in untranslated Korean before [[spoiler:killing Matsuo.]] |
| 129 | * BittersweetEnding: |
| 130 | ** [[spoiler: Masato's plans have been stopped, his allies arrested, and Ichiban has clawed his way up back to the top. However, both Arakawas have perished (even if Ichiban was the real one instead of Masato), and the impossible has happened: Both the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance have been officially disbanded. Fifteen years have been spent defending the Tojo, only for it to amount to ''nothing'' in the end. In addition, with Hoshino dead and the Ijin 3 in disarray, it's ambiguous as to whether peace will remain in Ijincho. As one story with the Tojo clan and the traditional Yakuza way ends, another begins with Ichiban and his group.]] |
| 131 | ** [[spoiler: And while the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance are both now disbanded, Daigo and Watase have joined together to form a legitimate security company staffed by former members of both groups, which can give them all an honest living, if nothing else.]] |
| 132 | ** [[spoiler:While the Ijin 3 have lost most of their resources and will likely never be as strong as they once were, they are also on the road to rebuilding. Ichiban and his friends have also chosen to stay and act as its protectors, so the situation isn't completely hopeless.]] |
| 133 | * BlackAndGrayMorality: The Ijin Three are hardly saints. The Geomijul are thieves who employ scare tactics and BigBrotherIsWatching security all over the city, the Liumang are brutal against all enemies (skinning people is brought up multiple times) and the Seiryu Clan are a Yakuza clan with all that implies. Nevertheless they do allow people who 'fall through the cracks' a life and keep the city safe from the more brutal crime families like the Omi Alliance. [[spoiler:When the 'Great Wall' falls the city becomes more dangerous and every character is apprehensive of the Omi Alliance swooping in with the power vacuum.]] |
| 134 | * BlackComedy: In the English version the fourth chapter's achievement can combine this with some very severe MoodWhiplash. [[spoiler: the chapter focuses on you working for a soapland, a kind of "brothel light", and trying to help them out with one of their workers going through a crisis. Come the end of it, after a rather heavy resolution to the worker plot, the party of three comes across the manager they've been working for hanging in his own side room, dead for a decent while. The achievement for completing the chapter? "Soap on a Rope".]] |
| 135 | * BloodierAndGorier: Not that the previous games never had any amount of violence, but some of the most visceral bloodshed in the series to date goes down in Yakuza 7. Highlights include Sawashiro gouging out a Tojo patriarch's eye with his thumb and two young [[spoiler:Seiryu Clan]] yakuza being gunned down in the middle of the street. The second instance is especially protracted, with the camera lingering on the two as they're shot again and again before cutting to a first-person shot of [[spoiler:Mabuchi]] executing one after he finally collapses. |
| 136 | * BonusDungeon: The Millennium Tower (which already serves as TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon) becomes the "Final Millennium Tower" in the post-game, including refights against amped-up versions of main storyline bosses, climaxing with a battle against who else but [[spoiler:[[{{Superboss}} Shin Amon]]]]. Beating that turns it into the "True Final Millennium Tower", which is even harder. |
| 137 | * {{Bookends}}: |
| 138 | ** [[spoiler: Masato's story begins and [[HeelFaceDoorSlam ends]] at the same set of lockers that had led to his condition and ultimately sparked the events of Ichiban's arrest, pointing a gun at a Yakuza after a DespairEventHorizon.]] |
| 139 | ** [[spoiler: In a metaphorical sense, Masato began life in one Arakawa's arms and it [[LikeFatherLikeSon ended in the arms of another]] Arakawa (since Ichiban is revealed to be Masumi's biological son.)]] |
| 140 | ** [[spoiler:The first and final fights of the game are one on one fistfights with a member of the Arakawa family, with Ichiban using the Freelancer class]]. |
| 141 | * BossAlteringConsequence: When battling against [[spoiler:Kiryu]], because of [[WouldntHitAGirl his refusal to hit women]], he will not target Saeko and Eri if they're in the party throughout the whole fight. This also applies to his [[{{Superboss}} Shadow version]] in the [[BonusDungeon Final Millennium Tower]]. |
| 142 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Made specifically for the English dub is an animation of Kasuga giving the camera an AsideGlance, and a thumbs up, when talking with the English speaking tourist. |
| 143 | ** [[spoiler:Kiryu's final speech after beating Amon in the Final Millennium Tower is all but a direct rebuff to people disappointed that he's no longer the protagonist, saying that Ichiban isn't Kiryu's "replacement" but someone following his own, different path.]] |
| 144 | * BribingYourWayToVictory: |
| 145 | ** The InUniverse version is Poundmates, the game's SummonMagic, which costs in-game money to SummonBiggerFish via hiring powerful mercenaries. |
| 146 | ** The real-life versions come in the form of several purchasable packs that give you materials, stat-boosting items, Management Mode employees, or extra jobs. All of this is included in the Legendary Hero Edition of the game. |
| 147 | * BrickJoke: In the prologue when we're first introduced to him, Ichiban is chasing after a porn peddler, who proceeds to call him a cum stain. In a later scene where Ichiban and Nanba are cleaning up their new apartment, one of the tissues that they pick up happens to be one full of, well... cum. And when Bleach Japan come by to protest Hamako's brothel, Ichiban threatens to dump a ''cum bucket'' onto the protesters, who proceed to run their asses out of there in disgust. |
| 148 | * BrutalBonusLevel: The Final Millennium Tower that's only available in Premium Adventure has higher level enemies, along with rematches with [[spoiler:shadow versions of Saejima, Majima, Tendo, and Kiryu]]. Beating it then unlocks The True Final Millennium Tower, which is even ''harder'', as every enemy is now level 99, and can KO a party member with two or even just one hit if not Perfect Guarded. Because of that that it's pretty much a must for Ichiban to use [[LastChanceHitPoint Peerless Resolve]] in every battle. [[{{Superboss}} Shin Amon]] also becomes more challenging, as he will summon [[spoiler:Saejima, Majima, Tendo, and Kiryu]] to assist him when he reaches a certain HP level, and taking Amon down doesn't end the battle, you still have to take down the shadows to truly win. |
| 149 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 150 | ** Characters from the Kiryu saga make an appearance, including Goro Majima and his blood-brother Taiga Saejima. [[spoiler:Kazuma Kiryu, himself, also makes an appearance.]] |
| 151 | ** Quite a few characters from Kiryu's saga, even minor ones, feature as [[SummonMagic Poundmates]] Ichiban can literally call on by phone. |
| 152 | *** Susumu Gondawara, the ABDL patriarch of the namesake family from ''2''. He is an offensive Poundmate who inflicts [[StatusEffects debuffs]] on enemies with his infantile wailing. |
| 153 | *** [[ScaryBlackMan Gary Buster Holmes]] is another offensive summon, throwing [[EnhancedPunch force punches]] with the spiky fist maces he wore in ''2''. |
| 154 | *** Korean soap opera actor Il Yu-Jin is an offensive Poundmate who can inflict the "Cold" status effect on enemies by reenacting a scene from ''Series/WinterSonata'' with a female costar via his "Subzero Sonata" special. |
| 155 | ** [[CoolOldGuy Fujisawa]], a.k.a., Pocket Circuit Fighter (and later known as [[spoiler:Dragon Fighter]]), once again makes an appearance here since ''Yakuza 6'' (this being his fourth appearance since his ''Yakuza 0'' debut), which took place in 2016. This time around, he's in charge of Dragon Kart, serving as the FinalBoss of that side story. |
| 156 | ** Ono Michio, like in ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', also makes a return from ''6''. Yes, just like Kiryu, Ichiban gets to wear the suit while fighting a knock-off of the mascot. Even further, both Ichiban and his Party Members have access to ''Michio's Head!'' |
| 157 | * ButForMeItWasTuesday: Shortly after joining up with Adachi again, Ichiban's party meet some homeless men outside of Hello Work. They instantly recognize Adachi as the cop who busted their burglary ring, the Yokohama Pink Panthers, and are itching for payback. Adachi doesn't recognize them, and barely remembers busting their ring when they bring it up by name. |
| 158 | * ButThouMust: |
| 159 | ** During "The Crawfish Caper", Ichiban realizes that Ebihara wanted Nancy the crawfish to make food out of. As Ebihara brings the knife down, the camera cuts to Ichiban's face, and a box with three choices pops up, all of which are "Wait a minute!". |
| 160 | ** Unlike ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', Ichiban isn’t allowed to choose whether to romance all the girls or remain friends. Substory completion requires that he cheat on all 6 women at which point the final substory unlocks with him getting the ever-loving tar beaten out of him. |
| 161 | * CallBack: |
| 162 | ** Much like ''Yakuza 0'', the game starts off with the player character on a collections job. Solidifying the connection is Ichiban stating he wouldn't kill someone during a simple collections job, a point that is very relevant to Kiryu's role in ''0''. |
| 163 | ** When Ichiban comes to Shangri-La after his time in prison, which is now abandoned, Adachi tells him how it's been out of business since [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 some moron (Majima) drove a truck into it]]. |
| 164 | ** The kick that [[spoiler: Kiryu]] does towards the end of [[spoiler: his summon]] is quite familiar to longtime ''Yakuza'' fans as well as those that have played ''Yakuza 0''. [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKRpAECFSzc Receive You ~Tech Trance Arrange~]]]] from the aforementioned game also makes its triumphant return during [[spoiler: said Summon]] as well. |
| 165 | ** Ichiban has a substory involving a [[VideoGame/Yakuza0 chicken]] as well, this one being called Omelette. |
| 166 | ** The tutorial party chat, where Ichiban explains to Nanba that his tattoo is a dragonfish rather than an ordinary dragon because only the top of the Yakuza food chain are worthy of wearing a dragon on their back, is called "Weight of the Dragon." That same name is given to the end game cutscene where [[spoiler:Tendo reveals that he has a dragon tattoo before the boss fight against him.]] |
| 167 | ** [[spoiler:The way in which Ichiban and Tendo trade blows with each other after the latter's defeat is quite reminiscent of the Dynamic Intro between Kiryu and Nishiki in ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza1 Yakuza Kiwami.]]'']] |
| 168 | ** Early in the game, Ichiban and his party are distracted from an investigation by a band of punks trying the same "bump-into-you-and-claim-you-broke-their-bones" scam some [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 other goombas attempted to pull on Kiryu]]. It ends just as poorly for them. |
| 169 | ** During the Ono-Michio storyline, Hironaka wonders out loud [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough where he could possibly find somebody who's both reckless enough to check a bunch of potentially-explosive knockoff toys]], [[AnimeHair and also has a crazy enough hairstyle to not look too different if he guessed wrong]]. The way he asks the question, while staring right at Ichiban, is a direct callback to a substory from ''VideoGame/Yakuza0''. In said substory, another citizen wonders where he might possibly find a suitably shady-yet-inexplicably-trustworthy individual in the exact same way, this time referring to Majima. |
| 170 | ** One of the party chats in Sotenbori has Zhao mention he ran into an old woman with purple hair and a leopard print shirt, a clear reference to Etsuko the Obatarian from ''VideoGame/Yakuza0''. |
| 171 | * CantDropTheHero: Kasuga must always be in the main party at all times. |
| 172 | * CareerEndingInjury: In the substory, "Traffic Census Sensei", Shirabe Michino, the titular sensei, has crippling tendonitis from years of clicking the counter for 30+ years as a census taker. His doctor tells him to retire from his job. |
| 173 | * CashGate: At the start of Chapter 12, Ichiban is tasked with getting 3 million yen to [[spoiler:fund an election campaign against Kume]]. Assuming you've been doing plenty of the Management minigame, this isn't as hard as one might think. |
| 174 | * CastFromMoney: Poundmates are free for the first time you use them, but cost money after. |
| 175 | * CastingGag: |
| 176 | ** Creator/WillYunLee portrays BigBad Ryo Aoki/[[spoiler:Masato Arakawa]] in this game's English dub. In ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012'', he was none other than [[TheHero Wei Shen]]. To drive the point home, one of Kasuga's lines in the finale is that Aoki couldn't "let Sleeping Dogs lie." |
| 177 | *** He also plays an antagonist who fakes his death and assumes a new identity while being a VillainWithGoodPublicity. [[Film/DieAnotherDay Wouldn't be the first time]]. |
| 178 | ** Anyone else find it rather amusing that two of [[Manga/FistofTheNorthStar Kenshiro's]] [[Creator/KaijiTang voice]] [[Creator/RobbieDaymond actors]] are in this game? |
| 179 | ** Creator/MatthewMercer is the English voice for Majima, taking over from Creator/MarkHamill, who dubbed Majima in the original game. Mercer also did the dub for [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Jotaro Kujo.]] In ''Kiwami 2'', Majima fought a guy voiced by Dio Brando's [[Creator/TakehitoKoyasu seiyuu]]. |
| 180 | *** This also makes yet another time when Mercer takes over a role from an actor who voiced ComicBook/TheJoker.[[labelnote:note]]He is frequently called in to substitute for Creator/TroyBaker, due to their similar voices, and Baker has been voicing the Joker in recent media, replacing Mark Hamill.[[/labelnote]] |
| 181 | ** Creator/DavidHayter voices the bartender of Survive, the name of the bar in Ijincho. It's also the name of the [[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive latest entry]] in a familiar video game franchise where the person that he voiced in it also got attacked by an attack helicopter. He even smokes, too. |
| 182 | ** Remember how [[VideoGame/Persona5 Hifumi]] [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was going to be a member of the Phantom Thieves]] before becoming a Confidant? Well, Creator/EdenRiegel just so happens to voice Eri, who is an OptionalPartyMember in this game! |
| 183 | ** Creator/YuuichiNakamura is also the voice of Karamatsu, the 2nd Sextuplet from ''Anime/OsomatsuSan''. The joke here goes that Joon-gi Han is ''exactly'' the kind of character Karamatsu is a loser version of. |
| 184 | ** Creator/ElizabethMaxwell and Creator/CheramiLeigh are both sisters in the English dub. Just like [[VideoGame/Persona5 Makoto and Sae]]. Though the Mukoda sisters are twins, it's implied that Saeko is the older twin, so Maxwell is once again the older sister here, too. Funnily enough, Maxwell comes closer to sounding like Leigh as Saeko even more than Sae, very likely due to the Mukoda sisters being twins as opposed to the Niijima sisters' clearer and larger age gap. |
| 185 | ** Creator/EricaLindbeck voices [[VideoGame/Persona5 another character called Futaba]] who appears in Nanba's Drink Link. |
| 186 | * CatsAreMean: |
| 187 | ** It wouldn't be a Yakuza game without a boss fight against a tiger. |
| 188 | ** Kasuga can also summon a kitten who turns into a giant tiger. |
| 189 | * CelebrityParadox: Some questions of the Vocational School exams reference quite a few Sega franchises and games. Specifically: |
| 190 | ** ''VideoGame/SakuraWars''. Creator/AkioOtsuka (Kouichi Adachi) appeared in ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2ThouShaltNotDie''. Creator/KozoShioya (Taizo Kitagata) voiced Jim Evian in ''VideoGame/SakuraWars3IsParisBurning''. Creator/KeijiFujiwara (Homare Nishitani) and Creator/KoichiYamadera (Shun Akiyama) were in ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheMovie'', with Yamadera playing the BigBad Brent Furlong. ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'' features Creator/ShowHayami (Reiji Ishioda), Creator/SumireUesaka (Saeko Mukoda), Creator/RyotaroOkiayu (Shoyo Toma), Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (the second Makoto Makimura), Creator/RyokoShiraishi (Mai Sanada and the second Saya Date) and Creator/RieKugimiya (Haruka Sawamura) as Tekkan Amamiya, Yui Huang, President G, Hakushu Murasame, Komachi Oba and Margarethe, respectively. |
| 191 | ** ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Koji Ochiai (Toshio Arakawa) voices a GUN Soldier in ''Sonic Adventure 2'' and Creator/RyokoShiraishi (Mai Sanada and the second Saya Date) plays Chip in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''. Additionally, Creator/WataruTakagi (Koji Masuzoe) voices Cubot and Creator/KentaMiyake (Yuya) appears as Vector the Crocodile. |
| 192 | * ChestMonster: There are trash bags that turn out to be enemies in disguise. Literal trash mobs, you might say. The optional dungeons also have safes, which are functionally treasure chests, and have a chance to contain a "degenerate" who will leap out an initiate a battle with the party. |
| 193 | * CheckpointStarvation: Any dungeon that is not Yokohama and Kamorocho Underground Dungeon has no save point at all, meaning it needs to be done in one sitting. This is especially bad when inside TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon as it can take over three hours to complete: fight your way to the top of the tower, cutscenes, penultimate boss, cutscenes, final boss, more cutscenes, credits, even more cutscenes, The End, now you may save. |
| 194 | * ChromaticArrangement: The core three members of the party are Ichiban (red), Adachi (blue) and Nanba (green). [[spoiler:They are eventually joined by Zhao (yellow), while in the meantime Han and Saeko represent black and white respectively]]. |
| 195 | * ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Each class in the JobSystem gives Kasuga and his mates a unique outfit: the "Bodyguard" class dresses him in a badass black suit, while taking on the "Host" job gives him a flashy jacket. |
| 196 | * ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Yosuke Tendo.]] Also overlaps with MarathonBoss as he has the highest health out of any major boss encounter in the entire game. |
| 197 | * CombinationAttack: Aside from an always-available Tag Team attack that calls upon all your current party members to beat down an enemy, by maxing out a party member's bond Kasuga can perform a unique Kiwami Action with them. |
| 198 | * ColorMotif: All of the party members have a certain color in all of their base Job outfits. |
| 199 | ** Ichiban is [[RedIsHeroic red]]. |
| 200 | ** Adachi is blue. |
| 201 | ** Zhao is yellow. |
| 202 | ** Eri is grey. |
| 203 | ** Saeko is white. |
| 204 | ** Han is black and silver. |
| 205 | ** Nanba is green. |
| 206 | * ConflictBall: At the end of Chapter 5, Seong-Hui's insistance on [[spoiler:arresting and/or killing Nanba]] eventually proves to be the fault line in the Great Wall of Muscle, and eventually leads to [[spoiler:the Omi Alliance outright invading Ijincho when Nanba turns traitor as a direct result]]. All of this happens because Seong-Hui refuses to give [[spoiler:Nanba]] any information about his brother - even when he explicitly says that he just wants to know if his brother is at least still alive. This information is well within Seong-Hui's capacity to give without risking Geomijul's secrets, but she refuses to explain anything about what she's doing to Ichiban and his team, with dire consequences for everyone involved. |
| 207 | * ContinueCountdown: Ordinarily, Ichiban going down during a battle will simply kick the player back to the street minus half their money and all but 1 hit point. But if he goes down during a story battle or dungeon, the player is shown a screen of a defeated Ichiban sprawled on the ground. From there, they have a few seconds to decide whether to retry at the cost of half their money, or return to the title screen. Despite starting from 9, the countdown is surprisingly slow. If the player chooses to continue, Ichiban jumps back up. |
| 208 | -->''"[[{{Determinator}} I'll get up as many times as it takes!]]"'' |
| 209 | * ContinuityNod: The game's plot has some very noteworthy parallels to the [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 very first game]], even as Kiryu and Ichiban are very different characters that end up going through very different stories in their debuts: |
| 210 | ** Both games have Kiryu and Ichiban TakingTheHeat for a murder committed by a friend and serving a lengthy prison sentence for it. |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler:Said friends end up becoming their game's main antagonist. Akira Nishikiyama and Masato Arakawa are both clear examples of the "[[EvilCounterpart dark side of the protagonist]]" archetype, serving as examples of what Kiryu and Ichiban could've respectively become had their lives or personalities shaped out differently]]. |
| 212 | ** [[spoiler:Kiryu/Nishiki and Ichiban/Masato's first meeting in the present day occurs when the antagonist invites the protagonist for a one-on-one meeting at a bar, with them organising an ambush once their conversation is done]]. |
| 213 | ** Both games see their protagonists use a local homeless camp as part of their base of operations, receiving help from its inhabitants. |
| 214 | ** One of their allies and sources of information ends up being [[spoiler:a figure controlling a vast surveillance network across their respective districts from a secret underground complex]]. |
| 215 | ** The original ''Yakuza'' also happened to pay a visit to Yokohama for a few story moments, including a visit to what is apparently the same Chinatown district as is featured in Ijincho of ''Like a Dragon''. |
| 216 | ** Part of the central mysteries in both games include investigating the whereabouts of a very large stash of criminal money. [[spoiler:In both cases, it revolves around a politician using the money to control the Yakuza clans for his own ends. A key difference is that the main antagonist of ''Like a Dragon'' is that politician, while in ''Yakuza'' he's the secondary villain. Also, in both games the politician dies when a former underling stabs him in the gut as a sneak attack]]. |
| 217 | * ContinuingIsPainful: Losing a battle costs you half of your on-hand money. |
| 218 | * ContinuitySnarl: A minor one in regards to ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' being referenced to. In ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', they used a parody name (Arakure Quest), while in this game they use the series name proper. This is mainly because Toshihiro Nagoshi got permission from ''Dragon Quest'' creator Yuji Horii to do so. |
| 219 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Hoshino point out to Ichiban that it's only by pure coincidence that Ichiban and friends are involved with the main plot. [[spoiler:Mabuchi could've killed anyone to trigger the war between Liumang and the Seiryu Clan, but he chose to kill Ichiban's boss, Nonomiya—the person with a personal connection to the BigBad]]. |
| 220 | * ContractualBossImmunity: Non-human opponents such as Excavators, or Tigers are completely immune to any {{Grapple Move}}s. |
| 221 | * CoolOldGuy: Kanbe, the janitor [[spoiler:[[KingIncognito actually Director]] ]] of Hello Work. He bends the rules to help out Ichiban and his party, and effectively uses Dragon Quest metaphors to help Ichiban understand what kind of work he's able to offer them at the time. |
| 222 | * CosmicPlaything: When the entire history of the Arakawa family line is revealed, it seems that God himself has it out for the bloodline with [[BornUnlucky all the misfortunes and hardships that come their way]]. |
| 223 | ** Firstly, the Grandfather, Toshio Arakawa. A struggling theatre troupe actor married to an emotionally (and in the case of their son, physically) abusive wife, whose control over the troupe's finances mean they're subservient to her will. She openly cheats on her husband and and leaves him to do all the hard work around their troupe, and despite Toshio's struggles, he's still a good father to his son Masumi....which makes it more traumatic for the latter when Toshio's attempt to take them out for one good night of a Peking duck dinner winds up with him being shot dead in the restaurant by an unknown assassin. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that in order to support their theatre and perhaps allow his son's talent as an actor to shine, Toshio had become a smuggler of counterfeit bills for the Seiryu Clan, but after a case of a hundred million fake Yen went missing on his watch, to cover up their counterfeiting operation and drive home how serious they were about the secrecy involved, Toshio was killed by the heir apparent to the Clan [[MakeAnExampleOfThem as an example to his fellow smugglers]]. Making it worse, the actual thief of the fake yen was later revealed to be his wife, meaning Toshio was completely innocent]]. |
| 224 | ** Then the father, Masumi Arakawa, who arguably gets the worst of the lot. In addition to the above tragedy and being resultantly orphaned at a young age, he wound up inevitably falling into the Yakuza lifestyle to support himself whilst also trying to investigate his father's death, joining up with the Hikawa family. Masumi's boss eventually valued him enough to ask him to marry his daughter, but Masumi was already secretly in love with a woman named Akane during this time, and even got her pregnant. When the boss found out, he ordered a hit put out on all of them for the "disgrace" and Masumi spurning his generosity. Though Masumi managed to escape this own execution, he was unable to reunite with Akane, and in desperation, she hid their son in a coin locker for Masumi to find whilst she lead their pursers away, apparently to her death. Whilst Masumi was able to recover his son, the time spent in the freezing cold locker nearly killed him and left him confined to a wheelchair throughout his life, leaving him feeling ostracised from others in addition to the stigma of being the son of a Yakuza boss. Despite Masumi's best attempts to care for Masato, this bitterness would poison him growing up, [[spoiler:eventually leading to him becoming power-hungry once he managed to get surgery in America to overcome his disability and created a new identity of "Ryo Aoki". Masato returned to Japan and blackmailed his own father into providing insider information on the Tojo clan to enact his "Kamurocho 3K Plan" to drive the Tojo clan out, resulting in Masumi having to bear the stigma of being known as a power-hungry traitor to the Tojo himself. Masumi only went along with this in order to become TheMole for Daigo Dojima, as part of his and Watase's plan to dissolve both the Tojo and Omi clans together, as Aoki's anti-Yakuza laws meant the end of the Era of the Yakuza. On top of this, Masumi had to twice over betray his most loyal subordinate, Ichiban Kasuga, who was [[LikeASonToMe like a second son to him]] firstly having him take the fall for Masato's own murder of an Omi Yakuza, resulting in him rotting in prison for 18 years, secondly by [[FakingTheDead seemingly shooting him dead]] once Ichiban burst into an Omi alliance meeting to demand answers. And after [[HopeSpot the dissolution plan finally came to pass and Ichiban affirmed he was still willing to remain Masumi's loyal subordinate despite it all]], Masumi is then betrayed at the last moment by ambitious Lieutenant Yosuke Tendō, who allied with Masumi's side only because the situation would allow him to reform the Omi Alliance underneath his control, and kills Masumi to gain the support of the scattered Omi forces, leading to him dying with Tendo's smug smile being his last sight]]. |
| 225 | ** And then there's the son, Masato Arakawa. [[spoiler:Or as he is actually known, Ichiban Kasuga. Due to a ContrivedCoincidence on the night on Masumi and Akane's escape attempt, Ichiban was accidentally SwitchedAtBirth with Jo Sawaoshio's own son, who was in the coin locker next to him. Growing up in a soapland, the young Ichiban eventually got into trouble with a Yakuza family after he picked the wrong fight, only being saved by claiming he was connected to the Arakawa family. When Masumi showed up to save him and even sacrificed his pinky despite not knowing Ichiban, or that he was his own son, it cemented his lifelong loyalty to his own father, falling into the Yakuza lifestyle out of admiration for him. This loyalty would see Ichiban suffer numerous hardships and misfortunes, being betrayed by allies, spending decades in prison for Masato's sake, and apparently nearly killed by Masumi's own hand, on top of discovering their true familial connection only after Masumi's passing. Ichiban's determination to do right by his father's wishes leads to him eventually stopping Masato's ambitions and exposing the truth of his past publicly, nearly [[DrivenToSuicide driving him to suicide in despair]], only for [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Ichiban's heartfelt pleas to finally get through to him and convince him to atone for his misdeeds]]....before Masato is fatally stabbed to death in front of him by his fanatical follower Kume, broken by the fact everything about "Ryo Aoki" was a lie. And despite all the tragedy and suffering he and his family line have endured, Ichiban [[HopeSpringsEternal still holds onto hope]] that he can climb up from "Rock Bottom" regardless at the end]]. |
| 226 | * CounterAttack: When [[spoiler:Kiryu]] is low on health, he'll use his signature [[spoiler:Tiger Drop]] counter against any physical attacks that don't [[AlwaysAccurateAttack trigger a cutscene]]. |
| 227 | * CounterfeitCash: Kasuga finds a defective counterfeit bill stuffed in his suit pocket after being dumped in Ijincho with no clue on how it got there. [[spoiler: As it turns out the entire plot of the game revolves around Ijincho's counterfeit cash making industry, with both the Ijin Three and the local politcal party leader in on it in order to make Ijincho into a grey area.]] |
| 228 | * CoveredInKisses: A downplayed version happens at the end of Saeko and Eri's respective romance substories, where the girls will give Ichiban a smooch on the cheek that leaves a visible lipstick marking that the Bartender will notice the next morning, while our protagonist remains utterly clueless during both cases. |
| 229 | * CoveredWithScars: The Scarred Yakuza enemy has battle scars covering the top of his body. They're found in the Sotenbori Battle Arena and the Kamurocho Underground. |
| 230 | -->A heavily-scarred yakuza from a lesser known family. One look is enough to tell you how much bloodshed he's survived. |
| 231 | * ConvictionByContradiction: During Adachi's fourth drink link, he and Ichiban meet with the man who claims Takashi scratched his car's bumper. After the man rants about how he saw Takashi's bike pedal scratch his import sedan from England, Ichiban says that actually seeing Takashi scratching his bumper would be impossible from his point of view. The man then tries to claim the steering wheel was on the left, but then Adachi says that Japanese and British cars have the steering wheel on the right. All this proves that the man was making things up. |
| 232 | * CompanyCrossReferences: |
| 233 | ** Classic Sega games can be found and played in arcades throughout the game. |
| 234 | ** Music from ''VideoGame/Persona5'', ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA'', and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' can be earned as rewards from minigames. |
| 235 | ** Characters from ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' appear as prizes in the UFO catcher. |
| 236 | ** In one coversation, Zhao mentions his strict parents would only allow him to play a hour of video games each day. He decided to play past his allowed time one night, but the battery in his VMU was dead, which gave him away. Ichiban mentions the Platform/{{Dreamcast}} by name. |
| 237 | * TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Kasuga felt the Self-Proclaimed Hero's Bat was a weapon for a hero, and many jokes were made at his expense (even the name of it was one). When you meet Sumire, however, it turns out he was kinda right, since it was from a special Hero Series. |
| 238 | * CursedWithAwesome: Mr. Masochist has developed an indestructible body that FeelsNoPain, which is less than desirable for someone who actually enjoys physical pain. His Poundmate special has him induce this on your party. |
| 239 | * CuteGhostGirl: [[spoiler: Kaede from the Forget me Not substory. Foreshadowed by the fact that she claims to have known Ichiban from before he went to prison and yet she looks like a teenager or young adult (and hinted at by outside perspectives of their date showing Kasuga all by his lonesome).]] |
| 240 | * CutscenePowerToTheMax: The battle with [[spoiler: Ryo Aoki a.k.a. Masato Arakawa, is very easy, with Aoki dealing very little damage and even missing his attacks somewhat frequently, causing him to stomp his feet in frustration. During the QTE sequence after the normal battle however, he's shown doing fairly well against Ichiban, landing quite a few blood-spilling punches. Somewhat unusually for this trope, the gameplay depiction makes more sense in-universe than the cutscene, as Aoki was wheelchair-bound until receiving surgery and soon afterwards began focusing on politics, leaving little room to gain experience with fistfighting.]] |
| 241 | [[/folder]] |
| 242 | [[folder:D-H]] |
| 243 | * DangerousForbiddenTechnique: There is a side quest in which our hero Kasuga can invest in a giant street-cleaning Roomba. When the inventor demonstrates it, he turns on the "forbidden high power mode," the Roomba starts sucking in cats and old ladies, and you have to fight it. |
| 244 | * DeadlyEuphemism: The "Excellent Room" within Sunlight Castle is [[spoiler:really just an execution chamber]]. |
| 245 | * DenserAndWackier: It is by far the wackiest out of the mainline Yakuza games (Dead Souls and Paradise Lost were spinoffs), with giant crabs, defeating enemies with music and turn-based combat. Averted in regards to the actual story, which is just as dramatic and serious as prior entries, only offset by the fact that Kasuga would participate in the more light-hearted moments rather than being an observer. |
| 246 | * DeusExitMachina: [[spoiler:Kiryu, Saejima and Majima are not present in the final chapter, the former due to having to keep a low profile and the latter two having to protect Daigo and Watase from Omi reprisals. Considering how strong they’re shown to be in this game alone they could’ve easily taken down Tendo and Aoki if even one of them were present.]] |
| 247 | * DevelopersForesight: |
| 248 | ** An early sidestory is about a pawnshop owner who refuses to throw anything away and thus trash is piling up in the street. One of the suggestions Ichiban can make is buying said trash to which the owner demands 10 million yen, a price that the player is unlikely to have unless they saved the sidestory for way later or are in NewGamePlus. Assuming you do have the money, however, Ichiban will agree and the representative who asked for help will incredulously ask if Ichiban’s really homeless with that much cash on hand. |
| 249 | ** During the substory where you unlock the vocational school, Ichiban meets an English-speaking tourist trying to find the train station, whom Ichiban can't understand. If you're playing with the English dub on, he does an AsideGlance when he realizes the tourist is speaking English. |
| 250 | ** Ichiban gets [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHcc4IQ_LYo his own version of Essence of Microwave]] if he happens to be close enough to a convenience store when the player uses Essence of Roadside Weapon, where usually is Ichiban using a a weapon near him to attack or slamming the opponent into the ground if there isn't a weapon nearby. |
| 251 | ** Because Essence of Damnation Date is a OneHitKO, [[ContractualBossImmunity it does not work on bosses]]. However, each boss has fully unique dialogue to reject Saeko/Eri's advances when they just as easily could have made it so that bosses can't even be targeted by this skill. |
| 252 | * DiscOneNuke: Several can be found, true to series tradition, for both Management Mode and the base game. |
| 253 | ** For the game itself: |
| 254 | *** In early Chapter 3 to 4 if you are decent at Mahjong, you can easily make several hundred thousand by winning the Citron Mahjong Tournament which gives you access to mid tier gear early which in turn makes you invincible. |
| 255 | *** Eri can be unlocked as early as Chapter 5 (roughly a third into the game) and is quite a capable party member in her own right. She has much higher damage output than Saeko by default while also having more health and access to the same classes as her. [[spoiler:And given how you spend about four chapters with only two other party members in Adachi and Saeko because of Nanba's absence, she becomes all but essential during this period]]. On top of that, she's considered great with the Dealer Job, which allows her to use it's Dart Airstrike skill to clear a ton of enemies in turn 1 because of her high speed. This is doubly so because, as long as you have enough Charisma, you can nearly immediately get her the Dealer's InfinityMinusOneSword through one of the secret casinos. |
| 256 | *** The Idol class becomes available when Saeko is at level 15 (or level 1 for Eri) and is borderline ''essential'' for the late game, as by Job Rank 6 (which is trivial to reach) it carries a skill that can heal all party members to 100% for negligible MP cost, by rank 12 it can debuff and potentially charm all enemies at once, and it has a number of unique weapons available to it which restore MP with attacks. |
| 257 | *** Completing the Company Management storyline not only maxes out Eri's potential job prospects, it gives a great way to grind cash, and make sure you can easily max out Romance Workshop, as well as anything else that requires money. |
| 258 | *** The Stat Boost set given with the Legendary Hero Edition gives an early boost to Kasuga's social stats, allowing early access to various areas and classes normally reserved for leveling those stats up, and syncs well with his Hero class, itself considered a GameBreaker, since a number of his specials scale in power depending on his social stats. |
| 259 | ** For the company management minigame: |
| 260 | *** Hanayama. His substory is unlocked at the same time as the aforementioned activity itself and is ''right'' near Ichiban Confections, just due north. He's a Rank S employee and has favorable stats as well as high Persuasion, making him ideal for Boardroom Meetings. |
| 261 | *** The DLC employees for the Company Management storyline are unlocked from the get go, have negligible salaries once you get your businesses going a bit, make the Shareholder meetings a cakewalk with their high Persuasion abilities, and, long as they're properly placed, become incredibly profitable workhorses with their amazing stats. |
| 262 | *** In a similar vein to Hamayama, Ikari; he can be unlocked around the time the player is likely to be taking a serious look at Management Mode. What sets Ikari apart is his outrageously low Command Cost, a paltry ''5 points'', in exchange for a very good Charisma stat that allows him to do reliable damage to nearly any Shareholder, let alone those he counters. |
| 263 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Ichiban almost loses a pinky because he used money Masato gave him to cover for the debt collection. Even if Ichiban had truly begged Masato for money just as Jo suggested, it is still an inappropriate punishment and confirmed to stem from Jo's personal hatred of Ichiban instead of upholding the Arakawa family's code of conduct. |
| 264 | * DoAnythingRobot: Sojimaru, the giant Roomba from one of the side quests. Not only can she clean the street, she can also do a fortune-reading, tell you the weather, make you a cup of coffee, give you a massage while playing music. To top it all off, she has a corporate management mode for some reason. Unfortunately, having all these features meant that she wasn't exactly stable... |
| 265 | * DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Ichiban getting a beatdown from all six women in the final substory is portrayed as justified and played for laughs despite him looking worse off afterwards than in many story fights. While it might be considered karmic considering he did cheat, the fact that [[ButThouMust the player isn’t allowed to choose whether to cheat or remain faithful to obtain the substory]] can make it come across as excessive and unearned. Especially since Saeko and Eri actually don’t confess to Ichiban but still act as jilted as the other women. |
| 266 | * DuelBoss: The first boss fight against Sawashiro and [[spoiler:the final fight against Masato]] have Kasuga fight against them one-on-one. |
| 267 | * DuelingPlayerCharacters: |
| 268 | ** Han is fought in Chapter 6. However, he's notable in that he's fought long ''before'' he becomes a playable character. |
| 269 | ** [[spoiler:Nanba]] is fought alongside Ishioda in Chapter 9. |
| 270 | ** While infiltrating the Omi HQ, [[spoiler:Kasuga and his gang run into Majima and Saejima, who decide to pick a fight with them]]. |
| 271 | ** Later on, [[spoiler:Kiryu challenges Kasuga (and to a lesser extent, his team) to a fight in order to test them]]. |
| 272 | * EndOfAnEra: [[spoiler:After being the central mainstays of the series, the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance disband by the end of the game.]] |
| 273 | * AnEntrepreneurIsYou: The business side-activity this time around involves Ichiban becoming president of the coincidentally-named Ichiban Confectionery and attempting to make it the biggest business of Yokohama through hiring employees, buying up assets and dealing with shareholders. |
| 274 | * EtherealWhiteDress: The "Forget Me Not" substory provides an example of one, worn by [[spoiler:Kaede, who turns out to have actually died during Ichiban's prison term]]. |
| 275 | * EvilKnockoff: They're not robots, but several enemy classes are basically antagonistic versions of Jobs available to the player's party. |
| 276 | ** The Vagrant enemy line to Nanba's base class, Homeless Guy. They use many of the same animations, and also wield a "staff" weapon. |
| 277 | ** The Chef enemy line to the identically-named Player Job, unsurprisingly. |
| 278 | ** The Laborer enemy line to the Foreman Job; they have several of the same skills, although theirs are watered down - for instance, they can toss dynamite, but they need to prepare for a turn before doing so. |
| 279 | * EvilTowerOfOminousness: Just before the climax, Ichiban visualizes the Millennium Tower in a fashion reminiscent of the [[Videogame/FinalFantasyVII Shinra HQ Tower]]. |
| 280 | * ExactWords: Subverted. At the start of the game, Sawashiro tasks Ichiban with recovering the wallet from a debtor who needs money for his ailing mother. Ichiban takes the wallet, but lets the debtor keep the yen. However, he replaces the missing yen with the money that Masato gave him. Unfortunately, Sawashiro recognizes the bill strap as being from Masato's bank and nearly cuts off his pinky for disobedience anyway. |
| 281 | * ExperienceBooster: For each job, there is an equippable item which gives a 50% boost to job XP from battles. |
| 282 | * FastballSpecial: [[spoiler:[[BashBrothers Majima and Saejima]] use a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfFS2HyghI&t=732s wide-ranging variation]] in their BossFight where Saejima swings Majima around so he slashes away at surrounding enemies, then throws him at the primary target as a feint to double-team with a brutal punch/knee combo.]] |
| 283 | * FeelsNoPain: Mr. Masochist got into so much kink play that his skin hardened to the point he feels no pain. Knives can't even scratch him at all, and none of your own attacks do a lick of damage. As a masochist, he's naturally quite depressed over it. His Poundmate Special allows him to impart some of his ability to nullify pain via cringing at him. |
| 284 | * FetchQuest: Many Part Time Hero missions are of this type. Gather some items, and either take them to a Part Time Hero representative, or to whoever in the city needs them. |
| 285 | * FictionalPoliticalParty: The Citizen's Liberal Party is a pretty clear send-up of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratic_Party_(Japan) Liberal Democratic Party of Japan]] ([[NonIndicativeName actually a fairly hardline conservative party]]) who have been the driving force in Japanese politics since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Their long tenure in power has given the party time to connect on many levels with both industry and underworld figures, leading to regularly surfacing scandals when things come to light. |
| 286 | * FinalBoss: Ryo Aoki/[[spoiler:Masato Arakawa.]] |
| 287 | * FireBreathingDiner: 'The Miracle of Spice' substory is about some miracle kimchi that's so hot that one bite sends the diner running, red-faced and steam coming off of them. Ichiban discovers the surprising benefits of the stuff. |
| 288 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: ''Tons'' of it during the party's chat with Seong-Hui at the end of Chapter 5, shortly before [[spoiler:Nanba]]'s treachery is revealed. |
| 289 | * FixedDamageAttack: Getting hit by a car, in or out of combat, always deals 100 damage to whoever got run over. |
| 290 | * FluffyTheTerrible: The angry crayfish that you can summon to claw the hell out of enemies is named Nancy. The cat that turns into a tiger is Robson. You also have a bear, a tiger, and a chimp that give Ichiban a lot of trouble in the "Ringleader Roundup" series of substories. Their names being Catherine, Charlotte, and Clara, respectively. |
| 291 | * ForcedLevelGrinding: It's entirely possible if not likely for your party to be at around level 30 when you first go to Sotenbori and fight [[spoiler:Majima and Saejima]], and they're level 50 at that point you ''will'' get beaten senseless. The game gives you a selection of different dungeons to fight through to level up in at least, although these have their [[CopyAndPasteEnvironments own detractors]]. |
| 292 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 293 | ** [[spoiler:The parallels between Arakawa and his father, and Arakawa and Kasuga, when planning a special Peking Duck dinner, along with their similar skin tones, foreshadows Kasuga being Arakawa's real son surprisingly well]]. |
| 294 | ** [[spoiler: In Ichiban's flashback when he was waiting to get Arakawa's approval, a teenage Masato is also shown. However, his appearance bears extreme resemblance to Ryo Aoki, who is Masato's new identity, with the exception of wearing his glasses.]] |
| 295 | ** [[spoiler:Why would Akane seal the locker instead of leaving it open so Arakawa could get their baby quicker? She didn’t. Sawashiro’s flashback later on shows that the locker next to Masato’s wasn’t locked, which makes more sense for a woman on the run who had to be pressured to leave her baby behind.]] |
| 296 | ** [[spoiler:During a bit of exposition about the Ijin Three from Nanba in Chapter 3, Kasuga throws out a wild guess that the three gangs' leaders were faking the cold war and taking it easy. Nanba dismisses it as unlikely. Midway through the story, this turns out to be one of the crucial secrets to Ijincho's independence from outside forces.]] |
| 297 | ** During the prologue, Arakawa scolds Ichiban for laughing, [[spoiler:because the only time a Yakuza laughs with his teeth is when he's in deep trouble, or when he's with family. [[LukeIAmYourFather Well]] ]].... |
| 298 | * ForWantOfANail: A lot of the main plot hinges on [[spoiler:Masumi Arakawa opening the wrong locker, and unknowingly gaining Sawashiro's then-disabled baby as his son. Had he opened the locker right next to it, he would've gained Ichiban, his actual son, and, since Masato likely would've died as a baby then, the whole plot involving Bleach Japan would've never happened]]. |
| 299 | * FriendlyFireproof: Your party members don't take damage from AOE skills and attacks from their teammates unless the skill ''explicitly'' states that it will cause friendly fire damage, but are still affected in some way. For example, if a party is in the AOE of Ichiban's Mega or Giga Swing, they'll get knocked down along with any enemies within the AOE, which can put them in a world of hurt if they tumble next to an enemy that's having their turn after Ichiban, as this opens them up to a critical hit from said enemy. Averted when objects in the environment are thrown or kicked around, both your party and enemies can damage their own teammates with a flying crate. |
| 300 | * FriendlyRivalry: [[spoiler: Against all odds it seems like Kiryu and the Amon’s relationship has become this considering their chat after Ichiban’s party beats Shin Amon. Ichiban and Shin’s relationship appears to be developing into this as well since neither side holds any animosity to the other and even during rematches Ichiban is eager to fight while Shin never holds a grudge for being beaten again.]] |
| 301 | * FromBadToWorse: Ichiban's situation after the New Year's celebration in a nutshell. First, he's asked by his Patriarch to [[TakingTheHeat take the fall for Sawashiro]], a man who loathes him, in order to save the entire family from retribution from the Omi Alliance. Ichiban nonetheless agrees and gets 15 years in prison. Then whilst in prison, he's attacked and harassed by belligerent inmates, and in the process of defending himself (especially after they insult the Arakawa family) he gets an additional 3 years added onto his sentence. Then when he gets out, he finds the world has seemingly forgotten about him, [[StrangerInAFamiliarLand the Kamurocho he knew has drastically changed]], the Tojo clan has been forced out and replaced with the Omi alliance roaming the streets, and it's all due to his own Patriarch, who seemingly betrayed the Tojo Clan after the death of his son (whom Ichiban regarded as a brother despite his horrible treatment of him). Then in the process of trying to get answers, Ichiban not only find that Captain Sawashiro is [[UngratefulBastard utterly uncaring of the prison time he served in his place]], his attempt to get answers from Arakawa has him try to shoot Ichiban dead, which him only surviving apparently through sheer luck. Ichiban then wakes up buried in a trash pile on the streets of Yokohama without any money or options after being discarded by those he sacrificed so much for. Oh, and his attempt to get his preferred Punch Perm hairstyle [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking just resulted in him getting his signature "Rat's Nest" haircut that he's stuck with for the rest of the game.]] It's not for nothing that the trophy for competing chapter 2 is "Rock Bottom". |
| 302 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: |
| 303 | ** While Ichiban is asking Nick Ogata for a startup loan for Ichiban Confections, Eri's chewing on a rice cracker bigger than her head. |
| 304 | ** After Ichiban manages to defeat Clara (who was operating a digger), the construction workers that had previously gone out to lunch come back to find their digger up in flames, with them panicking as Ichiban and Yasuda are talking with each other. |
| 305 | ** Due to some GoodBadBugs involving [=NPCs=], you can often see some [=NPCs=] immediately turn around whenever Ichiban is talking to someone, whether it's before or after a fight, leading to some rather amusing moments. This isn't too surprising, however, as this has also been seen across multiple games in the series. |
| 306 | * FunWithAcronyms: Initially, the English menu was Skills, More, Guard, and Attack. After a fan suggested it, due to the appropriate acronym, the devs went SureWhyNot, and changed it to '''[=S=]'''kills, '''[=E=]'''tc., '''[=G=]'''uard, '''[=A=]'''ttack.[[note]] The menu spells [=SEGA=]. [[/note]] |
| 307 | * GameBreakingBug: Some condition, still unknown and unpatched several years after release, will prevent some of the Honk Honk people from ever spawning, permanently preventing HundredPercentCompletion. |
| 308 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: |
| 309 | ** Reflecting Kasuga's love of ''Dragon Quest'', the game is much more traditionally turn-based, with other common RPG elements given a ''Yakuza'' makeover. Even the Japanese subtitle, "Whereabouts of Light and Darkness", is similar to the kind of subtitles found on ''Dragon Quest'' games. Furthermore, the game actually goes out of its way to justify it as much as possible, like saying Ichiban has a habit of letting his opponents get a slug in (to justify the turn-based combat), and everything looking like an [=RPG=] is because everything is seen ThroughTheEyesOfMadness. |
| 310 | ** This game has by far the most varied and quirky enemy variety in the series, ranging from simple thugs and punks to murderous otakus, con artists who smack you with briefcases, hobos disguised as trash bags, and hammer-wielding men twice Ichiban's size. This is explained to be due to Ichiban's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness out-of-control imagination]], and the rest of the party see the enemies as standard thugs. |
| 311 | ** It's common knowledge that Kasuga's base class is called Freelancer. That said, if you look at it during the first two chapters, you'll see it actually starts off as Yakuza, then changes to multiple names, including Arakawa Loyalist and Deadbeat, then finally ending as Freelancer. |
| 312 | ** At the start of chapter three, Ichiban is homeless and lacking in resources, being reliant on Nanba's instruction on how to scrounge for petty change and other activities to prove his worth. As a reflection of this, all of Ichiban's gear is stored in the Item Box and all his cash accumulated is stored in an ATM bank, both of which become available for access after Ichiban's managed to integrate himself further into the homeless camp, meaning he spends the first third of the chapter with no money or tools besides the clothes on his back (which are uniquely dirtied up for this section). |
| 313 | ** Ichiban really only starts visualizing the more absurd enemy designs after he picks up his bat and switches to the Hero class. This includes Nanba who doesn’t wear his hood and wears his regular outfit even during combat. |
| 314 | ** There's been some noticeable attention to detail paid in Chapter 1, which is set in 2000. |
| 315 | *** [[VideoGame/Yakuza0 For obvious reasons]], the Millennium Tower is still under construction. |
| 316 | *** Another thing that's fairly obvious is that due to smartphones simply not being around at the time (as well as cell phones not quite at the stage where they've gotten cameras yet), you can't pull out your phone (Up on the D-pad) to take a picture. |
| 317 | *** [[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Bantam]] is still called [[VideoGame/Yakuza1 Bacchus]] since the events of the first game that led to its rebranding have yet to happen. |
| 318 | *** Relating to the above, Shangri-La is still shown to still be doing well and still in business, what with it being Ichiban's childhood home and all. |
| 319 | *** One obvious thing that they missed, however, is that [[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown]] both has posters advertising it and is playable in arcades, even though the initial [=VF5=] wasn't released until 2006, with FS itself being released in 2010. |
| 320 | ** Ichiban's Hero class begins the game as a strong damage-dealer, but eventually progresses into becoming a healer/buffer hybrid with some damage on the side. This reflects Ichiban's real strengths of empathy and compassion coming to the forefront over his fighting skills. |
| 321 | ** In the one time the party has lost their equipment Ichiban will be forced back to the Freelancer class since his bat was also taken. During Saeko’s side story she also keeps her Nanoha disguise in combat regardless of her class. |
| 322 | ** [[spoiler:Majima and Saejima claim they were holding back against the party despite how difficult they were to fight and the way they attack reflects this. Anyone familiar with their movesets from past games will notice that they don't execute their combos fully and leave some of their most [[GameBreaker devastating]] attacks (such as Saejima's charge attacks or Majima's knife counter) off the table. They also avoid using some of their more painful Heat moves, outside of a single Kiwami attack.]] |
| 323 | ** The Chef Job is considered to be extremely weak when used on anyone except for Zhao, who makes it work, and the Chef job is one of his best jobs aside from his Gangster job. Appropriate, since his base of operations is a restaurant, and Zhao, himself, is a SupremeChef. |
| 324 | ** In keeping with the fact that [[spoiler: Kiryu]] doesn't like to fight women, he will never attack Saeko or Eri directly during his boss fight, though they can still get hit if they're too close to his intended target or Kiryu does a counter-attack. |
| 325 | ** The fact that the game's a traditional Turn Based [=RPG=] in the vein of ''Dragon Quest'', ''Persona'', and so on is reflected in story by the protagonists being glorified {{Elite Mook}}s compared to previous main players, and having to be WeakButSkilled to succeed. |
| 326 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: |
| 327 | ** Nanba, Saeko and Adachi are in most cutscenes despite that they don't need to always be in your party. Likewise, Eri never shows up in main story cutscenes at all and there are times Joon-Gi-Han and Zhao are inexplicably absent despite never leaving the party after joining. |
| 328 | ** Ichiban is almost always alone when undertaking substories despite the fact that he always has a party with him. When combat inevitably starts his party just appear then disappear after the fight ends like Ichiban fought all by himself. |
| 329 | ** A minor point in chapter 4 is that because Ichiban's phone was dead, Adachi couldn't track him using its GPS. However the smartphone functions fine in gameplay. |
| 330 | ** Nanba tries to dissuade Saeko from joining in a fight during a story cutscene because she’s a woman. Never mind the fact that the player has likely gotten into at least a couple of battles with Saeko in the party by that point due to random encounters and it’s impossible to get to that cutscene without triggering the Part-Time Hero substory which requires two fights. |
| 331 | ** As always, guns are treated as extremely deadly threats in cutscenes, while in gameplay they’re not nearly as dangerous... unless you're Ishioda, anyway. |
| 332 | ** By the end of the Management minigame, Ichiban will effectively be a captain of industry who owns a powerful {{Megacorp}} with billions of yen in revenue and properties all over the city, but since that is completely separate from the story he can't use any of that supposed corporate power when it really matters. |
| 333 | ** Related to this whenever the topic of money comes up Ichiban always acts like he’s poor and that gathering money will be an issue. |
| 334 | ** Cutscenes always depict Ichiban fighting with his bare hands like previous protagonists despite the fact that he switches to the bat-wielding Hero class early on and it’s unlikely players will return to Freelancer since it can’t equip weapons. The same applies to party members who just put up their fists before combat starts, even [[SquishyWizard Nanba and Saeko]]. |
| 335 | ** [[spoiler:Kiryu]] joins as a Poundmate after Chapter 14 despite explicitly telling Ichiban that he can’t get involved at all any more than he already has. While the other Poundmates already stretch believability [[spoiler:Kiryu]] is the only one who has no reason to ever come to Ichiban’s aid. |
| 336 | *** Even more perplexingly, you can summon [[spoiler:Kiryu]] as a Poundmate [[spoiler:against Shin Amon, ''who Kiryu is shown to be talking to and in the same room as''.]] |
| 337 | ** Speaking of Poundmates, Gary "Buster" Holmes in his one cameo appearance is billed as the service's most popular employee. In actual gameplay terms, his ability is quite ho-hum beyond the point of his introduction and most players largely won't spend money on him in favor of the multitude of other Poundmates unlocked shortly thereafter, whose summons cost far less and offer more beneficial effects than he can. |
| 338 | ** The Magic stat, which affects the damage done by moves considered to be Magic Attacks, exists here and is a mainstay in traditional [=JRPGs=] overall... however, what constitutes a ''magic'' attack in a game where there's not much in the way of actual supernatural ability consists of things like dumping ice on the enemy (for ice magic), a taser (for lightning magic), a hair straighter (for fire magic) and other such absurdities. How a Magic stat affects ''any'' of these isn't exactly explained. |
| 339 | * GameWithinAGame: Like in previous titles, classic Sega arcade games such as ''Virtua Fighter'' and ''Super Hang-On'' can be played in arcades. Like with previous games, this also applies to [=SEGA=]'s [=UFO=] Catcher Crane Games. |
| 340 | * GenderRestrictedAbility: The classes are segregated by gender, meaning that you can't have Ichiban be an Idol or have Saeko be an Enforcer. Neither Saeko or Eri can use Electric attacks unless they have Night Queen's Electric Whip. |
| 341 | * GenreShift: From [[WideOpenSandbox open-world]] [[BeatEmUp brawler]] to turn-based {{JRPG}}, as shown in the TGS gameplay trailer and the associated demo. |
| 342 | * GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: [[spoiler:The main reason why Kiryu fought Ichiban is to get the latter, who was completely overcome by rage following Arakawa and Hoshino's deaths, to vent and get his shit back together.]] |
| 343 | * GhostlyGoals: Played straight with [[spoiler:Kaedo]] from the substory [[spoiler:Forget Me Not]]. The reason she's lingered in the mortal realm was to thank [[spoiler:Ichiban]] for being one of the only people who ever cared about her when she was alive. Once she's accomplished her goal, she's able to move on to the afterlife, with [[spoiler:Ichiban]] expressing his intent to find her after his own death. |
| 344 | * GoodGuyBar: The Survive Bar serves as the gang's hideout much in the way that Serena did in the previous games. Serena itself becomes this once again once the heroes get to Kamurocho. |
| 345 | * GoodOldFisticuffs: The Host job's standard attack is this, and, in specific, is Kiryu's light, light, heavy string from ''Kiwami 2'' and ''6''. |
| 346 | * GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler:There's more than one at play. The first you learn of is how Yutaka Ogikubo, the chairman of the Citizens' Liberal Party, colluded with the Ijin Three to help them run a money counterfeiting scheme. This conspiracy, however, is of a more benevolent nature, as Ogikubo's aid helped to maintain the peace between the Ijin Three: with the counterfeit money, the Liumang could import goods and supplies with help from the Seiryu Clan's printing operation, while Ogikubo had access to significant capital to maintain his political career and remain in a position to keep the peace. The Geomijul eventually entered the fold when they brought with them the means to circumvent the anti-counterfeiting measures new Japanese currency began to use. The other conspiracy is perpetuated by Tokyo governer Ryo Aoki (aka: Masato Arakawa), who founded Bleach Japan, an NGO that gained meteoric popularity for their platform of cleaning Japan of the "grey zones". After revealing the first conspiracy, he was able to oust Ogikubo and take over as the CLP's chairman, using his political clout to take control of the entire country.]] |
| 347 | * GracefulLoser: Oddly enough, [[spoiler: Shin Amon bucks the usual trend of the Amons by being almost proud of Ichiban and his party for beating him. Even during rematches he just says that Ichiban is worthy of being the new Dragon.]] |
| 348 | * GrandFinale: Another one to the Kiryu saga, in a sense. [[spoiler: After eight games with them, the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance disband and are gone by the end of this game.]] |
| 349 | * GratuitousEnglish: In one substory, a generic American tourist asks Kasuga for the way to the station. Kasuga doesn't understand him, but then a passerby butts in and gives directions [[ChewingTheScenery at the top of his lungs]] with a Japanese accent: |
| 350 | -->'''Diligent Man''': "Go! Straight! And! Turn! Right! Go, go, go! Go your way! Believe yourself!!"\ |
| 351 | '''Foreigner Man''': "Oh! Alright! Thank you!"\ |
| 352 | '''Diligent Man''': "You are welcooome!" |
| 353 | * GreaterScopeVillain: |
| 354 | ** You know how Masumi's father was murdered in his backstory, and that led to a chain of events that eventually brought that Kabuki actor into the Yakuza, and, by extension, all the tragedy surrounding his family and associates as a result? [[spoiler:His own mother's greed was the cause of it.]] |
| 355 | ** [[spoiler:The Omi Alliance]] is ultimately responsible for the Ijin Three going to war. |
| 356 | ** During his own pursuit of power, [[spoiler: Juro Horinouchi]] unkowingly caused [[spoiler: Masato's decision to become Ryo Aoki and create Bleach Japan.]] |
| 357 | * GroinAttack: Ichiban's "Atomic Drop", Saeko's "Jewel Breaker" and Night Queen's "Vital Vibration". |
| 358 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 359 | ** The game never tells you that, if you want to explore every nook and cranny you can, it's mandatory to give Kasuga the Foreman job at least once (don't have to level it, just gotta assign it to him), since it immediately grants you the Demolish skill, which can break down barriers. |
| 360 | ** While the game gives you a pretty basic overview on how to carry out the Business Management sidequest, you're still largely left to your own devices in how to turn Ichiban Confections into a profitable business. There's also a number of CashGate moments you will encounter during side content [[note]]Two sub stories requires you to donate 1 million yen each, you'll need 20+ million yen to fully upgrade the Romance Workshop, and additionally a large amount of yen to craft the best equipments[[/note]], and one notable moment in the story will require you to donate 3 million yen in order to advance the game. The quickest method to acquire money is by completing the Business Management sidequest. |
| 361 | ** The Vocational School is the fastest way to increase Ichiban's personality. However, completing the exam demand extensive knowledge from various field of study from sports, maths, fashion, music, history, science, knowledge of previous Yakuza games, SEGA franchise and console history, and many more. Fortunately, you only required to get 3 out of 5 correct answers to pass, except for the hardest exam that includes questions from every other category where you need to get all of them correct. Ikari also sells you a special pen and trains you how to intently concentrate on the test which strike out 2 incorrect answers and gives you an extra 30 seconds once per exam, respectively. |
| 362 | ** Some aspects of the battle system are not in the help files, and are either explained once when they first appear, or not at all: |
| 363 | *** Critical hits: what your base chance is, how to increase it, and when they have happened (by inspection, it's a critical hit if the numbers are in a different font). |
| 364 | *** The game tells you if an enemy is weak or resistant to an attack type or an element, but doesn't say how much of a difference this makes. |
| 365 | *** It's fairly obvious what the Attack, Defence, Magic and Healing stats do, but Agility and Dexterity? (Agility influences turn order, Dexterity dodging and hit chance). |
| 366 | ** The game helpfully has character profiles and story summaries. In ''the settings menu'', which many players won't look at after starting. |
| 367 | ** The rules presented for the notoriously convoluted game of Riichi Mahjong aren't even complete, much less clear or helpful. Critical pieces of information are missing, which will leave players scratching their head as their apparently winning hands somehow "don't count". |
| 368 | * HasAType: Several of the women Kasuga can win the hearts of have a specific personality type that's needed to talk to them more. Kasuga notes that he can chat with them more if he were to become more of a certain adjective, with the adjective being the maximum for a specific one of his social stats. |
| 369 | * HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: |
| 370 | ** [[spoiler:How the fight with Kiryu plays out. You have to win the fight, but it ends with Ichiban's entire team all completely winded and Kiryu looking only slightly bruised by comparison. Then Ichiban makes one final charge only to wake up after a bizarre ImagineSpot, having been knocked unconscious.]] |
| 371 | ** To a similar extent, the fight with [[spoiler:Saejima and Majima]] also count. Just like the above Ichiban’s party looks exhausted after the fight while the worst they get is [[spoiler:Majima]] having some blood on his lip. [[spoiler:Saejima]] doesn’t even have that. |
| 372 | * HealerSignsOnEarly: Adachi is technically the second party member you get, but he's soon left behind in Kamurocho. Not long after the game properly begins, you recruit Yu Nanba, a SquishyWizard with HealingHands as a default ability. |
| 373 | * HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Right after Masato was talked down by Ichiban, he is stabbed to death by Kume for betraying the ideals of Bleach Japan.]] |
| 374 | * HeelFaceTurn: In a more series-wide sense, [[spoiler:what's left of the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan go from a crime family to a security contract company. While the Tojo Clan has always been portrayed as 'good' - or at least less evil compared to other factions - across the series this is the first time they fully leave crime behind for legitimate work.]] |
| 375 | * HellYesMoment: [[spoiler: Kiryu's grand return during the large brawl following the announcement of the Tojo and Omi dissolution. Majima, in particular, is beside himself with joy.]] |
| 376 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: [[spoiler:Kiryu really gives off this feeling. Even the way he meets with Ichiban in Chapter 14 is reminiscent of a side-story with Ichiban being one of the NPC’s he has to help. The full extent of his side of the story was later shown in Like a Dragon Gaiden.]] |
| 377 | * HistoryRepeats: A yakuza takes the fall for a crime he doesn't commit, only to return from his prison sentence to find the Tojo Clan in turmoil? Sounds very much like Kiryu's story... |
| 378 | * HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:When Aoki asks Ichiban to meet him alone, everyone including Ichiban himself knows that it's definitely a trap. But Ichiban still goes there alone, stating that he won't stoop to Aoki's level. Unsurprisingly, when Ichiban rejects Aoki's demand to leave him and Arakawa alone, Sawashiro and his goons shows up to kill Ichiban. Fortunately, his friends went against his back and rescue him]]. |
| 379 | * HumanoidAbomination: The sleep spirits that the Seagull Cinema minigame is based around, combined with AnimalisticAbomination. The [=REM=] Rams, [[MeaningfulName named for REM sleep]], try to widdle away at Kasuga's will to stay awake, and the [[PunnyName Alarm Cocks]] keep him awake as long you avoid hitting them. They're both types because their heads are their respective animals, and everything neck down looks like a Japanese Salaryman (presumably, they're doing their jobs, so it's a VisualPun of them being {{Punch Clock Villain}}s and {{Punch Clock Hero}}es). |
| 380 | * HurricaneOfPuns: The "Golden Opportunity" substory can't resist making a bunch of urination-based puns. |
| 381 | -->'''Police Officer''': "But we've already drained plenty of resources looking for him, and I'll be damned if we piss away more." |
| 382 | * HyperactiveMetabolism: Similar to the previous titles, healing is chiefly done by wolfing down food items and/or chugging Staminan drinks, which restores health to the player characters instantly. The Chef Job is even built for this express purpose. |
| 383 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Despite claiming to follow the law to the letter, Bleach Japan as a whole rarely practices what they preach. They harass businesses, incite violence then cry assault when they get beaten, and [[spoiler:are (albeit unknowingly) in bed with the Omi Alliance.]] Even when they see Ishioda attacking the party with a crane none of them protest the fact that one of their own is trying to commit ''murder'' without any hint of guilt. Granted, [[spoiler:at that point, most of Bleach Japan members are basically disguised Omi Alliance Members]]. |
| 384 | [[/folder]] |
| 385 | [[folder:I-R]] |
| 386 | * IAteWhat: During "The Crawfish Caper", a man named Ebihara gives Ichiban a small plate of greens to eat, which Ichiban remarks looks like boiled spinach. After Ichiban eats it, Ebihara says that he's glad the road weeds he cooked happened to be safe. Ichiban gags and tells Ebihara to test his weeds on someone else. |
| 387 | * IncitingIncident: [[spoiler:Deliberately {{Invoked}} by Mabuchi, as part of the wider plan for Bleach Japan to tear down the Great Wall of Muscle and disband the Ijin Three's stability in the grey zones, which will also allow them to investigate the area to find the counterfeiting operation that is the source of Yutaka Ogikubo's political power and ability to resit Ryo Aoki's political takeover of the government. He deliberately murders Nonomiya, the owner of the top-earning soapland on the The Seiryu Clan's turf, hoping some of the Yakuza who were supposed to be protecting the civilian on their land would investigate his death and follow the trail back into The Yokohama Liumang's territory. There, he could capture them, force them into a "confession" (actually a series of specifically-answered questions that could be recorded and doctored into a statement of war) and then publicly kill some Seiryu Clan members in broad daylight using the video as justification. This will cause two factions to break into open war against each other, weakening the trio's stability and providing justification for Bleach Japan to strike further into the Grey Zones, backed up by Omi Alliance muscle. Whilst none of the Seiryu Clan actually fall for the provocation, Ichiban's yakuza tattoo makes him [[UnwittingPawn more than sufficient as a patsy]] when his party investigate, ultimately leading to The Geomijul being forced to destroy the printing press to prevent proof of Ogikubo's criminal ties being exposed, which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accomplishes the same result in the end]]]]. When reviewing the whole plot later, Adachi notes that it didn't even ''need'' to specifically be [[spoiler:Nonomiya who got killed]], as any business-ower on the Seiryu Clan's territory would have done the job. If anything, it makes [[spoiler:his death]] an even greater KickTheDog moment, as he was more or less chosen at random. |
| 388 | * InelegantBlubbering: Ichiban is an absolute mess after [[spoiler: his final boss fight against Masato, tearfully begging the young master to give up his scheming and pull a HeelFaceTurn]]. |
| 389 | * InfinityMinusOneSword: The weapons and armor from the [[spoiler:Sotenbori Battle Arena]] are the second strongest in the game but can’t be upgraded. A scant few other of these weapons come from other sources, such as being sold by the weapon shop Le Marche in Kamurocho for 10 million yen, or bought with a lot of points from various minigames like the Batting minigame, Shogi, Can Quest or the Gambling Hall. |
| 390 | * InfinityPlusOneSword: Specific weapons like Ichiban’s starter bat are the best in the game once upgraded. Almost all of the best weapons for each job actually start off very weak and require millions of yen in upgrades to become the best. They also require the above mentioned weapons to upgrade to their final iterations. |
| 391 | * InsaneEqualsViolent: The "Imp Patient" is speculated to be wildly hallucinating. |
| 392 | * InterfaceSpoiler: |
| 393 | ** Four blacked out menus when you pause the game in the earlier stages not-so-subtly hide the fact that Business Management, Dragon Kart, and Part-Time Hero all exist, as well as Ichiban being given a smartphone to use by Adachi. |
| 394 | ** The first and last cutscenes of most sidequests are fully voice acted. This means that if you get to a point in one that seems conclusive, but isn't voiced, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle you're not done yet.]] |
| 395 | ** [[spoiler:While Nanba does leave the party after infiltrating the Geomijul Headquarters, the fact that you'll only have his Bond at Level 2 at the highest and that weapons for his unique job can still be obtained and upgraded both point to the fact that he comes back.]] |
| 396 | * ItMakesSenseInContext: THE GAME. Not even taking into account the main story, which is filled to the brim with many moments like these, you've also got the Substories and even some of the minigames like can collecting or Vocational School. Whether you're fighting against tigers ([[VideoGame/Yakuza2 again]]) or telling a foreigner how to get to a train station while your character doesn't speak a single lick of their language... there's plenty of laughs to be had here! |
| 397 | * JobSystem: There are a variety of classes that Kasuga and his comrades can take on. Played for (literal) laughs as you're required to go to an employment agency to change a character's job. They include: |
| 398 | ** "[[GoodOldFisticuffs Yakuza/Arakawa Loyalist/Deadbeat/Freelancer]]", a balanced class for Kasuga focusing on fisticuffs. |
| 399 | ** "Hero", an offensive class for Kasuga that specializes in wielding a [[BatterUp baseball bat]] as well as healing and buffing the party. Also has skills that improve with Kasuga's personality stats. |
| 400 | ** "Homeless Man", Nanba's base class, which allows him to [[SummonMagic summon pigeons]] to attack enemies or [[BoozeFlamethrower breath fire with liquor]]. |
| 401 | ** "Detective", Adachi's base class, which lets him pummel enemies with a LawmanBaton, toss them about, or counter their attacks. |
| 402 | ** "Barmaid", Saeko's base class, which lets her fight with a HandbagOfHurt, as well as giving her AOE attacks and allowing her to inflict status ailments. |
| 403 | ** "Hitman", Han's base class, which involves attacking at close and long ranges with a wide variety of damage types. |
| 404 | ** "Gangster", Zhao's base class, which lets him attack with a lot of forward momentum via the use of martial arts or [[MasterSwordsman a sword]]. |
| 405 | ** "Clerk", Eri's base class, which specializes in speed and large hit counts. |
| 406 | ** "Bodyguard", a heavy-damage class that [[MasterSwordsman grants its users a sword]] and utilizes attacks that [[CastFromHitpoints deal damage to both themselves and the enemy]]. |
| 407 | ** "[[DanceBattler Breaker]]", an offensive job that has access to attacks that buff the user and wide-range AOE's. |
| 408 | ** "Host", a supportive class that can empower allies and debilitates enemies. |
| 409 | ** "[[IdolSinger Idol]]", a class for Saeko and Eri that lets them use music to [[WhiteMage heal]] their allies and debuff enemies. |
| 410 | ** "Foreman", a class that involved low speed and movement that can cause heavy damage and big arcs. Can be used to break open locations with sledgehammers while free roaming. |
| 411 | ** "[[QuirkyBard Musician]]", a long ranged offensive job and team buffer. |
| 412 | ** "Hostess", jack of all trades Job with a wider range of attack types. |
| 413 | ** "[[StoneWall Enforcer]]", a tank job that grants massive amounts of health and defense. |
| 414 | ** "[[DeathDealer Dealer]]", a long-ranged Job with randomized effects. |
| 415 | ** "[[ChefOfIron Chef]]", a jack of all trades job, with a bias towards giving you a wide range on attack effects. |
| 416 | ** "FortuneTeller", a Job resembling a [[SquishyWizard Mage]] that can brainwash enemies, cure the party's status conditions, and revive fallen allies. |
| 417 | ** "[[{{Dominatrix}} Night Queen]]", A high-damage, single-target job, obtained at the cost of either Saeko or Eri’s support skills from the other Jobs. |
| 418 | ** "Devil Rocker", a DLC offensive job with a wide range of attack types. Mainly focuses on applying high damage to enemies in front of you. |
| 419 | ** "[[NaginatasAreFeminine Matriarch]]", a DLC offensive job with a focus on massive arcs of attacks and longer range. |
| 420 | * JustFrameBonus: Pressing the Guard button just as the enemies' attack are about to connect grants you Perfect Guard which slightly reduces damage taken and prevents you from being knocked down. |
| 421 | * KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Attacking a downed enemy will guarantee a critical hit. So you're encouraged to do that. |
| 422 | * KillSat: Completing the Management plotline grants Ichiban the "Essence of Orbital Laser", which has him call down a death ray from a satellite via his phone. It deals massive electric damage to all enemies and may inflict paralyze, but it's also the single most expensive skill in the entire game to the point that if the story is completed early Ichiban will simply not have enough max MP to cast it. [[spoiler:Shin Amon can also use this against your party.]] |
| 423 | * KissOfLife: |
| 424 | ** Saeko's "Essence of Motivation" is her kneeling over her defeated comrade and granting them a kiss that instantly revives them. |
| 425 | ** Nanba's "Essence of Resuscitation" is similar but instead, he prepares to give CPR to his comrade. However, what wakes them up is the VisibleOdor from his mouth, as they promptly evade Nanba's lips, awkwardly telling him that they're fine. |
| 426 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Anti-yakuza laws and enforcement of them have become strong enough to the point where major crime lords can be incarcerated for simple rebellion or actions that they may not even have control over. [[spoiler:With the Tojo and Omi at risk of becoming government pawns in the current climate, Daigo Dojima and Masaru Watase instead decide to disband their factions and start a security company to allow yakuza to reintegrate into society.]] |
| 427 | * LastLousyPoint: This series being what it is, there are quite a few that one might encounter in this game as well on their way to HundredPercentCompletion. |
| 428 | ** The later Part-time Hero quests tend to be this. The later Rescue category quests often require one to track down and defeat very specific kinds of enemy that either spawn very rarely, appear deep within long dungeons, or both. Support quests aren't much better either, with the Egg Delivery trio taking the cake for being possibly the most mind-numbing to do since there is one source of eggs in the game that requires a ton of button mashing to dispense ''one'', the quality of which is entirely random to boot. It's a relief that there are vastly more quests than needed to achieve the Executive Hero rank, however. |
| 429 | ** Some of the minigames can also be this if one isn't already familiar with Japanese culture, like Shogi or Mahjong. Given how relatively simple the other minigames with completion metrics are, the typical player tends to save the gambling activities for last, since they can't be completed by bruteforcing. Mahjong in particular takes the cake as it has the most complex rules by comparison and also the highest requirements in the completion list. |
| 430 | * LaterInstallmentWeirdness: All over the place, this being a [[SoftReboot watershed title]] for the series. |
| 431 | ** The protagonist is no longer the [[TheStoic stoic]], [[RedBaron badass]], and [[OneManArmy all-powerful]] Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima. Ichiban Kasuga, the [[HotBlooded bombastic]], [[GuileHero charismatic]], and [[NiceGuy all-loving]] underdog known as the Dragon of Rock Bottom, is the new protagonist from this game onwards. |
| 432 | ** The genre's been flipped to a turn-based RPG, bringing with it deeper RPG mechanics, a party of multiple playable characters at once, including [[ActionGirl female fighters]], and a JobSystem. |
| 433 | ** The primary setting is now Isezaki Ijincho, a much larger area than Kamurocho with roads traveled by cars [[LookBothWays that can hit you if you aren't careful]]. Though Kamurocho and Sotenbori do make a return in this game as well, Ijincho is replacing the former as the main setting for the series going forward. |
| 434 | ** Unlike prior installments in the series, new skills and [[LimitBreak Heat Actions]] are now automatically acquired as you level up both your Experience Points and your Job Points instead of having to buy them first. As a result, certain miscellaneous upgrades such as the Substory Finder or Unlimited Stamina are now unlocked by default. |
| 435 | * LeakedExperience: Any characters not in the active party still gain a portion of experience from battles. How much they gain depends on their bond level with Ichiban with a full bond meaning they they get full experience. |
| 436 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Several times, [[{{Bathos}} unsurprisingly]]. |
| 437 | ** After beating Shin Amon in the Final Millenium Tower, [[spoiler:Kiryu]] has a private conversation with him, where he says that Kasuga is "less a replacement, and more his own hero walking his own path." That, combined with the AsideGlance to the camera, suggests that it's both a conversation between two friendly rivals, and [[spoiler:Kiryu]] explaining the devs' intentions to the player. |
| 438 | ** After he and Ichiban get their own room to live in, Nanba has a hearty chuckle over Ichiban telling him he wanted to be TheHero when he grew up, finding the idea of him [[ThisIsReality wanting to be]] [[HypocriticalHumor a videogame character]] hilarious. |
| 439 | * LessonOfTheDaySpeech: As coined nicely by Ichiban in TheStinger - |
| 440 | --> '''Ichiban:''' Once you're at [[ArcWords rock bottom]], the only way forward is up. But the bottom doesn't always have to be all dark and gloomy. If you can stand and look up, you'll see the light of hope up there. |
| 441 | * LevelUpFillUp: Increasing a character's level or their job rank also fills their HP and MP. It can come in handy in a pinch. |
| 442 | * LightDarknessJuxtaposition: The themes of 'Light' and 'Darkness' run heavily through the game. As expected, this is played with significantly, to show how those who seem to represent each on the surface, and those who truly embody them underneath don't always match up. |
| 443 | ** Aside from just the original Japanese title, the terms are generally used in the course of the story as symbolic synonyms for optimism and cynicism (or, alternatively, Hope and Despair), respectively. |
| 444 | ** There's plenty of emphasis on the colors white, black, and grey, as well as how easily the meanings attributed to them can be exploited. The purity of white is invoked through Bleach Japan, who wants to clean up the Grey Zones, but do so in [[LightIsNotGood very ruthless ways]], while many go out of their way to emphasize that nobody's situation is truly ever black-and-white with no in-betweens. |
| 445 | * LimitBreak: Kiwami skills, gained through leveling either a character or class high enough (or, in the case of Essence of Orbital Laser, completing the Company Management sidequest) are {{Always Accurate Attack}}s that bring the pain massively with appropriately-animated cutscenes showing them off. They're so powerful, in fact, that spamming them is considered optimal play for higher-level content, for the most part. |
| 446 | * LipLock: Averted. Regardless of whether the English or Japanese voiceovers are selected, the characters' lip movements are animated to match. |
| 447 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Masato isn't Arakawa's son. Ichiban is]]. |
| 448 | * MadeOfExplodium: One substory is about a spate of knock-off talking Ono Michio action figures, which are so poorly made that they ''literally'' explode in the user's face. |
| 449 | * MagicPlasticSurgery: Joon-Gi Han's reappearance after [[spoiler:his death in ''Yakuza 6'']] is HandWaved this way; he's not the original, but [[spoiler: the child of a Jingweon Mafia member]]. |
| 450 | * MagikarpPower: The best weapons in the game start of as low level, weak gear that require millions of yen and rare materials to upgrade to being the best weapons. Ichiban’s starter bat is the best example since it’s the first weapon he can equip. |
| 451 | * MarketBasedTitle: Notable since the subtitle in English is the series' name in Japanese ("Like a Dragon"). |
| 452 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: |
| 453 | ** {{Downplayed}}, but the universe of ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' can be a surreal place at times. Combined with [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Ichiban]] daydreaming about everything being an RPG, this sometimes makes it hard to tell what is ''actually'' happening and what isn't. |
| 454 | ** This is PlayedForDrama in the "Forget Me Not" substory. Ichiban meets a sickly woman named Kaede he once rescued before going to prison. They then go on a date together, which ends with Kaede confessing her love for Ichiban. [[spoiler: However, it's then revealed that only Ichiban was able to see her and everyone else thought he was alone and talking to nobody, indicating that she passed away during Ichiban's absence. It's never made clear if Ichiban's guilt and longing for closure made him hallucinate her, or if her ghost actually visited him from the beyond]]. |
| 455 | * MeaningfulName: [[spoiler: In a substory, there's a pawnshop that is surrounded by so much garbage that it's unrecognizable as a pawnshop so people just call it a trash mansion. The pawnshop owner's name is given as 五味, which is pronounced ''Gomi'', which also happens to be a pun on garbage, which is also called ''Gomi''.]] |
| 456 | * MechaMooks: The Subjugation-kun enemies which the FlavorText describe them as a next-gen security robot, with some models being stolen and re-programmed for criminal use. |
| 457 | * MechanicallyUnusualClass: |
| 458 | ** The Musician Job has a special Voltage meter that can be filled up to three levels, and powers up certain attacks the job uses. |
| 459 | ** The Foreman Job, when given to Kasuga, is the only one with a Character Ability given at Level 0. It gives the Demolish ability, which is used in the field to open blocked paths. |
| 460 | * MetalSlime: |
| 461 | ** There's the Invested Vagabond, which usually only takes a single point of damage per attack, is usually found in the optional sewer dungeons, and, unless you're lucky, or can take it out in one turn, can easily run from you. That said, just one can give upwards of five levels worth of xp for both your character level and job level. [[spoiler: This said, most characters have some means of doing a single point of damage many times in a single turn...]] |
| 462 | ** Ichiban also brings the trope up in one of the Bonding Events with Joon-Gi Han, where he can compare Han to a Metal Slime in how he's trying to escape people trying to hunt him down. Fortunately, Han understands the reference and decides to take it as a compliment. |
| 463 | * MeteorSummoningAttack: The Fortuneteller's Essence of Divine Punishment, which does Blunt damage. |
| 464 | * MirrorBoss: |
| 465 | ** Pun unintended, [[spoiler:Mirror Face, who is fought alongside Ishioda in the latter's final encounter with Ichiban and his crew, uses Adachi's Detective class.]] |
| 466 | ** Like his predecessors, [[spoiler:[[{{Superboss}} Shin Amon]] fights using a variant of your party member's skills and Kiryu's four fighting styles.]] |
| 467 | * MonsterCompendium: Known as the "Sujidex" in this game, the compendium is filled out whenever you defeat an enemy and you'll get rewards for milestones. |
| 468 | * MoralGuardians: One of the chief antagonistic forces in the game is Bleach Japan, a non-profit founded by the current sitting governor of Tokyo that is dedicated to cleaning up the "gray zones" in the country by stamping out government corruption and criminal enterprises. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, [[{{Hypocrite}} they aren't above finding loopholes to abuse to accomplish their goals, if not just outright using violence.]] It also doesn't help that their founder is the son of a yakuza boss...]] |
| 469 | * MundaneLuxury: |
| 470 | ** Because the food Ichiban was served in prison tasted like crap, it made the simple bread rolls he was given every week taste that much better. |
| 471 | ** After staying homeless for so long, even a single, slightly dirty brothel room as a place to live feels like heaven for Nanba. |
| 472 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: Due to Ichiban being a manchild with an overactive imagination he imagines everything as part of an RPG, from attack names flashing on the screen for special attacks to him using a bat not unlike a fantasy hero's sword. |
| 473 | * MusicalPastiche: "Our Winter Sonata," a song that plays in several locations but most prominently during the "Subzero Sonata" summon, is a clearly intentional parody of ''Series/WinterSonata'''s opening theme. |
| 474 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Hamako is absolutely disraught when she finds out that [[spoiler:the women she encouraged to go to the new Bleach Japan housing centers were deported instead of being offered work and visas as promised.]] |
| 475 | * MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: How Adachi and Ichiban initially chase off Bleach Japan from Otohime Land: Kume argues that he's never broken a single law in his life, no matter how minor, challenges them to prove it, presents them a permit that allows Bleach Japan to stage a protest march and then walks up to them to further rub it in. Ichiban and Adachi first counter by reminding him that he's now technically standing on Otohime Land's property instead of a public area, causing him to back off, then remind him that only up to 10 protesters are allowed and there's currently more people than that present, and that the definition of a "march" means that you need to keep moving and not stop and hold speeches. Kume tries to argue back that the difference of 5 people in the number of participants isn't significant enough for the police to interfere if they're not causing a scene and that all protest marches will inevitably hold a speech at some point, to which Ichiban reminds him that what he's describing are "gray areas", something Bleach Japan is obsessed with getting rid of, leaving Kume with no counterarguments and forcing him to tell the group to move on and keep marching. |
| 476 | * MythologyGag: |
| 477 | ** [[spoiler: Joon-gi Han's default class, "Hitman", prominently features dual handguns. ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'' villain Targa also wields handguns, and both are voiced in Japanese by the same actor, Creator/YuuichiNakamura. Han even has a Kiwami action that replicates [[MultipleGunshotDeath the QTE]] in Targa's first fight.]] |
| 478 | *** Relating to the above, [[spoiler:his "Head Trauma" attack, which he starts out with when he's unlocked in Chapter 10, is taken straight from ''Yakuza 6'', where it served as the original Joon-gi Han's throw animation.]] |
| 479 | ** Ichiban encountering culture shock after leaving prison in the form of seeing everybody in Kamurocho using a smartphone is reminiscent of the very first game, in which Kiryu also experienced a shock upon returning to Kamurocho after his prison stay and seeing dozens of people using a cell phone. The two games even have their respective detective characters give the protagonist a phone, along with an explanation of how to use it. |
| 480 | ** The "Assassin" enemies are based on Tohru Hirose from ''6'' and are not only dressed like him but use his boss animations. |
| 481 | ** Walking around Ijincho, Ichiban meets an English-speaking tourist, who is asking him how to get to the station. Looks like he didn't acquire any Japanese skills since [[VideoGame/{{Judgment}} his visit in Kamurocho, when he asked a confused Quadra Garden clerk where to find the bathroom]]. Unlike [[Characters/JudgmentTakayukiYagami Yagami]], Ichiban doesn't know much English, but thankfully, Ikari is there to tell the tourist the directions and tell him to "[[GratuitousEnglish believe himself]]". |
| 482 | ** Ichiban Confectionary's company pet is a chicken by the name of Omelette, who is reminiscent of Nugget from ''0''. Aside from being an employee, it is also a Poundmate that can be summoned to restore HP or MP via one of it's eggs. |
| 483 | ** Ono-Michio once again returns after featuring in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' and ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', this time with Ichiban forced to deal with a shipment of explosive knock-off figures mixed in with some real, high quality ones. The real ones speak with Kiryu's voice. And yes, you do get to wear the costume, too. Complete with being able to give your party members Ono Michio's head to seal the deal. |
| 484 | ** Recovery Points, which restore your party's HP and MP to the max, are mini-fridges packed to the brim with bottles of Staminan; anybody who's played the previous games will be familiar with Kiryu's habit of slamming bottles of it to heal and charge his HEAT during battle. |
| 485 | ** Some speakers around the city play "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr6euHp_ogo We're Long Hua Expedition]]" from ''VideoGame/Yakuza0''. |
| 486 | ** The Romance Workshop's garage door has a manufacturing-themed take on Karaoke Kappa from ''Yakuza 0'', swapping his microphone out for a wrench and his CD hat out for a nut. |
| 487 | ** The bar in Millennium Tower you pass through right before confronting [[spoiler: Tendo]] is the very same one [[spoiler: Kiryu and Someya's final battle]] takes place in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6''. |
| 488 | * NakedPeopleAreFunny: The "Bubble, Bubble Toil and Trouble" substory has Ichiban encountering [[NakedPeopleTrappedOutside a naked man who got trapped on the streets]] after he got an urgent call saying his grandma's in the hospital and he hurried out of the soapland he was in without a second thought. Ichiban must [[EscortMission escort him to the nearest clothing store]] white avoiding water, since the water will wash out the CensorSuds covering him and the man will be arrested for {{Streaking}}. |
| 489 | * NatureTinkling: The "Golden Opportunity" substory has Ichiban being enlisted by a cop to help stopping a man that frequently urinates on the Ijincho river. After picking the right guy out and then beating him up, the situation seems to be resolved... until Ichiban himself realizes he needs to take a leak. He's just about considering doing what he beat the guy up over [[OnSecondThought before deciding to just go find a restroom instead]]. |
| 490 | * NeverLearnedToRead: According to Zheng a lot of the Liumang's muscles are illiterate because unless they are from a legal immigrant family like him they aren't allowed to go to school. |
| 491 | * NoSell: [[spoiler:Kiryu]] doesn't even flinch when Kasuga punches him straight in his forehead in the intro of the boss fight against him. [[spoiler:Tendo one-ups Kiryu by not even budging when Kasuga delivers a full-on ''dropkick'' to his chest]]. |
| 492 | * NonCombatEXP: Eating also contributes to your character levels, as well as bonds for Ichiban's party members. Assembling special meal combos at eateries also award additional XP, though Job experience cannot be increased this way. |
| 493 | * NonDubbedGrunts: Like ''Judgment'' before it, enemies, crowds, and some minor [=NPCs=] retain their Japanese voices when playing with the English dub. |
| 494 | * NothingIsTheSameAnymore: [[spoiler:By the end of the game, both the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance have disbanded, putting an end to two long-established pillars of conflict in the series.]] |
| 495 | * NoticeThis: As well as the usual sparkles and arrows, there is a distinctive "fwip" sound when you are near to an item you can interact with. |
| 496 | * OldSaveBonus: If you have a save from a previous ''Yakuza'' game, ''Judgment'', or ''Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise'', you get a Legendary First Aid Kit as a gift. |
| 497 | * OneSteveLimit: Averted. "Adachi" is a name that several random mooks can have despite Koichi Adachi being a party member. Ichiban Confections also happens to be the name of the company Ichiban Kasuga becomes the president of, and their sharing a name makes the latter think it's destiny. |
| 498 | * OneWingedAngel: Parodied. [[spoiler:After the boss fight against Kiryu, Kasuga imagines Kiryu as a giant silver fire-breathing dragon and himself as the KnightInShiningArmor complete with full armor and sword and shield ready to vanquish the monster.]] |
| 499 | * OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Early on, Ichiban and his gang come across a bat stuck in the ground. Ichiban is the only one capable of pulling said bat out, which fuels his inner [[{{Chuunibyou}} chuuni]] and unlocks the "Hero" Class for him. |
| 500 | * PassingTheTorch: Chapter 14 is called exactly this with [[spoiler:Kiryu]] handing the reins over to Ichiban both as the new protagonist and the one to deal with Aoki’s plot. [[spoiler:Beating Shin Amon will also have him and Kiryu chat with the latter saying that Ichiban isn’t meant to be his replacement but rather his own hero.]] |
| 501 | * PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: |
| 502 | ** Kamurocho Underground [=B2F=]. It's home to [[MetalSlime Invested Vagabond]]. Which provides tons of EXP upon defeat. Grinding there will get your party to level 99 pretty fast. |
| 503 | ** Sotenbori Battle Arena is a good place to grind for money if you don't like the business mini game: the final boss drops four million yen if you use the "Miracle Donation" Poundmate. He's on level 30, but you can re-enter from level 26 after the first time you beat him, which makes things faster. |
| 504 | * PercussiveMaintenance: In the Substory "Preparing to Suck", Dr. Okita does this by kicking Sojimaru to try and activate its high speed cleaning mode. Unfortunately it's a case of GoneHorriblyRight to the point the giant roomba is a bigger threat to Yokohama than anything else. |
| 505 | * {{Phonymon}}: The whole Sujimon sidequest, where Kasuga has to help a "Sujimon Sensei" research Sujimon, his term for suspicious jittery people (''sujimono''). He can even pick out which of three similar Sujimon the professor brought for him to fight first, each with colored attire matching the three traditional starter types (Green/Grass, Fire/Red, Blue/Water). In the western dub the professor's dialogue and the achievements for the Sujimon quests are also littered with references to both the games and the theme song of the first season's anime. |
| 506 | * PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:Nanoha accidentally pays Totsuka to euthanize her father, according to him. She assumed that when Totsuka said that he'd end her father's suffering, that he'd cure him with an expensive surgery, while Totsuka thought that Nanoha was joking about not knowing what she was paying for. However, his face during the flashback and the fact that he euthanized an old woman while she was still awake casts doubt on this.]] |
| 507 | * PottyEmergency: A series of Part Time Hero quests has you help out an unlucky fellow who keeps ending up in bathrooms with no toilet paper. By the last one, he needs 10 Pocket Tissues. |
| 508 | * PowerUpFood: In addition to refilling the entire party's HP and MP meters, certain meal combinations at eateries will bestow a corresponding combat buff for one fight afterwards, for a total of three. The specific type of buff depends on the establishment, and eateries can have between one to three possible combinations to make. As a side note, the food buffs from the same eatery will stack, but eating at a different location will replace them with new ones, if applicable. |
| 509 | * PressXToNotDie: Curiously, only the final boss features a quick time event sequence to finish the fight. |
| 510 | * PreviouslyOn: Saeko's first drink-link opens with a montage of the situation with her sister and father. This is baffling, since the player is unlikely to have forgotten unless they've REALLY been putting off party chats. |
| 511 | * ProductPlacement: Boss coffee is sold in vending machines. |
| 512 | * PublicDomainArtifact: The Sujidex claims that Mabuchi's guandao is, in fact, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade itself, IE the one wielded by Guan Yu. |
| 513 | * PunnyName: |
| 514 | ** Another (offensive) [[SummonMagic Poundmate]] is Jiei-''san'', a [[HockeyMaskAndChainSaw goalie-masked]] [[TheButcher butcher]] whose summon Butcher's Show damages an enemy... by terrifying them with an exhibition of his SlasherMovie skills on a large animal carcass from which he then [[MundaneUtility produces a delicatessen-grade order of sliced meat]]. Naturally, his name is a [[Franchise/FridayThe13th very intentional]] ShoutOut also. |
| 515 | ** There’s also Kan-san who, of course, runs the can collecting side-quest. |
| 516 | ** Plenty of enemies' names are like this, like the Twitchy Streamer, Pornogra-Pharoah, and Imp Patient to name a few. |
| 517 | ** The Part-time Hero organization was founded by a man named...Hiro. |
| 518 | ** Then there's Professor Okita who invented the smart roomba Soji. |
| 519 | * RacingMinigame: Dragon Kart is of the "I Can't Believe It's Not ''Mario Kart''!" variety, complete with Ichiban and competitiors getting in miniature karts to race in the streets of Ijincho, pickups like boosters, bazookas, and machine guns, and four cups to compete through. |
| 520 | * RareCandy: Comes in a few types, but most notably the skill-up consumables that boost either a job's rank, one of Ichiban's personality traits, or a given team member's level by one when used. |
| 521 | * RecycledSoundtrack: |
| 522 | ** Joon-gi Han's theme from ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', "[[https://youtu.be/1l1OYlwDOA8 Theory of Beauty]]", makes a return when he's fought in Chapter 6. |
| 523 | ** The ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Yakuza Kiwami 2]]'' version of "[[https://youtu.be/o5BlRA1-xcM Outlaw's Lullaby]]" returns as the encounter theme for Sotenbori. |
| 524 | ** The Poundmate summons for the five major returning characters from previous ''Yakuza'' games ([[spoiler:Majima, Saejima, Watase, Daigo and Kiryu]]) all use themes taken directly from older entries. |
| 525 | *** [[spoiler:Kiryu's]] summon has "[[https://youtu.be/ynDiLLPtLHE Receive You ~Tech Trance Arrange~]]" from ''VideoGame/Yakuza0''. |
| 526 | *** [[spoiler:Majima's]] summon has his {{Leitmotif}} from ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', "[[https://youtu.be/OhOoqGyiwVs Receive and Bite You]]", make a return. |
| 527 | *** [[spoiler:Saejima's]] summon plays "[[https://youtu.be/Tps7YTJhxGY Massive Fire]]", his leitmotif from ''Yakuza 4''. |
| 528 | *** [[spoiler:Watase's]] summon sees the return of "[[https://youtu.be/MmGfeNzEFqA Collisions Of Our Souls]]" from ''VideoGame/Yakuza5''. A leitmotif he shared with Naoki Katsuya and Sango Amon in the same game. |
| 529 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: All of the regular enemies have glowing red eyes. |
| 530 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Masato, after Ichiban pleads with him to come to his senses, finally pulls a HeelFaceTurn. Shame that [[SanitySlippage Kume]] wasn't about to accept that from a man who betrayed him and Bleach Japan.]] |
| 531 | * RegionalBonus: The intro to one sub story has Ichiban asked for directions by a white man in English. He speaks perfect English in the Japanese dub, but in the English dub he was given an exaggerated "foreigner" accent. Kasuga gives a brief AsideGlance as to acknowledge the absurdity of a currently-English speaking Japanese person not understanding English. |
| 532 | * RelationshipValues: By battling and chatting with his teammates, Ichiban can increase bond with them. Higher bond levels increase the amount of LeakedExperience they gain when benched, the chance that they follow up with an attack of their own if you knock an enemy down with a normal attack and also unlocks new jobs and skills for them. |
| 533 | * ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: [[spoiler:Ichiban is reported to have died in the explosion that [[UncertainDoom presumably]] killed Ishioda (a report that Nick most likely had a hand in), but he reveals his survival to the crowd of a CLP rally in Tokyo.]] |
| 534 | * ResetButton: After [[spoiler:the final substory where Ichiban's numerous lovers take out their frustrations out on him]] one could expect that a number of different, crucial [=NPCs=] would now be implacably hostile to Ichiban. Never mind: [[spoiler:Bartender makes sure to ring around and tell everyone that it's all a misunderstanding and that it's all fine after all. Eri brings up that he was demonstrably cheating on her with ''a mutual friend in the same room'' and is quickly shouted down, and the whole thing gets dropped for good.]] |
| 535 | * RewatchBonus: |
| 536 | ** During chapter 1's flashback of Arakawa rescuing Masato from the coin lockers, [[spoiler: Sawashiro and his girlfriend]] are visible in the crowd that gathers around to watch. |
| 537 | ** In the cutscene where Ichiban returns to Kamurocho after being released from prison, there's a video screen showing footage of Ryo Aoki. |
| 538 | ** You can also spot Tendo and Ishioda in the restaurant scene where Ichiban confronts Arakawa after his prison release. |
| 539 | * RootingForTheEmpire: An InUniverse example where if you take Nanba to see ''[[ThreateningShark Shark Vacation]]'', he says he was actually cheering for the shark, who he calls Mr. Fins, to eat the dumb college kids. |
| 540 | * RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler:The shot of Masato putting the revolver in the locker, with Ichiban standing behind him at the very end is a reminder that the two are not so different from each other after all. Ichiban carrying Masato after Kume stabs him is also a reminder that Ichiban couldn't be [[LikeFatherLikeSon any more like Arakawa]], with Masato's life [[{{Bookends}} beginning in the arms of one Arakawa and ending in in the arms of another.]]]] |
| 541 | [[/folder]] |
| 542 | [[folder:S-Z]] |
| 543 | * SadBattleMusic: [[https://youtu.be/xIkQ6yAfVgg ism]], the theme that scores the final fight against [[spoiler: Masato]] is noticeably sadder and more melancholic than [[https://youtu.be/52VcG-PDmsU The Way of Life]] before it in ''Yakuza 6''. |
| 544 | * SeriousBusiness: Jin, the yakuza racer in Dragon Kart, attempts to [[{{Yubitsume}} cut off his pinky for dishonoring his clan]] upon losing the rematch against Ichiban, but is talked out of it when he points out to Jin that the yakuza code doesn't apply to things like racing. |
| 545 | * SequentialBoss: |
| 546 | ** [[spoiler:The boss fight against Kiryu has four phases based on his fighting styles from previous games. At first, he uses his Dragon of Dojima Style from the Dragon Engine games. He then switches to his Rush Style that favors long combos and a lightning-fast uppercut. He switches to his Beast Style and starts utilizing and throwing nearby objects. In his last phase, he uses his original pre-Dragon Engine Dragon of Dojima Style, with the original 4-hit combo and devastating [[CounterAttack Tiger Drop]].]] |
| 547 | ** The first boss fight versus Sawashiro has him switch from GoodOldFisticuffs to a shard of broken glass halfway through. His second fight starts with him wielding a katana. He switches to a cane around a third of the way through, then wields the broken remains of the cane and katana during the final phase. |
| 548 | ** [[spoiler: Partway through Tendo's fight, he puts on knuckle dusters to boost his attacks.]] |
| 549 | ** Once [[spoiler:Majima]] reaches half health, [[spoiler:Saejima]] joins the fun and they become a DualBoss. |
| 550 | * SheepInSheepsClothing: When Kasuga and Nanba go to a Hello Work jobcentre early in the game, they're turned away for being homeless (because job applications require a contact address). Immediately afterwards, a mysterious old man tips them off about a grey-market job at a nearby bar that pays suspiciously well, and a savvy viewer will immediately assume they're being set up for something ghastly and exploitative. After they leave, the clerk who rejected them confronts the man for soliciting in the office [[spoiler:because he's her boss, and she's annoyed at him bending the rules for people he likes.]] |
| 551 | * ShooOutTheClowns: The final boss separates Ichiban from his team, forces him back to [[GoodOldFisticuffs Freelancer]], and removes Poundmates, thus stripping away the most wacky elements of the game. |
| 552 | * ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/YakuzaLikeADragon Has its own page.]] |
| 553 | * SickeninglySweethearts: Invoked and ''weaponized'' with Il Yu-Jin's Poundmates summon: he recreates a beyond sappy scene from his K-drama with a costar, filled with "I love you"s and other Asian drama cliches like falling snow and hugging. All enemies have to witness it and take extra damage as a result. |
| 554 | * SkirtsAndLadders: While in a dungeon, the party have to cross a chasm by walking on a bundle of power cables. |
| 555 | -->'''Saeko:''' [[SkewedPriorities I hope you guys didn't look up my skirt]]. |
| 556 | -->'''Adachi:''' That's the only thing you were worried about? |
| 557 | * SpotTheImposter: Happens when Adachi gets wrangled into a struggle with Mirror Face, an assassin disguised as him. Since Adachi worked at the DMV, Ichiban decides to quiz them on traffic laws, with one answering accurately and the other being utterly baffled by them. [[spoiler:Ichiban proceeds to punch out the one who answers accurately, leading to Mirror Face lying on the ground wondering how someone like Adachi even kept his job in the first place]]. |
| 558 | * SquishyWizard: The Mage-like "Fortune Teller" job has the 2nd lowest health in the game. Namba fits this trope overall, as he has the lowest health but highest MP and magic damage of all the males. |
| 559 | * TheStinger: Featuring several scenes to wrap up loose ends: |
| 560 | ** [[spoiler:Adachi confronts Commissioner Horinouchi on the rooftop of Kamurocho Police Precinct and exposes his connection to the Arakawa bribe, succeeding in getting him arrested]]. |
| 561 | ** [[spoiler:Ichiban and Namba hold a personal funeral for both Masumi and Masato Arakawa, while Sawashiro is sentenced to life in prison. Namba offers Ichiban a DNA test confirm his parentage, but he declines]]. |
| 562 | ** [[spoiler:At the Arakawa's formal funeral, a discussion is held about the future of the disbanded Yakuza, to which Ichiban commits to staying in Ijincho]]. |
| 563 | * StoneWall: The Enforcer is the resident tanking class, complete with a riot shield. |
| 564 | * SummonMagic: ...well, not quite magic, but the idea is the same. Through the Poundmate delivery service Kasuga can call in help for a nominal fee from a variety of allies. The allies include a swarm of angry crustaceans, a masked man named Jiei, Il Yu-Jin, a man in a diaper (Gondawara), a tiger, Daigo Dojima and even some of the previous protagonists; Taiga Saejima and Goro Majima, [[spoiler:alongside their longstanding ally, Kazuma Kiryu]]. |
| 565 | * TakingTheHeat: The story begins with Kasuga accepting an offer to go to prison for a shooting committed by his family's captain. |
| 566 | * TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: ''All over the place.'' Two boss fights in the main story involve Ichiban and his friends fighting an excavator and a wrecking ball. There's also a sizeable amount of Kiwami moves that involve the use of some pretty powerful weaponry (e.g., your own wrecking ball, a KillSat, or a ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''-style airstrike) as well. Though this is played with in that, for one thing, all of this is a part of Ichiban's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness overactive imagination]] and, for another, this ''is'' par for the course of the ''Yakuza'' series. |
| 567 | * ThouShaltNotKill: Much better at it than previous games. Due to Ichiban being a confirmed UnreliableNarrator in combat with the over-the-top moves being in his imagination it’s much easier to swallow the absurd attacks not killing any of the opponents. He also can’t do very questionable HEAT moves like throwing people off buildings. |
| 568 | * ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: A relatively lighthearted version justifies the game being a Turn-Based RPG. It's all through Ichiban's ''Dragon Quest''-influenced imagination that everything looks like a [=RPG=]. Heck, the first battle after he gains the Hero class, his overactive imagination makes the enemies look like they transformed into monsters, whereas the rest of the party see them as normal. Though oddly some strange enemies, like the Pseudotrash, look the same out of combat (minus the RedEyesTakeWarning effect), suggesting they really are that weird. |
| 569 | * TitleDrop: The name of the achievement you get if you get Kasuga to level 70?, ''Ryu Ga Gotoku''. |
| 570 | * TooDumbToLive: Suzumori, the yakuza Ichiban took the fall for killing [[spoiler:died taunting Masato into shooting him, thinking it was a toy gun. He even forced the barrel to his forehead.]] |
| 571 | * TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The long story trailer [[spoiler:reveals Masato Arakawa to be the founder of the antagonistic Bleach Japan movement, with him now going by the name Ryo Aoki. It also spoils Kiryu's appearance in the game ever since ''6'' supposedly ended his story arc.]] |
| 572 | * TranslationByVolume: In the English dub of Fast Times at Ounabara, the foreigner speaks loudly and slowly. |
| 573 | * TrashOfTheTitans: The substory "One Man's Trash..." has Ichiban run into a mountain of garbage in Yokohama. It's supposed to be a pawn shop and the garbage outside is "merchandise," but it smells terrible and attracts bugs. The town officials have tried to make the owner move the heap, but he threatens to sue if they touch his property. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the owner's wife died while working on the store, and he refused to sell all the items as he saw them as TragicKeepsakes. The situation is resolved when Ichiban convinces the owner that running the pawnshop is what would truly honor the dead wife's memory.]] |
| 574 | * TurnBasedCombat: This game switches from beat-'em-up to turn-based RPG, a first for the series. This is actually justified in-universe - Ichiban insists on letting people get hits in, since that's what the heroes from ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' do. |
| 575 | * UnblockableAttack: Grab based skills will goes through your opponent's Guard. Enemies' GrappleMove also can't be Perfect Guarded against. |
| 576 | * UndyingLoyalty: |
| 577 | ** Kasuga eventually inspires this in his crew, to the point where [[spoiler:when he and Arakawa meet again, they all get between the two, willing to take the bullet for Kasuga]]. |
| 578 | ** Kasuga's like a modern day samurai in that he's unerringly loyal to both his lords, Masumi and Masato Arakawa. It's even to the point where [[spoiler:his BatmanGambit to end Masato's campaign as Ryo Aoki was done for Arakawa's own good, and, despite being willing to murder Kasuga, and admitting he always hated the guy, Ichiban still considers Masato his brother, and still loves the young master with all his heart]]. |
| 579 | * UnfinishedBusiness: [[spoiler:Kaede]], from the sidestory [[spoiler:Forget Me Not]]. Her unfinished business is to thank [[spoiler:Ichiban]] for the kindness he showed to her when she was still alive, and possibly to express the romantic feelings for him she never got to show before her untimely death; at the end of the substory, she's finally able to move on, with [[spoiler:Ichiban]] promising to find her once he's passed on. |
| 580 | * UnnervinglyHeartwarming: The ending of the side-quest "Fifty Shades of Pain" has a dominatrix and a masochist end up happily ever after [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext after said masochist saved the dominatrix from a knife wound in an attempt to feel pain]]. |
| 581 | * TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: As per tradition, the Millennium Tower is where the game's climax takes place after [[spoiler:Ichiban bluffs Aoki into sending Tendo and his gang to find (nonexistent) incriminating evidence]]. The game and the characters give you very definite warnings to [[PointOfNoReturn clean up any loose ends]] before you tackle it. |
| 582 | * VillainousGentrification: Bleach Japan is an NGO dedicated to gentrifying the "Grey Zones" of Japan regardless of what happens to the people who have nowhere else to go. It's also merely a tool for Governor Aoki's rise to power to achieve both "Front-facing" (political influence) and "Back-facing" (influence over the underworld) power, using a conveniently "disposable" scapegoat to rile up a bunch of xenophobic middle-class MoralGuardians into granting him unwavering support. |
| 583 | * WakeUpCallBoss: Chapter 12's fight against [[spoiler: Majima and Saejima]] can very easily catch a player off guard if you're not prepared, as it is quite a bit more difficult than any major fight up to that point and the game definitely spikes in difficulty after it. |
| 584 | * WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:Kiryu's entire existence in the game, since his story was officially finished in the last game, and this game was meant as a soft reboot]]. |
| 585 | * WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: If Kasuga is KO'd, you automatically lose the current battle. If it's a random street encounter, you lose half of your hard-earned yen. If it's a story battle, you'll have to either do the battle over again, or reload a save, unless you have in your possession either one of two self-revival items to be used specifically to avert this. |
| 586 | * WeakBossStrongUnderlings: Ryo Aoki is a CorruptPolitician out to gut the Japanese criminal underworld and rebuild it in his own image. His chosen instrument for this is the Omi Alliance yakuza, and notably, Ryo's boss battle is much easier than the preceding one against [[TheDragon Yosuke]] [[MarathonBoss Tendo]], a former boxer built like a truck and about as hard-hitting as one to boot. |
| 587 | * WhamEpisode: Chapter 12: [[spoiler:The End of the Yakuza]]. The title alone should tell you why. |
| 588 | * WhamLine: |
| 589 | ** In Chapter 12, [[spoiler:Daigo Dojima]] delivers one that has huge implications for the series as a whole. |
| 590 | -->'''[[spoiler:Daigo (English dub)]]:''' [[spoiler:[[EndOfAnEra We're going to dissolve Japan's two largest factions... The Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan]]]]. |
| 591 | ** The very end of Chapter 12 has another in the voicemail Ichiban receives: |
| 592 | -->'''Hoshino (English dub):''' This is Hoshino, of the Seiryu Clan. Kasuga, you need to call me as soon as you get this. [[spoiler:This morning... They found Arakawa's body in the ocean]]. |
| 593 | * WhamShot: In Chapter 12, a goon charges at Watase with a knife only to be suddenly knocked out by a punch to the face from offscreen... followed by the camera switching to reveal the punch came from [[spoiler:none other than Kazuma Kiryu]]. |
| 594 | * WhereItAllBegan: The coin locker. [[spoiler: It's where the life of both Ichiban and Masato began and their final confrontation takes place in the same coin locker]]. |
| 595 | * WhiteMage: The female job Idol is the most effective job for healing. |
| 596 | * WholePlotReference: There are a considerable amount of comparisons that can be made between the game's overarching plot and [[spoiler:the Creator/RyoMurakami novel ''Coin Locker Babies''; the shared backstories of both TheHero and the BigBad start with them literally being left in coin lockers as infants and being adopted, and one of them serves as a stronger underling to their weaker superior. While one is imprisoned early on as an adult, the other, using the power of drugs (as a weapon for Kiku; as a means of ThrowingOffTheDisability for Masato/Aoki), wreaks havoc across Japan. The sole distinction being that the character who has a CompellingVoice becomes the antagonist rather than protagonist... in a [[FamedInStory less]] [[MasterActor literal]] way, at least. Heck, it's even to the point where one of the chapters is literally called Coin Locker Baby]]. |
| 597 | * WillfullyWeak: [[spoiler:After the boss fight with Majima and Saejima, both reveal that they were holding back the entire time to Ichiban's completely exhausted party. Just when it seems like they're about to fight for real, Arakawa interrupts. Sawashiro also proves much stronger in his rematch, easily matching Ichiban’s entire party.]] |
| 598 | * AWinnerIsYou: {{Parodied}} with the [[BrutalBonusLevel True Final Millennium Tower.]] [[spoiler: After going through one of the comically hard dungeons in the whole series, that requires grinding all your characters' levels and job ranking to 99 ''at the bare minimum'' (read: not including raising ''additional'' jobs to 99), you are treated to a 5-second unvoiced scene where Ichiban and his party knock out Amon, who congratulates them on their triumph, and... that's it. An appropriate throwback to the days of brutally hard NES games with really short and uneventful ending screens.]] |
| 599 | * WorfHadTheFlu: In the rematch with Sawashiro, Ichiban says that he's on a different level with weapons and theorizes the first time he fought him, he just got lucky or that Sawashiro was holding back. |
| 600 | * WouldHitAGirl: Most of the enemies, as Saeko and Eri are potential party members. [[spoiler:This includes Majima and Saejima, surprisingly enough.]] |
| 601 | * WouldntHitAGirl: In the boss fight against [[spoiler:Kiryu]], he won't attack your female party members, Saeko and Eri, at all. He does hit them if they hit him during his counter phase but they will take no damage. There are also no female enemies. |
| 602 | * WrenchWench: Craftable equipment is made for you by Sumire, a young woman in a pink boiler suit. |
| 603 | * WretchedHive: Ijincho is described as "the city at rock bottom", a place for those who have nowhere else to go, from the homeless to outcast yakuza, from illegal immigrant to sex workers. It is for this reason why Ijincho is in Bleach Japan's crosshairs. |
| 604 | * XMarksTheHero: Nancy is a crawfish whose main distinguishing feature is an X-shaped scar on her back. After a Substory, she becomes a Poundmate who has the ability to poison foes. |
| 605 | * {{Yakuza}}: [[RunningGag Well, duh!]] It's a game ''about them!'' If you couldn't tell by the title... |
| 606 | * YouAreTooLate: |
| 607 | ** In Chapter 13, the party arrives too late to stop [[spoiler:Sawashiro from killing Hoshino at the Seiryu Clan HQ]] even though they head straight there after getting tipped off about it. [[spoiler:Even if they were to arrive there before Sawashiro, ''Infinite Wealth'' reveals that this was a FrameUp on Aoki's part and he had sent somebody ''else'' to kill Hoshino and let Sawashiro take the fall for it.]] |
| 608 | ** A heroic variation during TheStinger. [[spoiler:Adachi]] finally gets his chance to take down [[spoiler: Horinouchi]], confronting him with hard evidence of his corruption. When [[spoiler:Horinouchi]] is about to have him arrested, [[spoiler:Adachi]] tells him he's already sent the evidence to both the inspector general and the media before even confronting him; the police officers then proceed to arrest [[spoiler:Horinouchi]] instead. |
| 609 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When interrogated at Ichiban's mercy, Ogasawara pretty much spills everything that there is to know about Bleach Japan's activities, as well as what Ryo Aoki is planning. Aoki, [[PragmaticVillainy being Aoki]], ends up having to silence Ogasawara while also using his death as an opportunity to bolster his approval ratings as party chair. |
| 610 | * {{Yubitsume}}: This being a ''Yakuza'' game, it comes up a few times, both played straight and subverted. |
| 611 | ** Masumi cuts off his pinky while rescuing a young Ichiban, but makes it abundantly clear that he did it to save face as a patriarch and not out of any form of attachment to him. |
| 612 | ** Sawashiro tries to force Ichiban to cut off his pinky after he lies to Sawashiro about where the money for a collection came from, but Masumi's timely arrival saves Ichiban from needing to. |
| 613 | ** Totsuka is about to cut off his pinky as penance after Ichiban exposes the scam he's running at Sunlight Castle, but Hoshino chooses to instead demote him and let Tanabe (who by this point has had to do yubitsume ''twice'', both times covering for Totsuka) and his men rough him up. |
| 614 | * ZergRush: The "Essence of Labor Parade" for the Foreman job has the character call lunchtime, causing the enemies to be stampeded by a gang of hungry construction workers. |
| 615 | [[/folder]] |
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FollowingContext VideoGame / YakuzaLikeADragon
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