Yakuza: Like a Dragon preview — Xbox may have a new JRPG king

Source: Windows Central

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is one of the commencement titles hitting Xbox Series X when it launches aslope the console on November 10, 2022. Yakuza is a storied franchise, debuting on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005. The serial has seen a bit of a resurgence in popularity in recent years, with remasters hitting Xbox Game Pass, aslope the Yakuza Nada prequel.

Yakuza games are difficult to describe to the uninitiated, just thanks to Xbox Game Laissez passer, it's easy to jump in and give them a try for yourself either on Xbox consoles or PC. At their core, Yakuza games are open up-world beat 'em ups, with a heavy emphasis on story. They're also known for their broad variety of mini-games, perchance virtually famously, the franchise'southward over-the-top karaoke rhythm bars.

Yakuza: Similar a Dragon is my showtime experience with the franchise, so if yous'd prefer a veteran's perspective you may want to head elsewhere. Just for millions of potential new players Yakuza is seeing in the Due west thanks to Xbox Game Pass, hither's a crash course on what to look, and why Yakuza: Like a Dragon might exist an astonishing identify to offset.

Like an anime

Yakuza: Similar a Dragon

Against the underworld

Hook your way up from the bottom of Japan'southward metropolitan underworld, dabbling in karaoke and gangland warfare in equal measure.

Come across Ichiban Kasuga

Source: Windows Fundamental

I am told that Yakuza is a story well-known for its large amounts of dialogue and narrative, and the brief slice I played of Yakuza: Similar a Dragon certainly seemed to hold true to that reputation. Our demo took place a few hours into the game, and I don't desire to give away too many plot points for the sake of avoiding spoilers. It should be noted that Similar a Dragon is separate from the other games in the series, as well, with new characters and new areas.

You'll encounter all sorts of wild and varied characters, along with equally wild twists and turns.

Ichiban Kasuga is what y'all could describe as an ex-Yakuza, having been taken in by the Tojo Clan as a teen. Through his devotion and self-imposed life-debt to the Tojo crime family, Kasuga accepts confesses to a murder he wasn't involved in, to foreclose a superior clan member from going to prison house. Ichiban spends xviii years in prison house every bit a effect. Upon his release, he discovers that his prison house sentence was all for nix, as his clan ended upward betrayed to the government anyway, causing it to fall apart. Its remains terminate up part of a new clan, dubbed the Omi Alliance. Ichiban'southward quest to find out the truth leads him right back into the Yokohama underworld, where former friends now appear as cold-hearted foes.

Finding out the truth behind the series of betrayals and the shift in underworld offense family political ability forms the basis of Kasuga's quest. Equally y'all scrape a living from the ground floor, freshly released from prison, yous'll see all sorts of wild and varied characters, along with every bit wild twists and turns.

Equal parts dark, emotional, and wacky

Source: Windows Primal

Without giving away too much of the story, Kasuga finds himself flat out broke after getting out of prison house. Luckily, he meets others who are downwards on their luck besides, who resolve to join him on his quest for answers. And hey, perchance yous'll as well solve their problems along the way every bit well.

Despite all of the wackiness, Yakuza: Like a Dragon's sharp and emotional tale will instantly snap up all of your attention.

First is an ex-cop, Koichi Adachi, whose career was left in ruins subsequently exploring the corruption within his ain police strength. And an ex-nurse, Nanba, at present living life on the streets on the outskirts of Yokohama. In our demo, we were as well introduced to Saeko Mukoda, a hostess at a local bar, who joins the three to investigate the apparent "suicide" of a local businessman.

The quartet resolve that the businessman'due south death may involve the local yakuza gangs, which winds upwardly being another step in Kasuga's quest to discover the truth about the Tojo clan.

Source: Windows Central

The game takes identify in a city known every bit Yokohama, for the most role, which is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. Heavily urbanized, Yokohama is crammed with cars, random citizens going about their daily lives, and all sorts of stores and civilities. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the locations y'all unlock as you go, whether shopping for new weapons and gear, or consumables to keep your political party healed upwardly.

There are as well tons upon tons of side missions and mini-games. One side objective has you managing the profits of a chain of sweet shops, while another has yous riding around the city picking upwardly cans for a homeless trader.

Source: Windows Fundamental

Y'all might even find yourself fighting sheep people in a theatre, or taking on your friends in painstakingly tough rhythm mini-games in competitive karaoke. You lot can too undertake urban vigilante missions, fighting mini-bosses through a rent-a-hero app, Uber-manner.

I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what Like a Dragon has to offering, and despite all of the wackiness, Like a Dragon's sharp and emotional tale volition nonetheless have upwards all of your attention in the glimmer of an middle, and put you lot correct dorsum on the border of your seat. Yakuza: Like a Dragon plays like an interactive Japanese soap opera, and I'1000 already in honey with the game'southward setting, characters, and quirkiness.

Rare plow-based JRPG combat

Source: Windows Central

Yakuza: Similar a Dragon breaks from the mainline serial' beat 'em up combat, diving headfirst into old-school JRPG-mode turn-based combat instead. But this is less classic Final Fantasy, and more South Park: The Stick of Truth meets Saint'south Row. Yakuza: Like a Dragon'south combat is utterly insane, in the all-time possible way.

Kasuga is a huge fan of the popular JRPG series Dragon Quest, and that fact seems to manifest in the way the game's combat translates into reality, as though it was being recycled and retold through the lens of a nerdy otaku.

The game's RPG progression is split into Concluding Fantasy Five-like Jobs, following the theme of the protagonist's lack of employment. Kasuga and his comrades can undertake various "jobs," whether it's a Chef, Musician, Bodyguard, or Popular Idol, granting each character unique attacks and abilities.

The closest thing to a "mage" in the game I saw might exist Nanba's "Homeless Guy" unique skill, which lets him employ Molotov sprays for fire attacks and bad breath to debuff enemies. Kasuga's "Hero" job role lets him utilize special attacks with his trusty baseball bat, while the "Musician" task role lets you strum out a tune to debuff enemies, and buff your allies, Bard-way.

I wasn't able to go a existent sense of the complication or difficulty in the combat system since our press demo basically unlocked a huge amount of skills and items to play with. I felt over-leveled for the content I was experiencing too, able to merely slice through enemies with the basic attack without paying much attention to any grade of strategic play. I do go a sense that the total game will be a very different experience, though, if you're using regular weapons and skills earned through normal play.

Source: Windows Central

You can maximize advantages by lining up attacks with enemy movements. If they're in a group, yous might exist able to hit multiple targets at once. If you knock one over, a follow-up attack from an ally is a guaranteed disquisitional hit, and and then on. If y'all're continuing almost objects in the surround, your characters will choice them up and use them for an extra attack likewise, which adds some dynamism into proceedings.

Things start to go really crazy when yous begin summoning "Pound Mates," who you lot can call up via Kasuga'south smartphone. This function basically like Concluding Fantasy-fashion summons, and unlock via side missions throughout the game. In my playthrough, I was able to summon a boxer who would appear and deal massive amounts of impairment to everyone on screen. I also befriended a chicken, who would testify up and dramatically lay a magical egg to heal the party. It'southward just lunacy (in a skillful mode). The enemies you face are as artistic every bit they are demented, with everything from normal gangsters to trashbag mimics. Each enemy gets logged into your telephone too, and can be inspected to discover weaknesses and strategies. You'll also face up some crazy boss battles in the game, which we shan't spoil hither.

But await, how does it perform on the Xbox Series X?

You may be wondering why I didn't talk much about the Xbox Series 10 performance or quality up until now, and the answer is that I'm quite honestly not sure exactly what the "optimizations" are supposed to be. In functioning mode, the game runs at a rock-solid 60 frames per second (FPS), but far below 4K. In resolution style, the game struggles to punch college than 45 frames per 2nd. I experience every bit though this isn't exactly "optimized," since it seems to mirror the functioning we've seen from past-gen Xbox One games running on the Xbox Series X. The game as well offers a "Normal" mode, which feels like a residue between the 2 extremes, reducing some effects to snare 60 FPS.

When it comes to information technology'due south Xbox Series X "optimizations," it doesn't seem to do anything special.

Yakuza games aren't known for their cut border visuals by any means, but Like a Dragon does look great in resolution mode, with practiced lighting and crisp, detailed environments. Simply when it comes to information technology's Xbox Serial 10 "optimizations," information technology doesn't seem to do anything special beyond what nosotros've already seen from backward compatible games. The functioning is similar to the unpatched Monster Hunter World, for case, comparing them betwixt Xbox One Ten and Xbox Series X.

Information technology makes me wonder if this build has been optimized for Xbox Series 10 at all, or if what we have here is just the Xbox 1 version running at a higher FPS. I couldn't go any data on what the optimizations are supposed to be when information technology came to writing, so, as for now, it'll just have to remain unknown. For what it's worth, all the in a higher place clips were captured on Xbox Series X running in 4K resolution mode.

The best JRPG on Xbox so far?

Yakuza: Similar a Dragon certainly feels like it has the potential to be the all-time JRPG on Xbox so far. What little I experienced of the game's story fabricated me excited enough to drop a preorder on the maximum tier digital edition, which is something I very rarely practice.

This could be the best big-name JRPG we've had on Xbox for quite a long time.

I'm yet unsure how the combat system volition experience in the full game, given that the preview build had a huge arsenal of stuff pre-unlocked. I'k hoping that I won't feel as overpowered as I did in the full game, and there are certainly signs that won't be the case. The weapons I had equipped were far more powerful than the ones I found in the field, for example, leading me to think that the preview build was designed to brand us overpowered. The game also has three difficulty settings as well, and then, there's always Hard mode if you desire more of a claiming.

The combat is spectacular and heady in any case, but information technology wasn't my favorite matter almost Yakuza: Like a Dragon. From the few capacity I played, in Japanese, I already felt more than connected to the game's characters than I've felt for a fair while.

Source: Windows Central

I want to know what happens to Kasuga, Saeko, Nanba, and Adachi. I want to know what went wrong with the Tojo law-breaking family unit. I want to run into every crazy character and unlock every mad side quest the game has, such equally Nancy the crayfish up here. I also can't wait to really sink my teeth into the game's progression layers.

I actually think this could be the all-time big-name JRPG we've had on Xbox for quite a long time. And hey, if Yakuza: Like a Dragon finds its audience, perhaps nosotros'll start seeing more JRPGs striking the platform in the future too.

Like an anime

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Against the underworld

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a rare turn-based AAA JRPG well-worth keeping on your radar for the launch of the Xbox Series 10 on Nov 11.

Xbox Series X/S

Master

• Xbox Series Ten: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/Due south
• List of Xbox Serial X specs
• What is the Xbox Serial X release appointment?
• How much does Xbox Serial X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Serial X notwithstanding
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/yakuza-like-a-dragon-xbox-series-x-preview

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