Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 40: Yakuza: Like a Dragon

(+) Yeah! (+)

So we are back to the normal swing of things with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1-10?

Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.63 (20 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Undertale - 8.53 (40 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.38 (54 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (39 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.1 (34 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (30 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.8 (21 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.67 (27 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Celeste - 7.5 (23 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.34 (27 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (23 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7 (20 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (20 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.69 (16 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.66 (30 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.6 (27 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.25 (12 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.72 (29 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.91 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.91 (27 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.64 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.45 (10 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.38 (8 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name> <rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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8/10

I enjoyed the coin locker baby switcheroo

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Nominate Persona 4

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Haven't played. LOL @ those Fates scores

Leonhart4 posted...

Nominate Persona 4

Second'd

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7
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Lightning Strikes posted...

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.64 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.38 (8 votes)

I know I gave them the same score but Conquest should really not be above Revelation lmao

No comment on Yakuza, haven't played it

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Kenri posted...

I know I gave them the same score but Conquest should really not be above Revelation lmao

Outside of one outlier, Revelation didn't receive any ratings above 2/10

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8.5

Dragon Quest with Gangsters? Sign me the fuck up

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oh geez is FE Fates really that bad? thought this board was really high on the FE games

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Johnbobb posted...

oh geez is FE Fates really that bad? thought this board was really high on the FE games

Here's a census I took of the Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem Heroes subreddits a few years back

https://i.imgur.com/CemwH5x.png

https://i.imgur.com/cxt0DpU.png

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Still havent beaten this one so I cant rate it but the gameplay is really fun

9

It's Yakuza's soap opera crime drama at its best, limiting its focus to more of a character story. As usual, individual characters are better than the plot as a whole, and the mid-game drags for a bit aimlessly.

But it goes up a whole point for that pitch-perfect "roll credits" moment it pulls. Holy crap that was some fantastic scene direction.

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KamikazePotato posted...

Outside of one outlier, Revelation didn't receive any ratings above 2/10

Oh I'm not saying Revelation deserved higher scores, just that Conquest deserved lower ones!

Johnbobb posted...

oh geez is FE Fates really that bad? thought this board was really high on the FE games

I think B8 is fairly lukewarm on FE's stories in general. Fates is also noticeably worse than the rest though.

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9.5

Yakuza: Like a Dragon makes a naturally beautiful transition from Beat em'up to Turn Based JRPG and of course its drama, over the top action and incredible character interaction, familiar to past games of the series, doesnt miss a single beat. I would say, especially the beginning and end game took me on an emotional roller coaster ride like few video game stories have and also absolutely managed to stick its landing.

The somewhat mid game lull is the only reason I docked half a point but Yakuza mid game lulls are nothing of the sort of how Tales game mid game lulls usually are, so it should be made clear that it isnt anything like that. Like a Dragon personally for me has higher highs than even the series' pinnacle Yakuza 0 but it isnt quite as tightly paced as that game unfortunately because of certain fluff that are there to simply make the game longer (which are present in most JRPGs to be fair). Overall though it is a fantastic package that I recommend to series fan, JRPG fans and people sinply looking for an emotional and engaging story in video game.

Also, Ichiban Kasuga despite his scruffy hobo gangster looks on the exterior has this infectious kindess and compassion to him that makes him my personal breakout main character of the last generation of video games and is the perfect example of dont judge a book by its cover.

I'm still playing this one so I'm abstaining but I'm about 20-30 hours in and really enjoying it. The characters are all likeable, the setup and character backstory goes above and beyond even for Yakuza, and the presentation is top notch. Ichiban strikes me as a worthy Kiryu successor while also feeling distinct.

Also was kind of surprised on how loudly anf quickly a Yakuza game wanted to yell about its political themes (the very hot takes that homeless and sex workers are people too), which was amusing. But it is Yakuza and I'll see where it goes.

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I haven't played a single Yakuza game. Could I theoretically jump straight into this one while still enjoying the gameplay and story? Am I missing anything major by not playing the others first?

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Some cameos from the Yakuza games, but this is self contained. They go out of their way to not only make it obvious "This is a JPRG now, please love it to death, we wanna keep making it." And "Ichiban is the new hero."

The fact they are continuing on with the JRPG stuff (while keeping Judgment the brawler style) makes me so happy.

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Thwre are incidental spoilers for past events but if you are okay with that kind of thing it does a super good job of onboarding. It's meant to be an entry point as well.

There are also tons of references to past games you'll miss but this is just a thing for Yakuza, since Yakuza 0 and the remakes instead have a bunch of references to future games.

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Yeah there are definitely appearances that would be spoilery for past Yakuza games considering how some of the plot points are heavily centered around those characters in those games.

Cheers guys. Might look into picking it up!

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One last bump, anybody else want to rate this one?

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