#lad 8

[madcrazyworld]

Happy Birthday Ichi!! And Happy New Year everyone 🍾🎉

[jetswife]

your side profile is very cute ✨

[autiwara]

Forgot about my laundry bc of him :(

[littlenimart]

even the sun goes down

[rainbowtie25]

Tojoctober Day 21. Glass

I think they have such an interesting dynamic actually!!

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

My ass has Not been drawing because I'm trying to get through Infinite Wealth as fast as possible but oughh kazumaji, oh the way things change

The fact that these two scenes are 16 Years Apart is crazy.

The fact that it took 16 years, 5 games, and countless instances of Kiryu leaving for Majima to finally just outright tell him "don't leave", whereas before he would've just stayed quiet.

The fact that Majima stayed silent in Yakuza 3 when Kiryu was leaving to live a new, free life while leaving Majima to take care of his responsibilities, meanwhile in IW he speaks up when Kiryu leaves to go throw his remaining life away for the yakuza while leaving the 3jimas to their quiet (if admittedly miserable) new lives. ohhh they make me sick

[rnn11203]

I think Mine is so interesting be his "villainess" is so deeply personal, his antagonistic role stems from his perceived loss of daigo, i think its cruel to think his actions meant he didnt care for daigo since daigo was only comatose. He clearly states that much of his concerns come from a fear of daigo becoming exploited, that keeping him in the state he is in would be undignified and disrespectful, that he would be willing to lead the Tojo clan not because daigo would want him to but because daigos very existence gave him some veiled sense of meaning and the Tojo clan would be his last remaining connection, a dream that daigo shared with him.

It's cool that mine claims to care little for others when hes so fond of both daigo and his adoptive father, that he doesnt know how to feel human (that daigo was the first to show him Ill), that he scraped and clawed his way out of poverty no thanks to anything or anyone but himself.

To me, Mines antagonistic role stems from his love, and lack there of. Which is different from other antagonists who seek power or wealth or respect. It's also something that isnt revealed until the very end, up until the rooftop confession kiryus under the impression that Mine is like everyone else, that he wants power, money. Instead, mine makes a confession of love and his destruction of the orphanage is extremely personal not just because he blames it for daigos state, but also because of his own self loathing.

Kiryus fights with the villains arent always a battle of strength, they arent just physical fights, its a battle of will. Kiryus strength is not just physical, its emotional. It's interesting that kiryus most exhausting fights (mine in yakuza 3 and ebina in yakuza IW) are also the ones that follow very emotional stories (have ur opinions on IW ebina but i think the game was really clear that ebina was more of an overarching theme/yakuza representation, and to me i thought it was rather nice)

[benji-doodles]

he's like a kicked puppy

[trixibebe]

Infinite Wealth character intro - Tianyou Zhao

[averydavery]

The Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth Problem

Ichiban sprite WIP for my (admittedly self-indulgent) fangame

Pseudo-essay and ramblings below the cut

Tldr:

I’m a sore, butt-hurt player who feels a bit cheated and a lot disappointed.

Critical Rating- 8/10

Personal Rating- 6.5/10

SPOILERS AHEAD

So I’m writing this as of just finishing the game. Mind you, it took me about three-fourths of this year to beat LAD8. Not because it was challenging but because one thing or another pissed me off so much, I had to put it down for extended periods of time. Now I want to get my glazing out of the way so you understand the things that I’m 100% not bashing here and a lot of my criticisms just have to deal with how RGG studio as a whole has become as storytellers and developers.

But most obviously addicting was the gameplay. This is probably one of my favorite turn-based RPGs in terms of mechanics and strategy— and I played BG3 this year. It improved everything that was in 7 and added only more things worth liking, especially the inclusion of Kiryu breaking the entire physics and reverting to just pummeling someone. I thought that was a really endearing touch. Also, out of all the games I’ve put on the TV, this was the one my dad enjoyed watching most. For context, my dad is a fifty-three year old man who only plays first-person shooters and has no interest in any other kind of game. I play with subtitles too and he’s usually not a fan of that since he has poor vision but he LOVED watching the silly little “essence of” moves. He genuinely got excited whenever I did a shit ton of damage on an enemy lmao. Also in my dorm I have a poster of Ichiban and my dad pointed at it recently and said “I know that guy! He beats up people with his magical bat!” … literally sobbed.

Besides the gameplay, it had nice quality of life improvements from 7 which was to be expected. Although I am VERY opinionated in terms of the story, my favorite part was Eiji and Ichiban’s development. The ending scene had such a cyclical feel to it that kind of reigned in some of the craziness to remind the viewer that the first “new” character Ichiban met was Eiji and a lot of Ichi’s expository conflicts were the result of his actions. I thought out of all the antagonists, he was the most realized and motivated as well. A lot of the more shocking moments I cared for had him in it— either explicitly or implicitly. Also not to mention the “bon voyage” motif, that was adorable.

Other things I enjoyed a lot were Dondoko Island, what a great in-depth mini game that at times I’d much rather play than the main story, and Chitose and Tomizawa. I liked both of them a lot, I thought the were sweet additions, it’s just Chitose had a lot of bearing on the story in regards to Eiji and I wish I could see it through. She wasn’t in the ending much at all and I feel like since she was so guarded we didn’t see her personality very much. Tomi was a much smaller part of the story which was a bummer but regardless, he certainly didn’t bother me and I like him for what he’s there for! Also he’s the most down-to-earth and relatable character on the team so that perspective was nice.

Okay now onto why I didn’t like this game so much.

I enjoyed this game really up until Kiryu went back to Yokohama and got his own team. Everything I disliked about the plot could be traced back to starting around that chapter. If you boil it down, this game introduces itself as being a continuation of Ichiban’s story and revolving around him. But when we take ahold of Kiryu it reveals itself to be a game centered around both of them. And one side of the story is about a new, fresh, and beloved character we players are always excited to play as… and the other is Kiryu.

I’m gonna rip the band-aid off now: I am sick of Kiryu. Do I think he deserves a better ending than in 6? Yes. Have I played Gaiden? No. Do I think that they should’ve found a way to end his story in Gaiden? Yes.

We as players have spent SEVEN AND A HALF games playing as Kiryu, from 0 to Gaiden. I think it’s not a stretch to say they need to give him a rest. I wish everything that happened with Kiryu at the end of this game was either put into Gaiden and RGG had marketed that game as “the true twilight era and ending of Kiryu Kazuma” or been experienced through the eyes of Ichiban. After all, it felt like Kiryu was upstaging Ichiban more or less in his own game and not in a good way. If this game was supposed to be truly “shared” between the two of them then they shouldn’t have made Ichiban such a focal point and made it like some grand scheme visualized through two different lenses like they did with Kiryu and Majima in 0. Every time I was back at the helm of Kiryu was just biding my time until I was Ichiban again! And call this an original take (sarcasm), but I don’t think a game should be played like that.

Not to mention that RGG now has a habit of making the game unplayable by forcing the player to spend hours leveling up to beat a boss and while I think that’s a clever way to get the player to spend more hours in their game— I definitely think we can all agree that spending time grinding to level up or to get new poundmates was no one’s favorite part of the story. So not only am I trying to rush through Kiryu’s story that I’m bored by, the game forces me to stay playing as him which only makes me hate that half of the game more.

I also think this series has really lost its spark, it set a standard that the conflict has to be so large, so all-encompassing and complex that it doesn’t really know what story its telling. What I mean is done best in 3 which is my favorite game in terms of story, is because of its scope. Sure, the US is involved so the issue is slightly international and there is some silly, yakuza-brand confusion but 3 is solely focused on that little town in Okinawa. Everything came back to Kiryu’s attempt to settle down there and how the Tojo Clan still seemed to follow him all they to his doorstep. The plot was localized and familiar characters like Majima and Dojima made decisions remotely from Kiryu, while new faces like Rikiya and Mine got to shine. In 8, the scale is so large and is trying its best to be so fanservice-y that the story of “Ichiban finding his mom” is lost completely in the cracks.

Also the cult shit. I know this RGG but even for their standards, this was stupid and not in a silly way. I was just groaning.

Not to mention, Lani is a character I felt no emotion towards. I wish the story was solely been about Ichiban finding his mom and it had spanned the entirety of the story, rather than the player being told “well, Akane isn’t the important one that Palekana is looking for it’s actually this random kid she’s protecting that you don’t know anything about or have an attachment to instead.” I think if they had, again, narrowed the scope and simplified the plot to be Ichiban searching for his mom— it could’ve been way more emotional and impactful. They could’ve even tried to achieve that Twin Peaks “who killed Laura Palmer?” vibe. Be which I mean, a very simple question or sentence could’ve been expanded upon tenfold.

I don’t know, this has gone on long enough. What do you think?

[gamerism]

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Locations: Theatre Square/West Shichifuku

[madcrazyworld]

our sunshine ☀️

[rainy-void]

I just think Ichiban deserves a flip phone with an ungodly amount of charms on it <3

(close-up of the phone under the cut)

[autiwara]

I can finally indulge in yakuza content again after watching LaD 8 only to find the Yamai tag SEVERELY lacking!!!! I can't believe this. Where are the EDITS! where are the FANARTS! I know he was literally just introduced but COME ON PEOPLE GET WITH THE PROGRAM 👏

[littlenimart]

tomi-chan 🚕⚡️🦝

[eameseames]

Truly, sometimes in life you are given a gift. You didn’t know you wanted it. You didn’t know you could have it. But today I got to wake up to Pirate Majima and life is good.