#like a dragon series

[rkrq]

My favorite loser

[poreyneel]

there are not enough words to describe my pure admiration for Daigo Dojima

[crabsinvideogames]

Lost Judgment

This crab can be obtained in a capsule machine, as part of Decor-ocean's second set. While these machines also appear in Yakuza: Like a Dragon with the same appearance, they aren't functional.

[gamerism]

yakuza 5 haruka dance mini games you will always be famous

[thebuttsmcgee]

Kiryu in Kenzan and Ishin: Fitting right in with the Edo period, making the story feel authentic with both games' respective casts.

Majima in Pirate Yakuza (which is the title. I guess.):

[cantheywinthehungergames]

Submitted anonymously

Mentor Name: Ichiban Kasuga

Age: 42-46 (throughout series)

Media: Yakuza/Like a Dragon series

Restrictions: None

Note: Any superhuman abilities that Ichiban is depicted using is purely in his imagination and is thus not applicable to the Hunger Games.

A younger version of Ichiban has been polled before as a tribute! Click here to see the results and see if that impacts your decision at all.

If you would like to see your favorite character either as a tribute or as a mentor, please fill out this Google Form. Just keep in mind that for mentor polls, they will be posted every Saturday so chances are it could take a long time before they are posted.

Please also look at my pinned post for submission rules as well as a list of previously submitted characters prior to submitting your character.

[favficbirthdays]

Happy Birthday

Ichiban Kasuga (1st January 1977)

Yakuza/Like a Dragon

[demifiendrsa]

Amazon Prime Video has announced that it is producing a six-episode live-action series based on SEGA / Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Like a Dragon (titled Ryū ga Gotoku in Japan and initially titled Yakuza in the West) game series titled Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Ryū ga Gotoku ~Beyond the Game~ in Japan). The episodes will debut on Amazon Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories in two batches on October 25, 2024 and November 1, 2024.

Overview

■ About

The series is a live-action adaptation with an original story based on SEGA’s global hit game franchise, Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Directed by the critically acclaimed Masaharu Take, the series will feature Ryoma Takeuchi as the lead character, Kazuma Kiryu. Like a Dragon: Yakuza is the latest addition to the Prime membership. Prime members in Japan enjoy savings, convenience, and entertainment, all in a single membership.

Released in 2005 by SEGA, the Yakuza game series was positioned as an entertaining game for adults, which found massive fanfare amongst its target audience. The series depicts the lives of fierce yet passionate gangsters and people living in a huge entertainment district, Kamurocho, a fictional district modeled after the violent Shinjuku ward’s Kabukichō, that acts as the backdrop of the gameplay. Like a Dragon: Yakuza showcases modern Japan and the dramatic stories of these intense characters, such as the legendary Kazuma Kiryu, that games in the past have not been able to explore. The much-loved game has captured the attention and hearts of fans not only in Japan but also internationally and will now be adapted, developed, and streamed worldwide on Prime Video.

In 1995 and 2005, spanning across two time-periods, Like a Dragon: Yakuza, an original crime-suspense-action series, follows the life, childhood friends, and repercussions of the decisions of Kazuma Kiryu, a fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity.

■ Cast and Staff Comments

Ryoma Takeuchi, Kazuma Kiryu Actor

“I am truly honored to be given the opportunity to play the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a beloved character and the game series. I strongly felt that I was willing to put my life on the line. Audience will enjoy the show’s human drama and conflict that unfolds around Kazuma Kiryu. Moreover, please take a look Kiryu’s intense fighting scenes with the Dragon tattoo on his back.”

Masaharu Take, Director

“I have poured out my heart, soul, and the experience that I have garnered over 35 years into Like a Dragon: Yakuza. The unbridled passion, talent, and countless hours of efforts from the entire team have helped bring this spectacular story to life in the form of a riveting series that will be launched this year, the year of the dragon. Please look forward to Kazuma Kiryu, played by Ryoma Takeuchi.”

James Farrell, Head of International Originals, Amazon MGM Studios

“We are thrilled and extremely excited to announce the Amazon Original action-drama Like a Dragon: Yakuza, based on the popular Japanese game series. The unfettered appeal for Japanese content from within Japan and other parts of the world has been growing exponentially. While Prime Video Japan continues to offer a variety of content across genres, adapting an internationally popular game franchise that has such deep resonance and layered characters presents a unique charm and makes for an extremely compelling watch. We are committed to augmenting our content library and are confident that Like a Dragon: Yakuza will strike a chord with audiences all over the world.”

Masayoshi Yokoyama, Producer and Studio Head, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio

“Since the day I first put pen to paper on the original Yakuza‘s script, I’ve never once thought about revisiting any of my work on the series. It’s because I understand all too well the challenges and hardships that come with remaking a finished title. However, if I were ever sent to the past through some kind of cosmic joke, this is the experience I’d want to create. If I had to go through the wringer anyhow, I’d want to make the most engaging versions of Kamurochō and Kazuma Kiryu I could—and this show has it all. There is no question that Prime Video’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza will become another landmark release for the Like a Dragon series. While the games let you experience their world through the subjective lens, this adaptation will be the ultimately objective way to enjoy the show. I have no doubt that fans of the series will be drawn to how it brings the games to life and adds new surprises. Newcomers, I’m sure will find themselves invested simply in the gritty realism of the show. If anything, I’d love to watch this version alongside audiences all around the world—experiencing all of its intensity and soaking in every single second.”

[satoshi-mochida]

Some games that are currently stuck on older consoles that I hope get rereleased in some way, Part 3:

Part 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Yakuza/Like a Dragon: Black Panther 1 and 2/Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho and Kurohyo 2: Ryu ga Gotoku Ashura hen(both do have fan translations, though).

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 1-3(all three are on Steam, but it'd be good to have them on consoles, too).

Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand

Legend of Legaia

The Legend of Dragoon

Ape Escape 3(it was supposed to be part of the PS2onPS4 set of games, but never materialized)

Devil Survivor 1 and 2.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers

Shin Megami Tensei IV/IV Apocalypse

Bravely Default/Bravely Second

Project X Zone 1 and 2

Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs the Souless Army and Raidou Kuzunoha Vs King Abaddon(I think both are on the PS3 PSN)

Tail Concerto

Clash at Demonhead

Pokemon Ranger series

Golden Sun series

Viva Piñata series

Steambot Chronicles

Sakura Wars series

Ar Tonelico series

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

Tears to Tiara series

Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere

Devil May Cry 4(it is on Steam, but is otherwise stuck on the PS3/Xbox 360, I think).

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine(I don't know much about Warhammer 40K, but I watched someone play this and it looked pretty cool)

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! series(and Elite Beat Agents, too).

Whiplash

Shining series(both the Shining Force games and the post-Shining Force games that have Tony Taka or Noizi Ito as the artist)

[littlevices]

The Cats (Minor Spoilers, I guess)

I love cats.

Truly I do. I own some. They are actually sweethearts (when they wanna be).

So when I found out I was going to be collecting cats for a cat cafe in Yakuza 6 I was over the moon.

All the kitties for my cat cafe.

Then I found out that after a certain early chapter I could not go back to Kamurocho for a while and I would have limited means for cat food.

Cue reloading my game and getting every cat in Kamurocho, stocking up on cat food, then heading to Onomichi.

I regret nothing, but also everything.

These cats are surpisingly realistic; as in they are stubborn, cute, picky, and never around when you actually want them.

Do not do what I did. Collect the cats as you go. Unless you really want them that bad like I did, lol. Please, use a guide for these cats, do not guess. It was hard enough with a guide telling me where they were and what cat food to feed them to keep my collection as efficient as possible (yes, I used a guide for this. No, I am not ashamed to admit it.). It was a pain in the ass to reload these cats in their locations so I could feed them. I have learned my lesson, please do not do what I did. You can get the Kamurocho cats later. Stock up on cat food for Onomichi, but do not kill yourself getting all cats in Kamurocho that early.

Why a guide for the cat food? Can't I just guess the food and keep using the one they like? Why, you may ask?

Because even if you give them one they like it can still take around three or five (or more, it felt like more) visits before they can be collected for the cafe. Yes, that includes the Golden Cat Food which is supposed to be the best and the one every cat likes, but is the most expensive (10,000 yen, if I remember correctly). Some cats also like the same kinds of food as other cats, and you could run out very quickly if you don't know the alternative likes. Remember, Onomichi has limited options once you're there.

It's my own fault really, I can admit that, but don't be me.

I am happy that I have the cats, truly, they're cute, but please for the love of all that is holy do not be me.

(Please note, this does not reflect my feelings for Yakuza 6 as a whole. I have not beaten the game yet. I just had to vent and warn people about the cats, lol.)

[jlinebeck]

Yagami's lock-picking skills have reached new heights

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I have somewhat mixed but ultimately overall pretty positive feelings about Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and I'm going to get the bad stuff out of the way first. If you don't want to hear about it, go ahead and skip the next half dozen paragraphs until I have nice things to say.

The really big one is that chapter 12 is one of the worst things I've experienced in a while in a game that was otherwise good enough for me to keep playing. There have certainly been much worse things in much worse games, but not in games I was enjoying enough to force myself to keep suffering through them.

The pacing and progression of the first 11 chapters was for the most part handled really well. Then abruptly there's an absolute bullshit boss fight that's almost 15 levels higher than I was at that point despite doing nearly every side quest and optional thing available up to that point. It's probably doable without a ton of grinding if you have a more optimized party setup, but I sure didn't because I was having fun messing around with the different options it gives you, which had never previously been a problem.

So I got to waste a few hours grinding, and then at closer to the actual level of that area and boss fight it was still much harder than anything before it in the game, but mostly in a fun and satisfying way. If they had properly balanced the progression it would've actually been a great story and gameplay moment, but instead it really made me hate my time with the game for a while, which didn't fully recover by the time I finished.

And that still wouldn't have been as bad as it was if level/experience scaling wasn't so awful too. Once you're at that point in the game almost nothing gives any meaningful amount of experience and you have to either grind the arena or hunt down what basically amount to metal slimes in the dungeon, because otherwise it'll take literally dozens of hours to make any progress. I get Dragon Quest did it first, and you're heavily borrowing from and referencing it, but there are some things from 80s and 90s JRPGs that should remain firmly in the past because they suck so hard. I started playing JRPGs back then and I do not miss that garbage.

The other worst thing is instant death attacks, especially from the final actually hard boss (slightly before the final final boss), because if the main character dies you just instantly get a game over. I found out afterward that he does learn an auto-revive ability, but because they're too invested in copying bad ideas from decades ago they decided that instadeath attacks were a good idea and you can totally miss the exactly one thing available to mitigate them. I changed jobs when my experience gain got too slow to level up whichever one I was currently in, so I never actually learned that ability, and it took a couple tries before I was able to perfect guard that attack four times in a single fight just to not get wiped by RNG hating me.

Also being penalized for switching jobs by suddenly having your stats be terrible until you level the new job up sucks, the extremely heavy movement running around that's biased way in favor of the animations looking good instead of it feeling good to play sucks, and the karaoke minigame is the worst music/rhythm game I've played in years.

Ok.

I think I got it all out of my system.

Aside from that stuff? Pretty much everything else ranges from good to great.

It has a really good sense of place, with lightly fictionalized versions of real world present day Japan, which makes sense with how many years they've been making these games in these locations. I'm not usually one for realism in art styles, but the cities look good and feel lived in, and there's always something going on without it becoming too big or too bloated like stuff like this sometimes gets.

And of course the characters are great too. One of the reasons I'm not usually into crime/mafia/yakuza/etc. stories is so many of the characters, especially so many of the protagonists, end up being these stoic cool tough guys, which I get that some people like, but I find them kinda boring. Kasuga's great though. He manages to still be extremely masculine/manly while also being super emotional and expressive, and he gets to have and express more feelings than just 😐 and 😠. He's silly and playful and sincere and caring and will also punch a hole straight through you if you hurt his friends or family.

Lots of great supporting characters too, both returning ones from previous games and ones who are new to this one. Their relationships with him and each other and how they develop really do a lot to keep the game going, and they're all fun to spend time with. It's a bit of a bummer Eri's completely detached from the main story though, because she was a permanent party member for me as soon as I got her and carried the entire team through some fights, but then she was conspicuously absent from every cutscene that has everyone but her in them.

The story? Also good. Sure a lot of it is guys being dudes doing crimes, which isn't usually my sort of thing, but the great characters and way it's ultimately about friendship and both biological and found family keep it interesting as the crimes and murders are used to explore those relationships between the protagonists and antagonists and each other.

The gameplay's fun most of the way through, although I did get a little tired of it from chapter 12 on. It was a good call to borrow heavily from simpler JRPGs like early Dragon Quest for a series that hasn't previously been a JRPG series, which keeps it more accessible for people not used to it, and most of it works out surprisingly well. The majority of side quests and minigames are reasonably fun too, which you'd kinda hope after they've been doing some of the same ones for all these years.

Overall I mostly had a really good time with it, and the ending was good enough to at least partly make up for the significant annoyances in parts of the last few chapters. It must be doing something right if I spent like 90 hours on it over the past month and didn't take a single break from it to go play something else instead like I usually do. I'm looking forward to playing Infinite Wealth and future games eventually, but I'll definitely be looking up ahead of time if there's any bullshit I need to work around so I can plan for it ahead of time.

[poreyneel]

please stay (with me) happy valentine's day

[asphodelles]

post work stress doodle that sorta turned into a lighting study? i miss inquisition

bonus:

[lalondine]

I did it. I set up a working "Majima Everywhere" Twitch redeem. Use it wisely, chat. (They will not.)

[thebuttsmcgee]

DAMNIT I knew there'd be a catch

I guess for now Kiwami is digital only for switch.

Sucks but ah well, at least Yakuza is finally on switch either way