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| Like a WHAT?! |
Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Sega,
Platform: PS4/5 etc.
Official Site:N/A.
Official Site:N/A.
Release date: 09-9-2021
Not sure what to play next I decided to get started on this game
that has been sitting in my backlog for like half a year!
The game is still set in the same old Kamuro-cho because where else?
or rather you start there but the majority takes place in Yokohama.
This time we got an all new protagonist Kasuga Ichiban! It didn't seem like
I had to have played the previous games but it was nice to catch some references.
For most of the game it felt like its own story, but some things may have more impact
if you know who some familiar faces later in the game are.
Pro's
- Fun cast of characters.
- Plenty of side content you can do at your own pace.
Grey area
- Story is interesting but it is also messy and confusing.
Con's
- Messy and confusing plot.
- Pacing issues, difficulty spikes.
At first it felt like I saw this somewhere before like the beginning of Yakuza 1
i'm not sure which was more dramatic though but I can definitely see a call back.
Much like Kiryu, Ichiban also had to spend time in jail but much longer.💀💀💀
The fun actually starts when Ichibum gets out of jail, he got a bit too excited
and hasn't quite gotten the memo yet. They messed up his hair so he's stuck
looking like he's been struck by lightning. Ichi also felt like he was a bit delusional
and very insisted on doing stuff his way even tho he had someone trying to look out for him.
Oh no... anyway it was quite entertaining to follow Ichiban get his bearings but things
went down the rabbit hole and I thought parts of the plot were confusing.
Was wondering what was up with him and some even say he was a Schizo...........
it certainly would explain things but I think he was just hard-headed.
No one seemed to mind his quirks which was hilarious. |
| Ichiban in a box. |
It went from Yakuza drama to being homies with the hobo's
to trying to find a job but that is just the tip of the iceberg
as its all down the rabbit hole from there which was just more drama...
Atleast some of it was entertaining, except ''the talk'' in ch10. (I'm tired...)
Then due to pausing the story to get better gear and immersing myself in some side content
I forgot half of the plot so it was like wait this game has a story?!💀💀💀
Now everyone in Yokohama will know Ichiban confections has the best rice crackers ever.
That's it... that is my LAD7 experience.
From then on I was able to follow the plot better maybe cuz there wasn't much distractions.
Also its no longer a brawler and it just plays like an turn-based RPG now.
I didn't have much problems with the genre switch as it felt comfy. I don't really feel
like mentioning the gameplay as its just turn based with a job system
to change the characters classes(which I barely did) because it was a hassle.
The only ones I changed was Saeko(to Idol) and Adachi(to enforcer).
The battle system is a homage to dragon quest because the protagonist likes that game
I guess sega did a handshake with square enix to keep the names and other references intact.
I played on normal and it seems you're locked to that but I didn't have much
of a problem throughout the game, I could clearly tell when I had to upgrade
and get my shit in order which happened only twice in ch9 and ch12.
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| I hated this dungeon as it didn't seem to end but those enemies were funny. |
but you don't actually have any social links with NPC's. Raising Ichi's stats usually
come from choices during substories,skills or the vocational school.
You can deepen your bond with your party members as well by fighting,eating or triggering
party talk skits but often they'd reach a point they got locked so you had to chat at the bar
to raise it further, these events varied whether they were interesting but most were nice.
This game's balance is odd though, early on its rather easy. I got by with the joke weapons
from that one store for a long time along with some light crafting but I had to
upgrade everything in ch9/12 which made things more bearable.
Unfortunately the upgrades were expensive and the only way to solve that is to do some
optional activities to get more money and the best way to do that is the management minigame.
I got kind of bored of it by rank 21 but I ended up finishing the whole thing anyways.
The length? 50-60ish hours. My ingame save said 55ish but for some reason PSN
inflated this number by 10. Okay whatever maybe it counted me idling but the game didn't.
Much like Yakuza 5, LAD7 also has a long finale so you gotta make sure you can play
for almost 3 hours because once you enter the final dungeon you can't save.
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I know RGG recycles a lot but they do it in a clever way and I did enjoy exploring
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| I recognize that place from lost judgment and I don't like it. |
Yokohama a little more in this game than in Lost Judgment.
The game was also permanently discounted after Y8 came out so its now 20$
with it dropping to 10$ on sales but this price is perfect for the contents you get.
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was a bit all over the place? I didn't hate it or anything, at the end of the day its OK.
Honestly I liked the characters, interactions and substories much more than the overall plot.
I really struggled to follow some of it till it was straight up explained but even then
it still somehow failed to follow up on one thing in the ending, it made me angry.
I think the switch from brawler to RPG was refreshing and it still
had the fun things I liked from past Yakuza games such as substories.
Ichiban wasn't constantly getting scammed like Kiryu did in Yakuza 1 in some of them
Ichi is actually helping others out of them. So I couldn't see him as a lvl1 dumbass
but there were some moments here or there cuz he can embarrass himself.😅
It took me a few games for Kiryu to grow on me but Ichiban did it in one game.
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| Hero missions were boring and repetitive and Ichiban's reaction is similar to mine when I think of it. |
I just think had they paced this game properly I wouldn't have to go out of my way
to get upgrades. They could have implemented dungeons better because chapter 8 was way
too short and to find myself slightly walled by combat the next chapter does not feel good.
It doesn't even get better because the enemy lvls increase like wildfire and I am like hold up?!
There weren't really any big dungeons besides two so the rest of the game felt like yakuza 1-6
but turnbased. The best way to level ended up being the arena btw can you believe it?
I mean you can revisit the underground dungeons to grind but it was so out of the way
it wasn't even on my mind not even side quests/substories took you back there.💀
Despite grievances I recommend it to anyone that is interested in an RPG
with an older cast and doesn't mind doing side contents.
7.7/10
More ramblings after the jump, maybe some light spoilers but nothing too heavy
hench why most of the rambles are behind here.
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Characters
I found him to be quite sensible, for the most part. I suspect the ichiban dumbass meme
comes from his behavior in the beginning but I didn't think he was that stupid just a dork.
During bond events Ichiban just turns into a therapist for his party...
but he was a good friend for listening to some of their troubles.👍
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| I wish I was joking but them bond talks do be like this... |
Nanba.
A homeless dude who lost his medical license I felt like there is more to him
the whole time but the game wasn't going into it. So he remained SUS on my radar.
I mean he knew so much about the triad stuff I was like how does this hobo know
so much about that?! later in the game Nanba was mostly benched like someone else.
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| Oh man... this one is terrible out of context. |
The reason why he got fired was a bit odd but it seems he's a really good guy despite being a bum.
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| Welp........ |
Adachi, seems like the more level headed guy and reliable oji-san of the group
it was nice having him around and it made sense why he was an ex-cop.
very interesting. That said I never took him out of my party because he is just that reliable.
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Saeko.
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| You could say that... |
she is a tsundere who can breath fire if need be but you don't want her to.💀
Saeko was also my main healer thanks to idol job but i'm gonna be real
I like her but also not that much, I only used her out of necessity.
Her personality was a bit too much for me but she makes some funny remarks at times!
I loved it when she said Kume is like the trash she steps on and when she called
trenchcoat guy man-candy because he's an ikemen.😂😂😂
As for Saeko's bond events... boring for the most part and I just wanted her to make up
with her sister already, whom she doesn't see eye to eye with but she still has her back.
This is endearing but idk the whole thing felt like they didn't have much material so it is what it is.
Also the friend of Nanoha's boyfriend seemed like he had a thing for Nanoha which turns the
whole thing into a NTR scenario, we kick the current boyfriend out so his friend has a chance.
I would also ship Saeko with Ichi but there really just wasn't much material for that to sail I guess?
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| I don't know why I have this screenshot but I ship it... even if there's less than 10% material. |
Joon Gi Han.
Uh he helped the party at some point but couldn't do much
so it was like he was Houdini. If you played Yakuza 6 you may recognize him
and ISTG I thought I saw him dying but apparently not. Probably rubber bullet shenanigans.
Idk why I keep calling him trenchcoat guy but it stuck.💀
Actually no it wasn't but they actually really had a good reason
why there's a Joon Gi Han in this game. His bond events explained it well
and its probably my favorite next to Nanba. Ugh I could go on and on about this
man-candy princely pretty boy but that would just make him shy.
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| Nooooooo....😂😂😂😭😭😭😭 |
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| He didn't like that joke but Adachi wasn't wrong.😂💀 |
Zhao.
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| I hate to admit it but it was hard for me to place him in my party, |
anyway! he left quite a bigger impression in this game and his JP VA was quite fitting.
Unfortunately he's the last guy to join and he's got not much new or exciting in his arsenal
buuuuut I can see him as someone well if you like him you could use him?
Every once in a while Zhao would also pop up in results screen cuz benched characters still get exp
and its like hey! i'm here. Seriously how did he end like this... I guess he's a nice cook but eh.😭
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| Mood... |
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| Oh no... |
Ichi really is a good friend to listen to his troubles cuz hooboy! honestly this one felt
the most like it was a therapy session and if you skipped you didn't miss that much.
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| A cook's the life for him... maybe. |
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Eri.
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| I didn't notice it during my playthrough but god Saeko is watching her!😨😰😱 |
Eri is a character tied to the management minigame based on a real person.
Now I don't hate her it was just kinda random how she joined the party😅, it felt kind of forced
but since we were down a member at the time I didn't mind it.
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| Not like I had a say in the matter! |
or Zhao because they were much more story relevant than Eri ever was.
It felt weird to have her tag along but I guess it was a nudge to those RPG's with hidden
party members.😔 I used her again in ch13 cuz one boss doesn't hit women but that was about it.
She sometimes would join for party talks in the overworld... but I actually kinda forgot about her.
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Story ramblings.
I was debating to just remove this section but I kept it so uh enjoy my Schizo ramblings!
The prologue & first few chapter did feel like I was watching a movie, an interactive one at that
the gameplay wasn't too advanced yet but that is to be expected for the opening chapter.
Which was over an hour long but as said it did introduce and laid the foundation of the story.
Chapter 4-5 was when I started seeing the main guys develop more of a group element.
I really loved the party chat feature as well since the banter really added a lot as well.
I nearly lost it when Nanba went stable my ass.😂 The story about Nanoha was kinda sad
and I d'awwed a little when the scene progressed even further.
Wait how did this end up going from hilarious to bittersweet?! it was around this point
the character interactions felt genuine. Shit actually got dark at the end of the chapter...
and I did feel bad for the owner guy because turns out he wasn't even so bad at all
but we get involved with the triad of Yokohama anyways cuz Ichiban has a sense of justice.
Anyway it seems like there are three groups who're all butting heads but there are a bunch of
chinese who seem to act on their own and picked a fight with the local japanese yakuza.
There's also the koreans but it can seem like things are nasty in the beginning.
During all this someone new joined because the cops are useless
and it doesn't sit well with her that they just brushed a murder aside.
Either way the story was pretty exciting that I wanted to continue playing and hang out
more with everyone too buuuut I was like how did we even get mixed into this?! 💀
they all investigate but its not before long they just find themselves in the middle of it
and Ichidumb ends up convincing Zhao that he will put the truth to light
but it ends up being much more complicated and shit happens.
Wait they were actually working together? sorry if I can't really follow........
Anyways at the end of the day there's always some politician jackass in these games
and its getting really old! but maybe its true and politicians are jerks.💀
Of course everything did make sense but that wasn't till ch12 and onward.
I kept making excuses that all of this was not real and Ichiban was having a fever dream
ever since he got shot because wtf. Anyway apparently its not but Ichiban really loved
dragon quest so he's literally using his imagination whenever he fights battles.😟
Ichi really do be roleplaying every encounter but strangely enough he's actually
quite a down-to-earth guy in substories although chapter 13 made me almost redact
that statement cuz this guys imagination is something.
Either way all I am gonna say is that Ichi is a lovable dork and I don't hate him.
It could seem like it but Ichi isn't tripping maybe less shrooms mmmkay?
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I thought the dungeon in chapter 6 was a bit too long, the whole thing was exhausting
and I almost was like why am I playing this again? I guess there had to be something
but I think it should have been shorter? the whole chapter was a little over 2 hours long.
Thankfully there are checkpoints but... the whole thing was a slog.
Speaking of slogs chapter 9 was another but more on that below.
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| Of course there were special moves, most of them were great. |
[I had to pause story progression twice]
As you know the game was too easy till chapter 9 and after chapter 8 which was short
the difficulty ramps up forcing me to do side activities to get enough
money to get better gear. I got my armor from chinatown and upgraded
Hero's bat and Saeko's popsicle at the workshop. I made Adachi an Enforcer.
This was good and I made the extra character a dealer which people suggested as her best job.
I didn't find grinding enemies engaging so the best way to get money in Like A Dragon 7
was the management minigame and substories. I tried hero missions too but
found them too repetitive so I stopped. After I got these basic upgrades
everything was a lot more manageable! and just proceeded with the story.
I had to pause it in chapter 12 again but this was mostly because the levels
of the enemies increased way too fast, it took one run through the arena 1-30 to get into
the 40's which is enough. I then just did some bonds before moved the story along.
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| Ichiban and the gang. |
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| He's looking the wrong way, actually no don't look! |
others would just be kinda random or an introduction to some minigame.
Speaking of nothing was too in your face and I wasn't too overwhelmed by anything
I personally didn't care about other random side activities like shogi or hero missions.
There were atleast two that were callbacks to Y6, somehow that kpop star was back...
as well as Ono Michio to make fun of that badly made saber figure.
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| I guess playing all the other games payed off eh? |
Substories in yakuza games are at their best in the moment when you come across
them randomly, some are hilarious and others kinda sad to heartwarming.
One of them was kinda confusing but anyways Ichiban has a ghost girlfriend apparently.💀
who help you beat up stuff and the first time is free but you gotta pay afterward.
I thought it was hilarious how we got a lobster but I was surprised
when the lady who left her abusive boyfriend for a new flame showed up.😅
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| Of course Ono Michio was a summon as well... |
The management minigame is honestly fine because its fun watching numbers go up
but it doesn't fit in well when doing the main story since this technically should take up
a lot of days so while this is fine in premium adventure where that doesn't matter
its disconnecting to do this when you're still doing the story.
Thankfully you don't have to fully complete it but I did it anyways the last few ranks
were tiresome but its a free 3mil everytime you complete a cycle if you get to #1 spot.
I did find it to be rather repetitive and silly when you find out that grandma can run
Ichiban confections by herself when maxed out. Who even needs employees?!
also I am guilty of child labor for making Noboru work
but hey he is getting paid a fat paycheck,so its not a problem right?!
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Seiyuu rambles.
Also my guy Adachi shares the same seiyuu as Ieyashu from Toki no Kizuna
hmm I guess justice is at his side even if he's an ex-cop.
I actually really like his voice? he's got that sexy ossan voice and maybe
all the yapping he did in TnK lighted a fire in me and now he's on my seiyuu radar.
(Cuz when he first spoke I was like wait a minute... ITS HIM.)
Daisuke Hirakawa was also in this game but he voiced an annoying side character Kume.He got to scream his lungs out and be a jerk but this isn't the first time he ends up like this...
but I just feel bad for his seiyuu for having to scream, i'd rather put up with Scampo in star rail.
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| After the ending of the game, I was glad I took this screenshot. |
Nakamura Yuuchi also was in just don't ask who or why, needless to say he wasn't screaming.💕
Okamoto Nobuhiko brought his sexiest and quite intimidating voice as well...
unlike Kume I quite enjoyed most of the time Zhao had something to say.
Oh Toriumi Kosuke is here too... but for real its like everyone is here!
RGG knew what they were doing with the casting. 
Well it was a fun game with a wacky plot which is what I am sorta used to from this series
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Final thoughts?
but idk the pacing kind of ruined it. The side content wasn't even too much.
What I really liked was the main party and their interactions, sadly during
the main story my attention sometimes waned with political stuff.😅
It was nice to see two familiar faces again as well but it was poorly implemented
to see them be lvl 50 when the enemies before them were 35, come on RGG.
LAD7 was poorly balanced, had they implemented dungeons better
I probably would complain less, I was forced into an arena to get to lvl 40ish.💀
As usual substories were good! but hero missions were too repetitive so I stopped doing them. Management was OK but after a while it got kinda boring? anyways... imagine
having to do the Saejima hunting stuff in Y5 to get money, that is what this game
is like LMAO which hurt the pacing of the story. At the very least all the important stuff
was explained really well so it made sense, it even made me go damn so that how it is.
Pacing wise it has a slow start and cutscenes can get lengthy, the game will abruptly raise
the enemy levels and I felt like I could barely keep up. Gear is important but
that doesn't mean you shouldn't raise your level. For a story based game
this hits some notes but also misses them because it can't pace itself right.
I also cannot fathom why I have to fork over 20mil for the last workshop update then
the story also needs 3mil, alright I will play the management minigame some more.😓
In chapter 12 you're even forced into a battle arena cuz there's yet another spike. 💀💀💀
The game would be hell had I not done that... Rocket Launchers are suddenly ideal as well.
I don't mind it in other rpg's where you go through dungeons and lvl up naturally etc
but in LAD7 I had to get 10 levels through the arena to keep up. 😑
The final boss was beefy sure but the only threat in the fight is his instakill move
so if you don't have peerless resolve up on Ichi which you should, lmao rip.
I don't count the last two fights in the final dungeon as bosses, felt like a fight for the sake of one.
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| This is probably his way of making a your mom joke.💀 |
Character wise I enjoyed getting to know most of the cast with the exception
for that guy voiced by Hirakawa-san R.I.P his lungs btw.💀
My fav character was trenchcoat guy/Joon gi Han followed by Ichiban.
I don't got a strong opinion on Adachi or Nanba. I didn't like Saeko that much
buuuuuuuut without her a lot of fun moment would be lost so she is alright.
Honestly the characters really made this game, not the plot which I thought was just OK.
I don't think it was bad but atleast at some point it made sense which is good.
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| Yea he's not cute, he's HOT. |
Even the ending is... well I thought it was OK at first but then it made me mad
like it spends 15mins showing that police guy is done for but Kume? whomst?!
The finale was also just too long I was pooped when it was over.
Due it being an RPG it was longer but also slower, you thought Y5 was long?
7 is like hold my beer! I didn't mind doing extra things and after beating the game
I actually realized I just liked doing a lot of things that wasn't the story.
7.7/10
As with most Yakuza games I generally did enjoy sitting down with LAD7
and I recommend it to people that would like an RPG with an older cast and don't mind
having to do sidetrack to level etc. Tho you gotta appreciate the shenanigans
and humor because sometimes things get weird but that's also what I like about the series.
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| I guess this is why Majima got his own game huh? |
Anyways i'm not sure if I will be playing the other games anytime soon
but maybe if I ever feel like seeing Ichiban and the gang again I will play LAD8.
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| Ending my post with a Zhao jumpscare to let you know he is available and can cook. |
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