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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.
