Like a Dragon - The Infinite Joys of Infinite Wealth

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has finished with me, but I'm far from finished with it. 

I spent sixty glorious hours with Ichiban, Kiryu and crew, and I have an overwhelming number things I want to tell you about it. So here's a collection of musings, which I'll keep spoiler-free at first. I'll give you plenty of warning when it's about to get spoiler-y.

1. A Mini-Review

It'd been a while since I'd played anything worthy of disturbing my GOAT list. Infinite Wealth, however, had me scrambling to nail down the precise order of my all-time favourite games, so that I could decide whether or not I needed to make room for a new entry. I still haven't quite decided, as it's still too early to say; I need to let it sit for a while longer. However, the fact that I'm even considering this should let you know just how much I enjoyed Infinite Wealth.

A lot. I enjoyed it a lot.

I took to Hawaii far quicker and more completely than I thought I would, and the contrast between it and the more familiar settings of Ijincho and Kamurocho is very effective. I adore how weird things get - proper surreal, feverish stuff - and no other series makes me laugh as consistently or as loudly as this. The combat remains engaging from start to finish, and there are enough side activities here to fill a hundred hours, easy.

All of that's great, but it's the collection of misfits and outcasts that make Infinite Wealth special. Every new character lands, the LaD returnees don't miss a beat, and the OGs fit in seamlessly with the new stars.  And having so many characters in your party - eight for the majority - never feels overwhelming, as they're confidently split between the different narrative threads. Each has a convincing reason to exist and a believable relationship with our dual-leads, Ichiban and Kiryu. It speaks to the strength and likeability of Ichiban that, despite Kiryu's larger-than-life presence, he's not diminished. If it wasn't already apparent, Ichiban is a lovable and worthy successor to the Dragon of Dojima.

Like a Dragon is in rude health, and I'm delighted to see it doing so well.

I might need to rehash my GOAT list.

2. From Strength to Strength

Infinite Wealth is probably my all-time favourite Yakuza. Actually, drop the "probably". I'm being too cautious. Infinite Wealth is my all-time favourite Yakuza. Like a Dragon Gaiden was my pick for Game of the Year 2023, I was tempted to call Like a Dragon 2020 my series-favourite, but I felt I owed the incumbent,  Yakuza 4, a replay before I demoted it, and Yakuza 6 was superior to Yakuza 5. This series somehow gets better and better, even in the midst of a genre-switch and a new set of protagonists, as well as changing generations and changing tastes.

I'd love to go back and revisit some older entries, especially those that I've only played in Japanese (0, 5, 6 and Ishin) so I can play them in my native tongue. They're all sat there on Game Pass, so it's just a question of available time as opposed to accessibility. That's a huge shift from where we were a decade ago, when Sega had altogether stopped localising new entries. Quite the turnaround.

3. I'm Hard to Please

As we've already established, I bloody loved Infinite Wealth. However, it's not perfect. The most fascinating and memorable games rarely are. So let's pick holes for a couple hundred words.

Firstly, the pacing in the first twenty hours is poor. You arrive in Hawaii, and then essentially nothing happens for more than a dozen hours, with the exception of Chitose joining your party. You have to sit through what amounts to an extended tour of the island, where you are forced into sampling the numerous side activities that litter the city. And as for those side activities, most of them don't warrant more than one try. They're entertaining, but mostly lack the substance to bring you back.

Speaking of things I didn't interact with very much, I thought the Job system was far less crucial here than it was in Ichiban's first adventure. Aside from a desire to watch the animations for new abilities, I saw little point in changing roles. I switched a couple of party members to healing-focused jobs, but kept everyone else in their original roles for the duration.

Lastly, I didn't think much at all of the Palekana storyline. It's a silly, throw-away narrative device to pull Ichiban into a new environment, and I'm sure there must have been a better way to do this. The party's concern for the well-being of a cult was hard to believe, Lani was an utterly pointless character, and Bryce was a toothless and forgettable villain who was thoroughly overshadowed by the more nuanced and interesting antagonists who stayed in Japan. He was just a wrinkly old twat with a cave. 

All that being said, Infinite Wealth might still be a Top Ten all-time game.

4. Yamai is Cool as Fuck

Yamai is cool as all fuck.

5. What are White People?

I have it on strong authority that no one at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has ever met a white person. If they had, they would know that we're not made out of PS2 graphics, and our complexions aren't set to "so fair that you can't make out features". Some of us are beetroot red, for example, especially when we've been on holiday. To be fair, this may just be non-core NPC syndrome, where non-essential characters look like they have been lifted directly from Yakuza 3, and are existing on a fraction of the polygon count of the main cast. The series has long had an issue with this, but I guess it's part of the charm. Carry on.

**Mild-Spoilers Begin**

6. The Trans-Atlantic Split

I initially felt bad for Kiryu being stuck with the B Team in Yokohama, but that turned out to be a very poor take. I wasn't over the moon about being dragged away from Ichiban, Tomi, Chitose and Adachi, when Kiryu is sent back to Japan to recuperate. He still had Nanba for company, but I correctly assumed that he'd also be joined by Saeko, Seonhee and Zhao, who struck me as B-tier fodder. I was very wrong. Their attempts to keep Kiryu in high spirits were heartwarming and entertaining, and I ended up spending even more time grinding levels with this team than I did with the Hawaii crew. They were just more fun to play as. By the end, Kiryu's new acquaintances felt like old friends that had been by his side since his Tojo days. Not a dud in the bunch.

7. Memoirs of a Dragon

I loved this stuff. Scattered across Ijincho and Kamurocho, these are tiny flashbacks that highlight important people and moments in Kiryu's life. They're bolstered by some more extensive missions and, best of all, Detective Date's attempts to reunite Kiryu with loved ones.  If you're still reading, you're probably well aware that Kiryu is dying, and we're ostensibly experiencing the final chapter of his very eventful life. He is all but resigned to his fate, having decided not to pursue treatment for his cancer, and is slowly breaking down. Date wants to gift him the opportunity to see important people from his life, but, more crucially, he wants to prove to him that he has positively impacted many lives and has plenty of reasons to live.

I had a lump in my throat through most of these missions, and was genuinely excited to see who would appear in each. Also, Kiryu and Date make for a delightful couple, operating on opposite sides of the law, but being massively fond of each other. While these missions pull on your heartstrings, they are also very silly. Kiryu can't directly reveal himself, as he needs to keep up the pretence that he's already dead, even if no one who actually knew him believes he's gone. He'll wear a hat or a pair of glasses in an attempt not to be rumbled, while sitting across a bar or cafe from people who knew him well.  This mix of highly emotional moments and pure comedy is peak Like a Dragon.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Infinite Wealth to series newcomers. However, if you have a history with Kiryu, it's going to hit so much harder and mean so much more. I was grateful for the flood of memories, and when the final memoir came to a close, I didn't really know what to do with myself.  

**Massive Spoilers From Here on Out**

8. All Good Things Must Come to an End

I've been playing the ending over and over in my head. I didn't want to rush to comment, and wanted to sit with the ending for a while. Ultimately, I've landed on it being fairly predictable, good but not great.

 

We pretty much got what I was expecting for Kiryu: a commitment to treatment, but no guarantee of recovery.  It was never going end with his death, as that would've been too clean and too cruel. Also, there have been too many Kiryu-death fake-outs over the years, so it would've been hard to believe here. Conversely, having him make a full recovery was never on the cards. We'd have felt cheated for all the heartache we'd been put through. What I didn't see coming, however, was the reclamation of his name. That's Kazuma Kiryu heading in for chemotherapy, not Suzuki Taichi. I liked that, and I'm interested to see what that means moving forward.

Kiryu's final scene, and the arrival of Haruka and Haruto, didn't quite have the same emotional impact as some of the best moments from Date's missions. But there was one exception, which is when we first see a gaunt Kiryu, newly committed to fighting for his life. The camera focuses in on his once strong hands, accustomed to battering villains, palming blades and throwing impossibly heavy objects, hanging from the arm rest of his wheelchair. They're thinner than before, the skin pulled taught over tendons and veins, soon to be punctured by poisoned needles. He looks very mortal, and very sick.

That scene brought back memories of my dad. How cancer drained him of his physical strength, but never robbed him of his desire to fight on as long as he could. I'm sure that scene will have resonated with many players, for similar reasons.

Ichiban's final dungeon is far more interesting than Kiryu's, even if all pretence of this being his game is dropped by that point. Ichiban's mission wraps up first and Bryce feels like an afterthought, hardly deserving of last-boss status. The final Eiji scene, where Ichiban carries him to the police station through a rabble intent on doing him harm, comes out of nowhere. To be honest, I'd all but forgotten about Eiji, but if his role was simply to set up this very Ichiban-moment, one of sacrifice, meaningful pacifism and an insistence on friendship and salvation, then it was well worth it. It caught me by surprise, but I definitely approve. The lighter moments with Saeko were also very welcome, and ensure that there'll be plenty of in-group drama and tension when we next rejoin our heroes.

9. Where to Next?

While I'm still thinking about Infinite Wealth a week removed from rolling credits, I've also allowed myself to consider where Like a Dragon goes next. We've got a big team, with three established locations, not to mention a roster of legends that are cameo-ready, so there are plenty of options for mainline entries and spin-offs.

We're probably a couple of years away from the next Kasuga Ichiban-focused game, but no more than that. RGG Studio knows how to turn these games around quickly and efficiently, largely thanks to a collection of established locations and systems that it can recycle over and over. I reckon there are plenty more Ichiban stories to tell, and Chitose's abrupt exit at the end of the game will surely lead into something else. 

If Kiryu has indeed reclaimed his name, then a reckoning with Daidoji will most certainly be on the cards, assuming he recovers. Could that perhaps be another stop-gap entry, similar to Gaiden, with the familiar brawler controls? I'm not sure that the partnership between Ichiban and Kiryu would work quite the same a second time around, so I'd expect any further appearances to be crossover cameos. Also, I'm still convinced that Akiyama could carry his own game, maybe with some support from the Kamurocho originals?

Honestly, I'd go anywhere with these guys. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to do so.