The MAJOR PROBLEMS With Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth's Story!

[@simedius]

Honestly if you think about it: The main problem of this game is that it doesn't know what it wants. It tries to be 2 things at one time: Kiryus tribute and Ichibans story.

[@Nekomon.]

It really tried to emulate the duel protagonist that yakuza 0 had but miss what made that aspect of that story special. The switching was well paced where each time you switched, you'd get 5 of your questions answered only to ask 10 more. Each on their own was really good but together made a very cohesive story that kept tension and tone.

[@Publicenemy85]

@@Nekomon. Very true. I don’t think the duel protagonist angle they used in Yakuza 0 (which was amazing imo) works very well in a turn based game where you have control of up to 10 characters though. Further more in Yakuza 0, Majima and Kiryu’s story lined up beautifully as the game progressed, it didn’t quite work in this game, at times Kiryu’s party and Ichiban’s party seemed to be galaxies apart in terms of goals. Maybee it could have been fixed with a couple of more chapters in the game but I don’t know.

[@Shotgungunshot1]

I actually liked the story a lot right up until… I’d say probably after the 3 Legends fight. Up to that point I thought the deconstruction of Kiryu’s constant “Always living for someone else” way of life was both well handled and tragic enough to pull me in. But then the game feels like it rushes forward so fast to get to the end. As if it realized it only has 2-3 chapters left when it still had 6 or 7 more to tell. I actually really liked both Bryce and Ebina as villains conceptually. Ebina in particular could’ve been perfect. A main villain whose core motivation is revenge for all the awful things the Yakuza have done is unique and could’ve been incredibly sympathetic and memorable… But they don’t show any of that, they just say it a whole lot. A few more chapters to flesh out the plot points and the story could’ve been one of my favorites, but instead it felt like they ended 2/3 in and could’ve used a few more chapters… Or more accurately they could’ve condensed the tutorials into the first 3-4 chapters instead of the first 8 and focused more on fleshing out the plot…

[@HadiMert]

I agree with all your points. Story had its good moments but the bad moments overshadowed it for sure!

[@miutokunaga2824]

I’m Japanese, Japanese fans are saying it's about time they let Furuta take over the plot writing from Yokoyama. All the series you all praise, like 0 and 7, and Judge series, are written by Furuta. This time, Yokoyama is in charge of the script again, and he sticks to his style of live writing without structure and deciding the final boss as he goes, which doesn't really work out well bc of his limited skill and the story ends up being disjointed always. He should switch to art directing or producing which he is doing good.

[@Publicenemy85]

I do admit that there was missed opportunities for the game to really pack a punch. Kiryu going back to Kamarocho should have been this huge deal considering how in Gaiden he was told he CANNOT go anywhere near there. Kiryu leaves the most heartfelt letter for Daigo in Y6 but in this game he practically tosses him aside for Ichiban’s friends. RGG CONSTANTLY reminding us that Ichiban is the main character now and Kiryu’s time has passed (I actually screamed at my TV “I get it!!!! It’s been 3 games you’re telling us this!”). Plus how many times do we need to say goodbye to Kiryu??? In Y6 we were told this was his swan song. OK. Then came Gaiden where we were under the impression that was was DEFINITELY going to be our goodbye to Kiryu. Then along comes Infinite wealth and just as it looks like it’s gonna be the end…NOPE!! Give this guy a walk towards the sunset or kill him gracefully! If anything this really cheapens the ending of Y6.

[@HadiMert]

When Kiryu dies hell will have froze over. Great points though, I'm tired of hearing "Kiryu's last game"

[@MikeJr9284]

The pacing of IW's story definitely took a hit once Ichiban and Kiryu separated. Not to mention that characters like Wong Tou and Hanawa got the short end of the stick in terms of screentime, especially Hanawa considering what he and Kiryu went through in Gaiden.

[@HadiMert]

Kiryu's face when his best friend dies 😐

[@Nekomon.]

I do agree with the first half, although it is always worth noting that it is always screwy when mentioning gaiden and hanawa since gaiden was in development after infinite wealth. That whole scene is very much shocking the first time around but will always leave a sour taste looking back. Considering how unceremoniously Hanawa is taken out and the missed untapped potential of Wong Tou. It really felt like he was kind of just there after he reveals Bryce to be the big bad of Ichiban's story. They could've done so much more with him and the Ganzhe in Hawaii.

[@ee-sm3wg]

Hands down the story feels like a cake that was taken out way too early, like maybe 4 more chapters when kiryu and ichiban split up and adding joongu han earlier would be awesome , and i guarantee with a bit more time in the oven RGG could cook

[@HadiMert]

Definitely needed more time in the oven, I hope they finally build up Ichiban in the next game.

[@Publicenemy85]

Yes!!! Thank you! Many of the issues could have been ironed out with some additional chapters. I think it’s one of those games where the story writers and the game developers were not exactly on the same page. I’m willing to bet that a huge chunk of the story was condensed and ended up on the cutting room floor. Believe it or not having worked in a video game company, it happens way too often, it’s just that in the past RGG was one of the few studios who struck a good balance between story and content.

[@nechocat1234]

For a while it has felt like the writers really want to make kiryu die in an attempt to pass the game to kasuga, and specially in this one, the game felt like it cares more about kiryu's death than the reunion of kasuga and his mother, kyryu's death should have been handled on it's own game where it could be better focused than what happened here

[@HadiMert]

Kiryu has been trying to die since Kiwami 2💀

[@diegordi1394]

​@@HadiMertWrong. He's tried to die ever since the FIRST GAME. At the end, he had given up on life after seeing all of his loved ones die the same night but Date talked him out of it.

[@Nekomon.]

Speaking of weak written character's. Man. I didn't like how Akane and by proxy Lani essentially became MacGuffin's. You have so much potential to write a type of narrative you haven't written before with Lani being a surrogate little sister or at least someone important to him. Remember. Found family is way more important than blood family to ichiban. It's why he openly states he has two dad's whenever it's mentioned. Scenes like the beach scene where it's Akane and Ichiban. As much as it seems kinda forced with Yamai of all people saying it. The scene itself. IS really good. Although you could've had Chitose saying it since she understands the best how ichi probably feels about Akane. I am perfectly fine with Ichiban not considering Akane his mom (even though I really would want it to be so. Yakuza has a lot of themes about fatherhood but basically one attempted take on motherhood with haruka and park) but I wish they had much more of a dynamic. Ichi is so desperate to find Akane near the start but that fizzles out very quickly once they actually find her. I wish it was developed more.

[@HadiMert]

Definitely agree on Lani, again the game has so much untapped potential with a lot of characters which is one of the games major flaws!

[@BlaZe2099_]

The entire story was so comically bad that the only thing I felt was the urge to skip the cutscenes. The only good characters in the game were Tomizawa/Yamai and Chitose (while not on the level of the other two). This entire game is a disaster in storytelling in nearly every way and RGG needs to fix their writing team if this is the best they got. I could write an essay on how stupid this entire story is and I'm not even a writer, I just like Yakuza games.

[@zer0_ner034]

Glad you talked about how Ichiban is portrayed in this game. I know Ichiban is supposed forgiving and all, but how he easily forgave Eiji and Chitose just felt disgusting. Not to mention it's all more or less explained by the game saying "Ichiban is just that kind" and it keeps repeating that point instead of giving a more realistic explanation. I'm surprised more people don't feel this way.

[@cleverman383]

You forget that everyone should HATE Nanba for betraying everyone in the previous game, helping Aoki destroy the Ijin Three and take over Ijincho, and Ichiban just forgives him because "you're my brother" Nanba is AT LEAST as bad as Eiji and Chitose, if not worse.

[@zer0_ner034]

@cleverman383 See, from what I remember (it has been a while), Nanba didn't try to kill a kid like Eiji. Speaking of which, Eiji straight up had a smile on his face when throwing Lani in harm's way. Not to mention our time spent with Eiji is so small I honestly forgot about him when he showed up again. Nanba on the other hand, stayed with us for a good chunk of the game and his motivations were ultimately explained and were understandable. Eiji and Nanba tackle similar threads but they are not at the same level. Eiji crosses a line that makes it VERY difficult to forgive him and the game does him no favors.

[@cleverman383]

@@zer0_ner034 Yeah, I don't see why he should forgive Nanba but I agree that he shouldn't forgive Eiji either. I guess they're trying to go for a "Jesus forgave Judas" type story where Ichiban just has this completely pure soul of kindness and forgiveness

[@MrBlue9020]

The first encounter with Chitose reminds me a little bit of Nanba. Nanba saved Ichiban's life, which is a good reason to trust him, whereas Chitose gives him every reason *not* to trust her; pretending to be Akane's housekeeper, drugging him and robbing him to leave him naked on the beach. I remember thinking "Ok... where are they going with this? How the heck is she going to be a playable character later?" I know Ichiban respects her for not stealing his necklace with the ashes, because he told her how important it was to him, but that's like saying "She may have broken my arms, but at least she didn't break my legs so I can still walk." Forgiving Nanba also makes sense because, while he may have lied to Ichiban, he had a *very* good reason, a very unselfish reason: trying to find his missing brother. Ichiban even makes a point that, even if Nanba told him the truth, they'd likely end up in the same place, anyway. There's being trusting, and there's being naive. It made my head hurt when he said "I made the choice to trust you" as his only reason for trusting Chitose, before getting into the elevator. That's nice and all, but how do you think Kiryu and Tomizawa felt about potentially walking into a trap with him, just because Ichiban "made the choice to trust" someone that Kiryu and Tomizawa pretty much just met? I still don't understand how he can still have some faith in Eiji after everything he put him through. It made sense with Masato because he knows him better and has known him almost his whole life, but he's known Eiji for, what, half a day?

[@zabalvabal3601]

I agree with everything except the Ebina argument. KIryu is a fitting character to fight Ebina.

[@HadiMert]

Fair enough BUT I think we needed to see more interactions with them to make me care just a little bit. But that's a running theme in this game currently.

[@diegordi1394]

It feels so weird knowing that 8 was finished before Gaiden.

[@reelerverse]

Yeah, best gameplay and content in the series but one of the worst story in the entire serie. So much things don't make sense, even the presence of Kiryu feels forced and doesn't fit.

[@HadiMert]

Agreed! Never gave Kasuga a chance to develop

[@awejka8918]

I think the main problem is that this game has 14 chapters (and the previous entry with only Ichiban was 15 chapters long) and that the protagonists split too late. 14 chapters, 3 main antagonists and 2 protagonists with really important roles to fullfill is not enough time.. I think the story would be so much better if we got at least 2-3 more chapters..

[@HadiMert]

Good point on the last game being 15 chapters with only ichiban. 14 definitely wasn't enough!

[@ogPunkcln]

The game isn't bad but I feel like the plot of Infinite Wealth should be from a side game. Mainline titles should progress the personal stories in a big and eventful way. All Infinite Wealth achieved is Ichiban meeting with Akane and Kiryu meeting Haruka again. The Palekana plot and Kiryu's cancer arc can be left out entirely because they're self-contained within IW. These 2 story beats could've been attached as an ending to a story that continues from LaD, not new ones that are way too large-scale for a Yakuza story (an evil cult that secretly controls the US government, really?). I really do wish the franchise won't have to suffer from what a lot of others game these days have to, overly ambitious scale of the story and changing too much of what the series story is about.

[@luperodriguez580]

I feel like RGG was so excited to start production on the game that they forgot 2 things ... this is supposed to be Kiryus final entry and Ichibans big break away from him as the actual Main protag. Like it feels like halfway thru they forgot what to even do with kiryu and the illness issue as well as how to end out Diago , Majima and Saejimas story's. And on top of that it feels like they forgot about ichiban and his march forward alone or even gave him any real development other than what we already saw in 7 . He kinda stays the same thru everything. The game was fun tho but didn't really feel like it reached any conclusions for any of the characters story wise

[@Publicenemy85]

Excellent point about Ichiban not really developing as a character in this game. The whole “forgiving your enemies” thing worked beautifully in Y6 because of the history he had with Ryo Ayoki, in this game it makes no sense at all.

[@mrmanmanduckduckduck5648]

The Far cry 5 of the Yakuza series

[@nightmarelycanthrope2230]

The difficulty spikes, can't change your class intill chapter 5, and always that feeling something's off when your higher than the enemy and you still cannot wipe the floor with them

[@tombraiserzombie2581]

All I’ll say is that if you really think about each of their pasts, Bryce is Kiryu if he stayed as chairman (and became evil), and Ebina is Ichiban if he never went to prison (and became evil).

[@blacklegsanji7108]

they mentioned in IW that the daidoji faction had been severely depleted and low on resources. I think the ending is the worst part. We needed more time to cook with the palekana plot and the ebina plot. And Akane and Lani become irrelevant too fast with only a note in the ending that Lani took over palekana..... as a 11 year old....somehow managing the brainwashed cultists of bryce.... and Ebina became "old news" fast.... So much glossing over important plot points.

[@HadiMert]

Damn Daidoji really thought they can do all that, it still doesn't excuse blatant incompetence. I literally also forgot Akane existed until she showed up again, agreed many things were glossed over.

[@Darkman1432]

Man, appreciate the efforts put to this. I had the same sentiments finishing the game. It’s just disappointing how we’ve been hyped about this story, especially since Ichiban didn’t have a character development at all. Here’s hoping that they stop milking our boi Kiryu and let him have his long-deserved peace in 9🤞

[@VirtuousAezon]

Kiryu fights Ebina because he is the resuit of the sins of the Yakuza, something Kiryu carries on his back.

[@HadiMert]

Makes sense, still feels they could have built on it much more to have a bigger impact

[@Vaximous]

The game definitely felt more like a "Part 1" Of sorts and most plot-points and characters didn't flourish. I do love the games story but it definitely felt underdeveloped and rushed which honestly wouldn't be too surprising to me given all the BS Sega pulled with the game post launch and (presumably) with Gaiden with the NG+ being DLC and Gaiden not even having NG+ at all, there could be some corporate meddling but that's just pointing the finger. The story overall is "okay" at most points imo. Also, where'd you get the background music for 0:27? I've been looking for it since release

[@HadiMert]

Agreed I think Sega is way too focused on DLC. Also I somehow found the song here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGire4GqlKicotksi=OJDO9GY58vnJJGF1

[@MrBlue9020]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Wong should have been a playable character instead of Joongi. Huge wasted opportunity. Everyone seems to agree that Ichiban should've fought Ebina at the end. I also get the argument that Ebina is a fitting final boss for Kiryu, because he carries the weight of the Yakuza's sins, but that scene after the battle... Do you really think Ebina is going to back down just because Kiryu said "Pretty please with sugar on top, forgive them"?

[@violetisgaylmao]

I liked the story a lot personally. Had me hooked from minute one

[@liamminnihan9021]

I have to disagree with you regarding the life links. I found them really disappointing. Having kiryu refuse to say anything to any of the characters (except Akiyama because he ambushed him) was a really bad choice in my opinion. Then the ending to the final life link is really bad. It was really emotional. However, the ending of the game makes the entire final life link pointless. Because the daidoji let Kiryu go at the end of the game, Kiryu has no obligation to follow the agreement that he made in the final life link, which make all of the emotional weight from it absolutely worthless. Its like there were 2 teams of writers and one was in charge of the life links and one was in charge of the story.

[@jovif.spemudaindonesia1841]

#Justice4WongTou

[@lesterdominguez7605]

Okay thank you sm. Someone had to say it. This story was weak and I want more people to see it. Everything else is great.

[@HadiMert]

Did you guys love the story? Did you hate it? Let me know in the comments and like and subscribe if you enjoyed!

[@samtheboy8277]

The story has a lot of problems, but a very noticeable one is by far the villains. Aside from Yamai, none of them were interesting or memorable enough. Bryce in Ebina in particular struck me as villains who we were "told" a lot about but barely shown. Neither of them had a strong presence throughout the game like other Yakuza games. We are told about how Bryce is a monster and all but we barely have anything to show for it, same as Ebina, whose character is only really developed moments before the final boss. Dwight was a joke and Sawashiro was canned. I personally loved the ending but i also agree on the fact that it could have been SO much more had the story not been weak. This game used Yakuza 0's duel protag system in a much messier and disorganized way. Honestly the writing in general from the very start felt weaker and weirder in aspects. I don't know what happened.

[@purpleplasma4824]

The biggest issues is repetitive tropes through the series and them doing Itchiban dirty asf.

[@mihaelkennedy]

Bryce VA is unacceptable. Felt like a disrespect to the fans. No excuse.

[@HadiMert]

I was honestly shocked when I first heard it. I made sure it wasn't a glitch at first 😂

[@animestyle92]

This may be off-topic, but she mentioned Bryce as to why he shouldn’t have that accent. If you played the game in English, he sounds American, which is exactly how we should sound like.

[@doonishsan]

There's no need for Ichiban to fight Ebina tho Because Ebina is a representation of Kiryu's failure to change everything for the better. The regrets of a Yakuza. That's his point and Ichiban doesn't have that. If we just get Ichiban vs Ebina, it'll just be Ichiban vs Ryo Aoki all over again.

[@HadiMert]

That's an interesting perspective, but I still feel the story was missing some extra weight when it came to the villains.

[@modernhiendai]

They tried to have too many things. They want happy ending for Kiryu and it cost Ichiban his story. I agree that they should let Ichiban fight Ebina, feel like it will be way more emotion. Overall, combat in IW are better and Hawaii as new map are big welcome but stories are step back from Yakuza 7.

[@Quantum722]

Yeah Gaiden and Infinite wealth's story didn't make any sense after all didn't had enough screen time for all of them and pretty wasted a potentially good characters from my personal perspective. You will be missed Head Trauma move 😢

[@alonemax2912]

Such a great game and such a disappointing story, especially while stories in all their recent games were really good.

[@Queggins]

agreed, Bryces and ebinas final boss fights were also awful.

[@MrBadGuyX]

Every time RGG try to tell an 'ambitious' story (5, Lost Judgment, this game) they kinda drop the ball. That's one thing I've noticed. I think they often try to do too much and don't do it well enough.

[@mihaelkennedy]

Yes, everything about daidoji is lame.

[@daseafrate2025]

I did not like the story either. Great game otherwise