Yakuza 7 will use turn based combat

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is shifting the series to turn based combat, which has left a lot of fans unhappy.

Sega announced the eighth entry in the popular crime drama series last week. The game will feature a brand new protagonist, Kasuga Ichiban, an ex-Tojo Clan member who served 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Few details have been made available so far, but the plot seems to revolve around the Omi Alliance, a rival syndicate to the Tojo, teaming up with police for a takeover or Kamorocho. The game will also feature Yokohama as a new location.

While most of it seems like standard Yakuza fare, the gameplay will be taking a sharp shift from previous entries. Yakuza has always been known for its hard punching, beat-em-up action. However, Like A Dragon will be tossing that aside for turn based combat. Early footage of this system was originally teased on April 1st of this year, leading many to believe it was a joke. However, Sega has confirmed that it’s real, following the release of a new trailer and promotional material as part of the unveiling.

Japanese fans of the franchise aren’t taking the news of the changes too well. “I was going to buy this, but this isn’t action, it’s an RPG? Even the characters are from the mobile game,” remarked one fan on social media. Another quipped that “a god game becomes a kusoge (shit game)”. Others are likening it to Persona or Dragon Quest. The trailer makes a brief reference to the latter, which certainly isn’t helping matters.

Western fans seem to be taking a more cautiously optimistic approach though. Reactions remain mixed, however, many are choosing to wait for footage from the final Japanese release before passing judgement. The game is due out in Japan sometime in 2020, with an English version expected out sometime that same year.

As a fan of the series myself, I’m really not sure what to make of the changes. Not a lot of footage has been shown so far. I suppose that after seven mainline games, and just as many spin-off entries, Ryo Ga Gotaku Studios is eager to mix things up in order to prevent the franchise from getting stale. It also appears that Like A Dragon will mark a return to multiple playable characters, with at least four shown in the trailer. Which we haven’t seen from the franchise in a while. Given Sega’s pedigree for decent turn based action titles, I’m optimistic. It really depends on whether they implement grind mechanics, something that tends to be heavily overused in Japanese role playing games.

Like other Western gamers, I’m going to wait and see how Japanese fans react when it releases over there. However, I don’t think the studio has released a bad game to date, so I’m confident they’ll be able to pull it off. It’s something we’ll definitely be revisiting when the Like a Dragon finally reaches North America.