It’s finally time to talk about Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
If you read my top 5 list for last year, you probably have an idea of what to expect – enough good to earn the #3 spot on my list, but not as high of praise as I often give to the Yakuza games.
And that’s really what it comes down to. Infinite Wealth is a mixed bag for me, because it has a lot of aspects that I love but also some that just fell flat… mainly in regards to the story.
Let’s start with a positive: the gameplay.
Like its predecessor, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth has a turn-based combat system. When I reviewed Like a Dragon, I criticized its combat system for relying on position for AOE and directional attacks but not giving you any control over your movement. Infinite Wealth fixes that. You can move in a limited amount of space to set up your attack, which gives you so much more control.
On top of that, it introduces damage bonuses for attacking from close proximity or from behind and even more teamwork moves where party members will follow-up your attacks with their own. The combat system feels so much better here; every place where the combat felt lacking has been improved.
That holds true for the rest of the gameplay, too. Remember how you had to manually interact with taxis to add them to your list? Now they activate when you walk past them. Did you get frustrated when a party chat got interrupted by combat and you’d have to run back to the spot to start over? Now the characters resume their conversation after the battle. There are so many little improvements that it really is a joy to play.
The game this time takes place partly in Hawaii, which is a big change for the series. I enjoyed the Hawaii setting as a change of pace, although I didn’t get as attached to it as to the previous locations. It felt too big to me, even compared to Yokohama.
There are some great substories, although I felt they weren’t as good overall as in previous games, and some enjoyable mini-games. But when it comes to side content, nothing stands out as much as Dondoko Island.
Dondoko Island, oh, Dondoko Island, I have to love the game for that alone. I spent so much time on Dondoko Island, sometimes feeling like it was the main reason for playing and forgetting about the main game, something I haven’t experienced since the Cabaret Club mini-game in Yakuza 0. I wish you could interact with island guests more and had some more house customization options, but those are my only complaints about one of the most fun side activities I’ve played in the series.
Now, when it comes to the story, Infinite Wealth does better with some parts than others. It does a great job with emotional moments, especially when it comes to Kiryu.
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Kiryu is dealing with a cancer diagnosis, and the rationale behind his side activities is for him to have a bucket list, which is secretly the party’s plan to get him to see the impact he’s had on people and realize he has something to live for, so that he’ll try treatment… and that’s beautiful.
Even more emotional than that alone are the scenes where Date helps him glimpse the people he’s had to leave behind when he faked his death. Those scenes are so, so good. The Taichi one had me tearing up.
It also does a great job with Yamai, a secondary antagonist who is one of the best things about Infinite Wealth. I’m not kidding. I went into it not expecting to like Yamai very much, but he won me over so completely that he ended up being one of my favorite things about the game.
So it’s a shame that none of that same energy went into the game’s main antagonists, who are among the most boring main antagonists the series has ever seen.
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I love cult stories, but Bryce is so boring, I found myself feeling tired whenever the plot was dealing with him. He’s just not a compelling villain, despite having a setup I thought I’d enjoy.
(On top of that, it’s unintentionally hilarious that in the subbed version, his English lines are all done by his Japanese voice actor, despite the character being American.)
Ebina isn’t much better. Maybe he would have been more interesting if he had been Ichiban’s villain to confront instead of Kiryu’s, since the idea of them being half-brothers and Ichiban worshipping Arakawa while Ebina hated him and all yakuza sets up an interesting conflict. Outside of that, he just didn’t have much going for him.
Maybe some of Bryce and Ebina’s screentime should have been given to Eiji, because he’s at least the most promising of the three… and it would have improved the impact of the final scene with Eiji if he had a more prominent role in the plot.
Playing Infinite Wealth as a story fan was a strange experience. I’d be watching a scene while thinking “This is boring, this is one of the worst–” and then Yamai would be on the screen, or something emotional would happen with Kiryu, and I’d be hooked again and thinking about how great it is.
I disagree with the common complaint that Infinite Wealth lacks seriousness in the main story, though. There are definitely some lighter elements because of Ichiban’s personality, and some over-the-top sections, but overall I felt it still had many dark and serious moments.
As for the ending, I have mixed feelings.
Click for major Infinite Wealth spoilers
When I finished, I didn’t like the scene with Eiji just because I didn’t care about him enough… but the more I thought about it, the more I liked what it’s trying to convey. That scene isn’t about Eiji, not really. It’s about Ichiban, and the sort of person he is. No matter what you’ve done, if you want to change, he’ll be right there with you. He’ll reach out to you and help you, again and again.
Viewing it like that makes the emotional impact of that scene hit stronger for me. It doesn’t matter if I didn’t care about Eiji. Ichiban will reach out to him anyway, because that’s who he is.
Meanwhile, I liked the Kiryu ending. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see him reunite with Haruka and Haruto on-screen, but knowing it’s going to happen and that he’s getting treatment and using his real name… that’s enough for me.
Overall, I would compare Infinite Wealth to a game like Yakuza 5. It has a lot of great stuff despite a weaker main story. I may have a lot of criticisms, but I also really enjoyed my time with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and I hope the next game keeps the strong points while improving on the weaker aspects.
A new wave of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties previews have gone out, and in addition to providing more details about the combat, side activities, etc., the PlayStation Blog preview also mentions there will be a demo available.