Life Still Not Daijobu (Like A Dragon Gaiden)
Wow, am sort of flabbergasted that Sega managed to make a spin-off work despite the cost of admission, like calling this the Ground Zeroes of games for a few reasons. I can understand why many people who played Y6, Y:LAD, and are waiting for Infinite Wealth would get this.
Truth be told, this is their second game this year, After Ishin. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is probably their short story spin-offs, starring with the return of our titular hero, Kiryu Kazuma. That's one reason for it, and how parts of it story links up with the rest. Also, the established fact that Kiryu is bad at maintaining anonymity. But it does get better.
That's where the fun part comes, Kiryu or rather Joryu, is now an agent. When it comes to grand spectacle, none of their games have reached such new heights as this one has. The hours might be short, but the quality times do stick around for long. Especially with newer mechanics.
In the death of night, some pretty looking one heads out only to see some goons waiting to jump on her. Until Agent Kiryu (now Joryu) comes to the rescue, and he shows them what for. Also, mimicking live footage of people walking in Tokyo with the game engine looked so sublime.
If there's one other thing, this title somehow manages to excel at, it's the visuals. Night lights of Yokohama, Ijincho have never looked so glistened yet gloomed in daylight. Man, one day I'll go to Japan, I'll visit these places, hopefully. Though I could be wrong, I didn't play Lost Judgment yet.
Kiryu's Agent combat style is more about being tactical, and efficient. He gets to play around with gadgets a lot. I mean, forget moping the floor off his foes, you can flip one guy and those am to another. They can hit themselves just fine. More gets unlocked like drone attacks, cigarette bombs, and rocket boots. Yes, you heard that one right. We're going Spy x Kamen Rider here.
They get unlocked as the story progresses, but also can be upgradable by spending money. And some points earned by helping the denizens of Sotenbori for the story's sake. This skill tree is too simplified for its design, and feels less informative too. They do get easier to unlock, though.
One of the things that bothered me, was having to lock onto an enemy before dodging, because that's not possible without it. His movement otherwise during combats feels stiff, and I have to move him out of dodge fast. Getting this figured out, combat feels fast and smooth.
Kiryu showing that he still got it, even for his age, he can subdue enemies quicker than they finish throwing their tantrums. Of course, we can't have a Dragon of Dojima without Dragon style. I am guessing Kiryu has terrible memory, since he keeps forgetting all the other 3 from the older games.
Even if oversimplified, there's enough to make things interesting. The heat actions sequences still look fun to use, plenty to unlock as the game progresses. Extreme heat mode makes a comeback at just tapping the trigger. It works differently in both styles, in Agent, attacks are superfast and aggressive, while in Dragon Kiryu has pure stomping power and gets less dazed.
The fights are different here, in a less deescalated sense. Kiryu finishes fights before they get to the epic stuff. Am halfway through the story, and bosses with 3 health tiers be damned when I parry their special attacks. I am playing this on Standard difficulty, and he does a lot of damage.
It kind of starts to make sense when the game's length is kind of short. It's not that fighting as Kiryu again isn't fun, he gets to do amazing stuff here. But the experience overall might sway people out of it. Now, with all that being said, let's talk about what else I did.
Coming to Sotenbori, I had to meet a certain lax, care-free, flamboyant Osaka resident named Akane. Turns out, she is like a ring-leader for most of the stuff that happens in there. Calling herself "Jack-of-all-trades". If there's one easy flaw that Kiryu has, it's trusting women. Then again, she seems like a dynamite gal, worth the hangout while Kiryu stresses over for dear life.
Getting on her good side involves doing requests like helping out the homeless, people who are about to get beaten up on the streets, fetching kids their balls, taking pictures, finding rare items, etc. My good deeds do pay off with cash, and points from her network.
Her points are used to buy interesting items, also necessary to purchase upgrades as it uses both currency. So yeah, I am going to be a good Samaritan and help out. And no, it's not because I get to make boatloads of money, it's actually more fun taking out street thugs with Kiryu's new moves.
A nice win-win there. The side content here is also surprisingly a lot of fun, with some intrigue to them. By now, some of you saw the promotion of the game, and thought "K-son". Yeah, I did the Cabaret mission, and now I am hoping to come back on more time. She is such a bundle of joy, really pulling the "Japanese girl with terrible accent" trick pretty well.
Since the story takes place right before Y:LAD, a lot has kind of changed. Even Kiryu later realizing that the Tojo clan has fallen apart, and that the Omi Alliance is using every means to make cash. Including being under the foot of certain corrupt politicians as the police looks away.
Because of the pressure they face, they resorted to move the underground on a large container ship on the ocean. And because they're out of Japan's enforcement circle, there are all kinds of hedonism going on. People who have gambling debts forced to move carriages while getting whipped.
Debauchery, prostitution, rampant gambling, and then the coliseum. The one in Kamurocho had ground rules at the least. Fighting in the coliseum is a match to the death, and the ones I'll be fighting are real sadistic types. I even fought two tigers for a story mission, and yet Kiryu had no problem taking them down. The Omi really has ways with doing business.
If you're not into that, you could enjoy the other harmless parts of the game. RC racing makes a combat, god knows how much time I put into that in Y0. Sega arcade games to try, I managed to catch two toys in one turn from the UFO Catcher. Was cackling so hard from this.
I forgot to mention this, but in the Coliseum, you can even play as Majima, Saejima, and Dojima characters. Could be a copy-paste deal, but that actually changes things for me. Might give it a try when I get back. Wouldn't want to miss it.
The story beats in this game rarely gets intense, but the stakes do get bigger as it progresses. Of course, we all saw the trailer where Kiryu cries. So am still waiting on that to happen. And judging by how unfazed he is by Tojo-clan's faith, means he really wants to move on.
Man of honor he is, willing to take his word to his grave, long as the orphanage he opened sticks around. I also got to see little Haruto grow up in the span of over 3 years after Y6. The rest of the orphans have also aged, and are taking care of each other. That's so nice to see, meanwhile I care little about who Kiryu is trying to save. Just want to punch in for late game's story.
If you want the 100%. you'll clock in about 30hrs at most. The mileage will vary though, there are actually fun stuff to find, if only I force myself to play the first few chapters due to the slow build-up. I will stick around longer, mostly because I am playing this through Game Pass.
The asking price is still a lot, this isn't Kiryu at his most prowess. Even the narrative takes a while before it goes somewhere. I do like the whole quality in short spades. But Sega, you better not make a habit out of this. That include the monetization and exclusively adding Infinite Wealth demo.
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I just finished it a few days ago. Without spoilers I will say that I thought it was good but you can tell that the intention of the game was to be a little taste of what's to come in 2024 with Infinite Wealth. I agree that the plot takes a while to pick up the pace, there were moments where it was a bit heavy, but to play it on Gamepass it's fine, especially if you want to be up to date with the story before starting the next game, haha.