If you'd asked me when Like a Dragon came out, I would have absolutely told you 2019. And that's not just because that's the year the game takes place or whatever, but the entire experience is somehow entirely divorced from my experiences in the 20s in a way I cannot properly reconcile. I don't remember lockdown or the political landscape of the time I played it, but I definitely played it as I came out and somehow it felt like it nailed certain things that have been happening. Yet somehow it transported me to its own time and place, and all of my memories of my time with it are of it and not what was going on around me at the time, and I guess I'm realizing now how special that makes it to me, that I could be transported to a place where real-life problems weren't absent, but seemed solvable. I try to appreciate when developers take bold risks with what they're doing, be it gameplay or story or what have you, and this game just decided to throw everything into the air all at once, which must have been nerve-wracking. But not only did a sudden shift to RPG turn out as something fun somehow, but Ichiban is so immediately lovable you simply don't have a choice but to root for him. Maybe we can't all be Kasuga Ichiban, maybe we can't all have the fortune of having a Kasuga Ichiban in our lives, but if you have someone who appreciates you for who you are and roots for you unfailingly, tell them how much they mean to you. Sometimes even they can lose perspective of how important they can be to others.
I just want to thank you for every last guide youve made on this series! I probably wouldnt have beaten any of these games without the use of your guides! Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to this fantastic series!
I can’t stop thinking about Yakuza 7, better known as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, even after a few months since I finished the game. I know why. Because I was 41, almost 42 when I played it, and it’s a game about men and women in their 40s and 50s who have lost everything, but found hope and meaning in their brand new friendship. I love classic style, turn-based JRPGs. Most of these games star children or teenagers with whom I have very little in common, and the stories revolve around killing god and saving the world, which I can’t relate to either. I really needed Yakuza 7, and it came to me at the right time. I didn’t lose everything, but I quit a long-time job and used the little money I had saved during the pandemic to start my own small business: a candy store, not that different to Eri Kamataki’s store, Ichiban Confections, which our Hero helps save from bankruptcy. It was scary, quitting a job like that, at my age, and after many years. But also exciting. Almost a year later, I can say for certain it was the right decision for me to make. The downside is I’m eating more candy than I should! It felt weird to quit a job when I was about to turn 41, to force myself to start over. But when I played this game a few months after I started the confectionery, I understood that your age doesn’t determine how you should act, where you should be in life. It taught me to not be ashamed of my previous failure (if you can consider being unable to stand capitalism’s working conditions any more a failure) but proud. And that’s why I will always remember Ichiban, Adachi, Nanba and Saeko fondly. Source: magickuser.wordpress.com/2022/06/29/cant-stop-thinking-yakuza-7/
This made me tear up reading, I’m so happy this game has done so much for so many people. I hope your candy store business is going well!! If I lived in the same area you’d definitely have a new customer! Have a great day ☺️🫶🏻✨
This is easily, one of favorite games ever made. I love it so damn much. Kasuga is an absolute treasure of a character. A pure force of nature in the for of will, resilience, and charisma. More than any other game ever, I wish I could erase and replay this one. It is just...so full of amazing moments. Nanba's return, Kasuga's speech about hitting rock bottom. The MUSIC holy crap. Receive and Turn You is on every playlist I have, forever.
There was never a character in any media where i cried my eyes out more than Kasuga Ichiban. Especially in the ending in both English and Japanese. "Once you're at rock bottom, the only way forward is up." 7 in my opinion perfectly tells the player about ichiban's backstory and explains why he does the things he does, like for example, In Chapter 4, He helps the soapland owner because he grew up in a soapland. Kasuga Ichiban in my opinion is my Favorite Video Game Protagonist even better than Kiryu and I can't wait to play as him again in Like a Dragon 8! Amazing Video GC! Can't wait for the Lost Judgment Video especially on The Kaito DLC cause I know you LOVED that one more than the base game!
As a person close to her 40s, the reflection you made about yourself hits hard in the moment I am now in my life, when despite having a job I am in a bit of a crisis because I want to start again and focus on my own projects. I also agree with your opinions about going 2 steps backward and one forward with the female characters and such, is like RGG you know women can do 90% of the jobs the dudes have, how then outside the first job is all sexy or cute...but I like them starting to give these steps, and I have high hopes for the next game.
I first considered playing this game when I saw Steam reviews in 2020 calling it "Dragon Quest XII." It seemed like a very bold claim at the time. Plus, I hadn't played any of the Yakuza games up to that point, so I wasn't sure how going into LaD blind would turn out. And I didn't know anything about the protagonist: I just called him "Chuckles Mcgee" at the time. But, ultimately, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. Major/Minor Spoilers below: The game kept surprising me with the depth of the story. I went in thinking that Ichiban's yakuza boss was going to very shortly betray him... I wasn't expecting their father-son dynamic. I wasn't expecting Later on, when I learned about the Ijin Three, I thought that Ichiban would have to take down all three crime families... I wasn't expecting him to eventually befriend the heads of all THREE organizations. I won't say the storytelling is perfect; there ARE flaws. Not just the ones mentioned in the view, but a few odd quirks here and there (like how Zhao and Han aren't present in some scenes, even when you have them both in the party.) But damnit... so many things clicked with me. It did so many things right with the game design. And to think that the RPG mechanics were a RUSHJOB is baffling to me. Ichiban Kasuga is a wonderful character. He's got this unending youthful spirit, optimism, and sympathy toward others that I find sorely lacking in other RPG protagonists. I've since played all of the mainline Yakuza games AND both Judgment games. And while I like the beat-em-ups, I *love* Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I haven't loved an RPG this much since Final Fantasy X when I played it as a kid. I look forward to Like a Dragon 8 .:)
Some of the points here i never really gave much thought myself, but now that ive thought about some things, like positioning, im really looking forward to infinite wealth due to some things being refined or changed in it.
Great commentary on a great game! After playing Lost Judgment with Spanish text and English voice-overs while my mom would watch, Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a great follow-up. She laughed her ass off seeing Nanba toss bird seed at some thug while pidgeons flocked to peck him as an attack, or when Saeko would smack someone over the head with a purse followed by a roundhouse kick. When it came to the various outfits from the different jobs, she almost pissed herself laughing as she saw Nanba as a B-boy or Adachi as a hippie musician. And don't even get me started on the sub-story with the super-spicy kimchi 🤣 That being said, it was such a shame that the game forces you to level grind hard in Chapter 12, especially when the group comes up against the first two revealed Yakuza legends that had a 15-level gap on me. I saved both my mom and I the pain of having to grind and grind and grind by watching the rest of the game via a full playthrough on RUclips. This game has such a great story and, even though I didn't get around to beating it, it's a purchase I don't regret. I greatly look forward to Like a Dragon 2 and Ichiban's adventures in Hawaii. Our next stop through the anthologies of Kamurocho will be the Kaito files and hopefully followed by Yakuza 0, so that I can show my mom how it all began.
Honestly looking through the series, there's many times where a message is told only for the game to show the opposite of the message whether it's in a substory or main plot. Depending on who you are, you can either view that as a writing flaw or see it as a coin with two different sides.
Next time on questrospective: a mostly serious discussion on the topic of bullying (LJ), followed by a Ballad of Kaito (The Kaito Files) and an examination of the lives of Saito Hajime and Sakamoto Ryoma (Ishin).
I don't mind the "competing eyecandy" arguments, Westerners just taking too much seriousness of women in fiction when there's a lot complications of real life women issues, not to mention that women in pseudo-real life (or let's we just call it as "parasocial" internet) subcultures just already paint a lot of perceived bad images of women in any 3rd world countries being shown the cases of women Heck, most of the people in SEAsia to entire Pan-African, all of Middle Eastern and North African, most of East Asian and Central Asian, most of Eastern European, majority of South American and other parts of developing and impoverished countries would have way bigger problem with stuffs like Onlyfans than how the more recent Yakuza series portrays women (which already being gradual improvement from the earlier Yakuza games), the criticism on Japanese bureaucracy, intergenrational seniority/elitism, xenophobia and wealth inequality are better plotline focuses of their more serious plotlines since poverty are the very often cases being the root of evil in the ever-competing, modernised/gentrified and streamlined lives
Expecting women and foreigners and immigrants to be presented as perfect angels is ridiculous. I'm disappointed in your assessment. These immigrants are supposed to be criminal, why do you expect them to not do anything wrong or shady? some of these people are better and some are worst. their characters are treated the same way as the Japanese Yakuza are in this game. it's equal treatment. how is that not progressive in your mind? treating them as nothing but good people doesn't make any sense. also in the warehouse scene, most of them are actually Chinese mafia considering the only people not wearing uniforms are your crew of freelancers. The same goes with the women in the game, Do you expect them to always be treated with respect by all the characters? So imagine someone is a complete scumbag but when interacting with the female characters in the game their personality changes momentarily? hell even the main cast commenting about the women is normal, they're not eunuchs and didn't do anything other than a few fairly benign comments. or do you expect the Female characters themselves have no flaw or natural human reactions or jealousy? that's how you end up with a Mary Sue and we know these types of characters are copyrighted by Disney these days. I'm glad this game is Japanese because they are one of the few modern cultures left that aren't afraid to make their male and female characters flawed and with natural human emotions and urges. I don't want perfect heroes and villains, I want good guys and bad guys who act like human beings even if a little exaggerated. xenophobia and sexism have been my main issue with Japanese and Korean games and media for years and Yakuza Like a Dragon is one of the games that actually corrected them. The reason we can't have good things is that even when good things happen, there are always people that say "It's not good enough" so people just stop trying, I mean what's the point when it's never enough and all they can get for their effort is a backhanded compliment.
@@GCVazquez "by every 2 steps forwards they took a massive half step back" literally what you said. that was pretty much your point, but my problem isn't your point cuz afterward you said it's a great improvement, but my problem is that your one-by-one examples of these "half step backs" make no sense at all, which I explained why! Your point was that basically despite the "step-backs" it was a great improvement which makes it a backhanded compliment especially since your examples are just normal character traits and storytelling. so what's there for me to miss exactly?!
honestly i could stand your weird takes like at 25:25 (the subject of the joke in both of those is the guy nanba for being a creep who cant interact with women and the guy with the armpit fetish not saeko) but i cant stand you useing the mid dub like if it was at least half as good but dude the EN dub fails so hard at convaying the most important part of LAD "THE EMOTIONS"
@@GCVazquez the coment was mostly a joke but the video as a whole was good with the exepion of the "Representation" argument this series represents men the good and the bad parts of being a man you shouldn't look for female characters as deep as the male not cose "no evil women in my game" more like its hard to write good charaters of both genders as man and women are difrent and reqire special care to make sure you dont end up with woman that acts like a man TLDR: the LAD games are MALE representation first and formost women are socondary (dont tell me that you go to female romance stories and want more male representaiton) not accusing you of anything just saying
I hated the combat, because the characters wander around uncontrollably from your party's perspective, and randomly on the enemy units perspective. so aoe for example does not feel rewarding at all, because you just hope enemies are in the correct place. you can't influence it as far as I know (played about 40-50 hours last year). this goes for those interupt attacks when you attempt to attack an enemy that is behind another. also another "I can't be bothered with this game anymore" moment was the capitalism regarding that business magnate side-game when you buy up properties and then have to woo shareholders. I hated how one of the bosses was called the "sweatshop destroyer", as though that was a bad thing. and then there's the way they approached the protest group, painting protesters as all following some kind of trend. those are 2 examples off the top of my head. it was very shallow and stupid understanding of how the world works imo final quit moment was the giant vacuum cleaner robot that you had to destroy. none of my characters had any abilities that did any damage to that thing. I did read all of the quests and texts, and picked up no information as to what kind of weaknesses I would need to exploit to destroy that thing. as a side-note, I absolutely love dragon quest, and the latest edition 11s was one of my favourite games of all time. still play it
Oh, one thing not brought up in this video that I love is that Ichiban's color scheme is almost but not *quite* a true inversion of Kiryu's. Kiryu's grey suit over a red shirt shows a passionate soul hidden by a stoic exterior. Ichiban's red suit over a white shirt shows a fiery persona masking a pure soul. I adore the design in these games so much.
Tbf Ichiban isn't completely happy go lucky. Throughout the game as more and more happens, it begins to weigh on him intensely. He puts on a brave face, but deep down he's hurting a ton. Up until the moment he fights Kiryu to let off some steam (not that he knew he was doing that, but Kiryu was helping him do that). A lot of the upset inside of ichiban, his sadness, his depression, his loss, his despondence, his desperation, his hopelessness. It comes out as an anger at the futility of it all and his anger at himself for not being enough time and time again.
Ichiban Kasuga is such an inspiring character its kind of hard to put into words. I am an optimistic person and so its always a breath of fresh air to see someone be represented as an optimist without making them look like a naive idiot that so many other showcases of optimism display. I feel such a connection to Ichiban since while I had a fine upbringing, I also have been through shit and just powered through lie Ichiban. I know things wont always work out, but its the hope that things will work out that keeps me going. Like Ichiban and many others have said throughout history, once you hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up. And to your point of Ichiban's age, the Like A Dragon series in general has lessened my fears about growing older, sure I will not be able to fight 100 people like Kiryu or take a 4 story fall off a building like Kaito, but I do know that life doesn't become boring, and that I always will have adventures in life waiting for me until the day I die. Thanks for this video and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts about Lost Judgment!
The sub-story that made me tear up was when he met up with that girl in the white dress who used to spy on him while she was sick in her hospital room. When people were looking at him as if he was schizophrenic, I had a feeling that his delusions were getting the better of him. The reveal at the end along with the picture...was heartbreaking.
If they continue using the job system in the next like a dragon iteration. There needs to be more occupation classes for the women, like photographer, wrestler, etc
Ichiban missed out on Dragon Quest VII,VIII,IX,X,XI ,Monsters Caravan Heart,Swords,Rocket Slime and the Monsters Joker trilogy while in prison. Like A Dragon 7 would have been a lot shorter if Nanba pointed this out.
I feel the Xenophiba discussion in the video could have used more time in the oven. It kinda felt like topic came down to the forigin criminal organizations did bad things and that makes it Xenophobic despite the local Criminal organization also did bad things. None of this is to say that your wrong (I think there is something there), just that it could of been elaborated more. On the flip side I think your section on how the game treated its woman was done very well. How&Why the two leading woman just instantly hated eachother was a great example.
Side note: Ichiban has TWO unique classes. And if you haven't lebeled up Freelancer to get all the skills, then the game will kindly give you all of its skills in the final fight where you are forced to use it.
stats from job levels DOES carry over to every job if they are listed in the skill list. Its a little confusing but theres two diffrent job stats, ones thats job specific and ones the carry over. every time a job levels up it will increase stats ONLY for that job HOWEVER stat increses on the skill lists DO carry over just like the two character skills.
Yup, basically in Yakuza 7 you pick your main job you like for each character then support it by mastering other jobs that give you relevant active skills and stat boosts. Your main jobs don't have to be the unique jobs. For starter, I like Saeko better as Idol unit and Adachi as Riot Police unit. This mastery system might seem unimportant and not needed in regular playthrough, but it definitely helps in Legend mode New Game+
I love Kiryu. I really do. But Ichi is so sweet, and so friendly, and so goddamn likable. And I kind of feel bad about how shit his life has been, but I want to cry because he just pushes on. He keeps a smile on his face and he makes others smile despite all the bad circumstances surrounding him. Seriously, this dude never fails to get a smile or a laugh out of me. Dude was dealt a pretty shitty hand and chose to march to the beat of his own drum anyway. He never lost sight of himself, and chose to be happy with life as much as he could. I could learn a thing or two from Ichi, if I’m being honest. But that’s what I think is so great about him. Sure, he’s involved in the Yakuza. But personality wise and morals wise, he is something we all strive to be. Kiryu is what we strive to be moral wise too. But personality wise, not so much. Ichi is both though. Ichi is a good man with a good head on his shoulders. There isn’t a more likable protagonist than Ichiban Kasuga.
That was a good video and I agree with majority of the points and criticisms you made. But I guess I am less critical about the early game portrayal of the immigrants as well as Arakawa's mom. While it is true that both the Liumang and Geomijul are victims in their own right, at the end of the day they are still criminals. I don't think portraying them wholly in a positive light would work well with the theming of the game. And in the case of Masumi's, while mom I do agree that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and grace, it does not erase the fact that shitty people exist regardless of gender.
36:08 - 36:33 To be fair, Masato grew up disabled; which is challenging even in relatively inclusive countries, let alone a country like Japan (see: A Silent Voice). It's just one area where this game's writing doesn't quite get as nuanced as I'd hoped. Something else: I think Yokohama is the best setting in the series. I'd have felt that way with this game alone, but Lost Judgment cemented that opinion for me. Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to your video on that game. There should be plenty to analyze. I for one enjoyed how it looked at the concept of "gray areas" compared to Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
I actually think you’re misinformed about the stat bonuses from Jobs not being permanent. I have not personally verified this, but everywhere I’ve researched has said otherwise, cuz I was curious about it as well. But try asking around a bit more, I really wanna say it’s incorrect… Definitely something Imma have to test myself, worst case scenario lol
one fun fact about yakuza's portrayal of women. during the kiryu fight, he will never hit eri or saeko. kazuma kiryu does not hit women. you can actually use this to cheese the fight pretty easily, by the way.
I feel like it's a bit of a running joke within the franchise, lol. Kiryu is very much a traditionalist depiction of masculinity. Which is kind of a ballsy move to keep doing in this modern age. Notice that this aspect ONLY applies to Kiryu and none of the other bosses. Majima and Saejima have no problems beating women in self-defense (and well, Majima does have a history of domestic abuse...). I feel like to portray a "traditionally masculine" character like Kiryu, you have to take the good and the bad along with it. No half-assing it. The thing with Kiryu is that it's not like he imposes his morals and values on other people. It is very much his values and his alone. I feel like it's why Kiryu is often cited as a positive representation of masculinity despite being very traditional at the same time.
Your are overstating your argument when it comes to female characters. First off, they have less classes, but they are all great and they do get bigger perm stat buffs then their male counterparts. And while male characters do make sexual jokes, they don't come off as humorous. I am surprised Eri's character arc isn't mentioned in this video.
This is definitely my favorite of the series. I've loved the games and Seeing Kiryu's story unfold, but this was the one I truly felt bonded to on a personal level. My favorite characters are the underdogs, the guys and girls that are rough around the edges but have hearts of gold. Ichiban just instantly spoke to me. Curious to hear your thoughts, I'm just starting to watch the video now but ive really enjoyed all the Questrospectives.
During the 2020 nonsense, this game, this story helped me a lot. I am now after all the dust has settled am now taking actions to improve my life and find a new dream to make my life better and help the people I love as well. And I have to thank a dumb middle aged ex Yakuza that liked dragon quest a bit too much, for reminding me that it is okay to start over and that there is always new people and old faces who are willing to help you get where you need to go. This is my fave Yakuza plot, because it was the story I needed to hear and partake in during that rough time in my life. I am glad someone also sees so much in this silly rags to riches story as well.
Just so you're aware the stat bonuses do carry over between jobs - but only ever 5 job ranks iirc. And it's usually a big boost. Each job class has specific stat boosts that are catered toward them, which is why giving Nanba job ranks in something like Enforcer can crank up his defense to the point he's not dying easily from physical hits.
I played through Yakuza 7 from start to finish on stream. I was choked up at several points, I laughed and I audibly cried when the experience was over. I love Ichiban so much.
Pretty smart evaluation of the combat. A lot of things you mentioned, from positioning and movement to heat. Especially now that infinite wealth is out. Almost everything you mentioned has either been corrected or implemented
Yup. I agree with all your criticisms, but I adore this game. Partly, because of the story hitting like a fucking truck. But also because it’s a massive step forward for its depiction of race and …k, mostly some baby steps for its portrayal of gender, but appreciated steps!
Great video! I was halfway through with Like a Dragon when I was laid off. I was suddenly Ichiban, and I had to take his words to heart and start over. I had to level up. This game is special to me for that reason.
And no Dragon Quest homage game would be complete without battling a dragon. In this case, it's the Dragon of Rock Bottom (Ichiban) battling the Dragon of Dojima (Kiryu/Joryu).
Having less jobs for female characters in this game means that you can get them strong faster than male characters via job mastery system. The bonus stats you get from leveling up jobs are spread around all the jobs available but the total bonus stats are around the same for male and female jobs. This means female characters need less jobs to master to get all the bonus stats. Though it's not really needed in Normal playthrough, but job mastery system is fun in Legend New Game+
I mostly agree with the job system critique. Zhao and Joon Gi Han's best jobs are their default ones and there's really no reason to change their jobs unless you absolutely want certain crossover AoE skills like the fortuneteller's lightning AoE, for instance (plus, Han's Head Trauma is too damn good... Bullshit that it's a "light" attack, lmao). But even then, Ichiban can access those crossover skills just fine since he has adequate magic stats to keep him balanced, so it's a bit redundant. The only party members worth changing out of their default jobs are Adachi and Saeko, since Enforcer is pretty much straight up a better version of Detective, and Saeko's superior magic and healing stats kinda pigeonhole her into the Idol job, with more offensive female jobs delegated to Eri, the optional party member, who has better offensive stats than Saeko anyway. I really hope Infinite Wealth improve on the job system, because some jobs straight up suck in Y7. I'm looking at you, Bodyguard, lmao...
My Zhao ended up with so many physical abilities I couldn't use him without scrolling through TONS of abilities. Ended up swapping him out just because his turns would take too long due to option paralysis LOL
We may never get another Earthbound/Mother game from Nintendo. So lets all be thankful for Yakuza Like a Dragon 7, the Kasuga Ichiban story, some much needed love and support. Having a JRPG take place in modern Japan with many of it's craziness of being a JRPG disguised as real life is something you never get to see from any other country in game development.
I know there's a lot of people that prefer to play these games in Japanese but this song here is one case where I'd say it's better in English because of how inspirational and uplifting the lyrics are
You know I never really had a time I was really happy in life. There was always something bad that wouldn't allow me to enjoy life but after many years I managed to find some good friends and achieved to be happy. This time is over now. My friends split up from me last week and I lost someone with that who I thought really was someone that I'd have my whole life around. I'm back again on the bottom and wanted to watch something about Ichiban and Like a Dragon cause they supported me once when I was at rock bottom. Now thanks to your video and that last part of it I really have hope and felt some comfort. Thanks my guy.
This is a great video. It really bothers me when people say "Ichiban is like a combination of Kiryu and Majima" since that's really just a surface level interpretation and really undersells who Ichiban is.
Damn, I'm a subscriber and I didn't get any updates on your new videos this WHOLE YEAR >.> Well, at least I've got a great set of videos to catch up on 😅 I always appreciate your insight, great job!
Great analysis all around, though you overplay the portrayal of immigrants issue in a few spots. When the foreman rounds everyone up you mention that it's unclear that all the workers would even be Chinese - this seems like a non-sequitur since the point of the sort of comical scene is that everyone is clearly controlled by the foreman. I'm not sure why a Japanese underling would behave differently. You also seem to imply that where the game in fact vindicates the immigrants through the story of the Ijincho three, the *build-up* to this where they seem to be villains is backwards and objectionable. This is the opposite of how I felt; I thought this was an effective bait and switch. One minute you have these humor-tinged scenes (as above) that dip into what *seem* like cheap portrayals of immigrants, and then you get the real story where they are allies and - in essence - hero-adjacent.
Wow... The narration at the end of this video almost brought me to tears. I needed to hear this so much! My entire life hit rock bottom a month ago, and I have been having trouble finding any reason to live for. Ironically, in the year that led up to last month, I was playing this game like crazy, putting over 100 hours into it before the crash. I'm going to record that ending so I can listen to your uplifting words and find encouragement to try and find some new meaning to my life.
I don't believe for a second they decided to make this game an rpg after the April fool's jk.the game has to be far further in development than that considering it came out 2 yrs later
![[FULL] RETROSPECTIVE : Final Fantasy Tactics](/img/1.gif)
If you'd asked me when Like a Dragon came out, I would have absolutely told you 2019. And that's not just because that's the year the game takes place or whatever, but the entire experience is somehow entirely divorced from my experiences in the 20s in a way I cannot properly reconcile. I don't remember lockdown or the political landscape of the time I played it, but I definitely played it as I came out and somehow it felt like it nailed certain things that have been happening. Yet somehow it transported me to its own time and place, and all of my memories of my time with it are of it and not what was going on around me at the time, and I guess I'm realizing now how special that makes it to me, that I could be transported to a place where real-life problems weren't absent, but seemed solvable.
I try to appreciate when developers take bold risks with what they're doing, be it gameplay or story or what have you, and this game just decided to throw everything into the air all at once, which must have been nerve-wracking. But not only did a sudden shift to RPG turn out as something fun somehow, but Ichiban is so immediately lovable you simply don't have a choice but to root for him. Maybe we can't all be Kasuga Ichiban, maybe we can't all have the fortune of having a Kasuga Ichiban in our lives, but if you have someone who appreciates you for who you are and roots for you unfailingly, tell them how much they mean to you. Sometimes even they can lose perspective of how important they can be to others.
Any game with the message of becoming a hero at 40 has a LOT to offer for someone my age.
I just want to thank you for every last guide youve made on this series! I probably wouldnt have beaten any of these games without the use of your guides! Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to this fantastic series!
You are already a hero in our eyes
Real legend right here
Thank you so much for your guides man
I can’t stop thinking about Yakuza 7, better known as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, even after a few months since I finished the game. I know why. Because I was 41, almost 42 when I played it, and it’s a game about men and women in their 40s and 50s who have lost everything, but found hope and meaning in their brand new friendship.
I love classic style, turn-based JRPGs. Most of these games star children or teenagers with whom I have very little in common, and the stories revolve around killing god and saving the world, which I can’t relate to either. I really needed Yakuza 7, and it came to me at the right time.
I didn’t lose everything, but I quit a long-time job and used the little money I had saved during the pandemic to start my own small business: a candy store, not that different to Eri Kamataki’s store, Ichiban Confections, which our Hero helps save from bankruptcy.
It was scary, quitting a job like that, at my age, and after many years. But also exciting. Almost a year later, I can say for certain it was the right decision for me to make. The downside is I’m eating more candy than I should!
It felt weird to quit a job when I was about to turn 41, to force myself to start over. But when I played this game a few months after I started the confectionery, I understood that your age doesn’t determine how you should act, where you should be in life.
It taught me to not be ashamed of my previous failure (if you can consider being unable to stand capitalism’s working conditions any more a failure) but proud.
And that’s why I will always remember Ichiban, Adachi, Nanba and Saeko fondly.
Source: magickuser.wordpress.com/2022/06/29/cant-stop-thinking-yakuza-7/
This was SUPER COOL TO READ! Thank you for sharing this with me!
This made me tear up reading, I’m so happy this game has done so much for so many people. I hope your candy store business is going well!! If I lived in the same area you’d definitely have a new customer! Have a great day ☺️🫶🏻✨
This is easily, one of favorite games ever made. I love it so damn much. Kasuga is an absolute treasure of a character. A pure force of nature in the for of will, resilience, and charisma. More than any other game ever, I wish I could erase and replay this one. It is just...so full of amazing moments. Nanba's return, Kasuga's speech about hitting rock bottom. The MUSIC holy crap. Receive and Turn You is on every playlist I have, forever.
There was never a character in any media where i cried my eyes out more than Kasuga Ichiban. Especially in the ending in both English and Japanese. "Once you're at rock bottom, the only way forward is up." 7 in my opinion perfectly tells the player about ichiban's backstory and explains why he does the things he does, like for example, In Chapter 4, He helps the soapland owner because he grew up in a soapland. Kasuga Ichiban in my opinion is my Favorite Video Game Protagonist even better than Kiryu and I can't wait to play as him again in Like a Dragon 8!
Amazing Video GC! Can't wait for the Lost Judgment Video especially on The Kaito DLC cause I know you LOVED that one more than the base game!
Another inconsistency: there's a tutorial for chases in the prologue but that is literally the only chase in the game.
Oh buddy, they heard you.
As a person close to her 40s, the reflection you made about yourself hits hard in the moment I am now in my life, when despite having a job I am in a bit of a crisis because I want to start again and focus on my own projects. I also agree with your opinions about going 2 steps backward and one forward with the female characters and such, is like RGG you know women can do 90% of the jobs the dudes have, how then outside the first job is all sexy or cute...but I like them starting to give these steps, and I have high hopes for the next game.
I first considered playing this game when I saw Steam reviews in 2020 calling it "Dragon Quest XII." It seemed like a very bold claim at the time. Plus, I hadn't played any of the Yakuza games up to that point, so I wasn't sure how going into LaD blind would turn out. And I didn't know anything about the protagonist: I just called him "Chuckles Mcgee" at the time. But, ultimately, I decided to give it a shot.
And I'm glad I did. Major/Minor Spoilers below:
The game kept surprising me with the depth of the story. I went in thinking that Ichiban's yakuza boss was going to very shortly betray him... I wasn't expecting their father-son dynamic. I wasn't expecting Later on, when I learned about the Ijin Three, I thought that Ichiban would have to take down all three crime families... I wasn't expecting him to eventually befriend the heads of all THREE organizations.
I won't say the storytelling is perfect; there ARE flaws. Not just the ones mentioned in the view, but a few odd quirks here and there (like how Zhao and Han aren't present in some scenes, even when you have them both in the party.) But damnit... so many things clicked with me. It did so many things right with the game design. And to think that the RPG mechanics were a RUSHJOB is baffling to me.
Ichiban Kasuga is a wonderful character. He's got this unending youthful spirit, optimism, and sympathy toward others that I find sorely lacking in other RPG protagonists.
I've since played all of the mainline Yakuza games AND both Judgment games. And while I like the beat-em-ups, I *love* Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I haven't loved an RPG this much since Final Fantasy X when I played it as a kid.
I look forward to Like a Dragon 8 .:)
japanese VA did a phenomenal job, especially during that final boss part
ichi is the best. Great video my guy
Some of the points here i never really gave much thought myself, but now that ive thought about some things, like positioning, im really looking forward to infinite wealth due to some things being refined or changed in it.
At least Joon-Gi Han's "survival" is explained. And technically, so is Kashiwagi.
Great commentary on a great game!
After playing Lost Judgment with Spanish text and English voice-overs while my mom would watch, Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a great follow-up. She laughed her ass off seeing Nanba toss bird seed at some thug while pidgeons flocked to peck him as an attack, or when Saeko would smack someone over the head with a purse followed by a roundhouse kick. When it came to the various outfits from the different jobs, she almost pissed herself laughing as she saw Nanba as a B-boy or Adachi as a hippie musician. And don't even get me started on the sub-story with the super-spicy kimchi 🤣
That being said, it was such a shame that the game forces you to level grind hard in Chapter 12, especially when the group comes up against the first two revealed Yakuza legends that had a 15-level gap on me. I saved both my mom and I the pain of having to grind and grind and grind by watching the rest of the game via a full playthrough on RUclips. This game has such a great story and, even though I didn't get around to beating it, it's a purchase I don't regret. I greatly look forward to Like a Dragon 2 and Ichiban's adventures in Hawaii.
Our next stop through the anthologies of Kamurocho will be the Kaito files and hopefully followed by Yakuza 0, so that I can show my mom how it all began.
Honestly looking through the series, there's many times where a message is told only for the game to show the opposite of the message whether it's in a substory or main plot. Depending on who you are, you can either view that as a writing flaw or see it as a coin with two different sides.
Next time on questrospective: a mostly serious discussion on the topic of bullying (LJ), followed by a Ballad of Kaito (The Kaito Files) and an examination of the lives of Saito Hajime and Sakamoto Ryoma (Ishin).
I don't mind the "competing eyecandy" arguments, Westerners just taking too much seriousness of women in fiction when there's a lot complications of real life women issues, not to mention that women in pseudo-real life (or let's we just call it as "parasocial" internet) subcultures just already paint a lot of perceived bad images of women in any 3rd world countries being shown the cases of women
Heck, most of the people in SEAsia to entire Pan-African, all of Middle Eastern and North African, most of East Asian and Central Asian, most of Eastern European, majority of South American and other parts of developing and impoverished countries would have way bigger problem with stuffs like Onlyfans than how the more recent Yakuza series portrays women (which already being gradual improvement from the earlier Yakuza games), the criticism on Japanese bureaucracy, intergenrational seniority/elitism, xenophobia and wealth inequality are better plotline focuses of their more serious plotlines since poverty are the very often cases being the root of evil in the ever-competing, modernised/gentrified and streamlined lives
huuuuu, here we go!
Ikr
Expecting women and foreigners and immigrants to be presented as perfect angels is ridiculous. I'm disappointed in your assessment.
These immigrants are supposed to be criminal, why do you expect them to not do anything wrong or shady? some of these people are better and some are worst. their characters are treated the same way as the Japanese Yakuza are in this game. it's equal treatment. how is that not progressive in your mind? treating them as nothing but good people doesn't make any sense. also in the warehouse scene, most of them are actually Chinese mafia considering the only people not wearing uniforms are your crew of freelancers.
The same goes with the women in the game, Do you expect them to always be treated with respect by all the characters? So imagine someone is a complete scumbag but when interacting with the female characters in the game their personality changes momentarily? hell even the main cast commenting about the women is normal, they're not eunuchs and didn't do anything other than a few fairly benign comments. or do you expect the Female characters themselves have no flaw or natural human reactions or jealousy? that's how you end up with a Mary Sue and we know these types of characters are copyrighted by Disney these days.
I'm glad this game is Japanese because they are one of the few modern cultures left that aren't afraid to make their male and female characters flawed and with natural human emotions and urges. I don't want perfect heroes and villains, I want good guys and bad guys who act like human beings even if a little exaggerated. xenophobia and sexism have been my main issue with Japanese and Korean games and media for years and Yakuza Like a Dragon is one of the games that actually corrected them.
The reason we can't have good things is that even when good things happen, there are always people that say "It's not good enough" so people just stop trying, I mean what's the point when it's never enough and all they can get for their effort is a backhanded compliment.
You...missed the entire point of that section of the video. I'm sorry, but if that's what you got out of this video, you misunderstood me. Completely.
@@GCVazquez "by every 2 steps forwards they took a massive half step back" literally what you said.
that was pretty much your point, but my problem isn't your point cuz afterward you said it's a great improvement, but my problem is that your one-by-one examples of these "half step backs" make no sense at all, which I explained why!
Your point was that basically despite the "step-backs" it was a great improvement which makes it a backhanded compliment especially since your examples are just normal character traits and storytelling.
so what's there for me to miss exactly?!
@@f.m848You severely lack critical thinking skills.
honestly i could stand your weird takes like at 25:25 (the subject of the joke in both of those is the guy nanba for being a creep who cant interact with women and the guy with the armpit fetish not saeko) but i cant stand you useing the mid dub like if it was at least half as good but dude the EN dub fails so hard at convaying the most important part of LAD "THE EMOTIONS"
I played the game in Japanese. Used the English dub for the video so people wouldn't have to read subtitles.
@@GCVazquez the coment was mostly a joke but the video as a whole was good with the exepion of the "Representation" argument this series represents men the good and the bad parts of being a man you shouldn't look for female characters as deep as the male not cose "no evil women in my game" more like its hard to write good charaters of both genders as man and women are difrent and reqire special care to make sure you dont end up with woman that acts like a man
TLDR:
the LAD games are MALE representation first and formost women are socondary
(dont tell me that you go to female romance stories and want more male representaiton)
not accusing you of anything just saying
I hated the combat, because the characters wander around uncontrollably from your party's perspective, and randomly on the enemy units perspective. so aoe for example does not feel rewarding at all, because you just hope enemies are in the correct place. you can't influence it as far as I know (played about 40-50 hours last year). this goes for those interupt attacks when you attempt to attack an enemy that is behind another.
also another "I can't be bothered with this game anymore" moment was the capitalism regarding that business magnate side-game when you buy up properties and then have to woo shareholders. I hated how one of the bosses was called the "sweatshop destroyer", as though that was a bad thing. and then there's the way they approached the protest group, painting protesters as all following some kind of trend. those are 2 examples off the top of my head. it was very shallow and stupid understanding of how the world works imo
final quit moment was the giant vacuum cleaner robot that you had to destroy. none of my characters had any abilities that did any damage to that thing. I did read all of the quests and texts, and picked up no information as to what kind of weaknesses I would need to exploit to destroy that thing.
as a side-note, I absolutely love dragon quest, and the latest edition 11s was one of my favourite games of all time. still play it
Oh, one thing not brought up in this video that I love is that Ichiban's color scheme is almost but not *quite* a true inversion of Kiryu's. Kiryu's grey suit over a red shirt shows a passionate soul hidden by a stoic exterior. Ichiban's red suit over a white shirt shows a fiery persona masking a pure soul. I adore the design in these games so much.
Tbf Ichiban isn't completely happy go lucky. Throughout the game as more and more happens, it begins to weigh on him intensely. He puts on a brave face, but deep down he's hurting a ton. Up until the moment he fights Kiryu to let off some steam (not that he knew he was doing that, but Kiryu was helping him do that). A lot of the upset inside of ichiban, his sadness, his depression, his loss, his despondence, his desperation, his hopelessness. It comes out as an anger at the futility of it all and his anger at himself for not being enough time and time again.
Ichiban Kasuga is such an inspiring character its kind of hard to put into words. I am an optimistic person and so its always a breath of fresh air to see someone be represented as an optimist without making them look like a naive idiot that so many other showcases of optimism display. I feel such a connection to Ichiban since while I had a fine upbringing, I also have been through shit and just powered through lie Ichiban. I know things wont always work out, but its the hope that things will work out that keeps me going. Like Ichiban and many others have said throughout history, once you hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up. And to your point of Ichiban's age, the Like A Dragon series in general has lessened my fears about growing older, sure I will not be able to fight 100 people like Kiryu or take a 4 story fall off a building like Kaito, but I do know that life doesn't become boring, and that I always will have adventures in life waiting for me until the day I die. Thanks for this video and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts about Lost Judgment!
The sub-story that made me tear up was when he met up with that girl in the white dress who used to spy on him while she was sick in her hospital room. When people were looking at him as if he was schizophrenic, I had a feeling that his delusions were getting the better of him. The reveal at the end along with the picture...was heartbreaking.
If they continue using the job system in the next like a dragon iteration. There needs to be more occupation classes for the women, like photographer, wrestler, etc
Wrestler eh? I wonder why ;)
Catfight Club! That was amazing in Y0
@@pata.s.4040when they started busting out the beast heat actions I started screaming
@@monkeyXmonkey Because games need more powerful women in skin-tight suits. Maybe with beautiful luchadora masks too.
Ichiban missed out on Dragon Quest VII,VIII,IX,X,XI ,Monsters Caravan Heart,Swords,Rocket Slime and the Monsters Joker trilogy while in prison. Like A Dragon 7 would have been a lot shorter if Nanba pointed this out.
He would've peaced out after his haircut if Adachi filled him in.
I feel the Xenophiba discussion in the video could have used more time in the oven. It kinda felt like topic came down to the forigin criminal organizations did bad things and that makes it Xenophobic despite the local Criminal organization also did bad things. None of this is to say that your wrong (I think there is something there), just that it could of been elaborated more.
On the flip side I think your section on how the game treated its woman was done very well. How&Why the two leading woman just instantly hated eachother was a great example.
Side note: Ichiban has TWO unique classes. And if you haven't lebeled up Freelancer to get all the skills, then the game will kindly give you all of its skills in the final fight where you are forced to use it.
stats from job levels DOES carry over to every job if they are listed in the skill list.
Its a little confusing but theres two diffrent job stats, ones thats job specific and ones the carry over. every time a job levels up it will increase stats ONLY for that job HOWEVER stat increses on the skill lists DO carry over just like the two character skills.
Yup, basically in Yakuza 7 you pick your main job you like for each character then support it by mastering other jobs that give you relevant active skills and stat boosts. Your main jobs don't have to be the unique jobs. For starter, I like Saeko better as Idol unit and Adachi as Riot Police unit. This mastery system might seem unimportant and not needed in regular playthrough, but it definitely helps in Legend mode New Game+
I love Kiryu. I really do. But Ichi is so sweet, and so friendly, and so goddamn likable. And I kind of feel bad about how shit his life has been, but I want to cry because he just pushes on. He keeps a smile on his face and he makes others smile despite all the bad circumstances surrounding him. Seriously, this dude never fails to get a smile or a laugh out of me. Dude was dealt a pretty shitty hand and chose to march to the beat of his own drum anyway. He never lost sight of himself, and chose to be happy with life as much as he could.
I could learn a thing or two from Ichi, if I’m being honest. But that’s what I think is so great about him. Sure, he’s involved in the Yakuza. But personality wise and morals wise, he is something we all strive to be. Kiryu is what we strive to be moral wise too. But personality wise, not so much. Ichi is both though. Ichi is a good man with a good head on his shoulders. There isn’t a more likable protagonist than Ichiban Kasuga.
That was a good video and I agree with majority of the points and criticisms you made. But I guess I am less critical about the early game portrayal of the immigrants as well as Arakawa's mom. While it is true that both the Liumang and Geomijul are victims in their own right, at the end of the day they are still criminals. I don't think portraying them wholly in a positive light would work well with the theming of the game. And in the case of Masumi's, while mom I do agree that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and grace, it does not erase the fact that shitty people exist regardless of gender.
36:08 - 36:33
To be fair, Masato grew up disabled; which is challenging even in relatively inclusive countries, let alone a country like Japan (see: A Silent Voice). It's just one area where this game's writing doesn't quite get as nuanced as I'd hoped.
Something else: I think Yokohama is the best setting in the series. I'd have felt that way with this game alone, but Lost Judgment cemented that opinion for me.
Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to your video on that game. There should be plenty to analyze. I for one enjoyed how it looked at the concept of "gray areas" compared to Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
I actually think you’re misinformed about the stat bonuses from Jobs not being permanent. I have not personally verified this, but everywhere I’ve researched has said otherwise, cuz I was curious about it as well.
But try asking around a bit more, I really wanna say it’s incorrect…
Definitely something Imma have to test myself, worst case scenario lol
yes, the stats from the skill list carry over but not the stats from regular job leveling
one fun fact about yakuza's portrayal of women.
during the kiryu fight, he will never hit eri or saeko. kazuma kiryu does not hit women.
you can actually use this to cheese the fight pretty easily, by the way.
I feel like it's a bit of a running joke within the franchise, lol. Kiryu is very much a traditionalist depiction of masculinity. Which is kind of a ballsy move to keep doing in this modern age. Notice that this aspect ONLY applies to Kiryu and none of the other bosses. Majima and Saejima have no problems beating women in self-defense (and well, Majima does have a history of domestic abuse...). I feel like to portray a "traditionally masculine" character like Kiryu, you have to take the good and the bad along with it. No half-assing it. The thing with Kiryu is that it's not like he imposes his morals and values on other people. It is very much his values and his alone. I feel like it's why Kiryu is often cited as a positive representation of masculinity despite being very traditional at the same time.
Your are overstating your argument when it comes to female characters. First off, they have less classes, but they are all great and they do get bigger perm stat buffs then their male counterparts. And while male characters do make sexual jokes, they don't come off as humorous. I am surprised Eri's character arc isn't mentioned in this video.
This is definitely my favorite of the series. I've loved the games and Seeing Kiryu's story unfold, but this was the one I truly felt bonded to on a personal level. My favorite characters are the underdogs, the guys and girls that are rough around the edges but have hearts of gold. Ichiban just instantly spoke to me. Curious to hear your thoughts, I'm just starting to watch the video now but ive really enjoyed all the Questrospectives.
ichiban is one of the best protagonists and I am excited for this video! :D
During the 2020 nonsense, this game, this story helped me a lot. I am now after all the dust has settled am now taking actions to improve my life and find a new dream to make my life better and help the people I love as well. And I have to thank a dumb middle aged ex Yakuza that liked dragon quest a bit too much, for reminding me that it is okay to start over and that there is always new people and old faces who are willing to help you get where you need to go.
This is my fave Yakuza plot, because it was the story I needed to hear and partake in during that rough time in my life. I am glad someone also sees so much in this silly rags to riches story as well.
I just love Ichiban’s personality. Has inspired me to try ever harder to become a good friend just like Ichiban
Imo Ichiban is a new protagonist done perfectly. Very few games have managed to introduce a new protagonist that I already want more of
Just so you're aware the stat bonuses do carry over between jobs - but only ever 5 job ranks iirc. And it's usually a big boost. Each job class has specific stat boosts that are catered toward them, which is why giving Nanba job ranks in something like Enforcer can crank up his defense to the point he's not dying easily from physical hits.
I played through Yakuza 7 from start to finish on stream. I was choked up at several points, I laughed and I audibly cried when the experience was over. I love Ichiban so much.
34:58 "Surrogate" father? The game implies that he's Ichiban's biological father.
I love this game so much i just finished the story in tears its so beautiful yet crazy
Pretty smart evaluation of the combat. A lot of things you mentioned, from positioning and movement to heat. Especially now that infinite wealth is out. Almost everything you mentioned has either been corrected or implemented
Yup. I agree with all your criticisms, but I adore this game. Partly, because of the story hitting like a fucking truck. But also because it’s a massive step forward for its depiction of race and …k, mostly some baby steps for its portrayal of gender, but appreciated steps!
in my opinion, the whole sexism problem could be solved if there was an equal amount of fan service of men for women.
Great video! I was halfway through with Like a Dragon when I was laid off. I was suddenly Ichiban, and I had to take his words to heart and start over. I had to level up. This game is special to me for that reason.
And no Dragon Quest homage game would be complete without battling a dragon. In this case, it's the Dragon of Rock Bottom (Ichiban) battling the Dragon of Dojima (Kiryu/Joryu).
I recently binged a bunch of your Yakuza videos and they're all amazing.
Really liked seeing a look at the series from a leftist perspective.
Having less jobs for female characters in this game means that you can get them strong faster than male characters via job mastery system. The bonus stats you get from leveling up jobs are spread around all the jobs available but the total bonus stats are around the same for male and female jobs. This means female characters need less jobs to master to get all the bonus stats. Though it's not really needed in Normal playthrough, but job mastery system is fun in Legend New Game+
Kiryu taught us how to be a man, Ichiban on the other hand taught us how to be a friend.
really loved this retrospective. great message at the end. good luck to you and everyone reading this on achieving your dreams man
You lost me at saeko
I mostly agree with the job system critique. Zhao and Joon Gi Han's best jobs are their default ones and there's really no reason to change their jobs unless you absolutely want certain crossover AoE skills like the fortuneteller's lightning AoE, for instance (plus, Han's Head Trauma is too damn good... Bullshit that it's a "light" attack, lmao). But even then, Ichiban can access those crossover skills just fine since he has adequate magic stats to keep him balanced, so it's a bit redundant. The only party members worth changing out of their default jobs are Adachi and Saeko, since Enforcer is pretty much straight up a better version of Detective, and Saeko's superior magic and healing stats kinda pigeonhole her into the Idol job, with more offensive female jobs delegated to Eri, the optional party member, who has better offensive stats than Saeko anyway. I really hope Infinite Wealth improve on the job system, because some jobs straight up suck in Y7. I'm looking at you, Bodyguard, lmao...
I agree with the job system critique, the only characters worth changing to a generic job are adachi, saeko and maybe zhao(?)
My Zhao ended up with so many physical abilities I couldn't use him without scrolling through TONS of abilities. Ended up swapping him out just because his turns would take too long due to option paralysis LOL
This game is the most repetitive, braindead game I somehow enjoyed.
19:27 - THIS WAS THE ONE FOR ME. This substory turned me into mush.
Ichiban: Hero to Children Everywhere
Chrono trigger does the placement of characters
Why did you choose to include the English voice acting?
I feel like they start filling the pieces that's missing in Infinite Wealth.
We may never get another Earthbound/Mother game from Nintendo.
So lets all be thankful for Yakuza Like a Dragon 7, the Kasuga Ichiban story, some much needed love and support.
Having a JRPG take place in modern Japan with many of it's craziness of being a JRPG disguised as real life is something you never get to see from any other country in game development.
Yeah. He is one of the heroes. Can you name them all?
There is an Ichiban in all of us
I know there's a lot of people that prefer to play these games in Japanese but this song here is one case where I'd say it's better in English because of how inspirational and uplifting the lyrics are
You know I never really had a time I was really happy in life. There was always something bad that wouldn't allow me to enjoy life but after many years I managed to find some good friends and achieved to be happy. This time is over now. My friends split up from me last week and I lost someone with that who I thought really was someone that I'd have my whole life around. I'm back again on the bottom and wanted to watch something about Ichiban and Like a Dragon cause they supported me once when I was at rock bottom. Now thanks to your video and that last part of it I really have hope and felt some comfort. Thanks my guy.
This is a great video. It really bothers me when people say "Ichiban is like a combination of Kiryu and Majima" since that's really just a surface level interpretation and really undersells who Ichiban is.
Thanks for the video, I loved it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Ichiban is my favorite RPG protagonist, fun review. Super excited for Infinite Wealth.
Damn, I'm a subscriber and I didn't get any updates on your new videos this WHOLE YEAR >.>
Well, at least I've got a great set of videos to catch up on 😅 I always appreciate your insight, great job!
Hahaha, enjoy the catalogue!
Ok, I think a second playthrough of like a dragon is in place
bookmark 16:40
Great analysis all around, though you overplay the portrayal of immigrants issue in a few spots. When the foreman rounds everyone up you mention that it's unclear that all the workers would even be Chinese - this seems like a non-sequitur since the point of the sort of comical scene is that everyone is clearly controlled by the foreman. I'm not sure why a Japanese underling would behave differently.
You also seem to imply that where the game in fact vindicates the immigrants through the story of the Ijincho three, the *build-up* to this where they seem to be villains is backwards and objectionable.
This is the opposite of how I felt; I thought this was an effective bait and switch. One minute you have these humor-tinged scenes (as above) that dip into what *seem* like cheap portrayals of immigrants, and then you get the real story where they are allies and - in essence - hero-adjacent.
23:28 I completely forgot who this is lol
Lau Ka Long
Wow... The narration at the end of this video almost brought me to tears. I needed to hear this so much! My entire life hit rock bottom a month ago, and I have been having trouble finding any reason to live for. Ironically, in the year that led up to last month, I was playing this game like crazy, putting over 100 hours into it before the crash.
I'm going to record that ending so I can listen to your uplifting words and find encouragement to try and find some new meaning to my life.
The ending tho! Thank you! ^~^
25:44 oh my gooooood 🙄
What happened why are you upset
Grow up.
yup, and here I tought the good part of the video was about to come. An indepth analysis of Ichiban's struggles, the yakuza without kiryu, nope.
@@jman2856 I could say the same to you 😆😂🤣
I don't believe for a second they decided to make this game an rpg after the April fool's jk.the game has to be far further in development than that considering it came out 2 yrs later
Honestly, considering this is the studio that has made games in 8-month dev windows, I believe it a little bit
@@GCVazquez if they did it is a highly commendable job.even if a little rough in places.