If the reviews haven't clued you in yet, we can tell you right here that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is an incredible RPG. It appeals to fans of the series with its story content and to RPG aficionados for its unique, yet faithful, take on the genre.
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PostsThat's not to say it's perfect, but what it does well helps the game shine brightly and can teach a lot to other RPGs. Going through the list below also shows that the developers took a lot of the complaints about Yakuza: Like a Dragon to heart and fixed those, making a smoother RPG experience for everyone.
This list is spoiler-free. If you are on the fence about purchasing Infinite Wealth, the entries below should convince you to jump in.
8 Side Quest Always Matter
They Always Contribute To Something
A problem side quests run into is how early-game quests end up giving too few experience points to be worth your time later on. Sometimes they become irrelevant even at that point in the game if you become overleveled. Infinite Wealth remedies this by making some of them fun minigames with their own value through new mechanics.
Additionally, almost every side quest increases your personality traits or raises your bond level with party members, two systems that are vital to becoming more efficient in combat.
7 No Level Scaling
But The Game Warns You About Recommended Levels
A lot of games justifiably streamline a lot of the old RPG conventions to prevent you from having to grind. Maybe they'll scale the enemies to your level or balance the game in such a way that you are always at a solid level, even if you don't do side quests. Infinite Wealth does neither.
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PostsEnemies do not scale to your level, but, before extended combat segments, the game will often warn you to be at a certain level. You will be under-leveled if you only go through the main story, so you always have a small push to explore and do side quests to level up and find better gear.
6 Job Leveling Gets Easier As The Game Goes On
It Makes You Want To Experiment With Jobs
The job system is only introduced in the fifth chapter, which is about 15 hours into the game. At this point, you have leveled up your default jobs, so you don't feel too good about downgrading a bit to go through a different job path.
Fortunately, near the end of the game as enemies are at a higher level, the Job EXP you get from each battle is such that you level up newer jobs quickly. One battle by the endgame can get a level one job to level 12, which finally makes experimenting with jobs and abilities a lot easier and more fun.
5 Adapting A Grounded World To RPG Conventions
The Real World Becomes A RPG Trope
Infinite Wealth is not only an RPG set in modern times. It is also a grounded tale that deals with real human problems and emotions. All the same, it still takes ideas we are all familiar with and turns them into RPG mechanics.
Summons are guardians you call by phone, an electric attack is a car battery, numerous jobs are occupations or societal classes turned into a set of abilities, and so on. The fact we see this over-the-top adaptation of everyday life into an RPG and roll with it speaks to how great the story and the world are.
4 Story
You'll Laugh And You'll Cry
This is what the series has always been known for since its origins on the PlayStation 2, and it's only gotten better. Infinite Wealth brings back a large cast of characters and introduces many new faces too. By the end of the game, they all have their own development, though these are sometimes fleshed out in side quests.
Kazuma Kiryu is also given a lot of screentime, which is sure to please longtime fans. It is often over-the-top and melodramatic, but its themes deal with very human issues almost all of us can relate to in some way.
3 The Endgame And Postgame
No Side Quests Are Blocked Out By Progression
The worry about a game like Infinite Wealth is that you will be locked out of side quests. Fortunately, the game accounts for this in both its endgame and postgame. Before the final encounters, you are warned about a point of no return and have access to all the side quests.
Once you beat the game, you have a postgame where you have access to all party members, every map, and the ability to switch between day and night. This takes the pressure of doing all the side quests before reaching the credits.
The major ding against the game regarding this entry is the Master Vacation DLC. Not only is there a dungeon locked behind the purchase, but New Game + is too.
2 Encounters With Regular Enemies
It's Easy To Walk Around Without Being Constantly Ambushed
Random encounters have been a thing of the past for a while. Modern RPGs handle encounters in different ways, some better than others. Infinite Wealth lets you know where enemies are at a distance, and there is often enough space to avoid them if you don't want to fight.
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PostsEnemies also have an indicator above their heads to signal if they are too weak, too strong, or at an appropriate level for your party. The lower-level enemies can thankfully be destroyed with the push of a button, a mechanic similar to Earthbound. Essentially, you can always fight in the open world if you want, or you can almost always successfully avoid encounters.
1 Boss Fights
They Always Feel Fair
In a game this long, you can be sure that you'll run into your fair share of boss fights. They are mostly against humans, but there are some surprises down the road too.
The game avoids the trap of making bosses immune against useful abilities just to artificially make them harder. They can't be charmed or instantly KO'd, but debuffs like lowering defense or attack or making the enemy bleed almost always work. It goes a long way towards making the fights feel fair.
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