i made the tough decision to drop judgment. not permanently, mind. i fully intend on playing it and its sequel(s?). however, my roommate just recently blew through all the games she hadn't played before like a dragon 8: infinite wealth, and it got me feeling that pang of fomo. so, i installed yakuza 7: like a dragon and started playing it. i'm about 8 hours in now, around when ichi, nanba, and adachi start living & working together.
so far, my impressions of the game are good. i do have some issues with the combat system. it's so plainly obvious that the game should have let you position your character, especially since enemies can move around and how positional some skills can be. it makes some skills like adachi's charge feel useless. however, i do like the ways it has replicated some of the unique aspects of the traditional beat-em-up combat. the way the game incentivizes you to knock enemies to the ground and immediately follow-up with a ground attack shows they get it.
as for the new cast, i like 'em a lot! like most people, i am taken by ichiban. like many have pointed out, one of his greatest qualities how different he is from kiryu in his characterization. kiryu was a guy destined to be a yakuza. ichiban, though? i'm not so sure. he feels like the kind of guy who fell into it because he had no other way to go. he is just too kind, too empathetic to be a truly good yakuza. he shares a lot of the same qualities as kiryu. bravery, loyalty, principled. however, he lacks the stoicism. he wears his emotions on his sleeve.
what's great is that this comes through in the only things he's ever done to engender himself to the yakuza world he wishes to be in. loyal to a fault, willing to do anything for this patriarch. what value does a guy like that have to the criminal world? taking a dive for a crime he didn't commit and dying to preserve the status quo. it's only in his rebirth that ichiban can find that his value to society is better spent elsewhere.
