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[Draugoth]

Like a Dragon developer RGG Studio has revealed Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name was created in half a year, as it was originally conceived as DLC for the next main entry to the series, Infinite Wealth.

Gaiden is a shorter spin-off to the longer campaigns of the main Like a Dragon games, and sees gameplay return to the action brawling roots of the series.

In a new interview with Automaton, studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama and chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto said Gaiden was made in half a year, with the former seemingly making a slight jest at Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya:

Gaiden was initially meant to be a DLC for Infinite Wealth, Yokoyama also revealed. "We could have just told of Kiryu's past through a 30-minute interlude as part of [Infinite Wealth]," he stated, "but we decided it would be a lot more interesting as a game of its own". This was first intended as a DLC, but the team thought it was "engaging" enough to be a fully fledged game. Gaiden uses the same engine, which helped to speed up development Yokoyama added. "In the end, it took us about half a year to make it."

 

[SimTourist]

At least it's on gamepass.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I knew it. Its why Im not day one. Whole game is a freaking side quest. Excited for the mainline game tho. Day one on that.

 

[Comandr]

I mean I’m sure they were able to reuse an enormous amount of assets. Kiryu deserved his own farewell game rather than just a tack on dlc.

I knew it. Its why Im not day one. Whole game is a freaking side quest. Excited for the mainline game tho. Day one on that.

I mean, no shit. That’s what Gaiden means. Side story.

 

[tommycronin]

This doesn't fill me with big confidence

 

[DryvBy]

So basically 2023 is the newest in what's to come. DLC as full priced games? mW3 now this. Just terrific for the future.

 

[RavageX]

It kinda looks that way too (quickly put together) first time im not looking forward to one of these games.

I dont think I like this agent thing. Maybe it will be better than I think, same with the overall story.....but im not getting good vibes so far.

Unlike the others, this one is a wait and see.

 

[Dzab]

Am I stupid or does the 6 month thing not make sense? The first trailer was shown last september with in-game assets.

 

[Kurotri]

They are the absolute masters of re-using assets. Still, 6 months seems to be a little too quick, even for them. All in all, if they can just deliver a good story for Kiryu I'll be fine with it, it's Infinite Wealth that gets my primary attention for sure. And yeah I gotta admit, I wouldn't be talking like this if it wasn't for gamepass. I hope this is an outlier.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I mean, no shit. That’s what Gaiden means. Side story.

Dont be an idiot. We know what Gaiden means, we just did not know the scale of it, as in the game being just a fucking dlc made in a few months.

 

[Nankatsu]

The chance of this being offered in a deluxe edition of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth just increased then.

I think I'll wait.

 

[El Muerto]

As long as it's not using the unreal engine it's still day one for me. Game is also $40 so i'm not expecting a full game like the mainline series.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Like a Dragon developer RGG Studio has revealed Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name was created in half a year, as it was originally conceived as DLC for the next main entry to the series, Infinite Wealth.

Gaiden is a shorter spin-off to the longer campaigns of the main Like a Dragon games, and sees gameplay return to the action brawling roots of the series.

In a new interview with Automaton, studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama and chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto said Gaiden was made in half a year, with the former seemingly making a slight jest at Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya:

Damn, Eurogamer reporting is slow as fuck. I originally posted about it here (as a reply in an older thread though).

Bruh, this is some insane shit, apparently they've made Like a Dragon Gaiden in around ~6 months time as per this excerpt from a recent interview:




More at:

The Like a Dragon series producers talk about the “Don’t change anything” policy they upkeep and fandom behavior that has surprised them - AUTOMATON WEST

An interview with the creators of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Masayoshi Yokoyama and Hiroyuki Sakamoto talk influences and fandom behavior.

automaton-media.com

 

[TGO]

That explains why it didn't get a world wide physical release and Infinite Wealth does.

 

[Comandr]

Dont be an idiot. We know what Gaiden means, we just did not know the scale of it, as in the game being just a fucking dlc made in a few months.

They claim 10-20 hours roughly for the story. I think that's a pretty good amount of content for a less-than-full-price release. Then the gargantuan amount of side content the game has already shown to have - I mean there's 23GB of just cabaret videos. This whole thing is being way overblown.

 

[MasterDerico]

And will deliver a great game.
In RGGS i trust!

 

[Orbital2060]

Completely arbitrary to the quality of the game. Its RGGS. You dont say that, if you also dont know that it worked out well.

10-20 hours is about the same playtime as one of the stories in Yakuza 5.

 

[The Cockatrice]

This whole thing is being way overblown.

Its not actually. It's a 50euro DLC. If this was 30 bucks? I may have been ok with it, but its almost as a full priced game. Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me. I'll just skip it entirely or wait for its price to drop significantly before Like a Dragons release next year., I do appreciate their transparency tho, they could've just kept their mouths shut abut this being made in a few months/dlc thing and no one would care so either they have huge confidence that the product is good or they rely on their hardcore fans that will buy anything regardless.

 

[Beer Baelly]

All these Yakuza games and Squenix still hasnt dropped Sleeping Dogs 2.

 

[Comandr]

Its not actually. It's a 50euro DLC. If this was 30 bucks? I may have been ok with it, but its almost as a full priced game. Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me. I'll just skip it entirely or wait for its price to drop significantly before Like a Dragons release next year., I do appreciate their transparency tho, they could've just kept their mouths shut abut this being made in a few months/dlc thing and no one would care so either they have huge confidence that the product is good or they rely on their hardcore fans that will buy anything regardless.

You need to let go of this DLC narrative.

They said they could probably just give you a summary of the whole scenario in a 30 minute cutscene but decided to expand it into a full title. There is clearly enough there to support that. 10-20 hours worth in fact. Furthermore...

Super Mario Odyssey : 12 hours
Super Mario Wonder: 9 hours
Spider-Man: 17 hours
Spider-Man 2: 19 hours
The Last of Us: 15 hours
God of War 2005: 9 hours
God of War 2018: 20 hours
Alan Wake 2: 16 hours
Bioshock: 12 hours
Dead Space 2023: 12 hours
Jedi Fallen Order: 17 hours
Resident Evil 2: 8 hours
Resident Evil 7: 9 hours
Callisto Protocol: 10 hours

I guess none of these games deserve to be full priced titles because they're only DLC length.

Like.. what? Who gives a shit how long it took them to make it. Obviously the reason for this is that almost all of the assets from the game are being recycled from previous titles. Not having to re-model characters, re-rig animations, redo whole cities and objects and LODs on everything etc - probably saves them an enormous amount of time. Unless you somehow conflate development time with value. Man FFXV must be the most underappreciated game of the century then. You should check out Star Citizen while you're at it.

 

[MrA]

So basically 2023 is the newest in what's to come. DLC as full priced games? mW3 now this. Just terrific for the future.

Japanese and Asian physical copies are 40 dollars

 

[The Cockatrice]

You need to let go of this DLC narrative.

They said they could probably just give you a summary of the whole scenario in a 30 minute cutscene but decided to expand it into a full title. There is clearly enough there to support that. 10-20 hours worth in fact. Furthermore...

Super Mario Odyssey : 12 hours
Super Mario Wonder: 9 hours
Spider-Man: 17 hours
Spider-Man 2: 19 hours
The Last of Us: 15 hours
God of War 2005: 9 hours
God of War 2018: 20 hours
Alan Wake 2: 16 hours
Bioshock: 12 hours
Dead Space 2023: 12 hours
Jedi Fallen Order: 17 hours
Resident Evil 2: 8 hours
Resident Evil 7: 9 hours
Callisto Protocol: 10 hours

I guess none of these games deserve to be full priced titles because they're only DLC length.

Like.. what? Who gives a shit how long it took them to make it. Obviously the reason for this is that almost all of the assets from the game are being recycled from previous titles. Not having to re-model characters, re-rig animations, redo whole cities and objects and LODs on everything etc - probably saves them an enormous amount of time. Unless you somehow conflate development time with value. Man FFXV must be the most underappreciated game of the century then. You should check out Star Citizen while you're at it.

I see you're very obsessed with defending their shitty practice. I wont debate you further as clearly youre fucking insane comparing Gaiden with those games lmfao. Keep eating dat ass brother.

 

[YukiOnna]

This doesn't fill me with big confidence

Why? It should have nothing to do with confidence outside of great utilization of assets since it's basically built off RgG 8 and the studio's efficiency. Otherwise, despite being a spin-off, it's still content packed and story heavy game equivalent to the mainline titles with its own differences.

 

[Gambit2483]

That explains why it didn't get a world wide physical release and Infinite Wealth does.

Good point. I think I'll wait for reviews before getting this one.

 

[tommycronin]

Why? It should have nothing to do with confidence outside of great utilization of assets since it's basically built off RgG 8 and the studio's efficiency. Otherwise, despite being a spin-off, it's still content packed and story heavy game equivalent to the mainline titles with its own differences.

I suppose you're right. I've played all the Yakuza games and if anyone can pull it off its them. I'm just more skeptical than usual when it comes to saying stuff like such and such was created very quickly. I'll be happy if I get a cool 10-15 hours out of it. Is there an Infinite Demo coming with the gamepass version of Gaiden too?

 

[YukiOnna]

I suppose you're right. I've played all the Yakuza games and if anyone can pull it off its them. I'm just more skeptical than usual when it comes to saying stuff like such and such was created very quickly. I'll be happy if I get a cool 10-15 hours out of it. Is there an Infinite Demo coming with the gamepass version of Gaiden too?

Yeah, if it was any other studio, I'd be there with you. As for if it's with the GP version, it should be since it's an unlockable mode in the game apparently:

The demo, dubbed “Adventure Mode,” gives players their first hands-on experience with Infinite Wealth since the game’s announcement back in September 2022. The only caveat is players must first complete the main story of Gaiden to unlock the demo

'Like a Dragon Gaiden' Brings Back a Classic Gaming Trend

The inclusion of a demo for 'Infinite Wealth' in 'Like a Dragon Gaiden' is a welcome throwback to a classic gaming trend.

www.inverse.com

 

[Fbh]

Not too unexpected since these guys are the 5 time winners of the Greta Thunberg asset recycling award

. Kiryu deserved his own farewell game rather than just a tack on dlc.

Well Yakuza 6 was supposed to be that. They made a big deal about it being "the final chapter in the story of Kiryu".

...then ONE mainline release later and he is already back with his own spin-off and as co protagonist in Infinite Wealth.

Feels a bit cheap. I expected him to return, but not so soon

 

[Orbital2060]

Its a smaller cake than Y8, but still the same cake made by the same folks. A lot of people wanted more brawling instead of turn-based, and here it is.

The whole series is on 70 % sale on xbox btw, for 3 more days. I bought all of them, even though I played them on game pass. In case they leave. Still a ton of things left to do in them.

Id like to know if there is a new game plus in Gaiden.

 

[Fabieter]

Dont be an idiot. We know what Gaiden means, we just did not know the scale of it, as in the game being just a fucking dlc made in a few months.

They usually made one big mainline game a year and its not even fullprice. Got my copy for 45 bucks.

 

[Comandr]

Its a smaller cake than Y8, but still the same cake made by the same folks. A lot of people wanted more brawling instead of turn-based, and here it is.

The whole series is on 70 % sale on xbox btw, for 3 more days. I bought all of them, even though I played them on game pass. In case they leave. Still a ton of things left to do in them.

Id like to know if there is a new game plus in Gaiden.

What a fuckin chad.

 

[March Climber]

Its not actually. It's a 50euro DLC. If this was 30 bucks? I may have been ok with it, but its almost as a full priced game. Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me. I'll just skip it entirely or wait for its price to drop significantly before Like a Dragons release next year., I do appreciate their transparency tho, they could've just kept their mouths shut abut this being made in a few months/dlc thing and no one would care so either they have huge confidence that the product is good or they rely on their hardcore fans that will buy anything regardless.

Do you have gamepass?

 

[The Cockatrice]

Do you have gamepass?

I prefer my games on steam. Yes I know what you're going to say. No, I will still not rent it.

 

[March Climber]

I prefer my games on steam. Yes I know what you're going to say. No, I will still not rent it.

Ah, shame.

So you don't like to play games first on GP then buy later on steam? I mainly only recommend it to people who already have Gamepass as a way for them to save money, since they're not getting rid of the sub anyway.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Ah, shame.

So you don't like to play games first on GP then buy later on steam? I mainly only recommend it to people who already have Gamepass as a way for them to save money, since they're not getting rid of the sub anyway.

I have tested games on GP only to buy them later on steam such as FH4 but its usually for games I have no idea if I will enjoy. Gaiden is something I will enjoy, I am after all a huge Yakuza fan but I will still wait for a sale on steam regardless or skip it.

 

[graywolf323]

I have tested games on GP only to buy them later on steam such as FH4 but its usually for games I have no idea if I will enjoy. Gaiden is something I will enjoy, I am after all a huge Yakuza fan but I will still wait for a sale on steam regardless or skip it.

if you have Humble Choice at the max 20% discount you can already get it on sale for Steam

 

[A.Romero]

After looking at Last Judgement's DLC prices I'm glad they decided to make it stand alone... So it can be in Gamepass. I'll buy it later.

I love their games but their DLC policy is just ridiculous.

 

[ChoosableOne]

They should've named it "Yakuza 2023" at this point.

 

[EDMIX]

Dont be an idiot. We know what Gaiden means, we just did not know the scale of it, as in the game being just a fucking dlc made in a few months.

Look at it like this, the time frame of its development is irrelevant. This team is fast and their quality is very high.

if its a good experience and worth the price, I don't see the harm

edit. I think you are if anything... obsessed with semantics. What would be shitty about this practice? I've heard people make such claims before and it never really makes a lot of sense.

As an artist, I've heard this many, many times and most can't really give a logical or rational view point to ever really support such odd claims.

Its even more fucking weird that you are saying something like "Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me" . Then who fucking cares? lol

Are you telling me the fucking time spent on the game is more important then the quality? So there is this very strange preconceived notion that something taking a very long time to develop magically means quality in that taking less time somehow is a horrible practice but this never really makes any sense when you really really look into it.

That's like us just attacking Insomniac with how quickly they're able to make these amazing AAA games but they're quality proves why we like the team.

So not only is the price of admission less than a full price game the amount of content supports the idea of it being a full game...

The team is even transparent to tell you it took them 6 months, Would you buy it if they lied to you and said it took them 3 years?

We know games that literally take 6 years that are only 20 hours long that cost 70.....

 

[The Cockatrice]

Look at it like this, the time frame of its development is irrelevant. This team is fast and their quality is very high.

if its a good experience and worth the price, I don't see the harm

edit. I think you are if anything... obsessed with semantics. What would be shitty about this practice? I've heard people make such claims before and it never really makes a lot of sense.

As an artist, I've heard this many, many times and most can't really give a logical or rational view point to ever really support such odd claims.

Its even more fucking weird that you are saying something like "Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me" . Then who fucking cares? lol

Are you telling me the fucking time spent on the game is more important then the quality? So there is this very strange preconceived notion that something taking a very long time to develop magically means quality in that taking less time somehow is a horrible practice but this never really makes any sense when you really really look into it.

That's like us just attacking Insomniac with how quickly they're able to make these amazing AAA games but they're quality proves why we like the team.

So not only is the price of admission less than a full price game the amount of content supports the idea of it being a full game...

The team is even transparent to tell you it took them 6 months, Would you buy it if they lied to you and said it took them 3 years?

We know games that literally take 6 years that are only 20 hours long that cost 70.....

Damn, chill choom. You aint going to change my mind.

 

[YukiOnna]

Look at it like this, the time frame of its development is irrelevant. This team is fast and their quality is very high.

if its a good experience and worth the price, I don't see the harm

edit. I think you are if anything... obsessed with semantics. What would be shitty about this practice? I've heard people make such claims before and it never really makes a lot of sense.

As an artist, I've heard this many, many times and most can't really give a logical or rational view point to ever really support such odd claims.

Its even more fucking weird that you are saying something like "Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me" . Then who fucking cares? lol

Are you telling me the fucking time spent on the game is more important then the quality? So there is this very strange preconceived notion that something taking a very long time to develop magically means quality in that taking less time somehow is a horrible practice but this never really makes any sense when you really really look into it.

That's like us just attacking Insomniac with how quickly they're able to make these amazing AAA games but they're quality proves why we like the team.

So not only is the price of admission less than a full price game the amount of content supports the idea of it being a full game...

The team is even transparent to tell you it took them 6 months, Would you buy it if they lied to you and said it took them 3 years?

We know games that literally take 6 years that are only 20 hours long that cost 70.....

I don't think it's about semantics when they seem to not even understand what the article quote is saying

 

[EDMIX]

Damn, chill choom. You aint going to change my mind.

lol sir, you don't even understand whats being stated.

Who is trying to change your mind about anything?

So basically what you're saying is you wish for there to be a perception of something more being done with a work, even if the quality literally justifies because apparently the quality doesn't matter to you but the perception of more time being put into it seems to matter more than the actual end product?

So you're basically saying we should not reward anyone for doing something efficiently if they could do it faster and maintain the same quality

They are supposed to lie to you and exaggerate the time that was spent on it to then charge 70, that was going to be better? lol


So I'm not asking you to change your mind, I don't care, that isn't the point of what is being stated, I'm simply trying to see the logic in this idea of this being a bad practice.

How is this a bad or "shitty practice"?

 

[64bitmodels]

i dont see why a dlc being sold as a game is a problem now but no one cared when miles morales did it back in 2020

personally "DLC" games seem better than "regular" games to me because atleast they ain't 85 hours long.

 

[The Cockatrice]

lol sir, you don't even understand whats being stated.

Who is trying to change your mind about anything?

So basically what you're saying is you wish for there to be a perception of something more being done with a work, even if the quality literally justifies because apparently the quality doesn't matter to you but the perception of more time being put into it seems to matter more than the actual end product?

So you're basically saying we should not reward anyone for doing something efficiently if they could do it faster and maintain the same quality

They are supposed to lie to you and exaggerate the time that was spent on it to then charge 70, that was going to be better? lol


So I'm not asking you to change your mind, I don't care, that isn't the point of what is being stated, I'm simply trying to see the logic in this idea of this being a bad practice.

How is this a bad or "shitty practice"?

Transparency doesn't excuse shitty practices, regardless of whether the product is good or not or whether it was improved or not. Simple as that. Defend them all you like choom, but you aint stopping this train.

 

[JunkerWoland]

Not particularly surprising, given the messaging around the game and what's been shown in images & trailers. Still, SEGA lost me as a customer on this one, in deciding NA didn't deserve its own physical release. (Yes, I'm aware the Asia & JP discs contain the English version; for me, it's a matter of principle and losing any potential cost savings in shipping fees.)

More generally , after not enjoying RgG7, I may just be done with this series, unless SEGA creates a full-blown, action-based branch to coincide with the RPG line of games.

 

[EDMIX]

Transparency doesn't excuse shitty practices

How is this a bad or "shitty practice"?

You don't help your point with zero logical or rational rebuttals, for fuck sakes ,you think I'm trying to fucking persuade you to change your mind, I don't fucking care.

I'm asking for you to discuss, explain, support your fucking argument on how its a bad or "shitty practice".

No one is being lied to, you can wait for a sale, its not being sold at full price, I'm not seeing what your talking about and you are avoiding any actual real explanation

 

[tommycronin]

Yeah, if it was any other studio, I'd be there with you. As for if it's with the GP version, it should be since it's an unlockable mode in the game apparently:

The demo, dubbed “Adventure Mode,” gives players their first hands-on experience with Infinite Wealth since the game’s announcement back in September 2022. The only caveat is players must first complete the main story of Gaiden to unlock the demo

'Like a Dragon Gaiden' Brings Back a Classic Gaming Trend

The inclusion of a demo for 'Infinite Wealth' in 'Like a Dragon Gaiden' is a welcome throwback to a classic gaming trend.

www.inverse.com

Nice, I'm just finishing up Lost Judgement now so I can jump straight into Gaiden. I'm gonna put Ishin to the back of my Yakuzalog since it's not really prevalent to the current timeline at all. Gamepass is saving me big time with all these Yakuza releases.

 

[Red5]

Its not actually. It's a 50euro DLC. If this was 30 bucks? I may have been ok with it, but its almost as a full priced game. Whether its a good one or not, doesnt matter to me. I'll just skip it entirely or wait for its price to drop significantly before Like a Dragons release next year., I do appreciate their transparency tho, they could've just kept their mouths shut abut this being made in a few months/dlc thing and no one would care so either they have huge confidence that the product is good or they rely on their hardcore fans that will buy anything regardless.

They outright told you the DLC was a 30 minutes side quest but instead they took more time to add more content, enough to make it a standalone game. So no, they're not selling a DLC as a full release, they're releasing a full game.

You aren't owed free stuff by people who work on making said stuff.

 

[Bkdk]

It’s crazy how productive the Japanese devs are these days, they manage to shorten dev time while the west somehow take longer than ever to make games, very often very mediocre ones too.

 

[64bitmodels]

It’s crazy how productive the Japanese devs are these days, they manage to shorten dev time while the west somehow take longer than ever to make games, very often very mediocre ones too.

thats what happens when you allow yourself to create more mid budget AA games as opposed to always creating a half decade long 100 million budget game that you need to succeed

 

[FoxMcChief]

Seems like there’s been a ton of Yakuza games lately.