Yakuza: Like a Dragon demo releases on Japanese PSN, Famitsu details on the Battle System [Update: Screenshots]

by Kazuma Hashimoto and Kite Stenbuck on 21 November, 2019

Original Article (November 13)

Sega had previously mentioned plans to release a demo of Yakuza: Like a Dragon before its full release in Japan this January, and today, a demo similar to the one shown at TGS 2019 is now available to download via the Japanese PSN store. In order to access and download the demo, you must have a Japanese PSN account. Note that the demo content cannot be transferred to the full game.

Additionally, a long new trailer was released that shows off more of the cast and one very specific familiar face to the Yakuza franchise. I won't say too much, but you can check out the new trailer below. Be warned, there are some pretty major story spoilers in this new trailer so you might want to avoid watching it until you can get your hands on the game yourself.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be released for PlayStation 4 in Japan, South Korea, and China on January 16, 2020, and there are already plans in place to bring the game to North America and Europe later in the same year.

Battle System Details

Update (November 13): This week's issue of Famitsu magazine offers more details on Extreme Techniques, More jobs, and battle system details. Find our translation below:

Extreme Techniques

Extreme Techniques can be likened to magic and skills that consume MP (Mental Point). These techniques can be largely grouped into the following categories:

Offense: Dealing more damage than normal attacks. Some of these techniques will have additional input commands which if successful will add even more damage; the input asked can be either a just-timed press or mashing a button within a small timeframe. Techniques that do not have any additional inputs will have more stable damage output.
Recovery: Healing ally HP or removing status ailments from them
Support: Raising ally stats or inflicting status ailments to enemies

The main characters will each come with a unique starting job that has its own Extreme Techniques, which means these ones are exclusive to the character. Kasuga can swing his bat to damage enemies in a wide range. Namba uses his umbrella or wand to deal a magical combo attack. Adachi swings his baton to hit an enemy multiple times. And Saeko does a spinning attack using her handbag which is effective when she is surrounded by multiple enemies.

More Selectable Jobs

Host: This job fights by holding a sake bottle on a hand. Instead of punching in the frontlines, they excel more in inflicting status ailments and supporting allies. This job especially excels in chill elemental attacks. The Host's Extreme Technique, Bubble Splash, will have them spray a cold sake bottle on an enemy, dealing damage while potentially causing them to catch a cold, which is a status ailment that deals more damage to them every turn and can even spread to other enemies as it is contagious.

Bouncer: Although bodyguards are supposed to protect someone, this job in this game is totally offensive. They can swing a sword to deal huge damage to enemies. When swords and other blade-type weapons hit enemies, they can inflict a Bleeding ailment which will continuously damage them every turn.
The bouncer Extreme Technique, Ogre Slash, swings the sword vertically. Despite the very short range, it will in return deal very massive damage.

Delivery Help (Summons), Battle Environments, and Enemy Types

Delivery Help can be likened to summons in other RPGs. You can use the smartphone during battles and spend some money to call for help from other characters. For example, you can summon a restaurant staff to bring a meal that can recover allies' MP, or a motorcycle rider who can hit all enemies and potentially inflicting heat blight on them.

As battle environments here proceed in real-time, you can produce special attacks by making use of the surrounding area. If you launch an attack that blows away an enemy and there are more enemies behind him, they will also get damaged. For example, launching an enemy towards the road at the right timing will even cause them to be hit by a passing car, causing massive damage.

Boasting the highest amount of enemy variety in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon will group common enemies into categories where they share some similarities but the stronger enemy will have more attack methods. For example, the Military category enemies are equipped with a kukri knife on their right hand and a bowgun on their left, but the strongest one Arminator will be even able to shoot lasers from their helmet. The Gang category enemies can be distinguished with their red-colored attires, but the higher grade enemies (Gang Ace & Gang Boss) wield pistols that can fire unblockable bullets from faraway.

Update 2 (November 21): Screenshots of Host & Bouncer jobs, Extreme Skills

Yakuza: Like a Dragon