Yakuza: Like a Dragon - Low Level Part 2: Heavy Machinery (Excavator & Foreman Yan)

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MoogleBoss

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Published on March 3, 2024 4:27:23 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oI3QDECfIQ

Game:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)

Duration: 6:32

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8

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The game abounds in mandatory, inescapable battle, but it is this lone battle at the tail end of chapter 6 that I thought was sensible to upload. The boss is conveniently preceded by save and heal points in a long multi-floor dungeon without an option to save anywhere, allowing us to prepare adequately without having to redo the entire dungeon, which would be a massive nuisance.

Several changes have occurred since the first recording in this video series. One such change is our party of three forty-year old bums being complemented by two younger ladies. In contrast to Adachi and Nanba being good at dishing out damage, right off the bat, the two perform support duties better than anything else in their base classes, Saeko inflicting negative statuses with light blows and sharing buffs with party members and Eri being similarly unimpressive until the Medium-power multi-target attack in Thumbtack Scatter, which is superior even to Ichi's AoE bat attacks. We want both reclassed to something more coherent ASAP, though it's not going to be immediately possible until we attain the required levels first.

As of yet, everybody in the party is in their default class. Enforcer is inaccessible to Adachi for now, and there is no medium-power weapon for the class sold anywhere for a while, while I struggle to justify reclassing Nanba into anything else at this stage of the game - he seems comfortable with his instant access to black and white magic spells. I didn't reclass Ichiban out of Hero either, as his skillset is just so formidable in his base class.

Another major change, associated with Eri joining the party, is us getting access to endless amounts of money via the management minigame. No longer forced to check rubbish spots in front of vending machines, we can now take taxis to get around until the apocalypse and have any healing items we wish. HP and SP are never really a concern now. This money would be best exploited to get us equipment resulting in unreal amounts of damage and impenetrable bulk, but both seem counterintuitive to a low level challenge run. As per the initially established rules, we stick to gear that's of a level equal to what is found in the world, without resorting to purchasing gear that costs hundreds of thousands of yen or, better still, crafting some absurdly powerful weapons. It seems that there's not much money can really abused for with that rule constantly active; we can just stop gimping ourselves by farming cash inefficiently.

With five members in the party, we're forced to use the tag team feature to switch out the fallen to ensure all four non-Ichiban members are KO'd at the end of EVERY fight to ensure nobody levels up. This is mildly annoying and kinda begs the question whether recruiting Eri was worth it in the first place - you do kinda need to do it to keep milking the management minigame for more money (I'm fairly sure at least? Its progression is tied to Eri's increase in support level). Since this is also a low level run, having Eri recruited at the earliest convenience also means she will be lower-levelled at any given point of the run.

Foreman Yan is a boss fought thrice during chapter 6, first as a team, then by unequipped Freelancer Ichiban, and now finally as the man behind the excavator's wheel. The visually stunning battle stands out amongst all the crook fights in the game and points to to a tradition of facing similar mech bosses in the JRPG genre.

When up against the excavator, it's not every attack that can connect the boss, and I end up dealing most of the punishment with Ichiban. Essence of Mayhem is utterly destructive for a mere 30 SP, but the more expensive Ultimate Stack Slap that I acquired thanks to completing the management minigame is stronger still, so I end up relying on that as my main source of damage. The other party members buff Ichi up (bolstering defence before the final turns of the fight is wise, as stray status procs can render Ichiban vulnerable to blows), possibly heal, but eventually they will have to set themselves up to be killed as I finish the fight.

This is accomplished much more easily than usual in this fight with the boss outright spamming AoE attacks with flashy animations, sometimes, inexplicably, multiple times in a row before we get a single turn (the source of an oddball game over outcome on a past attempt). Yan alternates between fighting alone and inside the excavator, and he is incredibly toothless when not using the machinery. When Ichiban is the sole survivor, we kick him of the excavator one final time to finish him off with Ultimate Stack Slap.

As you can see, Ichiban is much more higher-levelled than the others thanks to being forced to survive each battle, and the experience accumulated in the Yokohama underground dungeon lets us access Foreman and the secret shops immediately after getting out.

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