Infinite Wealth: 6 Things The Sequel Does Better

Highlights

In Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth , standard attacks are now incentivized, offering MP regeneration, bonus damage, and combo attacks, making them more useful in combat.
The enhanced positioning in combat allows players to freely move and position themselves, leading to bonus damage and chain combos with other party members.
The game provides better indicators for preparing for battles, such as level requirements and enemy difficulty, helping players strategize and avoid unpleasant surprises.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth builds upon the success of its predecessor in many meaningful ways. Most of these can be categorized as minor quality-of-life changes that, on the whole, add more to the experience than the sum of their parts. With improvements to combat, character bonding, and traversal options, among other mechanics, Infinite Wealth is the perfect starting point for newcomers, as well as the peak of Ryu Ga Gotoku games.

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The listed entries below will serve as an overview of some of the most significant changes that Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth has employed over Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and how they have contributed overall to a smoother experience for the player. As such, improvements in the visual and storytelling aspects of the sequel, although commendable, are not in the scope of this article.

6 Incentivised Standard Attacks

Yields MP Regeneration, Bonus Damage And Combo Attacks

A big chunk of what constituted the combat in Yakuza: Like Dragon was the usage of skills for each character to do any real damage. This was due to the extremely underwhelming standard attacks in the game, so there was no real incentive to use them at all. Moreover, because all the combat was focused on skills, the player's MP would deplete fast, leading to an over-reliance on Mana regeneration items. In Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, however, there are multiple reasons why players might use standard attacks actively in their combat strategy.

Firstly, all standard attacks in the sequel will replenish a certain amount of Mana, regardless of character traits, job traits, or gear. This means players can get out of tricky battles even when they are out of MP. Secondly, Infinite Wealth introduces bonus proximity damage for standard attacks when in close range, and also critical damage when attacking from the back. Lastly, standard attacks will sometimes chain with attacks from other party members for increased damage. More on that in the next point below.

5 Positioning In Combat

Adds Accessibility And Strategic Layer To Combat

Another significant piece of feedback from the Yakuza: Like A Dragon community that has been addressed in the sequel was the inability of characters to move around for positioning purposes during combat. This meant that in the previous game, player attack animations would often go incomplete or miss entirely due to being interrupted by obstacles or enemy units, leading to a lot of damage left on the table. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth allows players to freely move and position themselves in a decently sized ring area.

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Not only can the player make full use of this positioning to dish bonus Proximity Damage and Back Attacks, but they can also move closer to their other party members to ensure the player’s attack will lead to a chain combo. There are arrows to indicate the direction of the pushback on the opponent from the player’s attack, which is certainly helpful to maximize damage.

4 Dealing With Enemies

Better Indicators To Prepare For Battles

There are some moments of huge difficulty spikes in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which, though expected of an RPG, can still be an unpleasant surprise when players first head into a battle. The sequel does a great job of always providing a heads-up before long encounters and boss fights, so players can have a good idea of exactly how they'll fare. With a simple pop-up message, players will be informed about the level requirement of the player and their gear.

A small change that really helps is that enemy groups in Infinite Wealth have a meter above their heads which slowly fills up as you move closer to them during free roam. This is a welcome change as opposed to its predecessor, where there is no indication of when enemies detect the player’s party before a battle starts. There have also been additional indicators to show the difficulty of the enemy group, so players always know not to take on the hardest ones (purple icons) until they're prepared. Moreover, those groups with icons below the player’s level (blue icons), can be wiped by a single button, Smackdown, in the sequel, as opposed to fighting each one in the group in Yakuza: Like A Dragon.

3 Personality Traits And Bond Upgrades

More Diverse Options To Upgrade Paths

Progressing in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is generally more accessible thanks to several paths that players can take for upgrading the game's many systems. In addition to completing task lists to increase Ichiban’s personality traits like in the previous game, players can now also make use of the Aloha Links feature to raise each of the six personality attributes: Kindness, Intellect, Charisma, Style, Passion, and Confidence. All they have to do is emote at certain NPCs to befriend them and earn a gain towards their personality traits.

Split image showing Pigeon Family Market in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

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Similar accessible options are in place for increasing bond levels with other party members as well. Apart from having dinner conversations and engaging in mini-games with the party, players can gift items and play Bond Bingo by interacting with the Walk & Talk icons on the map to further increase the party’s bond levels.

2 Traversal Options

Ride, Drive, And Explore Till Hearts’ Content

In addition to taxi services from traditional Yakuza games, including Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Ichiban can now use a rechargeable segway in the Hawaii region of Infinite Wealth to traverse the map at a pace faster than walking but not as quickly as fast travel. If a market has been placed on the map, players can also enter the “Auto-Cruise” mode of the segway for a completely automated stress-free journey.

Moreover, players can also ride trams for a better sightseeing approach to traversal in the new setting. A little feature that is all for accessibility is the ability to move directly to a taxi stop by pinpointing it on the map. This completely negates the hassle of ordering a taxi from the phone to the taxi stop at the player's current location and then riding to their destination stop.

1 More Forgiving Death Mechanic

Less Severe Penalty For Dying In Battle

Players from Yakuza: Like Dragon will know the pain of losing their hard-earned cash whenever Ichiban dies in battle. Upon every death, players would lose 50% of their cash. Hence, it was always important to securely deposit the money in ATMs around the map. While Infinite Wealth still has this mechanic, the penalty for Ichiban dying is not nearly as severe as in the previous game.

Instead, only 20% of the total amount of cash that players have on hand will be deducted upon death. Sure, this still means ATMs are the way to go, but the loss does not hit as hard as when the total amount was halved.