This article is part of a directory: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Guide Hub (Jobs, Weapons, Dondoko Island, Substories, & More)
Table of contents

Highlights

  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a lengthy game, with players potentially logging in eighty to a hundred hours of gameplay.
  • Players should prioritize progressing through the main missions and avoid spending too much time in Yokohama.
  • It's important to pay attention to enemy levels, as different icon colors indicate the difficulty, and players should aim to be over-leveled before entering dungeons.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a long game. Most of the Yakuza games come in at around the forty-hour mark if players do side quests and grind those levels out. Still, this eighth major release is even longer than the average, almost like a Persona game, as some may play it for eighty or even a hundred hours.

featured Like a Wealth Infinite Wealth - Beginner Tips
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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Beginner Tips

These beginner tips can help players save a lot of time in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

The game is massive, and rightfully so. Its predecessor, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, was a huge win for the franchise. It’s only natural that the team wanted to both double down and improve on ideas. As such, there is a lot to learn about Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Some things may go over the heads of players initially, so let’s smooth over any confusion.

7 Not Turning Off Prompts

It’s Like A Difficulty Adjustment

The options menu in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Before beginning the game, players should jump into the options. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is, unfortunately, missing some good ones, including difficulty levels and assist options, as so many modern games do.

However, there is one useful option that will turn off button prompts during special moves. In battle, most abilities will prompt players to either hit Square or Triangle on PlayStation controllers to get a critical hit in. Turning off this option will make battles go by smoother, along with other features like auto-battle.

6 Spending Too Much Time In Yokohama

Get To Hawaii ASAP

Fighting enemies as Nanba in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Another good early tip to stress is that players should spend as little time in Yokohama as needed. This was the major location in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and most things remain the same. There’s not much to do, but players may feel the need to explore for nostalgia’s sake.

Split image showing Kasuga Ichiban from Like a Dragon.
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Instead, they should go from one main mission point to the other, as the first two chapters focus on Yokohama before players eventually get to Hawaii. That’s when the game truly starts to get going, although there are still quite a few tutorial missions leading up to Kazuma’s return.

5 Ignoring Enemy Levels

Smashing Through The Weaklings

Fighting enemies with Smackdown in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

There are a few things about enemy levels that players may not pick up on right away. First, there are three levels in the field indicated by blue, red, and purple icons. Blue icons are under-leveled enemies, and they can be destroyed instantly with a hidden option called Smackdown, kind of like how players can decimate low-tier foes in the EarthBound games.

Red icons mean that enemies are within the party’s general level, and finally, purple icons are over-leveled. Also, each area of the map has a shield rating for the general levels, which is shown above the mini-map.

4 Not Over-Leveling Before Dungeons

Go Above And Beyond Story Missions

The Barracuda's hideout in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

When players are going to enter a dungeon, the game will tell them it might be a while before they can manually save. Also, it will usually give a recommended level for the party to be at, along with how good their gear should be, which is rated by stars. Players should try to meet the star rating requirement, but they should also get at least three, if not more, levels above the recommended level count.

Even more so than that, items can be hard to come by in dungeons, so be sure to be overstocked on healing items. No one wants to enter a dungeon, get stuck, and then have to redo it from an old save because they were unprepared.

3 Forgetting To Stash Cash In ATMs

Don’t Lose Money

Ichiban in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

If Ichiban dies in battle, then the whole team folds. This means players should focus on keeping Ichiban's HP high and giving him the best gear. Ichiban dying doesn’t mean Game Over, though, wherein players lose all progress.

Instead, they lose a percentage of their money, which is a devastating hit when cash is hard to come by early on in the game. It’s kind of like the battle system in the Dragon Quest series, which Ichiban adores in-game, so this aspect makes sense. So, the overall lesson is to stash cash in ATMs and to be resilient about manual save files.

2 Haphazardly Leveling Up Jobs

Diversifying Character Skills

Assigning Job skills in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

It takes a while, but eventually, players will unlock Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s Job system when they sign up for tours around Hawaii. The conceit is that Ichiban and other characters will be inspired by events that happen on tours which will lead to new Jobs getting unlocked. For example, two boys fighting with pretend swords on a trolley makes Ichiban think of samurai, which then unlocks Samurai as a Job.

Split image showing Pigeon Family Market in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
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Players should stick to the exclusive Job of each character, like Ichiban’s Hero Job until they max out at thirty. However, when new Jobs get unlocked, like samurai, level them up to at least ten to get a good range of skills. These can be equipped to different Jobs once unlocked thus giving characters more diverse abilities during combat. Getting to level ten honestly won’t take that long.

1 Forgoing Side Quests

A Good Way To Power-Up

Ichiban pushing a stroller in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the type of game wherein it is important to do side quests as soon as they unlock. In this series, including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, they are generally referred to as Substories. Going through them will provide players with easy-to-navigate fetch quests, but the rewards will be twofold.

Firstly, the literal rewards can be groundbreaking, from unlocking new mechanics to rare gear. Secondly, a lot of them are just brilliantly weird and should be seen like one early one involving grown men dressed as babies. If players stay on top of Substories, then they shouldn’t have to worry about grinding for levels or cash too much.