So, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Yakuza: Like A Dragon finally released in the west on November 10th, 2020. But, fans of the franchise had known about it for quite a long time since it came out back in January overseas. Sadly, they wer🦋en't able to touch a fully localized version of it, until now.
The deveꦉlopers both at Sega & Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios really went for something different here with a new main character and a whole new combat system. That's right, Ichiban Kasuga replaces Kazuma Kiryu as the protagonist, and the risk of doing this can't be understated. Kiryu is one of the most beloved Sega characters of all time and functioned as the pillar of the Yakuza series for 6+ games. But they went for it, and now seems like an apt moment to compare the two.
10 Ichiban: He's A Big Nerd In Public ⛄
The first thing people should know about Ichiban is that he's a huge nerd. The guy isn't at all afraid to speak up on topics he's passionate about, even if it means calling himself a hero and comparing the Yakuza lifestyle to a Dragon Quest game. There are so many fantastic moments throughout this game that play around with this character trait, whether it's his friends making fun of his overactive imagination, jokingly call him the hero/party leader, or even the whole ⛦concept of Poundamates as Final Fantasy-stylꦆe summons. It's a ⭕real nice change of pace for both the "nerdy" character trope and for the "closed off and aloof" protagonist trope.
9 ൲Kiryu: He's Way More Intimidating
Still, compared to the Dragon of Dojima Kiryu himself, Kasuga is so insanely less intimidating. Kasuga has that afro-esque hairstyle, smiles constantly, jokes around, and quite frankly rambles a lot. And, the turn-based combat of Yakuza: Like A Dragon feels a lot less visceral than the beat♋ 'em up style of previous games where Kiryu would kick knives into people or suplex them spine-first onto metal barriers. Kiryu may have funny moments during all the side content of the Yakuza games, but during the mainline story, he's usually deadly serious, brooding, and constantღly glaring.
8 Ichiban: He's Expressive And Funℱny
Kiryu might be scarier, but that mainly comes from the fact that he makes very few jokes (in the main story cutscenes, at least) and isn't very expressive overall. Kiryu is incredibly good at a few emotions such as rage, apathy, pent-up despair, and mild enjoyment, but that's about it. Meanwhile, within the first few hours of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Kasuga is making jokes, on the verge of tears, laughing out loud, screaming at the top of his lungs, acting meek, acting tough, and tons more. He's just more happy-go-luck, seems to enjoy himself 🔯more durin﷽g all the mini-games, and has a tendency to even joke around in crucial moments rather than asking for facts, which doeᩚᩚᩚ🌄ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs end up leading to some lingering questions after all is said and done.
7 Kiryu: He Actu🍸ally Acts Like A Yakuza ꦓ
This next concept comes back around to Kiryu's intimidating cadence, but to get more specific, Kiryu acts as a stereotypical/model Yakuza should. His image is everything, he never lies, he never runs, he holds himself accountable, and he handles most problems with violence. Meanwhile, Ichiban iꦯs pretending to be a video-game hero while out on collections and helping old women cross the street.
Kasuga is more of a fri༒endly neighborhood vigilante than a Yakuza, and those two labels feel at odds constantly. But Kiryu, most of the time, is actuall꧋y involved in the Yakuza business during his games.
6 Ichiban: He's A New Type Of Crazy 🍒
Kiryu is "crazy" in a very typically shonen protagonist sort-of-way. He never backs down and is always moving forward no matter what, even if it means he ends up hurting himself, it doesn't matter as long as he sticks to his ideals. It's the kind of crazy that people are used to seeing in main characters. But, Ichiban is a different flavor of crazy, he literally imagines his enemies transforming and his teammates casting "magic" during fights, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Ichiban rarely has any long-term goals in mind, mostly drifting from random issue to issue, which funnily enough works narratively considering all the stuff players can randomly run a🔯round and play with in Kamurocho & Yokohama after beating the main story.
5 Kiryu:🌌 He Has More💞 Of A Complex Story
While Ichiban's childhood experience with the Patriarch of the Arakawa family, Mas🌸umi was very heartwarming and the whole narrative of the Omi Alliance, the Injin Three, the Governor of Tokyo, and even Bleach Japan is pretty well-thought-out, it's only one game worth of plot. Very little of it actually has anything to do with Kasuga, if he walked around from it all in chapter 3, not many people would notice. Franky, he kind of involves himself in everyone's problems and that gets him all caught up in everything. Meanwhile, Kiryu's stories have always been directly aligned with the plot of the game (for the most part).
4 Ichiban: He's Blunt And Honest ♐
Kiryu is a pretty blunt character, but even he isn't as blunt as Kasuga is. Plus, Kasuga is way more open about what he's thinking & his emotions. Throughout a lot of the Like A Dragon story, Ichiban's friends are constantly telling him he can't just walk up and ask a Yakuza boss to stop or some crime lord to work with him, but that's exactly what Kasuga always does, and it usually works. His honestly works in his favor a lot of the time, where it's so pure and unfiltered that even crime lords believe him when he says something. Then there's Kiryu, a character who doesn't talk through things, who still likely doesn't even know how Haruka was made, and one whose creator won't let him join a fighting game simply because it might show him in combat 🍌against w▨omen.
3 Kiryu: Hisღ Serious Attitude In Goofy Settings
This is one of Kiryu's best character traits and a large reason🌳 why he's so beloved by the fanbase. We're of course talking about his dead-pan attitude during absurd situations.
Kiryu races toy cars, goes to the batting cages, sings Karaoke, bowls, dances, models, all while putting in 100% effort/sincerity, and it's just so funny. While Kasuga does most if not all of these things as well 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:during Like A Dragon's side content, he's a pretty quirky g🐬uy right fr൲ont the get-go, so the contrast isn't nearly as funny.
2 ♛ Ichiban: His Personal🍒ity Allows For A Bigger Main Cast
Kiryu is about as much of a "lone wolf" as they come, always insisting on solving problems himself and rarely ever working with a group. At most he usually works with one other person, and they usually have to blackmail him, throw a sob story his way, or follow him just to get him tentatively on their side. Meanwhile, Ichiban isn't really worried about that, he'll work with anyone, because even the Hero needs a party to support him. Kasuga's story, his personality, and the mechanics of his game all allow for a larger cast of "main characters" that players get to know throu𒁃ghout the course of the game, which is always more interesting. While Kiryu is great, fans got the gist of his personality and character arc by Yakuza 3 at the latest, b🧸ut luckily Majima was usually theꩵre to balance out the predictability.
1 🎀 Kiryu: He Had 6 Games Alꩲready
It only made sense to leave the most obvious reason for last, and that reason is simply that Kiryu has had so many more games under his belt than Kasuga! Even in the games where he's not the main character like Yakuza 4, he does become one of the main cast past a certain chapter. Heck, they couldn't even keep him out of Yakuza: Like A Dragon either! He's the icon of the franchise and the one character from it most if not all people know, so it's a bit hard for a newbie to ev🐼en compare.