When you change classes in an RPG, it's pretty normal for you to kit your characters out with new gear, grind levels, and basically relearn how to play them. But while that holds true for today's Yakuza: Like A Dragon, I'd reco𒐪mmend that you hold off on it at first. See, if you change classes too early, you'll likely screw yourself over and not be making the most of your party.
The way class changes function in Like A Dragon are through the Hello Work building.🦂 You take your party to the temp agency, talk to the lady behind the counter, choose your class, and BAM - you've got a new role. And with so many fun ones to choose from, it's really hard to resist making or two tweaks to your party. However, you should absolutely resist at first. As much fun as it is to see Ichiban break dance, or have Saeko pop a bottle of champagne on a random goon, there's a big problem: you'll be weakening your party, with no immediate way to make them stronger.
The reason for this is two-fold. First and foremost, the equipment you'll need to excel at your new role won't immediately be available. When you unlock new roles, all the weapons, armor, and other bits and bobs you'♑ll need to stay strong won't be there for you to buy. Instead, you'll be stuck picking away at enemies with starting equipment, which is extremely bad and makes the game into a huge slog.
Secondly, in order to really maximize efficiency with your new class, you'll need to get in as many battles as possible to rank up, as your job level and base level are two entirely different bags. If you're trying to fight strong enough enemies to mak🎶e any meaningful progression, then you're going to be doing it with weak characters that hav༺e bad equipment. Not ideal, let me tell you.
I speak from experience, too. I changed all classes but Ichiban's as soon as I could, and was met 🎶with immediate resistance. Enemies that I was steamrolling now took multiple turns to go down, with only Kasuga able to really hold his own against them. It made exploring and leveling up a huge drag, and I eventually had to change my classes back to keep going.
So, when should you change classes? My advice is to just stick with your base job for a bit after you unlock new ones. Meanwhile, continue to pump money int🍌o the game's crafting system (which we'll explain in a later guide) and progress the story. That way, you'll eventually unlock all the stuff you'll need for jobs like Breaker, Hostess, and Night Queen, without having to slog through hours of misery with your ba❀se equipment.
For more Yakuza tips, check out Kirk's handy guide on how to burn through in-game quizzes to b🦩oost your st𓄧ats!