Like a Dragon became an RPG because of a joke

The seventh game in the saga Yakuza took an unexpected turn in relation to the rest of the franchise. After six action titles – more than 10 if we take into account the ‘spin-offs’ – Yakuza: Like a Dragon It surprised us by transforming into a Japanese style RPG with turn-based battles.

This unexpected change has been welcomed by those who feared the series was stalling. However, this was not the result of careful planning by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. In fact, it all happened because of a joke.

In a recent Archipel Caravan documentary, Toshihiro Nagoshi – crea tor of the series Yakuza

– spoke about the curious chain of events that led to Yakuza: Like a Dragon become an RPG.

As a joke on April Fools Day 2019, he studied ‘leaked’ a video in which he saw the characters of Yakuza fighting in a JRPG-style turn-based combat system.

At that moment, Yakuza: Like a Dragon

It was an action game, but the good reception of the joke video and the team’s ideas on how they would make a true RPG of the series convinced them that they had to make it happen.

This is surprising because it means that the team created the combat system and implemented it in the game in less than 10 months. This title went on sale in Japan in mid-January 2020.

We love that these developers were brave enough to completely change the way they play their title. All for the sake of giving a little more variety to the universe starring Ichiban Kazuga and Kazuma Kiryu.

Source: canal de Archipel and YouTube