Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Over the past few weeks, I made it the last chapter (15) in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I am still enjoying the story, but I hit a bit of a wall with where I realized I hadn’t engaged enough with some of the systems and characters enough to make it through the end. I started to really struggle with some of the boss fights in Chapter 14. The game’s in-built solution is to grind in the Kamurocho dungeon, but I had trouble with many of the enemies there. I did some reading online and learned that part of my problem is that I failed to switch most of my characters from their default jobs.
I worked on that for a bit, but I realized that I’m pretty burnt out on the grinding. I already faced this a similar situation with under leveled characters in Chapter 12 and found myself repeating the same battles over and over. I also tried to play through the business management mini-game with the promise of getting a special attack if I maxed out the mini-game, but that also felt pretty tedious.
In the end, I decided to set the game aside because it was no longer enjoyable. I’m hoping that after a break I’ll be able to get into it again.
Witch Spring R
I started another RPG — Witch Spring R — which was pretty different than Like A Dragon. Instead of a modern setting, it’s
set in a mystical world where humans hunt witches, following the journey of Pieberry, a young witch striving to master her magic and challenge the oppressive rule of the Holy Church. It’s quite a departure from the gritty world of Yakuza.
I’m enjoying it so far, but I found it surprisingly difficult in the first chapter. I wouldn’t have expected such a whimsical looking game to be so difficult! It’s my first crafting RPG, so wrapping my head around the gameplay loop took a bit. It also has only a set level of experience points that can be earned per fight, so there is no concept of grinding for levels.
I was hoping to play it on the Switch, but the copy my library had was on the Playstation 5. I think I would have made more progress if I could play it on the handheld.