Scheduled for launch on February 28, 2025, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a sequel to motion journey Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. This new title options the collection’ fan-favorite, Goro Majima, as the only real protagonist. I not too long ago had a dialog with Mr. Masayoshi Yokoyama, RGG Studio Director and the Like a Dragon Collection Govt Producer, together with Mr. Hiroyuki Sakamoto, the Like a Dragon Collection, RGG Studio Chief Producer, in regards to the sport’s highlights and the behind-the-scenes tales of its improvement.
PlayStation Weblog: As a fan of the collection, I’m most interested in why you selected Majima and pirates. How did this title come about in the primary place?
Yokoyama: Round June or July 2023, lengthy earlier than the discharge of Infinite Wealth, the dev staff was already mulling over the thought of an Infinite Wealth spin-off. Even when we had been to make Like a Dragon 9, we knew that wouldn’t be sufficient to seize and inform the story. Throughout the finish of the Infinite Wealth improvement, we started percolating the thought of a spin-off that stars characters who aren’t Ichiban Kasuga. It was virtually as if we had been making a blown-up sub-story for Infinite Wealth. For fairly a while, I needed to make a sport known as Like a Dragon: Tuna, the place Kazuma Kiryu, as a tuna fisherman, units off to sea to combat in opposition to fishing boats. Lengthy story quick, it by no means got here to fruition, however key phrases like “ship,” “sea,” and “combating,” which had since then been engraved in my head, advanced into the idea of pirates.
PSB: The collection is thought for starring completely different characters because the protagonists. For example, Kazuma Kiryu takes the lead in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Title whereas Majima steps into the highlight in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I have to say one of many perks of spin-offs is the liberty of starring new characters who aren’t simply Ichiban Kasuga.
Yokoyama: I agree. Because the protagonist modifications in spin-offs, you’ll be able to comply with the identical story from a unique perspective. Additionally, spin-offs are excellent in dimension for adults. The Like a Dragon collection is like an all-you-can-eat restaurant the place you’ll be able to select from meat, seafood, and the rest you need and eat nevertheless a lot you want. However as you mature, you begin to recognize well-balanced, good-proportion meals. Spin-offs are like that.
PSB: Are you able to describe who Majima is?
Yokoyama: He masks his emotions and hides his true self. His previous is talked about all through the collection, but the true Majima stays a puzzle. He feels the necessity to reside as much as the picture that others have of him and adeptly go together with them. Nevertheless, in this entry, he suffers from amnesia, exposing his true self because the story unfolds.
PSB: Does that imply we’ll lastly discover out who the true Majima is?
Yokoyama: You’ll perceive who he’s by way of his interactions with a boy known as Noah. It seems he’s only a robust dude who likes to fantasize rather a lot [laughs]. In Gaiden, whereas remembering his previous, Majima appears to be like at himself objectively and realizes who he actually is. It is a novel story improvement.
Nevertheless, Majima will not be probably the most standard alternative for a protagonist. His unpredictability, whereas not the norm, is what units him aside and makes him intriguing. When a personality like Majima turns into the protagonist, it creates a discrepancy between actions and feelings; while you get annoyed in a scene, however Majima doesn’t even look bothered, chances are you’ll really feel confused.
To keep away from that, we would wish a impartial character who might act the way in which gamers anticipate from a protagonist. However the draw back is that we’d find yourself with a boring protagonist. We gave Kiryu and Kasuga further personalities to construct them into protagonists, but when we did that to Majima, he’d become a boring man. To make him a protagonist, we solely had two choices: amnesia or journey again in time. With out amnesia, Majima wouldn’t have labored as a protagonist.
PSB: Subsequent, I’d prefer to ask you in regards to the battles. This time, Majima switches between two battle kinds: Mad Canine and Sea Canine. Might you inform us about them?
Sakamoto: In Gaiden, Kiryu additionally makes use of two completely different battle kinds. We thought two was the correct quantity in order to maintain battles from being too difficult. Since Majima makes use of nimble strikes, we needed to simplify his battle strikes. Gamers can execute exhilarating strikes by merely urgent the buttons. The Mad Canine Model relies on Majima’s battle model that executes combos, jumps, and different responsive actions.
PSB:I performed the demo model on the Tokyo Sport Present 2024 and skilled some dynamic fights. What was the intention behind introducing leaping?
Yokoyama: Introducing leaping modifications the gameplay drastically. In combating video games, for instance, gamers soar even when there’s no have to. Additionally, you’re defenseless whereas leaping, so when you get hit, you’ll be blown away. For that cause, in motion video games, you’re typically invincible whereas leaping, however that may trigger issues. Merely introducing leaping modifications the sport design, so we’ve prevented it till now.
Nevertheless, the staff determined to include leaping into the sport as a result of the character Majima appears to be like good whereas leaping. That is the primary time gamers can management the character’s means to leap, moderately than it simply being part of heated battles. It’s not a daily soar motion however a type of soar included right into a combo.
Yokoyama: Incorporating two battle kinds in a sport is kind of difficult. If one model turns into far more entertaining, gamers will cease utilizing the opposite one. It’s straightforward to label the battle kinds underneath completely different traits, however it’s tough to make them each equally pleasurable. The Sea Canine model turned out to be extra attention-grabbing in this case and everybody ended up selecting this model. To prime it off, the Sea Canine model has some enjoyable costumes.
Sakamoto: Within the early levels of improvement, the Mad Canine model felt a bit plain, and nobody was utilizing it. So, we brainstormed methods to make this model extra interesting, and we’re now in the fine-tuning stage to attain the proper stability between the 2 combating kinds.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches Feb 28 2025 on PS5.