Today is already 16 days in Japan, so Yakuza: Like a Dragon is now available there, while in the rest of the world we wait for a release date that confirms when the new title of the saga will arrive. One of the most outstanding changes of this new installment is the change to the JRPG style of turn attack instead of the beat em up used so far. About that facet he has spoken Toshihiro Nagoshi de Sega, in an interview that they collect in Dualshockers.
Toshihiro Nagoshi first mentioned how one of the obstacles the study encountered while developing Yakuza: Like a Dragon was the balance the level of the players and the strength of the enemies and that indeed is something much more difficult than it seems. A small mistake can end the game. Nagoshi commented: «This made me realize once again that the developers doing RPG are really amazing».
Another thing that Yakuza adds: Like a Dragon are the references (or tributes) to well-known JRPG sagas. Toshihiro Nagoshi explained that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio wanted to reference mainly in Yakuza: Like a Dragon the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy sagas. However, seeing how dear these franchises are, finding the right balance between parody and respect ended up putting a lot of pressure on the development team. In addition, Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio contacted Square Enix during the development of the game, especially to ask permission to use the name of Dragon Quest in the dialogues.
In addition, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is focused on friendship. The members of the Ichiban group have their own stories, which conclude along with the end of the main story. Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned that it was something very difficult to do. He joked that in the middle of the development, he regretted the decision of the study to focus the game on friends. Nagoshi explained that «Making the RPG game systems and writing your story is really fun at first, but as you go there are countless occasions when you reach a dead end«.
On the other hand, Nagoshi commented that he did not feel pressured by it, since it was obvious that they were going to find problems along the way, since this was the first time the team was doing an RPG. Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned that it was the first time in years that he had to fight so much during the development of a game and reminded him of yesteryear when he had to overcome such mental walls in other developments. Some of the younger members of the team had many more problems to overcome these walls, as it was the first time they faced this feeling of despair. But looking back, this It was a good experience for everyone in the studio.
Finally, Nagoshi mentioned a health problem he had in the final stretch of Yakuza's development: Like a Dragon. A problem that took him to the hospital and held him for several weeks, a meeting was even held to specify the main musical theme. One of the things that also stands out is that if by chance I had died, the game would have gone just as well, so he has remained calm with the experience, displaying the peculiar Japanese humor that is so present in the Yakuza saga.
