Like a dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, a series of action-adventure as a dragon: Infinite Ring Director and similar to an executive producer of the Dragon series, on what happened behind the scenes during the development of the system of a pirate battle, as well as why he thinks Goro Majima remains a favorite of fans to date.
Masayoshi Yokoyama
A narrative game design
Like a dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii presents a new combat system called Pirate Battles, where players can engage in cannon battles on their ships. Was it your plan since the start of creating a game that was very different from the rest of the series? How was the idea born?
To be honest, we did not know where the game would end when we launched the development for the first time. We had a story that we wanted to tell, and we started from there. There was still a certain number of unanswered questions after a dragon: an infinite wealth, like what would happen in Hawaii and how the old Yakuza, after their complete dissolution, would continue their lives. We thought the best way to answer these questions was to create a derivative game. That being said, at the start of development, we did not know that we would end up implementing pirate battles in the game.
Have you developed the pirate battle system from zero, especially for this game?
Yes. The same team of a dragon team excels in reworking existing assets to build new systems, but we have created the pirate battle system from zero.
The Battle of Canon which is part of the pirate battle is essentially a shooting game, and the shooters can end up being too complex and difficult for players who are not used to the games. We have an idiot various concepts to avoid increasing the difficulty too much, such as creating a mini-game where you pull on enemy ships from a view of 2D birds. However, our development team worked hard to implement realistic 3D pirate ships that the player can go to cannon battles. However, this made the game a little more difficult, so we spent more time ensuring that the level of difficulty was just for a dragon game.
It is easy to do something as effortless as possible, but if it is not difficult or rewarding, it is not very fun. In the end, we decided to make the naval battles in the main story easier to play, and at the same time, found the Colosseum of Pirates, a perfect arena for players who seek to challenge themselves with consecutive fights With powerful enemies. There are only a few battles necessary to progress the main story, but we also wanted to respond to players looking for a challenge. This is similar to what we have done with the Colosseum like a Dragon Gaiden: the man who has erased his name, so we adopted this type of double approach more often with our recent games.
My dream is that the battle of pirates is adopted by players from around the world and for us to create an online battle mode. However, I understand that the game will have to be super successful for it to happen. If the pirate battle system is well welcomed and players ask for a game focused on it, these comments will most certainly have an impact on the games that we make in the future.
Majima's confidence in his powers allows him to make great decisions that change life
Has your impression of Majima changed throughout the development of the game?
Majima shows a different side of himself when he meets a boy named Noah in this game. Majima suffers from amnesia and forgot who he is, but basically he knows that he probably spent his good dear life. Then he meets Noah and developed a father's link with him, wishing to help realize his dreams. You certainly see Majima through a different lens in this game.
Noah suffers from chronic asthma and his father, Jason, forbids him to leave their island for concerns about his well-being. Having never left the limits of his island, Noah aspires to see the rest of the world. This is where Majima comes into play, after being washed on the island's beach. Noah and Jason both fight with their deleted emotions, but Majima enters and helps get them out of their hardened shells. The game begins with Majima embarking on his trip with Noah and Jason by his side.
His lack of memories does not prevent Majima from throwing himself into everything that stings his interest. This is the kind of guy who can make decisions that change life that others will find extremely difficult. Some may call him short -see, but Majima is able to accomplish all this because he is fully confident in his strength and his capacities. Although he does not remember his past, he takes measures because he knows that he has the power to protect Noah whatever happens.
Accompany your enemies with Majima's crazy dog style
Could you tell us what happened behind the scenes when developing the two combat styles of Majima, styles of pirate and crazy dogs?
We settled on the concept of pirate style early. We started to think about ideas like his hacker costume, his cutlass and his flying weapons, and everything met very quickly.
On the other hand, the style of crazy dog was a challenge. Majima is generally not a playable character, so we did not have much experience in the development of combat movements and movements adapted to him. However, we had a lot of experience in the development of Majima as an antagonist, so we had to develop.
Another challenge was that the movements that Majima used as a dragon: infinite wealth was far too powerful for a playable character, but we also knew that the players would like to discover the signature combat style of Majima. So, we spent a lot of time thinking about how we could adapt the unique movements of Majima for a playable character, and how we could rework them to be appropriate for a combat action game instead of an RPG . We ended up going almost three times more to work on the style of crazy dog compared to the pirate style.
However, the style of crazy dog found itself less flashy and spectacular compared to the pirate style, so it was perhaps not the most effective use of our time and our energy (laughs). However, I am happy that we have opted for two styles of battle, because I saw many players try the style of crazy dog during practical events, probably because it represents the best Majima and its disjointed ways. Personally, I prefer the pirate style because I like AOE attacks, but the two are different and super fun.
Like a dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launched on PS5 and PS4 on February 21.
