Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Masayoshi Yokoyama has revealed during a roundtable interview this week that the Like A Dragon franchise is going to be pretty flexible when it comes to the type gameplay system its games utilise, providing it enhances the story.
For us, when we make a game, the kind of system itself, we don’t feel restricted by it. We basically design our games, we use the system that best highlights the story that we want to tell.
In Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, our goal is to make a game with an interesting story, so whatever system best highlights that is the system we’ll choose…If we think a party game will make this story sound the best, we will make a party game.
And one of the really fun parts about making a game itself is that there are no rules…when you’re making a game, you make the rules. So in that case, we like to stay flexible.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon was the first entry in the series to utilise RPG mechanics, which proved to be a pretty success despite the radical shift in gameplay.
[W]e are very aware of both the good and bad feedback and we knew that we had a lot of places that we could improve on, both technically and in the way the game feels. So if, and this is big if, we are indeed making another turn-based series, we would definitely find things that we can improve on. Once again, just clarifying the ‘if’ there.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced during a livestream yesterday that Like A Dragon 8 is now in development for PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. Meanwhile, the studio is also working on a remake of Like A Dragon: Ishin and developing a spin-off Like A Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name.
Crucially, the developer has confirmed that the franchise will be known as Like A Dragon going forward, bringing it closer to its Japanese origins.
[Source – IGN]