The JRPG Lineage Of Yakuza: Like A Dragon

Content originally posted on January 18, 2020. Just to clarify how I wrote this text: back then, I think the game's English title hadn't been announced yet. Hence, I mainly referred to the game as Yakuza 7. Also, I don't think the game had been announced for a release outside of the PlayStation 4 yet either. It's cool to see this game (and the Yakuza series in general) on so many platforms now!

By no means do I want to start posting fan art to this page in general, but I couldn’t help but share this Yakuza 7 piece because it rings so true! The game, which just came out in Asia this week, derives inspiration from and pays homage to the Dragon Quest series in a lot of different ways. In fact, Yakuza’s developers at Sega asked for permission from Square Enix (the company behind Dragon Quest) to use the series’s name explicitly in their game, which let them make Yakuza 7’s main character a big DQ fan! Personally, I love how this fan art imitates Akira Toriyama’s art style and the Dragon Quest III cover.

The game pays tribute to many other JRPGs as well. From what I’ve seen, the job class system within the game reminds me of older Final Fantasy titles and the way their job class systems were designed, while the layout of the UI in battle that emphasizes the PlayStation controller’s buttons is reminiscent of Persona 5’s battle UI. There’s even sidequests within the game that serve as a parody of Pokemon.

The change in the Yakuza series from action-oriented to an RPG hasn’t been entirely well received, and I totally get why long-time fans might be upset. But based on streams of the game I’ve been watching, it seems like people are enjoying it, and that signature blend of drama and comedy the series is known for looks intact. Ultimately, I’m excited to try Yakuza 7 for myself, and can’t wait for it to release in the West.

For reference to compare with the fan art and Dragon Quest III cover above, see the actual Yakuza 7 cover at the bottom. I also couldn't find the original source for the fan art, but for anyone interested, I pulled it from a tweet by Devil9642 on Twitter.