Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (, Ryū Ga Gotoku 8, lit. "Like a Dragon 8"), sometimes stylized as Like a Dragon: Infinite ∞ Wealth, is a dramatic role-playing game (RPG) for the , , , and . Developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio as a sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it is the ninth main installment of the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series, and the nineteenth overall. It released worldwide on January 26, 2024.
== Synopsis==
===Setting===
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a continuation of the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It stars Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu as dual protagonists. In spite of the format, Kasuga serves as the main character from start to finish, with Kiryu framed as a supporting character in Kasuga's story. The game features an open world focusing on port district Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama, a fictionalized ; red-light district Kamurocho, Tokyo, a fictionalized ; and a fictionalized version of .
=== Plot ===
There are 14 chapters in the game.
===Chapters===
====Chapter 1: Doin' the Best I Can====
Three years after the Great Dissolution, Ichiban Kasuga was employed at Hello Work, helping ex-yakuza reintegrate into society, until a callout video causes him to lose his job. Together with Nanba and Adachi, the three unemployed men head to Seiryu Clan HQ to seek the truth. There, they encounter Captain of the Seiryu Clan, Ebina, and Jo Sawashiro, who they believed was still incarcerated.
====Chapter 2: Paradise, Hawaiian Style====
Sawashiro, who was called back to action by Ebina, asks Kasuga to meet with Akane in Hawaii, partly to atone for his past misdeeds. Unfortunately, he gets robbed in a taxi soon after landing, only escaping with Eiji's help. Yamai later appears, seeking payback for the failed robbery attempt, but is defeated by Kasuga. And now, he's finally arrived at Akane's, his birth mother's, home.
====Chapter 3: The Fool====
After being stripped and robbed by Chitose, a young woman who claimed to be Akane's housekeeper, Kasuga meets up with Kazuma Kiryu, who was in Hawaii under the Daidoji faction's orders. With Tomizawa joining them after leaving Yamai's crew, they figure out a way to get into District Five, but once back at the hotel, Kiryu makes a shocking confession: he's got cancer, and about half a year left to live.
====Chapter 4: In the Ghetto====
As the party makes their way into District Five, they encounter Chitose, who was being chased by the Barracudas. With her help, they head for Dwight, the boss of the Barracudas, and after taking him down, it's revealed that he was asked to find Akane. Tomizawa, whose life was completely ruined by Dwight, nearly takes revenge then and there, only to stop at the last minute.
====Chapter 5: Suspicious Minds ====
Now with Chitose in the line-up, the party continues to seek out Akane and make their way to the Palekana-run orphanage that she worked at for forty years. There, they learn she was loved like a mother. As they follow Akane's daily routine in search of clues, they cross paths with the Sage of Palekana, Bryce Fairchild.
====Chapter 6: Puppet on a String====
After uploading a video online in an attempt to draw Akane's attention, Kasuga and his party end up gaining the attention of all sorts of people on the island, including the Chinese mafia, Ganzhe. When the party infiltrates Nirvana Hotel and takes down its leader, Wong Tou, he spills that the person searching for Akane was Bryce himself.
====Chapter 7: Trouble====
Wong reveals that Bryce's true motive is to eliminate a young girl named Lani, but then Yamai and his crew attack the party. Kiryu acts as a decoy, only to wind up captured. After enlisting Adachi and Nanba's help, the party succeeds in rescuing Kiryu. Unfortunately, his condition has worsened, and he decides to return to Japan. Later, Kasuga faces Bryce once again but, this time, is attacked by his followers.
====Chapter 8: Return to Sender ====
﻿
Soon after Kiryu and Nanba land back in Japan, Seonhee and Saeko join the party. They head over to the new Seiryu Clan office—and former Tojo Clan HQ. Ebina reveals the waste disposal business he's running with former yakuza as well as his connection to Palekana. The very next day, the Tatara Channel uploads a fabricated story using footage of Kiryu's arrival, which spreads like a wildfire.
====Chapter 9: Hard Headed Woman====
 
Going off of Wong's words, Kasuga and his party head to Night Square to look for Akane, and with the tattoo lady's help, they finally meet Akane and Lani. Unfortunately, Eiji turns on them, and they get ambushed, resulting in Hanawa's and Wong's deaths. To make matters worse, Akane was injured, and Lani taken. Chitose confesses to being blackmailed by Eiji, and all she can do now is apologize for what she's done.
====Chapter 10: Don't be Cruel ====
After Zhao joins his party, Kiryu gets an opportunity to talk with Sawashiro, who says that Ebina's real goal is to operate a business storing nuclear waste. However, Sawashiro himself wants to take on Masumi Arakawa's mantle and see through the Second Great Dissolution. Kiryu starts to recall the key members who were present at the Great Dissolution three years ago...
====Chapter 11: Devil in Disguise====
﻿
After speaking with the Daidoji agent, Kasuga learns that Eiji was once the Tokyo branch manager for Bleach Japan and had issues with the yakuza. He's then contacted by Chitose, who felt guilty for betraying the party and went after Eiji by herself. They arrive and manage to find Lani, but fail in rescuing her. With Yamai's help, Kasuga gets a chance for a heart-to-heart with his mother, Akane.
====Chapter 12: For Ol' Times Sake====
Kiryu and his party arrive at the desolate village where Daigo Dojima, Goro Majima, and Taiga Saejima currently reside. Kiryu asks them to assist in the Second Great Dissolution, but not only do they decline, their meeting was also secretly recorded and shared online. Meanwhile, Ebina announces the disbandment of the Seiryu Clan on the Tatara Channel's stream and claims they'll be reborn as the nonprofit organization, Bleach Japan.
====Chapter 13: Promised Land====
﻿
Every passing day, Bryce gains more recognition, being lauded as a hero. To unveil the truth, Kasuga and his party meet with Joongi Han and take back Lani from Dwight's clutches during his escape attempt to Nele Island. In order to protect Lani and Akane from Palekana, Yamai offers to turn himself in so that the others can get into Japan safely.
====Finale: If I Can Dream ====
Kasuga, who was entrusted with the future of the yakuza by Kiryu, goes on to shatter Bryce's ambitions of influencing the world through his nuclear waste plan. Meanwhile, Kiryu stops Ebina from taking revenge on every yakuza, asking him to live and turn over a new leaf. Kasuga soon returns to Japan to convince Eiji that he can still start over in life and helps him turn himself in.
== Gameplay ==
Like its predecessor, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is an RPG featuring a turn-based combat system. The game allows players to select up to four characters in their party to fight a wide variety of enemies. In this game, players will be allowed to manually move their character into position before launching an attack or skill, as opposed to relying on the AI pathfinding themselves in the previous title.
===Stats===
The main stats differ slightly from Yakuza: Like a Dragon:
*HP (Health Points): The vitality of the character. If a character's HP drops to 0, they are knocked out, or in the case of the protagonist (Kasuga or Kiryu in the main slot) getting knocked out, the battle is entirely lost.
*MP (Mental Points): The pool of points that skills draw from for their use.
*Attack: Increases damage with physical attacks, as well as any skill that uses Blunt, Blade, or Firearm damage.
*Defense: Decreases damage from opposing physical attacks.
*Magic: Increases damage with magic attacks.
*Willpower: Decreases damage from opposing magic attacks.
*Agility: Influences the turn order in battle.
*Range: The ground a character can cover during their turn. This only increases at certain levels, and only Kiryu can alter his Range via his stances in his exclusive class.
Like its predecessor, HP and MP can be boosted to 9999, while the other non-Range stats can boost past that.
===Jobs===
By taking different themed tours of Honolulu, Kasuga will gain inspiration for Jobs that he and his party can inherit.
Job classes include: 
*Samurai
*Desperado
*Geodancer
*Pyrodancer
*Housekeeper
*Action Star
*Aquanaut
*Kunoichi
*Host
*Breaker
*Chef
*Idol
*Night Queen
*Linebacker (male-exclusive) (DLC)
*Tennis Ace (female-exclusive) (DLC)
Exclusive jobs per character include:
*Freelancer
*Hero
*Sujimancer
*Detective
*Homeless Guy
*Dragon of Dojima
*Cabbie
*Heiress
*Barmaid
*Assassin
*Gangster
*Hitman
As Kasuga or Kiryu's bonds with his party gets stronger, everyone can inherit up to 5 skills and one Essence attack from their other classes.
===Battle===
On the party's turn, each character, on top of being able to move around freely within their Range, have several different options.
*Attack: Selects a target to attack with their weapon. Restores MP on a successful hit, and if possible, knocks down the enemy, potentially causing collateral damage to other enemies and allowing other party members to tack on damage.
**If the character is close enough to objects, they will use that weapon to attack instead. These weapon attacks often hit multiple enemies, as opposed to the default single target, and usually have a chance to inflict a status.
**If the character gets stuck or is otherwise too far from the target, they will automatically teleport to the target.
**If the character is close enough to the target, a Proximity Bonus will occur, dealing bonus damage.
***For Kiryu's exclusive class, this changes the animations and properties of his attacks entirely.
**If the target is knocked down when the attack starts, an Opportune Attack will occur, which will deal a guaranteed critical hit.
**Once a party member's bond level with Kasuga or Kiryu is strong enough, Combo Attacks are available, which cause the target to get knocked down and both participating members regain some MP.
**Depending on the bond level with Kasuga, other party members may follow up on the attack, dealing extra damage.
**If the target is facing their back towards a party member and is close enough, the attack is guaranteed to land critical hits, and also breaks the enemy's guard. Can be done with Weapon Attacks and Combo Attacks.
*Guard: Sacrifices their turn in order to significantly reduce damage taken.
**A Perfect Guard can still be performed during any enemy attack by timing a Guard button press to the enemy's attack to slightly reduce damage regardless if one guarded or not, but cannot be performed if the party member is knocked down. In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Perfect Guards slow down the incoming attack, making multi-hitting moves easier to Perfect Guard.
***A certain item can make Perfect Guards avoid damage as if the attack missed.
*Skills: Selects a skill to use on a target. Some offensive skills require the target to be standing in order to fully land, while others automatically stand the target up to be hit by the skill. All offensive skills have a Perfect Attack prompt, which either consist of mashing a button or timing a button press to increase damage; the button assigned for either prompt can be customized.
**Knockback skills: Knocks the enemy back, causing collateral damage to other enemies and allowing other party members to tack on damage.
**Grapple skills: Breaks an enemy's guard, indicated by a shield icon over the enemy.
** Any skill with an "enemy area" effect can be directed by moving the character, making these skills less dependent on luck to use.
**Essences, which all contain a skippable cinematic, are the most powerful skills a character has in their arsenal. They do not have any Perfect Attack prompts, but usually require the most MP. Not to be confused with Kiryu's skills, which are mostly named after Heat Actions from previous games.
**For non-essence melee skills, if there are objects between the party member and the target, they will attempt to kick the object at the target before attacking, dealing minor damage in advance.
*Etc: Provides the option to use items or tag out a party member.
*Tag Team: If the party member's bond with Kasuga or Kiryu is strong enough, they will have access to their Tag Team skill, dealing varying effects. Accessed with RT/R2 when a character's hype meter is full after a certain number of turns.
**Kasuga does not have his own hype meter; he is instead dependent on the other party members. If any one of them are full, he can use Ultimate Tag Team: Essence of Friendship, dealing damage to all enemies, which increases depending on how many party members have a full hype meter.
**After a certain point in the story, Kiryu instead uses Dragon's Resurgence by holding RT/R2; on a full hype meter, Dragon's Resurgence temporarily brings back the previous games' brawler gameplay in the form of a simplified Extreme Heat Mode moveset.
***If Kasuga is in the party, Kiryu can use Double Dragon with him by tapping RT/R2 instead of holding it.
*Escape: With LB/L1, provided the fight is not required to take place, the character can potentially escape the battle, ending the fight immediately with no rewards.
While deciding on an option, the other party members and enemies will roam around the battlefield somewhat freely. Characters can randomly quickstep (which can disrupt any animation, including an attack when it was intended), and when knocked down while their turn is next, they will automatically do a Komaki recovery.
====Poundmates====
Kasuga and Kiryu also have the option to summon Poundmates by pulling up the menu with RB/R1. For 3 turns, a supporting character will appear for the party, either dealing damage, supporting the party with buffs or heals, debuffing enemies, or anything in-between. Unlike in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, there are no battle cooldowns on Poundmates; instead, it will cost extra to summon another Poundmate. The most expensive Poundmates do not cost Kasuga or Kiryu's turn.
====Status Ailments====
Some attacks, both from the party's skills and the enemy's attacks, have secondary effects. Strong weapons may also impart one or more status ailments on a basic attack.
*Bleed: Receive damage at the start of each turn until the ailment wears off.
*Burn: Receive damage at the start of each turn until the ailment wears off. Damage inflicted lessens over time.
*Cold: Receive damage at the start of each turn until the ailment wears off. The ailment may spread to others nearby.
*Poison: Receive damage at the start of each turn until the ailment wears off. Damage inflicted increases over time.
*Stun: Unable to act for a random number of turns.
*Paralysis: Random chance of being unable to act until the ailment wears off.
*Fear: Unable to act next turn.
*Sleep: Unable to act until the ailment wears off. Greater chance of a critical hit landing when attacked, but will then wake up.
*Charm: Become smitten with the opponent and unable to act until the ailment wears off. If the charmer is attacked, the charmed may take the hit for them-- however, if the charmer is KO'd, the ailment will wear off. The charmed also has a chance to do a follow-up attack for the charmer's side.
*Drunk: Critical hit rate increases, but random chance of acting independently while in a drunken stupor (indicated by a pink icon). Random effects include randomly attacking an ally or opponent, or skipping the turn entirely.
*Rage: Will only attack the opponent who incited their rage until the ailment wears off. If an enemy is affected, they can still use their skills; an enraged party member will only do a regular attack.
*Blind: Unable to see until the ailment wears off, lowering chances of landing a hit.
*Silence: Unable to use skills until the ailment wears off. Other actions will still be possible.
*Curse: Hex the victim with a death counter atop their head, which will count down every time their turn comes. When the counter reaches 0, the victim will suffer an instant KO. Curse can only be lifted by something that cures all status ailments.
Each party member has a resistance and weakness to these ailments: 
*Kasuga: Dependent on his personality traits. Passion increases sleep resistance, Confidence increases Fear resistance, Charisma increases Blind resistance, Kindness increases rage resistance, Intellect increases Silence resistance, and Style increases Charm resistance.
*Kiryu: A resistance to Charm and Fear, and depending on his Soul, Tech, and Body levels, an increased resistance to Blind, Silence, and Poison respectively.
*Adachi: A resistance to Silence and a weakness to Charm.
*Nanba: A resistance to Poison and a weakness to Silence.
*Tomizawa: A resistance to Rage and a weakness to Fear.
*Chitose: A resistance to Sleep and a weakness to Blind.
*Saeko: A resistance to Drunk and a weakness to Rage.
*Seonhee: A resistance to Stun and a weakness to Burn.
*Zhao: A resistance to Burn and a weakness to Cold.
*Han: A resistance to Blind and a weakness to Paralysis.
===Sujimon Battles ===
By storing the information of Sujimon that he has defeated in his Sujidex, Kasuga can raise his own Sujimon to battle other Sujimon Trainers in 3v3 battles outside of the main game, balancing each Sujimon's strengths and weaknesses to defeat rivals and become a Sujimon Master.
===Crazy Eats ===
A mashup of UberEats and Crazy Taxi, Kasuga earns money as a food delivery gig worker, doing crazy stunts on his bicycle as he picks up food orders to deliver to hungry customers across Honolulu.
==Release and Marketing==
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was first announced on November 8, 2021, in a notice from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio commemorating series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and former series producer Daisuke Sato's departure from the studio. The announcement was made by then-new series representative and executive production manager Masayoshi Yokoyama. Yokoyama stated that the game was currently in development under the (at the time) working title Ryu Ga Gotoku 8. 
According to Yokoyama, it would be produced by then-new series producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto (Yakuza: Like a Dragon). It would be directed by then-new series director Ryosuke Horii (Yakuza: Like a Dragon), Nobuaki Mitake (first-time director), and Yutaka Ito (Lost Judgment). It would be written by Kazunobu Takeuchi (Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, Yakuza 6, Yakuza 0), Tsuyoshi Furuta (Lost Judgment, Judgment, Yakuza 6, Yakuza: Dead Souls), and himself. 
On July 19, 2022, a video was uploaded to professional mixed martial artist and series fan 's YouTube Channel, titled (Tondemonai koto ga kimarimashita, "You'll never believe what we just decided"). The video documented Asakura's experience being cast on the spot to appear in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth by Yokoyama and Sega president Haruki Satomi. During the video, Satomi and Yokoyama mention the studio has another title in development alongside Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (referring to Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name), as well as the appearance of a new location. 
Asakura was taken on a studio tour and received an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the development of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Of note was a snippet of a cutscene in progress featuring Kasuga with a markedly different hairstyle (the short, straight ponytail he sports upon his release from prison), Koichi Adachi and Yu Nanba. On a previous occasion, Yokoyama had remarked that Kasuga's hairstyle may change, as Kasuga himself was displeased with the punch perm. In the cutscene itself, Kasuga and the others, apparently sharing a living space, are discussing the merits of keeping the Hero's Bat rather than throwing it out. 
The official announcement of the game, then-known as Like a Dragon 8, came on September 14, 2022. It was streamed live on YouTube as part of the RGG Summit 2022 event alongside the official announcements of Like a Dragon: Ishin! and Like a Dragon Gaiden. It was accompanied by a teaser trailer featuring Kasuga and a gray-haired Kiryu. The voiceover for the trailer used snippets of dialogue from the game, featuring, among others, Jo Sawashiro, Joon-gi Han, Saeko Mukoda, Adachi, Seonhee, Nanba, and Masumi Arakawa. 
Yokoyama explained the decision to develop Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth as an RPG as being the most reflective of the game's storyline, particularly because both Kasuga and Kiryu would be working towards "a certain goal" alongside their allies. He was careful not to reveal story details, but expanded on its themes. 
He said the concept behind the game was to show the contrast between a character who carried the past with him and a character who carried the future with him. The reasoning behind reintroducing Kiryu, whose story was meant to come to an end with Yakuza 6, as a protagonist was the same. Yokoyama expressed awareness it sounded uncharacteristic of Kiryu to rely on others in such a way, but he hoped fans would be open to the scenarios depicted regardless. 
Yokoyama was joined by Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya, the voices of Kiryu and Kasuga respectively. Anxious about accidentally revealing key information out of enthusiasm, they remained vague, but reassured fans and expressed high expectations. The script was not yet fully recorded at this time, but according to Nakaya, the game was shaping up to be "unbelievable." The scale and volume of the game were said to make Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth the studio's largest undertaking ever. 
The very end of the stream featured some additional behind-the-scenes footage, as well as footage from the game itself. The series of shots, alternating with shots of Like a Dragon: Ishin! and Like a Dragon Gaiden, showed the extensive motion capture to be used for the animations, Kuroda and Nakaya recording their voice lines, Kasuga in a new black suit along with his new hairstyle, Nanba presenting the Hero's Bat to Kasuga (part of the scene in Asakura's video), and a glimpse of Saeko. The teasers end off on a shot of Sotenbori.
On June 11, 2023, the game's second trailer premiered on Xbox Games Showcase 2023. There, the game's international title was made official, and the new location was revealed.
Four days later on June 15, 2023, another cutscene from the game was shown on RGG Summit Summer 2023, depicting a conversation between Kasuga and Kiryu regarding Saeko.
On August 18, 2023 a demo for the game was confirmed to be released with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
==Production Credits ==
===Staff===
===Voice Cast===
===Special Appearances===
== Trivia== 
*Infinite Wealth is the first entry in the series to receive a Chinese-language Dub.
*All chapters are named after songs. In the English localization, all of the chapters are named after Elvis Presley songs, as well as the game being internally named "elvis".
*Infinite Wealth is the 30th game to receive a perfect 40/40 score from the Japanese video game magazine . 
==Gallery==
===Logos===
LAD8 - Logo.png
LAD8 - Logo (JP).png|Japanese logo
LAD8 - Logo (CN).png|Simpl. Chinese logo
LAD8 - Logo (ZH-HanT).png|Traditional Chinese logo
LAD8 - Logo (KR).png|Korean logo
==References==
==External links==
*Official website (English) - https://infinitewealth.sega.com/index.html?lang=en
*Official website (Asian English) - https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/eight/asia_en/
*Official website (Japanese) - https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/eight/
*Official website (Traditional Chinese) - https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/eight/cht/
*Official website (Simplified Chinese) - https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/eight/cn/
*Official website (Korean) - https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/eight/kr/
Category:Games
Category:Main Series
Category:PlayStation 4
Category:PlayStation 5
Category:Xbox One
Category:Xbox Series X and S
Category:Microsoft Windows
Category:Like a Dragon 8