Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Director Masayoshi Yokoyama Jokes That Even Tom Cruise is Welcomed to be Part of Like a Dragon in Interview

With Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name releasing later this year, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth due sometime next year, we had the opportunity to talk with Ryu Ga Gotoku (RGG) Studio in an interview where we went over all things Like a Dragon.

Joining us in the interview are Director of RGG Studio/ Executive Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama and Like a Dragon series Chief Producer Hiroyuki Sakamato.

Masayoshi Yokoyama is best known for his works on Yakuza 0, Yakuza 5 along with countless other Yakuza titles as a writer. While Hiroyuki Sakamato is known for being the director for Yakuza, Yakuza Kiwami 1&2, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

RGG Studio

We started off the interview by asking Yokoyama how was the current atmosphere like within the studio, considering there’s so many titles releasing in the near future.

To which Yokoyama replied with that the studio is very lively at the moment and that the studio really likes the busyness of having lots of events to keep them energetic and driven.

“That’s just how the studio is from my experience. Surprisingly, a lot of people do end up quitting when we have nothing to do and that seems to be kind of like the characteristics of RGG Studio. So we’re going to keep busy, have lots of fun while we’re at it, even though we are busy.” he continues.

The Success of Like a Dragon in the West 

With how popular the Like a Dragon series is with foreign fans, we asked Yokoyama had there been any influence on the development of future titles in regards to being aware of the series’ international appeal.

“There has been a lot of effort put into adding subtitles and improving the quality of localization. But in terms of actual game development, there really aren’t any plans to kind of change our approach. The reason being is that in the past we did translations where as long as it was in the game, it was fine.”

He then continues by saying that at the moment they’re looking at how to do the casting properly, and how to improve the quality of translations to add more quality to that aspect of games moving forward.

International Artists in the Games 

Throughout the Like a Dragon series, a lot of Japanese actors and actresses have made their appearances in the games whether they’re part of the main storyline or side stories. We asked Yokoyama if we would see any international artists outside of Japan be part of the game.

Yokoyama mentions that when it comes to casting, they focused on whether the casting members are enough to characterise the story, whether they’re international or domestic.

“As you can probably tell, the trailer already revealed that Kim Jae-wook is going to be featured in our game and that’s already an international cast. When it comes to the story and the casting, we don’t really put emphasis on cultural background or what country they come from.  It’s a matter of if they’re good, they’re good enough.”

He then jokingly said that they wanted Tom Cruise on here, but it hasn’t been realised at the moment, but it’s something that they want in the future.

Combat in Like a Dragon Gaiden

From the trailers, we’ve seen that Kiryu has adapted a new fighting method being the Agent Style where he uses an assortment of gadgets at his disposal. We asked Sakamoto what was the process like in creating this new style for Kiryu, and what were some of the challenges the team faced during the process.

Sakamoto said that to address some of the challenges of adding the Agent Style within the game, mainly one of them was the involvement of using gadgets in the combat system, and how to make it look natural within the Like a Dragon style.

He continued by saying that because the agent style has a gun aspect, they didn’t want it to come off as a shooting game. So it was a little bit of adjustment so that it’s more of an action style combat game as opposed to an FPS or a third person shooter game.

Like a Dragon and Turn-based RPG

It’s been well over three years since the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, we asked Yokoyama how has the fan reception been towards the combat change from the traditional beat em’ up/brawler to turn-based RPG.

“Basically when we introduced the turn-based RPG aspect of the game, the reviews and feedback were very positive and based on that feedback we were able to refine and improve the pace of the RPG style within the Like a Dragon series, especially right now during the development of Like a Dragon 8.”

Yokoyama said that there’s no hesitation when it comes to the genre and the game direction that they’re taking at the moment. However, he said that from the studio’s perspective, they didn’t want to continuously make the exact same type of game over and over again.

He continued by saying that when it comes to choosing the genre, it’s reliant on the story that they want to tell. If the story requires a change in the way it’s played out, it’ll take the centrepiece and the genre will follow it.

Seriousness of the Like a Dragon Series

Despite largely being known in the west for their silly side stories, the Like a Dragon series also has very serious and intense crime stories. We asked Yokoyama how they find the balance between the silliness and seriousness of the series without going too far in either direction.

“It was noted that in the west for some of the users and players that was kind of seen as a silly story, but we genuinely had no idea that that’s how it was perceived. To be honest with you, the game itself was kind of like a side piece where it’s building into the character development of the main character, Kiryu, and showing the multiple facets of that character so that it can give a broader emphasis into the main story and how to kind of build on to the story with more depth.”

Yokoyama said that there’s no emphasis on the silliness of the game, and when it comes to how the balance is taken is the meander of the main story and that when it gets series, it’s very serious. Meanwhile, the side stories that goes a bit out of the main storyline is to bring more depth into the character.

Returning Characters

It’s been revealed that Kiryu Kazuma will be taking on a new identity in Like a Dragon: Gaiden, but with several returning mini-games like Pocket Circuit Racing and the Cabaret Club, we asked Yokoyama if fans can expect any returning characters from previous Like a Dragon games.

“When it comes to returning characters and such, since the game is a brand new game, having returning characters come in all the time is a bit uninteresting and dull from our perspective. Although fans can enjoy that, it’s about having that freshness come into the game as well. If people want to enjoy the game with past characters, they can enjoy the past titles and have the full experience there. But in terms of new games, everything will be new.”

Tying the Narrative

The Like a Dragon series is known for the side stories that help flesh out characters. We asked Yokoyama where does the team get their inspirations from, and how challenging it was to make sure everything fits in terms of narrative.

“So when it comes to questions of how to do side stories and main stories and getting the flow very smoothly done, there is a very systematic way of doing it. For example, if we’ve got ten stories that we want to tell within the actual main storyline, we’d have roughly about thirty side stories. Then among that, we might split that up into different categories. For example, we can have five for the Japanese culture background, another five for the actual characters, and so on and so forth.”

Yokoyama continues by saying that when it comes to the main and side stories, there’s a lot of calculation that goes into making the story flow well. When the main story is in a serious mood with high stakes, they didn’t want to have a silly side story that would remove the mood overall.

“So we’ve got to think about what the side story is going to do to the main story and vice versa so that everything fits in together like puzzle pieces. It’s hard to say that it’s an inspirational way of doing it because it’s very calculated, so it’s more of a logical way of thinking to get the story across to the users and the players. And there’s also logistic thinking in terms of how you encounter side stories, besides main stories.”

Kiryu’s Love Life

During the scene from the trailer of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, we got a glimpse of a heartfelt scene between Ichiban and Kiryu talking about their relationships, where Kiryu brought up that he proposed to someone in the past. We asked Yokoyama if fans can expect a proper development to Kiryu’s love life.

“With regards to the answer made by Kiryu and the mentioning of the proposal, it was actually very lighthearted. There wasn’t much depth to that answer. He just kind of wanted to go with the flow of the conversation and say, “Hey, you know what, I proposed before.” without thinking much into it. So there won’t be any kind of further talking to the actual proposal in the background of that conversation because it was mainly just out of fun.”

Yokoyama brought up that they had a deep talk on this on one of their shows on Ryu-STA TV where you could get the idea of where it was actually just out of fun. He mentioned that it wasn’t meant to build up bringing back previous female characters, but to showcase the interaction between Kasuga and Kiryu and how the two characters being closer than before.

Creating Mini-games

Like a Dragon titles have countless of memorable and fun mini games. We asked Yokoyama if they come up with the story first and then think of a mini game that will match that or vice versa.

Yokoyama says that everything is based on the story, and that they developed the games and the systems around the story and how it best fits it, including mini games.

“So basically, when you have a story, the story itself gives you the stage that you can work out with, the town or the city or the country setting. And then from there, you can kind of think of who are the main characters of that story and have that come into the game, including what era it is and what kind of suitable, appropriate mini games there would be within that setting and stage.”

Message to the Fans

“So with the approach of Like a Dragon Gaiden and Like a Dragon 8 coming up very soon, we’re approaching a very exciting period of development and a very exciting time for the studio as well. We’re incorporating new aspects of action and we really hope that everybody is excited for it. And we hope that you’ll be able to enjoy the games coming up from Like a Dragon Gaiden first and then later on with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.” said Sakamoto.

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