I’m still working my way through Infinite Wealth’s story – and trying my best to pace myself – but four chapters in, I can already tell that the turn-based combat system is an improvement over its first iteration in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. As a fan of turn-based combat in games, I enjoyed this bold and unexpected paradigm shift, but it also felt slow at times. Compared to previous games where players could enjoy bashing skulls in real time, taking turns in battles meant trading certain aspects of combat for others. Infinite Wealth’s turn-based system, however, took lessons learned from its predecessor and aimed to create a more robust combat experience.
Combat largely follows the same formula from the previous game: take your turn, pick an action, perform that action (which may include passing a quick-time event), end your turn and wait for the next round. This is a simple explanation of turn-based combat and, in reality, often involves strategic decisions and watching nervously as an enemy decides to deal a massive amount of damage to you on their turn, but that’s the basic gist. Infinite Wealth makes improvements to their previous iteration of the system by allowing party members to move within a limited radius on their turn before attacking. Moving closer to an enemy gives a proximity bonus to your attack, which deals more damage. Or, if you can position a party member behind an enemy, you can score a back attack as another method of increased damage.
Moving near an object like a chair or traffic cone and attacking with a basic attack will have that party member automatically pick up that object and use it as a weapon as yet another form of added damage. All of these movements incorporating movement into an attack help to add a more strategic element to your turn and, more importantly, it’s all just a lot of fun! Besides improvements to movements, you can also attempt to block an enemy attack if timed just right. It won’t block all damage, but it especially useful when attempting to negate damage from a big attack from a boss.
Tag Team attacks are also different as they no longer use MP to use; instead, they use a new resource called the Hype Meter. Any character Ichiban has unlocked a Tag Team move with will have a Hype Meter, which fills up gradually throughout combat. This change makes more sense to me as Tag Team moves are unlocked due to Ichiban’s bond with his party members and should be differentiated from a normal special attack using MP. Plus, Tag Team moves used a lot of MP in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so I’m glad to have the extra resource for other abilities.
These things might not seem like dramatic changes, but together they help to adjust the tempo of the battle and add extra options on your turn. There are some details I didn’t talk about, like how area of effect attacks are easier to pull off and more widely utilized. With so many ways to increase your damage or attack multiple enemies at once, combat suddenly becomes smoother and more fun.