Released on January 26, 2024, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a satisfyingly deep RPG with a great story, wonderful characters, and tons of activities to complete. Featuring turn-based combat, a swappable class system, and plenty of rewarding opportunities to strategize, the latest game in what was formerly called the Yakuza series is as deep as it is masterable.
Here are our tips for getting the most out of your virtual trips to Japan and Hawaii.
Don’t be so quick to fast travel
Infinite Wealth has a couple of open maps to travel around. Though not as large as your standard “open world” game, their size may still tempt you to just fast-travel via the game’s taxis instead of hoofing it to your destination. Resist that urge.
Not only is the map full of activities you’ll need to physically walk up to (such as many side quests, opportunities to bond with your party members, Suji spots, and more), but as Infinite Wealth is a turn-based RPG, you’re gonna want to spend time getting into some random encounters to raise your level and Job ranks.
Early on, taxis might feel a little expensive too. While 1,000 Yen/$10 per trip isn’t a whole lot of money, you’ll be better off investing in healing and buffing items during moments when you’re strapped for cash.
Also, it’s just nice to take in the sights of Japan and Hawaii!
Don’t forget your smartphone
I know, we all wish we could stare at our phones a little less in reality. But in Infinite Wealth, your smartphone is a pretty handy way to save time. Access your smartphone from the pause menu and you’ll find a number of options such as using a taxi for fast travel (yes, I know, I just told you not to do that too much!) and checking what items are necessary for crafting and upgrading your weapons.
Don’t forget to change out your jobs at Alo-Happy
Once you hit Chapter 5, you’ll visit Alo-Happy Tours. Not only will you unlock a photo mini-game here, but you can also unlock and change out your character’s Jobs (which are essentially classes) at the Alo-Happy Booth. While many of the base Jobs for each character are pretty effective, it’s best to experiment with new ones to find new ways to excel in combat.
If enemies are bunched up, attack quickly with area-of-effect skills
During battle, characters will move around, and if they get close enough to each other, you can take advantage of it. Infinite Wealth’s turn-based combat gives you breathing room to read what a skill does and plan your attacks, and you’ll want to look for those opportunities and time your attacks appropriately to damage as many foes as you can.
It helps to memorize which attacks are particularly effective for this, and which enemy in a group should be targeted for the most damage. For example, Chitose’s “Grand Jeté” is good for attacking an enemy at the front of a group as it will knock them back into enemies behind them. Meanwhile, Adachi’s “Reckless Charge” should target an enemy toward the rear of a group as he’ll plow through everyone on his way to attack that enemy.
Prioritize enemies that summon other foes to join the fight
As you get into brawls, you’ll come across enemies that have a particularly annoying tendency to summon other foes. Once you start taking on tougher threats, this can not only prolong an annoying fight, but put you at danger as well. Take out those enemies quickly or suffer the consequences.
Swinging a bat isn’t the only thing Ichiban is good for in a fight
I get it. Seeing Ichiban swing around that bat just looks awesome (seriously, the animation for “Bat Breaker” is pretty sweet). But he’s also a solid healer and support character—especially after Kiryu joins up and can take on a more effective damage dealing role. Ichiban’s skills “Hero’s Wisdom” and “Hero’s Flair” can give you an essential edge in boss fights by increasing your critical hit rate and defenses. Meanwhile “Hero’s Healing” and “Hero’s Blessing,” which heal and revive party members respectively, are really helpful should you find yourself running low on items.
Go shopping for items as often as you can
Although you’ll find various drinks and meals scattered around to heal and buff your party members, you won’t amass a good stock of quality items from environmental exploration alone. Shopping for items at stores is essential as you traverse the world and you should do a tour of as many as you can before heading into a big story segment that will likely end in a boss fight or two.
Don’t forget that base attacks reward you with MP
Using Skills is essential to coming out of a fight victorious, but if you’re not feeling too pressured to take out enemies quickly, it can be worth the time to spend a few turns doing some base attacks, especially for Ichiban and Chitose who’ll serve as your healers early on.
Don’t let combat put you on the defensive for too long
Infinite Wealth’s combat rewards strategic planning over the course of several turns, many of which you’ll want to spend buffing and debuffing. However, you’ll want to take the opportunity to get some solid hits in even during moments when you might feel compelled to use a character’s turn to heal or trigger a status effect. While you’ll always want to prioritize the health of your main character (that being Ichiban or Kiryu depending on the chapter) since their deaths will send you to a continue screen regardless of who’s still standing, outputting damage is pretty essential—especially to eliminate extra enemies during boss fights.
Guarding is always valid in combat
If you hold down circle or B on a controller during combat, you’ll spend that turn guarding. This reduces the amount of damage a character will take if they get hit on an enemy’s turn. Of course you want to be attacking, buffing, and debuffing as much as you can, but guarding is a great way to help a character stay alive if they’re getting closer to death.
Forget details from a previous chapter? Refresh your memory in the Tasks menu
A lot happens in Infinite Wealth, so you might get a little lost as the story goes on. In the Pause menu, select Tasks and go to the “Main Story” tab (there are tabs that summarize active and past side quests as well). Each completed chapter will contain a paragraph summarizing what happened.
Not sure who a character is? Read up on them in the Character Profiles menu!
There are a lot of characters in Infinite Wealth. And as the eighth game in the series, there’s an awful lot of lore you might not have picked up. Good news: nearly every character has an entry in the Character Profiles menu, introducing you to who they are, what they look like, and their basic involvement in the series up to this point.
In the Pause Menu, navigate to Save/Settings and select Character Profiles. You’ll find each character listed under their clan affiliation or place of origin.
Don’t forget the Help menu either
Infinite Wealth is a pretty deep RPG with a wide variety of subsystems, and you may not retain all of the details on every single one of them as they get introduced. No worries! If you don’t recognize a certain feature or activity, navigate to the Save/Settings option in the Pause Menu and choose Help. Here you’ll find nearly every aspect of the game spelled out for you, broken up into topics like “Battle,” City Exploration,” Personality / Bonds / Awakening,” and even the mini-games like “Sujimon Battle” and “Dondoko Island.”
Though the year just started, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is easily a contender for one of the best games of 2024. You shouldn’t miss it, and these tips will help make your journey across the Pacific Ocean a bit easier.
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