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The next game in Sega’s beloved series was only announced days ago. It’s Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and the developers have said that the map is “several times the scale” of Like a Dragon Gaiden’s.
This comes courtesy of an interview between Masayoshi Yokohama, the head of Ryu ga Gotoku Studio, and Famitsu. “The main story is about 1.3 to 1.4 times that of ‘[Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name],’ so if you play straight through without taking too many detours, you can reach the ending in about 20 hours,” the lead said.
If you take a look at how long it takes to beat most Like a Dragon games; Yakuza: Like a Dragon, 46 hours; Ishin!, 23 hours; and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased his Name, 12 hours; Infinite Wealth, 57 hours, it becomes apparent that the spin-off series tends to fluctuate between short, precise experiences, to long and expansive narratives. There is no surprise then that Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii aims for a shorter main story, being a spin-off side story.
He continues, “On the other hand, the adventure section has become much larger in scale, with the addition of new islands such as the ocean and Madlantins – in addition to the Hawaii map. I haven’t measured it exactly, but in terms of size, it seems to be several times the scale of [Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name].”
Yokohama goes on to say that “Majima can also travel the seas on his own ship. Many islands near Hawaii that were not available in [Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth] will appear.” The interviewer then asks to confirm if most of the area that couldn’t be visited in Infinite Wealth was in fact Hawaii.
“Some areas, such as District 5, are places Majima has no business in, so he can’t go out there, but he can go to most areas,” Yokohama confirms. “Unlike Kamurocho or Yokohama Isezaki Ijincho, Hawaii is a setting where we don’t know if it will fit into the story of the next work. If the new work actually gets going, there is a possibility that we will create another town from scratch, so we thought we should use it up here,” he laughed.
After Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is done and dusted, it looks as though the next project is going to involve a new town, entirely from scratch. Exciting times ahead for Sega and Ryu ga Gotoku, once again.
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