{"id":36546,"date":"2024-09-05T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=36546"},"modified":"2024-09-05T14:19:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T05:19:38","slug":"despite-the-influx-of-young-and-female-fans-the-like-a-dragon-series-will-keep-being-about-middle-aged-guys-doing-middle-aged-guy-things-according-to-devs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/despite-the-influx-of-young-and-female-fans-the-like-a-dragon-series-will-keep-being-about-middle-aged-guys-doing-middle-aged-guy-things-according-to-devs\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite the influx of young and female fans, the Like a Dragon series will keep being about middle-aged guys doing middle-aged guy things, according to devs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking a definitive turn to the RPG genre with its latest two numbered entries, the Like a Dragon<\/strong> series has become a distinctly character-driven experience. Its wordy <\/strong>Party Chats, Table Talks and substories are what inject the Yakuza series and its characters with a distinct flavor \u2013 it’s not about youthfulness, treasure chests and heroic declarations, but about ordinary flesh-and-blood humans and their relatable lives and personalities. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to AUTOMATON about the series\u2019 unique focus on \u201cmiddle-aged guy things\u201d, Like a Dragon series director Ryosuke Horii and lead planner Hirotaka Chiba humorously comment, \u201cWe are middle-aged guys ourselves… so I guess that\u2019s the kind of target audience we\u2019re going for, probably.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ryosuke
RGG Studio’s Ryosuke Horii and Hirotaka Chiba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, this is exactly what makes the Yakuza series so compelling, as Horii puts it, \u201cI think that this is precisely one of Like a Dragon\u2019s selling points. In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, everything starts with three unemployed middle-aged guys being like \u201cLet\u2019s go to Hello Work.\u201d They have a different air about them than a group of young heroes would, complaining about back pain and the like. But this \u201chumanity\u201d you feel from their age is what gives the game originality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two creators compare the feeling of playing Yakuza games to \u201cchilling out with older guys in a bar,\u201d as opposed to \u201cgoing on an exhausting drinking party with young people.\u201d Horii adds that \u201cThe characters are flesh-and-blood human beings much like our players are, so their problems are relatable. That’s why it’s easy to really get into the game and feel like you’re listening to conversations between ordinary people. There isn\u2019t any typical \u201cgame-like” language like “where is the treasure chest?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach to the games\u2019 writing can be felt right down to the smallest topics, as Chiba explains, \u201cFor example, there\u2019s a conversation where Adachi is conflicted about whether he should drink beer or not because he\u2019s worried about his uric acid level. We\u2019re making the hearty talks of middle-aged dudes our identity, rather than youthfulness.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite how the Like a Dragon series continues to grow, with more younger and\/or female players joining the playerbase, the devs do not intend to change the games\u2019 topics. Commenting on the unexpected influx of female players, Horii says, \u201cWe have had a large increase in new fans, including women, which we\u2019re truly happy and grateful for. However, we don\u2019t plan to do anything like deliberately changing conversation topics in order to cater to new fans. That would make us unable to keep talking about things like uric acid levels… (laughs)\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s a Party Chat (in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth) where Seonhee and Saeko\u2019s girl talk gets hijacked by Nanba and ends up turning into guy talk. I think situations like this will keep on happening\u201d Chiba adds jokingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ichiban<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, the success of the Like a Dragon games has less to do with being conscious of specific demographics or groups, but more to do with its creators pursuing the ideas they personally find entertaining \u2013 and that approach is here to stay. \u201cOur policy as creators has not changed. We are very grateful for the recognition we have received from overseas fans and new, younger players, but we will not change our policy of creating games, which is based on our personal ideas of what\u2019s fun,\u201d Horii concludes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like a Dragon series director Ryosuke Horii and lead planner Hirotaka Chiba say the series will keep being about “middle-aged-guy” shenanigans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":36548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-36546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDespite the influx of young and female fans, the Like a Dragon series will keep being about middle-aged guys doing middle-aged guy things, according to devs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Like a Dragon series director Ryosuke Horii and lead planner Hirotaka Chiba say the series will keep being about "middle-aged-guy" shenanigans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/despite-the-influx-of-young-and-female-fans-the-like-a-dragon-series-will-keep-being-about-middle-aged-guys-doing-middle-aged-guy-things-according-to-devs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Despite the influx of young and female fans, the Like a Dragon series will keep being about middle-aged guys doing middle-aged guy things, according to devs\u00a0 - 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