Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Yakuza: Like a Dragon sees the Yakuza series go full turn-based RPG, this time following new lead Ichiban Kasuga through the traditional yakuza arts of karaoke, kart racing and managing a senbei business.

Sub-Page#

Prerelease Info

Unused Characters#

With Models#

Shun Akiyama#

While the character himself goes unused in Like a Dragon, his suit reappears as a DLC outfit for Joon-Gi Han. The model here has been updated for Like a Dragon's face armature, but is otherwise virtually the same as his appearance in Yakuza 6.

Saeko Mukoda#

Saeko has a bunch of duplicate body models that don't seem to be used at all; c_cw_x_saeko_std and c_cw_x_saeko_yh1650. The second references the internal heat action ID for Essence of Handbag Hurricane, but it isn't used there.

No Models#

Within character_model.bin in puid, we can see model references as leftovers not just from past games, but from past trailers.

Haruka Sawamura#

Appears as c_ex_haruka_high and c_ex_haruka_shagami_high. This appears to be Haruka as she appears in a trailer for Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, with "shagami" here meaning "crouched down". It's possible the outfit she wears in that trailer was then repurposed for the Haruka outfit DLC for Saeko & Eri.

Trailer Goons#

These are all prefixed with RON, the codename for Ryu Ga Gotoku Online:

• c_em_RON_chin1
• c_em_RON_yakuza2
• c_em_RON_yakuza3
• c_eo_RON_yakuza1

"Ayaka"#

A deleted character, repeatedly referenced throughout the game. It's possible 'Ayaka' eventually became the foundation for the DLC Matriarch class, as its animations are prefixed with F_AYA.

• c_ew_ayaka
• c_ew_ayaka_k

Unused Map Models#

To do: Grab screenshots of these.

st_kamuro_yazawa_now#

The map for 2019's Kamurocho appears to have been lifted from the earlier side game, Judgment; with Genda Law Office, Yagami's detective agency and Club Amour all being present in full.

While you cannot enter these rooms in normal gameplay; they are fully furnished as they would've been in Judgment itself.

Interestingly, certain other areas from Judgment, such as Bar Tender and the Debolah Hotel, have their level geometry dummied out, yet still have interactable assets placed in those voids.

road_neo_east#

A road surrounding a untextured version of Senkoji Temple, from Yakuza 6. This is found within the larger package for 2019 Kamurocho.

far_east#

The prior mentioned untextured version of Senkoji Temple from Yakuza 6. This version of the temple, however, is not 1:1 with the model found in Yakuza 6, and has some differences in the layout of the buildings surrounding it. The temple is also empty on the inside.

Included in this chunk are two copies of the graveyard from Onomichi, and two stacks of shipping containers.

st_ron_pv#

A stage used for this trailer for the mobile-only gacha game, Ryu Ga Gotoku Online. Inaccessible entirely in game.

mg_karaoke_ak_jn#

A stage for the karaoke song Hell Stew. All of the karaoke videos in this game are pre-rendered, and as such, go unused. Stages also exist for Bakamitai, The Future I Dreamed Of, Like a Butterfly and Machine-Gun Kiss.

Unused Animations#

All of these were taken from the PC version of the game, from the "motion.par" file.

Lockpicking#

Ichiban using a lockpick on a door. While this was a feature in Judgment, in the final game, Ichiban cannot pick locks.

p_ich_inv_thumbturn_a
p_ich_inv_thumbturn_b
p_ich_inv_thumbturn_c
p_ich_inv_thumbturn_d
p_ich_inv_thumbturn_e

Skateboarding#

Ichiban using a skateboard. This wouldn't appear until Lost Judgment, but it's present here.

p_ich_mov_sktbd_accel
p_ich_mov_sktbd_jump_a
p_ich_mov_sktbd_lp
p_ich_mov_sktbd_turn_l
p_ich_mov_sktbd_turn_r

Yakuza 5 Karaoke Cheers#

Same as Kiwami 2; unused in the final game.

Mn_KA_P_cheer_bonodori -- Shinada's bon odori dance.
Mn_KA_P_cheer_fever -- Akiyama's hip shaking dance.
Mn_KA_P_cheer_ouendan -- Kiryu's ouendan (cheersquad).
Mn_KA_P_cheer_seiken -- Saejima's punching dance.

Abilities#

Saeko Mukoda#

Essence of Remotivation

A leftover from the RPG trailer. In the final game, this is its own heat action, and is not used from the motion.par package.

f_sae_sub_std_kissa_sync
p_ich_sub_std_kissa_sync

Possible Idol Leftover

Saeko waves with one hand, then does a cute, idol-like pose where she draws a smile with her fingers, and stands on one leg. The pose before and after the skill ends seems to infer this is a leftover for the Idol class, not Saeko's Barmaid class.

f_sac_btl_bag_skl_entyou_01

Unused Cutscenes & Heat Actions#

All of these were taken from the PC version of the game, from the "hact_yazawa" folder.

Karaoke Music Videos#

In the final game, all of the music videos for the karaoke minigame are prerendered; thus making these leftover. They can be enabled in game by replacing other Heat Actions, and mostly work as is, albeit without any music.

mn_kara_ada_machinegunkiss#

Adachi performing Machine Gun Kiss.

mn_kara_aud_like_a_butterfly#

Eri & Ichiban performing Like a Butterfly.

mn_kara_cho_jigokunabe#

Zhao performing Hell Stew.

mn_kara_ichi_jigokunabe#

Ichiban performing Hell Stew.

mn_kara_ich_yumemita#

Ichiban performing The Future I Dreamed Of. This has no specific map in stage.par, and as such, will not load correctly even when replaced.

mn_kara_nam_bakamitai#

Nanba performing Baka Mitai.

mn_kara_sae_harukaze#

Saeko performing Spring Breeze. Like "The Future I Dreamed Of", this has no specific map as it was rendered in both Survive Bar & Hamakita Park, meaning it also does not load correctly.

Cutscenes#

ym3040_kab_cm_a#

The first of the two commercials Ichiban films for Ichiban Senbei. In the final game, both commercials are pre-rendered. The second commercial, given that it's often wide shots of Ijincho, is not present here at all.

Removed Playable Characters#

There is a total of 3 removed characters still present in the game's database. While 'Ayaka' was the name used for Saeko in the April Fool's video, this is more likely to refer to the character that was cut & reworked for the Matriarch job.

The only information left in the files about these characters are their internal names:

- sakaida
- hoshino
- ayaka 

Database Leftovers#

Unused Outfits#

Classic Fantasy#

Found in rpg_costume.bin; there appears to be quite a lot of entries for planned outfits that have no equivalent in game.

These unused outfit slots line up fairly nicely with the 'roles' the characters play in their base jobs; it seems the possible only remnant of this is Ichiban's knight outfit.

Unused Colour Variations#

Every character and job seems to have an unused colour variant of their outfit, usually marked as "red", "blue" & "yellow". In the final game, there are variations of outfits, but only for jobs, and none of those line up to those three colours exactly.

Unused Skills#

Adachi#

Hero#

Detective#

This move has unique animations present for it, labelled "hagai". This also includes a fail state where Adachi would fall over rather dramatically.

Dealer#

Matriarch#

All of these moves are labelled as 'ayaka', and all of them use the same animation of a fist pump, and do nothing in the final game if added back to the learn table for a character's job.

The used animation GMTs for Matriarch are also labelled with the ID F_AYA, as opposed to every other job which uses a three letter code relating to the job's name in either English or Japanese, meaning these were almost certainly meant for that now deleted character.

Removed Equipment Stats#

Leftovers in the game's database (specifically arms.bin) indicate that weapons and equipment could deal and resist poison damage type. (Not to be confused with the poison status effect.) When added back to an ability, no enemy will be able to resist it (as nobody is set up to) and it has a fixed chance to poison them ignoring their usual resistance to the debuff.

The naming of the columns atk_poison and def_poison hints to poison being intended as the 7th attack type, along blow, slash, shoot, fire, elec and ice.

Test Status Effect Message#

In rpg_common_info_msg, we can find an entry at ID 121 referring to the deleted character, Ayaka:

• "test_enecom_boot": "Ayaka Oya spit some rhymes to cheer up the crew!"

Unused Status Changes#

In rpg_skill_eff_param, there are a bunch of status changes, buffs & debuffs, that are marked as invalid by the game code.

Most of these are still non-functional when marked as valid.

• AB_ALL
• HEAL_HP_ratio
• HEAL_MP_ratio
• BUF_EX_DLH_scapegoat - seems to be an earlier version of the Mr Masochist summon effect
• SUB_dead
• SUB_pause
• EX_get_enemy_item - player version of stealing items
• DODGE_RATE_UP
• AB_regist_all
• CRITICAL
• BUF_critical
• DEBUF_critical
• AB_curse - while a curse debuff exists in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, this goes unused there too; the curse debuff there is AB_death_timer
• AB_regist_bleed
• AB_regist_paralysis
• AB_regist_piyori
• AB_regist_sleep
• AB_regist_poison
• AB_regist_burn
• AB_regist_cold
• AB_regist_charm
• AB_regist_drunk
• AB_regist_mind_control
• AB_regist_terror
• AB_regist_anger
• AB_regist_kind_physical
• AB_regist_kind_mental
• job_idle_skill_add_abnormal_up
• job_chef_skill_ct_atk_damage_up
• guitar_song_skill_buf_turn_up
• guitar_song_skill_critical_up

'Valid' Status Change?#

In the same file, BUF_extend_action_2 & BUF_extend_action_3 are marked as valid, but have no skill that references them. Adding them back to a character's skill shows a musical symbol icon over the caster, but ultimately does nothing. It's possible this is a scrapped effect for the Musician class.

Unused Karaoke#

In talk_param.bin, we can see that at one point, Joon-Gi Han did actually sing something, and Ichiban was also to sing a few more songs. Both would've gotten Machinegun Kiss, where as Ichiban would've also have sang Bakamitai. No sounds or animations exist for this past them being mentioned in the talk_param.bin file.

mn_kara_han_machinegunkiss
mn_kara_ich_bakamitai
mn_kara_ich_machinegunkiss

Unused UI#

Early Icons#

A set of icons for the game's UI.

The characters here appear to be Ichiban, albeit his older render, the mage character from the April Fool's trailer, and Yuki & Gary Buster Holmes as they appeared in Yakuza Kiwami 2.

Duplicate Eri#

Eri Kamataki's appearance in the game wasn't finalised until quite late, given that she was the grand winner of a competition to be a bonus playable character. She is often referred to as other names, such as woman2, audition or jimu (office worker). She also has two UI assets for battle content, one named "btl_main_chara_p7" and this one, "btl_main_chara_ayaka", which goes unused.

Unused Enemy Portraits#

Female Characters#

There are no female enemies in the game.

Dummy Characters#

Faulty Character Renders#

Kiwami Action Characters#

Main Story Characters#

Characters with fights

The following characters can be fought at some point in the game but not in the outfit the portrait uses.

Characters without fights

The following characters cannot be fought at any point in the game.

Unused Item Icons#

The PS4 demo and initial Asian release version of the game (Japanese, Korean and Chinese) contain render icons for many props and NPC weapons. These icons are normally used for the inventory, but aren't used here; a good portion of these icons are even props specific to cutscenes.

Weapons#

Props#