Happy Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii release day! Before you weigh anchor and go sailing into the tempest, I’ve put together a list of useful tips to help you make the most of your swashbuckling adventure!
You can read my full review of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii here.
1. Fast-track the story.
Pirate Yakuza takes its time revealing all of its gameplay mechanics, some of which make combat and exploration much more fun. For example, I explored a LOT of Honolulu early on, and a short time later I unlocked a grapple mechanic that allowed me to access hidden areas around the city. This left me having to explore the city all over again to find grapple points and nab all the hidden treasures.
I would almost mainline the story, with minimal sight seeing, until you return to Rich Island for the first time. You’ll unlock some of those later improvements quicker and won’t be retreading old ground as much.
2. Snap the Sickos.
Speaking of exploration, you should definitely do the ‘sicko snap’ missions ASAP! Not just for the hilarity of playing the Pokémon Snap spoof, snapping pictures of perverts in butterfly masks, but the reward you get is an explorers best friend. The ‘Scope Ring’ reveals the locations of treasure chests and paper fortunes on your mini-map when they are in close proximity!
Find Kuroki the photographer on the Waikiki Trolley, that travels around Honolulu, to begin the snap-happy missions.
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3. Don’t forget to accessorise.
Don’t just stop at one ring, you can wear up to ten at once, and cosplay as Marvel villain The Mandarin! Apart from looking really cool, rings will do wonders for your offensive and defensive capabilities. Some rings have special perks, like gradually filling your heat gauge to perform special attacks more often, others might enhance certain attacks in your repertoire. Some rings come as part of a set, requiring you to equip them all to activate the perk.
Many of the rings are only available through side quests or treasure hunts, while others cost a pretty penny at shops, be sure to check every vendors stock and collect them all.
4. Get your tunes in order.
Holding the left bumper (‘L1’ on PlayStation) will bring up the quick menu for your musical playlist, allowing you to skip to the song you want quickly and easily. But as you acquire new music you’ll soon realise that you can’t access the new tracks this way. You’ll first need to go into your smartphone via the menu and create a playlist of your favourites.
New music can be found around the world, purchased from vendors, or as rewards from games masters for completing certain mini-games. There are some dope tracks available from various Sega properties, my favourites being ‘It’s Going Down Now’ from Persona 3 Reload and ‘Rival Candidates’ from last years Metaphor: ReFantazio.
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5. Put your game face on.
If, like me, you know nothing about Shogi, but still want the rewards from the ‘Open Road Shogi’ player on Sakura St. then try the ‘Puzzle Shogi’ option. Even if you can’t figure out what the pieces do or how the puzzle works, you can still brute force it by trying every move available to you until you solve the puzzle. It might get a little tedious, but it’s probably faster than learning a whole new board game.
If you get stuck on one of the harder puzzles, you can always repeat the ones you already know the answer to for fewer points. The shogi player has some good prizes available like a silver treasure chest and some new clothes for Majima, so it’s well worth doing.
6. Live life a quarter mile at a time.
When crewing your ship, you’ll need to pick a first mate. Depending on which swabbie you choose, you’ll get a different passive trait. More ramming damage is pretty sweet, and more smoke screens are nice, I guess, but the most useful trait is the one that adds extra stock to your fuel tank. As the game goes on, ship battles will get harder and longer, requiring more speed boosts to maneuver your ship away from enemy fire, and line up cannon shots of your own. More fuel reserves simply means more maneuverability.
This is especially true in the ‘Tournament of Champions’ at the coliseum where you’ll be facing off against multiple ship battles in a row, and needing to ration your fuel between rounds. Some first mates, like Robo Michio Mach, even give two additional stocks of rocket fuel!
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7. Buy low, sell high.
Whenever you run into a merchant vessel on the high seas, if you can afford it, make sure to buy up all of their inventory. They’re often stocked with much needed ingredients for cooking, components for building new weapons for your ship, and morale boosting gifts for your crewmates.
Merchant vessels are mostly found within the lighthouse safe zones dotted around each ocean area.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is available now for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and PC.
