Gaming Detail: How Yakuza: Like A Dragon Included Dragon Quest’s Longest Running Reference

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is filled with shout-outs to the Dragon Quest franchise, and it managed to include one of the longest-running references in the series by swapping out a corpse for a drunk.

The mainline Yakuza games are action-adventure/open-world games, with visual elements that are straight of the classic Sega arcade line-up. The most recent game in the series is Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which uses turn-based commands for its battle system. The in-universe reason for this change is that protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is a huge fan of the Dragon Quest series and sees everything in JRPG terms.

Related: Among Us, Skyrim, Yakuza 3-6, & More Coming To Xbox Game Pass

There are lots of references to the Dragon Quest series in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, but some of them are easy to miss, as they are linked to optional NPCs. If you travel to Isezaki Road, you will see a guy lying down on the ground.

If Kasuga interacts with the guy, he will say this.

This comment is a reference to a long-running event that happens in the Dragon Quest series. If you interact with a dead body, then the game will say something along the lines of “There is no response, it’s just a corpse”. The exact wording depends on the translation. The mainline Dragon Quest games (including the remakes and most of the spin-offs) have included this line in some capacity. The text usually appears when the main character interacts with a skeleton they find in a dungeon or prison, but there are a few instances when the game subverts the reference, such as people not responding because they’re listening too intently to a song.

A number of characters die in gruesome ways in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and the game could have included the reference in its original form. A lot of the turn-based JRPG elements are treated in a comedic way, with the Dragon Quest references often lamp-shaded by the party members. Yakuza: Like A Dragon directly references things like “an enemy draws near”, but it decided to be a bit more light-hearted with the silent corpses.

Next: The Next Yakuza Game Is Already In Development

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Scott has been writing for The Gamer since it launched in 2017 and also regularly contributes to Screen Rant. He has previously written gaming articles for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz. He has been gaming since the days of the ZX Spectrum, when it used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set.

Scott thinks Chrono Trigger is the best video game of all time, followed closely by Final Fantasy Tactics and Baldur’s Gate 2. He pretends that sorcerer is his favorite Dungeons & Dragons class in public but he secretly loves bards.

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