Yakuza: Like A Dragon's latest patch adds a missing battle feature

Yakuza: Like A Dragon’s turn-based fights are a turning point for the bat-swinging, crime caper that is the Yakuza series. I thought the game still retained its messy brawls even after the added tactical punch, but according to the latest patch, the game has been missing a key battle feature this whole time: "WEAK".

That's the “WEAK” status icon that appears above enemy heads if you select them in combat. It’s an easy way to know if your character’s got an ability which’ll hit an enemy particularly hard, and it was missing before. Thankfully it’s now fixed, so when you hover over an enemy mid-combat you’ll know for sure if they’re going to take a bit more of a beating from your sword slash, handbag swing, or crayfish pinch.

Now that I think about it, I did find it a little odd that enemy weaknesses weren’t more clearly signposted, especially when I encountered a mysterious new baddie for the first time. I just flung abilities at them in the hope that a “WEAK” icon would pop up, and assumed this was how the game encouraged experimentation. Nah, turns out it was just a bug.

The patch also adds the Upstart Assistance Pack 2 as a free gift, though. Perhaps an attempt to butter us up after this icon palava, I mean, free is free and I'll take it. It’s accessible via the Smartphone in-game and it’ll net you a nurse costume for Nanba, some crafting ingredients, and other useful bits and pieces.