Like A Dragon: 11 Details In Yakuza Games That'll Blow Your Mind
3. The Style Makes The Music
The Like A Dragon series is as well known for its music as it is for any of its other features - the combat, the humor, or the melodrama. Not unusual for games overall, characters will have specific musical tracks assigned to them, or for specific battles.
A neat thing that some Yakuza games will do, though, is have the same track play, but change tempo or style when you switch fighting style. The latest game, Ishin, does this across its many random street encounters.
We've mentioned that Kiryu has a unique introduction chime but in Ishin, and Kiryu, as Ryoma, only has the one track for his fights with the wandering street thugs, regardless of their type. Called Midare Shikabana (Four Disturbed Flowers, or commonly translated as Four Unrestful Flowers/Unrest of the Four Flowers).
In his weaponless hand-to-hand mode the music is pretty plain instrumental; a bit bare, even with lasting notes. But in his katana stance the music gains a little harsher percussion with a much sharper end to the notes. The composition for the Gunner fighting style has a bit more of a backing from the string instruments bringing the notes together, and the Wild Dancer style - using both katana and pistol - adds castanets to make it more exotic, emblematic of the literal "flair" present in those animations.