Doin’ the Best I Can is the first chapter of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Kasuga Ichiban is rebuilding his life and helping ex-Yakuza members reintegrate themselves slowly into society. However, he and his friends are framed in a controversy, putting a ruining their efforts of regaining a normal civilian life. Read ahead as we go through the events of Chapter 1 Doin’ the Best I Can of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and as we also share some tips on and tricks for a better playing experience.
Chapter Objectives:
The game starts with a scene where a wealthy couple is being driven in their car during a rainy night. Their car is suddenly stopped by a mysterious man, who then guns them and their driver down. Afterwards, a mysterious man approaches the gunman and shoots the gunman dead as a payment for his job.
The scene then switches to Kasuga Ichiban, the protagonist, as he helps out a client in his new job at the Hello Work recruitment office. It turns out that his current client, Sasaki Shinya, is an ex-Yakuza who still puts up his intimidating attitude. Despite the client’s arrogance, Kasuga manages to decline his application professionally and send him out of the office, but not without giving him an imposing glare.
Go look for an eatery
As Kasuga clocks out from his shift, he then decides to go get something to eat. You then get control over Kasuga, and your first objective is to head to the nearest eatery. Follow the marker on the minimap to get to the objective.
Along the way, you can find suitcases along the path that contain random items such as ointments, valuable items, and other combat consumables.
Before you reach the bridge, you will be stopped by Sasaki as he bribes you to offer him a job. As you disagree, he then engages you in a fight.
You will then learn about the basics of combat. Combats in Infinite Wealth is turn-based with a some added mechanics which you will learn in other fights later on. During this fight, you will learn the basics of how to attack, defend, and use your special skills.
After the fight, the money that Sasaki offered flies off into the dirty river. Kasuga jumps into the river and manages to retrieve all of them, with the cost of him getting drenched in sewage. He then meets up with Sasaki again and gives him back the money which then moves Sasaki and makes him embarrassed for his actions. Kasuga then tells Sasaki to show up at Hello Work the next day for a second chance.
The introduction credits will then play which shows how Kasuga spends the rest of his night as he walks the streets of Yokohama going back to his home.
On the next day, Kasuga wakes up and prepares for his work day, but not before paying his respects to his deceased fathers: his adoptive father Kasuga Jiro, and his Yakuza boss Arakawa Masato. You can then decide to reminisce which makes Kasuga recall his short history of the two, or prepare for work.
Go to Hello Work
Once you’re ready, go out of the house and follow the marker to reach Hello Work.
Check to see who’s hurt
On your way, you will hear the voice of an ailing woman near your office. You will then meet Hamako, who has tripped down. During your conversation with her, you will then encounter your first Personality Chance.
Personality Chances allows Kasuga to improve on his different Personality stats. Depending on the situation, you can choose how to respond and you will get points towards a particular personality stat. There are six personality stats that can be raised: Passion, Confidence, Charisma, Kindness, Intellect, and Style. Each level raised for these stats will give Kasuga passive traits.
These are the options and the points they give:
- Helping Hamako
- Tell her to ease up on the drinks — +30 Passion
- Lend her a shoulder — +30 Kindness
Back in the office, you will then be approached by a client who happens to be Sasaki who has decided to dress up properly for the application. After a quick chat, Kasuga accepts his application and offers him a pickpocketing job.
We then see Sasaki do several pickpocketing hits on different stores, even working with an accomplice. Later on, they report back to their boss who turns out to be Adachi Koichi.
It is then made clear that Adachi is planning to grow his company into adding security consultancy and is looking for someone experienced to look for vulnerabilities in stores, who they can then offer their consultancy services to. Kasuga then arrives and Adachi decides to hire Sasaki.
Go to Survive
After the visit, you gain control over Kasuga once more. You’ll get a text for an invite to drink over at Survive. As you make your way to the bar, you will encounter some thugs that are picking on a homeless person. Engage with them to start another fight.
In this fight, you will learn how to change targets and use objects around you as weapons. You can also learn how to chain attacks which can topple two or more enemies at once with some right angling.
After the fight, you then send the homeless over to a more safer part of the town. You will start encountering more enemies as you make your way to the bar; you can engage with them to grind some XP or avoid them.
Kasuga and the rest of the party members later on will earn two types of Experience: the basic Experience that adds up to their character level, and the Job Experience that adds up to the job rank. Each character can have different kinds of jobs that give them different traits and abilities.
Once you arrive at the bar, another cutscene will play where you meet up once more with Adachi, Nanba, and Saeko for some drinks. The two men then coax Kasuga to make his move on Saeko as she takes a restroom break.
After the drinking session, the group decides to head back to their homes. Kasuga tries to ask Saeko out on a date, but Saeko just suddenly runs away from him. Not long after, Saeko gives Kasuga a call and accepts his invitation, making Kasuga explode with happiness.
The following day, Kasuga then asks the help of Adachi and Nanba to help him how to go on a date since he has never been on one before. The two then bring Kasuga to different places and put him into a test to see what things he would go for based on their suggestions.
There will be three parts to this test where you have to choose whether to go for Adachi’s or Nanba’s suggestion. These will be personality chances so each pick will increase a certain stat in Kasuga’s personality.
- Train Station
- Sit and act natural — +30 Style
- Stand and pose — +30 Passion
- Curry Place
- Go for the usual beef bowl — +30 Confidence
- Be brave and east spice level 100 curry — +30 Passion
- Tailor
- Go for the organic look — +30 Intellect
- Go for some razzle dazzle — +30 Style
You can go for any of the options that you want to get your desired early stats, but there will be a lot more activities to gain specific stats from later on in the game so there’s no need to get hung up on personality chance events.
Rest at home before the date
After the lessons from Adachi and Nanba, you will then have to head back home to rest up for the next day. You can take the time to wander around and check out the available spots in town before going back home.
Once you’re done for the day, go inside your house and interact with your bed to rest up.
The following day will be Kasuga’s date with Saeko. Their first plan will not go out well as most of the restaurants are full. Saeko then suggests to take a smoke break which Kasuga mistakes as her wanting to go to a hotel.
Two more personality chances will happen during this conversation:
- About the hotel
- Be like Nanba and tell her how you feel — +30 Charisma
- Be like Adachi and play it cool — +30 Passion
- During the smoke break
- Talk about Nanba — +30 Charisma
- Talk about Adachi — +30 Kindness
After the smoke break, Saeko decides to go for a fancy sushi place for lunch. Another personality chance will happen:
- At the sushi place
- Be like Nanba and just move on — +30 Charisma
- Be like Adachi and cover for her — +30 Confidence
While walking around town, Saeko sees a former client of hers that has been giving her troubles in the past. The guy talks to Saeko as she makes Kasuga pretend to be her boyfriend. Another personality chance will happen:
- How to act as a boyfriend
- A guy like Nanba: real down-to-earth — +30 Kindness
- A guy like Adachi: cool and stylish — +30 Intellect
The guy could not accept her choice and orders his bodyguards to beat you up. During this fight, you will get to have Saeko be a member of your party as you fight against the enemies. You can also perform follow-up attacks with party members if you align your attacks right.
After taking a break from the fight and a quick change of attire, Kasuga and Saeko continue on with their date. They then rest up at a seaside park in the evening.
Kasuga decides that this is the right time to propose to Saeko despite this being their first date. However, Saeko does not respond to his proposal and thanks Kasuga for the day before saying farewell as she heads back home.
Heartbroken, Kasuga meets up with Adachi and Nanba again the following day as he tells them about what happened. After learning what Kasuga said to Saeko, the two men point out the wrong stuff he said and suggests to apologize to Saeko right away.
Go to the club and apologize
Kasuga heads out and goes to the bar to apologize to Saeko. He then catches up to her on the road and apologizes to what he said the other night. Saeko shrugs it off and does not take it against Kasuga, but she tells Kasuga that she would be happy to be just his friend, breaking Kasuga’s heart once again.
Time jumps to a year later where we catch up with Kasuga waking up and preparing to go to work. However, his manager talks to him and tell him bad news. His contract has not been renewed and so he no longer has a job in Hello Work and it is effective right away.
Say farewells to coworkers
Before heading out for your last day, go around the office and talk to your coworkers to say your farewells.
Go back home and contact Adachi
Once you’re out of the office, you will learn the Treasure Hunt ability which lets you search for items in certain areas in the map. Look for glowing rings on the ground where treasure can be found. Kasuga’s job will also change from Hello Worker to Freelancer.
As you approach your house, some thugs wait by the staircase and confront you while recording the whole thing. It is then revealed that Kasuga and the rest of the ex-Yakuza have been put under the bad light, with Kasuga being framed as putting ex-Yakuza into shady jobs. This is being publicized by a vtuber known as Tatara Hisoka.
The group then calls out their bodyguard and engages you in a fight. Defeat all of them by focusing on taking down all the weaker guys first, and then fighting the bodyguard. After the fight, the bodyguard acknowledges your skills and leaves the group behind.
Kasuga meets up with Adachi and Nanba who were also let go from their jobs on the same day following the scandal they were framed on. Kasuga apologizes to the men as he felt that it was all his fault. Adachi suggests that he head back to Hello Work to tell any ex-Yakuza that might be looking for him about the news.
Go to Hello Work
Go back to Hello Work where you will be approached by another ex-Yakuza looking for work. Once you break the bad news to him, he becomes frustrated and leaves. Your previous boss hears the commotion and tells you to stay away from the business as you also ask them a favor to put up a sign about his dismissal from the company to let the other ex-Yakuza know as well.
Go to Sasaki’s apartment
Your next stop is Sasaki’s apartment which is close by to tell him about the news. Sasaki has also been informed by Adachi earlier that the security company will no longer operate after it loses its source of income.
A month then passes as we see Kasuga lazing inside his house. He then gets a visit from Adachi and Nanba who tells him news about the Seiryu Clan. They have gotten wind that the Seiryu Clan has been amassing members, including ex-Yakuza like Sasaki. Not letting anyone fall back into the life of a Yakuza, Kasuga decides to head over to the Seiryu Clan to find out what’s going on, a plan that the other two men agree on.
The three men then band up together like the old times. Shortly after, they are confronted by three thugs shaking them for money. A fight then breaks where the thugs transforms into different characters based on Kasuga’s imagination, just like in the previous games.
Kasuga’s job will also have changed from Freelancer to Hero, giving him more offensive and buffing abilities. Adachi will be given the Detective job while Nanba will be given the Homeless Man job.
Before continuing to the Seiryu Clan’s HQ, the two men decide that they also need to be geared up for the upcoming fights. You can then check the adult shop nearby for some gear.
Head to Seiryu Clan HQ
Make your way to the Seiryu Clan HQ and talk through the intercom. The person behind the intercom does not let you in as they say you will need an appointment to do so. You then decide to ask the people who know the town better, the homeless people. You decide that you have to bring them a gift in exchange for their info and Nanba suggests to get sake for the Chief.
Bring the chief a bottle of sake
Follow the marker which leads to a Convenience store and buy a bottle of sake. Then, make your way to the next marker.
If you take the shortest route to the homeless camp, you will most likely encounter the Substory #1: Radio Active where you save the talk show host Unai Risa from the thugs. Clearing the substory will unlock the radio function on radios and on your smartphone.
Talk to Chief
Go to the homeless camp where the Chief will meet up with you. You tell the chief about the situation and he offers you a secret path to get into the Seiryu HQ. Talk to him to proceed into the HQ or you can take your time to prepare first.
Talk to the Chief and he will lead you to the river where you can access the sewage system.
Go through the sewers and infiltrate Seiryu HQ
The sewage system has enemies that you will have to face, as well as some items, gear, and treasures to get. Refer to the minimap to know the paths, ladders, and doors.
In the first area, look for the room that has the Crabby Sentinel. Defeat this miniboss and you can get the Sneakers nearby.
Once you reach the area with a lower waterway, take the ladders down and swim to the other side to find Work Clothes.
Then, go back to the water and swim towards the north side to find a Safe Key and a safe. Open the safe with a key to get a Passion Bandana. Collect Safe Keys as you see them to open more safes that you’ll encounter in your adventure.
Defeat the next Street Scrapper miniboss and you will reach a safe zone where you can replenish your party’s HP and MP, and also create a save point. You can also get a Helmet nearby.
Once you’re ready to proceed, take the ladder back to the surface to get inside the Seiryu HQ.
Head for the chairman’s office
As soon as you make it out, you will be confronted by the security of the HQ. Defeat them and then make your way inside the HQ.
Prepare to fight against waves of Seiryu clan members as you go through the rooms and corridors of the HQ.
Once you reach the safe area, make sure to create a save and check the safe in between the bunk beds to get a Down Jacket.
The next encounter in the upper levels is a fight against a stronger miniboss named Kuwaki. In this fight, Kuwaki is on a guard stance and serve as your practice for the guard break mechanic. Clear out all of Kuwaki’s lackeys and defeat him to get to the next area.
Kasuga and the gang will finally meet up with Masataka Ebina, the current Seiryu Clan Captain. He recognizes Kasuga and apologizes for the heightened security against them.
Ebina then honors Kasuga’s request to take them to see Sasaki. He takes them over to their warehouse by the harbor where Sasaki has been working at. He also reveals that they have turned the warehouse into a sort of storage space where stuff like incriminating documents and other controversial items can be kept and disposed. This is where the Seiryu Clan has been putting the ex-Yakuza who has been looking for a job.
Before leaving, Kasuga is met by Sawashiro Jo, the former captains of the Arakawa Family and a figure that Kasuga has been in conflict with in the past. The chapter then ends prior to their conversation and you will be rewarded with the Back in Action achievement for completing Chapter 1.
See next: Chapter 2 – Paradise, Hawaiian Style