Ratatoskr
ratatoskrrgg.bsky.social
Ratatoskr
@ratatoskrrgg.bsky.social
21 followers 3 following 20 posts
snoopin' and snufflin' through the Yakuza/LaD series
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Every character has an unmentioned weakness to status effects; in the final game, the game only mentions this for Eri, who is susceptible to being stunned

As an example, Saeko has a 15% penalty to enrage debuffs, and Adachi 25% to charm

These were only mentioned in IW onwards
Related to this: Kiryu's code for not striking women goes off the armature used for animations, not internal IDs for Saeko or Eri

This code can also be broken if Kiryu is enraged which is probably why, amongst other balance issues, he cannot be enraged at all
While Kiryu can't normally be enraged, frightened or charmed in his battle, overriding that via mods or cheats will show he DOES have dialogue for that instance, probably as a fail safe

Though in English, his dialogue for being enraged just consists of him screaming "You bastards!" repeatedly
Han was intended to sing karaoke after all, instead of him finally getting his shot in Infinite Wealth; he would've sung "Machine Gun Kiss"

Ichiban was also able to sing that, and Bakamitai

The filenames for these can be found in talk_param.bin in the game's database; nothing else exists for them
Other oddities in the battler portraits are a generic woman (two, in fact!), Daigo Dojima, and Juro Horinouchi

None of these can be fought in the final game, and again, don't appear to have any leftovers of a battle with them or that would involve them
Tianyou Zhao has a battler portrait; it's possible he was to be fought at some point in the game's story, just like Nanba, Han & Adachi
There exists outfit data for every character that lines up to RPG classes;

yuusya Hero
mahou Wizard
senshi Warrior
kenpou Martial artist
kenshi Fighter
siroma Cleric
thief Thief

Models do not exist, but it's possible Ichiban's Knight outfit from later in the game could've been reused from this
General Leftovers From Y:LAD That Don't Warrant More Than One Post But Are Still Cool

Thread;
Nobody outside of RGG can (and probably wouldn't) say, but to me, it definitely seems Ayaka was her own character, and not just an entry for Saeko or Eri

It's very unlikely we'll ever see what became of her, and the most we'll ever get is, of course, the DLC job
The real question however is; why was Ayaka dropped in the first place?

Could she have become who we know as Seonhee?

Was she scrapped in favour of the competition winner, Eri?

Or did the character concept simply not fit the final shipped version of the game?
It makes sense then that the work they had already put into this character; a naginata wielding bad-ass woman; was then repurposed for the DLC job

Devil Rocker, for what its worth, doesn't appear to be in the same category; this truly does seem like a job that was created solely for a DLC package
While RGG Studios tend to leave a lot of leftover data in their games from previous games; drone racing, handling Haruto & Cabaret Club Czar can all be found referenced in Y:LAD; the amount of stuff for Ayaka alongside Saeko and even Eri seems to suggest she was actually her own character
Other leftovers include achievement data for maxing out her social link, a leftover weapon, and even an entry for her appearing in the overworld chats, meaning she was potentially cut quite late on
Only the 'default' jobs for each character use this naming convention

F_SAC_BTL_BAG_skl_tumuzi_01 - Saeko's Clobberwheel, as another example

All others are F_IDL (Idol), M_COK (Chef) etc; following this, Matriarch should be something like F_MTR or F_ANE (Anego being the Japanese term for the job)
Most of them at first glance seem to be unused variations for the Matriarch class

If we look at the filenames for the animations of those used for Matriarch: they all start with F_AYA

"F_AYA_BTL_WPI_skl_nagi", for example, is used for the Whirling Slash ability
The game data however, still has several unused entries for a character named Ayaka; and those are often separate from either Saeko or Eri Kamataki

One of the biggest leftovers is a handful of abilities, all labelled Ayaka, in the "rpg_skill" database, where all of the enemy & job attacks reside
The April Fools release video is the most 'public' way you can see the Ayaka name, as it's used for who would then be known as Saeko

(Most of the stuff in this April Fools video can still be found in both LaD & IW, but that's a thread for another time)
Internally, Kamataki has a handful of aliases:

- WomanA
- Jimu (office worker)
- Audition
- Ayaka

But the 'Ayaka' term is way more involved than just a placeholder for this character who, at the time of her involvement, could've easily been one of the other contestants in said competition
In the final release of Y:LAD, there are seven playable party members: Ichiban Kasuga, Yu Nanba, Koichi Adachi, Saeko Mukoda, Joon-Gi Han, Tianyou Zhao, and Eri Kamataki

Due to Kamataki's inclusion as a winner of a contest however, she is rarely referred to in the code as 'Eri' or 'Kamataki'
The Mystery of the 8th Party Member in Yakuza: Like a Dragon: Or Rather, Who Is 'Ayaka'?

Thread;