Clan disputes might be on the verge of erupting, but we won’t blame you if you decide to take a side quest or two in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Part-time Hero is great for that, but it can be overwhelming at first, and look more like something a completionist would do. This guide covers the perks of investing time in it and how to best optimize it as you continue unraveling Ichiban’s story.
More Yakuza: Like a Dragon:
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon Kappa Statues Guide – Locations and Rewards
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon Chapters Guide – How Long is Yakuza & Chapters List
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon Substories Guide – Locations, Requested Items & Personality Answers
How to Unlock Part-time Hero
You won’t be able to access Part-time Hero until Chapter 5. As you progress through the main story, a substory will greet you in Ijin Street, where a man in trouble will ask for help. After a series of short events, you’ll meet Hiro, who runs a company where people can request deliveries and support for all sorts of tasks. From defending oneself from robbers to a cry of help for someone to bring toilet paper to a public bathroom stall, there are a ton of missions to undertake.
After the substory is done, this feature will be unlocked on your main menu, and you can access it at any time. There’s three main tabs:
- Challenges: Subdivided into Adventure, Battle, Minigames, and Management Mode, these tasks are more on the completionist side of things, and are mostly obtained just by playing the game. You’ll need to get out of your comfort zone for some of them, but they’re straightforward enough.
- Rescue: These mostly involve fights, either by tracking down specific enemies or by responding to an SOS call from someone on the map, which often leads to a fight against a small group of special enemies.
- Support: Even Like a Dragon has fetch quests, but they’re very on brand, such as looking for lost cats. Some are marked on the map, but others require you to obtain specific items and then deliver them to any representative around town.
The best part of this feature is that it works retroactively to your progress up to that point, so it’s likely that once you unlock it you will be swarmed with messages telling you everything you’ve accomplished thus far. Rewards range from money and items to points towards Ichiban’s stats. There’s really something for everyone.
Part-time Hero Tips – Yakuza: Like a Dragon
You will notice two other changes right away: first, your map will be swarmed with new icons. The ones that have an exclamation mark are active requests that you can go and solve on site, while the rest showcase Part-time Hero NPCs that will receive your fetch orders once you’ve obtained the required items.
You always need to talk to them in order to complete deliveries, so even if you’re just passing through, make a quick stop to see if there isn’t anything pending that you had forgotten about. Regardless, you’ll get notifications when you’ve fulfilled them telling you to report in. Make sure to do this as soon as possible, not only to obtain the helpful bounty, but also to unlock other jobs so they’re not trapped in a backlog.
When it comes to Rescue missions that involve hunting down a group of specific enemies, the game will always let you know their usual locations – this can be found on the job card inside the Part-time Hero menu. As for SOS missions, we recommend doing them as walking towards a main mission or a substory. They are always dispersed enough for you to stumble upon at least one during your travels, and enemies have always been close to our level. Plus, unlike random encounters, you actually need to trigger the fight by interacting with the NPC in trouble, so you can heal beforehand or grab supplies from the nearest store if you need to. These requests are usually a great way to obtain Sujimon entries as well!
Lastly, it might be tempting to leave Challenges for New Game +, but you’d be missing on all the interesting bonuses and rewards that come from them. Our advice is to check the list periodically, and set yourself a couple small goals. At times it will be enough with just collecting a couple CDs, or trying out a new minigame, so give it a try whenever you want a break from all the yakuza drama.
