Yakuza: Like a Dragon was originally pitched–and developed–with combat similar to other games in the series, but made a mid-development switch after an RPG-inspired April Fools joke was received better than expected.
There’s much much more from Nagoshi on Like a Dragon and other moments throughout the Yakuza series’ last 15 years in the full interview, found here.
According to Nagoshi, the team had half entertained the idea of leaving the combat of the first six Yakuza games behind, but the idea didn’t take on life until they released an April Fools trailer for Like a Dragon showcasing its then-faked RPG-style combat.
This tidbit comes from an interview with series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi conducted by Archipel on YouTube (and spotted earlier today by the folks at GamesRadar+).