The best version is much preferred from the remake very satisfying to play with the combat system
-0.5 for the grinding
-0.5 for the grinding
Man
solid. pros and cons over the "remake"
edit: I was at chapter 5 of the og version of the game. I shelved because of grind, then decided to return and finish it
The biggest reason for me to shelve this at the time is the GRIND. So I wanted to unlock skills to make the combat more bearable, how do I do that? Playing 100 man battle 50 times. This is not an exaggeration. This is the fastest way without including a rng way.
Then I wanted to upgrade my weapon, how do I do that? Materials that drop from mini dungeons that returns from dead souls of course!... Of course rng included! %1 chance to drop this item that item... So you need to play mini dungeons 50 times at least to get materials you wanted as well too! How nice of that??
Second reason is I found the combat not engaging. I thought it will become better and it did but focusing on unlocking skills with the slow as heck progression system made the progression flow unbearable for me. After Getting to 60 level, unlocking a new level takes at least half hour. Then it goes up to 1 hour just to unlock a new level.... frustration... (Yakuza 0 have a similar problem but At least you can punch big money enemies to get instant upgrade money in yakuza 0 at least. But not here.)
After putting myself to endless grind torture, at least I can talk about the combat more in depth now
Combat
Lock on: it feels really loose for some reason, or Ryoma/Kiryu turning speed is so low. If you use any style that have longer animations, you will realize that if enemy moves right or left just a couple of centimeters, you will miss and you will miss again. The amounts of charged or heavy attacks I miss just because enemy decided to walk a bit to the left is too high to count this fact diminished my enjoyment.
Sword style: instant guard ability makes this a good style for the one on one combat. But it's shit at group combat. Charging attacks protects you from stun but at the same time you get continous damage from other enemies and if I don't carry multiple health items, it just becomes a chore to use against at groups. But at least there is more than one combo it does have, compared to the other styles. But there is no reason to use it if it's not against a boss fight because of a shitty lock on and slow combos.
Wild Dance style: this style have good range also you have instant dodge so it's good to use it for the group combat. But there is things that ruins this style for me. One is this dodge have almost nonexistent invisibility. So there is always a one ranged or fast enemy that ruins your damn combo. Other one is, it feels really limited what it could do. You spin for attacking... And shoot at the end. There is nothing else to do other than that. Feels like a demo compared to the yakuza 0 majima's breaker style.
Gun style: feels like designed for the people that really want to skip combat. Just go to a corner and press shoot button. If you are so much badly bored, just equip a high damage gun. Also have only one combo. maybe rather than creating entire style for it, just include into the wild dance as a heavy combo? it would be a better choice I think.
Hand to hand: this is the weakest style against anything. To compensate for that, it does have a tanimura guard that makes you invisible against any attack, but unfortunately it's short, you can unlock a longer version that makes pretty essential but until that point, it feels worthless like the kenzan one. Because damage is low and combo speed is low as well... So there is no reason to use it until filling with lots of skill points. When you "unlock" that skill points in the first place of course. Have fun with that.
Main story
Kind of a drag at times, kind of a blood pumping fun at times. Pacing is similar to yakuza 5 unfortunately. But one thing that saves it compared to the yakuza 5 is there is only one character's story so you don't start, stop, start and stop that halts pacing to a crawl. I had fun with the story, especially beginning and the end(to be exact, starting from ch11 and to end gets super crazy and saves the entire game for me). But the middle part sucked. All of it was talk to that, talk to this kinda missions.
Also finale part does not make a lick of sense too. But if you enjoy with the fanservice you will enjoy the finale even if it does not make sense. One thing I really enjoyed a lot is, unfinished yakuza 5 characters used differently to show their other sides. They were entertaining to say the least. So main story is more on the plus side for me.
Side content
Substories are meh on this game, they are pretty short as well. There is one that I really liked that is about a family tries to find a place to bury their poor dog's corpse. That one tingled the feels, I wish there is more like that. Other than that, classic money scumming substories and I will beat you old man type of substories. Nothing too suprising.
Friendship returns with vengeance. Chop 500 wood, eat 30 times, give item 15 times etc. They are not fun and once I realized that, I left them to rot. Because they are repetitive. Also for some reason almsot all interactable npc have a friendship meter. No thanks.
Another life. This is similar to y0 Kiryu's business minigame. In this minigame, someone called "Haruka" wants your help to pay her debt. Yes that haruka is in this minigame for some reason. Then you travel to the house, select vegetables to plant, when they become big, collect them. Then sell them. I did it until completing the Haruka's trust meter. Probably this is the only game that I completed Haruka's trust because of a minigame tied to it. Also it gives you special small cutscenes so I had more of an incentive to go through with it.
Mini dungeons. They are labyrinths that have lots of enemies and also a mini boss at the end. Gets ridiculous as the floors go up and in the end every basic enemy one shots you for some reason. It would be an interesting challenge like dead souls, if you didn't need to return again for materials. That garbage requirement sucked the all enjoyment for this side activity for me.
Crafting. You give the materials, then create the weapon. Unlike kenzan, every weapon have it's own special seal. So new thing is, you can mix and match the seals to create your own overpowered build. Like ability to not get stunned or breaking guards faster etc. It can look unimportant at first, but if you want to go minidungeons and amon, you have to look up what seal does what. Because they are that brutal.
There is also courtesan minigame that you can play rock paper scissors and chicken race. I only did chicken race because to get money faster near the end of the game. But at least there is no romance hostess's this time I am glad.
Amon. For some reason this time amon isn't a pure challenge boss, he is also a level grind boss too. You do so little damage to him that it's almost comical. But he kills you in 2 hits, if it's special attack then it one shots you. I went insane trying to complete this amon, because I didn't "grind enough". Then grinded more and beat him. I got the full invinsibility with limit break on brawler. Then got the sword's parrying disarm ability with limit break. Yet his second phase was so brutal that he keeps one shotting me even with that. Then I found a cheese way, try to get a invincibility parry to yourself when the second phase starts, then try to do sword's light+light+charged heavy combo. If you manage it amon will be down. Then do it again and again, if he manages to hit you while getting up, just use heal and continue your combo immediately. Eventually he will down and get destroyed hopefully. But I have to say, I hated this incarnation of amon. It feels cheap with forcing you to grind.
So I would say, sidecontent is a mixed bag.
Conclusion
Meh combat
Meh sidecontent
Enjoyable story that isn't paced very well.
I enjoyed more than yakuza 5 but probably matches with yakuza 4
The biggest reason for me to shelve this at the time is the GRIND. So I wanted to unlock skills to make the combat more bearable, how do I do that? Playing 100 man battle 50 times. This is not an exaggeration. This is the fastest way without including a rng way.
Then I wanted to upgrade my weapon, how do I do that? Materials that drop from mini dungeons that returns from dead souls of course!... Of course rng included! %1 chance to drop this item that item... So you need to play mini dungeons 50 times at least to get materials you wanted as well too! How nice of that??
Second reason is I found the combat not engaging. I thought it will become better and it did but focusing on unlocking skills with the slow as heck progression system made the progression flow unbearable for me. After Getting to 60 level, unlocking a new level takes at least half hour. Then it goes up to 1 hour just to unlock a new level.... frustration... (Yakuza 0 have a similar problem but At least you can punch big money enemies to get instant upgrade money in yakuza 0 at least. But not here.)
After putting myself to endless grind torture, at least I can talk about the combat more in depth now
Combat
Lock on: it feels really loose for some reason, or Ryoma/Kiryu turning speed is so low. If you use any style that have longer animations, you will realize that if enemy moves right or left just a couple of centimeters, you will miss and you will miss again. The amounts of charged or heavy attacks I miss just because enemy decided to walk a bit to the left is too high to count this fact diminished my enjoyment.
Sword style: instant guard ability makes this a good style for the one on one combat. But it's shit at group combat. Charging attacks protects you from stun but at the same time you get continous damage from other enemies and if I don't carry multiple health items, it just becomes a chore to use against at groups. But at least there is more than one combo it does have, compared to the other styles. But there is no reason to use it if it's not against a boss fight because of a shitty lock on and slow combos.
Wild Dance style: this style have good range also you have instant dodge so it's good to use it for the group combat. But there is things that ruins this style for me. One is this dodge have almost nonexistent invisibility. So there is always a one ranged or fast enemy that ruins your damn combo. Other one is, it feels really limited what it could do. You spin for attacking... And shoot at the end. There is nothing else to do other than that. Feels like a demo compared to the yakuza 0 majima's breaker style.
Gun style: feels like designed for the people that really want to skip combat. Just go to a corner and press shoot button. If you are so much badly bored, just equip a high damage gun. Also have only one combo. maybe rather than creating entire style for it, just include into the wild dance as a heavy combo? it would be a better choice I think.
Hand to hand: this is the weakest style against anything. To compensate for that, it does have a tanimura guard that makes you invisible against any attack, but unfortunately it's short, you can unlock a longer version that makes pretty essential but until that point, it feels worthless like the kenzan one. Because damage is low and combo speed is low as well... So there is no reason to use it until filling with lots of skill points. When you "unlock" that skill points in the first place of course. Have fun with that.
Main story
Kind of a drag at times, kind of a blood pumping fun at times. Pacing is similar to yakuza 5 unfortunately. But one thing that saves it compared to the yakuza 5 is there is only one character's story so you don't start, stop, start and stop that halts pacing to a crawl. I had fun with the story, especially beginning and the end(to be exact, starting from ch11 and to end gets super crazy and saves the entire game for me). But the middle part sucked. All of it was talk to that, talk to this kinda missions.
Also finale part does not make a lick of sense too. But if you enjoy with the fanservice you will enjoy the finale even if it does not make sense. One thing I really enjoyed a lot is, unfinished yakuza 5 characters used differently to show their other sides. They were entertaining to say the least. So main story is more on the plus side for me.
Side content
Substories are meh on this game, they are pretty short as well. There is one that I really liked that is about a family tries to find a place to bury their poor dog's corpse. That one tingled the feels, I wish there is more like that. Other than that, classic money scumming substories and I will beat you old man type of substories. Nothing too suprising.
Friendship returns with vengeance. Chop 500 wood, eat 30 times, give item 15 times etc. They are not fun and once I realized that, I left them to rot. Because they are repetitive. Also for some reason almsot all interactable npc have a friendship meter. No thanks.
Another life. This is similar to y0 Kiryu's business minigame. In this minigame, someone called "Haruka" wants your help to pay her debt. Yes that haruka is in this minigame for some reason. Then you travel to the house, select vegetables to plant, when they become big, collect them. Then sell them. I did it until completing the Haruka's trust meter. Probably this is the only game that I completed Haruka's trust because of a minigame tied to it. Also it gives you special small cutscenes so I had more of an incentive to go through with it.
Mini dungeons. They are labyrinths that have lots of enemies and also a mini boss at the end. Gets ridiculous as the floors go up and in the end every basic enemy one shots you for some reason. It would be an interesting challenge like dead souls, if you didn't need to return again for materials. That garbage requirement sucked the all enjoyment for this side activity for me.
Crafting. You give the materials, then create the weapon. Unlike kenzan, every weapon have it's own special seal. So new thing is, you can mix and match the seals to create your own overpowered build. Like ability to not get stunned or breaking guards faster etc. It can look unimportant at first, but if you want to go minidungeons and amon, you have to look up what seal does what. Because they are that brutal.
There is also courtesan minigame that you can play rock paper scissors and chicken race. I only did chicken race because to get money faster near the end of the game. But at least there is no romance hostess's this time I am glad.
Amon. For some reason this time amon isn't a pure challenge boss, he is also a level grind boss too. You do so little damage to him that it's almost comical. But he kills you in 2 hits, if it's special attack then it one shots you. I went insane trying to complete this amon, because I didn't "grind enough". Then grinded more and beat him. I got the full invinsibility with limit break on brawler. Then got the sword's parrying disarm ability with limit break. Yet his second phase was so brutal that he keeps one shotting me even with that. Then I found a cheese way, try to get a invincibility parry to yourself when the second phase starts, then try to do sword's light+light+charged heavy combo. If you manage it amon will be down. Then do it again and again, if he manages to hit you while getting up, just use heal and continue your combo immediately. Eventually he will down and get destroyed hopefully. But I have to say, I hated this incarnation of amon. It feels cheap with forcing you to grind.
So I would say, sidecontent is a mixed bag.
Conclusion
Meh combat
Meh sidecontent
Enjoyable story that isn't paced very well.
I enjoyed more than yakuza 5 but probably matches with yakuza 4
I've played 6-8ish hours of this, which is not really enough to give a full review, just a few thoughts ahead of the English localized remake coming out in a couple weeks (which I will play in full).
I do read and write Japanese so I can follow this game - for the most part anyway, there's a lot of older period vocab and speech patterns that come more easily to native speakers. Think Olde Englishe but Japanese. I wouldn't recommend playing this if you don't, it's just too text heavy to bother, IMO.
This is a weird little game. I think what will most blatantly surprise people who are completely unaware of this game's roots is how different it is to the mainline series. Combat is completely different, focusing on your gun, sword, and mixture styles instead of fighting straight up. It's not ridiculously different to the brawler gameplay, but it's a lot less clean and sillier. People will be surprised to learn that it has multiple open world zones separated by loading screens, and sometimes linear ones. Full-on Meiji Kamurocho this ain't. Overall, mechanically this is a little clunkier and jankier than the mainline games (unsurprisingly) and I'm curious how much they buffed those out for the remake, considering it seems to me that a lot of fans in the west are expecting it to be like Yakuza 7 in terms of quality and presentation.
The story is obviously the main draw here, and while simplistic in overarching stuff, the individual notes are pretty cool. You kinda need to know the context of the Meiji Restoration and the last gasp of the Bakufu and what exactly the shinsengumi were and why it's important... but if you have a general grasp of that stuff you'll get a lot out of it. RGG's real stroke of genius here is not Kiryu Ryoma, but instead bringing over dead or minor characters from the main series and giving them room to run around and have fun. The most obvious is Mine as Hijikata. It's so nice to have him back in a major role and he really gets to shine. Baba and Park are fantastic, too, alongside the mainstays like Majima and Saejima. Oddly Nishikiyama is hardly present in the first third of the game, but I believe he plays more of a role later. I'll get into it with the Remake review I'm sure but I really dislike their decision to replace several of these faces/VAs with either Y0 or Y7 characters - the lieutenants especially, but I'll save that rant for then.
Stuff I enjoyed: The substories are a lot of fun - the one to do with the dancing crowds as well as the Lady Who Never Stops Fucking Talking will be well received in the remake, I'm sure. THE BATH HOUSE FIGHT IS AMAZING. The animations and detail on costumes and whatnot are great. The opening song (Clock Strikes - ONE OK ROCK) is super good!! If they remove it from the remake I'll kill them! Ryoma instantly spawns slippers when he walks up the stairs in the Shinsengumi base.
Stuff I didn't enjoy: The crafting stuff is super lame, and I've heard it only gets grindier and worse farther in the story. Some of the level design can be a little odd. One of the first bosses is kinda bad and slow. Lots of unnecessary button prompts and menuing, but that might've just been exacerbated by being aware of playing it in Japanese. The upgrade tree is Y0-style, which is my least favorite upgrade variation in the series.
So yeah, just some quick thoughts to get out before the remake. Cool time, but not super high in my personal RGG-verse rankings. We'll see if that changes!
I do read and write Japanese so I can follow this game - for the most part anyway, there's a lot of older period vocab and speech patterns that come more easily to native speakers. Think Olde Englishe but Japanese. I wouldn't recommend playing this if you don't, it's just too text heavy to bother, IMO.
This is a weird little game. I think what will most blatantly surprise people who are completely unaware of this game's roots is how different it is to the mainline series. Combat is completely different, focusing on your gun, sword, and mixture styles instead of fighting straight up. It's not ridiculously different to the brawler gameplay, but it's a lot less clean and sillier. People will be surprised to learn that it has multiple open world zones separated by loading screens, and sometimes linear ones. Full-on Meiji Kamurocho this ain't. Overall, mechanically this is a little clunkier and jankier than the mainline games (unsurprisingly) and I'm curious how much they buffed those out for the remake, considering it seems to me that a lot of fans in the west are expecting it to be like Yakuza 7 in terms of quality and presentation.
The story is obviously the main draw here, and while simplistic in overarching stuff, the individual notes are pretty cool. You kinda need to know the context of the Meiji Restoration and the last gasp of the Bakufu and what exactly the shinsengumi were and why it's important... but if you have a general grasp of that stuff you'll get a lot out of it. RGG's real stroke of genius here is not Kiryu Ryoma, but instead bringing over dead or minor characters from the main series and giving them room to run around and have fun. The most obvious is Mine as Hijikata. It's so nice to have him back in a major role and he really gets to shine. Baba and Park are fantastic, too, alongside the mainstays like Majima and Saejima. Oddly Nishikiyama is hardly present in the first third of the game, but I believe he plays more of a role later. I'll get into it with the Remake review I'm sure but I really dislike their decision to replace several of these faces/VAs with either Y0 or Y7 characters - the lieutenants especially, but I'll save that rant for then.
Stuff I enjoyed: The substories are a lot of fun - the one to do with the dancing crowds as well as the Lady Who Never Stops Fucking Talking will be well received in the remake, I'm sure. THE BATH HOUSE FIGHT IS AMAZING. The animations and detail on costumes and whatnot are great. The opening song (Clock Strikes - ONE OK ROCK) is super good!! If they remove it from the remake I'll kill them! Ryoma instantly spawns slippers when he walks up the stairs in the Shinsengumi base.
Stuff I didn't enjoy: The crafting stuff is super lame, and I've heard it only gets grindier and worse farther in the story. Some of the level design can be a little odd. One of the first bosses is kinda bad and slow. Lots of unnecessary button prompts and menuing, but that might've just been exacerbated by being aware of playing it in Japanese. The upgrade tree is Y0-style, which is my least favorite upgrade variation in the series.
So yeah, just some quick thoughts to get out before the remake. Cool time, but not super high in my personal RGG-verse rankings. We'll see if that changes!
If anyone reading this is interested in trying the original Ishin with the old cast and gameplay, I highly recommend this guide by KHHSubs: https://www.tumblr.com/khhsubs/92228717296/ishin-guide-in-pdf-format
It has everything you need to not only complete the main story, but even 100% complete the game (though I wouldn't recommend it if you don't want to sour your experience).
Moving on, yeah Ishin is pretty great. It has to be one of the most fun gameplay experiences I've had with the series. I was kind of concerned that the Wild Dance style would absolutely overshadow the other styles, but I'm happy to say that's not the case. All the styles are fun to use and they all feel distinct from one another. Though, if I had to choose a favorite.. yeah I'd have to go with Wild Dance. It just feels so good to "dance" around your enemies and deliver a mix of sword slashes and gunshots.
There's also a few changes to the mechanics that I feel are worth pointing out. Since this game revolves around guns and swords, crafting is pretty much essential now. This is something I was kind of concerned about due to hearing from other people that Ishin has a grinding problem. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the grind really isn't that bad, so long as you don't approach it with a completionist mindset. This even brought some positive changes to the crafting system, such as the fact that secondary weapons no longer break like in the other games, so you can use them freely.
A bit of advice; examine every pot and well you come across when exploring and moving around town. So long as you do that, you should be able to upgrade your weapons at least twice. For further ugrades, there's the battle dungeons. You get plenty of materials there much faster, and they don't take long to clear. Though honestly, I wouldn't recommend bothering with weapons above 6 stars, unless you want to become overpowered (or if you want to complete the optional battle arena).
I have to say though, if there's one change I am not a fan of, it's the fact that you need to spend skill points on the skills you learn from the masters if you actually want to use them. That's the only grinding in the game that truly bothered me.
Unfortunately, I can't really talk much about the story for obvious reasons. I mean, I do know what the plot is (thanks to the guide I linked above), and I can say that there's some pretty good plot twists and hype as shit moments in there. But sadly, the majority of the writing, such as characterization, was totally lost on me. This is something I won't really be able to appreciate until the upcoming remake releases, same goes for the vast majority of the substories. However, what I can definitely praise are the excellent boss fights and action set pieces this game has to offer. The final stage in particular is amazing, it's easily one of my new favorites in the series, and I can't wait for more people to experience it.
While I can't say much about the quality of the side content's writing, it's still pretty fun. The most wanted missions were fun distractions, and the minigames I experienced were very enjoyable. This game's interation of the karaoke has got to be one of my favorites in the series so far, and the fan dancing is another favorite.
Anyways yeah Ishin good. I really look forward to comparing this with the upcoming remake, and see which one I like more. I also might update my score once I fully experience the story in english.
It has everything you need to not only complete the main story, but even 100% complete the game (though I wouldn't recommend it if you don't want to sour your experience).
Moving on, yeah Ishin is pretty great. It has to be one of the most fun gameplay experiences I've had with the series. I was kind of concerned that the Wild Dance style would absolutely overshadow the other styles, but I'm happy to say that's not the case. All the styles are fun to use and they all feel distinct from one another. Though, if I had to choose a favorite.. yeah I'd have to go with Wild Dance. It just feels so good to "dance" around your enemies and deliver a mix of sword slashes and gunshots.
There's also a few changes to the mechanics that I feel are worth pointing out. Since this game revolves around guns and swords, crafting is pretty much essential now. This is something I was kind of concerned about due to hearing from other people that Ishin has a grinding problem. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the grind really isn't that bad, so long as you don't approach it with a completionist mindset. This even brought some positive changes to the crafting system, such as the fact that secondary weapons no longer break like in the other games, so you can use them freely.
A bit of advice; examine every pot and well you come across when exploring and moving around town. So long as you do that, you should be able to upgrade your weapons at least twice. For further ugrades, there's the battle dungeons. You get plenty of materials there much faster, and they don't take long to clear. Though honestly, I wouldn't recommend bothering with weapons above 6 stars, unless you want to become overpowered (or if you want to complete the optional battle arena).
I have to say though, if there's one change I am not a fan of, it's the fact that you need to spend skill points on the skills you learn from the masters if you actually want to use them. That's the only grinding in the game that truly bothered me.
Unfortunately, I can't really talk much about the story for obvious reasons. I mean, I do know what the plot is (thanks to the guide I linked above), and I can say that there's some pretty good plot twists and hype as shit moments in there. But sadly, the majority of the writing, such as characterization, was totally lost on me. This is something I won't really be able to appreciate until the upcoming remake releases, same goes for the vast majority of the substories. However, what I can definitely praise are the excellent boss fights and action set pieces this game has to offer. The final stage in particular is amazing, it's easily one of my new favorites in the series, and I can't wait for more people to experience it.
While I can't say much about the quality of the side content's writing, it's still pretty fun. The most wanted missions were fun distractions, and the minigames I experienced were very enjoyable. This game's interation of the karaoke has got to be one of my favorites in the series so far, and the fan dancing is another favorite.
Anyways yeah Ishin good. I really look forward to comparing this with the upcoming remake, and see which one I like more. I also might update my score once I fully experience the story in english.
Man, this spin-off isn't nearly as good as anyone says. When I played Ishin, the only other game I had left in the series to play was Kurohyou 2 and I had gotten the Platinum trophies for 0, K1/K2, 3-7, Judgment, Lost Judgment, and FotNS: LP so I was quite versed on the series. Playing Ishin was by far the longest slot the series has ever put me through and I didn't even go for the Platinum (yet). The story is boring and uninteresting since it's entirely focused on politics and an uninteresting relationship between Ryoma and his fiance. The combat, while interesting and varied, is heavily unbalanced and some styles just aren't nearly as good as others, plus if you don't grind enough you'll hit a wall since later bosses rely on you being stronger than them. The substories and friendships are the most tedious they've ever been in the series with no substantial rewards for doing any of them. It makes me sad that this is the game people want instead of Kenzan which is a significantly better overall package in every way
UPDATE: 6/28/2022
I've finally finished the Platinum Trophy for the game and I've reverted my score of 2.5/5 stars. The plat process is one of the most frustrating and tedious things I've ever gone through and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. This game sucks and is in the bottom three of all RGG games.
UPDATE: 6/28/2022
I've finally finished the Platinum Trophy for the game and I've reverted my score of 2.5/5 stars. The plat process is one of the most frustrating and tedious things I've ever gone through and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. This game sucks and is in the bottom three of all RGG games.
Melhor que o Kenzan de todas as formas, mas estou jogando ainda.
Despite feeling really hyped to try this out, I did feel a bit of regret back when I bought it just because I thought I might not get the full enjoyment out of this as I don’t understand any Japanese and had to use a guide, but I can’t be any more glad to be so wrong
This is easily one of my new favourite RGG games, which I feel like I’ve said every time after finishing 5 and every game released after lmao, but this was so great. The gameplay took a while for me to get the hang of with it having different styles from the main games, but once it clicked it felt so good. Not to mention that this has some of the best long battles in the franchise. The sword style was my overall favourite but switching between each one felt so satisfying to do. The story was amazing too, it had me throughout the whole time. It feels hard to talk about without spoilers but it’s definitely one of my favourites. And seeing all of these characters return like Akiyama and Ryuji, even characters who only appeared in one game like Mine and Baba was really cool… no Shinada though :( also the side content was surprisingly enjoyable, which I originally didn’t plan on doing as I thought I wouldn’t understand it
It’s really a shame how Ishin is still Japan only, I can see why it never got localised when it released but now would be the perfect time to finally release it in the West, I’d replay it instantly. The language barrier wasn’t really much of an issue though tbh because KHHsubs did an amazing guide/cutscene translation which is easy to follow and has everything you need (ironically enough their site went down as soon as I got to the final chapter lol but the tab was still up thankfully), so I’d honestly recommend if you want to play through it. It’s worth it for Assassination of Bodhisattva and the final boss as a whole
This is easily one of my new favourite RGG games, which I feel like I’ve said every time after finishing 5 and every game released after lmao, but this was so great. The gameplay took a while for me to get the hang of with it having different styles from the main games, but once it clicked it felt so good. Not to mention that this has some of the best long battles in the franchise. The sword style was my overall favourite but switching between each one felt so satisfying to do. The story was amazing too, it had me throughout the whole time. It feels hard to talk about without spoilers but it’s definitely one of my favourites. And seeing all of these characters return like Akiyama and Ryuji, even characters who only appeared in one game like Mine and Baba was really cool… no Shinada though :( also the side content was surprisingly enjoyable, which I originally didn’t plan on doing as I thought I wouldn’t understand it
It’s really a shame how Ishin is still Japan only, I can see why it never got localised when it released but now would be the perfect time to finally release it in the West, I’d replay it instantly. The language barrier wasn’t really much of an issue though tbh because KHHsubs did an amazing guide/cutscene translation which is easy to follow and has everything you need (ironically enough their site went down as soon as I got to the final chapter lol but the tab was still up thankfully), so I’d honestly recommend if you want to play through it. It’s worth it for Assassination of Bodhisattva and the final boss as a whole
Good game though the story disappointed me, 90% of the cast was done dirty and i was waiting the whole game for the Hayashi fight and it fucking sucked. Instead you get 1000000 fights with Nishiki of which only the final two are worth anything. At least Aizawa and Hamazaki got somewhat decent bossfights.
The Edo castle level and final boss were the best parts, those were really fun.
A big flaw is the heat actions's damage is wack and the gun gets stupidly powerful when upgraded.
I will never forgive the Hayashi disrespect.
The Edo castle level and final boss were the best parts, those were really fun.
A big flaw is the heat actions's damage is wack and the gun gets stupidly powerful when upgraded.
I will never forgive the Hayashi disrespect.
Honestly the best spinoff game of the Yakuza series. It would be my favorite, but there was no localization, so that sets it back a bit lol. Besides the language barrier, I loved a lot of what this game had in store. The battle dungeons are entertaining, but also a challenge. They can sometimes get repetitive when you start leveling up to stronger weapons, as most of the items are randomly scattered in specific dungeons.
I love samurai style games a lot and this fit right in with my love of the Way of the Samurai series. The music is amazing, this game has one of the better soundtracks.
The Vita companion app is very useful for the Another Life and Battle Dungeon segments.
EDIT: ISHIN CHADS STAY WINNING
I love samurai style games a lot and this fit right in with my love of the Way of the Samurai series. The music is amazing, this game has one of the better soundtracks.
The Vita companion app is very useful for the Another Life and Battle Dungeon segments.
EDIT: ISHIN CHADS STAY WINNING
It's pretty fucked up that one of the best entries in the Yakuza franchise didn't get localized because of SEGA being fucking stupid.
EDIT: this review has aged but they still made some dumbass changes to the "remake" so it stands, nonetheless.
EDIT: this review has aged but they still made some dumbass changes to the "remake" so it stands, nonetheless.
this honestly might be my favourite in the series, it's a shame the remake sucks
Much prefered over the remake personally. Combat is really good in this game, but not very fun in the remake, and overall feels more consistent. One of my favorite Yakuza games.
played the ps3 version of this probably not the best but its what I had access to
but still a much better game than Kenzan with much better combat
but still a much better game than Kenzan with much better combat
Boy do I feel dumb for importing this game years ago and playing through half of it in a language i don't understand
i think this game is pretty good but honestly its pretty hard, maybe cause i didnt upgrade any of my stuff and didnt do any of the training besides komaki, theres probably fun to be had with the side stuff but since i cant read kanji or japanese i wont experience most of it, but pretty fun for the experience, excited to play the remake and understand the story
Ryu ga gotoku: Ishin! is finally done after owning this for years. With the 'new version' coming out (I refuse to call it a remake) I wanted to finally finish this as I did with kenzan some time ago.
Ishin is alright overall and the plot of sakamoto ryoma seeking revenge for his foster father being killed was a good driving force for the story but it becomes background noise for what is to become the main plot, changing the face of japan. If you're into japanese history and how things changed back at that point in time you'll probably like this. But honestly the story became kinda boring overall- more so near the end.
The gameplay takes some cues from Yakuza 5 but turns it into this huge grinding mess. Unlike kenzan you really need o grind in order to get anywhere in the game because of how weak you are to start off. I spent 150 hours on this game when the story is probably at most 20 to 30 hours long due to grinding.
I think a number of people overhype this game because they never played it due to being japan only for the longest time and what other people have said. You can really tell this is one of the test games before zero came out.
Again it's alright but I don't think it's amazing or anything either.
Also don't worry as the game has fishing! Which is good because every game should have a fishing mini-game.
Ishin is alright overall and the plot of sakamoto ryoma seeking revenge for his foster father being killed was a good driving force for the story but it becomes background noise for what is to become the main plot, changing the face of japan. If you're into japanese history and how things changed back at that point in time you'll probably like this. But honestly the story became kinda boring overall- more so near the end.
The gameplay takes some cues from Yakuza 5 but turns it into this huge grinding mess. Unlike kenzan you really need o grind in order to get anywhere in the game because of how weak you are to start off. I spent 150 hours on this game when the story is probably at most 20 to 30 hours long due to grinding.
I think a number of people overhype this game because they never played it due to being japan only for the longest time and what other people have said. You can really tell this is one of the test games before zero came out.
Again it's alright but I don't think it's amazing or anything either.
Also don't worry as the game has fishing! Which is good because every game should have a fishing mini-game.
Another great entry in the Yakuza franchise, this spinoff takes all the issues that Kenzan has and perfects it. Better gameplay and music, and heat moves. Also less annoying minigames and more so fun minigames. Kyoto is amazing to explore, both in Kenzan with Gion, and Ishin with Kyoto, having new areas to explore that isn't Kamorucho is always a treat. Ryoma Sakamoto/Saigo Hajime (Kiryu Kazuma) is an amazing character, and his duality with Takechi Hanpeda (yakuza newcomer/only game this character appears in) is amazing. Characters played by Yakuza characters are equally as amazing: Ogita (Goro Majima), Nagakura (Taega Saeijima), Hijikata (Yoshitaka Mine), Nakaoka (Makoto Date), Katsura Kogoro (Shun Akiyama), Saigo Kichinosuke (Ryuji Goda), etc. It's always a joy to see the characters act both similarly and differently. The amount of weapons and attacks is amazing. The story is amazing all throughout, with usual "cliche" parts being turned on his head. Enemies turn friends, and friends enemies, and amazing bosses, especially the final boss. And the music is GODLY, if you hated the gameplay and music in Kenzan, this game improves on all aspects of Kenzan. Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin/ Yakuza Ishin is a treat to play that sadly, like Kenzan, Black Panther 1 and 2, are stuck in japan. I imported this game and am able to read Kanji, but I also needed to use a guide in order to play this game. The KHH help tenfolds in helping me figuring out what to do in certain parts of the game.
So I recommend this game absolutely if you're willing to put in the effort into either following KHH's guide or knowing kanji.
This is an amazing Yakuza game, asolutely recommend! 😎👍⭐️
I one day hope they bring these games: Ishin and Kenzan to the West in a collection along with Black Panther 1 and 2. Call it "Yakuza Lost Legacy Collection" or something.
These games deserve to come to the west.
#bringyakuzakenzantothewest
#bringyakuzaishintothewest
#bringyakuzablackpanthertothewest
#bringyakuzablackpanther2tothewest
So I recommend this game absolutely if you're willing to put in the effort into either following KHH's guide or knowing kanji.
This is an amazing Yakuza game, asolutely recommend! 😎👍⭐️
I one day hope they bring these games: Ishin and Kenzan to the West in a collection along with Black Panther 1 and 2. Call it "Yakuza Lost Legacy Collection" or something.
These games deserve to come to the west.
#bringyakuzakenzantothewest
#bringyakuzaishintothewest
#bringyakuzablackpanthertothewest
#bringyakuzablackpanther2tothewest
Really great stuff. Even as a PS3 port, I would be happy if all PS4 games looked and ran like this.
The insane grind this game and mechanics being a bit clunky at times and repetitive by the end dropped this game down a bit for me. Side content wasn't very compelling and the story is far too expository even for yakuza. Bosses, long battle levels, probably the greatest ost in the series and general combat are what keeps it afloat for me. Still enjoyable for the most part, but trust me and don't bother going for the plat.
Absolutely worth getting past the language barrier. Excellent combat, gorgeous visuals, captivating whodunit plot and hundreds of hours of side content. One of the best games in the Yakuza series.
Had to play this game with a translation guide constantly open, but I still ended up spending over 100 hours in it despite not knowing any Japanese. Ishin's combat is so fun that I would spend hours just walking through streets and beating up people. You have 4 different fighting styles with their own sphere-grid type leveling system: hand-to-hand, sword, gun, and sword AND gun. There's also other weapons like two-handed swords, spears, and cannons, but they're not as fleshed out as the main styles.
Ishin does have a crafting and farming system, the latter of which I barely interacted with so I can't comment on it, so you may need to end up grinding a bit if you want to get some of the better weapons, which can be a downside for some.
I wish this game would get localized so I could go back and fully enjoy it, but it was still a great time regardless
Ishin does have a crafting and farming system, the latter of which I barely interacted with so I can't comment on it, so you may need to end up grinding a bit if you want to get some of the better weapons, which can be a downside for some.
I wish this game would get localized so I could go back and fully enjoy it, but it was still a great time regardless