peak fiction incoming
Another RGG banger 👊
"I now realise what I search for is not revenge, but the truth."
A unique title that echoes the heights of the franchise. A Yakuza game to it's core and the first title to be shipped to the West under the Like A Dragon rebrand, Ishin Kiwami (I call it Ishinwami for short) has a lot to live up to., and it does for the most part.
On the gameplay side? I like it, boss fights are slower than the rest of the series but it goes great along with it's swordplay. It's your average day to day enemies you encounter that pose any real issue, enemies with the spear will give you a hard time getting back up and during long fights you're suddenly forced to fight these giant armoured enemies who you can't use heat actions against. While the combat isn't anything amazing, it works extremely well for it's setting.
One thing I do not like Ishinwami's character changes, they sell completely different images of the characters and during my playthrough there was always an itch in the back of my mind about how it doesn't feel right. Replacing fan favorites with other fan favorites was not the way to go, however, it's mostly ignorable and the average person will not mind. I'm just care for details like this. I just hope if they ever decide to release Kenzan here, the changes made aren't as major.
But story is what's always mattered in Yakuza to me, and for the most part it delivers very well. The game uses the Meiji Restoration era as a metaphor for our dual selves. Japan, much like us, projects an image of themselves which is how they want to be seen as. But just like us, it's plagued with infighting and conflict.
The story starts out slow and takes a while to get going but when it does it reminds me of why I love this franchise. The final fight especially is a great set piece about two men fighting over a legacy, their legacy. I just wish the rest of the game could've been like this too, because the cracks start to show very soon.
The ending especially veers so hard into Japanese nationalism out of no where that all it does is leave a bad taste in your mouth. It doesn't break the game but it certainly could've been handled a lot better.
Ishin reminds me of a lot of what I love about the franchise, but I can't deny that it occasionally falls into the same pits as some of the other games. Jarring reveals and awkward pacing, I still love Yakuza, or as it's now called, "Like a Dragon". I'm very optimistic for the future.
A unique title that echoes the heights of the franchise. A Yakuza game to it's core and the first title to be shipped to the West under the Like A Dragon rebrand, Ishin Kiwami (I call it Ishinwami for short) has a lot to live up to., and it does for the most part.
On the gameplay side? I like it, boss fights are slower than the rest of the series but it goes great along with it's swordplay. It's your average day to day enemies you encounter that pose any real issue, enemies with the spear will give you a hard time getting back up and during long fights you're suddenly forced to fight these giant armoured enemies who you can't use heat actions against. While the combat isn't anything amazing, it works extremely well for it's setting.
One thing I do not like Ishinwami's character changes, they sell completely different images of the characters and during my playthrough there was always an itch in the back of my mind about how it doesn't feel right. Replacing fan favorites with other fan favorites was not the way to go, however, it's mostly ignorable and the average person will not mind. I'm just care for details like this. I just hope if they ever decide to release Kenzan here, the changes made aren't as major.
But story is what's always mattered in Yakuza to me, and for the most part it delivers very well. The game uses the Meiji Restoration era as a metaphor for our dual selves. Japan, much like us, projects an image of themselves which is how they want to be seen as. But just like us, it's plagued with infighting and conflict.
The story starts out slow and takes a while to get going but when it does it reminds me of why I love this franchise. The final fight especially is a great set piece about two men fighting over a legacy, their legacy. I just wish the rest of the game could've been like this too, because the cracks start to show very soon.
The ending especially veers so hard into Japanese nationalism out of no where that all it does is leave a bad taste in your mouth. It doesn't break the game but it certainly could've been handled a lot better.
Ishin reminds me of a lot of what I love about the franchise, but I can't deny that it occasionally falls into the same pits as some of the other games. Jarring reveals and awkward pacing, I still love Yakuza, or as it's now called, "Like a Dragon". I'm very optimistic for the future.
i've been addicted to this game for the past few days help
Je suis dorénavant japonais.
~FINISHED THE GAME UPDATE, 02/24/2023~
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.
I may very well be in the minority, but my disappointment in this game carried the entire 30 hours and the game is less than the sum of its parts. I honestly didn't enjoy myself as much as I thought I would and this will end up as my least favorite RGG game I've played--yes, even the laughed-at Yakuza 3, which I think had a lot of heart and great points.
I didn't hate all of it, and the highs are extremely high, but the lows were far, far too low for me personally. I walked away more annoyed than anything, and that hasn't happened before in this series.
I don't have much else to say, so I'll sum it up very quickly: the combat didn't work for me; the gearing system took up too much time, and the reliance on gear didn't gel with me; the story was slow at first, got really interesting, and then completely lost me at the last 1/4. Those are basically the main sticking points (not including my complaint below about this being a so-so remaster).
I still recommend this game cuz it did a lot of great things, but maybe wait for a sale. Don't let the cool samurai aesthetic fool you, the crime drama modern era games are far superior in my eyes.
~ORIGINAL 02/21/2023 REVIEW~
This is the exact game fans have been clamoring for since 2014 and we finally got... basically the same game from 2 generation ago with a nice coat of paint.
I'm enjoying this game just as I expected as Yakuza/Like A Dragon fan and fully expect to beat this game and see a decent chunk of the side stuff. The world is fully realized and fun to explore, side quests can be entertaining, the combat is cathartic and bloody, and the story--while it takes a couple hours to get going--is captivating and well written. This series is one of the few where cutscenes feels like the reward itself, I'm always excited when the frame rate goes to 30 and the mo-cap is in full swing. The graphics are impressive, as usual, especially with the Unreal Engine 4 powering everyone's pores to the max; lighting and texture work are a major highlight, especially the detailed haoris and weapons.
But I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment around the whole thing.
For starters, as I mentioned earlier, this is same game that was released in 2014, almost literally. Kiwami 2 this is not--this is more in line with Kiwami 1, complete with all the stiffness the series had before the Dragon Engine, for better or worse. I'm in the camp that loves the Dragon Engine despite some combat downgrades, so having an Unreal Engine 4 skin over a PS3 game feels dated off rip.
The lack of voice acting for 80% of the game (read: anything not main story) is particularly heart breaking since you know they have the budget and a top class cast. I find myself skipping side quests now thanks to games like The Witcher 3 spoiling me, and I find myself only stopping occasionally when something seems extremely goofy or especially thoughtful or emotional seems to occur. You really start to feel how awkward and cheap it is to not here music nor sound effects during most of this, just the typewriter sound of the text appearing on screen and the occasional grunt.
I also find myself missing the seamless exploration of the Dragon Engine games that had no loading screens when entering buildings, getting into fights, etc. Kiryu may've controlled like a bus, but the immersion, for me, more than made up for it. I never fast traveled in those games, but I look for the nearest palanquin in this one. I miss Bus Kiryu.
The pacing, too, is disorienting. Realizing what this game is and not what I wanted it to be, I decided to just focus on the story and do the side stuff in a later Yakuza game, like Yakuza 7 that I have yet to finish. But in the first 10 hours or so, be prepared to stop at every alley while Ryouma does his best Kiryu impression and tends to the needs of every man, woman, child, and whimpering animal that stands immobile until approached.
As a whole, it's a familiar and mostly exciting formula, but again, it's 2023 and they've already done better. To regress (or rather, choose not to enhance) in so many ways technologically and mechanically effects me a lot more than I thought it would. I typically love older games and their jank, but Yakuza series is huge, storied, and has a LOT of titles.
There's a lot I love about this game--the combat, the world, the story, the performances, the exploration, the fact that it feels like a movie cuz all the faces are the same--but the stuff that bothers me really sticks with me, like a splinter under my fingernail.
I recommend this game, I really enjoy this game, but I am disappointed. I'm just glad we finally got Ishin in the west, and it was worth it.
Sin duda para ser un spin off este juego es kino
Only a few chapters in, and this game hasn't grabbed me in ANY way. None of the story matters or will ever affect anything, and the game isn't that fun to play.
RGG entrega mais uma vez uma ótima narrativa nesse remaster de luxo, apesar de ser super pesado em referencias históricas, o jogo tem a sagacidade de trazer um glossário que te dão contexto histórico e além do jogo ser bem didático enquanto ao momento que o Japão se encontrava.
Ishin é exatamente o que você espera de um jogo da RGG Studios, enquanto a ao jogo em si, nenhuma critica. Agora o maior problema do titulo vem na performance e na escolha de engine para ele.
- Problemas na iluminação
- Combate levemente travado
- bugs em cutscenes
- problemas com rederenização de textura
Esses são alguns problemas que você pode encontrar no jogo, muitos deles são ocasionados pelo uso da Unreal e talvez uma falta de costume com a engine. Exemplo, jogos da RGG costumam rederenizar todo o mapa para trazer vida as cidades, dito isso, por ser um engine mais pesada e esse jogo está sendo feito pensando na antiga geração, é comum ver algumas texturas não carregarem e quebrarem a imersão do jogador, porque esse é um dos pontos fracos da Engine.
Isso é só pra exemplificar, que por mais que eu esteja dando 9 para o jogo, ainda existem alguns problemas que podem afetar a experiência de outras pessoas, mesmo que o conteúdo in game supre parte dessa frustração, ainda é algo que deve ser ressaltado.
Ishin é um sonho que se tornou realidade, ver esse jogo saindo para o ocidente era uma das minhas grandes expectativas com videogames, devo de ser que valeu a pena, é uma experiência ímpar e deve ser apreciada.
Ishin é exatamente o que você espera de um jogo da RGG Studios, enquanto a ao jogo em si, nenhuma critica. Agora o maior problema do titulo vem na performance e na escolha de engine para ele.
- Problemas na iluminação
- Combate levemente travado
- bugs em cutscenes
- problemas com rederenização de textura
Esses são alguns problemas que você pode encontrar no jogo, muitos deles são ocasionados pelo uso da Unreal e talvez uma falta de costume com a engine. Exemplo, jogos da RGG costumam rederenizar todo o mapa para trazer vida as cidades, dito isso, por ser um engine mais pesada e esse jogo está sendo feito pensando na antiga geração, é comum ver algumas texturas não carregarem e quebrarem a imersão do jogador, porque esse é um dos pontos fracos da Engine.
Isso é só pra exemplificar, que por mais que eu esteja dando 9 para o jogo, ainda existem alguns problemas que podem afetar a experiência de outras pessoas, mesmo que o conteúdo in game supre parte dessa frustração, ainda é algo que deve ser ressaltado.
Ishin é um sonho que se tornou realidade, ver esse jogo saindo para o ocidente era uma das minhas grandes expectativas com videogames, devo de ser que valeu a pena, é uma experiência ímpar e deve ser apreciada.
This review contains spoilers
Like a Dragon: Ishin is real unique in this kooky little game series that I've been fond of since Yakuza 0 first stole my heart. I was hyped to play it and got it early access, and after finishing it this past evening: The Yakuza Samurai game is kinda good with some caveats.
Ishin's gameplay manages well, despite being weighed down by the decade old clunkiness that defined much of the entries at the time and before. Wild Dancer is absolutely bizarre and a highlight for ripping through crowds and stun locking many big bads, nearly completed the whole ring by the end of the story. The gun style is hilariously broken and mows down common enemies well. Swordsmen's is also nice to play yet the most clunky and awkward out of the four, and I never used it much outside of boss battles. Despite the great parry ability, Brawler is far away the weakest link unless items and objects came into play to account for the terrible damage output, despite this being an issue across the board especially against bosses who deal huge amounts of damage and take slivers themselves. Ishin's combat mostly was very fun and rewarding as upgrades opened up, but man I was missing the near perfect combat of Lost Judgment so hard during the first ten or so hours of my Ishin playthrough.
The story was solid with the historical focus of Edo period Japan leading up to the Meiji Restoration. I was compelled by Ryoma's search for his father's killer and how he grappled with his position/legacy as a samurai in these tribes of the Shinsengumi and Tosa Loyalist Party. It was a real solid mystery that slightly complicated the view of samurai as righteous warriors of the land and featured moments that critiqued not just English colonialism, but also the class system in Japan that disproportionately benefited the rich and powerful in feudal society. This was damped a bit with the turn in the second half towards a hardcore nationalist propaganda that tries to absolve the samurai clans (especially the Shinsengumi) even after being shown the terror they've brought on individuals and communities. Our playable character deadass gives a long, rousing speech at the end of the game about what makes Japan great in his dark blue police outfit, despite being very against the way "justice" is handled by both sides of the aisle.
Of course this is a very complicated issue given the conflicts in Japan at the time and the looming threat of the West invading. I don't think the game itself can really disconnect itself from the ideological underpinnings of these clashes in order to tell this historical story as effectively as it did. Still, the heel turn from the first to second half of the game felt like whiplash. I feel that the story could have benefited from three or four more chapters in the middle that better paced these changes like suddenly becoming besties with the captains. Stuff like getting more time with the main individual captains like Shinpachi (who I think even had a moment where he revealed to Ryoma that he didn't agree with the clan's extrajudicial actions) or even the main and final antagonist of the story would have done some good. Even outside the propagandistic tune change, some story elements felt undercooked into the second half as it felt that the game's pace started sprinting to capture so many historical events and wrap them up before the ending arrived.
I'll touch a little on the graphics and framerate from my playthrough. The game looked decent when it ran at 60 FPS on performance mode on my ps4 pro, but the textures and pop-in looked very ugly when loading in the distance or even right out of loading screens. The performance was at its worst during one of the last chapters of the game where the town is set on fire and the framerate chugged for most of the gameplay. Fortunately this wasn't the case much outside of this one chapter, but I'd recommend setting the game to performance rather than quality/graphics mode because of how shaky it felt in the latter in my experience. Strange that this is named a "Kiwami" game since this feels like a slight remaster with some changes in a new engine, but very much not a remake like Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2.
Not much to talk about for sidequests though. There were a few interesting ones that contained some genuinely comedic moments, but most of them were very forgettable and were extended, repetitious friendship events with little interesting rewards.
Funnily enough, the card system did not feel too intrusive to me. They were an eyesore at first but blended into the background as time went on. I'm conflicted on the boss card attacks as they were only a small handful that never fundamentally placed a disadvantage against me as you can guard or dodge easily out of most of them and they feel on brand to other gameplay tropes in other Yakuza games, yet I can see them being a problem for others. The dungeons themselves are cool fun for like 15-30 minutes with how samey the locales are and how easy the enemies are. I barely interacted with the crafting system because of how grindy and stingy the game is with certain materials and money/experience. The game thankfully gave some decently powerful weapons through defeating bosses in story battles, so it wasn't that bad.
To tie this long review off, LAD Ishin was some good action game fun all things considered, though very dated in many places. It clears most of the other Yakuza games for me that I've played and is an easy top 5 entry, even though I still feel a little contentious with the game and the issues I had with it. Regardless, I'll definitely be returning to play more side content and eventually do a legend and Ishin run down the road. Here's hoping Kenzan gets a remaster or remake sometime soon and joins Ishin as the second samurai Yakuza game to be localized in the west.
Ishin's gameplay manages well, despite being weighed down by the decade old clunkiness that defined much of the entries at the time and before. Wild Dancer is absolutely bizarre and a highlight for ripping through crowds and stun locking many big bads, nearly completed the whole ring by the end of the story. The gun style is hilariously broken and mows down common enemies well. Swordsmen's is also nice to play yet the most clunky and awkward out of the four, and I never used it much outside of boss battles. Despite the great parry ability, Brawler is far away the weakest link unless items and objects came into play to account for the terrible damage output, despite this being an issue across the board especially against bosses who deal huge amounts of damage and take slivers themselves. Ishin's combat mostly was very fun and rewarding as upgrades opened up, but man I was missing the near perfect combat of Lost Judgment so hard during the first ten or so hours of my Ishin playthrough.
The story was solid with the historical focus of Edo period Japan leading up to the Meiji Restoration. I was compelled by Ryoma's search for his father's killer and how he grappled with his position/legacy as a samurai in these tribes of the Shinsengumi and Tosa Loyalist Party. It was a real solid mystery that slightly complicated the view of samurai as righteous warriors of the land and featured moments that critiqued not just English colonialism, but also the class system in Japan that disproportionately benefited the rich and powerful in feudal society. This was damped a bit with the turn in the second half towards a hardcore nationalist propaganda that tries to absolve the samurai clans (especially the Shinsengumi) even after being shown the terror they've brought on individuals and communities. Our playable character deadass gives a long, rousing speech at the end of the game about what makes Japan great in his dark blue police outfit, despite being very against the way "justice" is handled by both sides of the aisle.
Of course this is a very complicated issue given the conflicts in Japan at the time and the looming threat of the West invading. I don't think the game itself can really disconnect itself from the ideological underpinnings of these clashes in order to tell this historical story as effectively as it did. Still, the heel turn from the first to second half of the game felt like whiplash. I feel that the story could have benefited from three or four more chapters in the middle that better paced these changes like suddenly becoming besties with the captains. Stuff like getting more time with the main individual captains like Shinpachi (who I think even had a moment where he revealed to Ryoma that he didn't agree with the clan's extrajudicial actions) or even the main and final antagonist of the story would have done some good. Even outside the propagandistic tune change, some story elements felt undercooked into the second half as it felt that the game's pace started sprinting to capture so many historical events and wrap them up before the ending arrived.
I'll touch a little on the graphics and framerate from my playthrough. The game looked decent when it ran at 60 FPS on performance mode on my ps4 pro, but the textures and pop-in looked very ugly when loading in the distance or even right out of loading screens. The performance was at its worst during one of the last chapters of the game where the town is set on fire and the framerate chugged for most of the gameplay. Fortunately this wasn't the case much outside of this one chapter, but I'd recommend setting the game to performance rather than quality/graphics mode because of how shaky it felt in the latter in my experience. Strange that this is named a "Kiwami" game since this feels like a slight remaster with some changes in a new engine, but very much not a remake like Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2.
Not much to talk about for sidequests though. There were a few interesting ones that contained some genuinely comedic moments, but most of them were very forgettable and were extended, repetitious friendship events with little interesting rewards.
Funnily enough, the card system did not feel too intrusive to me. They were an eyesore at first but blended into the background as time went on. I'm conflicted on the boss card attacks as they were only a small handful that never fundamentally placed a disadvantage against me as you can guard or dodge easily out of most of them and they feel on brand to other gameplay tropes in other Yakuza games, yet I can see them being a problem for others. The dungeons themselves are cool fun for like 15-30 minutes with how samey the locales are and how easy the enemies are. I barely interacted with the crafting system because of how grindy and stingy the game is with certain materials and money/experience. The game thankfully gave some decently powerful weapons through defeating bosses in story battles, so it wasn't that bad.
To tie this long review off, LAD Ishin was some good action game fun all things considered, though very dated in many places. It clears most of the other Yakuza games for me that I've played and is an easy top 5 entry, even though I still feel a little contentious with the game and the issues I had with it. Regardless, I'll definitely be returning to play more side content and eventually do a legend and Ishin run down the road. Here's hoping Kenzan gets a remaster or remake sometime soon and joins Ishin as the second samurai Yakuza game to be localized in the west.
This game has my favorite narrative out of any RGG game to date. It had an amazingly crafted mystery that was unraveled well and didn't really have the typical car ride explanations that Yakuza games had. I really liked the cast of characters despite calling them their Yakuza names because those names are just engraved into my psyche. The combat was fun for the majority of the game but certain enemies started to get on my nerves. The music in this game was top-notch and I absolutely loved the remixed themes for bosses.
Now onto the reasons this game isn't a 5 star for me. This game is extremely buggy. I've experienced multiple cutscenes where a camera angle blocked a characters face, the screen would flash black and white, and the game would even lose frames. This game honestly should've been delayed a month or two before releasing so they could iron out bugs. The lighting in this game is bad. I've had this problem with all RGG games on Dragon Engine where it looked like they cranked up the contrast waaaaay too much. During Chapter 12 as well, the lighting got so bad that everybody looked like they had white hair.
On another note, I feel like the story forgot that Akiyama and Ryuji existed after a certain point in the story. They build them up to be 2 central figures in the plot of the story but you barely see them after around Chapter 7. To add to this, Haruka feels like she was shoehorned in for practically no reason other than for the sake of being a random plot point and then thrown aside in her little world and forgotten until the second to last chapter where you're required to visit her.
While it may seem like I have more negatives than positives, I truly did enjoy this game and highly recommend it. Just wait until the bugs get fixed lol.
Now onto the reasons this game isn't a 5 star for me. This game is extremely buggy. I've experienced multiple cutscenes where a camera angle blocked a characters face, the screen would flash black and white, and the game would even lose frames. This game honestly should've been delayed a month or two before releasing so they could iron out bugs. The lighting in this game is bad. I've had this problem with all RGG games on Dragon Engine where it looked like they cranked up the contrast waaaaay too much. During Chapter 12 as well, the lighting got so bad that everybody looked like they had white hair.
On another note, I feel like the story forgot that Akiyama and Ryuji existed after a certain point in the story. They build them up to be 2 central figures in the plot of the story but you barely see them after around Chapter 7. To add to this, Haruka feels like she was shoehorned in for practically no reason other than for the sake of being a random plot point and then thrown aside in her little world and forgotten until the second to last chapter where you're required to visit her.
While it may seem like I have more negatives than positives, I truly did enjoy this game and highly recommend it. Just wait until the bugs get fixed lol.
Really clean game with the best kind of fanservice for Yakuza fans. The gameplay is great and all 4 styles are super fun, The engine is definitely a step down from Dragon Engine tho. Story is pretty good, has some great moments towards the end & some raw ass moments throughout. Soundtrack is fantastic. Substories are decent, some great but there are way too many bonds lol. Blacksmith system is disappointing because the investment required is just not worth it for a normal playthrough, and also makes completion extremely tedious and time consuming
who knew that samurai of the tokugawa shogunate were 20 feet tall and could shoot fireballs using their nyatasha nyanners trooper card dlc? or is that one of those “alternate history” things
whatever... overrated af
as a yakuza game its kind of bad
but as an individual game its pretty great
but as an individual game its pretty great
ASSASSINATION OF BODHISATTVA
A hyped localisation and remake of a much requested game.. that personally I feel ended up being pretty terrible.
Ishin's story felt rushed, and a lot of emotional story beats failed to really feel like they had impact due to how little i got to see of the characters involved. It's plot, while having a cool setting and setup, leaned too hard into making crazy twists... in the same vein as yakuza 4's infamous plot twists. It's historical setting is cool to see, and I liked a lot of RGG's warped versions of past events to fit with their original plot.
The gameplay side doesn't fare much better either. Out of the 4 combat styles, only Wild Dancer felt like it had any practical use and appropriate speed, while the others felt sluggish and stiff. I'd guess that the game wasn't designed around the speed and fluidity of this style, as the bosses tended to have 1 or 2 simple repetitive attacks you can avoid with ease, making this pretty easy on it's hardest difficulty. The boss design being so basic, I think its the worst in the series.
And while a servicable remake, I was disappointed in the choice to change character identities from their previous likenesses to characters from 0 and 7, the two most popular and mainstream games, sure, but it's sad to hear about characters I like getting cut due to that. I would have loved to see a bigger variety from the series as a whole. With these new faces, associated themes come back from their respective games, albeit in a cheap and disappointing form, a copy paste without remixes. The familiar tracks that do get remixes tho are excellent.
I wish this was better than it turned out to be, because I could see with work the game be a lot more enjoyable and engaging, but as of now it ranks among my least favorite RGG games.
Ishin's story felt rushed, and a lot of emotional story beats failed to really feel like they had impact due to how little i got to see of the characters involved. It's plot, while having a cool setting and setup, leaned too hard into making crazy twists... in the same vein as yakuza 4's infamous plot twists. It's historical setting is cool to see, and I liked a lot of RGG's warped versions of past events to fit with their original plot.
The gameplay side doesn't fare much better either. Out of the 4 combat styles, only Wild Dancer felt like it had any practical use and appropriate speed, while the others felt sluggish and stiff. I'd guess that the game wasn't designed around the speed and fluidity of this style, as the bosses tended to have 1 or 2 simple repetitive attacks you can avoid with ease, making this pretty easy on it's hardest difficulty. The boss design being so basic, I think its the worst in the series.
And while a servicable remake, I was disappointed in the choice to change character identities from their previous likenesses to characters from 0 and 7, the two most popular and mainstream games, sure, but it's sad to hear about characters I like getting cut due to that. I would have loved to see a bigger variety from the series as a whole. With these new faces, associated themes come back from their respective games, albeit in a cheap and disappointing form, a copy paste without remixes. The familiar tracks that do get remixes tho are excellent.
I wish this was better than it turned out to be, because I could see with work the game be a lot more enjoyable and engaging, but as of now it ranks among my least favorite RGG games.
At this point Yakuza and RGG are the Ubisoft of Japan
yoo this is like that family guy star wars film but with kiryu and samurai
(very comfy and nice yakuza time that is the only thing i've played for the past month but i felt like the Japanese history and Yakuza parts of this kind of push against each other. this is like if that family guy film was trying to re-tell a huge political tale completely seriously in between the funny moments™️)
(very comfy and nice yakuza time that is the only thing i've played for the past month but i felt like the Japanese history and Yakuza parts of this kind of push against each other. this is like if that family guy film was trying to re-tell a huge political tale completely seriously in between the funny moments™️)
So far pretty great. I feel like the changes they've made from the original are fairly unnecessary and sometimes worse than the original, but I'm still able to get over them. Everything else has been fun.
One of the weaker RGG games, but it's still a solid entry in the series.
"the Like a Dragon characters star in a period piece" was such a charming concept that I tried to imagine other videogames doing the same thing but realized no other videogame has a cast large enough or good enough to pull it off
This review contains spoilers
"Sakamoto Ryoma will be etched in time as the man who changed everything."
I fucking adore the Yakuza series, starting it in 2018 with Yakuza Zero and playing every single other game that's readily available in the West and enjoying myself immensely. Like A Dragon: Ishin! marks the series third remake and the one I believe which is easily the best with only a few hiccups here and there.
Starting with the positives and might I just say the transition to Unreal Engine 4 has been shockingly faithful to the PS3 era of games. While the graphics certainly look different everything else from the menu's and especially the gameplay feel just like playing Yakuza 3/4/5. On that note the gameplay is also a ton of fun, with all four styles feeling incredibly satisfying to use with each filling out a certain niche (though I will admit I mained Wild Dancer and Swordsman because I found them so goddamn fun). Can also say the amount of side content is genuinely staggering, with things like Another Life and the dungeons in particular being pretty good way to waste time and get lots of cash/weapons (really liked Another Life's story with Haruka.) Story is also pretty great besides a somewhat sluggish start with a lot of intrigue and mystery, with a lot of older characters having a great time to shine (especially Mine). Last thing I'll say is it perfectly captures the period of Japan that its set in, with a built in glossary really helping those who get confused which I really liked.
Biggest issue I have with Ishin is definitely the implementation of the card system and ESPECIALLY the new boss attacks. While the cards are annoying they can atleast not be used despite the UI really making you want to use them (they're fine in the dungeons since they were there in the original). The new boss attacks on the other hand are really inconsistently bad, with some being fine like elemental attacks, to fucking terrible like Okita's shockwave and the Shoguns laser. Besides that my only other big(ish) complaint is how weak the substories of this game feel, with a lot feeling like filler or kinda shitty with only one or two being memorable (really liked the chanting one). This is also the grindiest Yakuza game as well, with tons of stuff being needed to get good gear and four styles that level pretty slowly (though soul orbs do help but have also been nerfed from 4/5). Also while I appreciate the game being more based on the PS3-era of Yakuza I can't lie that going back to some of the more archaic bits like the cutscenes and loading zones is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Ishin: Kiwami is a pretty phenomenal game at the end of the day and is definitely one of my favorites in the franchise. Really curious if RGG will go forward with using Unreal instead of Dragon after this but with a transition this smooth I would not be shocked. An easy recommendation and one of the best games of the year.
9/10
I fucking adore the Yakuza series, starting it in 2018 with Yakuza Zero and playing every single other game that's readily available in the West and enjoying myself immensely. Like A Dragon: Ishin! marks the series third remake and the one I believe which is easily the best with only a few hiccups here and there.
Starting with the positives and might I just say the transition to Unreal Engine 4 has been shockingly faithful to the PS3 era of games. While the graphics certainly look different everything else from the menu's and especially the gameplay feel just like playing Yakuza 3/4/5. On that note the gameplay is also a ton of fun, with all four styles feeling incredibly satisfying to use with each filling out a certain niche (though I will admit I mained Wild Dancer and Swordsman because I found them so goddamn fun). Can also say the amount of side content is genuinely staggering, with things like Another Life and the dungeons in particular being pretty good way to waste time and get lots of cash/weapons (really liked Another Life's story with Haruka.) Story is also pretty great besides a somewhat sluggish start with a lot of intrigue and mystery, with a lot of older characters having a great time to shine (especially Mine). Last thing I'll say is it perfectly captures the period of Japan that its set in, with a built in glossary really helping those who get confused which I really liked.
Biggest issue I have with Ishin is definitely the implementation of the card system and ESPECIALLY the new boss attacks. While the cards are annoying they can atleast not be used despite the UI really making you want to use them (they're fine in the dungeons since they were there in the original). The new boss attacks on the other hand are really inconsistently bad, with some being fine like elemental attacks, to fucking terrible like Okita's shockwave and the Shoguns laser. Besides that my only other big(ish) complaint is how weak the substories of this game feel, with a lot feeling like filler or kinda shitty with only one or two being memorable (really liked the chanting one). This is also the grindiest Yakuza game as well, with tons of stuff being needed to get good gear and four styles that level pretty slowly (though soul orbs do help but have also been nerfed from 4/5). Also while I appreciate the game being more based on the PS3-era of Yakuza I can't lie that going back to some of the more archaic bits like the cutscenes and loading zones is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Ishin: Kiwami is a pretty phenomenal game at the end of the day and is definitely one of my favorites in the franchise. Really curious if RGG will go forward with using Unreal instead of Dragon after this but with a transition this smooth I would not be shocked. An easy recommendation and one of the best games of the year.
9/10
It's a good game, it has a good story and if you like the format of RGG games, you'll like this. I would not, however, rate this as high as the base Yakuza games mainly due to the combat being less appealing, mini-games not as fun, and the overall locations less interesting.
Hijikata Toshizō (Mine Yoshitaka)
i'm gonna defeat you with the power of friendship and this gun i found
La Muerte Del Gobierno is my favorite song
It's a tough one. For the record, I have not played the original, so this touches on elements of the original and the remake at the same time.
PROS:
+ Some really lovely work on fictionalizing this just enough that those familiar with the details of the real-life people and places will be left on their toes. I think this comes together really nicely in the last third despite the game practically screaming the Big Reveal at you as it's being set up - that's not really where the thrill lies.
+ Additionally, it's nice to have an RGG game that goes super hard on political intrigue. Previous games touch on politics, of course, but it always has the texture of interpersonal drama among the Important Involved People - factions are typically extensions of their leaders and footsoldiers are very rarely granted any agency in the narratives of these games. You see shades of that here as well, but the political turmoil, the calculus, the maneuvering involved means these factions come closer to being groups of people instead of one big hive mind.
+ Using the facescans/voice actors from the main series for this spinoff is generally quite nice. Characters like Mine getting more time in the spotlight is always welcome, and the big stars are basically just the same characters from the mainline games, so fans of Saejima or Goda that want more will get it. You could certainly be more ambitious with these - I kind of wish Not-Kiryu would give up on the "no killing" thing, but I get it - it's Bakumatsu fanfic with Yakuza characters, might as well ham it up.
+ The Yakuza series is so good with soundtracks that it feels like it's not even worth mentioning that the soundtrack is good, but I'm going to do it anyway: The soundtrack is good.
+ Swords and guns are nice mostly for the heat moves. There are only so many ways you can do a big punch, but the heat moves for these weapons are as heinously violent as you would expect and they're a breath of fresh air. The gun is especially fun in this context.
MIXED:
= Very strange to return to the older mechanics after five Dragon Engine games. A good thing in that combat possesses the weight of the older games, a bad one in that I lose more health to the camera facing the wrong way mid-fight. Wild Dancer is especially prone to this given that the style is based almost entirely around twirling around and between opponents.
= The slice of life... minigame(?) is nice! Unfortunately, being segmented off by a boat ride on the edge of the map means you're never just going to stop in because you're nearby. You've got to consciously decide to go make room to pick radishes in between deciding the fate of Japan. I guess this is how Yakuza works, tonally, but there's just too much separation here and it seems like THIS is the point where this kind of thing becomes jarring for me personally.
CONS:
- Crafting is a straight-up mistake. There's too much going on here, it's too hard to get parts and too hard to get smithing experience unless you spend unfathomable resources crafting shit you don't need. The weapons aren't distinct enough to warrant this Monster Hunter-style equipment progression and the fact that you're not really actively pushed to engage with it makes it worse, not better. The components are everywhere, too, so I'm stuck reflecting on how many resources I'm losing out on by choosing to pursue the plot instead of opening a pot every ten meters during the climax. Perhaps related...
- ...the Yakuza series is generally good at indulging the fantasy of the duel, something I think there's a pretty good appetite for especially when adding samurai to the mix. For me, that samurai fantasy does not include a boss interrupting the fight every six seconds to un-stagger-ably shoot fire from his hands for three seconds. Every ability like this also does insane damage, but I'm open to being told I didn't craft good enough armor or whatever. It's probably true.
- The way they chose to fictionalize this story means that there is a LOT of focus on espionage, and RGG writes not-Kiryu as the least believable spy on the planet. Almost constantly people are saying things like "it is time to kill The Bad Guy" and Kiryu visibly freaks the fuck out, to which the other person will say "what was that about? do you know The Bad Guy" and he goes "absolutely not. I Have Never Heard Of Him" and the plot just continues on like nothing happened. Honestly this is funny enough that it's almost a pro
- I'm generally quite tired of the franchise moving in a direction where we pretend that Y0 and Y7 are the only games that exist. The recasting of characters is mostly fine, given that some of the facescans in the original are relative nobodies, but it REALLY leaves a sour fuckin' taste in my mouth to see every one of the Yakuza 0 lieutenants represented among the Shinsengumi captains while characters like Baba and Hamazaki get replaced with Zhao and Kuze. There's still a captain that doesn't have a main series counterpart! He even gets time in the spotlight! Come on man.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
+ https://i.imgur.com/JA0To49.jpg
PROS:
+ Some really lovely work on fictionalizing this just enough that those familiar with the details of the real-life people and places will be left on their toes. I think this comes together really nicely in the last third despite the game practically screaming the Big Reveal at you as it's being set up - that's not really where the thrill lies.
+ Additionally, it's nice to have an RGG game that goes super hard on political intrigue. Previous games touch on politics, of course, but it always has the texture of interpersonal drama among the Important Involved People - factions are typically extensions of their leaders and footsoldiers are very rarely granted any agency in the narratives of these games. You see shades of that here as well, but the political turmoil, the calculus, the maneuvering involved means these factions come closer to being groups of people instead of one big hive mind.
+ Using the facescans/voice actors from the main series for this spinoff is generally quite nice. Characters like Mine getting more time in the spotlight is always welcome, and the big stars are basically just the same characters from the mainline games, so fans of Saejima or Goda that want more will get it. You could certainly be more ambitious with these - I kind of wish Not-Kiryu would give up on the "no killing" thing, but I get it - it's Bakumatsu fanfic with Yakuza characters, might as well ham it up.
+ The Yakuza series is so good with soundtracks that it feels like it's not even worth mentioning that the soundtrack is good, but I'm going to do it anyway: The soundtrack is good.
+ Swords and guns are nice mostly for the heat moves. There are only so many ways you can do a big punch, but the heat moves for these weapons are as heinously violent as you would expect and they're a breath of fresh air. The gun is especially fun in this context.
MIXED:
= Very strange to return to the older mechanics after five Dragon Engine games. A good thing in that combat possesses the weight of the older games, a bad one in that I lose more health to the camera facing the wrong way mid-fight. Wild Dancer is especially prone to this given that the style is based almost entirely around twirling around and between opponents.
= The slice of life... minigame(?) is nice! Unfortunately, being segmented off by a boat ride on the edge of the map means you're never just going to stop in because you're nearby. You've got to consciously decide to go make room to pick radishes in between deciding the fate of Japan. I guess this is how Yakuza works, tonally, but there's just too much separation here and it seems like THIS is the point where this kind of thing becomes jarring for me personally.
CONS:
- Crafting is a straight-up mistake. There's too much going on here, it's too hard to get parts and too hard to get smithing experience unless you spend unfathomable resources crafting shit you don't need. The weapons aren't distinct enough to warrant this Monster Hunter-style equipment progression and the fact that you're not really actively pushed to engage with it makes it worse, not better. The components are everywhere, too, so I'm stuck reflecting on how many resources I'm losing out on by choosing to pursue the plot instead of opening a pot every ten meters during the climax. Perhaps related...
- ...the Yakuza series is generally good at indulging the fantasy of the duel, something I think there's a pretty good appetite for especially when adding samurai to the mix. For me, that samurai fantasy does not include a boss interrupting the fight every six seconds to un-stagger-ably shoot fire from his hands for three seconds. Every ability like this also does insane damage, but I'm open to being told I didn't craft good enough armor or whatever. It's probably true.
- The way they chose to fictionalize this story means that there is a LOT of focus on espionage, and RGG writes not-Kiryu as the least believable spy on the planet. Almost constantly people are saying things like "it is time to kill The Bad Guy" and Kiryu visibly freaks the fuck out, to which the other person will say "what was that about? do you know The Bad Guy" and he goes "absolutely not. I Have Never Heard Of Him" and the plot just continues on like nothing happened. Honestly this is funny enough that it's almost a pro
- I'm generally quite tired of the franchise moving in a direction where we pretend that Y0 and Y7 are the only games that exist. The recasting of characters is mostly fine, given that some of the facescans in the original are relative nobodies, but it REALLY leaves a sour fuckin' taste in my mouth to see every one of the Yakuza 0 lieutenants represented among the Shinsengumi captains while characters like Baba and Hamazaki get replaced with Zhao and Kuze. There's still a captain that doesn't have a main series counterpart! He even gets time in the spotlight! Come on man.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
+ https://i.imgur.com/JA0To49.jpg
This game is like among us but Yakuza.
Another great yakuza title! It's just more of the same and I like it that way, the main difference in this game is the setting which reminds me of those Simpsons episodes where they tell a story, and each of the characters in the story is represented by Simpsons characters even though it's a totally different setting, this game does the same but in the 1800s of Japan.
Another big difference in this game is that it's mostly just melee focused since your main weapon is a katana with no durability effect on it, they cannot break. They also give you a gun and the ability to play with the classic brawl weaponless controls though it is not really recommended in this game.
Overall I think this is the most fun I've had with a Yakuza game combat system, but I also think this game is the toughest. In the late game, I've experienced a lot of really annoying enemies which really drain your health, and the same for the bosses they really love stunning you and spamming combos at you and I think it can get fairly frustrating, I've never really had an issue with Yakuza difficulty in any game other than Ishin and 3.
I have not bothered with the 100% completion because it's always a drag in yakuza games but from what I've seen it seems like it has the most fun side content of all Yakuza games, maybe not as fun as 0 though.
Same ups and same downs as usual, it's another yakuza game!
Yakuza games always have moments where they really dump a lot of information at you and it's honestly boring and overwhelming I always thought of this as a flaw but it might just be me not being patient enough. I never really took yakuza games story that seriously so sometimes being forced to listen to discussions about clans, family, and a bunch of Japanese names which I always have trouble remembering I think it can get a bit boring, but that's a personal feeling, not a negative point.
Samurai Ondo is the best karaoke song.
Another great yakuza title! It's just more of the same and I like it that way, the main difference in this game is the setting which reminds me of those Simpsons episodes where they tell a story, and each of the characters in the story is represented by Simpsons characters even though it's a totally different setting, this game does the same but in the 1800s of Japan.
Another big difference in this game is that it's mostly just melee focused since your main weapon is a katana with no durability effect on it, they cannot break. They also give you a gun and the ability to play with the classic brawl weaponless controls though it is not really recommended in this game.
Overall I think this is the most fun I've had with a Yakuza game combat system, but I also think this game is the toughest. In the late game, I've experienced a lot of really annoying enemies which really drain your health, and the same for the bosses they really love stunning you and spamming combos at you and I think it can get fairly frustrating, I've never really had an issue with Yakuza difficulty in any game other than Ishin and 3.
I have not bothered with the 100% completion because it's always a drag in yakuza games but from what I've seen it seems like it has the most fun side content of all Yakuza games, maybe not as fun as 0 though.
Same ups and same downs as usual, it's another yakuza game!
Yakuza games always have moments where they really dump a lot of information at you and it's honestly boring and overwhelming I always thought of this as a flaw but it might just be me not being patient enough. I never really took yakuza games story that seriously so sometimes being forced to listen to discussions about clans, family, and a bunch of Japanese names which I always have trouble remembering I think it can get a bit boring, but that's a personal feeling, not a negative point.
Samurai Ondo is the best karaoke song.
Kiryu and company go back in time to do the same thing they always do: tell a phenomenal story with captivating characters in an engaging setting.
I've spoken before about how RGG/Like a Dragon reviews outside of Y7/Like a Dragon boil down to the same talking points, so I figured this review will run pretty short as I want to condense the pros/cons and how that aligns with other RGG titles.
The first positive is that this is again a fantastically written tale of deceit and treachery, however unlike the other titles in the series, doesn't take place in contemporary Japan. I'm a sucker for a well done period piece like Ghost of Tsushima or the Red Dead Series and it's a no brainer at this point that RGG could and would join the ranks of those works by releasing a title of their own. I know this is a remake of a previously released game, but this is my first time playing it. Jidaigeki stuff is under-represented, lets get some more quality titles out of this era! Seldom do you see games release in the west that touch on the unique piece of history that was the beginning of the Meiji restoration and the departure of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Running through it with an ensemble cast of characters from the franchise I've spent the last year focusing on based upon real people who existed in actual ancient Japan (yes that was intentional) made me feel like I was in a candy store. The familiar allies and foes make this journey into the past feel significant, as you have a ground base for who will help you, who will betray you, and who might be a little... mad (I love Goro Majima and I'm not afraid to say it.) To not ramble on about another RGG story I'll wrap it up by saying this is a typical interweaving RGG tale about a captivating piece of history that houses their trademark plot twists and out of the blue assists. Second to how well the story is written, this game is downright beautiful. The zones are small, which is typical at this point for the series, but crafted perfectly to make them feel alive but most importantly the characters look GOOD. RGG has spent the last few years narrowing down on an engine that makes Kiryu and the gang look better than almost any other developer out there, almost turning the characters within the game into real people with how realistic the engine does its work.
Cons are, well, more Yakuza/Like a Dragon cons. The combat is... mostly good, honestly I had more fun with the wild dancer class than I have in any Yakuza game since Majima's bat class in Y0, but it still falls flat when it comes to boss fights. Bosses are simply awful throughout this game, and for the most part that isn't the worst because you can employ the tried and true "stack healing items" strat right before the chapter ending battles, but that gets annoying after doing it time and time again. Surely you could say "git gud," but these battles feel more like a war of attrition and learning unblockable combo timings than they do a test of skill. Bosses have pools of health so inflated they could be used in a pool and will instant break out of your stun-lock (which isn't new to the franchise.) At least this time they don't have multiple health bars (minus the armor bar,) yet the ability to cheat the actual mechanics of the game that the player can't even pull off is straight up antagonizing to you. Additionally, the constant falling when taking damage and having to press A/equivalent to get up is excessively furstrating and kills a lot of rhythm that the combat has. The taking a combo from a boss, pressing A, getting combo'd again, pressing A, combo'd again loop had me in a tizzy. In an attempt to test how much bosses could break the game, I attempted to see how many attacks I could get in before the boss I was attacking would stop blocking near the end of the game and got to thirty-three. Abysmal. Lastly, the ending gauntlet of this game is maniacal, giving players five bosses and a plethora of enemies in between to fight without an opportunity to obtain more healing.
I'd recommend this heavily to any fan of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise. My qualms ending up longer than my positive takeaways with the game are only a result of my previous experiences with RGG and the zero-sum game of propping-up each game's story without spoilers. I had a great experience overall and more Kiryu (rather Sakamoto Ryōma) is always a good time.
I've spoken before about how RGG/Like a Dragon reviews outside of Y7/Like a Dragon boil down to the same talking points, so I figured this review will run pretty short as I want to condense the pros/cons and how that aligns with other RGG titles.
The first positive is that this is again a fantastically written tale of deceit and treachery, however unlike the other titles in the series, doesn't take place in contemporary Japan. I'm a sucker for a well done period piece like Ghost of Tsushima or the Red Dead Series and it's a no brainer at this point that RGG could and would join the ranks of those works by releasing a title of their own. I know this is a remake of a previously released game, but this is my first time playing it. Jidaigeki stuff is under-represented, lets get some more quality titles out of this era! Seldom do you see games release in the west that touch on the unique piece of history that was the beginning of the Meiji restoration and the departure of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Running through it with an ensemble cast of characters from the franchise I've spent the last year focusing on based upon real people who existed in actual ancient Japan (yes that was intentional) made me feel like I was in a candy store. The familiar allies and foes make this journey into the past feel significant, as you have a ground base for who will help you, who will betray you, and who might be a little... mad (I love Goro Majima and I'm not afraid to say it.) To not ramble on about another RGG story I'll wrap it up by saying this is a typical interweaving RGG tale about a captivating piece of history that houses their trademark plot twists and out of the blue assists. Second to how well the story is written, this game is downright beautiful. The zones are small, which is typical at this point for the series, but crafted perfectly to make them feel alive but most importantly the characters look GOOD. RGG has spent the last few years narrowing down on an engine that makes Kiryu and the gang look better than almost any other developer out there, almost turning the characters within the game into real people with how realistic the engine does its work.
Cons are, well, more Yakuza/Like a Dragon cons. The combat is... mostly good, honestly I had more fun with the wild dancer class than I have in any Yakuza game since Majima's bat class in Y0, but it still falls flat when it comes to boss fights. Bosses are simply awful throughout this game, and for the most part that isn't the worst because you can employ the tried and true "stack healing items" strat right before the chapter ending battles, but that gets annoying after doing it time and time again. Surely you could say "git gud," but these battles feel more like a war of attrition and learning unblockable combo timings than they do a test of skill. Bosses have pools of health so inflated they could be used in a pool and will instant break out of your stun-lock (which isn't new to the franchise.) At least this time they don't have multiple health bars (minus the armor bar,) yet the ability to cheat the actual mechanics of the game that the player can't even pull off is straight up antagonizing to you. Additionally, the constant falling when taking damage and having to press A/equivalent to get up is excessively furstrating and kills a lot of rhythm that the combat has. The taking a combo from a boss, pressing A, getting combo'd again, pressing A, combo'd again loop had me in a tizzy. In an attempt to test how much bosses could break the game, I attempted to see how many attacks I could get in before the boss I was attacking would stop blocking near the end of the game and got to thirty-three. Abysmal. Lastly, the ending gauntlet of this game is maniacal, giving players five bosses and a plethora of enemies in between to fight without an opportunity to obtain more healing.
I'd recommend this heavily to any fan of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise. My qualms ending up longer than my positive takeaways with the game are only a result of my previous experiences with RGG and the zero-sum game of propping-up each game's story without spoilers. I had a great experience overall and more Kiryu (rather Sakamoto Ryōma) is always a good time.