THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Yeah, no, I gave my best shot, but this was just a dud for me. It could be a sign of burnout from playing through so many games in this series almost back-to-back, but I got through Yakuza 5 relatively unscathed, so I don’t think it’s quite that. Ishin was just such a bore. It’s an Unreal Engine 4 remake of a spin-off game that never got localized, and that alone should tell you this something of an acquired taste. I don’t blame people who got more enjoyment out of this than I did, there’s something here, massive flaws aside, where I can see the hype. It’s historical fan-fiction with stand-ins played by many of your favorite characters across different eras of Yakuza/Like A Dragon. It’s entertaining seeing characters brought in, many retaining their core personality, and interact in a totally different context. Some, not helped to know they were replacing old cameos from Ishin’s original PS3 release, are just questionable in how they used iconic series regulars as fan service. Like, why did they put Shibusawa and Nishiki in the game but Shibusawa is the one they decided to make Ryoma’s sword oath brother?? Despite the deliberate slow pace, tense dramatic moments, and some of the best directing RGG probably has done, I just can’t feel immersed into this concept. It wants to be a dramatic historical retelling of a famed Japanese figure, yet it wants to also be this fun dish of elseworld fan-service, and it just makes the narrative feel disconnected as hell because neither side complemented each other into something… good? A story that didn’t click with me wouldn’t be much hassle if it weren’t for how the gameplay just feels clunky to play. It’s not even ‘charming clunk’ or ‘jank’ people like to toss around a lot, but something that felt gross to move around and fight in the map. Which I didn’t like either, since I never got hooked into the historical setting and felt we just had the weakest map RGG has ever made. Having multiple fighting styles like slashing enemies, shooting enemies, bashing enemies Yakuza style, or even dual wielding a katana and gun was very fun until the content bloat kicked in with weird trooper cards, unexpectedly dull substories, and so much grinding that I had to put down the controller and close the game right in the middle of a cutscene because I knew this wasn’t getting any better from here on out. This was the only RGG game I dropped, didn’t bother to see the end, and I think I’m fine with leaving it incomplete as that. Yakuza in Unreal Engine is cursed af, I’m glad RGG is never dropping the Dragon Engine in favor of it like some bigger studios are doing recently.

i accidentally 100%'d this game
the crafting system was pretty damn painful im not gonna lie
the combat got repetitive after a while but it was still fun
i honestly found the story quite nice and the way it felt like a theater screenplay was damn cool
i also love the setting of the game, but certain areas of the game were quite empty for whatever reason

This is a weird game for me. I really like the yakuza series gameplay a good majority of the time, but this one is probably the worst and/or weakest one next to 3. I found Brawler to be unremarkable, Gunner was too simple for my liking and realistically the most overpowered style in the game, Wild Dancer is one I used for half the game, but after that it felt to weak. Sword Fighter was my go to style for the 2nd half of the game, as it is the most well balanced and has the blocking ability. The Bosses in this game were really annoying to deal with. I found them to be bullet sponges that take a long time to deal with. But the biggest problem I have with the Game is the Trooper system. The Trooper System is cool in theory, giving you boost to your stats for a limited time, but the problem is that they are tied to almost everything stat wise and it dosen't help that Health Upgrades give you an atom size increase. But this game isn't all bad, I liked the story a lot in this game with twists and characters I didn't expect, the game is really good looking, they don't show the penis in the bathhouse fight, and the music slaps. Just a game that has more style then substance overall.