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

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 think this one has a lot of problems
They're mostly when it comes to how it goes about pacing and progression
The story itself is good, very tight pacing and good story beats, what you'd expect out of LAD and it has the same quality

My main problem comes in the form of design choices, everything is extremely grindy and, to add to that, very repetitive and boring to actually grind
Trying to 100% this game sounds like hell, just hours and hours of doing the same thing over and over again

Thankfully, you can just choose not to engage with any of this and you'll beat the game just fine, it's not a very difficult thing
Still, I usually enjoy maxing out some minigames or substories, but this entry just drained away all my will to do so, it made me a bit sad

Still, an enjoyable game, despite not being one of the strongest entries in the series

I really wanted to like this game, but it's got a handful of critical issues for me.

Let's start off with the things I liked about this game:
The story and setting were pretty cool! I think both Tosa and all the different parts of Kyo look nice! The way they use iconic characters is fun, if a bit on the nose to how they are in the actual games. It feels almost like a play that everybody put together, which I find pretty enjoyable.

The music is also pretty nice! Well, at least the songs that are unique to this game are pretty nice. There are a handful of songs that come from other games without any remixes or anything to help them feel at home with the rest of the OST. Not the end of the world, but it does kinda take me out of it a bit.

This takes me onto the big things I didn't like about this game:
The combat is... pretty weirdly balanced. Brawler is so weak and stiff that it's borderline useless. The only reasons you'd use it are for the busted parry you can unlock or the handful of times where you're basically forced to use it. Gunman is just kind of boring. Outside of the handful of times where they force you to use it, i only really used gunman for ONE really annoying ultimate challenge. Swordsman feels pretty smooth but it's pretty slow. It's pretty difficult to use especially in boss fights, but it can be satisfying. And that just leaves Wild Dancer... which is the most BROKEN fighting style in the whole game. You get insane agility with basically infinite dashes and some really easy slash combos. Not to mention you get to use a gun at long range, which just kinda makes Gunman borderline obsolete.

Not only that, but I also had this strange issue where the game would mysteriously start dropping inputs for me. No amount of research or messing around on my end caused this issue to go away for me. I also never really found anybody else with the same issue, so it could just be the game not liking the hardware I had at the time.

It's also worth noting this game is SUPER grind-heavy. It is easily the one of grindiest RGG game I've played, which is absurd when you consider there are two main-line JRPG games. The sheer amount of money you're expected to get in order to get some decent gear could easily take you an eternity. What makes it worse is that a lot of the upgrades you do get feel like they make very minimal difference in the grand scheme of things. I always felt weak no matter what I did. Heck, the only reason I got super high level gear was cause of a bug with the chicken racing minigame that basically let you get money for free.

Finally, there was the forced inclusion of trooper cards in the main combat. To my understanding, the original Japanese-exclusive version of this game had trooper cards as a mechanic exclusive to the dungeons. BUUUUUT this remake just kinda shoved it into the main combat. One minute you'd be in a tense sword fight. The next you (or the boss) would randomly start shooting out massive lightning bolts as if you both were wizards. It really ruins the vibe they were going for. Sure you could just... not use the cards. BUT this game is also on the harder side for an RGG game. You get very little health and bosses can do a lot of damage. The solution: get some trooper cards that give you a lot of HP. So you're heavily encouraged to at least have those cards equipped.

Again, I really wanted to like this game. I was hyped when I saw they were remaking Ishin. It was a game I always wanted to play but couldn't cause of the lack of a proper localization. The combat looked super fluid and the locations looked super interesting. Maybe I'll replay this game some day and feel a bit more fond of it. But right now, I just can't help but feel left down.

This spin-off is really great, so glad it came out to the west.
Good story with good message, but not very special one.
Combat feels great, but requires too much grind, I HATE CRAFTING, fighting with pistol is funny, only brawler is shit.
Side content is mixed, has really cool minigames, some good substories, great unique karaoke, but friendship stuff sucks.
I guess its a remake, but they barely add needed QOL like faster skipping dialogues or better inventory which frustrates me.
Banger OST.