LIKE A DRAGON ISHIN BEST ARMOR SERIES

Once Ryoma joins the Shinsengumi he’ll unlock character cards that can be used during combat. This iteration of Ishin introduces a new Trooper Cards system that adds some additional hilarious flair to combat. Once you get to some of the later abilities for your styles the combat drastically improves, but even simple moves like launching an attack right after a dodge are likely going to be locked out for hours. The game also constantly throws side quests that are far more challenging than the main story, and these difficulty spikes really jeopardize your enjoyment of the experience.

Progression winds up feeling like a needlessly complicated affair, and it takes ages to unlock the more useful abilities or access new equipment. Apart from that, Ryoma can equip a sword, gun, and three pieces of equipment. Each level, both overall and of each style, awards a Soul Orb that you can slot into an ability grid to earn new moves, level up the style, and more. It all feels a bit choppier than it should be, but the bigger problem comes when you factor in Ryoma’s equipment and stats.Įach of the four styles earns experience independently, while you also have an overall level.

It simply lacks a lot of the fluidity and polish found in later entries like Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. While entertaining in its own right, the combat has a certain degree of jank, serving as a constant reminder that this is essentially a remaster of a 2014 game.

Ryoma can assume the style of a bare-handed Brawler, a melee-focused Swordsman, a ranged Gunman, and Wild Dancer, which is a speedy style that lets you wield a sword and gun at the same time. While recent games in the franchise have moved to turn-based combat, Like a Dragon: Ishin returns to the classic beat-em-up formula, providing players with four distinct combat “styles” like in Yakuza 0.

LIKE A DRAGON ISHIN BEST ARMOR SERIES

Fans of the series will delight in seeing how these characters differ from their Yakuza counterparts. Each voice actor gives an excellent melodramatic performance. By the same token, Okita Soji shares Goro Majima’s penchant for murder but with an interesting intellectual edge as well. Ryoma shares a lot of Kazuma Kiryu’s morals and tendencies, but he’s a bit sharper and more willing to use violence to meet his goals. This is a full-fledged spinoff, but the characters all feel like reflections of their selves from the main series. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Ishin is that it ultimately feels like a period drama where the characters are all played by your favorite Yakuza characters. There are tons of terms and concepts from the Bakumatsu period and Japanese history, but the game has a lengthy codex with explanations that can help keep players up to speed. There are certainly high-octane moments, but Ishin’s story slowly builds up to a massive thrilling climax, and the result is a story that has a ton of payoff for its well-written characters. Ishin’s story is stacked with twists and turns, but there’s a surprisingly methodical pacing to the entire affair. Before long, Ryoma finds himself smack dab in the middle of assassinations, conspiracies, and a battle for the future of Japan. After training in Edo, he returns to his homeland of Tosa only to find his adoptive father and brother in the initial stages of a rebellion. Like a Dragon: Ishin tells the story of Sakamoto Ryoma, a real-life samurai that lived during the Bakumatsu Period (1853-1867) of Japan. Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku long feared that Western fans would struggle with a narrative that focuses so heavily on Japanese history. Ishin fills a strange place in the Yakuza series, which now goes by “Like a Dragon.” The game was released in Japan back in 2014, but it didn’t receive a Western port until now.

The only thing holding it back is a convoluted combat system that takes a while to find its groove. Ishin has some of the best storytelling the series has ever seen. There’s also a genuinely dramatic samurai story sizzling with tension. Like a Dragon: Ishin absolutely revels in the Yakuza series’ weirdo humor, but that’s only one half of the equation. The town of Kyo is filled with all of my favorite friends, from “Vegetable Boy” who whines that his mom only feeds him tofu to a filthy cat that repeatedly falls in the mud.

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