OLD TIMES FOR FAMILIAR FACES
Also for: Playstation 4, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Kazuma Kiryu, the original protagonist of Yakuza, has his finger in everything. He
cannot even resist the temptation to travel back in time and star in a story from the 19th
Century. While he doesn't appear as Kiryu by name, the designers
(Ryu ga Gotoku studio) recycle his character model and personality to help us accept
the "new" protagonist Sakomoto Ryoma, the samurai hero of this spinoff,
titled Like a Dragon: Ishin!
It's not a strange choice, because Kiryu is one of the best leads in video
game history. Who else can compete with this stoic, stone-faced, slapstick
jester? I can only think of the Red Dead Redemption antiheroes, John
Marsden and Arthur Morgan, and possibly Solid Snake and Joel Miller. Kiryu is
relatable and dignified in the face of tragedy as well as hilarious
humiliation. In his best moments he reminds me of Buster Keaton, the
comedic master of the silent film era, who remained straight-faced during some
of the most thrilling movie stunts I've ever seen.
Originally released in 2014, this game was a Japan-exclusive release with a
reputation as one of the series' best. The version I'm reviewing is a
remaster, finally translated and released for the western market with some
fine visual updates. Taking place at the end of the Edo era, the story is
based around real historical figures, but the creators spin quite a yarn out
of the real events.
Our protagonist, Ryoma, gets entangled in a revenge plot when he witnesses the
assassination of his mentor and father-figure. After being accused for the
murder, and narrowly escaping, Ryoma sets off after the masked assassin.
The culprit used a unique fighting style, which Ryoma traces all the way to
the city of Kyo. He infiltrates the Shinsengumi, a powerful law-enforcing group of the time, where some of the samurai are well-versed in that
particular fighting technique. The murderer lurks among them, and
Ryoma investigates them, one by one, with dogged
determination.
It's a good, complex and dramatic storyline that turns into a kinda Whodunnit,
with an excess of different characters mainly inserted to mislead you.
Luckily, Kiryu is not the only returning character model. To help players
discern the dozens of Shinsengumi samurai from one another, the remaster
recycles character models from older and later entries.
For instance, the familiar faces of Goro Majima, Shun Akiyama and Taiga
Saejima return as side characters, albeit with new names. While it's good to
see easily recognizable faces, it also causes preconceptions of their
characteristics and alignments - it kind of eliminates some of them as
suspects. That being said, I was surprised to see some loyalty shifts back and
forth. It made for some entertaining, trademark Yakuza twists.
I'm always entertained watching Yakuza-intrigues unfurl, although the
complexity sometimes makes it hard to understand the fine print. Ishin! was
released in between the finest Yakuza games to date (in my opinion), Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 0, both of which got me more invested on an
emotional level. In Ishin!, the confusion overwhelmed me.
The melodrama and political intrigue can be a lot to digest. I'm not very familiar with the times; it was an era of political upheaval, fuelled by
the arrival of the western black ships and their inventions, like revolvers.
The different factions, titles, names and other jargon can be a handful to
keep track of, in spite of an optional in-dialogue glossary.
For different reasons, forced or not, you end up fighting most of the
Shinsengumi, one after the other, in fun and challenging boss fights. As a
samurai, Kiryu can master four stylish fighting techniques; katana, guns,
wild dancer (a sword-and-gun combination) and bare-fisted. The tougher
fights require you to master blocking, parrying, dodging and building up
heat for devastating, but somehow non-lethal attacks. Without healing items,
you're in for a tough time.
Every technique has its own skill tree, reminiscent of the
Final Fantasy X sphere grid, where you navigate a branching maze of
skill orbs and grab the ones you want. Doing so unlocks different moves or
raises Ryoma's attributes. Ishin! leans more into RPG mechanics than usual,
with a slew of different character progression mechanics and damage numbers
appearing on-screen.
After advancing through the Shinsengumi ranks, you get to recruit and assemble troopers and commanders into your own Shingsengumi squad. Although they don't appear in combat, they boost your attack and defense stats, and provide you with powerful special attacks or effects after a cooldown. They level up alongside you, up to a limit dependent on rank. Seeing your attack and defense numbers improve with new skills and character setups makes the combat feel rewarding.
Although the bosses and
minibosses are great, I didn't enjoy the overall action this time around.
Random combat happens way too frequently. Presumably, the different styles are
suited for different situations, like wild dancer for large crowds and
sword-style for tough bosses, but I put most of my upgrades into the katana, which
covered all bases. I ended up relying on the square-square-square-triangle
attack combo to hasten the process. It quickly turned rote.
Ishin! introduces a Virtue-system that rewards you for assisting citizens or
partaking in side activities. At shrines you can trade virtue for great perks
like increased inventory space or improving your home farm, where you can grow
different vegetables to use for cooking or income. Other fun optional
activities include betting on chicken races, serving noodles, chopping wood
and honing your combat skills by deflecting cannon ball salvos.
To me the heart and soul of Yakuza has always been the substories, but I found
them disappointing this time around. A few are great - like the one
with the American samurai, or the one with the seasick seafarer - but too many
of the quests involved building up your friendship meter. It
felt repetitive and narratively unsatisfying.
Like a Dargon: Ishin! might seem original and fresh as a Yakuza experience,
but that's only true on the surface level. A lot of the experience is very
traditional, and you can still fish, sing karaoke, gamble and play shogi. The cannonball-striking minigame reminds me a lot of the batting cages from
other entries.
The gameplay echoes the late PS3/early PS4-entries. Invisible walls and
many loading screens make it feel a bit unwieldy at times. But with a
yearly release schedule, it would feel rotten to ask for a pure remake -
especially when the traditional Yakuza-experience is so good. But I can't help
but feel burnt out on the old formula.
Ishin! is a good series introduction, albeit not the best, because Yakuza 0
has cemented that spot. All characters are new, the story is completely
disconnected from other entries, and at no moment is the game bad. It's also of
adequate length (I half-rushed through it in 46 hours). A
seasoned Yakuza-player might appreciate the new surroundings - ol' Kyo is a
big, eventful city with unexpected encounters around every corner - but might
also feel a little jaded by the familiar substory themes, samey mini-games and
iterated combat maneuvers.
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