Genre: Adventure/Action-RPG.
Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PC/PS4/5.
Official Site: N/A.
Release date: 2023-02-21.
Platform: PC/PS4/5.
Official Site: N/A.
Release date: 2023-02-21.
Okay since I did fell into the Ryu-Ga-Gotoku rabbit hole i've decided
to play the game that interested me the most which ended up being Ishin!
as it is a spin off set in the bakumatsu era starring Ryoma Sakamoto.
There was no other game I wanted to play that badly anyway so it was an easy choice!
The fun thing about it is that while it is a historic fantasy they're reimaging
characters as historic figures! so you have Kiryu as Ryoma and Majima as Okita.
I already played Y0 So I recognized some of them but its story is still stand-alone
so it can be enjoyable to fans or newcomers! Some names you may recognize and that's cuz
they're of the shinsengumi! I did greatly enjoy spending time in old-timey japan! I guess
Hakuouki may be old and busted for me but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it in other forms.
Pro's
- Story is short but decent enough, nice to see yakuza chara's in a differend setting.
- All of the substories were fun, plenty of side content.
- Music fit the setting and there are some really great tracks.
Con's
- 100%ing is tedious, mostly bonds and dilligence records related.
- You can have all the Ryo in the world but you still gotta trade before you can pay of a debt.😩
- Why do weapons not count as 1 inventory entry??!! its not funny to donate 50 bundle blades
one by one to level up the blacksmith to 10 so I can make a good endgame weapon.😡😡😡
More rambles after the jump, i'm just gonna say already that I really enjoyed
my time with Ishin! despite not having played many Yakuza games.
 |
| I ship it! |
the shinsengumi and some politics around that time, I do love me some historic-fantasy
so I was all in on this. Sakamoto Ryoma is the protagonist but since aliases are all the rage
in this game he ends up going by Saito Hajime for story specific reasons.
Don't ask me why play the game.😂 Also while this could seem nothing more than
a samurai revenge story its not really all that and has some good food for thought.
The side content such as substories and minigames also really added
to the world, really its never a dull moment in Kyo!
 |
| No context given to any of these. |
so it didn't feel short at all! The balance of substories per chapter was just right!
sure there are less than Yakuza 0 but here they aren't locked behind telephone clubs
or taking down billionaires. Just times there may still be a prerequisite quest
or you just need to continue the story itself. I also found them more varied
some are fun, others kinda serious or a little sad. I did appreciate the recaps at the start
of every chapter cuz it gets you back on track if you did stray from the main path.
 |
| I ship this too... |
Hijikata wasn't around that much haha deputy chief but let me say that he was a stud.
made me go NOPE. Harada was pretty trash in this game though I haven't played Hakuouki in
a good while so I can't compare that well but most of them were pretty husbando if you'd ask me.
Especially Okita... hoo-boy even if he is a loose cannon he is quite the looker
and I find his dialogue such a treat. Definitely not biases because Majima~.
 |
| Okita ♥ |
Uh moving on you'll be spending most of your time in Kyo best familiarize
yourself with the map cuz boi can it be a maze!
Still walking around town was fun, and while it can at times be like a maze it didn't
feel barren, the town felt alive but I still don't classify these games
as open-world as it is really only one map that makes up a city.
Not pictured: Various roads and back-alleys.
Thank god for the palanquin and being able to save anywhere! apparently
in the original you had to do it at shrines like zero had you save only at telephone poles.
God bless for this upgrade! Sadly I never understood what was the point of praying
at the shrines but oh well... maybe for luck?
 |
| This did bother me... cuz we can't even get to the other side of the pond. |
Also I found that Ryoma who is the protagonist is much more likable than Kiryu
even tho they're counterparts to each other. Maybe it was just the dialogue or substories
but stuff like pictured below really seals it for me and easily lived rent-free in my head.
One thing though they're both just as dense and they've never killed a man. Yes... despite how violent
this game is Ryoma hardly? killed atleast not canonically. I swear this is some running gag isn't it?
enemies you beat up in town just get up no matter how badly they got beat up...
I think the most fitting way to end fights is to throw them into the river tbh and I am
glad they made that an option whenever you're fighting near one.
-
 |
| Not gonna lie, I loved those Ee janai ka? substories. |
The combat this time is not a brawler(although it is there as a style) its more like
an action RPG this time! Ryoma levels up and you can once again upgrade
the various styles, you have Brawler, Gun, Sword and then Wild Dancer which is
a combination of Gun and Sword! this last one I found the most fun but hard to master.
At times NPC may accompany you but this isn't a party based game, you're on your own.
 |
| Didn't take too much sombat screenshots but here is a cool finisher I guess? |
I really do recommend doing the master quests for gunner and wild dancer
as well as getting wild dancers revelation books so you can upgrade it to the next lvl.
Yup... styles will be capped till you learn all and do a miniquest, not doing this
puts you at a huge disadvantage and makes the 3rd dungeon mode cumbersome.
I am glad I atleast got wild dancer limit broken or so to speak!
You can also gather materials and make new weapons for each of the styles
I will recommend you do atleast upgrade your weapons from time to time
cuz if you don't you may start slogging through story boss fights. Not all of them
may be worth it but ''bane of the blackships(purple)'' was good till I got something better
and I did, a certain boss gave me a sword with 800atk which lasted well untill the I got
Onimaru and Serenity at the endgame. One of the bonds I do recommend finishing is
the Sumo guy who I just kept feeding carrots😂 that guy can join as a trooper and give you
auto-healing making it so you can't really diewhich combined with good gear
can make the last chapter and the optional dungeon mode easier.
Anyway that's all the gameplay tips you'll be getting from me! -
Forget the story time to save all the animals! these aren't even all btw....
I really liked how you could befriend pets by completing their bond, they'll even
come live with you! which is nice cuz I love animals.
Other bonds I liked the most were veggie-boi, loyal dog,- sexy-madam, takin-tosa, black panthers
and apothecary. The only one I disliked was the Lost Courier it just wasn't as fun
as black panthers and you like had to open the key item menu to even figure out where
the recipient was even worse if you forgot you accepted it. I didn't do all of the bonds cuz
it got tedious a lot of them like lost courier are also fetch quests and you had to reload
the map for them to reappear. They had a varying degree of how long it would take, some
would max out quickly but handing over stuff to amnesiac man or the guy who tried
to be a hero and having to heal up his health got tedious.😫
Atleast some of them were funny at the end of it but man... ouchie for this guy.
-
I noped out quickly because of that but hey atleast I managed to do all the quest
even tho you had to collect all those memoires for Satow, said quest was also
a perfect send off so at the very least that was worth it!
-
Minigames!
I couldn't really take The chicken race minigame seriously especially because of the names...
I laughed too hard when both feed demon and dinner time got first and second place!😂😂😂
The fishing minigame I didn't understand at first either but once I got the best rod via
exchanging virtue all you need to do was place the lure slightly infront of the fish
and wait for the controller to bzzz and you can hook it! fishing is actually pretty chill and easy.
I didn't really like Shogi(japanese version of chess) or most of the gambling minigames
which were random as heck and depend too much on luck, mostly cuz I had no idea
what I was doing especially shogi and mahjong but with enough practice
you could learn it I guess? I just never really bothered investing time in it.
The karaoke minigame I sucked at but that is because of the busy backgrounds
and just me not being good at rhytmn games, the dancing minigame was alright on the other hand.
The Udon minigame was kind of fun ? I just think the time limit is too short and often
start making mistakes cuz I can't press fast enough or memorize it quickly enough.
At the very least you don't need to earn 10 ryo at once for the trophy so you can go at your own pace!
but honestly I didn't really want to do this more than I had to...
Anna the courtesan was alright too but I was pretty clueless about the first minigame
like I thought you had to hold the button but you have to mash between the two
so the cup doesn't reach both ends. Once I got the hang of it her bond/minigames were fun!
-
Wait there's still something else? how much content does this game have?
 |
| Aww yea! time for some harvest moon. |
You can also adopt a daughter and get a house with a piece of land (to pay off a debt).
There you can cook, harvest ingredients and fulfill request. People will order things
you can harvest or cook, Haruka the daughter will go out and deliver the items.
There are also a few slice of life events there so it felt worth investing some time
into it every now and again. You earn virtue from doing various things the game as well
and you can use it to further improve the QoL of the game, like longer sprints, more land
at your plot or the priestbeing able to sell more items that are otherwise drops from enemies.
This isn't even all but there is a lot that can be made easier even earning more virtue lol.
There are a few events with Haruka too, which were cute. The pets you bond with
also end up living here as well. Sigh... they've found a better home atlast!
Sadly as much as I'd like to praise the uh housing system, paying off the debt isn't as
easy as it sounds because even if you have like 200ryo from beating the game
you still gotta do trades, yup for some reason Ryoma can have all the Ryo in the world
but the payment requests will only come by doing trades. So this another life was
like one of the last things I did in the game before I peaced out cuz I ain't gonna
100% this game. Good luck to any who do though! Yea I felt like I couln't really
leave Haruka alone before I ended my Ishin! adventures.
Final thoughts?
 |
| Sums up this game pretty well! |
The finale was surprisingly strong and I liked the ending. For the most part it was fun
wandering around Kyo and enjoying various things like substories or minigames.
Speaking of substories I managed to complete them all this time!
At first I was definitely lost due to the map being what it is, as the game went on I did
familiarize myself with the town and could almost say I knew the town like the back of my hand.
This game is basically a fan's dream cuz of how yakuza characters are put in an AU.
Okay I didn't play them all but I enjoyed seeing some of them in here, Ryuji
whom I only saw briefly in zero absolutely stole my heart in chapter 8.
 |
| Most wholesome chapter in the whole game. |
but he had more spunk in some situations. Maybe that was cuz of the localization idk.
Speaking of I absolutely think the loc was top-notch, it respects the original
and while it gives it some flair so it doesn't stray from the source. I liked how they
handled the kansai-ben dialect and Tosa-talk quest was done so well. The translators
and/or editors did an fantastic job here especially cuz of the old-timey setting.
-
It might be grindy especially if you want to 100% but just doing the mainstory, substories, another life
combined with the minigames scattered around town provided plenty of content
which didn't even require much grinding, it only becomes a pain for completionists.
I do think I got my money's worth this time... I still feel bad about getting zero for 5$ tbh.
This is a game that will last, I will definitely recommend it if you're in for an old-timey
samurai adventure. The gore could be completely turned off this time as well.
The only real downside is that the main story can be kind of short...
Anyway I mostly had fun with this and just ignored the things I didn't which thankfully
were only a few minigames, once again I totally recommend Ishin! it can be a fun ride
even if you're not completely familiar with all of the cast like I am.
I think my Like-A-Dragon/Yakuza adventures will end here for now though...
the games are all structured pretty similarly but maybe one day I will come back!
Ishin! was just one of those games that I really felt like I wanted to play, so I did.
It may even be my favorite so far! which is weird cuz this is a spin off mostly
aimed at those that already know most of the cast right? I guess it shows that
this game can be fine on its own too or with limited knowledge.
Idk what game i'm going to play next, I think i'll just get Ryza 3 because I definitely
want to see the cast together again because of all the hints in Ryza2.
I also hope Tsuitsui otome game will be decent but as its going that may be the very last
imported otome game for me. I think i'm pretty done with that genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment