![]() The localization of Like a Dragon: Ishin’s in-game glossary is particularly impressive because it’s able to concisely explain many borrowed terms that wouldn’t have elegantly fit into the English script had they opted to substitute a close English equivalent word instead. The Glossary icon shows up even if a player has encountered that same term before, so I’d recommend turning on the option that color highlights glossary terms if you don’t want to end up checking the same terms over and over again. By default, terms that have a glossary entry are not color highlighted during dialogue interactions, though the text box will display the Glossary icon if the line does include a term defined by it. This feature was also in the original 2014 version as well, for modern Japanese players. A lot of Bakumatsu-era terminology is casually utilized in many exchanges between characters, which can be puzzling at times, so much so that the game even includes a glossary that is gradually populated to define and clarify these terms. Like a Dragon: Ishin takes its time before letting players explore on their own, and there are very few notably flashy events to keep things moving early on. It’s nothing new from RGG Studio’s games, though it can feel a tad egregious in how often it happens at times in this entry. NPCs will often disrupt players along the main path, too, either introducing a substory or side activity. ![]() Players are met with early doses of talking to NPCs until a story marker appears to proceed. The first several hours introduce the historical period, the premise of the plot, and Ryoma’s battle styles. ![]() It takes some time for Like a Dragon: Ishin to really get going. Ryoma eventually decides to infiltrate the Shinsengumi, an elite police squad working for the Bakufu (military government), to discover the identity of a certain masked man, and his only lead is that they are a part of the Shinsengumi. He relocates to Kyo sometime later and goes under a new alias, Hajime Saito. Several key narrative developments that occur after the opening chapter cause Ryoma to exile himself from Tosa. After a brief feud, Ryoma reunites with his adopted father, Toyo Yoshida, and his sworn brother, Hanpeita Takechi. Players see the world as Ryoma Sakamoto, a ronin that has made his way back to his hometown of Tosa. Like a Dragon: Ishin turns the clock back to the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Nevertheless, the vast improvements to its gameplay, visuals, and audio make Ishin a blast to play, and it remains one of the most fully-featured games in the entire Like a Dragon / Yakuza series. Some of the new gameplay tweaks present some new minor flaws as well. While Like a Dragon: Ishin’s remake is easily the definitive version of the game, the transition to Unreal Engine 4 hasn’t been the most graceful at times. It also marks a departure from the Dragon Engine that newer RGG Studio releases use, including the recent Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Lost Judgment. This new remake of Like a Dragon: Ishin is a fascinating project that provides a substantial facelift through Unreal Engine 4, since the original version was developed on the engine that powered Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. I personally played the original release of this game many years ago and enjoyed it a lot, so I was very excited to see this finally make it to the west. ![]() In some ways, several aspects of Like a Dragon: Ishin’s gameplay served as a prototype for Yakuza 0, though its core structure and flow are more reminiscent of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5. Like a Dragon: Ishin’s original release was a cross-generational title that launched for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It was the entry that was released right before Yakuza 0 in Japan, and that entry wouldn’t make its way westward until two years later in 2017. Before diving in, I want to provide a bit of context surrounding the original release of this game.
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