A Long-awaited Localization/Restoration With a Bumpy Transition to a New Engine
Disclaimer: I played on a GTX 1070ti which runs the game fine but needs extra tinkering to eliminate stutters and get the performance/visuals that I wanted. Also played on-release so my gripes about performance could already be fixed
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a welcome remake and localization of the original released back in 2014. However, its switch to Unreal Engine 4 has introduced bugs and performance issues that may take you out of the wonderful experience the game is trying to portray. Here are my pros and cons as a fan of the series and as someone who got 100% Achievements
Pros:
+ Amazing Retelling of Sakamoto Ryoma's story w/ the blend of wacky and serious that RGG is known for
+ Cool and fun cast of beloved characters from previous Like a Dragon titles. The recasts are mostly good too
+ A nice variety of side-content that keeps you busy throughout. Casually, it's fun but extremely grindy for completionists
+ Trooper Cards are a nice addition that adds fun and keeps the gameplay fresh and more strategic
+ OST is a banger
Cons:
- Some of the recasts were worse than their original counterpart (Hanpeita and Yamazaki especially)
- Framerate Drops A TON on DX12. I had to switch to DX11 and thankfully that fixed it for me 100%
- Scummy DLC practices. You can only use the DLC items you paid for on one save, the highest difficulty level is locked on paid DLC
- Photo Mode is extremely buggy for me. It lowers resolution and there's a ton of aliasing. As a massive fan of photo mode in games, this is a definite con for me.
Overall, Like a Dragon: Ishin is a fun experience as a long-time fan and someone who already played the original Ishin. Much like the transition from the PS3-era games to Dragon Engine, the transition to Unreal Engine 4 leaves a lot to be desired. I hope RGG Studio listens to the community and apply the necessary fixes such as Shader Compilation to current and future games (as of this review on 04/08/23). With all that said, to all my RGG kyodais around the world... tomorrow is yours!
153 hours and 100% Achievement later, I give Like a Dragon: Ishin a 4/5
Disclaimer: I played on a GTX 1070ti which runs the game fine but needs extra tinkering to eliminate stutters and get the performance/visuals that I wanted. Also played on-release so my gripes about performance could already be fixed
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a welcome remake and localization of the original released back in 2014. However, its switch to Unreal Engine 4 has introduced bugs and performance issues that may take you out of the wonderful experience the game is trying to portray. Here are my pros and cons as a fan of the series and as someone who got 100% Achievements
Pros:
+ Amazing Retelling of Sakamoto Ryoma's story w/ the blend of wacky and serious that RGG is known for
+ Cool and fun cast of beloved characters from previous Like a Dragon titles. The recasts are mostly good too
+ A nice variety of side-content that keeps you busy throughout. Casually, it's fun but extremely grindy for completionists
+ Trooper Cards are a nice addition that adds fun and keeps the gameplay fresh and more strategic
+ OST is a banger
Cons:
- Some of the recasts were worse than their original counterpart (Hanpeita and Yamazaki especially)
- Framerate Drops A TON on DX12. I had to switch to DX11 and thankfully that fixed it for me 100%
- Scummy DLC practices. You can only use the DLC items you paid for on one save, the highest difficulty level is locked on paid DLC
- Photo Mode is extremely buggy for me. It lowers resolution and there's a ton of aliasing. As a massive fan of photo mode in games, this is a definite con for me.
Overall, Like a Dragon: Ishin is a fun experience as a long-time fan and someone who already played the original Ishin. Much like the transition from the PS3-era games to Dragon Engine, the transition to Unreal Engine 4 leaves a lot to be desired. I hope RGG Studio listens to the community and apply the necessary fixes such as Shader Compilation to current and future games (as of this review on 04/08/23). With all that said, to all my RGG kyodais around the world... tomorrow is yours!
153 hours and 100% Achievement later, I give Like a Dragon: Ishin a 4/5