Like a Dragon: Ishin! takes us a world away from the modern Tokyo we’re used to visiting in the Yakuza games. In a major departure for the series, instead of hand-to-hand brawling in the seedy backstreets of Kamurucho, in Like a Dragon: Ishin! you’ll also learn battle styles devoted to the katana and handgun in an exciting hunt for revenge, overturning the social order, and tasting the very best street food 1800s Kyoto has to offer!
The game’s battle grading system dictates how fast you level up and gain new abilities, these tips and tricks can help you master the brand new styles and rack up experience points fast! You’ll need to chain combos, avoid damage and use a variety of Heat moves and finishers for maximum points.
Don’t forget to take full advantage of the game’s training orbs to experiment with new tricks ahead of schedule! And remember, unlike other Yakuza games, Ishin! is very happy for you to kick, slash and shoot a man when he’s down. Keep hammering away and you’ll be stringing together 20+ hit combos with ease.
And now it’s time to introduce the game’s four fighting styles and how you can use them to fend off bandits and Tosa loyalists!
Like A Dragon Ishin Battle Styles: Brawler
This assortment of weighty hand-to-hand attacks grabs and prop attacks straight out of the WWE should be second nature to anyone who played Yakuza 0 or Kiwami 1 and 2. This formerly reliable style has its shortcomings in Ishin! against many armed thugs – see how you go blocking a sword with your fist (hint: badly). A well-timed parry can deflect attacks with a neat judo counter, but your best bet is often closing the distance and breaking enemy guards by swinging at them with the nearest table you can grab – just like Kiryu 150 years later.
Enemies swarming you from all directions can pose a problem. A good strategy is to focus on knocking down just one enemy while building your heat up, your heat move will swing them by the legs, toppling everyone around you helplessly to the floor.
Swordsman Style
This double-handled katana style lets you go toe-to-toe with armed enemies, particularly thanks to Summer Rainfall letting you smoothly break your opponent’s guard with elegant finesse Zorro would be proud of. Strangely, it’s the best defensive class. You can easily tank a few hits behind your sword, and go on to learn how to relieve enemies of their weapons, or even play the Jedi and deflect bullets right back at whoever fired them.
You’re encouraged to use this style in many of the one-on-one boss fights, so you better get used to it, needless to say the swashbuckling samurai style is the best suited to dueling. Improve your odds and get the Serene Heart upgrade as soon as you can, and you’ll be able to regain your guard and avert your enemy’s blade.
Whenever you face an enemy with a spear, this is the safest option. Their highly irritating double hit can easily stagger you otherwise. And whenever you see an armor symbol, this style or Wild Dancer are how you can slice right through it!
Gunman – Like A Dragon Ishin Battle Styles
Turning Sakamoto Ryōma into John Wayne, this mode is fantastic for stringing combos together with sustained fire and lets you pick special ammo effects to slot in the chamber. However it shares the Brawler’s vulnerability to blade attacks, with its combo attacks being a bit too slow when enemies rush towards you.
With the Bellowing and Shrieking Fusillade upgrades, this style improves massively. Each special ammo shot as part of this combo becomes sweeping multi-part shots, knocking them down while inflicting big damage or status effects. Larger groups can pose a problem, but you’ll mop up smaller groups with ease.
You don’t want enemies getting too close, but if they do you’ve hopefully gained enough heat to see them off with an explosive close-range heat action.
Wild Dancer Combat Style
This style is all about offense. It combines the art of the sword with the skill of the gunman while demanding a higher level of positional awareness. With a barrage of wide sword swipes this is by far the style best suited to mopping up large groups with ease. Holding down the right trigger for its special attack and you briefly become a flurry of metallic death.
However it’s by far the most vulnerable style: you can’t block at all, and you better dodge with care – as you’re left briefly helpless for a moment after you twirl away from danger, even more so after special attacks. You’re equally vulnerable at the end of a rush attack combo, so dodge or fire a shot instead of going for that last combo hit four hits to avoid damage and keep your balletic combo going.
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