Like a Dragon: Ishin boasts a dizzying array of minigames and sub stories, much like its predecessors in the Yakuza series. The sprawling city of Kyo can be overwhelming at first, challenging you to land on your feet as a wanted man in unfamiliar territory — if you hope to survive the story’s events, you’ll need some cold, hard cash. Luckily, if you want to make money faster in Like a Dragon: Ishin, you’ve come to the right place. Here, you’ll find several core techniques for maximizing your profits to and funding your cool sword addiction.

Farming in Another Life to Make Money Faster in Ishin

You can’t grow cash on trees, but you sure can grow vegetables! Once you’ve played up to Chapter Three in the main story, you will unlock Ryoma’s Villa, where you can start your agricultural enterprise. For a very literal (and efficient) method of “farming” money, you’ll want to start selling your produce via the Orders system. You can access the Orders menu in Ryoma’s Villa by interacting with your cabinet in the lower right corner of the map. The more Orders you fulfill, the more money you’ll earn from subsequently unlocked Orders — delivering some Ginseng for the first time, for instance, will award 15,000 mon. At peak farming performance, Ginseng will net you 45,000 mon. 

Keep in mind that you’ll need to purchase the ability to plant different types of produce via the Virtue Shrines. You’ll need to carefully budget your communal brownie points to make money faster. Thankfully, you can earn Virtue by doing just about anything.

Every bundle of produce orders in the game operates on a consistent cycle. The sequence may vary based upon which orders you fulfill at a given time, but you will need to fulfill all of these to start a fresh, new cycle. Each of these cycles will continue appreciating in value until reaching a fixed maximum amount of cash earned per order. Once you hit that maximum value threshold, you should be making 42 ryo, 1500 mon per cycle. Sound like too much math? No problem — check out the table below!

*It is generally best to use any produce that you have an abundance of that is also worth less money on its own. Try faster-growing veggies like Daikon and Carrots!

**To grow this produce item, you will need to have expanded your garden’s capacity at least once. You can purchase each Farm Expansion via the Virtue Shrines.

For best results, scatter the fertilizer you earn from completing orders (or any you’ve bought in town) over your garden. It will dramatically accelerate the time it takes your produce to grow. The game will seemingly only allow you to scatter fertilizer once, however, by walking into the villa and back out again, you can remove that cooldown entirely.

You can also fulfill different types of Orders from Ryoma’s Villa, from fish to bugs to any Scrap Papers you might be carrying in your pocket. The benefit of produce farming specifically, however, is that crops will grow while you are busy with other tasks; they do not require constant maintenance and attention. A tomato can grow itself, but a fish won’t exactly jump on your hook if you’re not there. 

Complete Battle Dungeon Missions

Once you reach Chapter Five in the main story, you’ll have access to side missions in the Battle Dungeon. You can access these missions via the Mission Receptionist in the Shinsengumi Barracks. Each of these dungeons rewards you handsomely for your efforts, and are also a fantastic way to gather crafting materials. While completing all of the missions may be somewhat of a timesink, once you reach the final area, Sanada Stronghold, each mission will be worth at least 3 ryo. 

The boss fight missions later on in this section will be worth 5 ryo each, while the final boss is worth 20 ryo total. If you’re confident in your fighting skills, you can fight that final boss as many times as you like, netting that sweet 20 ryo each time. Just make sure to bring weapons that are capable of quickly breaking down armor.

Catching Outlaws for the Tachibanagumi in Mukurogai

If you want to make money faster in Ishin, you could do worse than the Tachinbanagumi in Mukurogai makes a pretty penny wrangling various scoundrels and outlaws. Upon visiting, you’ll have access to the Wanted Men questline, which will, as the name implies, involve catching these wily rogues wherever they’re hiding. By completing the questline, you’ll have earned a cumulative total of 47 ryo. Not every mission will reward you with cash, but you’ll need to complete each one of the sixteen total requests to reach the very lucrative final mission, worth 15 ryo on its own. 

After completing the entire Wanted Men questline, head back to Teradaya, where a courier will deliver a message from Bakumatsu Bob saying that he has a special treat prepared for you. It just so happens to be a very fancy spear that, should you choose not to use it, sells for a handsome 38 ryo and 8200 mon at either of the two Pawn Shops (one in Fushimi, the other in Rakunai).

Below is a table containing the names and locations of each outlaw you’ll need to wrangle. Happy hunting!

Spend Several Hundred Hours Learning To Play Mahjong

… if you’re confident you won’t end up like these guys, that is. Good luck!

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