Tosa
There are four fighting styles in the game; fists, one blade, two blades and two-handed blades. There are also QTE-based special moves that the player can execute, known as 'heat action'. The first volume contains boss music, generic battle music and long battle music.
The game takes place two years after its predecessor, with Tatsuya discovering that the Dragon Heat arena is under threat from another fighting ring group called Ashura. As a result, Tatsuya teams up with other young fighters to save Dragon Heat. The Yakuza series has gone from being rather niche to booming in popularity. The games are no longer restricted to being PlayStation exclusives and are now available for Xbox One and PC as well, allowing even more gamers to get hands-on with Kiryu and his companions. During Chapter 13, Nakaoka shows the remaining Shinsengumi members a photograph of Hanpeita impersonating Sakamoto Ryoma. This photograph is based on a real historical photograph of Sakamoto Ryoma.
The game is the series' second historical spin-off of Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan. Players can once again walk in the geta of Sakamoto Ryoma aka Hajime Saito as they fulfill their destiny - Samurai style. Ishin featured four different fighting styles that players could change between during battle, a mechanic that was adopted for later Yakuza titles such as Yakuza 0 and Kiwami.
These can be used to earn new abilities, as well as opening the Shinto priest's shop, who sells items in exchange for Dharma points. These abilities can be earned by trading points at Dharma exchange shrines. These are like save shrines, but bigger, and also have the Dharma exchange option alongside the usual options. Each battle style has its own heat actions, with Ryoma being able to learn additional heat actions by obtaining "Revelation Documents" from mentors. Attacking in quick succession builds up a combo score, which is broken after a few seconds, if the player takes damage, or if an enemy blocks two successive attacks.
In the PS4 release of the game, earning trophies causes the PS4 to automatically take a screenshot, but due to the restriction on recording within blocked scenes, they are unable to be saved. She owes a debt of 100 Ryo after her parents pass away so that she can keep the family home. Ryoma agrees to pay off her debt, as well as to live with her as a guardian. Like a similar quest in Yakuza 5, this memory game involves people ordering one of four types of noodles in a sequence, and the player must remember the button combination and press it correctly before time runs out. Unlike the Yakuza 5 version, this game only ends when the player gets the order wrong three times, and Ryoma keeps 10% of the money earned.
The final fight is made harder due to the fact that the enemy will always be in heat mode. Winning a fight series gives the player money as well as "fighting orbs," which can be exchanged for items in the arena store. The player does not actually fight alongside soldiers in the dungeons. Rather, the Soldier Cards give the player special abilities such as increasing strength or replenishing health, by holding L2 and pressing the D-pad in the direction of the desired ability. This uses up their ability gauge, which will recharge automatically after a while. The Soldier Cards are not strictly necessary for the player to beat a level, but they are very useful.
If the fish bites, the player must wait until the red part of the plumb is semi-submerged and press circle again. The fish are graded by length in the traditional Japanese Shaku and Sun measurements . Large fish are rated gold, whilst smaller fish are silver and bronze. Improved fishing rods can be traded for Dharma points at the Dharma shrines. There are rods suited to river and sea fishing respectively, and an ultimate rod, with the best stats for both uses.
However, on the night before it could be carried out, an incident occurred that changed Ryōma's life immensely. Sakamoto Ryoma is living undercover, with a false identity, as "Saito Hajime" in 龍が如く維新 Kyoto. One year earlier, on the eve of the coup d'état of Tosa, Ryoma's foster father, the man who raised him, was murdered before his eyes.
In fact, many of the Kenzan cast are characters lifted from the mainline series and even use the same names in some cases. For example, Musashi uses the name "Kiryu Kazumanosuke" as an alias in the game. The game retains the same characteristics as the Yakuza series, including substories and minigames.
Substories and minigames once again returned, with the fan-favorite karaoke mini-game being included. There are also quirky little gameplay elements, such as Sakamoto being able to befriend animals who then retrieve items for him and a new side-game battle dungeon. The main adventure is completed with sidestories including minigames and a hundred "sub-stories". Like many games in the series, weapons and armour can be upgraded to new versions using items found in the world.