dir. Ryosuke Horii / prod. Hiroyuki Sakamoto & Masayoshi Yokoyama - SEGA - RPG
If I had played this one before Ishin I would've been reluctant to try out the RPG elements after the clunky mess that was 6...However, I had faith in their development team once again after the spin-off so I went full of curiosity to know who the hell was the guy that replaced Baba-chan as Heisuke...! Sadly, Zhao didn't have a lot of screen time in this game haha!
Anyway, even if the RPG mechanics were kinda rough, it was really enjoyable to play! I really feel like this was the team's go at remaking 1--err, let's not go there. The plot felt super grounded despite all, and I felt so bad for Ichiban at all times... I don't think he was OOC at all during his meeting with some guy whose name I cant remember [joke], I really feel like his writing was realistic in how he handled his breaking point despite being a hopelessly romantic guy who spent almost 2 decades behind the bars... If I had to nitpick, it would be the fact that the English subtitles felt subpar. The Spanish ones were way more accurate...from this game onwards we started playing with Spanish subs, and even then, they took quite a few liberties with what was being said. Which really drove home WHY some people have...such weird perspectives on some events. LOL.
ANYWAY, the ending made me sob, it was amazing. I will fight endlessly to make everyone realize that Ichiban's suit is magenta-ish to contrast directly with Masato's blue-ish green color scheme. He's NOT opposing Kiryu's color scheme!! ← I talked more about that on my 2025 fujo log. ^_^
