How to Earn Virtue Fast in Like a Dragon Ishin

Yakuza games have always featured an array of features and systems that tie into the overall experience, from Yakuza 0’s real estate to Lost Judgment’s school stories. The Samurai spinoff Like a Dragon: Ishin introduces a currency and feature called Virtue, which essentially corresponds to the “goodness” Ryoma accumulates throughout his adventure.

Virtue can be spent to unlock a variety of bonuses, including new features for Another Life, helpful mechanics, new shops, and more perks. The system is designed so that you get Virtue for virtually everything you do in Ishin, but if you’re looking to wrack up a ton of the currency quickly, there are a few easy ways to do so.

Invest in the Virtue Cultivation Ability

The very first thing you should do when you unlock the Virtue system is focus on the “Virtue Cultivation” abilities. By heading to Shrines you can spend the points you’ve earned, and this specific ability is found under the “Virtue” tab.

Essentially, this ability increases the amount of Virtue you earn from most activities, like praying at shrines, eating at restaurants, beating enemies, etc. Because of that, it’s worth investing in early on, so you can maximize the amount you earn throughout the game. There are five different tiers to Virtue Cultivation, with the first costing 1500 and each one doubling past that. It’s certainly a lot to invest, but it’s worth it over the long run.

Complete Substories and Friendships

Substories make up the bulk of Ishin’s side content, and while the hilarious and heartfelt events are reason enough to engage, each one also rewards you with a hefty dose of Virtue. Typically substories will reward you with at least 500 Virtue, and the more involved ones will gift you 1500 or more. At the same time, most substories in Ishin will unlock a new friendship for Ryoma.

Each friendship has a bar that raises as Ryoma interacts with that character, often through specific actions like giving them vegetables or medicine. Friendships, of course, have story content attached but each and every one you complete rewards 1500 Virtue, making it another perfect way to collect a bunch.

Eat at Restaurants

Every time you eat at a restaurant you’ll earn a little bit of Virtue, on top of restoring your health and getting Ryoma all boozed up. However, the Diligence Records also have specific challenges for eating at restaurants a certain number of times, meaning the more you eat the more you earn. You’ll naturally need to restore your health quite often while playing through Ishin, so instead of buying medicine or food from stores, simply pop into a restaurant as you’re wandering the streets of Kyo.

Build Your Garden and Harvest Crops

After the first few chapters, you’ll unlock the Another Life section of Ishin, giving you tons of new side content to wade through. It also happens to be one of the very best ways to earn Virtue. Another Life allows you to plant a garden and harvest crops, which you can then sell or use to cook in your kitchen.

What’s interesting is the Diligence Records have a category for harvesting crops overall, but there’s also an entry for harvesting a certain amount of every kind of crop. What’s especially helpful is you can simply plant the crops, go do something else, then come back and harvest them, meaning you don’t have to spend a ton of time on Another Life.