Very tricky to discuss this one, on the one hand the story is fantastic and serves as a good (albeit very short) sendoff for Kiryu, and it has some of the best minigame variety and execution in the series. Onomichi is a very fun area to explore, the ocean setting is very nice and makes up for Okinawa somewhat lacking it, and it stands out a lot compared to the others as a result.

HOWEVER, there is one key fault that holds this game back from being among Yakuza's best, and it's its progression system. Most people would usually jump straight to the Yakuza engine and it's poor combat and physics, however the occasional jank keeps it somewhat entertaining. On the other hand, the games progression is fucking awful, easily one of the worst of any game I've ever played. Most games that provide upgrades that simply increase EXP are already somewhat flawed as a result, but the fact that even after maxing this you still get barely ANY exp for doing anything is extremely unfun, and makes the game way grindier than it should have been.

Overall, like the other Yakuza games, it's story alone is worth playing through for, and it's side content and map are spot on, but the games progression and combat is unfortunately too fundamentally flawed to keep it from being truly fantastic.