Kinda a shitshow for me. Combat is still mid (better than 7 though) but was improved enough that I believe it could be good in a hypothetical 9. Hell, some bosses like the shark showed me that a physics based turn based positioning combat system can legit work if they build interesting encounters around it. Dondoko I actually really fw too as a money grinding alternative, more than most in the franchise. Story I did not fw that much... Ichiban's parts were mostly good but Bryce feels like a nothing villain and I really don't like his "showdown" with ichiban. I don't like how fast Akane is sidelined after a quick scene when she's the driving point of the whole first act of the game. The tatara channel stuff brought me outta the experience and I really do not like how Kiryu is treated in this game. I don't like Y6's ending and I feel like its ripple effect has gotten worse as time's gone on, Kiryu didn't feel like he was really hiding that he was alive from anyone - Meaning either he is really disregarding of the daidoji's threats or the Daidoji is legitimately incompetent (Which I would have just assumed if Gaiden didn't build them up so much). A lot of the scenes are good in theory - The scenes with older Majima, Saejima and Daigo in the fishing billage were awesome, but it still leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that he has to "hide" himself but he's willing to go talk to the most 3 famous yakuza in history besides him... The ending was mostly good though, I still really really like Ichiban and the ending sequence with him is INCREDIBLE, though I feel like Kiryu's ending here feels like where he should have ended up (minus cancer lol) we just had to spend 2 games and sideline ichiban in his own game to get there :/

Tomie's the homie, hope he comes back.