Coming to Yakuza 3 from Kiwami 2 was pretty jarring. Technically it's by far the weakest in the series since the entries before it were remade. It also means it's lacking all the quality of life improvements that were made to the later entries and updated prequels, animations and combat are stiff and the menus are clunky.

As as result I basically mainlined this one (I've still got 4,5 and 6 to play through). The story and supporting cast is really solid and I enjoyed them more than Kiwami 2's. The rest is understandably weaker though. There's a lack of arcade mini games (proper Arcade games in club Sega didn't come until number 5), but it does have a proper golf and fishing games to keep you occupied.
This entry does open in a new area I hadn't seen in a Yakuza game before, with Kiryu running an orphanage in Okinawa, a chilled, smaller, less dense city than Kamurocho. This was very welcome and these sections were probably my favourite parts of the game.

Overall, maybe the weakest Yakuza game I've played so far, largely due to it's dated graphics and mechanics. Still worth a play though.