This in a lot of ways feels like it was intended to be the best Yakuza game, and at times it truly does reach those heights (particularly in Shinada's story), but the game as a whole doesn't quite live up to its ambitions.

Saejima's story in particular drags the whole thing down, being split between a less impactful rehash of his arc in the prior game and some of the worst gameplay (not really combat so much as exploration and side content) this series has ever seen