It's Yakuza 2.

I can sympathize with the criticisms that the game is bloated, but I think the structure warrants it. Unlike 4, which is a normal Yakuza game split between four characters, or 0, which forces you to constant swap between two separate stories, 5 hits a sweet spot for me. Each story is its own little game with its own cast of characters and themes and each has a consistent style and pace to it. I can imagine it getting tiring for someone thanks to the sheer length but I found it great throughout.

Fascinatingly unique and excellent samurai game that stands on its own from the series, while also in some ways being more interesting than a lot of the mainline Yakuza games

I like this one an unreasonable amount for Okinawa alone, my favorite boss fights in the series too. Also got one of the best OSTs in the series.

Beautiful atmosphere, Kamurocho through four different perspectives is a treat, favorite combat system in the series

Cannot trust people who got too filtered by the (admittedly weaker but nowhere near bad) story to see just how amazing the game is.

Cool as hell and underrated as hell.

I don't think it's "good for it's time" or a game which mostly has merit for "starting the series", it's genuinely great at what it sets out to do. Being an atmospheric, noir flavored crime drama that seeks to immerse you in a dangerous yet enticing city.

It's flawed and I think Yakuza 2 does almost everything better, but it's still badass nonetheless, you can feel the passion and ambition.

Very similar to Yakuza 1 I think, sure most of it is meant to be a tech demo but I respect the ambition enough to overlook the flaws. The only game where I really like the Dragon Engine because everything feels built to compliment it

But a lot of things still bother me, I can accept the combat system as an interesting physics tech demo but it feels so flaccid. Weak enemy hit reactions, weak sound effects, a dodge that barely feels functional, your attacks recoiling when enemies block leading to this very sticky and sluggish pace. When it works it feels excellent and satisfying, enemies going flying across the room while the physics engine provides your attacks with a weighty feeling of power, and a lot of new mechanics like extreme heat mode feel great and fit in with the game's tone perfectly but the game feeling this satisfying is a rarity in a lot of cases, especially considering just how much upgrading you have to do to make the combat system not feel like shit.

But in spite of that I still have a fondness for the game, I don't know how to explain why. Onomichi is just a beautiful place to inhabit.

Slow as hell even when it drops the pretense of being a gritty slow burn and goes full hype. When the game is good it's the best in the series, just an incredibly satisfying game, the final chapter is legendary stuff. But so much of what leads to that is so sluggish, constant interruptions from drawn out and unfunny substories and an upgrade system tied into time waster minigames if you want to explore fully what is one of the best combat systems in the series. Just some weird pacing man.

Great story though

Everything I like and dislike from 0 is here exactly, but it also has really mediocre bosses by the end game

I think people oversell how massive a change the gameplay system was since everything else about the game just feels like an average Yakuza game, it's a pretty safe game considering all its ambition. I didn't dislike Kiryu showing up entirely but it's another example of this safety.

Some of the side content bothered me too, it felt just kinda thrown together without too much consideration given to how it fits the game. Like Ichiban Holdings just suddenly showing up and making you go from dead broke to millionaire despite how much of the story up to this point was about homelessness. Like it's funny but ehhh, would've rather seen them stick to their guns and fully went in on being something new and ambitious. Maybe that's asking for too much.

Great story though