Yakuza 4 is major step up in the gameplay department from Yakuza 3. Combat is more fluid and enemies are less campy making bossfights faster and more dynamic with more options.

There's a bucket of neat concepts this game introduced, different fighting styles and a narrative spanning through 4 main characters. And I found all of them pretty damn likeable. Heck , Akiyama is one of my favourites in the series so far.

On the downside, some of Saejima's sections were downright infuriating, despite how much I enjoyed his arc it was the least fun section for me to play through. Other than that I really had no issues with Yakuza 4's gameplay.

Some of the plot elements revealed throughout the latter part of the game is however some of the dumbest shit done in the series. (at least currently of what I've seen) I don't mind Yakuza being a bit silly, Yakuza 0 did that shit so right without betraying the narrrative with dumbass twists.. At the same time the greater moments are super memorable and are absolutely worth diving through the story for. The substories were definitely a highlight and had very varied scenarios compared to Yakuza 3.

Not a bad Yakuza game by any means, but not exactly my favourite.