This game was made right before Yakuza 0, and it shows in a lot of good ways. A lot of the side content is very entertaining and the long battle setpieces are some of the most fun in the series. Something I really enjoy with the side content is how you're essentially building the protagonist into a folk hero by helping the citizens of bakumatsu-era japan with their problems.
I also think the game's combat is quite fun, quite effectively translating the typically barefisted brawling into weapon-based combat styles. Ironically, the style that is purely hand-to-hand is easily the weakest one.
That being said, for all the fun I had with this game, it is marred by the spectre of japanese nationalism. A lot of the people in the story are real historical figures that have been warped into either just the yakuza character they are in the mainline series or depoliticized criminal/politician homunculi. As an american socialist, I'm all too familiar with the mythologizing of 19th century politicians and the consequences of such.
Another complaint is that the game demands you gear up, and it demands you spend quite a bit of time finding ways to make money in order to do so. Thankfully, I was a diligent farmer, and at a certain point I was selling so many vegetable orders that late-game weaponsmithing was hardly a hassle.
While overall a very enjoyable experience and in the upper tier of the RGG series, the game is inevitably tinged with the uncomfortable nationalism that comes with a fantastic realism retelling of real actual historical events with real actual historical figures that shaped modern Japan.
I also think the game's combat is quite fun, quite effectively translating the typically barefisted brawling into weapon-based combat styles. Ironically, the style that is purely hand-to-hand is easily the weakest one.
That being said, for all the fun I had with this game, it is marred by the spectre of japanese nationalism. A lot of the people in the story are real historical figures that have been warped into either just the yakuza character they are in the mainline series or depoliticized criminal/politician homunculi. As an american socialist, I'm all too familiar with the mythologizing of 19th century politicians and the consequences of such.
Another complaint is that the game demands you gear up, and it demands you spend quite a bit of time finding ways to make money in order to do so. Thankfully, I was a diligent farmer, and at a certain point I was selling so many vegetable orders that late-game weaponsmithing was hardly a hassle.
While overall a very enjoyable experience and in the upper tier of the RGG series, the game is inevitably tinged with the uncomfortable nationalism that comes with a fantastic realism retelling of real actual historical events with real actual historical figures that shaped modern Japan.