completely forgot to log this game after I beat it

This game is great, while I do think the final couple chapters of the game where it pulls off 12 different twists in one cutscene is silly, everything else about it is great.

Every character is fantastic to play as, all with completely unique movesets and gameplay styles to them. With Kiryu being the last playable and being a complete fucking tank over everyone else. The gameplay feels great, improves a bit on y3s gameplay and expands more with the extra characters. Again, the remaster has its issues that break some parts of the game, but it's still worth playing.

This is basically my entry point into the series aswell, not including when I played Y0 when it came out YEARS ago and haven't replayed it since, but this is very beginner friendly. If you are gonna start with a Yakuza game but aren't sure about the PS2 ones yet, start here.

All the issues with the remaster itself aside, this is so far my favorite Yakuza game. The combat is basically Y2's but it controls better and takes a little bit longer for you to get the combo speed as fast as it was, but everything about the combat in this game feels great. All the heat actions and encounters were fun, and every long battle was just incredible because of the better controls and feel of this game.
I liked the story a lot, I think the first couple hours of the game, while slow, is some of the best because it's basically just Kiryu having a vacation.
I can't see why anyone would skip this game at all, nearing the end of this game it came to me just how much I loved it.

I was genuinely, really excited to play this game, especially after beating SH2, but god fuck is the first half of this game just unbearable. It feels like that they overcorrected in making the gameplay less easy by just making every single encounter annoying. For one, they're all damage sponges, which isn't bad at all, but worse considering that they put in atleast 3 to 4 at a time in one room, and most of the time they are just faster than you. The first half of this game aswell is also just really really linear, with next to no puzzle solving at all, unless you wanna count different shades of finding keys to open doors so you can find more keys to open more doors puzzle solving. I don't hate the fact that the gameplay is more focused on survival horror, but almost all your weapons suck and you're just forced to not engage with this games combat and run around everything, which isn't a problem that's fine, every survival horror is like that, but it's the fact that there is always so many enemies in every single room, and they're all usually very claustrophobic hallways, and the enemies are faster than you and will stunlock you.
What sucks the most, is the fact the last half of the game is basically near perfect. Albeit, it just reuses the hospital from SH2, and remade the theme park from SH1, but that's not bad at all really, especially with the fact the remade theme park is fantastic. The combat/gameplay just becomes better, there's a lot more puzzle solving which, albeit, isn't as fun as it was in 2 or 1 but is still really enjoyable.
The otherworld in this game looks fantastic and I was always glad to see more of it in this game since there was a lack of it in SH2. This game has genuinely frightening moments and scared me a couple times.
The story is also really good, continuing off the ending of SH1, with some really great character writing, Heather I honestly think is the best SH protagonist.

If the entire game was basically just like the last half of it but extended, this would be my favorite, but god is the first half just unbearable.

Fantastic game and a real big step up from SH1. I think the gameplay itself is fine but could be better, it's way too easy and flushes you with ammo, but it makes changes to the actual controls and feel that make it more responsive and better to fight enemies as opposed to SH1. The story and atmosphere are incredible aswell, I can definitely see how people can say this is their favorite survival horror game. I just think that it doesn't really fulfill in that "survival" aspect. Other than that, great game.

Very great game with fantastic atmosphere and style. For a PS1 game this really does just push the hardware to its limits and it shows. Just about everything on display is fantastic and all blends together. The main thing I just didn't like about this game was the overall combat and gameplay loop. It's just not very intuitive and just outright expects you to know certain things to get the best ending. I can definitely see the appeal to this game, I just think the flaws stick out the most amidst the great things about it.

7 or an 8/10 depending on my mood. The entire game is really really good, with fantastic atmosphere and puzzles with a fun twist on chase enemies as a concept. The 2nd act of this game really shines in its gameplay. But once you get to the last act of the game it really starts to drag, with genuinely really horrible puzzles and 2 new chase enemies that are completely annoying with one of the worst ideas for a final boss for a game like this ever. Other than the last hour this game is really good. It's also an ultra gooner game aswell so that's cool ig

A lot of people consider this the best one, and I can definitely understand why. The combat and gunplay is more refined, the ragdolls are funny and make combat more satisfying, and the story is really good. But for me, personally, it doesn't live to the high bar that the first game set. I feel that the combat in this game is way too easy, and the multiple escort missions make it so obnoxious to go through. On top of the fact this game is much much shorter than the first game due to this. Fun sections, and is definitely far from a bad game, just not as good as the first.