this game is seriously great, it adds base to what came before it while also telling an insanely elaborate story about revenge and it's shattering repercussions of how they shaped the two most important characters in this story. The gameplay is smooth while only rly having the typical annoying shit i dreaded in it's predecessor(stupid knife turret assholes and immovable dipshits swinging furniture in place, and bosses that use guns on you being such a pain in the ass to fight Omg) but also making it feel like the side content is more well implemented. Most of the pacing in this story also feels a lot better too, emphasis on most because there's still that strange quirk where you have to wait for some ungodly amount of time for someone to call you so you can get on with the plot even if you already knock out like three side stories in one swoop.. which is WEIRD.. does anyone else think thats weird? no? oh well!

I think the cutscenes are also more grand than before, going to several different locations than just Kamurucho rocks and I think the new characters all serve their purposes pretty well, Sayame and Ryuji are ofc new favorites of mine in the series and I really liked how they didnt just make her get kidnapped a million times or something (I know there'd be no reason for it but I dislike seeing girl characters constantly get assigned to that role and wasnt sure if this game was headed in that direction, was ultra pleased that she stood on her own as much as she could phew) I think this game also shows a nice other side to Kiryu that you kinda feel gets touched on in the first one but this one really digs in there and gets some more raw emotions out of him its great shit
even that table thumping scene is in this and in context it has even more weight than i thought

No idea when ill hop on Yakuza 3 but i mean cmonn, with stories like this and gameplay that never gets old and not being too terribly long games??? I definitely will be back for more omg