This is easily my favorite Sega game and one of the best games to release in the past few years.

The story was a little slow at parts and required a lot of grinding in late game but the gameplay was fun, the story was serious yet funny in a charming way, it has a nice class system, nice mini games, and hits the emotions hard. It's truly a legendary adventure that is both similar to and different from everything it's based on.

I really loved all the references to other games. As someone who's favorite series is Dragon Quest it was very exciting to see it referenced a lot. Pokémon and other turn based RPGs got referenced in cool ways too. The references never felt out of place or wall breaking. It feels like they blend into this game's world well.

This is my first Yakuza game so I can't really judge it comparatively to the rest of the series but I know it was a beat em up before so this change is very drastic. I can definitely understand why some older fans would be upset. Personally this game style is perfect for me and I encourage anyone who likes turn based RPGs to try this. I really hope to see a direct sequel that not only continues but improved upon what this game established.