I have played every Yakuza game and I am shocked to announce that this one is my favorite. Shocked because I typically don't love turn-based combat and/or unnecessarily long games where you need to grind a lot. I think it's because of the party. Typically you play as one protagonist and, though you interact with plenty of cool characters, you aren't really hanging out with the same characters very often. Ichiban is an incredible new protagonist for the series (I actually prefer him to Kiryu) and I loved all of the party members. Every time I logged on to play I felt like I was hanging out with my buds. I also loved all the meta-commentary about JRPGs and video games in general. It felt self-aware but in a totally earnest way. The story was great too, definitely one of the better ones in the series.

The combat gets old by the end of the game and the "dungeons" you use to grind straight up suck, but even at its lowest point I couldn't help but enjoy hanging out with my Ijincho pals.

It's a flawed game but it's perfect to me.