After having the amazing experience that was the first game, I patiently and eagerly awaited the follow up to the adventures of Ichiban Kasuga. With Yakuza 8 in our hands, I feel that this game delivered REALLY well in certain aspects but sort of fell flat in others. To talk about the positives first, the battle had much more added to it. Yakuza 7's battle system did not feel undercooked at all either, so with all of the new additions, I thought that it would all feel like bloating the really nice flow to battle from the first one. The biggest change that I noticed from the original was the addition of physics to the battle system. Such as using moves to knock enemies into other enemies, hazards in the battle area, or into allies to deal additional damage. This simple change to the battle system, just makes positioning with your party all the more important to a battle. Bonds also got an overhaul, as increasing the bond of a character and interacting with their story, unlocks more combat capabilities for said character. Along with unlocking more classes that they can go into, much like in 7. The new area of Honolulu is extremely fun to explore, and the new side stories are great to find and complete. My problems with the actual gameplay are minor, like the player not having really any control where their party members will move/stay during battle. One of my negatives is actually the ending to the game, as it feels really anti-climatic, especially for Ichiban and his story, and the narrative being split between two different parties. Overall, a fantastic follow up to Yakuza 7, but this game does seem more tailored to fans of the entire series, rather than fans of Ichiban and Yakuza 7.