Came from 0, through Kiwami 1 and 2 so I was ready for a bit of a drop in fidelity. And sure there was one. After about half an hour, I described the look to my partner by saying that if Kiwami 1 took Kabukicho and put it in a video game, Yakuza 3 looks like if someone from Kiwami's Kamurocho put THAT into a video game.
I hope that description doesn't sound meanspirited because it's really not! Once I got accustomed to the difference in how Kiryu moves, all the other differences melted away too and I was just playing a Yakuza game. I was exploring Okinawa, walking around Kamurocho feeling like a local, meeting new characters and it was good! Yakuza!
I even really like the long breaks Kiryu takes to take care of the kids at his orphanage. He's helping his kids with their homework, teaching them to stand up for themselves against bullies at school, mediating when they get in fights with each other, he cares about these kids and now so do I!
It's Yakuza! If you're looking at Yakuza 3, you probably know Yakuza already! If that's what you want (and it should be!) here's more of it!