Featuring firsts for the series that ended up being positive and formative changes, the game as a whole unfortunately doesn't hold up and a lot of it can be attributed to a very poorly made remaster which completely broke the combat. However, the game also suffers from poorly executed story elements, especially one that sits at the core of this games narrative - the orphanage. As much as I personally love some of the things this game tries to do, I can't recommend it as the core elements of this game are so lacking - combat and narrative. I recommend trying the game and if you aren't enjoying it then getting a story recap in some fashion and moving on to the next game.



------- SPOILERS AHEAD --------



Elaborating on story elements that I felt were poorly executed:

Morning Glory:
Kiryu running an orphanage is a story element I personally love as it's a very unique narrative point to have in a video game as well as other media. Unfortunately, it isn't executed well. Each kid in the orphanage gets their own part of the story. Their stories feature a variety of problems and are meant to display how Kiryu deals with their problems as well as introduce the kids as characters. The gameplay in these parts of the story comes down to talking with all the different kids about whatever the problem may be with an occasional odd job. On top of that, the issues these kids are facing are covered on a very surface level. Each kids segment is resolved fairly quickly and while not all of the topics covered in these parts are worthy of a more elaborate story part, stories like bullying with Shiro and not being able to do what you love because of an illness with Taichi are ones that have potential to be more interesting than they were in the game. It ultimately would have been better as a sidestory like the HLA since it ends up feeling like a chore when interrupting the main story and the stories arent fleshed out enough to warrant a mandatory main story spot.

Focusing on the wrong thing:
Mine and Rikiya are this games greatest additions in terms of characters.
Rikiya is a classic Yakuza character archetype - loveable and determined young yakuza who looks up to Kiryu. His death only took away from the story. Kiryu had the most severe reaction we've seen him have so far to someones death and while it is a very sad death it feels a little off in retrospect. That reaction would have made a lot of sense if it was in any way acknowledged that Kiryu is sad because every time he gets involved in something the ones he cares about keep dying. However, that isn't something the story focuses on and it ends up being a death without much impact. Everyone moves on after his death and that's the end of that. No further elaboration on Kiryus feelings and the way he grieves him. It ends up being a meaningless death because of that. Not only that, Rikiya gets killed in a frustratingly bad turn of events where all the characters just leave a loaded gun right next to a defeated Tamashiro.

Mine is another example of poor focus. He ended up being a very interesting and complicated character but was given very little time to shine as we only learn of his philosophy at the very end of the game. Had the orphanage content been cut down or maybe less focus was put on some other antagonists like Kanda who is very one-dimensional, he would have gotten the screen time he deserved. It's also a shame that the only scenes you see of him beforehand is him being cold and unstable. The story would have greatly benefited if there was a bigger focus on Mine much like the previous two games focused heavily on Nishikiyama and Ryuji. Mine is a great character but there should have been more of him. The lack of focus is intentional as this is the first game that tries to include multiple antagonists. However, it is strange as the game is large content wise. There are 118 substories, a few of which include cutscnes and are used to elaborate on main story characters, many minigames and the HLA sidestory. Even with all that, the story feels like it didn't have enough time to do everything it wanted. Hamazaki had a very memorable introduction but didn't do anything untill literally after the credits and Mine was in a simillar situation. The way you get learn about the plot is by talking with a high ranking politician and asking him a bounch of questions. It's a very sudden huge info dump as opposed to a gradual, more natural flow of information throughout the story. Instead of all of that, what gets the most screen time is the orphanage.

Tonal shifting:

This is the first game in the series that features big shifts between a lighthearted and goofy and a serious tone. This ended up becoming one of the Yakuza series' most prominent elements and something the games later on execute really well but seeing as this is the first time it's been implemented it ended up hurting the story just a little bit. Kashiwagis death is handled in a strange way. He is meant to be a person Kiryu looked up to but his death doesn't seem to phase him as the only two moments you see his death having an effect on Kiryu is immediately after and when he's talking to Rikiya on the bench in Public Park 3. During that conversation with Rikiya, the player is given a choice to answer with a serious and non-serious answer. To be more specific, you can say the following:

"Honestly, Kashiwagi-san was..."
1. Great at leading from the shadows
2. Great at hiding from the shadows

"Amazing? Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. I was especially in awe of...
1. How level-headed he was.
2. How much he loved cold noodles.

The fact that you can pick between these two answers takes away from the impact of Kashiwagis death and makes it feel like the writers and Kiryu didn't care much for Kashiwagi, which is strange since he should be a much more prominent figure primarily because he's a role model to Kiryu but also because he's a very important figure in the Tojo Clan as the head of the Kazama Family and the person that carries on the legacy of one of the Tojo Clans most legendary figures.

The combat:
I have not played the original but I have heard that the combat wasn't this bad in it.
Regardless, this games remaster has many issues:
- Quickstep is very weak as enemies will sometimes do 180s to rotate around and hit you. The tracking some attacks that bosses have look ridiculous and make the games combat feel even more clunky than it already is as they will fly towards you to catch up to you at really high speeds (ex. Mines running attack). Although this isn't a boss-exclusive issue since some types of enemies will do perform similar attacks.
- Enemy AI is poorly programmed since they continue to block for extended periods of time and attack very rarely making every encounter feel like a chore as you're forced to either grab them to death or wait for them to attack and parry or hope your quickstep doesn't bug out and get tracked.
- Random encounters are too difficult to dodge as enemies will stand in your way and if you pass next to them immediately trigger a fight as opposed to the later games giving you time to avoid the fight if you don't want it by alerting you that you've been spotted first.
Overall, these issues and the inconsistencies it causes makes the combat feel like a chore rather than something to enjoy.