Ever since I beat Yakuza 0 about 2 months ago I was itching to dive back into this series. I knew this game is much shorter in comparison to the others but I still had a blast with it. The story and themes are very strong, Voice Acting is as good as ever, and the gameplay felt much more refined and polished. Add a solid Soundtrack and some great Writing and you have yourself a damn good game. There were many places in the story where I almost began tearing up and people who know me know that I'm not a super emotional person. The ending is one of the most satisfying feeling I've felt in a video game before. Onto something a bit more controversial though, the Majima Everywhere System was very fun and makes a ton of sense. Although it makes Majima's appearances throughout the story a bit less meaningful considering we find him every few streets. Although it's still a small price to pay for a solid mechanic. The Main Villain of this game along with some other important characters are superbly set up in 0 and led me to feeling a strong emotional connection with them regardless of the path they chose. I simply cannot imagine playing this game without the context of 0 because there will be many characters you won't give a shit about without that necessary context. Overall this is a very solid entry in the series and another reminder that everyone interested in Yakuza should play 0 first.
8/10