LAD:IW is another entry in the consistently great Yakuza series...and this continues that..mostly?

The combat is SO much better than it was in 7, everything feels much less tedious and spongey and it all flows much better. The new party members all have super fun and unique jobs and it doesn't feel like any one job is bad, though some are way better than others.

The content is SO much fun, the Crazy Taxi style mini game is one thing that's just a cool minigame, but then they added a whole ass Pokemon game AND Animal Crossing. You can genuinely spend days playing the AC mode, it's got so much going for it. The Sujimon game is also pretty decent, if not a bit repetitive. I have to give them credit for the sheer amount of things to do, I had to stop playing the other modes to actually progress and beat the game.

Story wise Is where my gripes mostly remain. The new characters in your party like Chitose and Tomi are really well developed and interesting, Yamai is genuinely one of my favourite characters in the series so far. However there's far too many characters which leaves most of the major ones to be basically...vitally underdeveloped? Akane is built up as Ichibans potential (Very probable) mother and other than one pretty well written scene, that major concept isn't really used much..which is odd because you spend half the game looking for her. Ebina (the main antagonist) is a fucking moron and his plan is genuinely one of the dumbest things i've ever seen in the series. It honestly might be a worse plot device than the stupid boat in 6. He spends half the game making a deal to "Dump nuclear waste in Hawaii" with another character (i'll talk about after this) only to go "OH YEAH HAHA EVENTUALLY THEY'LL RUN OUT OF SPACE AND BE FUCKED". It's basically all him double crossing everyone he meets because he's mad at his Dad. Also like....yeah they will run out of space, I'm shocked no other characters realise that? Bryce (the other villain) is fought in said dumping grounds, which is a big cave and it's already halfway full. It's been like 2 months, What was Bryces plan in a year? Bryce is genuinely a terrible antagonist. He's built up as this monster whos dangerous and can do anything but he never...does anything. He just chases a kid for 50% of the game and then when he has her he pushes her around taped to a wheelchair. How did half an island bow down to this lunatic. There's technically other villains with Dwight (Danny Trejo) who's barely in the game and then theres Eiji who's...actually really well developed? He's a really interesting villain who does some pretty fucked up stuff and then WOOPS HE'S GONE FOR THE REST OF THE GAME UNTIL THE END.

I want to talk about also how Kiryu takes half...if not the entire spotlight for this game. Around chapter 8 you are given control over a second party entirely in Japan with Kiryu as the lead. With this playstyle you can go to reminisces to see Kiryus past as he's been diagnosed with cancer and doesn't have long left. Since Gaiden shows him basically exhausted after most fights, you'd think he'd have had cancer at that point...but no he got cancer because he saved a dude from nuclear waste, which is kinda a wild way to give him a disease . They build up how his desperation to fix things has worn him down and left him without time for himself. Gaiden builds up how his legacy is lost due to his name change and how he cannot see his own kids ever again. He forms a connection with his Handler, Hanawa in LAD: Gaiden. Hanawa is a really well developed character in that game and his care for Kiryu, despite his job is super interesting. I was very excited to see how he was handled in 8...Oh what's that....he does nothing and gets killed halfway in?...Great!. The Daidoji are built up as this all powerful shadow government who control the background of Japanese society and they wont let Kiryu have his life anymore after signing a deal with them, In this they just kinda...let him do what he wants with no issues. He's still living in hiding however...until this is basically all thrown out the window halfway in when he's filmed multiple times by a vtuber. I get you wanted him to reclaim who he was before he dies so he can be happy...but he doesn't die. I understand not wanting to kill off Kiryu, he's basically the franchises face...but what was the point of remembering events from every single game in the series and giving him a life threatening disease if you're not gonna go through with it. You basically tied up every loose end of his entire life with this and Gaiden. You had him take half of this game which should be Ichiban solely and played it as a swansong for a character you just didn't finish the story with. I guarantee he'll be around in future games. I'm tired of Kiryu not being able to have an actual ending, because I know they will drag him in to every other games story ongoing. Just let Ichiban have the full spotlight without the previous protagonist coming in to steal it. It reeks of you not having full faith in your new protagonist to helm the series. This is a wild concept to me because Ichiban is genuinely SO likable and charming. If anything this game solidifies that for me heavily, especially with the end scene with him and Eiji and how he's willing to stand there and take a beating without turning on anyone. He's just a super kind hearted, lovable dude who's willing to fight for the people he loves and is always down to give anyone a second chance because he believes in people being able to change and grow. He's such a good progression from Stoic heart of gold Kiryu. A really small detail about Ichiban i've always loved is how his suit is the inverted colours of Kiryus. Kiryus is white with a red under shirt to symbolise his Kind nature but buried deep rage and fighting spirit. Ichibans is reddish outside with wild hair to show is semi out of control surface level nature, with a white shirt to show a bright and kind inner soul. He really is an amazingly well designed character visually and narratively. He does plenty to differ himself, while showing he has what it takes to be the spotlight character.

If anything I feel this game could have actually had developed villains and other characters if you'd not focused so much on Kiryu and his story.

Other than the...kinda dreadful story I enjoyed my time with the game. I really hope LAD:9 focuses solely on Ichiban and crew without Kazcameo Kiryu and his gang of Misfit Legends dropping in to say hi, but we'll see. Considering in Gaiden, the Daidoji kidnap the two main villains to use them for agents later, and they do not show up in this game at all. So I assume Kiryu will be helming 9 again with Ichiban.

Also I just wanna say that the PR for this game was fucking terrible. Why did they show the Shark boss that doesn't appear till the final chapter? Should that not be a big surprise? I avoided all trailers and I was still seeing the fucking Shark. Also putting NG+ as Deluxe Edition DLC is scummy af and genuinely needs to be stopped.