This is genuinely one of the most emotionally touching stories I've ever seen in a game and my very high rating is primarily for that. Having a story about people at rock bottom trying to claw their way back up, focusing on those in society that often get overlooked or hated made for a great premise. Ichiban is one of my favorite protagonists ever, the rest of the party members are great, and I actually ended up really loving the main villain. Also has one of my favorite endings in a game, shit made me really emotional.

However, from a gameplay perspective I kind of hate this game. I love turn based rpgs but this is one of the worst designed ones I have ever played and I hate to admit that. I could write pages about what I don't like about the combat system but really it boils down to it being slow, not fun or rewarding at all to engage with, and some of the worst level curve and grinding I've ever seen. I could really see the combat turning people away from this game but it's still worth suffering through honestly. In terms of gameplay I'd probably give it a 2-3/10 and I still gave it a 9 overall. This game is a movie, and it's a really fucking good movie. I really hope they learn how to make an RPG for yakuza 8 cuz this one is rough!

Life is really like an RPG, huh?