This is probably the most heartfelt entry in the series.
I'll argue it has the best story of all Yakuza games, surpassing both 0 and 2.
Unfortunately even after playing the game I didn't get used to the combat shift from Action to Turn based, and I still quite don't like it; for its first attempt, it feels too simple and a little slow at points. There are RPGs with far better combat I'm afraid.

But, damn, the story in this game... It really is a great freaking ride. I can't stress it enough.

After the banger that XIV was, I'm kind of let down with this one a little since it feels like they took one step forward but a couple of steps back

First of all, the roster. What the hell, only 2 newcomers? Seriously? Why is the slogan "Shatter all expectations" when the entire roaster is probably one of the most predicable in the series? Ok, K9999 coming back is unexpected, I'll give them that. That's it. The DLC characters are fan favorites, so no surprises (so far)

Second, the gameplay. I didn't have any issues with how XIV played, so most of these changes are okay but not really necessary imo, but you gotta differentiate the entry somehow. Shatter Strike is fine, that's really it.
It's still a KOF game, so it's fun as heck. EX moves outside of MAX mode gives the game an easier way to combo, making it also more fun to just making up links and routes on the go. MAX mode itself it's easier too (maybe EX moves have become way too common, but that's nothing a future patch can't tweak)

My only actual negative critique with the game is the online modes. Rollback is a nice addition, sure, but not only is kind of hard to get an stable match (between friends from my country I still get random rollback spikes for no reason) but also the actual lobby system in this game is a big downgrade from 14. No simultaneous matches? No free typing in chat? No small groups divided in the type of match that you want to play? And you have to close the lobby if you want to edit anything major... Why?
Also, the matchmaking is still broken. And crossplay is coming to the game, so if they don't fix that, it's gonna be a bigger problem.

You can tell this game was affected by the global pandemic and it shows. Otherwise it's a pretty solid fighting game, tho they played it way too safe for my liking. I'm interested in seeing it evolving however.

EDIT: Base PSO2 is one of the best MMOs. Don't play NGS.

(Written as of Stia Part 2 and Dark Falz UQ, will be edited when new content releases)

First of all, I never got much into vanilla PSO2 because the window simply passed me (and also New Genesis did not add support for Proton until recently) so I entered NGS blind.

Truth is, I don't like MMOs, but seeing as this one is made by SEGA, which is my favorite game development studio (despite everything they have been through) I was fairly optimistic that I would find something to enjoy.

To start of with the first area, it's a nice starting point but that's all I can say on it. It definitely grew on me more after playing the other worlds, but nothing incredible. But it's also the first world to showcase the game's biggest problem: repetition. I really do hope you enjoy the gameplay like I do, because you will be facing the same waves of enemies for quiteeeeee a while.

Fortunately, I'll argue the second area is the peak of the game for me. Way less repetition, more emphatic characters, Nadereh gets introduced, and the area actually evolves correspondingly to how much you progress to the story.

Third world is boring.

Latest world so far seems like a mixture of 1 and 2: emphatic story but some repetition in gameplay. The latter actually making sense because of the story's structure this time around, so it doesn't feel as boring as the first area.

The game's areas look absolutely stunning. I don't know who designed these but they nailed the look of them. It's not anything groundbreaking design wise, but they work very well.
If you wonder why the overall negative reception to this game, it's because the launch months were absolutely terrible. It wasn't until the second area where the game started to form.

So far, the game is very oriented to casual play, and sometimes the combats can get a little boring because of it, but overall this game can really only get better. We'll see.