This game is an absolute mess. I used to think it was the worst game in the main series, but I've since reviewed a lot of my criticisms of this game after both Gaiden and Infinite Wealth came out and produced two absolute trash games in a series that I used to think always produced great games, if flawed at times.

Gameplay is the easiest thing to talk about when it comes to 6, because it's just complete rubbish. It's the first game on the dragon engine (By FAR the worst thing to happen to the series gameplay-wise), and where 3 had a sort of experimental game (Kenzan) beforehand to ease the transition and fix any major flaws with the gameplay, 6 IS the experimental game and the combat is just atrocious. Kiryu's moveset feels incredibly unfocused and sloppy, it's a huge step down from 0/Kiwami 1 - which themselves were a noticeable step down from 5. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone willing to defend 6's combat, as the only thing it provides is some mild entertainment in the first few hours at the new physics the dragon engine has, but the novelty for said physics quickly wears off and often ruins the tone of any serious encounter in the game when you practically have a seizure on the floor every time you get knocked down.

The writing is the most frustrating part about this game. For every good thing the game has going for it, it has something equally bad alongside it, which prevents it from feeling like a satisfying story while also saving it from feeling like complete trash like Gaiden or Infinite Wealth; some examples:
>The Hirose boys and the people of Onomichi are great, but 90% of the characters involved in the larger conspiracy are some of the blandest and most unremarkable the series had ever seen up to that point.
>The game carries on directly from the ending of Yakuza 5, yet it feels utterly disconnected from 5 to the point of absurdity. Once the story gets going after the first chapter or so, virtually nothing about 5 and the events in that game are even hinted towards.
>Kiryu's interactions with Haruto are great, but Haruto himself and everything to do with Haruka's story in this game absolutely should never have happened, and it's no wonder this game is the reason why so many people came to despise Haruka as a character.
>Kiryu himself is pretty good in this game, but you can tell the writers were struggling to go back to writing a story with one protagonist after the last 3 main games had 4, 5 and then 2 protagonists; the pacing is pretty poor.
>The ending is by far the best thing about 6, being probably the best moment in the series. But it's been continually ruined as RGG keep walking back on it over and over again as they just can't let Kiryu go and a lot of people got filtered by it. I know you can't really blame 6 for what 7, Gaiden and Infinite Wealth would later do, but it does end up souring what was the perfect sendoff for Kiryu.

Overall, despite the complaints I'd still say it's a 6/10, and it is worth playing. It isn't a bad game by any means, but it does pale in comparison to most other games in the series in terms of writing but especially in terms of gameplay.

Yakuza 6: Haruka is everyone's problem yet again

I would let Joon-Gi Han do unspeakable things to me