Mr. Hands

I don't know what Yakuza game you played last or what it was that you didn't enjoy*, but: Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a spectacular take on the JRPG formula, with lots of character and plenty to do when you want to wander off the main path. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has consistently improved on its previous outings, and I am incredibly stoked to play LAD: Infinite Wealth whenever I get a PS5.

*if it's the combat, which were always sticking points for me in Yakuza and Judgment, LAD does away with it in favour of the JRPG approach and is all the better for it IMO.

i'd recommend p3 reload, im a big fan of the original game and its story has a complexity and emotional depth that i missed in p4. people say p4's story is like that bc p3 was so heavy with its story, but the impact it has had on the persona series and jrpgs in general is profound.

persona 3 reload, so that you can tell all of us whether to buy it when it comes out for the switch 2!

We’ve just been finishing up Yoku’s Island Express, and while I have a few quibbles with it, “adorable pinball metroidvania” works 1000x better than it seems like it should.

Other possibilities, looking through my list of games and excluding the “everyone’s heard of these” ones:

• get really high and get Frog Detective. There’s not a lot to it but it’s extremely charming.
• Cocoon is amazing if you like atmospheric puzzle games
• Sayonara Wild Hearts is a playable neon lesbian pop album in the best way possible
• Sheepo is a delightfully quirky non-combat-focused metroidvania, Islets is “hollow knight but make it ghibli and more approachable” from the same developer
• Timespinner is a rehash of SotN mechanically but has a lovely queer antifascist story and is pretty fun

Wait a month and buy Dragon's Dogma 2, a game that by all accounts seems to be a sequel to Dragon's Dogma for both good and ill.

Like a Dragon Inifite Wealth pretty much has an entire Pokemon game in it, an entire Animal Crossing game in it, and both games are connected with each other: You can put your Pokemon/Suijimon to work on the Animal Crossing/Dondoko island, netting you more resources. You can train your Suijimon on Dondoko island, making them stronger in Suijimon battles.

Both mini games are connected with the main game. You can have Ichiban play a class/job, Suijimancer, which uses the Suijimon you've caught (and again, which you can train up on the Animal Crossing-style island.) And also you can turn funds that you've made from the AC island into funds for the main game, and if you raise the level of your island to a 5 star rating, you get an additional, powerful move for Ichiban to use in combat.

But also, if you don't enjoy either Pokemon or Animal Crossing, you can also play through a minimum intro to both games and then ignore them for the rest of the main story/game.

That's not even getting into the other mini games, like the Crazy Taxi-style food delivery game. Or the various arcade games (like Sega Bass Fishing.)

I mean, all of this really depends on your tastes. It could be entirely the wrong game for you anyway. For me, it's my second Yakuza game because I get on well with turn based combat and also enjoyed Yakuza Like a Dragon a lot - and this one has significant quality of life improvements wrt its turn based combat. Also running around environments lovingly based on real life places is enjoyable for me. But as per usual, YMMV.

Edited to add: I think Yakuza: Like a Dragon is on Game Pass, so that's a possible way to give the turn based combat format a go. And if you feel a bit frustrated by some elements of that, then I'd read up a bit more about the qol improvements in Infinite Wealth, to see if that appeals more to you. I think Y: LaD is worth a go because you'll come to Infinite Wealth with more knowledge of the recurring characters, and that in itself can be quite enjoyable. Like meeting up with old friends after some time has passed.

The servers are still up?!?