(Not gonna tag this one because I don't want random fans descending upon me and telling me what happens in the story etc.)
I am right after the first big encounter with the Korean mafia, the point where the systems are all open, the flow has pretty much solidified, and I can be certain not much is gonna change in terms of gameplay.
The big thing is that the flow, battles and dungeons aren't fun, and they've been getting less fun. I might be more into this if I could play the Hard mode right away like I usually do in Yakuza games; that difficulty always strikes a nice balance between requiring thought and still being easily beatable.
As it is, though, the battle system is pretty thoughtless so far as jobs and tactics are irrelevant versus using my strongest move over and over again. Whether mobs or bosses, strategy varies very little. Couple this with a RPG-high random encounter rate and just trying to walk around town becomes a problem.
My fears were fully confirmed when I got into the first truly long dungeon, which was just a series of hallways that never ended. Good JRPGs have good dungeon design too; they lead you in an interesting path, maybe you solve a puzzle or two. This just had hallways. Every floor I asked if it was over, and it wasn't.
Ironically, I now understand what RPG fans who hated beat-em-ups hated about Yakuza; it was making them do something they didn't like. I will stick it out to see the story, but I don't think my opinion of the core gameplay is going to change much from here.
