I finished Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon (Y7) a year or so ago, and I just finished Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (IW). I have to admit, these are the only Yakuza games I've played (I have seen bits of of the older titles before on Youtube) because Y7 was advertised as Persona with middle aged adults. Having played both of them, this is my thoughts as what you can say a newbie to the universe.
This will inevitably contain some amount of spoilers but I will try to be vague as possible and keep them to a minimum.
Y7: LaD
Kasuga Ichiban is the new protagonist of the Yakuza series, replacing the fan-favorite Kazuma Kiryu. On the whole, Ichiban is a big contrast to the moody Kiryu, almost being dog-like in dealing with issues. This was partly due to the game changing to a turn-based RPG format, where the main characters of those games tend to share similar traits with Ichiban. Similarly, there is an in-game reason to explain why the game is turn-based: Ichiban is such a big fan of Adventure Quest games that he sees every fight as an AQ battle.
Speaking of which, the turn-based system will be divisive to people, especially fans of the older titles. The fluid action is gone and every character will take turns and complete all of their animations every time. This drastically slows the pace of the game down. While I can stomach that, it definitely isn't it for everyone, especially late game where you still have to just mash A through every trash mob that you accidentally stumble into while walking around.
The RPG combat system isn't anything new. There's physical attacks, magic attacks, HP, MP, etc. The fresh coat of paint, though, is fun. It's like a child imagining that their play fighting is real, but you're playing as a man in his early 40s. The party members are also pretty typical. There's your standard mage, tank, healer... and whenever someone joins your party you hear a familiar jingle. The party members also aren't fixed in their roles (though their stat growths definitely push them in certain directions), you can have them change "jobs" and they will have different movesets unique to those jobs. Every party member has a unique job and some jobs are gender-locked. I didn't find it necessary to really grind levels for too many jobs. Usually the unique jobs are enough for normal mode but at least one party member should be the healer.
While I like all of the party members, there is an optional one that barely has relevance to the story. She was probably put there last-minute because there is only one other female character in the entire party but still, it is rather jarring and she is the only one who isn't a recurring party member in IW.
There is a romance system in the game, though it's not what you would expect from a JRPG. You can romance the two female party members and a few other female NPCs in "important" locations. There isn't really that much depth into it besides like one cutscene (or two, if you romance everyone) and if you are NOT comfortable with women disrespecting your boundaries while drunk (or kind of getting gaslit, if you choose to romance everyone) they really suck. Either way, none of these are canon (except one, but even then the in-game romance isn't canon due to what happens in IW) so you can just skip them if you don't want to do every substory.
Speaking of Substories, you will be pleased to know that they are similar to what you would see in previous titles. A lot of them are very wacky and downright hilarious sometimes, others are heartwarming and makes you cry a little. Some of the funny ones turn serious and some of the serious ones can also take a funny turn but they aren't jarring. I think RGG generally does a great job at balancing the emotions in these little sidequests. You also see some cameos from older titles which is a nice little treat for the hardcore fans.
As for the main story, it's well-written. It's got the twists and turns that older titles have and every named character is compelling and memorable. I can't really say much more beyond that but it is very good. Since the game doesn't start to pick up until you have a party of 4, it can be a little slow at the start depending on how much side content you do in the beginning, but it does pick up quick from there. The main theme of the game, bringing everyone together to overcome difficulties, is present throughout the whole game. I like the overall messaging and does signal a different era of future titles.
LaD: IW
Infinite Wealth is a vast improvement over Y7 in almost every way. The map has effectively doubled, the party members have also doubled, I mean, it's just SO much more and better content that it's hard to really sit down and list them all in a little blog post.
The combat has vastly improved, which is very impressive for a turn-based JRPG. you can move your characters around in a small radius so you can better position yourself for advantageous combo attack setups and prop pickups (this was more or less random in Y7). I do wish you can choose to use the prop pickups instead of it just being radius based, though. Or you can choose between combo attack and solo attack when able to. It also tells you roughly what level your party members and your equipment should be before you tackle battle-heavy main story content, which is an improvement over Y7's ambiguous "I should prepare before heading in..." comment.
There are two (three if you include DLC) grinding dungeons where you can get lots of rare materials, exp, and money. These are akin to the randomly generated Persona 3 style dungeons. I like the idea of having it but it's very slow because you can't just instantly leave at any point after finding the stairs tile like you could in Persona 3. You have to manually run all the way back. There are also inexplicably doors that don't stay open, so it slows you down even more if you are just running back to the stairs after having explored all of the current floor.
The job system is back with a Hawaiian flavor, and you can transfer a limited number of job classes into different jobs. So say you want Ichiban to be a Breaker but you also want him to heal, you can import the healing skill of his Hero class into Breaker with no drawbacks. This incentivizes you to try and level different jobs to make your party more versatile (though, again, you don't really need to do that on normal mode). My only big complaint about IW's jobs is that I prefer Y7's jobs better. I get that you HAVE to have Hawaii stuff but they just seem too generic for my tastes and I'm not a big fan of some of the the jobs that did get imported from Y7. You do get a short cutscene reward with every new Hawaii job unlock though, so that's nice at least.
You can play Pokemon. I won't say anything more.
IW also has a "make buttload of money with this simple trick!" minigame like with Y7 but it's literally Animal Crossing this time around. I'm not the biggest fan of Animal Crossing type games and it was way too involved for me to stick around and finish in one sitting, whereas I could easily just do CEO sim all in one go in Y7. That being said, if you aren't a weird freak like me you will enjoy Dondoko Island a lot.
The new party members are all likeable and you get to know more about the recurring ones in this game as well so they're not stale. I do wish there were much more interactions in the postgame. I can't really get into the details as I consider it a bit of spoiler but you will see why.
The game has so much content for Kiryu fans. It can get a bit "do u remember this" but I think they are all handled well as long as you don't just binge all of it whenever they're available like I did. There is a really really hype battle in the lategame and I was very disappointed that the end result was way underutilized. I know this game isn't really about that but still, it left me wanting much more out of it.
The main story is also solid. The devs had good foundation to work with regarding Ichiban's backstory and tied it together well to Kiryu's. You would think the pacing would be weird since it focuses on two main characters, but I could follow it easily. Not as tragic as Y7's in its lowest moments, but I have to admit, it got me tearing up at certain points.
I just wish there was much more postgame, especially not locked behind a 20 dollar paywall.
The complaints I listed above are rather minor and shouldn't detract from the fact that it is a feature-rich and vastly improved product made from the solid (if rather barebones) foundations that was Y7. Whether you're a hardcore Yakuza fan or a JRPG fan, these two games are a must-play.