now that i'm caught up on the series i'm gonna replay 7, and then probably tackle the judgments before Gaiden comes out and man i can say with absolute confidence, 7 is truly the pinnacle of this series
the character writing and music are both so good right out of the gate, the rpg combat is just so comfortable, kamurocho feels easier to get around for some reason, everything just feels so right
Out of curiosity, excluding 7 as it's more of an RPG, which of the ones you played so far do you prefer overall?
it's been a while since i played either of them but i do think 0 and kiwami 1 stand out the most to me- both have very similar combat engines with the 4 fighting styles per character, and have some of the best side content- pocket circuit, cabaret management, majima everywhere
i'm fond of 4 and 5 but find them both to be a little too sprawling, especially 5, and ultimately prefer 1 character swapping styles to 4 distinct characters you get to use one at a time
In that case, I think you'll enjoy the Judgment games, especially Lost Judgment, when you get around to these. I'm still playing through LJ, and have completed Judgment + beat the superboss, and I'm confident in saying both games earned their spots next to the very best of the Kiryu saga games.
(but my gosh they need to give us a 100% Majima game one day...)
yeah i'm honestly kind of stunned how little Majima there is in the end! though this is mostly due to his biggest games (0 and kiwami) being a prequel/remake made late in the irl timeline of the series, it's just funny how that works out
