While I’m willing to finish it because I am enjoying it to a certain extent, I think why you personally liked it doesn’t really align with my problems with the games. Yes the characters and side stories are good. But outside those I find the game itself to be sort of mediocre. Like yeah, I can play some side games, but they’re not THAT fun. More of an excuse for downtime in between story bits.

I also find it curious how you never once mentioned the combat, and probably because it’s forgettable and basically just an obstacle to get to the next story bit at point B. Or an excuse to farm money for new abilities so you can become slightly better at button mashing. It’s not bad per say but it just makes the moment-to-moment gameplay not all that great. It seems like the joy of Yakuza 0 comes from thinking about the story in hindsight.