Start of chapter 10 now. Chapter 10's beginning is famous for two reasons - one is that you get a new party member, and he's damn good. It also manages to win the prestigious "Tamiya" award last seen in Yakuza 3 which involves a loooooooooooooooong exposition into government and character motivations. And thankfully like that bit in Yakuza 3, you at least get a fun fight directly afterwards! I mean, technically the info in this scene is pivitol to the plot, it just goes on for quite a while and the first half isn't startlingly interesting, but it does get more interesting when the more Tojo Clan specific stuff comes up.
Anyway, tackled the first dungeon again as now I had better gear and a new party member I wanted to see just how well I'd do... and I was definitely under leveled before. This time I had a much easier ride, and managed to take out those EXP rich hobos to level up nicely! Boss wasn't too bad as I'd tackled it before, and my orbital laser certainly did the job! This was actually the most fun I had with the combat yet - the levels of my characters meant I had more moves unlocked (and damn good ones as well) but also the games pace was fast, but not so fast that it was no challenge. So yeah, I certainly liked how this feels! I can't wait to unlock more of the higher level optional runs like this, especially when the bosses power up soon.
Just shy of 70 hours at the moment, but it really doesn't feel like that at all, its just going so quick really - the side stories are good, the main story is engaging enough and the rest just gets better the more I play. Its definitely gotten more fun with more moves opening up, its a pity the difficulty wasn't slightly more balanced (it spends too much time being too easy to be honest) but I can't really blame just this game for that, its been a problem with Yakuza since 4 was released.
