I can’t really articulate this well but I love both series and see Yakuza as jrpgs with open world and beat-em-up elements and Shenmue as “life simulators” akin to Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon where it’s more about living in and working with those more or less functional communities of awkward NPCs than following the hackneyed kung fu revenge story. They may share all those characteristics but have different priorities and structures.
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