’s either in a highly controlled quick time event or in a more methodical, slower-paced encounter descended from Virtua Fighter rather than the bare-knuckle brawling of something like Yakuza

No, the games are slower paced than many are used to, but the atmosphere and the execution of a living, breathing world has yet to be matched, even all these years later.

but it may not be for everybody, because the pacing is a slow Burn, but what you have to understand is it's a stroy driven Focus game, the people in this world are alive and you can talk to them and some of them will help you out, the game has a lot of details so you can check drawers, go to stores and buy stuff, it's not GTA

The pacing is slow, but I find it as a comforting zen-like experience