I'm almost done with Y3. I miss only one trophy and I didn't get it yet only because I lost my system data and had to start all over again, lol.
I had a blast with it, but it wasn't the blast of my life, sadly. The Yakuza/RGG series is way beyond Shenmue as far as storytelling and characterization are concerned. Seriously, it makes Shenmue look like a totally amateurish stuff when it comes to those aspects. Unfortunately, even on PS3, the Yakuza games play far less excitingly than Shenmue. The mechanics found in Shenmue are rock-solid to this day, whereas the Yakuza games' mechanics are sloppy as hell, unpolished, uninspired and - to quote that stupid DmC reboot - generally nauseating. I already invested a lot of my time in Y4 and I know that it improves on the Y3 gameplay formula by a great deal, but it's still not up to the challenge of surpassing Shenmue. Not even close. It's also a fact that Shenmue's OST is a true masterpiece while the Yakuza OSTs vary from average to good.
In a nutshell, I have these strange feels towards the Yakuza series... In one way, it's way better than Shenmue ever was, but in many other ways it's far worse, kinda like its poor cousin.
One way or another, it's amazing to have Kazzy and the funky bunch.