When Team RGG made Dead Souls, they clearly pushed the game engine as far as they could. In fact, I would say they over-exert the system resulting in frequent frame-rate drops and long loading time. Dead Souls is a low point in SEGA stellar series especially after reaching great heights with Kenzan (the first spin-off), it would be a shame if the game ends the series run outside Japan.
Yakuza 5 is a turning point for the franchise with a new game engine which will be basis for the next few installments in the series (Ishin appears to be running on the same engine). When you first play Yakuza 5, the difference is not immediately noticeable as there isn't a great graphic leap from previous installments. The improvements comes from a gameplay perspective which I will share from my observations having finished the game. Obviously there won't be any spoilers as I will probably cover the story some time later, now onto the improvements found in Yakuza 5.
1. The Gang Fights
Kiryu is a beast when it comes to fighting even with hoards of yakuzas, it doesn't matter how many they are Kiryu will always be the last man standing. The last few RGG games have big epic brawls but you can fight up to about 6 to 8 yakuzas the most at one time, the game will usually show a screen of more yakuzas stepping in before 'loading' a new wave of enemies. This time you get to fight them all, no screen to hide the loading if you can see them, you can fight them. This is a major step, big epic brawls are what RGG games are all about - just imagine how many more yakuzas the game will have on PS4 system.
2. The Chase Sequence
I can't remember when the chase sequence in RGG games started but it was really clumsy at the beginning and team RGG knew this as they kept improving it with each installments. It always felt ridiculous when you begin running around in the same 'laps' over and over again if you can't catch up to the guy fast enough. Now you can do more that just tackle the guy, you can execute a whole set of moves including a cool drop kick if you get close enough. No more laps too, the chase sequence actually covers a wide area of the city crossing through busy traffic and crowd (Did I mention the cars are no longer just part of the background?). Team RGG finally nails it right in Yakuza 5 but I wish they would focus more on tailing missions instead, which was introduced in the Kurohyou PSP game and seen briefly here in the taxi missions.
3. Seamless Transition
This was the big selling point before Yakuza 5 was released but I'm not convinced if it's a fully seamless transition to 'combat mode' when it comes to random encounters. It feels more or less similar to Yakuza 3 which was a big leap from Yakuza 2, there is still a loading time only this time - more enemies can join in or escape from the fight depending on how well you are doing. You are never quite sure how many you are fighting unlike in the past games' random encounters, it's always a fixed number of enemies you have to clear them all to win the fight. In Yakuza 5 if the remaining enemy gets scared and run off - you automatically win the fight, I can't really appreciate this feature so I'm writing it down last.
There you have it, Yakuza 5 improvements if you can't be bothered with the game or was not impressed by the demo. The last game engine was use for up to 4 installments so it remains to see how long team RGG will keep with this.
