After finishing Yakuza 3 last year, I couldn't wait to see what Yakuza 4 has to offer. I have now finished the first chapter of Yakuza 4 and it is definetly interesting.  
So the first character is not Kazuya surprisingly enough, but some guy called Akiyama. Akiyama though is a facinating character. They have done a fantastic job of introducing him. I look forward to more with this character. 
From recollection, I think Kamurocho looks far better here than in Yakuza 3. At least thats how it looks like but I doubt I'll play Yakuza 3 to figure that out. I don't know what it is about me but once I finish a game, no matter how good it is, I can never play it again even if I have the intent to play it again sometime.  
Anyway, first impression = facinating!

After finishing Yakuza 3 last year, I couldn't wait to see what Yakuza 4 has to offer. I have now finished the first chapter of Yakuza 4 and it is definetly interesting.  
So the first character is not Kazuya surprisingly enough, but some guy called Akiyama. Akiyama though is a facinating character. They have done a fantastic job of introducing him. I look forward to more with this character. 
From recollection, I think Kamurocho looks far better here than in Yakuza 3. At least thats how it looks like but I doubt I'll play Yakuza 3 to figure that out. I don't know what it is about me but once I finish a game, no matter how good it is, I can never play it again even if I have the intent to play it again sometime.  
Anyway, first impression = facinating!

I'm liking it so far as well. Akiyama is an intriguing character, most certainly, and contrasts a lot over Kazuma, with his smarmy and almost patronising confidence he expresses. The movement is a little stiffer, though, and I've still only just met Aria, so I haven't had enough time to bolster a solid overall impression. With that said, my introductory impression is it's lookin purty goood. Can't wait for when it shifts to Taiga since that guy was so fun to play as during the demo.

Yeah I'm playing through Y4 too. Think I got up to Ch. 5 last night, can't remember. Anyway, Akiyama is an interesting character, I think he'd work for the whole game frankly, but we'll see how it goes. From what I can remember, Y4 does look better than Y3, though I've recently played through Shenmue 1 and 2 inbetween these two, and so the late 90's textures might be playing with my mind. If it does look better, it's only a small step forward, I'd say.

Wait. so you play as 2 different dudes? or Kazuma will take over? 

I've played Texas hold 'em for a few hours and made 5 million yen.
It's time to hit the hostess clubs hard.