LogFAQs > #931030868

goes on

Would have been fine if the story covered something at least but this was literally Filler: the game.

Ryo basically accomplished nothing except getting his ass kicked by Lan Di. Again. Hell he lost the Phoenix Mirror so instead of the plot advancing, it is set back even more.

Yes, Yu Suzuki envisioned a 5-6 part series back in the day so maybe this explains all the fillers and fetch quests-like segments.
But after all the time and funding it took for the 3rd game to finally get made, it is a giant middle finger to all the fans who have waited 18 years to get a conclusion to the series or at least any meaningful advancement of the plot. Instead now we have to hope the game sells well enough (which it isn't doing so) to get the 4th game.

And as for the gameplay. Hoo boy. Whoever thought it was a good idea to implement a horrible stamina system with constantly needing to eat and grind for money (jesus christ those two pay walls in both the areas to learn a new move) to pad out the game length unnecessarily should have been fired on the spot.