Unlike earlier games in the series, you do not need to complete the game on "Hard" before doing "Legend". As long as you have completed the game once, you can do a Legend playthrough.
When starting a Legend playthrough based on an existing Premium Adventure save file, you will keep the following:
- Skills
- Inventory and equipment
- Money
- Most Adventure and Minigame award progress
- All Battle award progress
- Kiryu Clan character levels and win counts
- Spearfishing collected spears
- Friendship level with New Gaudi patrons, up to level 3
- Hostess levels and profile progress, except for Diamond level
- Baseball player levels
- Cat friendship levels
You will not keep:
- Substory completion
- Kiryu Clan progress
- Trouble Missions
- Spearfishing level
- Baseball player recruitment
- Kiryu Clan members that are found in-game; members obtained through a code will be available from the beginning.
- Darts rival victories
- Cat collection (they must be found again, but they retain their full friendship level)
- Completion of Live Chat girls
Effectively, what this means is that any completions award tied to a substory, either directly or indirectly, becomes available again. You may find this very helpful if you're trying to complete the "Kiryu Clan Enforcer", "Peak Kiryu" and "Skill Master" trophies.
As with all Yakuza Legend mode playthroughs, remember to save often! You should be able to do the playthrough in about six hours while skipping cutscenes. Carry a full supply of goods from RIZAP, especially when going to the shipyards late in the game.