They look distinctly different, they have the extra gear and webbing the Oban does not have, they are a rougher looking sectorial than the sleek original JSA design. Not sure what you mean on gameplay.
Other than the Hatamoto nothing in the new sectorial looks stronger than the old. Style wise there is a much larger focus on MI, before reinforcements JSA didn't have a single MI
With the exception of the Shikami, old JSA's HI (the Samurai part of the faction) used to wear armour on the legs, while the new "Samurai" from Sandtrap wear Hakama. The new Samurai troops are also slighty less armoured when it comes to stats, so it makes sense. So there you have it, a small difference in design but still coherent intra-faction.
Ok, then I guess I was spoiled by CB from back in the day when they put real effort in making units look coherent but different in sectorials, like Nomad base troops that all have completely different upper body and general style ( Bakunin ones have bunny ears because Bakunin, Corregidor are rough because miners and Tunguska are look like corpo security, all similar yet distinct and all make sense considering their fluff ) or their HI or their basically anything. These are nowhere near that level, extra pouches is the only real difference, they don't have those on old JSA.
