It Seems Like ようだ

The reporting そうだ just repeats what you heard word for word, with no judgment involved. ようだ instead reflects your own conclusion, drawn from a mix of clues, things you’ve seen, heard, and pieced together yourself, which is why it often sounds a bit more personal and considered.

な-adjectives and nouns insert な or の before ようだ, 大変なようだ, 病気のようだ, the same pattern as the appearance そうだ, though built on different underlying logic, one reads outward appearance, the other reads an inferred conclusion.