Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Review

Genre:Brawler/adventure.

Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PS4/PC.
Official Site: N/A

 Release date: 28-8-2018.

 

Okay so since I wanted to see Majima-chan again I decided to continue my yakuza adventures.

Sadly I found out this is pretty much the last game he had any major role in before he became

a side character. As sad as it is, there is of course more to Yakuza than just Majima.

 

Pro's

- Exciting story with mostly good pacing.

- Great substories and fun dialogue in general.

- Optional content is actually optional, gotta go find it if you want it.

Con's

- Some chapters are too short and/or could be combined into one.

- No more stances/styles, I heard you like charge attacks?

- Sneaking missions can be annoying...

 

 Story takes place right after Yakuza 1, Kiryu adopted a daugher and I don't remember much else

except a bunch of drama with his sworn-brother among other things. Thankfullly

there was a recap so you can get up to speed on the events thus far. I dropped out 

of that after the first segment since I remembered enough already.

The pacing was generally better than Y1 and the markers were on point

so I didn't feel lost right at the beginning searching for a pickpocket or something.

The only time I was forced to look up a guide was in chapter 11... other than that there were no issues.

 I generally liked the flow of the story but in the beginning it did feel more

like a movie and there's very little gameplay or time for substories which lead to me forgetting

to buy healing items  so I went into the chapter 2 gauntlet with nothing but scraps gotten from

the endeavor itself and so I was forced to beat the boss at the end while kicking and screaming

because only charged attacks and running around seemed to be effective.😂

In short Yakuza 2 Kiwami was a pretty fun game that didn't overstay its welcome

or needs you to invest a large amount of time in it to see its story which

after the last game  I played was much welcomed.

More ramblings after the jump, I had a hard time choosing screenshots because this game

just had so much gold in it... I literally smiled again while looking at some.

 

 

I did dislike the hiccup to introduce the cabaret minigame in chapter 4 & the construction

thingy since I was too into the main story I mentally tuned out during it.

What did Kiryu get dragged into this time? sigh... those were the only two times

that I felt were off-key and being interrupted by substories was better than that.

  

 This is why Date will never be a badass dad...

Because apparently Kiryu didn't get scammed enough in Y1 he now got scammed on Date's behalf.

 

What can I say but this was the start of a budding relationship?

 

As you can see.. the dialogue in this game was hilarious, more often than not I laughed out loud

or it just made me smile. The substories were also better than Y1 and more in line with Y0.

You can also get the substory finder really early on so... at times I did nothing but

substories till it was time to stop for the day. They were that fun.

If someone said Yakuza 2 had some of the best sub stories I would believe them.

 

 

 The graphics were definitely a step up from Yakuza 1 kiwami, not sure what they did

but it was definitely an improvement! music was okay, one of the ending themes

was a bit too much for me but the other theme song was nice.

I think the water looked better in this game than in lost judgment.

Combat was okay at best, I set it to easy as usual but idk why it seems very reliant on

charge attacks? I literally beat Ryuji in ch3 only by kicking (and a few loose punches).

There didn't seem to be any styles so being stuck to 1 felt bad... so the combat

was pretty much a step down from the other RGG games I played.

Dunno if I was playing right but charged attacks/kicks were definitely the way to go

because even in chapter twelve I was still kicking and screaming against a bunch of tigers.

I didn't do much in the way of minigames but that makes sense since I was

pretty burned out from those thanks to FF7 rebirth. I am glad that they were all optional

except for introducing the construction&cabaret but it was just like we got this, have a go once

and that was it they didn't force the player to actually get into it so you can just ignore it.

Final Thoughts

I didn't think much of Majima saga but this scene was very worth it.

Overall this game is a definite step up from yakuza 1 and on par with 0.

I think it is definitely my favorite along with 0 thus far, idk it just feels right.

Dunno if it is because of the last game I played but this game just had the right balance

of mainstory and side content which you can all do at your own pace without it being

forced on you too much. There's hardly any unnecessary padding that dragged things out

except chapter 11 maybe. I will mention that I actually disliked osaka castle since 

I was damn sure the developer was sadistic as hell. I mean what?! I almost wanted them

to eat thumbtack's cuz boi it was suffering. It also didn't make much sense story wise

except for the fact Kiryu was just tripping from the injury prior which is actually

the only thing that made it make sense. That aside the rest of the game was consistent

but i'm still just like wtf was that man?! nah Kiryu's just tripping and the dev's

found a way to get crazy and have some fun. Also while I liked the conclusion of this game

I did not like some events prior to that and decided that this may be my last Yakuza game

for a good while, its like something in my brain was just done with it all.

I also loved that there was romance and good humor to lighten the mood and since

this is a yakuza game, I am gonna take what I can get.. The ending for

itself was too perfect, like if there were no more sequels then i'd be happy.

Romance? in my Yakuza games?!

 

The story while not much longer than Yakuza 1 was just much better paced in general, characters

were better used and developed especially Sayama! sure chapters were short but atleast it had

proper pacing this time. I will admit at the end they may have pulled a few out of their arse.

I also think chapters 10 to 12 could have been combined into one since when I look at it

after it had been done there shouldn't have been much reason to split them but its whatever

since they just designed it that way and it is easy to take a break too, so no big deal.

Substories were so good this time, had all things I liked in 0. In 1 they just were

too random and/or lacked oomph. The dialogue also was funnier in this game.

I really will lose count how much this game made me smile and laugh a bit!

I also like how this game just has optional content but it ain't thrown in your face too much

like I remember lost judgment being too gimicky so I am glad Y2 was just straight-forward.

All in all Yakuza 2 kiwami was a good time, nuff said.

 

My favorite quote from this game definitely was from Ryuji Goda.

''A real man... oughta be a little stupid.''

 

Anyway after playing 3 Yakuza's, a spinoff and 2 Judgment games I realized one thing...

they will just keep writing, for better or for worse. Even if I do end up playing Yakuza 3

I will just pretend it continues in some other timeline... i'm sorry for repeating myself

but the ending of this game was just too good, I almost don't want anything else

which is enough reason to take another break from this series.