Yakuza Kiwami 2

[AndyKurosaki]

Couldn’t see a thread on this here,if there is one,my apologies.

 

After ditching Fallout 76,I’ve gone back to this. I binged through both Zero and Kiwami 1 last year,and Yakuza 6  & Fist Of The North Star this year. So it’s fair to say I love this series. 

 

Never played Yakuza 2 before (I started with 3 on PS3). But if there’s one series I know can be relied on,it’s Yakuza. It’s based on the Yakuza 6 engine,so it looks so good. I do miss the variety of fighting styles from Zero (probably the best game in the series). But no matter,you can’t beat grabbing a guy and swinging him round into his mates,then using a Heat move to absolutely batter them all.

 

There already feels like there’s more things to do than there was in Y6. Though I’ll never get the hang of the various Shogi/gambling games. And for some reason I now totally suck at the UFO catcher machine.

 

The story up to Chapter 4 has been enjoyable,just unlocked the Cabaret Girl subquest. I sank loads of hours into that on Kiwami 1,so I’ll likely do the same here.

 

Jim Sterling nailed it in a video earlier this year,I much prefer Yakuza to typical Open World games,such as Assassins Creed,which bombard you with a massive map and an obscene amount of stuff to do. In comparison,Kamarucho is a small map,but there’s plenty to keep you going.

 

 So yeah. Yakuza for the win.

[AndyKurosaki]

At Chapter 5,and this continues to be an absolute joy to play. Undoubtedly one of Playstation’s best exclusives. 

 

No other game can really match it for the  “what the hell am I doing?” factor. I deliberately make the effort to hunt down every Side Mission,as you have no idea what’s going to be thrown at you next. And always leaves you laughing. Such as a rival gang proper into dressing up as adult babies. There’s an image I won’t be forgetting for a long time. Kiryu,slamming a bunch of grown men around,in nappies.

 

Oh,Yakuza. Don’t ever change. 

[ThreeFour]

I've got Kiwami 2 and 6 ready to play. Last couple of years I've played 0 and Kiwami in January so I'm hoping to do so with Kiwami 2. 

 

There's nothing quite like Yakuza ?

[AndyKurosaki]

There genuinely isn’t,it’s a unique series that provides literally hours of fun. I put at least 60 hours into Zero,and still didn’t get everything done. 

 

The Cabaret Club was a massive time sink in Zero. I went from “what the hell is this!”, to trying to get the Club to number one status. So much fun.

 

Looks like Mad Dog Majima is about to make his appearance this chapter. He was proper bonkers in Kiwami 1,so I’m looking forward to this ?

[DisturbedSwan]

I still haven’t got round to playing this since having it from launch  just too much other stuff out.

 

I may be able to squeeze it in in after finishing DQXI and before RE2 in January but it may have to wait until April or something. 

[AndyKurosaki]

I got it on release but ended up sidetracked by other stuff. Planning to get through it by the time RE2 Remake comes out.

[DANGERMAN]

similar to @ThreeFour I played through 0 on release then Kiwami on release. I got 6 on release and played about half, that's a lot of Yakuza in 18 months. Yakuza 2 is my favourite of the series, I'll pick up Kiwami 2 at some point, possibly in the sale off PSN at christmas, but it can wait, it's not like they never drop in price and I don't really need 4 installments of the same game within 2 years

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah they do hit the sales quite regularly,Kiwami 2 was in a recent PSN sale,and will no doubt be in it again either in the Xmas or New Year sale.

 

It was Fist Of The North Star that distracted me from this,and understandably so,as that game was bloody fantastic. 

After the long,long,long uneventful horse rides of Red Dead 2,it felt a good time to jump back into this. And it most certainly was.

 

The Clan Battle system in Yakuza 6 has been brought in,but updated. In as much as you have areas you need to defend from attackers,or it’s game over.

Still doesn’t quite feel right having Kiryu step back,when he often decks entire armies of Yakuza single handedly. But hey ho.

[AndyKurosaki]

Made it to Chapter 10 so far. And this is definitely going to be my “Game Of The Year”. The Cabaret Club has already taken up a chunk of my time, just as it did in Zero,where I went from “What the hell is this?” to “I MUST own the top club”. 

 

The tone continues to go all over the place,in a way that only Yakuza can. One minute everything is serious and intriguing. The next,I’m genuinely laughing at Kiryu trying his hand at being a voice over artist in a game. I just love the way he never properly questions when someone asks him “do me a favour”, despite it almost always involve him making an embarrassment out of himself. Just glorious. 

 

So yeah,despite them not being quite the same,this is better than Red Dead Redemption 2 in my book. In that,side missions became a chore (especially in Chapter 2), because they’d be spaced way apart on the map,until you eventually go “oh for frigs sake,again?”.

Here,the map is small,but packed with stuff to do. So I happily go for each side mission,smashing peoples heads through shop windows as I do so.

 

A lot of people consider Yakuza 2 to be one of the best of the series. I can absolutely see why.

[AndyKurosaki]

Went through Chapter 12,definitely the most ridiculous of the game so far. From an emotional cutscene, to a “Really? You’re just walking that off?”. To a boss fight against two enemies that I won’t be forgetting for a very long time.

 

Only 3 Chapters left,but I’ll totally be doing the Hostess/Clan submissions. And Majima has his own chapters as well. Should be a laugh, he’s awesome.

[AndyKurosaki]

Completed the main Story,and just went through the Majima saga in one run. It’s fairly short,only 3 chapters. And there’s no levelling up to be done with Majima whatsoever,or side missions either,so I just ran to every battle til it was over.

 

Glad I did,as there’s a few throwbacks to his journey in Yakuza Zero. A game which gladly took my 3rd most played game on my PS4 life video.

 

Still got the Clan Creator and Hostess Club quests to go through. But it’s certainly up there as a strong ‘Game Of The Year’ candidate. And I can certainly see why fans consider it to be one of the best of the Yakuza series. Though Zero still maintains the top spot in my opinion.

[Hendo]

Been playing this off and on for a while. Only about halfway but I prefer it to the first Kiwami, but below 0.

 

I was explaining to a mate how violent it is and found this video:

 

 

And then explain that none of those people die, just dust themselves off and apologise for starting shit before walking away.

Love it.

 

Also love the newer engine, really makes a difference.

[DANGERMAN]

my favourite ever finisher from Yakuza was in (I think) 4. Kiryu suplexes people on to railings so their back snaps. Just laughably violent

[AndyKurosaki]

It makes me laugh when Kiryu is determined not to kill anyone. Yet regularly attacks people in such a way that they’ll be crippled for life. Or cracks out a rocket launcher in the obligatory highway/helicopter chase scene. 
 

 

[Sly Reflex]

That motorboat headbutt is hilarious.

[bellow]

Started this today. Had an enjoyable few hours although it feels a bit weird after playing the first one so recently. They've made a lot of changes, and most of them make the game feel a little 'off' if you ask me.

 

It might be just that I ended the last game dodging and counter hitting like a bloodthirsty ballet dancer, and now Kiryu seems a bit rooted, so it could be I just need to upgrade his move set.

 

But they really need to do an XS version. What's all this 30fps nonsense. Just looks weird after all the games I've played recently

 

 

 

[bellow]

Gone back to this after a short break. Just hit chapter 12, and I'm enjoying the companionship between Kiryu and the lady cop. Big things are happening in the story which, thankfully, has kept things  simple (although the main story in these games is always pretty straightforward)

 

I always get fed up with the sidequests at about the 15 hour mark (90% of which involve a chat and a scrap) so I'm mainlining a bit, I must admit. But that's par for the course. I never get more than 30 hours out of these, and this one is dragging slightly because of the stripped down combat.

 

Why did they do that? This is a direct sequel. Did Kiryu just forget how to fight?