This review contains spoilers
So....why do people not like this game exactly? No seriously, I legit do not understand the somewhat bad rep this game has gotten compared to other titles in the series, especially given how this might be some of the most fun I've had out of the three Yakuza games I've played.
- The story, while not on par with 0's incredible story, is a lot better than Kiwami 1's, mainly in how it didn't feel like a lot of filler was happening and it was beginning to nail the personalities of the characters down. With that being said, there are still issues I had with it, mainly with some loose ends that were never really tied up like Date's plot of trying to prove his innocence of the Kazuki footage and what happened with Takashi.
- As always, the side content proves to be a real highlight of the game and I spent hours of the game not going through the story, but to see what kind of odd and memorable side quests I was able to do next, though it did make me a bit overprepared for the final moments of the game with how many of them I did.
- Even though I was initially uncomfortable with the Hostess minigame during Yakuza 0, I decided to give it another shot in Kiwami 2. Surprisingly enough, I ended up enjoying it way more than I thought and I was able to get the hang of things very quickly, which made it a surprisingly fun experience overall. Though I didn't pay attention to Majima Construction nearly as much, I didn't hate it at all however.
- The performances and music are still top-notch as always.
- Finally, and the main reason why I ended up enjoying this game so much, was mainly with how this is my first experience with a Yakuza game running on the Dragon Engine. Unlike Kiwami 1 where I was able to immediately tell what assets and mechanics were directly reused from Yakuza 0 and realize how much of 0 was used as the backbone for Kiwami's gameplay, I did not play the previous Dragon Engine game, Yakuza 6 (And will not until I've taken care of the Remastered trilogy), which meant that I didn't know what was new to Kiwami 2 specifically and what was reused from 6, so a lot of new mechanics and changes to the Dragon Engine I experienced first hand with this. And I am glad I did because the gameplay out of the three I played is easily my favorite.
- The combat feels very smooth and nice to do compared to what I've experienced before, and I especially love the way upgrades were handled where you had to consider what to spend on each of the experience point categories rather than what 0 and Kiwami did. It made for a great system that made me look forward to fighting the random encounters more than ever. The changes the Dragon Engine made to the overworld and the overall feel of the game made it an incredibly pleasant experience as well, with no real issues I had while traversing through Kamurocho and Sobertoni.
Overall, while I'm not sure if I would call this my favorite game in the series as I felt 0 had a much better plot, I'm still very impressed with what this game offered, along with it being my first impression of the Dragon Engine. It's now gotten more curious as to what the rest of the series has to show, even when I know 3-5 are games that were made before this and didn't have time to be perfected, I'm still going into them with an open mind whenever I play them.
God damn, RGG continues to impress.
- The story, while not on par with 0's incredible story, is a lot better than Kiwami 1's, mainly in how it didn't feel like a lot of filler was happening and it was beginning to nail the personalities of the characters down. With that being said, there are still issues I had with it, mainly with some loose ends that were never really tied up like Date's plot of trying to prove his innocence of the Kazuki footage and what happened with Takashi.
- As always, the side content proves to be a real highlight of the game and I spent hours of the game not going through the story, but to see what kind of odd and memorable side quests I was able to do next, though it did make me a bit overprepared for the final moments of the game with how many of them I did.
- Even though I was initially uncomfortable with the Hostess minigame during Yakuza 0, I decided to give it another shot in Kiwami 2. Surprisingly enough, I ended up enjoying it way more than I thought and I was able to get the hang of things very quickly, which made it a surprisingly fun experience overall. Though I didn't pay attention to Majima Construction nearly as much, I didn't hate it at all however.
- The performances and music are still top-notch as always.
- Finally, and the main reason why I ended up enjoying this game so much, was mainly with how this is my first experience with a Yakuza game running on the Dragon Engine. Unlike Kiwami 1 where I was able to immediately tell what assets and mechanics were directly reused from Yakuza 0 and realize how much of 0 was used as the backbone for Kiwami's gameplay, I did not play the previous Dragon Engine game, Yakuza 6 (And will not until I've taken care of the Remastered trilogy), which meant that I didn't know what was new to Kiwami 2 specifically and what was reused from 6, so a lot of new mechanics and changes to the Dragon Engine I experienced first hand with this. And I am glad I did because the gameplay out of the three I played is easily my favorite.
- The combat feels very smooth and nice to do compared to what I've experienced before, and I especially love the way upgrades were handled where you had to consider what to spend on each of the experience point categories rather than what 0 and Kiwami did. It made for a great system that made me look forward to fighting the random encounters more than ever. The changes the Dragon Engine made to the overworld and the overall feel of the game made it an incredibly pleasant experience as well, with no real issues I had while traversing through Kamurocho and Sobertoni.
Overall, while I'm not sure if I would call this my favorite game in the series as I felt 0 had a much better plot, I'm still very impressed with what this game offered, along with it being my first impression of the Dragon Engine. It's now gotten more curious as to what the rest of the series has to show, even when I know 3-5 are games that were made before this and didn't have time to be perfected, I'm still going into them with an open mind whenever I play them.
God damn, RGG continues to impress.
Mapache
3 months ago