Although not part of the main game, I completed the 3-4 hour Majima Saga that runs parallel to the story in Kiwami 2 with Kazama. Playing as Majima was absolutely enjoyable and the story a nice ‘icing’ on the cake that was Kiwami 2. It’s important to note that there is a major nod to Majima’s story from “Yakuza 0”, so without that context, a decent part of the short campaign is completely missed by the player.

After 38 hours, I finally rolled credits on this game and was completely stunned with the Mach-1 speed of the story in the last 2 chapters. The final chapter, boss battle, music and impressive length cinematic that tied up all of the narrative loose ends (because damn there are a lot of character arks) was highly enjoyable, though I cheese'd the game a bit by using weapons and having such high attack/heat stats against the final boss.

All in all, it was an amazing time and no time wasted whatsoever. Anyone who enjoyed Yazuka 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 1 will enjoy this for all of the unique aspects that the series provides.

I’m practically finished with all of the side content I want to do, so I’ve decided to start playing directly through the main campaign now. Chapter 13’s “Settling Accounts” opening of walking with Haruka is a very ‘dad’ moment that hits close to home for me - I can’t walk around Sotonbori without holding her hand for some reason, so matter how slow it makes me walk <3. Meanwhile, I now know why old guys throw their golf clubs into lakes - that Bingo challenge is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

I will say this, the events at the end of Chapter 13 does require you to pay attention to all of the characters in the game, both primary and secondary as all of their storylines intersect heavily here.

At the time of this update:
Adventure (53/72)
Battle (31/44)
Substories (58/76)
Mini Games (13/52)
Clan Creator (20/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (22/33)
Battle Skills (33/56)
Heat Actions (17/33)
Life Skills (29/34)

35 hours in and I’m starting to see the ending of the story now that a significant amount of sub stories have been completed. Chapter 11’s “The Iron Creed” story intertwining while Chapter 12’s “Osaka Castle” rampage was just the thing to kick start my revival of the main story for what seems to be the ‘final act’ of the story.

Also, how big of a badass do you have to be to punch a tiger directly in the face?

At the time of this update:
Adventure (53/72)
Battle (31/44)
Substories (58/76)
Mini Games (13/52)
Clan Creator (20/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (22/33)
Battle Skills (33/56)
Heat Actions (17/33)
Life Skills (29/34)

So, I’ve developed a pattern of sorts with Kiwami 2 at the 33-hour mark.
1) look for side missions to complete
1a) look for unfinished restaurants/eateries to fuel up at
2) complete as many side missions as possible
3) complete story missions.

I’m at the point where I’m pretty sure I’ve completed all of the sub-stories in Kamurocho (aside from the Yu-Jin and mahjong missions) and now working on them in Sotonbori. As far as the main story goes, Chapter 9 “The Oni Invasion” was an excellent story beat and Chapter 10 “Survivors” gave some wonderful backstory to Kiryu’s tattoo. Something I didn’t think I’d be using is the Google Translate app on my phone and holding it to the screen for some of the in-game cinematics in order to gain context from the game.

At the time of this update:
Adventure (51/72)
Battle (30/44)
Substories (58/76)
Mini games (13/52)
Clan Creator (20/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (22/33)
Battle Skills (33/56)
Heat Actions (17/33)
Life Skills (27/34)

Spent a lot of time playing today, finished Chapters 7 and 8 and have felt a bit bad that I’m forgetting major plot points of the game to the point where I’m calling Kaoru ‘cop lady sidekick’ which is bad but true. :( Between this and “God of War”, I really need to play games more often in order to a) appreciate the stories and b) remember controls, combos, etc since these particular games are so large in scope. The ‘cuts both ways’ of solid sub-stories and a well done main campaign is a great thing if you have the time for it all. The “Granny in Peril” side mission was fun as well, as it harkened back to Kiwami 1. I’ve got a sub-story problem and the only solution is more sub-stories.

At the time of this update:
Adventure (38/72)
Battle (27/44)
Substories (44/76)
Mini games (7/52)
Clan Creator (20/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (22/33)
Battle Skills (21/56)
Heat Actions 11/33)
Life Skills (24/34)

Played a bit more tonight and realized that I’m not great at real-time strategy games. The Majima Construction RTS game started as fun, but I don’t have the wherewithal to keep up with all of my fighters and managing their health when the difficulty gets harder. So, with that out of the way, I can re-focus on the occasional main mission while enjoying side missions. Or so I thought. Currently, I have 2 side missions I’m simply not doing, “Against All Odds” (win at mahjong) and “A Whirlwind Tour” (escort an NPC) - if more sub-stories continue to be like this, I’ll probably end up neglecting more of them and focusing on the main story. This isn’t a knock on the game as a whole, this are subjective issues that I have surrounding uninteresting mechanics.

At the time of this update:
Adventure (35/72)
Battle (24/44)
Substories (39/76)
Mini games (7/52)
Clan Creator (20/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (22/33)
Battle Skills (18/56)
Heat Actions (9/33)
Life Skills (23/34)

Had another super long play session and grinded long enough to amass a small fortune with millions of Yen and completed the Millionaire League, essentially mastering the Cabaret management mini-game. Considering I play Yakuza games akin to eating pizza crust first, I drifted to the Majima Construction RTS game and have begun to grind that mini-game out as well. I’m going to need to re-watch all of the story videos in order to remember what in the world was going on X-D

At the time of this update:
Adventure (33/72)
Battle (22/44)
Substories (36/76)
Mini games (7/52)
Clan Creator (15/26)
Cabaret Club Grand Prix (19/33)
Battle Skills (17/56)
Heat Actions (9/33)
Life Skills (22/34)

Played for a good, LONG time today - made it through Chapter 5's "Hidden Past" and Chapter 6's "Schemes", I'm in love with how Detective Sayama's use of Kiryu is the underlying plot to the story - there's something mean, but honest about it and I respect that from a story-telling point of view.

However, the 'siren song' of this game and previous Yakuza games are again, the side quests. I'm not a completionist by any means, but the fact that there is a 'substory finder' perk is absolutely derailing any progress in the main story.

At the time of writing, I have 35/76 substories completed, 15/26 badges for the 'Clan Creator', and 18/33 badges in the 'Cabaret Club Grand Prix'. The stats are getting absurd as well - 17/56 'Battle Skills', 9/33 'Heat Actions', and 22/34 'Life Skills'.

And I'm still interested in where all of these stories go and I can't wait to continue playing.

10 hours in and I’ve barely decided to go back to the main story campaigns - I’m having way too much fun with the side stories and mini games. The “Sunflower” and “Old Man Komaki” series were enjoyable, while the “Be My Baby” side mission had me dying with laughter. I did continue Chapter 5 a bit more and reacquainted myself with Majima and got introduced to the Clan Creator mini games but spent a good amount of time in the Cabaret Club Grand Prix (keep in mind, mini game) to the point where I can do a ‘mini-mini game’ with the Platinum hostesses - this really is a onion with multiple layers.

Between the Cabaret Club Grand Prix and the Clan Creator alone, the side content is as deep as it is wide; add in the 70+ sub stories, and this game has some major heft behind it in the time spent department. What really shocks me, over and over again with this series, is that it doesn’t feel boring. Everything has a purpose, with adding to the depth of the world while leveling up Kiryu over and over. I’ve played so much side content that I think I’m overpowered for the main game, and to me, that’s a very good thing.

I've played more side missions than I care to publicly make known, simply because they are always so unique and put Kiryu in such strange situations. The photography side mission turned side game is just another example of how big this game actually is. I think about how even GTA5 doesn't have as many 'entrances' and 'places to walk into' as Yakuza 2 does. Granted the map is much smaller, but you can see that it can be done. Finished "Chapter 4" and I'm simply absorbing everything this game has to offer like a sponge.

Played for a bit today and continued the story mission to find out where the sniper's bullet came from. Between that, finding the darts mini game, opening the club cabaret mini game, and completing a handful of side missions, I've been completely derailed from the 'golden path' of the game, which works for me. Oddly, the "Yakuza" series is the only series where I feel a need to complete as much as possible while enjoying the game. Example: the caberet is a money farm while leveling up your girls, random encounters + drinks/food from restaurants boost EXP gains, etc etc - everything in the game has a purpose, leaving no 'fat' in the game.

About 5 hours into the game and I'm already noticing a major difference in the previous games "Yakuza 0" and "Yakuza Kiwami" - the upgrade system is much more fleshed out and there are a bunch of QoL changes for the better and being able to actively see side missions on the map. Example: you can now see what you've eaten in prior visits in an attempt to finish challenges. I do like the story of Kiryu vs. Ryu and the whole 'one dragon to rule them all' thing, interested to see where it goes from here.

Started Yakuza Kiwami 2 tonight and had a few thoughts.

First, the world and characters appear to be much more detailed than “Yakuza 0” and “Yakuza Kiwami 1”, though the game seems to drop from 60fps to 30fps. I’m fine with fidelity over frame rate, but after 100 hours with one, it’s difficult adjusting to the other.

Second, the single fighting style is a nice edit, with the stats system throwing me for a complete loop - I’m finding myself eating more now than I did in the prior games.

Third, thank goodness for the graveyard ‘flashback’ sequences - the problem with playing Kiwami 1, then 0 is that my memory of the characters and their arcs are backwards or all fucked up. This game seems to rely on continuity for the story; playing the first game without character context, then playing the prequel really forced me to remember who was who. The story seems believable, and after 2 hours, I feel ‘at home’ in Sotenbori and Kamorocho, being able to remember where food shops and stores are.

Oh, that’s the last thing - be able to walk INTO shops and interact feels new in this series (to me), so it’s a nice change. 2 hours in and meeting the Dragon of Kinsai has done some nice foreshadowing. :)