This review contains spoilers
Alright, now that i'm back in with the Dragon Engine stuff, I probably should give Yakuza Kiwami 2 a proper look before I forget too much about things. Even then, I doubt my thoughts on a lot of Kiwami 2 will be as meaty or well informed as the rest of the series. But that is partly because it's the game I want to compare and contrast the most with it's PS2 counterpart, and that'll take some strong overlooking of both. So to make up for it partially, this review will consist of both the main Kiwami 2 stuff, and the Majima Saga as a bonus, since I got a lot of nice things to say about that.
Honestly in terms of Kiwami 2's gameplay, it is very much a step-up from 6. It retains a lot of things about 6's gameplay, but makes some appropriate and much need additions to make it better. How you upgrade with the 5 different stats still remain, how you unlock new abilities via a set few menus are pretty similar, and Kiryu's moveset basics are still here, including the dropkick, parry, tiger drop, bounding throws, etc.. In return, Kiryu gets the older version of the heat bar where it's an actual bar this time, not the heat orbs. Kiryu gets a lot more heat actions to do with just his basic fists, including a heat move that hits ground opponents, finally. His weapon and gear is a lot more emphasized in this game with a ton of old movesets returning such as spears, bats, golf clubs, tonfa, etc., as well as the gear slots now being a full 3 of them rather than just plainly 2 of them. Also because this is Yakuza 2, not only does unlocking a lot of these moves come from substories, completion, or just random interesting things around the cities, but they also come with a friend system. This system gives Kiryu a bunch of unique heat actions to open fights with. There's not much more than that, but they can be cool otherwise. To sum it up, it's 6's systems, but rounded out with amount of versatility that you'd probably expect from Kiryu. It's not all great since lunging punch is still here and it sucks, komaki knockback is back and it got knocked down a peg or 6 in terms of usefulness, but it's overall pretty good.
It relies a lot less on the still present Blue Heat Dragon Spirit mode, even taking out a lot of the 6 heat actions involving it. And relies a whole lot more on Kiryu's strength without it, and of his regained weapon mastery. Seriously this game is one of the few in the series that really pushes me into wanting to use weapons more, and it even sweetens the deal with a late game ability that refreshes used weapons on their durability, making it a really fun way to go ham in the late game. And you'll need it especially for the Amons and Bouncer Missions (we'll get to those later).
While i'll explain it more in depth in the 6 review, my issue with it is less that Kiryu's moveset sucks, which it doesn't, it's perfectly fine and much better than 6's, even has a unique edge not many in the series before could say it had to me, but it is in early dragon engine. Much of the physics, weight, speed, general feel of the game doesn't feel nearly as good since i'm prone to getting punished while trying to hit because the wind down from getting a hit blocked is really long, early on Kiryu can't really move very well because the evasion stat is so low, and trying to crowd control is annoying since you either have to rely on a less effective dropkick, or more accurately rely on throwing and throw finishing guys into one another. That's kind of how I know the grab finishers aren't really good in these games compare to earlier ones, because while I think they don't take up heat, they have a good chance to get interrupted really easily due to walls or objects in the enviroment that will snap the enemy out of your mitts. Plus while it's expanded the reprotoire of heat actions, it still doesn't feel like theres that much new, putting a lot of weight on the weapons to carry the intrigue, which tbf it does kind of do.
Whatever the case, onto side stuff, and there is quite a bit to discuss. Firstly, a lot of gambling stuff returns, the coliseum returns finally, the arcades have a neat selection to work from, and the game juggles 3 very important side modes that carry the majority. First is the return of Cabaret Club Management from 0, but now Kiryu is leading Club Four Shine against the returning Club Sunshine and the many other Cabaret across Sotenbori. It doesn't have as much energy as 0's (nor as interesting of a cast), but there is some good. Majima, Yuki, and Youda make a return and meet up again after those long 18 years, Majima becomes an announcer after plot stuff and he's Majima so it's good, and the addition of the Oil Baron at the end of rounds does certainly make things more interesting, even if it is just a button mash. It's pretty cool.
Next is Majima Construction. This is the reworked version of Clan Creator, now turned into a Tower Defense affair rather than a simple RTS point and click kind of affair. Majima is in the midst of building the hills, but a bunch of real estate folk want a piece of the kamurocho pie, and they even bring an army to do it. Majima ain't gonna turn down a fight, but he also has a job and needs the equipment to do it, which is what they target... Never fear, because Kiryu comes to assist the battles by guiding forces into the most optimal spots to defend the hills. Clan Creator has always had this "mashing action figures together" feel since you can build the roster out of any of the availble roster, and i mean more than just the main cast and some side cast, I mean every thug, yakuza, tough guy, police, or freak in the cities of Kamurocho and Sotenbori are up for grabs. It also probably helps my autistic-ass brain since you can choose up to 10 units rather than just 6 like in Y6, so a lot more of an oddball team is guaranteed. I also just like an army vs army kind of thing, it's cool. It's not always the most interesting, and in some ways I kind of like 6's clan creator mode a tad bit more, but this is the better of the two, I like this.
Lastly is the Bouncer Missions. Unfortunately this and the last game don't really have the Ultimate Match mode, a list of challenges laid in a seperate part of the main menu that lets you face some of the trickies challenges the game wouldn't normally throw at you otherwise. K2 makes up for this with these, basically versions of that with the context of being a bouncer, and getting random thugs to mafia and arsonists out of Kamurocho and Sotenbori respectively, all culminating in really REALLY hard matches against an army of assholes led by atleast 1 of the 4 Amon Clan members you fight in this game. Which kind of sucks because I think 2 of them suck to fight, really either of the ones armed with Explosives or firearms can go fuck themselves, otherwise Kazuya and Jo are fine. It's a really cool way to contextualize it, and if for some reason they don't do the challenge mode again, I hope they try something like this again, it was genuinely really fun.
Underneath all of that you got the coliseum which is pretty fleshed out this time around with a lot of returning formats of fighting as well as the new 8 fighter matches that pit you against all the contestants at once, which can and does include tigers. Fucked up. And from my exprience the Substories were overall pretty alright. I remember liking them for the most part. Some of my favorites include Yakuza Sunset, The Charming Councilor, The Granny's Request Quadrilogy, The Fake Kiryu substory (it's called the Legendary Dragon), We're All In This Together!, Rags to Riches (because i'm a sucker for straw millionaire plots), Embracing My True Self, Clearing the Fog, Stolen, and of course the one most people know Y2 for, Be My Baby. It's not my favorite, but the eagerness of the game to get you into it, and the weirdness of the situation tackled by Kiryu being Kiryu is really funny, My favorite is probably Yakuza Sunset because I really like seeing Kiryu go see the movie to get an opinion and having a chat with a dude about it for some fuckin' reason, but it also made me cry a little by the end so yeah...
With that let's head into the main plot, which i'll be honest, I really don't have much of an opinion on other than "Yeah it's pretty good". I mean it's probably a lot better than Yakuza 1's plot due to the ramping of tensions and the webs and webs of stuff going on being pretty fun in the moment to follow. Kiryu also Tiger Drops actual Tigers, like canonically, and it's really cool and funny simutaneously. I think one can argue the amount of surprise "I'm actually part Jingweon" reveals is a little much, but i'm not too bothered by it, especially since it makes certain characters a bit more thematically interesting. I really like Kaoru as one of the leads, she's pretty fun to see fight, her introduction is pretty neat, and the following story with her slowly opening up and getting shaken by a conspiracy she was truly willing to see through no matter how much it hurt her was pretty neat to watch unfold, especially since it helps compliment Kiryu's parts of the story, makes some character reveals later on sting all that much more, and it does make the ups and down with her and Kiryu fun to see. I don't exactly buy these two as a couple, but that's more later game hindsight than anything else, and I can see how it could make sense here, with Kiryu still reeling from a lot of the trouble of the first game's events and trying to stable himself with someone who brings a similar but differing contrast than what Haruka brought. Where Haruka was child with a more optimistic and hopeful look on things, Sayama is a Naive Adult wrapped up in an ever entangling conspiracy. Kiryu is ready to face things with his honor and humility as always, but it does cost him at points. It's a neat contrast, and it does help me get why they would probably have feelings for one another, but I kind of like the idea of them being friends more than anything, so I'm like 75% glad that's the route they went with for 3 (the other 25% is kind of sad she never really came back afterwards, she'd be really confused with everything that happened with Kiryu).
Among them, I also think Ryuji is a really good villain, partly because all of his fights are great, but also because I think his M.O. being to punch his way through the conspiracy rather than plan through it all makes him an unpredictable and fun villain to see in motion, especially when paired with other characters and even organizations that think they can outsmart him. The other Omi villains are pretty ok, Sengoku is somehow more one note than Jingu but it's not really that bad since he also pathetic and gets his ass handed to him by Ryuji. Takashima is the true "mastermind" but is also handily knocked down by Ryuji and he's ok for what he is. His model change is kind of dumb but i'll explain that soon. The Jingweon are more a group of people rather than a couple figureheads, hell technically Ryuji and Kaoru are both Jingweon, but we get a couple faces, including Terada who turns out to live than consequently die right after his "im actually alive" speel. It's kind of eh.
Majima makes his glorious return, and hey, he's certainly a lot less aggressive, and much more prone to a funnier side. He's one of Kiryu's strongest allies, even getting a fight of his own early on, and it's really cool. We'll get to Majima later tho. I do feel for Nishida, his right-hand man in the buisness, but that's because he's gotta play straight-man to this mad dog's tune. In terms of the Tojo, while it's pretty fucked with a succession war tearing it apart over the last year and the recent "death" of Terada leaving it pretty weak, we do get some cool people involved. Not Shindo, he just kind of sucks but gets a cool fight. No no no, we get Daigo, who in hindsight is cool, not much in this game but he has some good moments. And his mom Yayoi, who in K1 is really cool for her substory, and is really cool here as she takes the helm as interim chairman, and she doesn't fuck around either. Honestly i'm suprisied she never came back... Date gets some extra stuff in this game that's pretty cool, but also doesn't really go many places and really only serves to make the police seem pretty useless near the end of the story... which hey that's not suprising, especially for this series, but still. No a lot of the intrigue I think is behind is his old partner, Jiro Kawara who is pretty cool, and plays pretty deep into the workings of the plot.
That's all I really feel like tackling in terms of cast, but it's overall pretty fun, if a bit complicated to explain out in detail with all the different organizations and groups in on the conflict. I think it's a fun story, the only thing I could really address now is the stuff the remake changed in term of story relevance. One whole city got removed (being Shineicho) tho i'm not sure how much you got to do in it, and a lot of stuff like music changes and even model swaps affected the story in different moments. I could certainly feel it in the music department, it makes both the Kiryu stabbing scene and ending credits worse because it loses it's jazzier piece along with Silent Night for more techno-pop-esk songs (i'm not very good at identifying song genres), they don't really add much is what i'm trying to say. Same for a lot of the songs that were replaced for certain fights. Biggest example is Evil Itself, Hayashi's track during his boss fight got replaced for the generic boss fight track, which kind of kills the mood a little. Not by a lot it's still a fun fight, it just doesn't have the same flair. I'll save the Takashima point for later since there is something to mention with it, but if I have two things I do like that they did here... they added Dynamic Intros into all of the major fights which all rock, and they remade A Scattered Moment into A Scattered, Eternal Moment which just amplifies that fights emotions a lot, like it sells it as one of the best in the series, Dragon Engine or not.
And that's about it. Kiwami 2 is a really solid game, a lot of it's side content and story stuff is cool, there is somethings that are weird about what has changed, and the major detracting factor is the Early Dragon Engine for me, but it's still like a 13/20 or so. It's still good.
Now the Majima Saga is where I think things go from Good to Great, which is really funny for a short little mode that you unlock alongside the main story, but this is completely original to the remake. You spend it in early 2006 as Majima, still apart of the Tojo. This story is meant to connect some of the dots on how Majima got to Majima Construction since 2005, and brings closure in some odd ways when he heads to Sotenbori.
First the "major" negative to lob at the part is admittedly Majima's moveset. It's not bad for what it is, but it is a heavily HEAVILY stripped down version of his Mad Dog Style. Only the basic 4 hit combo with the double finishers, a couple heat actions either for single targets or 3 at once (which are kind of cool), his tornado move, andddddd that's it. It is helped that his knife will cut through guarding unarmed opponents, but there is a lot lacking here. Heat actions are fine to be a little lackluster, but a bunch of the more franetic things about the moveset like the Finisher Extension: Mad Dog's Bite where he runs around and swipes at opponents is missing, his extra really far reaching dodge is gone, i'm not even sure if he has his counter anymore. Majima's K2 Mad Dog Style kind of sucks is my point, but I don't think it's that much of a detractor i'll be honest. You can finish the entire thing in like 3 hours or so, even with fighting the mini-bosses and whatnot, and the bigger value out of the side mode is the story more than anything, so while it is a negative, it's not that big of deal.
Now the cool part is the story of it all. Yeah Majima gets to connect dots back to the main game on how he ended up where he did, and it was kind of sweet that he A) Was friends with Kashiwagi, and B) Help Kiryu and Haruka with funds on the occassion. The real cool part was on Majima's visit back to Sotenbori. Not only does he get to visit the Grand a couple of times, even having the 2 final boss fights there, and he gets to meet up with his old rival and almost meets up with Yuki again, the real seller is his meeting with Makoto again. And not just for a small cameo either, the two get a few scenes with one another which not only are pretty funny with Majima needing to keep his identity a secret, but also sweet in that the two in one way or another got some closure after what happened in 88'. Makoto was able to live a good life like Majima wished, and even left a final goodbye gift for her, probably helping her key in just who she was helping. In a weird way, it's a happy little ending for the two of them in this certain way, and certainly helping in explaining why Majima steadily loses the Mad Dog persona as the games continue on. He's gotten distance from everything that happened, and is starting to confront his past, for better or for worst... Honestly I think it's just a really sweet little send off. They didn't need to do it, but if they brought him back for Sotenbori, then I guess they needed somethin'.
In terms of the final bosses, both gun users... they're ok. It's one of Majima's subordinates that makes a mess of things, and another more Buisness-minded Yakuza name Kei Ibuchi who ends up trying to start a war with the Omi by using the subordinate to kill an Omi man and start the war up (early), which is promptly shut down by Majima torching his spot in the Tojo as repentance, and starting Majima Construction in a place of work. It's like an ok fight due to the limited Majima moveset, but this is where I saved the Takashima point for. I assume the game was shipped with Majima saga in tow, so like, why did they give Takashima the older model to work off of while this random ass character in the Majima Side story thing get the young buisness yakuza schemer look? I mean it's hard to say if there was much intentionality with the choice, it's just hard not to notice considering being an older guy sort of goes against the point of Takashima's role in the story. It's not a big thing, but it's weird.
Either way, that's the Majima saga basically. I didn't really mention much side stuff because the most you got is fighting mini-bosses as Majima which gets you money and items, but it's just kind of there more or less. You can also do Kareoke as Majima, and he gets not only his personal rendition of Pride from Despair, but he also gets a song to his own As Long as You're Happy, which is just one of the prettiest but kind of melancholic songs in the series. It's not like "Today is a Diamond" where it's cheerful sounding music with fucked up lyrics, it's more on the nose and very emotional, but it also gets across some of Majima's feelings when it comes to everything with Makoto, and it's a sweet little song.
If the main game is like a 13/20 or somethin', the Majima Saga is solidly a 15/20. For what it is, I think it's a really sweet little story that connects dots and brings closure to one of my favorite characters in the series. I like it. Overall, this is a good game, just hampered more or less by Dragon Engine stuff, but does also conveniently have some of the best yakuza stuff in it... so ehhh. Good game and then some.
Honestly in terms of Kiwami 2's gameplay, it is very much a step-up from 6. It retains a lot of things about 6's gameplay, but makes some appropriate and much need additions to make it better. How you upgrade with the 5 different stats still remain, how you unlock new abilities via a set few menus are pretty similar, and Kiryu's moveset basics are still here, including the dropkick, parry, tiger drop, bounding throws, etc.. In return, Kiryu gets the older version of the heat bar where it's an actual bar this time, not the heat orbs. Kiryu gets a lot more heat actions to do with just his basic fists, including a heat move that hits ground opponents, finally. His weapon and gear is a lot more emphasized in this game with a ton of old movesets returning such as spears, bats, golf clubs, tonfa, etc., as well as the gear slots now being a full 3 of them rather than just plainly 2 of them. Also because this is Yakuza 2, not only does unlocking a lot of these moves come from substories, completion, or just random interesting things around the cities, but they also come with a friend system. This system gives Kiryu a bunch of unique heat actions to open fights with. There's not much more than that, but they can be cool otherwise. To sum it up, it's 6's systems, but rounded out with amount of versatility that you'd probably expect from Kiryu. It's not all great since lunging punch is still here and it sucks, komaki knockback is back and it got knocked down a peg or 6 in terms of usefulness, but it's overall pretty good.
It relies a lot less on the still present Blue Heat Dragon Spirit mode, even taking out a lot of the 6 heat actions involving it. And relies a whole lot more on Kiryu's strength without it, and of his regained weapon mastery. Seriously this game is one of the few in the series that really pushes me into wanting to use weapons more, and it even sweetens the deal with a late game ability that refreshes used weapons on their durability, making it a really fun way to go ham in the late game. And you'll need it especially for the Amons and Bouncer Missions (we'll get to those later).
While i'll explain it more in depth in the 6 review, my issue with it is less that Kiryu's moveset sucks, which it doesn't, it's perfectly fine and much better than 6's, even has a unique edge not many in the series before could say it had to me, but it is in early dragon engine. Much of the physics, weight, speed, general feel of the game doesn't feel nearly as good since i'm prone to getting punished while trying to hit because the wind down from getting a hit blocked is really long, early on Kiryu can't really move very well because the evasion stat is so low, and trying to crowd control is annoying since you either have to rely on a less effective dropkick, or more accurately rely on throwing and throw finishing guys into one another. That's kind of how I know the grab finishers aren't really good in these games compare to earlier ones, because while I think they don't take up heat, they have a good chance to get interrupted really easily due to walls or objects in the enviroment that will snap the enemy out of your mitts. Plus while it's expanded the reprotoire of heat actions, it still doesn't feel like theres that much new, putting a lot of weight on the weapons to carry the intrigue, which tbf it does kind of do.
Whatever the case, onto side stuff, and there is quite a bit to discuss. Firstly, a lot of gambling stuff returns, the coliseum returns finally, the arcades have a neat selection to work from, and the game juggles 3 very important side modes that carry the majority. First is the return of Cabaret Club Management from 0, but now Kiryu is leading Club Four Shine against the returning Club Sunshine and the many other Cabaret across Sotenbori. It doesn't have as much energy as 0's (nor as interesting of a cast), but there is some good. Majima, Yuki, and Youda make a return and meet up again after those long 18 years, Majima becomes an announcer after plot stuff and he's Majima so it's good, and the addition of the Oil Baron at the end of rounds does certainly make things more interesting, even if it is just a button mash. It's pretty cool.
Next is Majima Construction. This is the reworked version of Clan Creator, now turned into a Tower Defense affair rather than a simple RTS point and click kind of affair. Majima is in the midst of building the hills, but a bunch of real estate folk want a piece of the kamurocho pie, and they even bring an army to do it. Majima ain't gonna turn down a fight, but he also has a job and needs the equipment to do it, which is what they target... Never fear, because Kiryu comes to assist the battles by guiding forces into the most optimal spots to defend the hills. Clan Creator has always had this "mashing action figures together" feel since you can build the roster out of any of the availble roster, and i mean more than just the main cast and some side cast, I mean every thug, yakuza, tough guy, police, or freak in the cities of Kamurocho and Sotenbori are up for grabs. It also probably helps my autistic-ass brain since you can choose up to 10 units rather than just 6 like in Y6, so a lot more of an oddball team is guaranteed. I also just like an army vs army kind of thing, it's cool. It's not always the most interesting, and in some ways I kind of like 6's clan creator mode a tad bit more, but this is the better of the two, I like this.
Lastly is the Bouncer Missions. Unfortunately this and the last game don't really have the Ultimate Match mode, a list of challenges laid in a seperate part of the main menu that lets you face some of the trickies challenges the game wouldn't normally throw at you otherwise. K2 makes up for this with these, basically versions of that with the context of being a bouncer, and getting random thugs to mafia and arsonists out of Kamurocho and Sotenbori respectively, all culminating in really REALLY hard matches against an army of assholes led by atleast 1 of the 4 Amon Clan members you fight in this game. Which kind of sucks because I think 2 of them suck to fight, really either of the ones armed with Explosives or firearms can go fuck themselves, otherwise Kazuya and Jo are fine. It's a really cool way to contextualize it, and if for some reason they don't do the challenge mode again, I hope they try something like this again, it was genuinely really fun.
Underneath all of that you got the coliseum which is pretty fleshed out this time around with a lot of returning formats of fighting as well as the new 8 fighter matches that pit you against all the contestants at once, which can and does include tigers. Fucked up. And from my exprience the Substories were overall pretty alright. I remember liking them for the most part. Some of my favorites include Yakuza Sunset, The Charming Councilor, The Granny's Request Quadrilogy, The Fake Kiryu substory (it's called the Legendary Dragon), We're All In This Together!, Rags to Riches (because i'm a sucker for straw millionaire plots), Embracing My True Self, Clearing the Fog, Stolen, and of course the one most people know Y2 for, Be My Baby. It's not my favorite, but the eagerness of the game to get you into it, and the weirdness of the situation tackled by Kiryu being Kiryu is really funny, My favorite is probably Yakuza Sunset because I really like seeing Kiryu go see the movie to get an opinion and having a chat with a dude about it for some fuckin' reason, but it also made me cry a little by the end so yeah...
With that let's head into the main plot, which i'll be honest, I really don't have much of an opinion on other than "Yeah it's pretty good". I mean it's probably a lot better than Yakuza 1's plot due to the ramping of tensions and the webs and webs of stuff going on being pretty fun in the moment to follow. Kiryu also Tiger Drops actual Tigers, like canonically, and it's really cool and funny simutaneously. I think one can argue the amount of surprise "I'm actually part Jingweon" reveals is a little much, but i'm not too bothered by it, especially since it makes certain characters a bit more thematically interesting. I really like Kaoru as one of the leads, she's pretty fun to see fight, her introduction is pretty neat, and the following story with her slowly opening up and getting shaken by a conspiracy she was truly willing to see through no matter how much it hurt her was pretty neat to watch unfold, especially since it helps compliment Kiryu's parts of the story, makes some character reveals later on sting all that much more, and it does make the ups and down with her and Kiryu fun to see. I don't exactly buy these two as a couple, but that's more later game hindsight than anything else, and I can see how it could make sense here, with Kiryu still reeling from a lot of the trouble of the first game's events and trying to stable himself with someone who brings a similar but differing contrast than what Haruka brought. Where Haruka was child with a more optimistic and hopeful look on things, Sayama is a Naive Adult wrapped up in an ever entangling conspiracy. Kiryu is ready to face things with his honor and humility as always, but it does cost him at points. It's a neat contrast, and it does help me get why they would probably have feelings for one another, but I kind of like the idea of them being friends more than anything, so I'm like 75% glad that's the route they went with for 3 (the other 25% is kind of sad she never really came back afterwards, she'd be really confused with everything that happened with Kiryu).
Among them, I also think Ryuji is a really good villain, partly because all of his fights are great, but also because I think his M.O. being to punch his way through the conspiracy rather than plan through it all makes him an unpredictable and fun villain to see in motion, especially when paired with other characters and even organizations that think they can outsmart him. The other Omi villains are pretty ok, Sengoku is somehow more one note than Jingu but it's not really that bad since he also pathetic and gets his ass handed to him by Ryuji. Takashima is the true "mastermind" but is also handily knocked down by Ryuji and he's ok for what he is. His model change is kind of dumb but i'll explain that soon. The Jingweon are more a group of people rather than a couple figureheads, hell technically Ryuji and Kaoru are both Jingweon, but we get a couple faces, including Terada who turns out to live than consequently die right after his "im actually alive" speel. It's kind of eh.
Majima makes his glorious return, and hey, he's certainly a lot less aggressive, and much more prone to a funnier side. He's one of Kiryu's strongest allies, even getting a fight of his own early on, and it's really cool. We'll get to Majima later tho. I do feel for Nishida, his right-hand man in the buisness, but that's because he's gotta play straight-man to this mad dog's tune. In terms of the Tojo, while it's pretty fucked with a succession war tearing it apart over the last year and the recent "death" of Terada leaving it pretty weak, we do get some cool people involved. Not Shindo, he just kind of sucks but gets a cool fight. No no no, we get Daigo, who in hindsight is cool, not much in this game but he has some good moments. And his mom Yayoi, who in K1 is really cool for her substory, and is really cool here as she takes the helm as interim chairman, and she doesn't fuck around either. Honestly i'm suprisied she never came back... Date gets some extra stuff in this game that's pretty cool, but also doesn't really go many places and really only serves to make the police seem pretty useless near the end of the story... which hey that's not suprising, especially for this series, but still. No a lot of the intrigue I think is behind is his old partner, Jiro Kawara who is pretty cool, and plays pretty deep into the workings of the plot.
That's all I really feel like tackling in terms of cast, but it's overall pretty fun, if a bit complicated to explain out in detail with all the different organizations and groups in on the conflict. I think it's a fun story, the only thing I could really address now is the stuff the remake changed in term of story relevance. One whole city got removed (being Shineicho) tho i'm not sure how much you got to do in it, and a lot of stuff like music changes and even model swaps affected the story in different moments. I could certainly feel it in the music department, it makes both the Kiryu stabbing scene and ending credits worse because it loses it's jazzier piece along with Silent Night for more techno-pop-esk songs (i'm not very good at identifying song genres), they don't really add much is what i'm trying to say. Same for a lot of the songs that were replaced for certain fights. Biggest example is Evil Itself, Hayashi's track during his boss fight got replaced for the generic boss fight track, which kind of kills the mood a little. Not by a lot it's still a fun fight, it just doesn't have the same flair. I'll save the Takashima point for later since there is something to mention with it, but if I have two things I do like that they did here... they added Dynamic Intros into all of the major fights which all rock, and they remade A Scattered Moment into A Scattered, Eternal Moment which just amplifies that fights emotions a lot, like it sells it as one of the best in the series, Dragon Engine or not.
And that's about it. Kiwami 2 is a really solid game, a lot of it's side content and story stuff is cool, there is somethings that are weird about what has changed, and the major detracting factor is the Early Dragon Engine for me, but it's still like a 13/20 or so. It's still good.
Now the Majima Saga is where I think things go from Good to Great, which is really funny for a short little mode that you unlock alongside the main story, but this is completely original to the remake. You spend it in early 2006 as Majima, still apart of the Tojo. This story is meant to connect some of the dots on how Majima got to Majima Construction since 2005, and brings closure in some odd ways when he heads to Sotenbori.
First the "major" negative to lob at the part is admittedly Majima's moveset. It's not bad for what it is, but it is a heavily HEAVILY stripped down version of his Mad Dog Style. Only the basic 4 hit combo with the double finishers, a couple heat actions either for single targets or 3 at once (which are kind of cool), his tornado move, andddddd that's it. It is helped that his knife will cut through guarding unarmed opponents, but there is a lot lacking here. Heat actions are fine to be a little lackluster, but a bunch of the more franetic things about the moveset like the Finisher Extension: Mad Dog's Bite where he runs around and swipes at opponents is missing, his extra really far reaching dodge is gone, i'm not even sure if he has his counter anymore. Majima's K2 Mad Dog Style kind of sucks is my point, but I don't think it's that much of a detractor i'll be honest. You can finish the entire thing in like 3 hours or so, even with fighting the mini-bosses and whatnot, and the bigger value out of the side mode is the story more than anything, so while it is a negative, it's not that big of deal.
Now the cool part is the story of it all. Yeah Majima gets to connect dots back to the main game on how he ended up where he did, and it was kind of sweet that he A) Was friends with Kashiwagi, and B) Help Kiryu and Haruka with funds on the occassion. The real cool part was on Majima's visit back to Sotenbori. Not only does he get to visit the Grand a couple of times, even having the 2 final boss fights there, and he gets to meet up with his old rival and almost meets up with Yuki again, the real seller is his meeting with Makoto again. And not just for a small cameo either, the two get a few scenes with one another which not only are pretty funny with Majima needing to keep his identity a secret, but also sweet in that the two in one way or another got some closure after what happened in 88'. Makoto was able to live a good life like Majima wished, and even left a final goodbye gift for her, probably helping her key in just who she was helping. In a weird way, it's a happy little ending for the two of them in this certain way, and certainly helping in explaining why Majima steadily loses the Mad Dog persona as the games continue on. He's gotten distance from everything that happened, and is starting to confront his past, for better or for worst... Honestly I think it's just a really sweet little send off. They didn't need to do it, but if they brought him back for Sotenbori, then I guess they needed somethin'.
In terms of the final bosses, both gun users... they're ok. It's one of Majima's subordinates that makes a mess of things, and another more Buisness-minded Yakuza name Kei Ibuchi who ends up trying to start a war with the Omi by using the subordinate to kill an Omi man and start the war up (early), which is promptly shut down by Majima torching his spot in the Tojo as repentance, and starting Majima Construction in a place of work. It's like an ok fight due to the limited Majima moveset, but this is where I saved the Takashima point for. I assume the game was shipped with Majima saga in tow, so like, why did they give Takashima the older model to work off of while this random ass character in the Majima Side story thing get the young buisness yakuza schemer look? I mean it's hard to say if there was much intentionality with the choice, it's just hard not to notice considering being an older guy sort of goes against the point of Takashima's role in the story. It's not a big thing, but it's weird.
Either way, that's the Majima saga basically. I didn't really mention much side stuff because the most you got is fighting mini-bosses as Majima which gets you money and items, but it's just kind of there more or less. You can also do Kareoke as Majima, and he gets not only his personal rendition of Pride from Despair, but he also gets a song to his own As Long as You're Happy, which is just one of the prettiest but kind of melancholic songs in the series. It's not like "Today is a Diamond" where it's cheerful sounding music with fucked up lyrics, it's more on the nose and very emotional, but it also gets across some of Majima's feelings when it comes to everything with Makoto, and it's a sweet little song.
If the main game is like a 13/20 or somethin', the Majima Saga is solidly a 15/20. For what it is, I think it's a really sweet little story that connects dots and brings closure to one of my favorite characters in the series. I like it. Overall, this is a good game, just hampered more or less by Dragon Engine stuff, but does also conveniently have some of the best yakuza stuff in it... so ehhh. Good game and then some.