Now this is cool, a return to my first outing into Kamurocho, and Sotenbori by extension. I beat the game on normal, on hard, and finally on legend. That last one being in my attempt to beat all of the Yakuza games on Legend. So now that I have started, what's the feels on the first step?

I still think this is a great way to get into the series for a few reasons, but I can get if someone recommends something like 1, K1, or 7 or something. I've revisited 1988 a few times within in the year and got to understandin' bits of the series goin forward, I feel the things I appreciate has grown, yet the things I dislike are a bit more defined as well. So let's discuss.

Let's start with what I dislike, just to get it out of the way. At least the main things. That being that I think the game is frontloaded with a lot of it's side content, most of it open to you by the first half for you to do. In this game, 57/60 of Kiryu's and 39/40 of Goro's substories can be completed before chapter 9, and that includes all the business stuff.

The buisness stuff is pretty fun, but can run out of steam before the end, though at different points for both protags. For Kiryu's property management, it's still kind flat since it's more management than game, but at least you can get a lot of money for it. What's fucked up though is I found out how to get more money from Shakedown encounters, so I ended up with ways to farm literally trillions of yen, which kind of cracked the teeth of the property buying, making the upgrading and keeping afloat the properties the main "challenge". Goro's on the other hand is a lot more hands on and less reliant on money. It's running a cabaret club, and it's some fun stuff. Both because the music and vibe makes you feel like the slickest sap in all of sotenbori, but also because the game is actually pretty fun, having the three minute sessions feel intense and nail-biting, and it being heightened when facing the other clubs. That being said though, this runs out of steam because sub-stories are tied to it. They don't lock away progression in the side story, but they do lock off Amon until you finish them, which since I wanted to 2 shot Amon with a funny knife trick I found on YT, I went ahead and did that (More on Amon later).

I'm overall conflicted on this because it only really bothers me, someone who's trying to shoot for 2 of the harder bosses in the game and to get as much out of a revisit as I could. On one hand, it sucks because I halt a lot of the story just so I can tackle these side businesses that lock behind substories to beat, parts of the styles that require completion of the business stuff to get, and of course amon. Plus if you do NG+ I'm pretty sure you still have to take on the side stuff just to reunlock stuff, It can get tedious eventually. On the other hand, if you do complete it, you not only have a ton of money to get you through everything, but you'll swim through the last half of the game no problem. for reference, half or so of my gametime over the 2 weeks was dedicated to finishing the side content. I only picked up the stuff again a few days ago, and was done tonight. And even then, this all is only really an issue if you do everything at once. You could just do this as you progress, or just not at all. Hell on my first run, I didn't finish either business and still got through plenty fine. It can vary on your mileage, and part of me wishes the side content was spread out more, at least the substories...

I think the only other issue I can think of that isn't fully nitpicky is i'm also not a fan of how a lot of substories are started. Part of them are tied to a business, some are tied to mini-games, which are both fine (if a bit dragged out at times in the latter), and then a whole lottery of mostly randomly chosen stories are told in the Telephone Club. Like the minigame itself is ok, it's just kind of not my thing, but you gotta do it at least 7 times if you hope to knock out all the one hidden behind it. It's kind of tedious above all else.

Also, lowkey, I like all of the trainers. I think all of Kiryu's are really cool (Especially Miss Tatsu and her Beast Training), and Majima's got Komaki- sorry,Komeki, as well as a weapon shop owner named Fei-Hu who is predictably, really good at fighting with his merchandise. The only one I don't like is Areshi and his Breakdancing stuff. I think the mini-game is boring, and I don't like that Areshi is always in Breaker Style so when you try to do stuff, your flow is broken pretty easily because of the get up attack that breaker has. The other two are aggressive as well, but that also was because I was on Legend mode, so yeah. I also think the training is boring and frustrating because they tend to have different weapons each one, some of them stun and knock you to the ground, and it's just not fun to deal with in certain ones, especially with how all their aggression works in this mode. Fuck Areshi.

Anyways, those are the 3 things, Areshi, Substories are sometimes annoying to get, and... the game feeling frontloaded which can be a bad selectively. Those are my biggest gripes. Aside from that, this game is pretty good.

On that good, let's talk gameplay. Since i've come back to this game a lot, I think that I can appreciate the kind of shit you can do in this game much more, and how the heat bar transfers into it. This is the only game to use the 3-bar heat system to my knowledge, and while it doesn't always land, I think the more I've played with it, the more I appreciate the stakes it puts up. It determines your speed of attacks along with other buffs, making it actually worthwhile and fun to hold onto heat rather than waste it on a heat action or something. There's also a lot of moves that have heat bar requirements. Some are like "you can only do this at full heat" or something like that, but there are some that are really weird, liek the ones that need you specifically at the 2nd bar of heat to do some weird ass moves that are actually really good. Breaker and Beast have a grab that needs you at the second bar and for you to dash and then grab. Many of them also have counters, some of which are like attack counters (breaker, brawler, slugger, etc.), but some act as grab counters that make it a lot more fun (mainly thug, dragon, and mad dog.). Some of these counters are stronger with no heat (breaker and brawler), and some need 3 bars to work for the most part (Dragon and kind of Mad Dog).

Beast and Mad Dog are my favorite styles, Beast because aside from it being able to clear a room (and even then, situationally), it also just has a lot of neat caveats of turning Kiryu into a fucking tank with the resist counter moves (especially the hammer attack, that one's fun). Mad Dog is the opposite with frenetic speed keeping him very evasive with a unique finished called "Mad Dog's Bite" that lets him spam it so long as he has heat. It can lead to trouble if you're not careful, but it's really cool. He also has his counter, which is technically bugged to still be usable even with no heat, but I kind of wish this is how Kiryu's Legend/Dragon style worked. His "Iron Fist Counter" is just a worse tiger drop. Not even because it's just not as polished as the normal tiger drop and well... drops heat, but it is only usable at 3 bars, and it's really easy to whiff. Dragon style is generally really heat reliant, a lot of the best things are locked at least behind a second bar, and Kiryu with no heat is really slow, which confuses me why you give this style the move that drains heat to 0, even though beast has that already... Least favorite style hands down (in the game at least, it's still handy for its grab finishers and speed of the attacks at max heat, just rely on the shield and grab counters). Also if I said a least favorite for Majima, it's probably Slugger, but only because I like the other ones a bit more, Slugger is still really good, and that Nunchaku Bat move is fucked up. It even upgrades.

I spent a lot of this playthrough also experimenting with some more stuff from weapon shops, something I haven't exactly done since Kiwami 2 or Y3, and that's mainly because that before I got Thug Style's Harsh Lesson to cheese Shakedown's with, I really needed something to help drain those guy's health bars. Thanks to that though, I learned I really like Knuckles, I like Tonfas, I like Knives, and I really like some of the guns. Cannons and Zap Guns were really fun when I wasn't just blowing enemies away with other stuff. Because I also got to spend more time with Dragon and Tiger, I also got around to seeing how crafting works, and it's pretty fun. It's a little tedious when trying to get something you need, but when you do have it, no matter if you craft or receive a piece of equipment, it will always be rebuyable which is super handy, something done much better than in 5 (also no weapon level ups, yay)

I also experimented with some amulets and items, and I really got a kick out of ones that made enemies really hard. A small thing I'm not a fan of is that after you break the limits of both character's styles, you can just basically win everything like it was nothing. It's not an actual problem, you have to go out of the way to do it, but it can risk cracking the teeth that is the game's challenge. So, I thought, hey, if I think the game is too easy, let's prove it. Well not fully, I didn't level up the legend styles, so I wasn't "kill everything in one shot" broken, I really wanted to get some challenge out of the end game fights, but for its sake, it was worth the laugh. They all just gang the fuck up on you much harder, and it's a riot, both literally, and comedically. Also, in speaking of legend mode, this is how I found out that health items aren't strewn about stages, and that enemy amounts will increase as the game continues on past 3 to 6 or so. It's kind of neat actually, especially since the heat does start to turn up later on.

Either way, fighting's good. Next is mention of the substories and other side content. There's not much to say, they are usually pretty good. I suck at wobbly crosshair darts and 9-ball, and I think overall, I think the new dancing minigame is fun (but also pretty tricky to get used to), and the substories are some of my favorite in the series. Majima's especially are some of the most memorable, like dealing with a cult, taking a drug test that fucks with the gameplay, distracting a crowd so that a statue can use the bathroom. It's a good thing I'm spoiler tagging this. I also really love the introduction of Pocket Circuit, it's an overall fun substory, I like some of it's characters, especially Fighter, and I think the minigame is fun as hell, even if I cheese it with a guide. Then again, I got my fill of it in other playthroughs, so eh. Side content is over all fun, though I will say that 0 is defiently one of the raunchier games in the series. Both characters are a couple of horndogs in one way or another, which makes sense since they are both in their early to mid 20's, but it's crazy seeing how much they get out of that. Both Kiryu and Majima share a story with a Mr. Libido, a story about getting a new arcade cabinent (those are also cool btw), and Kiryu again gets the Telephone Club and the Catfight Club. I don't really like either that much, but they are there.


Now the game is good and all, it's pretty funny and action packed and all that stuff, and can woefully dramatic on a dime, but the real seller is the story. It's themeing, it's writing, it's plotting, all fantastic. I think there are a couple stumbles here and there, but the game is probably the most solid in the series. I think it's got good introductions to who Kiryu and Majima were, but that being said, this is a Majima game, not a Kiryu game. Sure, Kiryu is the first one you meet, his story with Nishiki, the Tojo, and Tachibana is really cool, and it's weirdly nice to see a Kiryu much more younger and brasher than the life he'd eventually lead, there's a sort of innocence there and youthful rebellion in Kiryu's actions that's just compelling. But Kiryu's someone you need some time to understand. Goro instead gives us a tale that shows how he became the Mad Dog he is later in the series, and it's a perfect contrast to Kiryu's story.

This story really is rough for the guy. He spends a lot of the game conflicted in doing what he thinks is right, or in escaping the cage he's stuck in. He wears a lot of masks, a lot of faces that gleam specific parts of his personality, but it's only when he's thrown into this situation where he's protecting somebody else where we can see him for who he really is. Majima is stuck on a line, of crossing a horrible personal boundary that he can never undo, yet is driven to by broken and cold people doing the same. Kiryu dealt with something similar, but his is mostly of a role of someone who is the one uncorruptible man, the guy who sticks to who he is, and has to measure his stoicism with the safety of those he loves. Majima is unfortunately not as brash as Kiryu, the stakes are alot harsher and scarier, and he has to tread a lot of thorned and muddied ground just to... well I say get a shot at living the life he wants, but really it's just to stay above ground at this point.

Majima becoming the Mad Dog is in a sense, becoming someone who won't be held down by others, but how it comes about all through the perception of protecting someone in a similarly fucked situation is really interesting. It's a really good story, and a lot of characters in Majima's story are at least in one way or another really layered and interesting. Sagawa might just be one of the most interestingly written characters in the series, because so much of it really makes you wonder what he really feels about Majima. He spends a lot of the time taunting, questioning, joking, even giving friendly adivce, or rubbing majima's face into the dirt, but it's hard to get a read on how much of his dialogue or intent is genuine, and what of it is an act, even in times where he's been duped by Majima. It's always intriguing.

Stepping a bit back to Kiryu tho, I do think a lot of characters in his part are cool. I think Shibusawa is a really intriguing mastermind due to his very tactical and cruelly effecient methods all being in pursuit of a shallow and ultimately fruitless goal. I think Kuze despite being fought 5 times is a really cool character seeing how he comes to respect and learn from Kiryu during their encounters, leading to their final duel in Tenkaichi St., and Nishiki is just heartbreaking. I have feelings for how he was handled in Kiwami 1, but Nishiki here gets across how close he is with Kiryu so effortlessly, but the conflict that drives them apart is because the two care about each other two much. It's miscommunication and took until Nishiki manned the fuck up and told Kiryu to shut up and accept his help that the two were able to reunite. It's just that one scene at the end of chapter 6 man. It's fucked up.

Honestly if there are any things I don't like about the story, I'd say it's that it feels like some characters who do some really heinous and scummy shit get off the hook a little too easily because they had some dream or whatever. Awano and Oda are the two that pop into mind the most, especially with Oda considering that he was a human trafficker and was the one that dragged Makoto into it, actively making her go blind, but she's right up to helping him escape when things get rough? I dunno that part kind of sucked... Awano is not as bad I guess, but he does just shoot a woman for no reason during Chapter 6, and no one really mentions it, and then his fight against Majima is giving him a motivation of "oh Kazama is too cool, I can't beat him" which is why he retreated into the high life... but ehhhhhhhh it's kind of meh. Wen Hai Lee from Majima's part is also a bit contentious but I don't have as much on him...

Honestly there's a lot more to unpack about the story past it's characters, because the setting is really well chosen for this action thriller with a younger set of protagonists in a time of grime, glitz, and glamour with money flowing like water, the themes of deciet, money, broken bonds, and all that are all wonderfully woven in, and honestly fuck Sohei Dojima, but that's a paper in it's own right. Just know the story is overall really good. Favorite Chapter of the game is Chapter 16: The Proof of Love, easily.

So I've rambled on long enough about this game, that should tell you I probably kind of like it. I don't think it's my favorite, but it's up there. Top 5 in the series, pretty easily. I think that the combat is really varied and interesting, especially with the addition of it's type of heat bar and the different styles. I think the story is amazing, and the side content is overall pretty good (with misteps here and there), and I just like the vibe of this game. There's not really anything quite like it, even in the series.

Also side note, since I realized I forgot it, but the Amon fights were good. I beat Jo by stealing his knife and chucking it at him, it was really funny. The best 2 shot you'll ever see.