"A real man should be a little stupid" is a line said during the climax of Yakuza 2 that succinctly summarizes its own design philosophy. "A good game should be a little bad" fits this game like a glove, and rightfully so; for every apex in this game, there's an equally stupid nadir. But, that's part of the plan, isn't it? To make a good game is to carefully create a bad one at the same time. Maybe the best parts of this game shine all the brighter because it will regularly drag you through the mud in between them. It's something to consider.

There's a lot, probably far too fucking much I could comment about on this game. Let me run through some of the more significant things I want to touch on in no particular order:

- There is a staggering amount of content in this game. The PS2 was a titan that hosted gargantuan-sized games, and this one might be the most impressive I've seen. Keep in mind, this is a game that speedrun.com champs have cleared in a little over 2 hours just going from point A to point B. I 100%'d basically everything in the game sans the minigame score requirements (because they are frankly fucking insane to invest your time in), and my final playtime? 80 hours. What's most impressive is how easy it is to miss the lion's share of content here. SEGA NE R&D (which would eventually become RGG Studio) put an obscene amount of effort into this game's side content, and even if some of it is horrible, the batting average is good enough to warrant high praise.

- Yakuza 2 in general had a tremendous problem it needed to overcome from the getgo with me. See, I liked Yakuza 1. I greatly liked its ending and how much closure it gave while also giving a hopeful ending to the tale of blood and tragedy. So, I entered Y2 with a simple question: Why bring back Kazuma Kiryu? Why not use another character? I'm happy to say that this game largely justifies Kazuma's presence and the need to have him specifically be the protagonist. The game does shaft the SHIT out of Haruka, though, and that subplot about Kazuma trying to sign her away to a talent agency? Absolutely wretched and character devaluing. Besides that? Great premise and hook. And the ending itself outdoes 1 in how final it feels for Kazuma's story. I truly do not want to play Yakuza 3 or any other sequels because I do not want his story to go on beyond this. I want Kazuma Kiryu to stay in his happy ending that he earned after much blood, sweat, and tears. I want him and Kaoru raise Haruka and have a happily ever after moment. I don't want a sequel. And you know what? That is how you know I'm fucking invested, I fear.

- Ryuji Goda is a spectacular villain and I have a feeling the sequels' villains are going to live in his shadow. Having literal gay sex is less gay than whatever the fuck was going on when Kazuma uses the Bolt Finish on Ryuji.

- The plot is almost all hits and I was greatly invested from start to finish. That said, holy shit did the "Ryuji is Kaoru's brother" twist fuck me off hard. Not only does it not make sense that Ryuji would be related to Kaoru in terms of appearance (does Ryuji bleach his hair? he didn't have blond hair when we see him as a child and his roots never show in the game, giving you no adequate way to foretell the twist), but it also gives Kaoru an extremely stupid "I NEED TO TALK TO HIM ALONE WE'RE BLOOD-RELATED SO HE'LL LISTEN TO ME" moment. The entire time Ryuji laid dying in her arms, I felt bad thinking it, but holy fuck did none of it work for me. These two characters did not interact prior to this plot twist! Why should I give a shit about their interactions afterwards or believe that they would give a shit? As far as twists go, it's largely unnecessary to have them specifically be related. You can just have them both independently be Jingweon while simultaneously excising the entire Ryuji brother subplot, because 0% of it worked.

- That one side mission where you have to play Mahjong with a colossal disadvantage in points? That one side mission where you have to win 1000 medals from a slot machine that pays them out at a glacial pace? The golfing pro side mission? Fuck you. Some of the worst content I have played in any game ever, my god.

- Thank god they improved the combat in this game. From what Wikipedia dot org has informed me, that was apparently their number one priority going into the sequel, and it definitely shows. In 1, combat was novel at best, sloppy at worst, mindless most of the time. In 2, there's a lot more fun to be had, and the controls feel more fluid and responsive. The camera still operates on a tilt-a-whirl, but, at this point, I've gotten used to it. The amount and variety of heat actions makes the game more intrinsically fun as well; giving the player their own little list of what heat actions they've done is a nice touch. The polish here goes a long way, and even though so many assets from 1are reused, it doesn't feel like corners were cut or anything was put in as padding. It feels like a natural extension of the formula and setting. Best of both worlds for the dev team.

Beyond that, my knee-jerk reaction is to say that this is one of the most ambitious games of the PS2 generation. It startles me just how little I heard about this game until well after it was released, and even coming back to it now, calling it "overlooked" feels too tame a compliment for it. Honestly, had I not burned myself out on some of the side content in this game and poisoned my own well, I could see myself calling this a favorite of the console, if not overall. Maybe time will help me marinate on that opinion a bit more and smooth out the rougher parts of my experience with this game. Time makes the heart grow fonder, and, in my case, it makes me more appreciative of flawed gems I've played.