I was considering playing the original PS2 version of Yakuza 2 over this, as it seems like a good chunk of the fanbase prefers it pretty strongly. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I made the other choice, but... I thought Yakuza Kiwami 2 was pretty dang good! In terms of gameplay, I absolutely preferred the style-switching combat of 0/K1, but the combat system here is still fun in its own right, though it definitely feels like this was one of the first games in the Dragon Engine. The bosses, however, are a big improvement over Kiwami 1! They're nothing particularly great, and I do wish they had at least a little more health, but I'll take that any day over just how damage-spongey K1 bosses could get. I think it's a considerable improvement in terms of narrative as well; it's still there occassionally, but K2 really improves on the filler problem K1's story had. Also, Nishiki may have the advantage a whole prequel of additional context for his role in K1, but in my opinion, Ryuji is at least as good of an antagonist. The layers to his character that are peeled back as the story progresses had me hooked. Sayama is a great new character as well; her evolving dynamic with Kiryu was very interesting. Also, without spoiling anything, while one of the twists in the story was very predictable, I was still impressed by how it affected things nonetheless. In the end, would I have been better off playing the original version? Maybe so, but I still had a great time with the game nonetheless, and at least for now, I don't regret my choice.

i also genuinely loved how ridiculous the ragdoll physics got. defeated enemies just launching ten feet into the air for no goddamn reason was always funny