Chapter 2 Substories - Yakuza Kiwami Walkthrough & Guide

I've been thinking of making a list just for myself but figured why not share it with this community and start a discussion. It could be beneficial for others who are looking for recommendations or just for you to get your thoughts out about a game. Below I ranked my personal 10 with a bit of description as to why I like them.

1. Half Life 2 - This game hasn't left my #1 spot since it came out. It was the first single player FPS game I played. I haven't played Half Life 1 before Half Life 2 so I didn't really know that standing Valve had in the FPS community. But man, the gravity gun changed my life. The physics engine blew my mind. I was so happy that Half Life 2 included puzzles based on physics as well. I think its incredible that a game whose protagonist is a physicist compared to a soldier did so well. I remember when the demo came out I played the Ravenholm level probably 20 times. Then when I was able to buy Half Life 2 I played it another 20 times. I love the setting of Half Life 2, and the oppressive nature of the Combine. The strider fights were a spectacle and meeting DOG was amazing. I personally believe this game is perfect, between gunplay, story, setting, music. I almost cried at the end of Half Life Alyx and am so happy that Valve is continuing the universe. I believe that Half Life 2 still stands the test of time nowadays. It goes on sale often so please try it out! My ranking of the Half Life games are 2 > Alyx > Episode 2 > Episode 1 > Black Mesa > Half Life.
   
2. Persona 4 Golden - Atlus shows a masterclass of JRPGs with the Persona series. I haven't played Persona 1 or 2 and my first intro to the series was Golden on the Vita. I remember I played it and finished it in one weekend during college. I didn't even leave my room and stayed up all night getting it done. The characters in Golden from Chie to Kanji are a joy to be around and building relationships with. The soundtrack of the Persona series ties so well with the atmosphere of each game. Persona 4 Golden was also the first JRPG I played and finished. Boy it was a joy. The combat got improved upon greatly in Persona 5 but having the introduction to the series through Golden puts it over the top for me. Soon after beating Persona 4 Golden, I played Persona 3 Portable which was a great game too! Persona 5 deserves all the accolades its getting but I believe that the groundwork for the Western audience was laid by Persona 4 Golden on the Vita.
   
3. Judgement - As with many others, my first taste into the Yakuza franchise was when Yakuza 0 came on Steam. Since then I have finished 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, Judgement, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in that order. While the other entries in this series are amazing, it was nice to see Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios venture out from the Yakuza storyline and focus on a detective story. The combat was a lot more fluid, almost reminding me of Majima's moveset in Yakuza 0. There was also a slice of life feel to Judgement. I think my favorite thing about the game was the pay off for completing side stories and relationships with people in the city. The last substory was amazing to see. I put this on the list even though I love the other games in the series so here is my ranking for the series. Judgement > Kiwami 2 > Yakuza 6 > Yakuza 0 > Yakuza 4 > Yakuza 7 > Kiwami > Yakuza 5 > Yakuza 3.
   
4. Hotline Miami 2 - The Hotline Miami collection introduced me to Retrowave music, and I will forever be grateful for that. Hotline Miami plays as a top down shooter with a very David Lynch like story. The chapters jump from the Past to Future to Present in different ways focusing on different characters. It is all tied up nicely at the end of Hotline Miami 2 in my opinion. This game is as bloody as a pixel game can be. The sense of fear you get when you try to see if anyone heard your gunshot is insane. I put Hotline Miami 2 here instead of 1 because of the larger cast of characters and for the ending. While I did love Hotline Miami 1, 2 for me was just a bit better. This game is eye candy from the floor plans of each level, the retro Miami colors, and the gory way of killing enemies. Hotline Miami 1 started my appreciation for indie games as being powerhouses.
   
5. Inside - I once heard someone on the Gameinformer podcast refer to this game as being carved out of one single block of clay. This game runs so smoothly you forget that there is a bunch of code in the background. Playdead is on a roll after Limbo and Inside in the creepy side scrolling puzzle platformer game. Inside had one of the most interesting backdrops I have seen. You are a child breaking into a facility of seemingly unknown reasons. But the game doesn't tell you that, there is no narration or voicework in this game. But its a testament to how carefully crafted this game is that the story can be told by what is happening in the background as you are making your way from left to right. The ending of this game caught me by surprise but I absolutely adored this game from start to finish.
   
6. Wolfenstein: The New Colossus - Who doesn't love killing Nazis? Ever since Machinegames took over the franchise of Wolfenstein each entry has just gotten better and better. I've heard different qualms about TNC mainly about the story, but to be honest that was my favorite part of this game. It made BJ into a deeper character rather than a meathead and his Jewish ancestry being a background for fighting Nazi's was poetic. My favorite moment was, in the courtroom dream sequence, right after you get out and meet the memory of your mom. It honestly brought me to tears. The gunplay was as good as it gets as well as the characters on your ship. My one issue was the hacking minigame. I did love the sound effects used but felt overall it was a useless addition. Although I did complete all of it! If I had to rank all the Machinegames Wolfensteins it would go TNC > New Order > Old Blood > Youngblood.
   
7. Mass Effect 2 - This game has about 200 hours of play time on my Steam. Bioware were masters of incredible RPG experiences. Mass Effect 2's companions were some of the best party members in an RPG ever. The storylines for each of these characters were a joy to take part in and it was extremely daring for Bioware to say, Hey! Lets put a suicide mission for the ending and have some of your characters permanently die. While the main villain wasn't that good, the overarching villain with culminated into the grand finale of Mass Effect 3 was worth it. I can't say enough as to how fleshed out the crew on the Normandy was. I'm excited to see any quality of life changes in the legendary edition!
   
8. What Remains of Edith Finch - I was debating putting this on my top 10 but the more time passed, the more and more I was thinking about the experience playing this game. I didn't play Unfinished Swan so I didn't know much about the developer but I do love Annapurna Interactive's published games. Edith Finch was no different. A first person/adventure/walking simulator game with an engaging story about a very strange family, the game immediately dug its hooks in me and never let go. The house of the Finches felt like a maze but because of how well crafted this game is you never feel lost. The side story about the unfortunate ends of the family is engaging. Not enough can be said about the last family member's story you find and how incredible that experience was.
   
9. Pokemon White - I am a huge Pokemon fan having bought one of each of the main series. I am also one of those people who liked SwSh. But I believe that Pokemon was at its best during the Black and White era. Created a new 150 pokemon while not including any past ones was risky, but for me it paid off. It was fun not being shackled by past favorites and looking towards a new generation. While it did seem that they just replaced skins for Pokemon, i.e. Swoobat/Zubat, TimburMachoke, etc. I liked almost all the new designs. The story for this game was also great. N was a great antagonist and actually made me sympathize with what was supposed to be your foe in the game. Why would I fight against someone who views that Pokemon should be free from trainers?
   
10. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - I absolutely adored Blind Forest and when Will of the Wisps came out it was just more of Ori but with a bunch of quality of life improvements. The story was even more emotional than the first. Without spoilers I found the villain's story especially after the final fight to be incredibly touching. I love how Moon Studio works as well, being completely decentralized while producing beautiful games.
    

Hey everyone! I’m not a native English speaker, so sorry for any mistakes in advance. I’m playing Yakuza 4 right now, just finished 4th chapter. I wanted to ask you guys if these are considered the worst in the series. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood when I started Yakuza 3, but overall I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I did 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2. Now I’m playing Yakuza 4, and it feels a little bit like a drag. Constant running from Sky Finance is kind of a pain. Substories and mini-games are not as good too. At least the combat is a bit better in 4 than it was in 3. And yes, I know these games are pretty old, I just wanted to know how fans of the series feel about these 2 games, because I don’t exclude just not being in the right mood for these games. Thanks for the replies in advance!
upd: and yeah, I should’ve stated that I meant the main series, so 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (I haven’t played original 1 and 2, so only kiwamis)

There will also be FULL spoilers for Yakuza Kiwami in this character analysis, so beware if you haven't played that/1.
During your playthrough with Majima in chapter 3, you'll be tasked with scouting out Odyssey, a rival cabaret club. Majima goes into it not expecting any surprises. You look around, and Majima comments on many things in the club. Surely this information will be integral in beating Odyssey in the Cabaret competition. Then, Majima looks to the left of the club, and sees the sight of his life. A man in nothing but his underwear, in the back of the club, for all to see. Not to mention preforming a dance, which is integral to Majima's character, we'll see how later. Majima is reasonably thrown off guard, but there's nothing else to the first encounter of this beautiful man. Most players will assume this is just Yakuza doing it's thing; Surely this character won't come back.
But then, Yakuza 0 throws you for a loop. In chapter 4, Majima goes to a telephone club find more info about one Makoto Makimura. He's found someone who might share him info. Ready to go on the date, Majima is instead interrupted by, you guessed it, Mr. Libido. This "walking erection" has no shame, and assumes Majima to have come to the telephone club to slay his dragon. Majima naturally says that there's more to it then that. Mr. Libido (actual name Habu, who I'll be calling as such for the rest of the analysis.) doesn't really care, but thinks that he and Majima are in the same boat. He claims his libido is legendary, and he needs to take care of it multiple times per day. He asks if Majima has any recommendations for girls, and that they can trade info. Majima refuses, but Habu let's him know he'll be around if he changes his mind.
For some, this was the last time they ever encountered Habu, and just chalked him up as a weird character. Maybe he's an easter egg or something. But rest assured, this is far from his last appearance. If you go out of your way to view good ol softcore porn, you'll not only gain a wholesome friendship with the worker there, but also run into Habu once more. He's glad he was right about Majima; Just as much of a horny man as he is. Majima again denies his accusations, but it's clear he had ulterior motives. Habu is certain Majima's five knuckle shuffle is still to come. And gets so excited, that he... Presumably nuts right then and there. But the man is already raring to go not 10 seconds later. He goes to pursue other girls, and leaves Majima to himself.
It's important to state that you have to go out of your way to meet Habu. He ONLY shows up if you watch a variety of erotic videos. Ultimately 15 are required to view to finish the friendship arc. This is important because the more videos you watch, the more Majima let's loose, the more he let's go of the shackles holding him back. We'll continue through more of the questline before we talk more about the many hidden layers of this arc of Majima's.
We see this during the many info exchanges between the two lustful lads. The more that gets shared, the more we see a bond forming between Habu and Majima. He even openly admits that after all that he's going through, this place is relaxing. No doubt part of it is because of Habu, who proves to be one of the greatest friends Majima ever had. It also contributes to Majima's transformation. If Nishitani represents the crazy side of Majima, then Habu represents the side that let's loose, that ultimately doesn't care about what others think of him. We even see this with Habu's dance. This is the first thing you see him doing in Odyssey, and Majima inherited it for himself, as players can see during the Disiple of the New Order sidequest, as well as during points of the Majima Everywhere encounters. For all intents and purposes, Habu is as much of Majima in the future as Nishitani is.
But of course, not all substories can be sunshine and rainbows, as we see this friendship event take a dark turn. Majima encounters Habu, who reveals that he's been cutting back on clubs, and now he can't get "it" up. He insists that an energy drink he frequently has will solve everything. Though Majima worries that a drink of that magnitude could make things worse, and even kill him. But Habu has nothing left to lose. Majima gets him the drink, and of course, Habu is perfectly fine after that. He laments how he's seen just about every girl in Sotenbori , but Majima reminds him to just see his favourites. The quest ends on a lighter note, with Habu and Majima closer then ever.
And that's it. All in all, Habu is a wonderful character of deep intricacies, who is a perfect representation of what Majima will beco-
Oh, yeah. Kamurocho has a Mr. Libido too.
So Kiryu's just walking around one day, no doubt contemplating if it was a good idea to buy a sophisticated lad porn magazines, when he comes across a strange bald man, asking for telephone cards. The man has a unique power where if he sees a mere photo of a woman, he gets to see absolutely everything. He reveals his name to be Akimoto (not to be confused with domestic accident waiting to happen Akimoto from various substories throughout the series), and tells Kiryu to see him if he has anything to show. Until then, he'll be "wrecking the weasel". It's never clear whether Akimoto and Habu are related, though it's assumed that they are, sharing the balding hair, and the near endless stamina and love for all things women. Perhaps it's genetic. Wonder what their fathers like. Anyway, we see how much more subdued Akimoto is compared to Habu. Not to say that he's polite and respectful, but he certainly goes to much less extents then his brother from possibly the same mother (I mean, at least Akimoto wears clothes) Much like Kiryu is a naturally subdued person. Again, the libidos symbolize what are protagonists are, or will become. In that regard, they're wonderful.
Admittedly this substory is much more out of character for Kiryu. I don't really see our never killing friend picking up cards and showing them to Akimoto. Nevertheless, throughout the quest we see more of Akimoto's powers in action, which impresses Kiryu, and no doubt makes the player jealous. The next time we see him he reveals he even sees through the pixels that censor it. During his next encounter, he reveals he wants to stop looking at cards altogether, and let his mind do all the work.
This however, does not have a happy ending. Like Habu, Akimoto lost the ability to finish the job. He can get it up just fine, but he theorizes that his imagined girls are so much better then reality, that he can't have that sweet release. And whenever he so much as blinks, he sees them. I'd wager it's a sadder tale then Habu's, and I'm not scared to admit this scene had me in tears. Kiryu takes the time out of his life to find the girl of Akimoto's dreams. He goes to the Okama bar (the one place Akimoto probably hasn't gone to), and gets Akimoto to visit the Mama there.
Akimoto does so, and all is well in the world. Akimoto can finally be content with girls that aren't in his head. Like Habu, Akimoto develops a bond with the protagonist not unlike a bond of Kyodais. Akimoto is more then glad to have met Kiryu, and the two go their separate ways, though no doubt we'll see these two beautiful bastards in a sequel. All in all, the Mr Libido's are a masterclass of storytelling, and symbolize perfectly what these two characters become/already are. And that's everything. Sorry for the long post, and I hope you enjoyed me talking absolute nonsense for a long time.

(There's also gonna be Yakuza 1/Kiwami spoilers in this post, so be warned if for some reason you played 2 but skipped 1)
Mainly making this post to see if my opinion's valid. I didn't care for Yakuza 1's story at first, but after giving it some time to settle in, the reason's I disliked it (how much characters died) is exactly what makes it a good story. Kiryu managed to come back from all this death and pain. He essentially had everyone he knew and loved die on the same night, but he came back from it, because he knew he had to. That's some powerful stuff right there. Not saying 1's a masterpiece, it's villains leave something to be desired (except for Nishiki, who's still probably my favourite in the series). Some portions of the story seemed like filler, and more suited for substories. But the pros outweigh the cons, and now I look at 1 extremely fondly, especially it's first and last act.
And it's not like Kiwami 2 doesn't start well. Kiryu mourning the deaths of his loved ones and essentially being forced to help the Tojo are pretty good. Terada's "death" was shocking, considering I was confident that even if he died, it wouldn't be at the start of the game. But that of course leads to my first point for why I felt Kiwami 2 was underwhelming compared to others. Terada is Jingu 2. Show's up and reveals his true colours in the last chapter. Is the fake final boss. Then dies not long after he shows himself. However, Jingu's main problem was his sudden inclusion, but I thought he was genuinely entertaining. He's slimy, he's no Yakuza, and he gets others to do his dirty work. Not to mention the presence of a third party besides the Yakuza has been hinted at quite a bit. But Terada? Dude showed up, and died in chapter 1. The ONLY foreshadowing that there might be more to it is Majima mentioning that it's weird how the Omi killed Terada. Then he shows himself in the last chapter, and (while he has his own unique motivations) is more or less generic bad guy pulling the strings number 200.
It's not just Terada either. Sengoku is generic bad guy that wants chaos and wealth number 400. Though to be fair, the game seems to realise this, as he's sorta treated like a joke in his last few scenes. Takashima is so forgettable I didn't realise who he was when he was on screen for quite a bit. He's Terada's Jingu, and there's even less to talk about there. Shindo was admittedly pretty cool, and he's got a bit to him, but he's really only in the story for 2 chapters. And yeah, Ryuji's awesome, but he's the good in the bad lot. This was a issue in Kiwami and to a lesser extent 0 as well. With some exceptions, the villains are just kinda underwhelming.
The ending was kinda bad as well for me. We'll talk about the fakeout ending first. Kiryu and Kaoru getting blown up. I don't like it. I think it's out of character for Kiryu to just kiss Kaoru and abandon Haruka and everyone else, without even really trying to get out of there. You could make the argument that he knew that by Terada telling him to have faith, that the bomb wasn't gonna go off. But Kiryu said himself he didn't really know. And no disrespect to the band, SiM, but the song that plays in the background, "Sound of Breath", just makes the scene so much worse for me. IN fact, the song may be the actual problem. It was like this for the scene where Kiryu gets stabbed, too. The song itself is fine, but I just don't think it should be playing in scenes like these. And then it's revealed that the bomb was fake. It's going for the feeling of Yakuza 1's ending, and maybe it would've worked if not for the fakeout earlier, but I just don't think it does.
I also both like and dislike how everyone was involved with the Jingweon incident. Like because we get to see more character's in action. Like, it's cool as fuck to see Shimano and Kazama in their element. But it almost gets comical at certain points. "Kawara? Kurahashi? Kaoru? Kiryu? Terada? Everyone's related to the incident, fellas!" With that being said, some characters went severely underused. Daigo is meant to be this saving grace the Tojo needs, but he doesn't really DO anything of note. Kashiwagi get's shafted from the main story for the 2nd (3rd if you play in chronological order) time. I'm glad the dudes alive after the bloodbath that was 1, but give him something to do. Yoyoi and Majima are introduced well, and have good scenes, but I wish they had a bit more to do. Those last 2 are probably just me, though.
The game has good moments, even great moments. Watching how far the Tojo has fallen is interesting. The game isn't afraid to put humour in the main story, which is appreciated. Majima's bomb disposal is still a top tier scene in the series. I like the growing relationship Kiryu and Kaoru have. Act 1 is fantastic, honestly. The game is just hurt by it's frankly underwhelming last couple chapters. But hey, that's my opinion. If you like this story, great! I do too, it's not like it's bad. But after being told this story rivals 0's, I'm left thinking it's the worst one in the series so far (keep in mind I've only played 0, 1/Kiwami, and 2/Kiwami 2). Maybe it'll grow on me in time, I don't know. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Thanks for listening to some guy ramble about funny Yakuza game.

So far in the series, I had played through the following in this order from last April:
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Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza 3 Remastered
Yakuza Like a Dragon
Yakuza 4 Remastered
Spoilers below:
I have to say -- this one was my least favorite, and it's not even close. I still had fun (I mean I put 55 hours into and pretty much beat every substory except 2 I think), but there was a lot in this one that wasn't executed well IMO. Yes, I even liked 3 much better.
Things I didn't Like:
The story was ok I guess but it was a bit convoluted honestly -- I think they bit of a bit too much to chew.
Didn't enjoy navigating the rooftops or the underground, and specifically being forced into the stealth sections with Saejima. I mean you could hardly do anything in the city through multiple chapters.
Saejima as a character -- while I like him as a character, I didn't like his fighting style it just never clicked with me....he's too slow.
Lets talk the final boss fight. That final fight with about 10,000 super body guards and the chief, can go **** itself. It was the most frustrating part of any of the games so far -- and to make matters worse you have to do it with the most useless character from a fighting perspective. That was seriously negative fun.
Also, from a story telling perspective...can we stop this entire "I just beat the hell out of this guy, I'm going to leave him there conscious with a weapon/gun and turn my back on him"? This literally happens every game, you'd think someone would learn. Are they all stupid?
I could deal with fewer chase scenes, not that they were hard but after you've done two I think I was good.
It really only let me play one game in the arcades...and it's not a good one.
Hostess Maker sucks
Things I did like: Having different characters was nice, but maybe we don't need 4.
Lots of side missions...tons.
Gambling was fun
Akiyama was a great character and I hope we get to see him more. There was great humor with Hana is this. I had the most fun fighting as him, with Kiryu coming in just behind.
So still good, but far from great.

Hi all!
I apologize, this might be a little wordy and meandering, but I have some thoughts and some questions I wanted to run past the community. I'm not averse to mild spoilers in responses, but preferably don't spoil major story elements of the other games in the series!
Ok, so first of all, wow! I regret sleeping on this series for as long as I did. I long thought that Yakuza was basically "GTA in Japan" with some cartoonish over-the-top combat which was a little off-putting to me. When I learned that the games were heavily focused on the stories & characters and had a lot of side activities, it piqued my interest, so I finally decided to give it a shot.
I was of course pleasantly surprised to learn that Yakuza Kiwami was basically nothing like GTA and instead more in the vein of a Shen Mue game (only, IMO, better!). I very quickly took a liking to Kiryu and Nishiki in the opening chapter (ohhhh boy was I in for it) but found Majima incredibly off-putting at first (ohhhh boy was I wrong on that count too!), and by the time I was through the opening and Kiryu was returning to Kamurocho after his ten-year stint, I was completely sold on the characters and narrative and couldn't wait to see where the story was going to take me.
I absolutely adored nearly everything about this game. The characters, the plethora of substories, the impressively realized optional activities -- hell, I took the time to learn how to play Riichi Mahjong entirely because of this game (even if I still struggle to keep straight in my mind when I've got at least one proper Yaku; I also end up in Furiten too often still)! I couldn't grok Shogi though -- that one's complex enough that I'll have to learn and come back to it later.
The only element of the game that never truly clicked with me was the combat. I tend to struggle with fighting games in general anyway so no surprise there, but in particular I never got a handle on blocks/dodges/counters other than mashing the punch button to counter sometimes in Brawler style. I pretty much went through the whole game using Beast style against crowds and Brawler style against 3 or less opponents. Struggled a bit with some of the boss fights and enemies with weapons (that last battle against Jingu and his two lackeyswas particularly rough). I got enough of a basic sense of simple combos and Heat actions (even if I don't have the reflexes to his the proper button when it shows up in the middle of certain moves) to get me by and found much of the combat entertaining throughout the mid-game.
So my main question comes down to this: does the combat get more challenging as the series progresses (including Yakuza 0, which I am going to play next before moving on to 2)? If so, how much of it is dependent upon better reflexes for dodges/blocks/counters and/or those button prompts during certain moves? I'm a bit concerned that if the series ramps up much past that spoiler I noted in the prior paragraph, it might outstrip my aging twitch skills -- especially with how poor I have always been at fighting & brawler games.
I just want to continue on and in particular enjoy everything else I loved about this game. I am wholly enamored with the Yakuza series now and want to experience the rest!

I began playing Yakuza 3 recently, having fallen in love with the series through 0 and both Kiwamis. Just started chapter 4 as of writing this. So far I’m not as into it as the other three I’ve played at this point on their stories. It’s got me curious though... what’s the general opinion on Yakuza 3?
Bonus question for those who’ve played it: are there any specific, standout substories that are worth playing? I went for 100% substory completion in the other games just because they were (mostly) that fun, but 119 substories seems like a lot, even for me.

I want to complete the substories in yakuza 0 and kiwami, but it seems alot of them are made to be done in a specific chapter, and I cant do them in premium adventure mode. Is there a workaround? I've already completed the stories of both games.

I’m on chapter 4 of Yakuza Kiwami and poking at the substories, but I’m having a problem with 23, “The Crane Game”. I triggered the cutscene where the businessman complains about not having a white bunchan, then walked away and did other stuff for a while (I brought Haruka to Serena, if that matters). I then grabbed the bunchan from a crane game, but the guy doesn’t seem to be there anymore. I’ve tried entering and exiting the arcade a few times, but no luck. And yes, I made sure I was in the one on Nakamichi St.
Anyone have any ideas what’s wrong? I could just proceed with the story and come back later, I’m just concerned that I’ve somehow bugged the man out of existence.

Currently on Chapter 12 and I still can't get certain Nishida emails to be sent to me and events to happen, I'm mostly trying to get the Mesuking Majima battles to appear but Nishida won't send the email despite completing the Mesuking substory for the kids, completed his battles at the pocket racer circuit and that I'm at SS rank with Majima.
I've tried looking up guides and forums but I usually get the same answers such as that Majima's busy taking a break or that I need to talk to the professor which shouldn't apply to me as I've bypassed the Majima breaks and I've spoken to the professor multiple times.
Is there any substories or steps that I am unaware of to have Majima appear as I know certain substories are blocked off until I do a different substory first to free up a certain area that the blocked substory uses as well.
Would appreciate any help that you can give me as I'm close to giving up and finishing the game and come back another time to 100% on legendary difficulty as I'm not having as good of a time with Yakuza Kiwami than I thought I would and would like to move onto Kiwami 2 and 100% complete Yakuza 0 on legendary difficulty

So I finally finished Kiwami 2 and started my journey into the Remastered collection for the first time ever. Yakuza 3, obviously, was the first game to hop into.
Gotta say, the change, albeit noticeable, wasn't quite as jarring as I thought it'd be, coming from a modern Dragon Engine game to an updated one from 2009. Movement was probably one of the most immediate things I noticed. Kiryu MOVES in this one. Feels like he has no weight at all, which I like, but it took getting used to.
Graphically, obviously, well, it's an old game with a somewhat fresh coat of paint. It doesn't look bad at all! Not a whole lot to say here, although it's funny how the game runs at a better resolution than the cutscenes when it's usually the other way around.
Gameplay itself is where it gets interesting. Combat is...well, it's not great, in my opinion. Apparently that's a pretty common opinion around these parts. Heat builds way too slow, enemies block way too much, it's just really frustrating. I was playing on normal, I can't imagine tackling it on hard. I will say, I really liked some of the unique Heat moves I hadn't noticed in 0, Kiwami or Kiwami 2. The Revelation thing was absolutely hilarious. I laughed every time it cut to Kiryu typing away dramatically. The upgrade system is...bad. I wasn't a fan whatsoever. Also, what's with Heat actions not doing anything to bosses? I get they wanna balance it a bit but considering how long it takes to build enough Heat to do one, only to get a paltry payout? Not fun at all.
The story was fantastic. Definitely a really, REALLY slow burn at the start, but I was fine with it. It was nice to see Kiryu get a chance to relax and enjoy life a bit. The kids and their lil stories are all wonderful, and I found myself caring about them and enjoying the mundane missions involving them. The characters as a whole are fantastic. Mine might be one of my favorite characters in the series. Rikiya, at first, was extremely annoying and I didn't like him much, but by the end, I loved him. Absolutely my second favorite character in the game. His death, coupled with Kiryu's crying, actually got me crying a bit. Kiryu's VA deserves every award for that performance. The last 4 or so chapters are when the game really gets going. Daigo was hardly in it for obvious reasons, but his little bit of screen time, he really shined. Overall, absolutely loved the story.
The substories are great as per usual. I didn't really get into the new cabaret management thing. Wasn't very intuitive, or maybe I'm just stupid lmao. Boss battles would have been a lot more enjoyable if not for the aforementioned blocking spam, as well as general gripes with the combat. The Mine fight would have been actually really good, but why the FUCK did they give him a move that heals? It wasn't like, hair pulling levels of frustration, but it was still really annoying.
Overall, I really loved the game as a whole. Took a bit to click with me, what with getting used to the older style of everything as well as a very slow start, but once it got its claws in me, I was hooked til the credits rolled.

Slowly but surely I'm working on my backlog but seems like it's ever increasing. Sigh... I usually try to go through the shorter ones and then revisit the longer ones later but it really depends on the mood I am in to play each and every single one, and then there are ones where I feel compelled to get every achievement... I've recently reorganized my library through Playnite because of all the freebies I collected from different platforms too (Not gunna lie it's been quite exhausting).
Without further ado, here is my list:

• The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (on hold - completing The Silver Case first)
• AC Odyssey Gold Edition (I swear I feel I'll never complete this it's just so long even for the story; Home Is Where My Mother Is chapter - Bully the Bullies support quest)
• Dishonored 2 (start of Mission 4)
• DOOM 2016 (trying to achieve 100% campaign achievements - start of Mission 8)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Prologue - start of Child Rescue: Malga Trail quest)
• Pyre (completed 1st rite - stopped at Bloomingpol route)
• Resident Evil 2 Remake (Leon playthrough - Chapter 2: RC Police Station / Dark Room)
• Shantae & The Pirate's Curse (Start of 2nd island)
• Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut (3rd save in Wood Side Apartments - received flashlight)
• The Silver Case (start of Case 2: Spectrum)
• South Park: The Stick of Truth (start of side quests after Attack the School mission)
• Star Wars KOTOR II: The Sith Lords (not sure if my character will be light or dark side so just playing it by ear; Telos - finished talking to Jana Lorso on console)
• Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (Ch. 2 Apr 28th Free Time - heading to Morimiya Memorial Park)
• Trine 2: Complete Story (start of Petrified Tree)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY (same as AC Odyssey but having fun messing with mods and side quests; In Ciri's Footsteps Skellige - start of Echoes of the Past)
• Yakuza 0 (going for 100% achievements regarding main quests and substories - again too much fun with substories I just can't miss those (>.<); start of Ch. 5: An Honest Living)
• Yakuza Kiwami 1 & 2 (on hold, will be doing 100% achievement run, just as soon as I'm done with Yakuza 0 (>.<))
• Ys Seven (attempting for missable achievements; Part Four: Wind-worn Heights of Kylos Village - In Gorge Way)
• Zwei II: The Ilvard Insurrection (opening of Secundum Mines)

Hopefully someone can help me narrow this down further so I can make room for more games in the future. Thank-you! ^_^

I guess this is sort of a follow up to my previous post on this sub. Finished Yakuza 3 like yesterday, and while I enjoyed it, it was definitely the worst of the Yakuza games I’ve played (being 0 and the Kiwamis). As I’m going in numerical order I just started up 4 (only on chapter 2 and love Akiyama already), but one thing that bugged me a lot about 3 (and may be a problem in 4 from the little I’ve played) is how the substories don’t have markers for where you need to go to continue the mission once you start it. Not a game-ruining problem by any means, but definitely an aspect I miss from the other post-0 games. Having to remember where each substory continues, look up a guide, or constantly check the substory menu for reminders takes a bit of fun out of doing these otherwise great side objectives.
Is this an issue that continues throughout 4 and 5 as well?

So Im at chapter 4 of yakuza Kiwami and I've been trying out the substories and I'm not really digging them so far. Almost all of them involved someone conning or stealing money from Kiryu then having to teach them a lesson and getting into a fight and I can't say im a fan of these types of substories. Are most of the substories like that? Or was it just the luck of the draw and I just so happened to get a bunch of the same type of substories in a row even though there are many different kinds?

The reason for this post is to vent, so that I don't throw my controller at my fucking TV.
I recently joined the Yakuza gang and put about 57 hours into Yakuza 0. Loved it. Story, combat, side content, characters, all awesome. And then I decided to continue the story. Yakuza Kiwami is a good game. The combat is just as good as 0's with a upgrading system that I actually prefer. Majima everywhere is awesome, and the story, even though it does get off track, is very good. The side content was a huge let down though. The minigames weren't as exciting and the substories all seemed like fetch quests. Anyway, that said, good game. But wait. There's more.
Jingu. Fucking Jingu. I reached the climax of the story and am forced to fight some nobody that I'm supposed to care about with a big ass mole on his forehead. That battle was absolutely poo poo, especially since I'm playing on hard and only had two weapons to use. This was because I hadn't needed weapons at all throughout the story (it was fairly easy throughout), and had to face him like 20 times before I could beat him.
Now on to Nishiki. How tf am i supposed to beat him when I used all of my staminan royales on jing!?!? It doesn't help that I can't use the dragon style heat move to keep him from regaining health. I finally gave up on him and chose "exit game" when I died. Now I'm at the start of the chapter. Why Yakuza Kiwami. Why. I guess at least now I can go and get a bunch of weapons to fight Jingu's punk-ass with. But I don't even feel like going through all that shit again bro...
I need some encouragement boys. And girls. Yakuza Kiwami is busting my balls big time. I already purchased Kiwami 2 because of the sale on PS4, so I really hope that I can beat Kiwami. Is Kiwami 2 better than 1. Please say yes. Yakuza 0 was a masterpiece in everyway. Kiwami was pretty good for the most part until the shit show of an ending. I love these characters too much to quit, but I can't see myself pushing through this lame ass chapter again. Help me out guys

Just wanna state a few things upfront. There will be mild gameplay spoilers for Yakuza Kiwami, as well as Yakuza 0. Nothing beyond Chapter 6. No story spoilers here, so don't worry about that. And that I'll be prioritizing gameplay for this. I might do this for the story too, if I feel like doing it. And that I'm going to talk about Yakuza 0 a lot in this, considering I was going into Kiwami with 0 as a comparison of sorts. This is gonna be a long post. If you don't want a detailed summery, here's the short of it.
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TL;DR: The game more then succeeds as a remake of Yakuza 1, but I personally think it fails as a sequel to Yakuza 0. With that being said, the core gameplay improves on 0's, though with some issues and annoyances that seems to only serve to give the player busywork. I highly recommend it if you enjoyed 0, but don't expect a game of higher quality then it.
With that being said, let's begin.
There's 3 ways to review this game.
Number 1: A standalone experience.
Number 2: A remake of Yakuza 1.
Number 3: A sequel to Yakuza 0 (how I think most people experienced this game).
We'll get to the negatives of the game first. I'll say right now that if you're expecting number 3, you'll most likely be disappointed. I know I was, anyway. Kamurocho in general has less stuff to do in Kiwami then in 0. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. there's 78 substories, compared to 0's 100. Not to say that 78 is a small number, it's really not. But, you need to remember that this is a remake of Yakuza 1. Side quests included. These substories get extremely similar. There are some genuine greats here, don't get me wrong. But facts are facts. Nearly a quarter of these are some variation of Kiryu walking into some sort of scam. possibly the biggest complaint I have with Kiwami is that there's ultimately NO new content. Majima Everywhere is a fantastic mechanic, and a wonderful alternative to Mr. Shakedown... But it's still an alternative to Mr. Shakedown. While the baseball and cabaret dating game have been tweaked, it's still just that, a tweak. Mesuking is just a reskin of catfighting. You get the point. There is the photo booth in the arcade, but that's genuinely it. The content itself is great, but the fact that there's essentially nothing new about Kiwami may cause some problems for players. Not to mention that certain minigames (like disco and arcade games) have been removed. It makes sense thematically, sure. But at least add an alternative, add a new game.
Combat also has some issues. Most of these being carryovers from 0, but they're still valid. The main issue for me is that hitboxes are still off for some attacks. We've all had these moments playing these games. You plainly hit a guy, but the game doesn't register it. Or an enemy clearly misses you, but he still hits you for what's seemingly meters away. This doesn't happen often in the main story, but the coliseum is especially sinful of these moments. Speaking of the coliseum, I found it to be poorly designed. This is mostly due to the tournaments that require weapons, which legitimately are miles worse then your base moveset. Even without considering those tournaments, it always felt like I had to rely on luck to not get certain fighters (looking at you, Charon M). The most boring addition to combat is probably the Kiwami heat action. Fantastic concept on paper. Stop the boss from healing by doing a super heat move. But there's a couple problems. There's only one animation for each Kiwami heat move style. Nitpicky? Probably, but it get's boring looking at the same one. More importantly, is how much you'll be using it. Most bosses heal twice, maybe even 3 times per fight. So the amount of times you'll be using these heat moves is actually kinda hilarious. Majima Everywhere? nah, mate. Kiwami Everywhere. Certainly feels like it, anyway. Another issue I have with combat is unlocking the Dragon Style moves takes such a long time, that by the time it's genuinely viable to use, you'll only have about a quarter of the game left. Once you get the right moves, it's a blast to use, but it's little more then a waste of a style until then.
I won't go into the story much in this, but I feel like I should state some things about it while we're still in the "bad" section. Don't go into this thinking it's a sequel to 0. It's more a standalone story, with characters from 0 taking the center stage. Does that make sense? Probably not, but that's how I saw it. The general opinion is that 0 has the superior story between the two games, and I'll agree here. Even the developers probably think so, as they added new scenes, which significantly fleshes out the main antagonist more. And hey, props to them. This isn't inherently a jab against Kiwami, more a testament to how good 0's story was. I've also heard that some small things about backgrounds and scenery in the story and world was cut from Kiwami. I don't know why the developers decided to cut it, but I'm quick to forgive that. The scenes they added to the main story make losing the small details worth it. Speaking of, we're about done with the bad section of this review. Now for the portion I'm more excited about, the good of Yakuza Kiwami. We'll be here awhile.
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As a remake of Yakuza 1, Kiwami is genuinely fantastic. Looks amazing, and recaptures every cutscene from the original perfectly as far as I'm concerned. Combat is naturally improved, aside from complaints I've already listed. And new side quests are added, which were all treats. With very few exceptions, I'd go so far as to consider this one of the best remakes of the last decade.
While I did critique the substories of Kiwami, and I still stand by the fact that many of them kinda suck, something happened that genuinely caught me off guard with them. Some are genuinely fantastic. I won't go too in depth with them so that you can be surprised seeing them for yourself, but I'll just say this. For all the rightful credit people give 0's substories, they're pretty low budget. Reusing animations, little to no voice lines, etc. Kiwami genuinely surprised me by having fully voiced substories, substories with pre-rendered cutscenes, and all of these substories are genuinely improved because of this added touch. On one hand, I find it strange that only a select few substories have this treatment. But on the other, what's here is great, and in some cases surpasses the substories of 0. And this goes for Kamurocho, too. Nothings inherently changed about the city, but lighting and new areas make it a genuine joy to explore again. And though there's practically no new content, the content here is still great.
And now, combat. Not much to talk about here, it's an enhanced version of 0's combat, and they did a good job with that. Rush in general has been buffed, and is actually really fun to use now. I almost never used this in 0, as I found that it wasn't fast enough to compensate for it's low damage. Not to mention that I prefer playing the "tank" role in games anyway. Kiwami fixes my main complaint of Rush. It's easily twice as fast as Brawler, and evading is so fun using this style. Conversely, I feel like Beast got nerfed. It's still fantastic, but I found it to be less valuable then it was in 0. Might be just me, though. The experience points system is LEAGUES better then the money system. You don't need to grind in order to get half of the upgrades, which is always welcome in any game. For as much as I love 0, getting those last upgrades is essentially just farming the business side mode for a long period, which isn't all that fun. The last thing I'll say about the combat; Majima Everywhere is a top contender when considering the best features in a videogame from a entertainment perspective. That's all I'll say about it, for the same reason as the substories. Experience it yourself.
And again, while I won't go in depth on the story, I will restate that Kiwami's added scenes are so effective at making the main villain more human, and turns what was otherwise a forgettable arc in the original game, into a wonderful tragedy regarding how the villain came to be, especially with context in mind. And the story itself is fantastic. Worse then 0? probably, yes. But still fantastic. That's a great way to describe this game in general, honestly. If you (for some reason) did not like Yakuza 0, the chances of you enjoying Kiwami are astronomically low. If you loved 0 (like me), you'll have a fantastic time with most of Kiwami.
I highly recommend Kiwami. It's funny, is more then competent as a beat-em-up, and has a story that'll most likely grab you by the first hour. I know it did for me. While it certainly has it's flaws, I think the pros all in all outweigh them. the asking price for the game is also incredibly cheap for what you get in return. Hope you enjoyed reading, and hey, if this helped someone with their decision with the game, that's all the better.

Like a lot of people some months ago , I discover the great song which is Baka Mitai and I can't stop appreciate how it sounds in my hears.
Just because of that , I begin to get interested by Yakuza and start the first Yakuza game on Playstation 2 but it was a bit old for me due to the graphic's look and the combat system, so after some chapter I begin Yakuza Kiwami and it was a gigant punch in my head.
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The original game have a great story and great characters but Kiwami is really awesome with his Majima Everywhere, amazing fights and good substories that put a smile on my face at every time, I really love this game.
I want to thanks the guy who begin the Baka Mitai meme for turning me into a big fan of this game serie, I will look for the others game right after finishing Yakuza Kiwami

Hey guys I beat 0,Kiwami and Kiwami 2 and now I am playing Yakuza 3 remastered for the first time.
And I must say that even on Easy it's aint easy guys
My brother who beat the game like a week ago told me to learn Tiger Drop from Komaki dude by finishing the substory Return to Dragon Palace first in Chapter 5
Problem is I just finished chapter 5 without doing that substory so I was just wondering is it possible to still complete all Komaki training after Chapter 5?
I don't think you can miss any substories in previous Yakuza games but I just wanna be sure because the game is kinda kicking my butt right now.
Thanks
P.S. Also any other tips would be great from series veterans

I've just got the 1000g in Yakuza Kiwami on X Box One X, after completing my legendary difficulty playthrough and finally finishing the game.
It was fun, for me the highlights were the battle through the apartment building in chapter 11, the funeral level, the fight on and next to the ship in chapter 12, and overall the story; one of the best story's I've ever played through in a game.
Things I didn't love so much would be Majima continuing to pop out everywhere even after I've maxed out my Majima everywhere rank; the frequency of random encounters; the cheapness of the AI during some battles and mini games; mahjong; the Otometal karaoke song and the car chase on legendary. Everything else was a blast, so much fun.
The world was dense, colourful and alive, the story was dramatic, emotional, logical and gripping. The Substory's were goofy, fun and a nice change of pace to the heaviness of the main story's plot.
The combat was fast, exciting and varied, Dragon style had to be my number one choice, it felt awesome mastering Tiger Drop to wreck opponents.
The achievements were fun to pursue, and although some were tough the majority of them felt achievable with enough effort; although asking me to get 250 on the Otometal karaoke song was unfair. It honestly felt like a complete brick wall to my progress, and although I did it I still feel like they should have only asked for 200.
Asking for 250 felt a little spiteful to the player, ultimately I don't suppose it matters since it wasn't enough to stop me beating the game and getting every achievement.
Overall I had a blast playing this game, good times. I can't wait to start the next one. Got the platinum for Zero, 1000g for Kiwami, and beat Yakuza 3 back on PS3. Next up is Kiwami 2, I can't wait. I love this series.
Though not quite yet, I think I'm going to need a few weeks away from Majima; not sure I'm ready to let him back into my life yet. I need a break lol.
Thanks Sega.
Happy gaming guys.

Is there any reson why the substories are not triggering on yakuza kiwami 1 chapter 4.

So recently I got interested in the Yakuza games. After loving Y0 I bought K1 and K2 I would buy the rest but I only own a pc. I had really high expectations for K1 since the epilogue of Y0 made me really curious as to see what will happen next. Well I just beat the game and I am so disappointed.
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First of all apart from the story and Majima doing wacky stuff there really isn't any reason to play this game. I have completed 59 of the 78 substories available and almost all of them have been boring fetch quests or just a brawl, they can't even be compared to the ones from Y0 who had a lot of charm and humor.
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As for the gameplay it's like playing Y0 but with less content, I know this is a remake but does that mean they have to recycle everything from Y0? If so why cut content? There is a freaking club so why didn't they recycle the dance game? What really disappointed me was the karaoke, 3 songs are recycled leaving only 3 new ones 2 of which aren't even animated, just a slide show from past cutscenes, at least iji sakura is really good. But i've gotta say playing minigames with Majima and the stuff he does to fight Kiryu are hilarious, he's the one that made this game so much more fun, It's a shame he barely appears in the story. I would be able to look past every negative that I have stated until now if the story was as good as Y0, but it isn't.
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\*SPOILERS FOR YAKUZA KIWAMI\*
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The story is the main reason for my disappointment, every time I think about about it I dislike the game even more. Before I give my reasons I would like to ask if K2 is similar to K1 as in does it also recycle 90% of the city and minigames from Y0 because if it does I don't know if I wanna play it. Please tell me is K2 better than K1 if so then by how much? because if it isn't I'd rather make a new game plus in Y0.
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So at the start of the story the first thing that bugged me was the 10 year time skip because that's a lot, people age and change in 10 years but apparently not in this game except Nishki he has a new haircut but everyone else are completely the same they haven't changed a bit, at the beginning my immersion was already shattered but I was willing to be optimistic.
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The first 4 chapters are great. Kiryu slowly sees how the city has changed in his absence, It's revealed that Nishki is a changed man and Yumi is missing with 10 billion yen. Great setup, a lot of mysteries to uncover and characters to explore. Kazama gets shot Date saves Kiryu all of that was so exciting. Then we meet Haruka in a bar full of corpses and weapon in hand, unfortunately both Kiryu and Haruka completely forget about the circumstances in which they met seconds after leaving the bar. Who were those people? Why was Haruka there with a weapon? What does Haruka think of it? How does she react to it? These questions were never answered. And that's my main problem with Haruka, there is so much violence and death around her at one point she gets told that her mother, meeting her is Haruka's motivation throughout the entire plot, is dead but she fails to react. None of the things happening around her affect her in any meaningful way, you would think a 9 year old kid would be more traumatized by her mother dying or that she would at least break down crying but nope.
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Then we meet the florist who gives us some info, he's cool I liked the bad-boy substory, but after that the story suddenly stops and we get 2 chapters of filler that have absolutely nothing to do with the main plot. Go help the Florist's son elope for some reason, go help Date reconnect with his daughter. The first one was a bit more understandable because in return Kiryu wanted a favor from the florist but chapter 6 was awful. Date is sleeping then his phone rings Kiryu answers and its Date's daughter saying she's mad because he stood her up, and for some reason Kiryu decides to meet her because I guess he's extremely bored. It's just written in such a lazy way, why aren't these side quests? like the one with Yuuya and his girlfriend or the boy in the hospital those had cutscenes and were perfectly fine, they fleshed out the world and some characters without intruding in the story. So why weren't these chapters sidequests if they had absolutely nothing to add to the story?
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I hate how sometimes characters just have plot induced stupidity for example in chapter 6 Date asks where the office of some loan shark is to beat them up and Kiryu just doesn't go with him then waits in the host club and suddenly realizes that if Date goes alone he will probably get hurt, yeah a bit too late Kiryu but I guess we need a heroic scene of Kiryu saving someone because we don't have enough of those already.
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Later Kiryu and Haruka get captured by the police but since Date is a police officer he just lets them out even though the police knew that they were accomplices and warned him previously not to do anything stupid they still didn't expect that he would break them out. They didn't even chase him.
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Another thing the cutscene where Shinji and Reina are killed, which was an incredibly heartbreaking scene, in the next there is a joke about Haruka not knowing what a brothel is. And I was just so confused because seconds earlier was an incredibly emotional scene and Kiryu should be devastated but I guess not.
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In chapter 12 everything is laid bare, the identity of the person who wants Haruka has control over the police and he's actually Haruka's father. Its...Its....Nish....JINGU, JINGU something, a cartoonish bad guy who appears at the very end showing everyone how evil he is. They even try to give him depth and it's so pathetic, why should I care about a guy who shows up at the very end and laughs evily saying he wants to change the country? This is the big bad guy? Someone I have never seen nor heard about up until the very end, why should I care?
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But worst of all they did Nishki dirty, I thought this game was about him. He gets so many flash backs that flesh out his character so well, showing how he changed because of his inferiority complex and the increasing pressure on his shoulders. Those flashbacks are the best part of the story, and I was so hyped to see how he would interact with Kiryu and what his plan was and so on, I was ready for an emotional climax that would leave me in tears just like the ones from Y0. But he didn't do shit, he shows up once and gets punched in the face then comes back at the very end and it is revealed that he was getting played by Jingu whats-his-face, until the very end he was still getting manipulated how sad. The fight against him was really epic but I couldn't shake the feeling that there should have been more, more prior interaction between them, more emotion. After the fight they don't even have a conversation, seriously after their fight it feels like the game does its best to ignore him. Jingu shows up because Kiryu got plot retardation again and didn't tie him up earlier nor remove his weapon, then he kills Yumi and Nishki sacrifices himself to kill that piece of cardboard. After which Kiryu nor the story mention him or bemoan him, no they care more about Yumi who is another character that I really didn't care about. Sure she is important in the plot but she doesn't really have alot of screen time I feel like Nishki being Kiryu's oath brother and an important character in Y0 should have gotten him more respect and attention from the plot. They don't even mention his sacrifice afterwards, its such an insult to his character.
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So yeah this game didn't live up to my expectations. I know i'm getting redundant bringing up Y0 all the time but since it was the first one I played I held K1 to the same standard, I thought I would have the fun of exploring new stores and minigames, I didn't expect to get the same game with less features and barely anything new and a shitty story to boot. That's why I am reluctant to play K2 I don't want another kick in the balls. I play games for the story and seeing how a character like Nishki who I really liked just got shat on doesn't really make me want to keep playing. Was it my fault for thinking that the story of every game in the series would be as good as Y0? Or is it just that K1 is especially bad because its technically the first of the series?
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P.S: Keep in mind I just finished the story so if there is like a secret or unlockable scene bemoaning Nishki then I haven't seen it. I hope they made one but I doubt it.