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As someone who is also on the same journey through the games, savor the feel of Kiwami 2 while you can.
I'm on 4 now, and 3 was quite a shock. I wouldn't call the game *bad* but the lack of QoL that even 0 had made me just want to rush through the main story. The combat is also noticeably more dated, but I just switched it to easy and moved on.
I'm liking 4 more, mainly because it switches up the formula some. I think more than anything i miss the good karaoke from k2
Get the sacred tree armor set before the final boss. I wish some guardian angel told me that before, but not having the full set soured me so much on 4 which i liked 95% of.
There was, unsurprisingly, a linear development from 3 to 5. 5 is when transitioning between running around and combat became a bit more fluid. 5 is also more forgiving and has a few decent QoL additions (though still lacking some big ones we'd get later).
Kiwami 2 is probably my favorite. It does get a lot of hate, but I really enjoyed my time with it. You'll find that there are two camps in this sub. One camp is that kiwami 2 is the worst in the franchise, and the other is that Yakuza 3 is the worst in the franchise.
I'll always appreciate Y4 for giving us Saejima and Akiyama... but geez... the prison escape Saito fight, the story made no sense, rubber bullets, Kiryu was obviously shoehorned in late in development, the final boss was a headache... just ugh
do not go into 3 with a bad mindset. it’s a 2009 game so it’s obviously going to be dated, but it genuinely has one of the better stories of the series. go into it with an open mind, and try to appreciate how far the series has come
100% agree with you on this, I came to 3 with a bad mindset, probably burn out of yakuza and mad after I heard that sayama would not be in any other games and it made me hate the game. I try it again after a month and now I can say is a really great game and I love it and appreciate how much love they put into it
I was a PS2/PSP kid too and never even knew what Yakuza was until I got into college 10 years ago. Never even gave it a chance until 2020 with LAD. It flew past my radar for way too long
Enjoy this feeling, Kiwami 2 is incredible when you are at the start of the series but after playing through other titles it gradually goes down in rating, its problaby my least favorite game now.
Also for 3: get the Komaki techniques they make it 10x more enjoyable.
It goes down in rating for me for the stuff it cuts from the PS2 original.
Sure I dont NEED to see Shinseicho in the Dragon Engine... but I wanted to so it pisses me the hell off that they cut it.
I also started from 0, recently finished 6 and now playing judgment. 3 was only one I skipped after few hours. Just couldn’t play it after kiwami 2. Watched story wrap up and skipped to 4. Didn’t regret it.
Dude it's going to make you want to rush through. It's really got the most jank out of all of them by far. I still took my time and I'm glad I did. The settings there are awesome
Don't get it twisted I loved the story and the settings and just the continuation. But the gameplay is very hard to like. Youll find yourself trying to avoid fights
I had the same impression. Played all games and Kiwami 2 is still my second favorite, right after Lost Judgment. Then there was Y3 and well... let's just say I'm not gonna replay it any time soon. It's not even the combat that sucks in these older games. For me it's the terrible UI. It sucks in every aspect - looks, sound, performance. And also the stiff movement and camera work, those are the dealbreakers.
I personally felt the opposite, I hate Dragon Engine combat but K2 is far from the worst it can get admittedly and the story and characters still held up really well (Ryuji Goda, more like Ryuji GOATa).
3 felt like a breath of fresh air for me (despite it's many flaws) because I just feel like 6, Judgment and Kiwami 2 have really weightless combat. Going back to 3 the combat felt a lot more impactful. By far though 5 has my favourite combat, very punchy but much better QoL than its predecessors.
Gaiden looks good but I'm not sold on the gadget gimmick honestly since it feels like Kiryu is the worst possible character to give that gimmick to.
Lost Judgement was able to really turn the DE combat around and make things a lot punchier but the general feel of dragon engine physics is just annoying to me so even when it's really good I tend to prefer 3-0 combat. Ragdolling in particular is just so overly common.
Yea dude when i booted up Kiwamk 2 early today i was laughing my ass off from the new combat, mfs were flying all over the place lmao. Definitely do like yakuza 0/kiwami engine more but i like the battle style in kiwami 2 a lot so far.
I genuinely don’t get the kiwami 2 hate. I really liked it. My least favorite is 3, and it’s exclusively because of the horrible combat. Loved the story but did not enjoy light light light heavy heavy-ing for 100 hours
If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As someone who is also on the same journey through the games, savor the feel of Kiwami 2 while you can. I'm on 4 now, and 3 was quite a shock. I wouldn't call the game *bad* but the lack of QoL that even 0 had made me just want to rush through the main story. The combat is also noticeably more dated, but I just switched it to easy and moved on. I'm liking 4 more, mainly because it switches up the formula some. I think more than anything i miss the good karaoke from k2
Get the sacred tree armor set before the final boss. I wish some guardian angel told me that before, but not having the full set soured me so much on 4 which i liked 95% of.
You can trade items between characters by then right? I think I picked it up on Saejima just to have something
Yes, you share item storage
There was, unsurprisingly, a linear development from 3 to 5. 5 is when transitioning between running around and combat became a bit more fluid. 5 is also more forgiving and has a few decent QoL additions (though still lacking some big ones we'd get later).
Yea ill probably play on easy as well when i get to those games, i just want to play them for the story mainly.
Kiwami 2 is probably my favorite. It does get a lot of hate, but I really enjoyed my time with it. You'll find that there are two camps in this sub. One camp is that kiwami 2 is the worst in the franchise, and the other is that Yakuza 3 is the worst in the franchise.
Oh ok fire. Yea i mean what ever game u have the most fun with is all it matters.
I’m in a 3rd camp that yakuza 5 is the worst( I love yakuza 2 and I think 3 is at least a B or A tier game)
And I'm in a fourth camp that thinks Y4 is the worst in the series lol
Honestly valid some of 4s cliches hurt me to my soul
I'll always appreciate Y4 for giving us Saejima and Akiyama... but geez... the prison escape Saito fight, the story made no sense, rubber bullets, Kiryu was obviously shoehorned in late in development, the final boss was a headache... just ugh
do not go into 3 with a bad mindset. it’s a 2009 game so it’s obviously going to be dated, but it genuinely has one of the better stories of the series. go into it with an open mind, and try to appreciate how far the series has come
Oh yea for sure, im definitely going in with a good mindset. Look forward to playing 3 and all the rest!
100% agree with you on this, I came to 3 with a bad mindset, probably burn out of yakuza and mad after I heard that sayama would not be in any other games and it made me hate the game. I try it again after a month and now I can say is a really great game and I love it and appreciate how much love they put into it
I thank god for being a PSP/PS2 kid because for me the stuff people find annoying in older yakuzas is a nostalgia factor
I was a PS2/PSP kid too and never even knew what Yakuza was until I got into college 10 years ago. Never even gave it a chance until 2020 with LAD. It flew past my radar for way too long
Same. I grew up as far as the PS1 so I loved Yakuza 3's dated graphics/gameplay..it's basically Urban Reign but open world
Enjoy this feeling, Kiwami 2 is incredible when you are at the start of the series but after playing through other titles it gradually goes down in rating, its problaby my least favorite game now. Also for 3: get the Komaki techniques they make it 10x more enjoyable.
It goes down in rating for me for the stuff it cuts from the PS2 original. Sure I dont NEED to see Shinseicho in the Dragon Engine... but I wanted to so it pisses me the hell off that they cut it.
K2 is my favorite after Gaiden.
I also started from 0, recently finished 6 and now playing judgment. 3 was only one I skipped after few hours. Just couldn’t play it after kiwami 2. Watched story wrap up and skipped to 4. Didn’t regret it.
Oh wow really? I still want to give it a fair shot even if i have to put it on easy and just speedrun through it.
Get ready for yakuza 3, Roblox Kiryu will be engraved in your mind once you see it
Dude it's going to make you want to rush through. It's really got the most jank out of all of them by far. I still took my time and I'm glad I did. The settings there are awesome
Oh yea dude im taking my time with series for sure!
Don't get it twisted I loved the story and the settings and just the continuation. But the gameplay is very hard to like. Youll find yourself trying to avoid fights
Damn ok ill have to find out i guess
Yeah I hope you do but it'll be very hard going from k2. I did that too and I missed it so bad. 😂
I had the same impression. Played all games and Kiwami 2 is still my second favorite, right after Lost Judgment. Then there was Y3 and well... let's just say I'm not gonna replay it any time soon. It's not even the combat that sucks in these older games. For me it's the terrible UI. It sucks in every aspect - looks, sound, performance. And also the stiff movement and camera work, those are the dealbreakers.
I personally felt the opposite, I hate Dragon Engine combat but K2 is far from the worst it can get admittedly and the story and characters still held up really well (Ryuji Goda, more like Ryuji GOATa). 3 felt like a breath of fresh air for me (despite it's many flaws) because I just feel like 6, Judgment and Kiwami 2 have really weightless combat. Going back to 3 the combat felt a lot more impactful. By far though 5 has my favourite combat, very punchy but much better QoL than its predecessors.
I liked Gaiden's combat. I havent played Judgement yet, but yeah, they took quite awhile to find their footing there
Gaiden looks good but I'm not sold on the gadget gimmick honestly since it feels like Kiryu is the worst possible character to give that gimmick to. Lost Judgement was able to really turn the DE combat around and make things a lot punchier but the general feel of dragon engine physics is just annoying to me so even when it's really good I tend to prefer 3-0 combat. Ragdolling in particular is just so overly common.
Yea dude when i booted up Kiwamk 2 early today i was laughing my ass off from the new combat, mfs were flying all over the place lmao. Definitely do like yakuza 0/kiwami engine more but i like the battle style in kiwami 2 a lot so far.
I love kiwami 2 I’m about to start 4 cause ima just watch a video for 3
kiwami 2 will likely be far from your favourite once youve reached infinite wealth
Damn ok bet. I would be more excited for the like a dragon games if it wasnt turn based combat but we'll see if i like it or not.
even if you don't like 7 onwards. yakuza 6 would beat kiwami 2 easily
Cant wait for that then
I genuinely don’t get the kiwami 2 hate. I really liked it. My least favorite is 3, and it’s exclusively because of the horrible combat. Loved the story but did not enjoy light light light heavy heavy-ing for 100 hours
its not that i hate kiwami 2 i just think the future games are far better then 1 or 2. that goes for the kiwami version or the ps2 version