Quick Look: Yakuza Kiwami 2

A moment of silence for the host club Adam.

FINALLY COME ON!!! IM ALMOST AT THE END!! MORE OF THIS!!!!!!!!

oh man this sub story....

That went places.

Hearing Alex and a Vinny accurately rattle off names like Dojima and Majima as they are said in these Yakuza games gives me hope that one day they will make the connection with the surname Kojima, and start pronouncing it without stressing the middle syllable.

I have no such hopes for Dan.

No more Beast in the East 2?

Kiryu had a love interest in Kiwami, i.e. Yakuza 1, Yumi, who factored heavily into the story of that game.
I personally subscribe to Kiryu being asexual but not aromantic.

If you haven't played any of the Yakuza games after watching Beast in the East, I recommend renting Kiwami 1 (most clunky of the three, but worth powering through if you are invested in the characters), and then buy this one.

And yes, one of the selling points of this remake is added chapters (not full game, a short 2-3 hour experience) with Majima, and Makoto makes an appearance.

Damn, I miss Beast in the East :(

"Is this wrestling?"

@francium34: do people still rent games in this day and age? Serious question. Also, Kiwami 1 is pretty cheap, so even if they do, it might not be worth it in this particular case.

I greatly appreciate how much preparation Alex puts into these Yakuza Quick Looks, they're always so nicely curated to show a handful of funny sidequests and introduce the game's core features. Thanks!

This about confirms beast in the east is dead huh?

well, pretty happy these games get QL

Dan discussing wrestling non sequiturs while Alex begs him to pay attention to the story...

Beast in the East is back, baybee!

With Alex just dropping major story spoilers for Yakuza 1 at the beginning of the video, I guess it's pretty safe to say there won't be any more Beast in the East :(

Also he plays in the absolute most boring way possible, using weapons and cheesing out the same heat action over and over, would've been nice to see some of Kaoru's co-op heat actions. Yakuza 2 is the pinnacle of this whole franchise so I'm looking forward to getting to beat RYUJI FUCKING GODA's ass in the new engine.

@wobblysnake: I'm sure he didn't want to waste too much time on those arena fights as to not drag out the quick look, which was already going to be quite long. A straight fight could have dragged that part out another 10+ minutes.

This is probably one of the best quick-look executions in GB history: Alex definitely prepared all of the points, punches, and features he needed to show off this game while leaving space for Vinny and Dan to fill in both as commentary and curious outsiders to a game they've never played. The length was just right for a game like this, the surprises and humor were there, and Dan was great and keeping himself on going deep with tangents.

Seriously team, y'all did S-rank work here. This is excellent Giant Bomb content.

Beast in the East, I will miss you so much. This QL shows how great it would be to return.

@zeik: I'd argue that the combat and heat actions are far and away the best part of these games, so I personally wouldn't consider it wasted time. But you're right, that quick look was long enough as is.

Eh, there's always the chance it returns as a feature where Alex has played the games and guides them along while Dan and Vinny blindly experience the story. But yeah, I don't really have much hope at this point for the feature to return unfortunately.

Hope Alex at least finishes this one on his own time because Yakuza 2 is one of my absolute favorite games ever, and was my favorite in the series until 0 came along. Kiwami 2 has a few changes I don't care for but you're getting 90% of what I loved, and I'm happy for even that much to be intact.

Kiwami 2 QL, is Shenmue 2 QL next?!

Kiryu is heavily implied to have slept with hostesses in several games (if you engage with that side content). Doesn't make sense for him to be a "virgin". Although it's funny to imagine that he took those girls to love hotels and just .. talked the whole time.

And, considering the ending of Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2,

Anyway, I loved this game a lot, which is not a shock since I love the whole series. I'm really interested in Project Judge and the next Yakuza game. Not sure about Fist of the North Star.. I just don't like the art style.

Beast in the east: Bigger, longer and uncut.

Alex is the only one with the decency not to kinkshame, smh.

Although you can say him singling it out in the first place is kinkshaming in and of itself.

Rub register....

"All's fair in..." say oven war! say oven war! "...the fighting arena." dammit!

:jeffu

Here's the lighter side of Genichiro Tenryu:

Happy to see that thumbnail, glad to see they are (presumably, haven't watched the video yet) going to show off the super weird BMB sub story, which is pretty bizarre even by Yakuza standards.

I have a couple chapters left before I'm done with this game, but I'm definitely enjoying it. The new game engine runs great, none of the screen tearing and framy-ness that I saw in Yakuza 6.

It's interesting comparing Yakuza 6 & 2...6 felt stripped down in terms of amount of side content, minigames, heat actions, etc., but I really, really enjoyed the story in that game, especially the whole "who's the baby's father?" mystery. The story in Kiwami 2 is a little more meandering and not as impactful, especially in the middle chapters, but I do like Ryuji Goda as a villain. BUT...2 has lots of good sub stories, mini games (cabaret club is back, baby!), etc. Even stuff like that Clan Creator minigame feels more fleshed out in Kiwami 2, with it being more like a tower defense, and the maps changing a little bit more from mission to mission. So yeah, the gameplay is aces in this one - if the story was just as good, this would be hands down my favorite in the series, but I think Yakuza 0 still beats it out overall.

Man, there's been a lot of Yakuza coming out in the West the past couple years, hasn't there? I feel like I should be burned out on these games, but nope, not yet! I just love this damn series.

RUB REGISTER

Great QL, team. One of the strongest videos you guys have put out in a while.

RUB REGISTER

Playing Yakuza 6 and GOD, I wish they could do an ER/Playthrough/Beast In the East for it. I think the combat is a lot more streamlined, the situations are just as weird, and I'd LOVE to hear Abby's reactions on a full playthrough.

I'd really love for y'all to take a look at the original PS2 Yakuza game. The English voice cast included Eliza Dushku, Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Madsen, and Mark Hamill as Majima.

Isn't the murder of Dojima the thing that Yakuza 1 starts on pretty much?

a couple of the fights in Yakuza 2 are among my favorite moments in games ever. The final boss fight I finished with the tiniest sliver of health in a moment that just felt incredibly rewarding... also: TIGERS

Is there something weird with the video resolution, or is that the game? It looks a bit blurry to me, anyway.

Having spent a while recently with Yakuza 0's battle system, I bemoan the lack of different styles here---that stuff got pretty cool eventually, and the "unified" styles from 0 were my least favorite ones.

Preaching to the choir but this was great. Thanks @alex for preparing such an in-depth look at this game.

Great QL. Yakuza 2 had some of the best story and fights in it and would highly recommend now it has had the Kiwami treatment.

Also yes Tiger Battle is amazing!

Majima Goro started a fighting tournament...

I wish they would bring back Beast in the East. For me it’s up there with this site’s best content.

Hearing Alex say this game is a lot more straightlaced than Zero... Clearly he hasn't gotten to Osaka Castle yet. That's where the franchise jumps the shark.

@curufinwe: I took a couple Japanese classes in college and one of the first things they taught you in the intro class was how to pronounce your name in Japanese. My name (Brian) was pronounced something like "Bu ri an". That was a pronunciation that was then used by multiple professors and TAs, all of whom were native Japanese speakers. In other words, Japanese speakers aren't going to pronounce American (or other Western) names "accurately", so why get hung up on the reverse?

@alex The use of email in phone communication was very wide spread in Japan as a replacement for SMS before smart phones and more app-based messaging. This was mostly due to the fact that Japanese phone companies all had their own protocols and weird network configurations, leading to carries being incompatible with each other, making SMS messaging very inconvenient or just plain impossible. So email was used as a replacement for texting.

I lol'd in real life when Vinny said "throw a grenade in there".

I remember in her very first Beastcast appearance, Abby pronounced Kojima that way. She got a light ribbing from Vinny for it

@quantris said:

The engine for zero is very sharp and runs at 60fps. The engine for 6 is much softer and runs at 30fps which can make it look quite mushy. There are a lot more effects going on since the engine for zero was used across generations.

Every time they make a Quick Look for a Yakuza game I want to be happy because it's more Yakuza one the site but I just get sad knowing we will probably never get more Beast In The East.

First Neville Southall's Twitter account and now this

WE DEMAND BEAST IN EAST.

(Please)

Dan really takes every chance he gets to make excuses for his Yakuza 0 play, doesn't he?

To everyone about the topic of Kiryu being a virgin: Yakuza series producer: “In my personal opinion, Kiryu is a virgin”

ten minutes in and it's the best QL i've seen in months