This is an ongoing list where in an attempt to tell you what the best video game of all time is, I play/complete/and rank every game in the known universe.

Longtime fans of the series may see the title of this episode and say:

"Phil, What the hell.. You rated Yakuza 0 and now Yakuza Kiwami 2, but skipped Kiwami 1.. what gives?"

Now to answer them I would first ask, how did you get my name? because I don't think I listed it in other entries, but regardless. I did play through Kiwami 1 before playing Kiwami 2, but it was before I started this series, and I don't remember a lot about it. That's not a telling sign that I felt it was an unmemorable game, or anything of the sort, I barely even remember the plot, so a review now would not be doing it justice. I promise that at some point, I will re-visit the game so we can put it on the list, but for now it will remain off.

With that digression out of the way, yes, we will be talking about Yakuza Kiwami 2, which is the remake of Yakuza 2 with a nice fresh coat of paint and additional features added in. I will admit that I never played the original game, as I got into the series essentially at the release of zero, while I have no issue with going back to play old games, when I heard they were remaking games for the series, I just patiently waited so that I could play those versions. However, this series isn't about having that knowledge, it is whether or not Kiwami 2 can stand as the greatest game of all time.

For those unfamiliar with any of the Yakuza games, they are pseudo-open world beat-em ups, with some light RPG mechanics. You play as Kazama Kiryu who whilst going through the story (we will talk about later) is running through two cities getting into street fights, eating at restaurants, shopping, and helping out the locals that he comes across. Nearly every quest, whether side or main, has Kiryu exchange fisticuffs with yakuza, thugs, ruffians, etc. When these fights come up, the game becomes a brawler with light/heavy attacks and finishers that you can unleash if you fulfill the right requirements.

I want to pause here to talk about the fights, I did not find them as enjoyable as Yakuza Zero and I think there are some very basic reasons why. Obviously this is built on the bones of a previous game, I understand that and don't question it, but Yakuza 0 gave us a beautiful fighting system where there were multiple different stances and a use for each stance. In this game there is only your default stance, and while there moves from all stances kind of molded into the mix, it simply doesn't have the depth that zero did. That is not to say that getting into fights isn't enjoyable, they are, but it isn't on the same level. When I first started the game, I was getting enjoyment on trying out different combos, seeing what Heat actions (finishers) were in the game and everything was hunky dory. However, midway through the game you are probably only using the same two combos over and over again on regular thugs, and have seen the same heat actions multiple times as well. In a game that is 75% fighting, that can be a drag. This is especially tough coming from zero, because it is cutting move lists and heat actions down to a fraction of what they were in a previous game. There were more than a dozen occasions where I found myself surprised that a heat action didn't exist for what I wanted Kiryu to do. I would be dragging enemies throughout the small fight map, hoping to see unique environmental heat actions, but to no avail. While some heat actions can be purchased with experience points, even after having purchased them all, I felt there were too many options missing. Again, I know this is probably because of the bones of Yakuza 2, but towards the end of the game, I was actively running to avoid fights rather then get into them which is a complete reversal of how I was in zero.

Boss fights are a huge mixed bag, and that is really because of the limited stances you have in how you deal with characters. Without trying to spoil the game, I breezed through the final 3 bosses, because I busted out some low level weapons (blow torch, pliers, wooden sword), but got my ass kicked by bosses from the Korean mob, because those characters were faster and I didn't have a strong counter in my repertoire I could reliably use outside of drinking energy drinks and mashing heat actions. My advice is to always make sure you are stocked up on energy drinks and have some bailout weapons equipped just in case when heading into these fights, just in case you need them.

The leveling up system has been revamped as well. Purchasing upgrades with cash is now long gone, and instead you use your many experience currency to level up different skills. There are roughly 5 different experience currency, which supposedly would relate to things like Strength, Agility, Heat, etc. and when you are looking at buying an upgrade they might require more of one currency rather than the other. In theory I think this is a good system, If I get in a lot of fights I should be able to level up my strength more, play a lot of minigames and level up my Misc section more, but I felt the game didn't go far enough in that direction. Nearly all fights give you equal amount of experience in every category, and there never seemed like a clear cut way to improve on one section outside of just missions/fights. I would find myself waiting to save up enough experience points in blue (lets say that's agility), but outside of picking fights outside or eating at restaurants I had no idea how to get experience in that field, which meant either I would have to grind or just ignore the level up that I wanted. I never felt I was under-leveled so, this isn't a huge knock.. but when moves are tied to unlocks and the game seems a little bereft of moves, waiting to get those felt like a long drought. Without tying your level up to money, it does make money pretty pointless for the whole game. Sure there are things to buy that are expensive, but if you play the hostess club you will eventually find yourself sitting on Millions of yen with nothing to worry about. I only "ran out" of money once and that was because the first time I did the Majima mini-game I fully upgraded the base right off the bat.

Before we get to the story, lets talk extras. One of the great things in Zero, was that there was something for everyone. I am pleased to say that is back for Kiwami 2. All of the minigames you wanted are back (batting cages, darts, golf, arcade games, UFO catcher, mahjong tourneys, koi koi, etc.). They added some new ones: Bouncer missions - long street fights, Toilets - a game about using the toilet, and a real pervy camera game - take pics of a real woman who will undress if you get answers correct. They brought back the hostess club, and added a tower defense battle system starring Majima. I made sure to play each game at least once, and for the most part enjoyed myself with everything. There is a caveat that if you are trying to platinum this game, you will go insane. I initially thought I would platinum the game (because I was having so much fun) but there are SO MANY LEVELS to some of these that it becomes a real time commitment. The Bouncer missions have something like 40-50 fights and they get incredibly tough towards the end that you can real only beat them by bringing in your best weapons and armor. The hostess club is sadly a carbon copy of Yakuza 0 with no new depth, and the tower defense system is interesting and easily the best mini game featured, but it did feel a little too easy. Learn from my mistake, do not try to play and complete them all, just come at them on occasion, and play the ones you like.

The biggest extra, is that Kiwami comes with a side story that you slowly unlock through the game, where you get to play as Majima to basically see how he went from Kiwami 1 to Kiwami 2. The saga is a short 3 hour affair if played straight through and is mainly a love story to all of the things he did in Yakuza 0. I won't spoil it, and its an enjoyable experience, but it mainly exists to tie his story together. While you get to run around in the same cities Kiryu does, outside of additional fights there isnt much to do besides go from story beat to story beat.

Finally, lets talk story here. I'm starting to suspect that all Yakuza games are giant hodgepodges of ideas, that they then all try to cram into one story arc. That isn't a negative statement, I love it, I am here for the silliness, but this game has an A, B, and C story that presumably don't relate until they do at the end of the game. I won't go step for step here, but the Story begins with the chairman of your old clan being gunned down in front of you, which drags you back into the yakuza, a life you tried to avoid. In the game's A story, Kiryu is up against the clan that essentially murdered your captain and declared war on your home turf. The B story is essentially a war between a Korean gang that was massacred by Dojima (remember that old guy) who want revenge on not only the clan that murdered them, but also those their own kind that don't follow the creed. The final C story involves the story of a cop who takes you into custody who is looking for her parents, while also trying to prevent you from killing/being killed and starting the turf war. It is absolute insanity, and the end of the game where everything wraps up, has no short of twenty twists just so that everything can line up. From what I have read in the yakuza circles, a majority of people seem to think that 2 has the best story, and while I enjoyed it, it felt too busy in comparison to zero, and what I remember from 1. Listen, I get it, Yakuza tells bombastic stories, and I certainly enjoyed it, but I will lean towards Zero being a greater story. Even when I had no attachment to the characters in the game, and didn't know their outcomes, I liked the smaller scope of a story. Zero was really about real estate for one plot of land, and it certainly had tangents it went off on, I could envision how each piece fell into that small puzzle. It made sense that the whole world was moving around you, because no one else cared about this plot of land besides warring yakuza clans. However in Yakuza 2, there are multiple story points where the whole damn city and country should be involved (bombs littered across a city, a gang war, etc.) that are still left up to your small smattering of heroes to solve.

Overall, I think Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a really solid game, and this write-up may have seemed more negative then that result, but that is because I don't think its highs ever quite reached Zero, and its lows were certainly lower. From what I remember, this game will probably be ranked higher than Kiwami 1, but I won't make that official until I actually go back and do another playthrough. I'm excited to eventually start 3, but I think Kiryu has earned himself a little break after what he just went through.

Is this game the Greatest game of all time: No, it will not dethrone its father

Where does it rank: I am placing Kiwami 2 as the 9th greatest game out of a list of 42 games. Its still a really solid entry and would probably be even better if you didn't play zero, but Zero is the superior Yakuza game. It sits between Nba 2k18 (8th) and That's You (10th)

Up Next: The legend of Zelda (NES)

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion). Here

Thanks for listening.

P.s. How does anyone have time to platinum games these days? Like Seriously, I tip my hat to those that can. I really tried for Kiwami 2, but I found myself working so hard on beating bouncer missions, the coliseum, completing restaurants that I started resenting the game for having so much in it and I had to bow out before I made myself miserable. Is there a secret couple hours in the day that I don't know about?

This may not be the greatest video game but it is the Kiwamiest, because it's 2 Kiwami instead of just 1.

The answer to your question, though, is that nobody platinums these games. It has a 2.5% platinum completion on PSN and under 1% for the equivalent cheevo on Xbox.

A tiny percentage of people don't buy many games and instead play the ones they buy to death, or just happen to think this IS the greatest game and want to do everything. But it's 1 in 40 people of the already low percentage of westerners who are even interested in these types of games (since I'm pretty sure it's a different SKU than the Japanese version.)

If the only games you play are the Yakuza games it's not that hard to get the plat. How do they do it? They aren't spending all their time playing Mahjong Huntress!

@bigsocrates: i used to be really big into achievements, like stupid big. I forced my way out by getting a ps4 instead of a one, because achievements were taking the joy out of gaming. I never really cared about trophies, dont have a single game where i have 100%.. this was just dipping my toes back in, and despite loving me some yakuza games, i would have ended up coming out super negative on this game if i would have forced myself to 100% it.

This probably scared me off from trying for another year or two, and now i can get to playing the good stuff.. Mahjong huntress 2

@imunbeatable80: I intermittently care about achievements and trophies. I have never really hunted for 100% on most games (especially games where you have to do a ton to get that) but I will sometimes try and get one that I'm close to or something. I actually like Platinum trophies as a concept, and I have 14, but they're mostly on games where it's not too onerous to get one, like Manhunter or Bugsnax. It can be a fun way to extend the gameplay time just tracking down random challenges (though I think I literally injured myself playing Manhunter so that makes it a much less fun time.) I'm not going to play a game I'm not enjoying just to trophy or cheevo chase, though. But for something like Transistor I probably wouldn't have New Game+ed it if it weren't for the platinum, and I loved that game and really enjoyed the second run.

Of course that does raise the question of whether you can actually determine whether something is the best game if you haven't hit the platinum. White Knight Chronicles apparently takes 600 hours to platinum. What if it gets really good (best EVER) around hour 550 but you quit after just finishing it and missed out on the best game because you didn't complete it?

I enjoy getting achievements/trophies, but I would pull my hair out trying it in these games. I am sorry, I do not have the time to learn so many ancient board/tile/card/whatever games. Yakuza 0 is still my favorite in the series so far. I am working on Yakuza 3 right now.

Yeah, this is so true. I went through the same experience with 0, K1, and K2 thinking maybe I would 100% them in kind and then realizing no, no I never will.

I WILL say, Like a Dragon is pretty doable! If it weren't for the sheer grinding, I could do it as I'm only 2 short, but even then, I HAD to move on despite adoring that game.

More on topic, great read. I LOVED Kiwami 2. So much more than Kiwami 1. I liked the story more, I liked the leveling more, I liked the mini games more (although I thought Majima's sucked and I wish Yakuza would let go of this seemingly legally mandated pervy mini game that the series seems saddled with), and like you I liked Majima MUCH more. Having said that, putting Zero above it is still the right choice.

Kiwami 2 remains the only game in the series that I think is a serious contender against Zero. Although if I ever get around to finishing it Like a Dragon is probably in that bracket as well.

@efesell: My attempt to play all of the Yakuza games after playing Like a Dragon fell off of a an impossibly high cliff when I went from Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 3.

@sethmode: I love Yakuza, I do.

Ain't nobody need to play Yakuza 3. It's fine.

@efesell: yeeeah that game broke me, so when I do go back, probably just going to do the old plot summary and skip.

@bigsocrates: You are right, and i would normally add a caveat that says i didnt 100% the game, but then think about the poor games that don't have trophies or achievos. I would probably inflate their ratings, because I wouldn't have to grind 600 hours to finish the game.

I will leave the 100% ranking to the person who comes behind me and does their own greatest game (including achievements) list.

@bobafettjm: Haha.. the sad thing is i learned koi koi just for this game thinking i would 100%.. it was actually the bouncer missions and colosseum that broke me.

@sethmode: Glad to hear im not the only one.. I thought the tower defense was fun and interesting, but there was so little challenge. Use the same 9 guys, only upgrade them and make sure you have two grenadiers. For the pervy game, this one was certainly harder to explain to the wife. The phone calls in zero and the wrestling bug girls in 1, they at least look in game.. the photoshoot is a real video that could border on softcore pretty easily.

@efesell: There is no doubt k2 is good, and my expectation for 6 and dragon make me think they could be up there. There is a very real chance that zero stays on top not only because it was my entry point, but because when it was released they already learned from a lot of mistakes. I will move on to 3 at some point (even knowing it might be the worst of the series) because my compulsion is to play them in story order.. however i will be taking a break first to let my palette cleanse.

I mean honestly I think Yakuza 1 and by extension Kiwami are the worst games in the series but I'm meaner to to Yakuza 3 because like a lot of the ways the first game is bad stems from BEING the first game and after a wildly improved sequel I'm expecting them to know better.

Struggling a bit with Yakuza 3 now myself. Partially because I decided to do all the sidequests as they opened, instead of just getting some and then cramming the rest in during certain lulls in the story like I normally do. Mostly, though, because the combat is many many steps below the more recent games. Plus, I've found a different outlet for my mahjong needs, so I haven't been putting in many hours on the PS4 lately.

@redwing42: i'll have to level-set my expectations when i start.. how do you like it story wise?

@imunbeatable80: Not who you responded to but I found the human parts of Yakuza 3 to be pretty touching. In fact, I was very disappointed when the game begins to pick up speed a good amount of hours in and starts to form up to be a story recognizable as a Yakuza story. I found the main beats disappointing, but it explores aspects of Kiryu that the later games hardly touch on and seem unsure of what to do with. There are moments in Y6 which are extremely reminiscent of the early bits of Yakuza 3, and honestly I would have just liked an entire game of the slower-paced stuff.

So to answer your question, the story isn't great, but the parts of that story that other people talk about hating are the exact parts that I love.

@the_nubster: Hmmmm.. im kinda excited for it. Since I'll have lower expectations, that might allow me to enjoy it more.

@imunbeatable80 said:

Only at Chapter 5 to this point, but I think the first act of the game is an interesting change of pace, and it is kind of fun to see big shot Kiryu dealing with small town politics. Really, it is just the combat that is a drag so far, and it isn't terrible, but it is VERY dated compared to 0/Kiwami/K2.

@the_nubster: personally I think the game play just fucking sucks. Yakuza 3s biggest issue haha

"The Hostess club is back! Sadly it is just a carbon copy of Zero's version with some new girls."

You know what? Fine. I can work with just getting that small sip of water in the desert. I really enjoyed the Club mini-game in Zero, thus, it appearing again with just a tiny bit of new content is okay with me. Some is better than nothing.

I would love a stand alone Hostess/Host Club game. A game that has more choices of women and men to hire; more discussions to navigate with different branching outcomes; more makeover choice to try on hosts/hostesses; and that ability to upgrade the club or change the decor/style.

@monkeyking1969: Thanks for the read... im with you, i love the hostess minigame and in zero it is probably something me and wife put 20 hours into alone. However when we are talking minimal addition, i mean minimal. The gestures the hostesses make to signify what they need are allthe same (no additions) the animations for kiryu are the same ones majima had, the dress up aspect is the same. The storyline is virtually the same as well (run down club vs established wealthy clubs).. literally the only discernable differences are the women you recruit and the conversations they have.

I was hoping for some tweaks (add men into the mix, new gestures, animations etc) but having played zero's club to completion and then some, kiwami 2 club is too similar. Dont get me wrong i still completed that storyline, but i didnt have the passion i did for zero

THIS. Oh man I put more hours than I thought I would in that minigame alone. Largely because I found it hysterical how, in this fairly grim and (usually) serious gangster game, there's an Anime as fuck subplot about warring maid cafe's, but also surprisingly I cared about the characters. Was not what I was expecting.

And yeah, I haven't played Yakuza 6 and I'm currently in beginnings of Yakuza 7, Kiwami 2 is damn good. Though Zero is the best written entry by far.

It does fucking suck, you're not wrong. It feels bad.

Yakuza 5 remains the best in my opinion.

It has the taxi racer substory,

It has the bear hunter substory,

And has a rhythm substory too.

When we are speaking about variety of content in a Yakuza game, Yakuza 5 comes on top hands down!

I'm surprised that the team managed to make the game because when I played it, It felt like the team spent a lot hard work into the game specially since it was on a new engine back then.

@giant_gamer: oooohh.. color me intrigued, it will just take me a lifetime to finish 3 and 4 first before diving in.

Phil, What the hell.. You rated Yakuza 0 and now Yakuza Kiwami 2, but skipped Kiwami 1.. what gives?

@sombre: damnit.. i knew it was going to happen

I respect the hell out of this blog series btw.

@sombre: Thanks so much.. that means the world to me.

Just wanted to piggy-back off this thread as the credits roll for me on Kiwami 2 and see how the people who were getting on with 3 at the time are doing. Right now 3, 4 and 5 are all on sale for $10 on PSN, but I'm pretty sure I've seen them bundled together for less in the past so I'll likely wait for a Thanksgiving/Christmas sale to pull the trigger. That said, I'm also more than a little wary of the regression in graphical fidelity and apparently gameplay, as well as just getting burned out on the formula playing them all over two or three years instead of a decade-plus...

I already bought 6 and 7 in previous sales so I'm fairly committed, but part of me wonders if the smart play might just be watching story recaps for the PS3 trilogy...?

Anyway, as for my two cents on Kiwami 2: I initially found the game pretty off-putting to be honest, I thought it looked weird and moved weird and felt the reduction in combat variety was a real bummer. As the story started opening up and the sub stories started creeping in I got back in a groove, however, and I actually really came to love the comedy of the ragdoll system and all the environmental destruction you could get up to. I also thought the experience system was far more generous than Zero or Kiwami, allowing me to get exactly what I wanted out of this which is being an overpowered mongrel who never has to worry about a thing. Zero and Kiwami both had boss fights that could really sneak up on you no matter how overwhelming you thought you were, but Kiwami 2 lets you become a human bulldozer if you're so inclined.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention and I guess I'll just slot here is that I've started enjoying Japanese-language games in the past couple years because the inscrutable language allows them to become pretty good podcast games with all their mindless grind tasks and the fact I absolutely have to read the screen to know what's going on (I'm otherwise very, very anti-subtitle). I don't remember if this was the case with Kiwami or Zero but Kiwami 2 for whatever reason was coded to not play any of the soundtrack outside of cutscenes (which I'd pause for anyway due to the abundance of dialogue) while Spotify is running, not even the bangers in the hostess club! If that was a thing in Zero as well I must've not been so stubborn back then and just listened to my pods through my phone speakers while playing, but I have to admit it was a bit of a weird experience playing Kiwami 2 with almost no musical cues at all.

Story wise, I did find this game significantly weaker than the other two entries, though. I've come to expect your twisty little logic puzzles with these games by this point, but Kiwami 2 really loses a lot of momentum about 2/3 of the way through the game with some odd sidebars into content that doesn't feel all that necessary, only to cap off that repetitive/perfunctory feeling with an ending so hopelessly convoluted I admit I wasn't even fully paying attention because it just didn't seem to matter. I had a lot more trouble keeping characters separated across my 35 hours with this game - I'll be honest and say I had no idea who the ultimate big bad even was!

Which isn't to say the writing and acting isn't still it's usual charming stuff. This franchise has a way with curse words and turns of phrase that is so singular I almost already regret contemplating a skip of 3-4-5 to get on with 6 and stay in the modern era with this franchise. The sub stories were just as interesting and zany as Zero, though perhaps a bit similar in tone (I figure if you have to write 70+ of these each time out, that's bound to happen though) and the ten sub stories I didn't complete were only because I didn't stumble across them (what gives, sub story finder?!) otherwise that would've been my one 100% completion for this game.

I haven't touched the Majima stuff so I'll probably knock that out tomorrow or the next day, and I have a hostess I still need to wrap up her story with but otherwise I don't see myself trophy hunting anything else. I'm shocked I didn't defeat 100 enemies with weapons though!

@nodima: Thanks for the post. I myself am pot committed as I have bought all the yakuza games as well as they are sitting on my shelf, but I have been pacing them out because I don't want to end up hating myself or the games because it's the only genre I played. Based on my initial writeup I finished 2 six months ago, so I'll probably start 3 around new years.

It's interesting that we initially had opposite reactions to the game. I initially loved it and thought I was going to make this the first yakuza game I would100%. It wasn't until I was knee deep in bouncer missions about halfway through with the game that my interest started waning.

I think the story was interesting, but I liked 0 much better and was still on that high for Kiwami 1 so this game, while not having a bad story, did seem weaker then the previous games. I think that issue might be the ambitions of the story, this game is much more ambitious in telling a big story about race and attempted genocide, while 1 and 0 were smaller revenge tales.