I honestly didn't understand they would be selling teh game at a discount. I figured since Yakuza 0 was a full priced game that Kiwami woudl be one too. That revelation of a lower price was a treat. I was thinking, "Oh, man I have to budget $60 to get the game, but now I can pick up two games this month - nice!

From what I understand (and have played so far), it's a shorter game with not as much content as 0 so they decided to sell it cheaper. There's only one city, you only play as one character and the story seems to be moving along pretty quickly.

It was 22 preordered on Amazon.

$30 for Kiwami, $30 for Hellblade, $40 for Knack II. Good times!

@kingpk said:

Plus it's a remake.

Kinda off topic, but where would it be best to start playing these games as someone who's only watched Beast in the East? $30 is mighty tempting.

They're selling it for $30 because it was a budget title to begin with, and though I'm enjoying it it's definitely not nearly as good as 0 was.

If you've watched all of 0 this is a great starting point, just be ready to struggle with the combat a bit at the beginning as you're learning it. Kiwami very much feels like it assumes you've played 0, it's a lot harder and you start with a decent amount of the upgrades for the three styles from 0, plus a seriously gimped version of the fourth style you could unlock by finishing the real estate minigame. Also chapter 3 which is the last chapter before kamurocho opens up is pretty bad.

After just playing the ps2 version i will say that it is a full game even if shorter than modern ones, 2 is the best though and i can't wait for that remake.

Even though it is a ps2 remake with significantly less side stuff than Zero, the story will still take you over 15 hours. This game is a deal at 30 bucks. If you wanted to get into Yakuza, but were overwhelmed by it's sheer amount of content try Kiwami first. If you like it, you'll love Zero.

Yeah, with all the re-used assets, Kiwami feels like an expansion for 0. Not that I'm complaining - It isn't an expensive game.

I got that steelbook day one edition for 35 bucks :D. Made it to chapter four feels linear so far hope it opens up a bit.

@TechnoSyndrome: Are you are about that? At the time of release Yakuza was like a fully fledged game with a lot of known Japanese voice actors lending their talent to the project. It was also fairly long and one of the first games since Shenmue to do the whole "go into an arcade and play mini games" type of stuff. It was rough around the edges but I don't think it was ever a budget title to begin with.

I mean this remake specifically, which was done on a limited budget while the team focused on Yakuza 6. There's very obviously reused content all over the place, from big things like Shimano using Mr. Shakedown's moveset, to small things like cop Majima's intro being ripped straight from fighting the drunkard at the cabaret in 0, down to Kiryu stumbling in place as if he's drunk. The story cutscenes also reuse the exact same animation as the PS2 version down to the much more limited facial expressions and lip flaps, and makes for a jarring transition whenever an old cutscene seamlessly transitions into a new section like in Majima's introduction.

£29.99 in the UK. I got mine for £22 on Amazon though.

Are Yakuza 2-5 available to download (and keep, not streaming) on PSN? I have no desire to find my ps3 and hook it up.

@corwag: 2 is currently unavailable on anything other than ps2 (if you want it in English) 3-5 are available on ps3 only currently. 3 is with disk only, 4 is disk/download and 5 is download only I believe.

Thanks! Youtube movie cuts here I come!

The price point is a good incentive for new players to the series so please support the series by purchasing them as of right now the is a Yakuza 2 remake on the way and recently Sega in really measuring the interest of the series to the US crowd by releasing Yakuza 0, Kiwami and soon Yakuza 6. If the series does good we can get the remake and possibly easier access to 3,4,5 in the future as well as a Fist of the North Star game made by the Yakuza team.