This game is absolutely brilliant. There are definitely some big fighting mechanic changes to this game, and skill acquisitions methods are a little bit of a pain in the neck. Though some arent core skills, getting them for the sake of completion and achievements dragged out a slight bit.

Kaoru, while starting off like a pain in the ass became someone very likeable and just left me with wanting more. Her story in this game, the growth of her character and the romance that grew on her sorta got me attached.

Goro Majima returns and returns with a big bang. Not only does he get his own side-game, but there is a whole side story built into this game after a couple chapters of playing though. He was vastly annoying in the previous kiwami game, but he is quite funny and enjoyable in this one. Part through the game, there will bbe big wow references from Yakuza 0 made in this game too that relates to Goro. Goro and Kiryu are very much more connected in this game.

Haruka is still a PITA. her post game requests still drive me nuts, and oftentimes requires perfection to even pass. She probably sees me as a golf god or something.

The story telling is much deeper here and assuming you didnt play the first or the second Yakuza, this is still a great piece. They may just be a bunch of orphans with sorta traumatic upbringing, but trust me, its good.

The cinematic moments in this game is splendid. Its like an actual movie and definitely worth watching through it.

Good sense of humor even in the substories. Some events are even familiar and still just as funny as its predecessor.

The Bouncer missions I thought were a little excessive and the batting missions are so much more precise.
The Mahjong game is so much more difficult even with an easy difficulty and to win in it slightly differs from what im used to in real life, but perhaps im missing some tiles to actually win a hand.

Locker keys are quite over the top. 100 lost keys. 50 in each lost city. Thats quite a bit of hunting, and often a really dragged out element of the game.

Heat Mode is a new mechanic thats sorta like the Dragon fighting style in Y0. Im glad they eliminated the Rush style altogether, sorta super buffed the brawler style and incorporated a tiny bit and nearly killing the beast style in his fighting stances.

The quest tracker is much more friendly with completing because within a quantity completion, you can expand the completion list into sub items where you can easily see what you missed, which you can also use as a look up tool.

The use of item boxes are nearly non existent. you can only use them in Poppo stores and in 2 safe houses. And rarely in some quest areas.

I liked the old way of storing items in their previous games. they would automatically be sorted into type then alphabetical, and when youre at the store, there is a ticker that tells you how many you already own even when its in storage. Sadly, this one, store items and item box storage dont see each other - only what is on the person. So there is a big chance of buying multiples of the same item at the store and picking up some repeats from enemy encounters.

Integrated key finder and item finders. THANK GOODNESS i dont have to use an item slot any more to be able to have a beep of lost items in the vicinity.

No Cat Fight or MesuKing Fights. The cat fight is boring and a long dragged minigame, but MesuKing was actually fun and i wouldve liked more of it. Actually I would rather find these cards instead of having a second set of 50 lockers -which reminds me, what ever happened to the "Professor"?

No more Pocket circuit racing. They probably took this away since it was huge chunk of play time from the Y0 and Yk1, but to see it gone in this one just after "Fighter" found a life partner is sad. Maybe the new guy didnt do too well, and that was only a year gap between both games.

Colosseum wins between the low ranks are really quick, but when you get to the B-A-S ranks, you need exponentially more wins to be able to proceed through those.

The Majima mini game construction is a great add-on to the game, and the DLC is plenty useful to get through these missions. There needs to be some balancing and a few change in their selection mechanics, but overall, its a fun addition to the Kiwami 2 game content.

There is a lot of content even in the post-game. So if playing with the minigames is your thing, thats all integrated already with achievements to go with it.

Kaoru and Date need to be a playable field partner in premium game. Theyre useful and good fighters; unlike Haruka.

Overall, great game, lost of content, highly enjoyable.