Let me start the story with a small Off-topic, the meaning of which is to convey to you one simple idea – you need to start getting acquainted with the series with Kivas, and not zero (lol, something other than Baltic can be called that?). There are several reasons for this:
Firstly, Kiwami is simply smaller than Zero, and in many aspects. This applies to the length and elaboration of the plot, the number of locations, activities and, most importantly, the number of playable characters.
Secondly, the first part is the first to introduce the characters, surroundings and other things. Therefore, almost all prequels either slide into self-copying, or, as in the case of Zero, show the “history of formation”, and this, in turn, is interesting to both new players and old-timers of the series.
And lastly, the ending. Strange as it may seem, Zero has it. And I may sound stupid now, but you won’t get the same dose of puppy delight that I got if you don’t check out either Kivami or the original Yakuza first. In principle, I can argue this by saying that the adventures of the same Anakin Skywalker are much more interesting to watch, knowing who he will become. True, unlike Star Wars, Zero is better than Kiwami and is, dare I say it, the crowning achievement of the developers. Whether you listen to my opinion is up to you, I have done my part of the job. And with this, Off-Top comes to an end, you can unpack your disco balls, because we are going to the eighties!

Well, this time I have something to tell you. Let’s start with a small dose of context:
1988, the Japanese economy is in a rocket-like state, heading upward, real estate is becoming more expensive exponentially, making more and more people richer. However, our heroes – Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima are not among the lucky ones. The first works part-time as a debt collector, and the second is forced to work as a manager of the popular Grand Cabaret. This is where the retelling of the plot ends, since I don’t like spoilers.

Now let’s talk more specifically about the local history – it is quite twisted and can offer almost one “twist” per chapter, of which there are 17. But the point is that although you don’t expect these same twists, they are justified, which is why by the end of the game you have a full-fledged story in your hands, where almost all the elements are connected, and this was done logically and I didn’t notice any stupid inconsistencies.

About the characters – they are written 5 heads higher than in Kiwami (I personally calculated this), which is why their remarks are not dry comments on what is happening, but, on the contrary, are very lively and natural. The local lieutenants of the Dojima family are three different people, EACH with their own philosophy and ideals. As an example, I can cite chapter number 6, in which Kuze and Awano, communicating with Kiryu, share with him their opinion on what, in their understanding, constitutes a worthy yakuza. Needless to say, the original Yakuza was unable to offer anything like this.

Moreover, even side missions have become more interesting and fun, they are now larger in scale, or something. The humor in them is traditional for the series, that is, the strangeness will make you smile rather than the actual comicality of the situation. However, they do not slide into outright theater of the absurd and do not cross the line. I would like to highlight one of the side effects called “The Visionary Fortune-teller”. In it, Kiryu will meet a fortune teller who will tell his future. You probably guessed that the seer will tell him in general terms the plots of the subsequent parts of the series. By the way, it’s quite funny to watch Kazuma’s reaction to her predictions.

We’ve talked about the pros, now it’s time to talk about the cons. There are actually only two of them:
the first is the number of characters, there are too many of them, which makes it sometimes difficult to remember the name or correctly identify a particular character. Fortunately, the game has its own glossary, which lists all the characters and their descriptions, which are supplemented as the plot progresses. The second minus is, perhaps, the timing of the ending. This is a huge, almost hour-long game-movie with small gameplay inserts. Yes, the ending of the story is solid, but still long. In my opinion, it would be better to break everything down into a final chapter and an epilogue, so that you can safely turn off the game and only then watch the ending. (I just finished the passage at night and fought against sleep, quite successfully, it should be noted.)

It would seem that the engine and the list of available styles for Kiryu and Majima (although you cannot play as the latter) in Kiwami are the same, but the process has changed significantly.
Let’s start with the battle mechanics themselves; the following has changed:
Now, the Heat gauge directly affects the speed of strikes, in all styles, which is why it is useless to use finishing moves in Rush. Otherwise, Kiryu will become too clumsy and it will be extremely difficult to dodge the attacks of his enemies.
Also, you cannot increase the size of this very rage scale, which is a little annoying, especially on bosses, which here, by the way, are excellent, although, for obvious reasons, they do not have a “hibernation” mechanic.
Well, last but not least: each style has its own master. There are 6 of them in total, and it is they who “inspire” our protagonists to study this or that style. They also give out tests that you need to pass in order to level up the corresponding style. Moreover, the masters can offer the heroes work, but this only brings money.

Somehow my thoughts spread throughout the tree, but I still didn’t tell about Majima. He, like Kiryu, has 3 styles – Thug, Breaker and Slugger, but they are much more unusual than Kazuma’s. The first is a copy of Brawler, but passed through the prism of Majdima’s perception, which is why the techniques surprise with their ingenuity and cruelty. From what is available – the same weak and strong blows, block and grab. Goro’s furious finishing moves are more contextual, that is, they require certain conditions to be executed (behind the enemy, between two enemies, when the enemy is attacked with a katana, etc.d.). Kiryu has much fewer of these, which is not surprising, because he is simply stronger than Goro and does not need so many finishing moves.

Majima’s second style is Breaker, in which all strikes are elements of breakdancing, both upper and lower. For all its absurdity, the breaker is quite effective, has a large number of techniques that hit the area and is probably part of the astronaut training program, because you need to be able to spin so much without unpleasant consequences.

A special kind of pleasure

Our one-eyed friend’s third style is Slugger, in which Goro hits enemies with his bat without breaking, making it ideal for blocking enemy attacks. Get ready for a ton of different ways to use this seemingly simple device in battle: even here the developers have figured out how to surprise the player. The vulnerability of this style is obvious: you cannot pick something up from the ground and use it for its intended purpose. This also applies to Breaker, but this is not critical, because no one forbids using weapons in the inventory.

Speaking of weapons: Majima has access to a store where you can send agents to various regions to buy components for making all sorts of weapons or, in fact, to get the deadly toys themselves. You can’t count all the names even in an hour, so just believe me: there is something to fight with, even a firearm is now not so useless, although not durable. Don’t be afraid, Kiryu is not deprived of this feature, he can buy any weapon that Goro has ever crafted in a special store.

By the way, about money. They act here as a single currency, that is, for them you can buy weapons and learn abilities. The latter occurs by holding, rather than pressing, a key and is accompanied by the shimmering of individual parts of the screen with all the colors of the rainbow, which is very hard on the eyes if you decide to level up a lot of skills at once.

Since money is responsible for everything here, they are given even for defeating enemies: coins and bills are constantly pouring in from the adversaries, and the amounts are sometimes astounding – tens of millions of yen can be given for not the most difficult plot brawl. However, because of this, the pricing of some goods suffers: for example, a damn fishing rod for 50 lemons or wheels for a toy car for 25. Oh, these gaming conventions… The cost of pumping up is much more surprising than the price of the notorious fishing rod, just look at how much money you literally need to pour into the heroes: about 18 billion yen for each style of Kiryu and 9 for Majima. As in Kiwami, all this is only needed on high difficulty, and therefore only annoys perfectionists like me.

Since there is somewhere to spend https://spinsy.co.uk the money, then you can earn some extra money. To do this, Zero introduced a business system: according to the plot, each hero has a job that brings in money. You can significantly improve your business and chop cabbage on an industrial scale. Kiryu will buy and rent out real estate, and the income will be passive: he installed security and a manager and just sit on your ass, waiting for the evergreen Japanese who-they-have, like a monarch.

At Majima’s, everything is much more fun again. He will have to work part-time in a cabaret club, and the player himself is responsible for everything: you can change the interior decoration, hire more girls, some can be trained and dressed up, and then you still have to monitor the condition of the clients, who to assign whom to, and so on. You will even have to learn hostess sign language to bring the guest what he wants. All in all, Japanese attention to detail in action.

Guess what she needs? Naturally, a glass for the guest, what else??
It’s one thing if you were just running a business, but quite another thing when you have 5 more competitors in the city who have already divided the entire market and you need to work hard to beat them all. As a reward for each defeated “enemy”, Kiryu will receive a new manager and/or security guard, and Majima will receive a new hostess at his disposal. At the end of their business storyline, each hero unlocks a legendary fighting style: Dojima’s Dragon for Kazuma and Shimano’s Mad Dog for Goro. It turns on in the pause menu when you press the corresponding button, and you can pump it up indefinitely; when you study all the skills, the level of the style increases, and the circle becomes empty again. With Kiryu, I slowed down at level 6, but with Majima, I didn’t advance further than the first, and didn’t give me his “Mad Dog”.

However, don’t assume that you can easily walk around the city with pockets full of money. Oh no, to keep the player from relaxing, Mr. Shakedown. These are huge (because there are several of them, each with their own little motivation) pumped up guys who really need your money. Moreover, they themselves also have money, but they should not be regarded as a way to earn extra money. These gentlemen are incredibly difficult to beat, so always watch where you are going or risk losing all your money.

Don’t expect an equal fight.

Since these two points have not undergone any significant changes, I will briefly voice the most important points: the graph of stars from the sky is not enough, and the small map is full of stupid invisible walls and loadings when entering and exiting buildings. This is fixed, now about something new:
Sotenbori is the second location available for exploration, where Majima lives. Also an entertainment area, it consists of two areas separated by a river. One of the peculiarities that can only be highlighted is that this area of ​​Osaka is full of cabaret clubs and, of course, gopniks. Various enemies, as in Kamurocho, are everywhere here, but now they can be distracted! This ability will be revealed in the story and it consists of… throwing money down the drain. That is, the hero naturally takes and throws the bills into the air, after which everyone will stop paying attention to him. At least some salvation from these annoying idiots.

Also, a friendship mechanic has appeared: there are several NPCs with whom this can be done. Someone is a policeman, someone is a worker in an arcade, another is a salesman, a cook, an eccentric billionaire (even 2) and… a bald man in only shorts. I already said that things happen in Yakuz? Well, okay, the main thing is that all friends give some kind of goodies for completely filling the friendship scale, as well as 1 completion point, which are now spent at the shrine, and our familiar clown just stands nearby.

You can still get a couple of goodies from this cutie, don’t forget about it!

They have arrived in their regiment, so let’s list the already familiar ones: karaoke, pocket cars (technically, they appeared here first), shoggi, mahjong, classic Japanese gambling, classic Western gambling, a fighting game with rock-paper-scissors mechanics (now without insect costumes!), darts, pool, baseball, bowling and UFO-catcher.

The newcomers are:
Dancing in the disco style, and there are several modes, there is a choice of compositions to which you can dance and a set of side effects associated with all this.

A good alternative to karaoke

Full-fledged fishing, with a choice of fishing rods, bait and everything else.

Too much fun ©Denis Karamyshev

Telephone club, where you need to pick up a girl within a certain time, choosing the right answers in a conversation. The peculiarity of this activity is that you have to “shoot” the correct answer, and it jumps quite briskly across the screen, hiding behind the wrong options.

Strange but funny

An establishment where you can watch various videos, similar to what was at the beginning of the video review from Vasily Galperov.
No, there will be no pictures with examples.

Arcade classics from Sega: Super hang-on, Out run, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone. Some are available immediately, and others you will open by completely making friends with the hall workers.

Out Run is the most fun for my taste.

Here it is, Yakuza Zero. A huge, almost bottomless barrel that I didn’t fully explore in 96 hours. It’s for the better, it’s always nice to find something new. Therefore, the entire previous text cannot be called complete; there is simply nowhere to insert much of it. Well, all the interesting and not so interesting facts are waiting for you under the spoiler, and I’ll move on to conclusions.

Various facts:
• Yakuza is a brawler, not a beat’em up, sorry for the inaccuracy.
• Almost any action of the heroes is accompanied by pathos, even picking up the phone, although not according to the plot, although there the heroes manage to rip off their jacket and shirt with one (!) hand movement.

• After finishing each chapter, the game will tell you how much and what you can buy with the money you earned. Example below.

• Testing the song Judgment in karaoke is a kind of retelling of the Kiryu storyline, and the presence of Nishka and Kashiwagi (who will find out for yourself) is due to the same.
• You can catch a shark while fishing.

• There is an arena in Sotenbori in which Kiryu can also participate, but I won’t tell you how, guess.
• The game has a JoJo reference.

• You won’t see the previous fact unless you defeat Amon, there are two of them: Joe and So, one per character.
• The male Komeki who trains Majima in the Thug style is Master Komaki in disguise, who will later train Kiryu in the Dragon style in Kiwami. And yes, he changed his name too.
• The game still has the premium adventure mode, there is also NG+, and you can also fight with someone in darts or another mini-game, both locally and in multiplayer.
• Trading cards scattered around the city feature images of real Japanese porn actresses.

• Vending machines are scattered around the map – sort of loot boxes with a bunch of random stuff.

• The game has a parody of Michael Jackson – Miracle Johnson, and in the disco club you can dance to his composition.

• In one of the side-games, Majima will meet a guy with the first “mobile” phone, the size of a whole bag. At the end of the side effect, he will be able to save Goro.
• You can catch Mr. Shakedown is asleep, then money can be stolen from him, but this must be done carefully.
• A bar in Kamurocho will be named after one of Kiryu’s trainers, Bacchus.
• The game features a parody of Steven Spielberg, which Kiryu can then hire for his business.
• The game can be purchased on the Playstation Store for 1,300 rubles, as it is included in the Playstation Hits section.
• The composition in the Japanese version’s intro is different from the Western version and, in my opinion, much cooler. The song is called Bubble.
• The last, twentieth fact will be that the game has such a difficult platinum that only the Japanese will beat it, because only they know the rules of all these stupid gambling games, and this is necessary for one of the achievements. Simply wonderful, Japanese mother!

You know, this series is much deeper than it seems at first glance. The same Majima and the origins of his philosophy, why you understand and approve of his reincarnation. Kiryu, who always wanted to be like his teacher, and did not notice how he became better than him. The trio of lieutenants of the Dojima family, each wanted to be a proper yakuza, but in their own way, which is why, like Kazuma, you are imbued with only one of them. I already talked about tattoos and their importance, I won’t push the same cart again. The combination of all these factors, that is, the plot, gameplay and setting, gives rise to a special perception of the Yakuza. Personally, I loved this series, for all its advantages and even for some disadvantages. I hope you like it just as much. And to the representatives of the primordially boyar platform I sincerely wish optimization along the way and seven feet under steam. Arividerchi!