#who even is goro for real given his many fake identities and us knowing next to nothing about him for real

[hehosts-moved]

also a favorite “play” method or tactic that goro uses is becoming “your mirror image.” 

the mirror isn’t a necessity to show a “reflection” ... but it does add a creep factor he likes given people are already so distrustful of their own reflections. (we’ll talk reflections in another post with ren/yori shortly). it’s basically appearing to you as yourself, but in a way you would recognize.**

** this plot for like anything is always hard for me because technically we wouldn’t be able to really see our clone / doppelganger / etc as looking like us because we don’t know what we truly look like, if that makes sense. we always see reflections, we don’t see ourselves, so recognizing “us” as an entity outside of our reflected vision, which can already be skewed by a variety of factors (from lighting techniques to mirror types to emotional view of the self, etc). so...you know me, i have to make it somewhat reality oriented, so i think goro would appear to you in the way you would recognize yourself. taking your face for real would mean he’s taking you as you really are, not as you see yourself, which is how other people would also see you. the first is taking an emotional form whereas the second is more equivalent to taking the legitimate physical form of someone. i say “face” but he really does take the whole body, especially if he’s taking that identity for himself. there’s no limit to “who” goro will become, seek out, or engage with. **

he likes to bend or distort reality, so he typically uses this technique (this “trick”) mostly for fun, but sometimes to move a “plot” along. it’s a way to a) challenge someone, who better than themselves? and b) to have fun, it’s boring having ji-hun and deng (and others) do everything. so, while he doesn’t do everything himself, there are some things he still enjoys doing, and he likes to “get out in the field.” 

since he is not “taking” the actual face, just “using it,” it falls under his “parlor tricks.”

i also use this imagery for ren, but that’s in the comic with another character. it’s good imagery. 

a lot of it comes from when i first saw evil dead 2 when i was a kid. this part really stuck out with me, and i’ve used it before in other storytelling, but not as obvious. i also find it fitting to other characters i’ve ended up writing, such as yagami raito, because mirror imagery and mirror play are used a lot in death note to symbolize specific changes in yagami when becoming kira.

“i’m fine...i’m fine...”

“i don’t think so!”

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Yakuza Kiwami 2

This is a great time to be a fan of the Yakuza series. After years of iffy sales and the series seemingly being left for dead, SEGA has released - in short order - a wildly successful prequel, a remake of the first game, and the latest installment in the series. 

Now, just a few months later, SEGA has released Yakuza Kiwami 2 - a remake of the second game in the series. Redesigned from the ground up in the new Yakuza 6 engine, Kiwami 2 presents one of the most popular games in the series through new technology and with massively refined gameplay. 

Like many, I am a recent convert to the religion of Yakuza. My first encounter with the series was Yakuza 0, and I was hooked within minutes by its unique flavor of melodramatic - and so, so Japanese - crime drama. I have been eagerly waiting for Kiwami 2. Read on to see what I thought.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 picks up a year after the events of the first game. Our protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, is trying to live a peaceful life with his adopted daughter Haruka. However, after the head of the Tojo family is assassinated, Kiryu is dragged back into his old life in a desperate attempt to prevent the boiling tensions between Yakuza families from descending into all-out war. Kiryu is sent to the Sotenbori district of Osaka - into the heart of Omi Alliance territory - to strike a peace deal. However, Ryuiji Goda - the “Dragon of Kansai” and son of the current leader of the Omi Alliance - wants nothing more than a good fight. Kiryu will need to deal with mob-hunting police, blood-thirsty mobsters, crazed construction crews, cabaret girls, luchadors, and all of the endless threats awaiting him in Japan’s most infamous red-light districts. Can he do it?

Well, of course he can. He is freaking Kazuma Kiryu. Let’s talk about Kiryu.

Kiryu is the coolest protagonist in gaming. He is unflappable. He is the calm, collected center of one hell of a storm. Everything around him is crazy - exaggerated to the Nth degree. The Yakuza series embodies the macho action movie. In a Yakuza game, people don’t have calm conversations. They scream, they shout, they tear off their shirts, and they beat each other with bicycles. Nobody is a normal person. They wear assless tights while trying to eat you, they think that bar bouncers are supposed to go out and fight gangs, they are besieged by underwear thieves. 

Yet, at the center is calm Kiryu. He is the straight man to the insanity, the one who isn’t all that surprised when a man in a diaper propositions him. It’s incredible, and you can’t help but grin the entire time at each and every thing that Kiryu has to deal with. One damn thing after another. 

If you haven’t played a Yakuza game, you’re in for a hell of a time. (If you are, you are still in for a hell of a time - you just know what to expect). 

The basic idea of Yakuza Kiwami 2 is that it is an open-world action game set in two red-light districts in Japan - Kamurocho, a take on Shinjuku’s Kabukicho, and Sotenbori, a take on Osaka’s Dotonbori. By exploring both cities, Kiryu can advance the central plot, uncover side missions, get into fights, and so, so much more. 

One of my favorite aspects of the series are the “substories” - little side missions that you can stumble on as you explore the map. These stories offer some of the most memorable experiences of the series, as Kiryu solves the problems plaguing the residents of the two districts. I don’t want to name too many of them - spoilers aren’t much fun - but many of the items I mentioned above come from substories, and they *all* happen. I didn’t make any of those up. In the past, you had to use a guide or explore thoroughly to make sure you found everything. This time, however, you can purchase an ability that puts icons on the map for most of the substories. This helps out quite a bit in ensuring that you haven’t missed anything.

One of the most compelling elements of the Yakuza series is the sheer level of detail in the world presented by the developers. I’ve spent time in Kabukicho, the real-world analog of Kamurocho. Yakuza’s representation is stunningly spot-on. Buildings look identical. If you enter shops, you can make out the details of individual products on the shelves, and the level of visual detail is incredible. It helps that Yakuza includes a lot of licensed products. You can buy actual brands of whiskey and soda from Don Quixote - an actual chain of stores. The little details are even spot-on. For instance, the appearance of the Kamurocho Don Quixote has updated in each game to match how the store would appear in the real-world for the time period that the game takes place in. No other game has depicted Japan so accurately - in such loving detail. Just playing this game has made me want to book a trip back to Japan. 

Kamurocho and Sotenbori present a sprawling series of broadways, cramped alleyways, and dingy bars. It’s a world that is full of personality and easy to get lost in. This is true in the literal sense - it can be hard to find your way around (this is true to life) - but also in the figurative sense, given the sheer number of diversions that the world offers. You can have a few drinks at the bar. You can play darts, practice batting, and sing a few songs. You can play a few rounds of Virtua Fighter. If that gets old, you can attempt to learn Mahjong - though, despite SEGA’s efforts to include tutorials for western audiences, Mahjong continues to elude me. Need to use a bathroom? Well, there are interactive urinals at the arcade where you can practice your aim. If the constant fights have left your health low, you can stop by a ramen joint or a takoyaki booth for a snack. 

There are a seemingly endless variety of minigames to indulge in, including both new additions and the return of old favorites. My favorite of the new ones is minigolf. I’ve put a decent amount of time into mastering each course. There is a trophy for trying every minigame, and trust me, it actually takes work to make sure you found them all.

In particular, there are two central - meaty - minigames to call out. The first puts Kiryu in charge of a cabaret club - where men come for fake dates with the women who work there. This particular game appeared previously in Yakuza 0, but has been enhanced here. The core idea is that you compete in a series of tournaments to see which club can earn the most money. To earn the money, you set a lineup of hostesses - whose health and stats you need to keep an eye on - and let them work. As guests enter, you match them with the most appropriate hostess. At times, you may have to step in to replace ice, swap an ash tray, or resolve a dispute. If guests are happy, they may stay longer and come back another time. As orders come in, you can throw parties - bringing in more sales. At the end of the night, everyone gets paid, you earn new fans, and you advance in the league rankings. Once you hit the top of a league, you can challenge the reigning club and move on to the next league. It’s a surprisingly addictive minigame, and comes with a lengthy storyline where Kiryu befriends the individual hostesses and navigates the twisty world of Japanese clubs. 

The other minigame is the Majima Construction Corporation - headed by Kiryu’s rival and... obsessive stalker... Goro Majima. Despite the name, you aren’t actually building anything. Instead, this is a tower defense game where you need to prevent the destruction of your construction supplies. As the foreman, Kiryu must direct his workers to where they are needed, pumps up their spirit, and issues attack orders.. As they take down enemies, your workers level up and gain new abilities. Like with the cabaret club, there is an entire storyline devoted to the construction corporation. 

Speaking of Majima, Kiwami 2 has added new scenes where you play as Majima - filling in events that took place between games. After spending so much time in Majima’s shoes in Yakuza 0, it’s really nice to spend some more time in his crazy head. These additions aren’t incredibly substantial, but are nice fanservice for long-time followers of the series.

Fighting is - reasonably - a pretty major part of the series, and what you’ll spend most of your time doing. Yakuza is, more-or-less, an action-RPG with random battles. You’ll be regularly attacked by roving mobs of goons, and you must beat them to move on. You fight by stringing together light attacks, heavy attacks, dodges, and blocks. Consecutive hits will build up a “heat gauge”, which can be spent on brutal takedowns. You can also trigger a special powered-up mode where all attacks consume “heat”, but are much more powerful. 

Kiwami 2 carries forward the changes made to the fighting in Yakuza 6. I was a fan of how combat was streamlined, and how the new physics felt. Kiwami refines the combat a little by adding in new heat actions and a revised weapon system. Now, Kiryu can carry three weapons into combat and freely switch between them. In some cases, you can also pocket weapons obtained by disarming enemies to use later on. 

Every action you take in Yakuza, whether fighting, eating, or singing, earns you experience. Experience points come in five different categories, and can be spent in a variety of ways. You can put points into your basic stats, like health, strength, agility, and your heat gauge. You can also purchase new combat skills and heat moves. Finally, you can purchase general abilities, like experience boosts, increased stomach capacity (eating more food nets you more experience), or the ability to run further.

As the second game to use the new engine, Kiwami 2 presents a much smoother technical experience than Yakuza 6. I’ve been playing on a PS4 Pro, where the game runs at 1080p with a locked 30FPS framerate. I haven’t run into issues. Yakuza 6 was a bit choppy on the regular PS4, but impressions suggest that Kiwami 2 is much more stable. 

As you can probably tell, I’ve had a blast with my time in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and I can’t wait to put a couple dozen more hours into it. I feel deeply in love with the series with Yakuza 0, and have been on board since. Yakuza Kiwami 2 might be my favorite in the series yet - or, at least, it comes close to Yakuza 0. The technical upgrades, seemingly endless variety of minigames, some of the best substories yet, and a strong central plot put Kiwami 2 near the top of the series. Whether you are coming to the game as a newcomer or a series veteran, you can’t really go wrong with this game. I can’t recommend it enough.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, SEGA. 

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