Posted September 09, 2024
I finally got around to playing Kiwami 2.
At first I thought that maybe the fighting styles were hidden to me until after I beat Chapter 1, or something like that.
Then I did beat a few Chapters, and I still had no access to different fighting styles.
Then I searched via google, and to my horror, I realized that Kiwami 2 has no different fighting styles, and according to what people say on internet forums, neither do the later Yakuza games either.
That is really awful.
The combat in Kiwami 2 is dumbed-down crap compared to the combat in 0 and in Kiwami 1.
In 0 and Kiwami 1, the player has to make strategic choices as to which style to use at what time, based on the current situation.
All of that strategy and thoughtful gameplay has now been removed as of Kiwami 2.
Kiwami 2's combat play control also feels horrible as compared to the combat play control in 0 and Kiwami 1.
In 0 and Kiwami 1, you can switch to Rush style to dodge enemies, and to reposition yourself around the area, and doing this is both an art and a skill in those games.
But as of Kiwami 2, all of that art & skill has been taken away. Instead, we get dumbed-down gameplay where controlling Kiryu feels like trying to move a lumbering, clunky, unwieldy, uncoordinated beast...similar to how Beast style feels in 0 and Kiwami 1.
Except that in Beast style:
a) you actually get many benefits in exchange for the tradeoff of clunky movement and
b) you are not stuck in Beast style; you can switch out of it whenever you want.
Yet as of Kiwami 2, you get no benefit for Kiryu being perpetually clunky to move during combat (as compared versus Rush style in 0 and Kiwami 1), and you are stuck with that clunkiness permanently.
Another thing I hate about Kiwami 2's combat is that I cannot figure out any way how to grab a guy, then throw him down *right next to me,* so that I can stomp him immediately after I throw him down.
That is easy to do in 0 and 1, but apparently in Kiwami 2, it is impossible? Every time I throw a guy in Kiwami 2, he gets thrown a very far distance away, which is *not* at all what I wanted to happen.
Is there even any way to throw a guy normally in Kiwami 2, so that he lands right next to where you are standing?
I have no idea why the devs thought it was a "good" idea to dumb-down and thus ruin the combat gameplay this badly. That is definitely some very horrible design as compared versus the infinitely superior combat gameplay in 0 and 1.
At first I thought that maybe the fighting styles were hidden to me until after I beat Chapter 1, or something like that.
Then I did beat a few Chapters, and I still had no access to different fighting styles.
Then I searched via google, and to my horror, I realized that Kiwami 2 has no different fighting styles, and according to what people say on internet forums, neither do the later Yakuza games either.
That is really awful.
The combat in Kiwami 2 is dumbed-down crap compared to the combat in 0 and in Kiwami 1.
In 0 and Kiwami 1, the player has to make strategic choices as to which style to use at what time, based on the current situation.
All of that strategy and thoughtful gameplay has now been removed as of Kiwami 2.
Kiwami 2's combat play control also feels horrible as compared to the combat play control in 0 and Kiwami 1.
In 0 and Kiwami 1, you can switch to Rush style to dodge enemies, and to reposition yourself around the area, and doing this is both an art and a skill in those games.
But as of Kiwami 2, all of that art & skill has been taken away. Instead, we get dumbed-down gameplay where controlling Kiryu feels like trying to move a lumbering, clunky, unwieldy, uncoordinated beast...similar to how Beast style feels in 0 and Kiwami 1.
Except that in Beast style:
a) you actually get many benefits in exchange for the tradeoff of clunky movement and
b) you are not stuck in Beast style; you can switch out of it whenever you want.
Yet as of Kiwami 2, you get no benefit for Kiryu being perpetually clunky to move during combat (as compared versus Rush style in 0 and Kiwami 1), and you are stuck with that clunkiness permanently.
Another thing I hate about Kiwami 2's combat is that I cannot figure out any way how to grab a guy, then throw him down *right next to me,* so that I can stomp him immediately after I throw him down.
That is easy to do in 0 and 1, but apparently in Kiwami 2, it is impossible? Every time I throw a guy in Kiwami 2, he gets thrown a very far distance away, which is *not* at all what I wanted to happen.
Is there even any way to throw a guy normally in Kiwami 2, so that he lands right next to where you are standing?
I have no idea why the devs thought it was a "good" idea to dumb-down and thus ruin the combat gameplay this badly. That is definitely some very horrible design as compared versus the infinitely superior combat gameplay in 0 and 1.
