Kurohyou 2: Ryu Ga Gotoku - Ashura Chapter

It's been a while.

I emulated this (and installed Team K4L's English patch)

Kurohyou 2: Ryu Ga Gotoku - Ashura Chapter is, well, the sequel to Kurohyou: Like a Dragon - New Chapter (the PSP Yakuza spinoff). Like it's predecessor, this was only released in Japan but if you've read my earlier Kurohyou piece you might recognize, then, that this is another impressive translation by TeamK4L. For some reason they've decided to localize the title slightly differently, but I'm just going to call it what the title screen calls it, inconsistent though that may be.

While the story is the main draw for me with this series, the mechanics of the first Kurohyou were novel and helped give it its own identity. This game, then, largely follows in that one's footsteps. On its surface, the gameplay is pretty similar to what the first game was doing. It still takes the basic Yakuza formula and substitutes its own combat-system for the battles you get into with random dudes on the street, you can still pick up items, and you still have a ton of combat styles to swap between. 

I don't remember if the first game let you hit people with bikes, but you can do it in this one.

It's pretty similar to that first game but, you know, don't fix it if it ain't broke. The combat feels more geared towards one-on-one fights with an almost fighting game-esque quality to the encounters (you can read more about what I mean here). While you can sidestep and move freely, for the most part, both participants are locked on a 2D plane so it feels almost like a Soul Calibur or Tekken. It's capable of handling more than one-person at a time (I think the most I've seen is 3 enemies and one ally in a single fight at once) but the game really shines in one-on-one encounters. 

Like the first game, the main plot largely revolves around a series of cage matches against singular opponents, each with their own fighting style, and once again these are the highlights of the gameplay. Fully engaging with the combat against an enemy with a lot of health honestly really does make this feel like a fighting game, albeit a fairly forgiving and button-mashy one. 

Now, the combat isn't identical to the first game. They've introduced several new mechanics and tweaks to this formula. There are destructible things in the environment that will damage enemies if they're thrown into them, bystanders at the edges of fights will often hold you (or an enemy if you're lucky) in place if you wander too close to them, and the "Ally" system from the first game actually has a use in the single-player story mode this time.

Smashing car windows is always fun.

In both games, you'll sometimes be offered a prompt at the end of a fight to either "beat down" an enemy for extra experience, tell them to "get outta here" for extra money, or have them join you as an Ally. In the first game, these Allied fighters seem to have been selectable in the multiplayer mode, almost like soldiers in Portable Ops, Peace Walker, or MGSV. Here, you can call upon them for help when roaming the open-world and they'll join you for most of the non-story-related fights you happen to get into.

Tatsuya and one of his Allies enjoying a night on the town.

As always, there are loads of minigames and side-activities to do. The Club Segas are back, bringing with them UFO Catcher and a new House of the Dead-styled on-rails shooter aptly named "Castle of the Dead". It's about shooting zombies and it features assets from Dead Souls, and I thought that was a cute touch. This game also has mahjong and I've come to realize I really like mahjong even though I'm pretty lousy at it.

This was surprisingly decent.

The part-time jobs from the first game are back, along with their corresponding minigames, and there are some new additions, but at least one of them was left unfinished in this English patch. I understand that they need to pick and choose where to spend their resources and this is ultimately a free effort, but it is still somewhat disappointing that the "boring" parts of this game have been ignored by TeamK4L. I'm not going to pretend the hostesses were always interesting, or that all of the minigames were worth playing, but the fact that they haven't updated this in the four-years-or-so since they published it, well, it's kind of a bummer to me. I think they've done a fantastic job with the rest of this patch and it just seems like a shame to stop when they were 90% of the way there.

The unfinished part-time job in question.

Maybe I just don't remember the first one's early-game, but some of the street fights you'll get into are tough. The generic-Yakuza-goon-you-might-bump-into-who-picks-a-fight-with-you ended up being one of the most dangerous archetypes I'd come across. It's weird, comparing it to standard-Yakuza, but these guys should be pretty scary so I respect the unexpected difficulty spike these enemies represent.

In addition to the different civilians you can bump into on the street, there are also occasionally brief activities to deal with. You might stumble across a crime being committed or someone who needs your imminent help, and doing so (usually by getting into a fight or chasing someone down the street) rewards you with some dialogue and some XP. It's not much, but it spices things up beyond just being guys picking fights with you out of the blue (though there's still, uh, a whole lot of that.)

Substories, of course, also make a come back, and these range from short things akin to those crimes you might stop and longer, drawn-out quest chains that take considerable time to complete. In general I liked the variety present, but one notable dud in the mix was a transphobic quest chain that seemed out of place, even for 2012. I know Yakuza 3 had some transphobia, but I'd hoped the series would be past that by this point. Tatsuya himself is shown to be a bit of a bigot and, while he learns and (hopefully) grows past that by the end, it still seems like a low point for his character.

Tatsuya, you're better than this.

Now, onto the real story. As you can probably assume, it's a followup to the first Kurohyou so it picks up approximately a year after that left off. Tatsuya has spent some time away from Japan working on a career as a professional fighter but runs into a new gang upon returning to Kamurocho that leads to him questioning what he wants in life. This is not the same rash teenager who stormed into that office a year ago, this is someone at a turning point in his life contemplating the decisions and circumstances that led him to where he is, and it is fascinating to watch unfold.

The game is pretty similar structurally to the first in that it boils down to a series of fights against new opponents (each with their own fighting style) but I feel it leans even more into the "enemy-of-the-week" shonen thing the first game had going on. There's also more of an ensemble cast and, while I don't necessarily think that wholly works, there are some fantastic new characters that make up for the few that aren't as interesting. In particular, I love Ryo. He's a doctor working for the enemy, and trying to pin down just where his allegiances lie made for some delicious drama. Additionally, he represents a perspective that puts him at odds with Tatsuya and brings the first game's "fighting philosophies" back into focus in a great way. I honestly might like him even more than Goda, he's that compelling.

Their conversations were a definite highlight.

I don't necessarily think the story is as tight as the first game's, if only because it's a bit more complicated, but it makes up for it by having a killer back half. While I was engaged by Tatsuya and Ryo, the focus on supporting-characters-I-hadn't-come-to-like-yet made the early chapters' focus on them feel a bit... unearned. I think it makes up for this by raising the stakes as the story goes on and, frankly, just doing some really cool stuff in the final stretch of the game.

As before, I'm basing my opinion on the localization work done by Team K4L and, with that, I'm sort of going off of blind-faith that this is a faithful representation of that game's original script and writing. I suppose that also applies to the rest of the series, but especially so here, as a fan-run effort simply has fewer checks-and-balances than something "official" put out by Sega. I say all this because I honestly really like some of the writing and dialogue here. This is a story just as compelling as the best stuff in the Yakuza series and Team K4L seems to have done a great job making sure that still came across.

I've greatly enjoyed watching Tatsuya's growth.

Another facet of the story, and the gameplay to an extent, is the fact that this game has you return to Yakuza 2's Sotenbori. I have to admit, it felt kind of nice to come back here after a few games away. While I know Kamurocho like the back of my hand, over the course of this series other locations have also started to become familiar to me so it felt like, well, like returning to a place you hadn't been to in some time. I still remembered where most of the important locations were and having a sense of continuity to this world makes it feel more alive and connected. 

There really isn't anything else like this series that I've played. While there are games like MGS4 and RESIDENT EVIL requiem (which I wrote about here) that make a point of returning to familiar locations, I feel like most games I play opt for wholly new settings with each installment to help differentiate them. With the exception of, say, Spider-Man games all being set in New York or racing game sequels reusing tracks, I feel like games don't tend to let you carry the sense-of-space you develop with you between installments. Some people may see the asset reuse as a drawback and a representative of a lack of variety, and there is occasionally a sense of "I've done this before," but by allowing places like Kamurocho and Sotenbori to persist between entries it helps sell the notion that these settings are true, lived-in spaces that exist outside of the specific stories that are being told.

/

Coming back here was nice.

Like the mainline Yakuza games, there aren't a whole lot of women in these Kurohyou entries and the few you do get are, generally speaking, hostesses or women you can ogle. Tatsuya's sister returns and there's one character in a substory who seems alright (though her role in the story is... not great), but there's effectively no mention of Saki. She is sort-of-alluded-to at one point, but the game doesn't even come up with an excuse as to why she's not there.  Given that Tenma and so, so, so many minor characters return, her absence feels jarring. Kaoru at least got to go to America. I adore these games but their pretty poor reputation in regards to their female characters leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I suppose that's on my mind because this game has collectibles, obviously, and you can collect trading cards in this that are effectively just an excuse to ogle women. Find enough cards and you get to watch a live-action video of a sexy lady. How titillating.  This isn't new to Kurohyou 2, I believe they were also in the first game, but it seemed worth mentioning here.

On another note, some of the other collectibles you can find are hidden cats! Much like the first game, your trainer has lost over a hundred cats (he's also gained one cat in the time between Kurohyou 1 and 2) and it's your job to find them. It's silly and video-gamey in a way that feels totally on-brand for the series. Plus, you get to see them in a little cat cafe after you collect them!

I haven't counted but this is what 102 cats, theoretically, would look like in a room.

I've included my results screen (or the closest things to that) below.

I know these are spinoffs (outsourced to a different developer, no less) so they're not going to get referenced in the "real" games and that means this is the last time I'll see these characters but, as I believe I mentioned in my first Kurohyou piece, I can just think of this as a self-contained duology that, by its own merits, stands among the best stuff in the series. And, if I want more, I do still have the TV adaptations to watch... (Yes, they made two seasons of television seemingly based on these games. I'm as surprised as you are!)

Seriously though, Kurohyou 2 is very good. Despite some qualms about the things they've opted not to translate, TeamK4L has done a fantastic job at conveying that this is a game worth playing. It is every bit as strong and memorable as the mainline Yakuza games and my takeaway here is largely similar to what I felt after I played the first one: these games rule, and if you enjoy Yakuza at all you owe it to yourself to give them a shot. Especially since, uh, I haven't exactly heard great things about Kiwami 3. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Way ahead of myself. I've still got well over a dozen games to play before then.

To close this out, I'll leave you with something I've been mulling over. Dead Souls, much like Yakuza 4, has some underground segments and you'll often enter them through manhole covers placed around Kamurocho. At one point, a specific manhole cover gets sealed off as the zombie outbreak worsens. It's still sealed off here. In a roundabout way this might be the closest thing to a confirmation we'll get that Dead Souls is canon. Also, Kamurocho Hills is open. 

There was a hole here. It's gone now.