Yakuza Kiwami: The best tips and tricks for beginners
Yakuza Kiwami makes its way to the PS4 today. Here are some tips and tricks for newcomers to the Yakuza series so they know how to blend into Kamurocho.
If there was ever a time to get into the Yakuza series, 2017 seems to be the year. In addition to Yakuza 0 releasing early this year and Yakuza Kiwami launching today for the PS4, an extreme remake of Yakuza 2 will make its way to Japan this year using the upgraded Dragon Engine.
Should this be your first time playing a Yakuza game, there are certain mentalities to embody and precautions to take when diving into the world of Kamurocho. There’s a bustling universe to explore in Yakuza Kiwami, so make sure you’re prepared for the experience beforehand!
Rotate your save files
While there are hardly any times where you find yourself in an unwinnable situation in Yakuza Kiwami, it still goes without saying that you should keep multiple save files whenever you save. If you’re absolutely new to combat games and don’t quite know how to progress your character, make a new save file each and every time.
Personally, as each chapter ends, I write a new save file and continue to use that up until the end of that chapter. That way, you can jump back and forth in time just in case you wanted to rebalance your character, retry a difficult mission, avoid making mistakes on a sub-story or just in case you want to go back and take funny screenshots like the one above.
Keep your inventory well stocked with health items
Yakuza Kiwami is a sandbox fighting game where fighters pick battles with you from out of the crowd of people. Sometimes, a random Yakuza scrub tries to punch you in the face and in an instant, Goro Majima wants to take you down with a baseball bat!
Your next fight could always be your last, so make sure you keep your inventory stacked with Staminan and Toughness items in order to make sure you’re well protected. Even though saving your game can now take place while in the menu in addition to phone booths, you can’t save yourself during a fight. Better to be prepared at all times.
Make sure to stop at the Don Quijote near Nakamichi Street in order to get some of the stronger healing items as the game progresses.
Grab some basic combos, heat moves, then boost your passives
Instead of spending money to level up, Yakuza Kiwami reverts to your standard level up system. Each level acts as a spendable XP unit, with one level improving a skill, upgrading a stat or allowing you to perform a new move at the first ring of progression.
There are four different areas to upgrade. Soul, Tech and Body can be upgraded at any time, while the Dragon segment happens naturally through the Majima Everywhere encounters and with a certain NPC’s special training.
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At the very beginning of the game, enemies are fairly weak and easy to defeat. However, as the chapters move along, they will start to hit heavy and take larger quantities of damage. It’s best to start out by learning a few extra combos, improve your heat gauge then shift towards your passive boosts at the 1 level, 3 level and 10 level segments of your Body segment.
By doing so, you will gradually strengthen your health and attack stats so that you can take a ton more hits and deal a lot more damage. That way, no matter which style you use, you will always be improving your character.
Study Majima to beat Majima…everywhere
Depending on your experience builds, players will use their Brawler, Rush and Beast styles to varying degrees of comfort. When facing off against Goro Majima wherever he pops up, you need to be sure you use the same Heat color fighting style to counter his attacks.
If Majima is in Breaker style, counter with Rush. If he’s swinging his baseball bat, bust out the Beast mode in order to stomach his Slugger. If Majima’s punching you up like a Thug, counter as a Brawler.
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Not only does this counteract his fighting style, but when specific boss battle heat action prompts occur (seen by Majima gasping for breath, health bar rising and his style producing its color as an aura), you can take out large portions of his health. This stops Majima from extending the battle while helping to earn you a ton of XP and unlocking more parts of the Dragon battle stance.
While defeating Majima becomes laborious late in the game, early on he’s one of the best sources of XP in Yakuza Kiwami.
Enjoy the distractions; don’t get too caught up in the main story
The strength of the Yakuza series comes from the depth of its characters and the personality they exhibit. If you strictly followed the main story, you would get the sense that Kazuma Kiryu is a no-nonsense straight-shooter who stays on the straight and narrow on the path to personal justice.
In reality, Kiryu is just as determined in the search for answers as he is in the quest to become the local RC car champion. There are a ton of minigames baked into Yakuza Kiwami, including some brand-new gameplay systems such as the MesuKing card battles. You may want to hit up the bowling alley, throw some darts, play some baccarat or even earn the affection of a local hostess.
The world of Kamurocho is your oyster; make sure you enjoy it for all its glory. Who knows, you may even run into somebody who needs your help.
Explore the backstreets to stumble into sidestories
With so much to do and so much to see in Yakuza Kiwami, there’s nothing wrong with taking the back streets to get around town. For the early stages of play (after you get past the first few linear chapters), this is the best way to run into a nefarious group of ne’er-do-wells or an innocent girl looking to sell some match sticks.
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These optional quests, while not always integral to the story of Yakuza Kiwami, are imperative to bolster the strength of your Kiryu. Often you will receive a few levels’ worth of experience points for completing them, accessories that either improve your defense or add bonus features to your gameplay, or link towards other sidestories that chain together, offering up an even bigger reward at the conclusion.
Some of these can be spotted on the map with a square “!” marker, but often times you need to explore the world and find them for yourself. You can find enough trouble walking in the Nakamichi alleys or by exploring minigames for the first time.
Consider playing Yakuza 0 first, if not afterward
I know it’s counterintuitive for a Yakuza Kiwami guide to suggest you buy the previous game, especially when it costs double the price of this game, but you’d be doing a minor disservice not picking it up at some point. Kiwami is based on the game engine of 0, and there are several nods to its predecessor in this game that you wouldn’t otherwise catch without playing the 80s-based title.
Some of the distraction side quests (including running a cabaret club and running several businesses) are quite substantial, packing in a ton of extra sidestory content that isn’t available in Yakuza Kiwami. Plus, there are multiple playable characters, two cities to explore and a better soundtrack.
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That doesn’t mean that Kiwami isn’t worth your time; quite the contrary. This first adventure into Kamurocho sets forth in motion a full series of dramatic Japanese gangster events. It’s better to get the full origin story before continuing the series, so make sure to play both Yakuza 0 and Kiwami whenever possible.