I just started Chapter 14 in Kiwami 2 and that caused me to go on a little rant in the Judgement topic, comparing how the stories are told in the two games. Kiwami 2 is my favorite Yakuza game, just barely surpassing Yakuza 0 for me. However, for me at least, I think Judgement surpasses both of them (but just barely).
I’ve come to realize that the Dragon engine and my nostalgia for the PS2 original are the reasons why Kiwami 2 is tops with me. The more I play the game though, the more frustrated I get with the narrative, which I now see as being borderline terrible. Thinking further, If Yakuza 2 were remade with the same engine as 0 and Kiwami, then I most likely wouldn’t care for it as much as I do, which is strange because I love 0 but REALLY don’t care for Kiwami.
On the other hand, Yakuza 0 has my favorite story and narrative of the series, and I love the gameplay (and the soundtrack and the fact that fucking Riki Takeuchi and Hitoshi Ozawa are in it), but I think I’ve been too spoiled by the Dragon engine to enjoy it the way I used to. And despite Yakuza 6 being the first to use the Dragon engine, it just didn’t leave an impression on me, which is why I’m really “meh” about it.
On the other other hand, I feel Judgement just handles everything better overall. The story itself I guess isn’t really interesting, but it was told very well. This is the complete opposite of Kiwami 2. A bad or uninteresting story can still unfold in a compelling way, and that more than makes up for the story itself. The same goes the other way. I’m still a fan of Kiwami 2’s story, but the way it’s handled is just so fucking stupid that I had to come to this epiphany. Plus, I’ve got a stupid amount of time on my hands. And then you got something like Shenmue III where there was both barely any story and it was told poorly.
So in conclusion, if for some reason Yakuza 0 got remade with the Dragon engine, that would cancel out everything I just wrote above and make everything right in my world. Thank you, and goodnight.