Minor tweaks and minor additions since last time, but the game is a million times better than the first one.
Story
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The story takes place one year after Yakuza 1, Kazuma, former 4th chairman of the Tojo Clan, and has retired with Hakura (Yumi's daughter). When paying respects to his dead friends, the 5th chairman Terada visits Kazuma, and tells him of the state that the Tojo Clan is in (it's falling apart) and is seeking to make a truce with the Omi Alliance in Osaka. Unfortunately, Terada dies and Kazuma is now tasked with creating a truce with the Omi alliance, though things won't be that easy.
The story is actually better than the first one. There's more emotions going on and there's actually some touching moments and some really good plot moments, though it does end up being a bit cliché around the end, the story grows to a small halt during the middle chapters (9-12) and towards the end, it's just one villain stepping in over the other, but the story is still better than the first game.
You don't need to play Yakuza 1, in order to play and enjoy Yakuza 2, because the game has a very detailed recap of Yakuza 1, though it's reconmended for the emotional effects.
9.0
Gameplay
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The original Yakuza was a mix of GTA style freedom (without cars) and JRPG's. You ran around exploring like in a GTA game and battles were random encounters and you upgraded your character with experience, JRPG style. And well... not much has changed here, you still run around doing the same things as you did before, though that doesn't mean that there's been a few additions and tweaks.
First of all, the combat has improved a bit. Everything's moving by a bit faster now, and there's a small lock on system, when holding down R1. It works well for dodging attacks, and it's also possible to tweak attacks, so if you hit blind, just twist the analogue stick in the desired direction and he'll hit that way during combos, it certainly improves the battles a lot, though you will hit blindly sometimes. The game also adds some quick time events, though they have a habbit of appearing in akward places and doesn't quite work.
As with exploring, there haven't been a lot of new additions. There's a few new mini-games and you now have Osaka (fictional Sōtenbori and Shinseicho parts) to explore as well, and it has it's own set of mini games, hostess clubs and locker keys.
The game is split up to 16 chapters, and it takes around 15 hours to finish this time. However, the fun side stories returns and their both funny and rewarding, so there's lots of reason to do these, so the replay value is pretty high.
And before I end this, there's not a lot to say about Yakuza 2's gameplay, because it's almost the same as the first one, with some added tweaks and minor stuff.
8.5
Graphics
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The environments and graphics looks a bit better than before and the cut-scenes are improved as well, having a more cinematic feeling than the first game. Though the frame rate does go down a few times and there's some low quality graphics some places.
8.5
Sound
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The voice acting is a million times better this time around. There's only Japanese voice acting and not English, but after the first game, you won't mind it. But the Japanese voice acting has some minor faults as well, though not bad. The music and atmosphere in the game is still amazing and really makes you feel like you're in a living breathing city.
9.5
Overall
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There's not a lot to say about Yakuza 2 really. It's the same as the first game, with a few tweaks and minor additions for the better and it ends up being a even better game than the first, and still a gem in the PS3 library.