I’ve only been playing this game for about an hour or so but already I can let you guys know what I’ve loved so far. These are changes to the core gameplay be it fighting or interface changes that make Kurohyo 2 the best Yakuza game in terms of playability!
No more random battles
Random battles don’t just popup anymore. If a guy wants to fight you can see him coming and if he’s not looking your direction he won’t come after you. The biggest change, however, comes from the pedestrians. Running down the street now requires a little more finesse. Run in to a big guy and get knocked down, run in to a girl and this could turn the males surrounding her in to your enemies who will chase you down.
Way point on map
Finally we can set a waypoint on the map! This would help new players a lot. Especially until they learn the map and with 5 cities in Yakuza 5 this will be a god send!
Save anywhere/Auto Save
This is what’s been missing in Yakuza since its creation. Saving anywhere any time and loading exactly where you left off. Makes the game so much more enjoyable and easy to pick up.
Sub story icons match up
Sub story icons were added in Kurohyo and then used in Dead Souls. It made doing that completion list and getting to fight Amon much easier. Now when you start a substory the next place to go in that sub story is automatically marked on your map with a matching letter so you know the 2 are related. The more substories you have open the more icons fill up the map but it makes completing them and not losing track much quicker than before.
Environmental Damage and NPC interaction
This is a big one that almost missed my attention. Get punched/punch a person in to a crowd they will grab them and hold on until they struggle free leaving you open to attack. See a vending machine, lamp or wall; Slam a guys head in to it and keep bashing until the machine is ripped apart or there’s a hole where that wall used to be.
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I’m sure there are more changes but these 5 so far have been the most awesome. I’m happy to see innovation and with these smaller titles you can see that the Ryu Ga Gotoku team are using it to experiment with new ideas that will hopefull make it in to Yakuza 5