OL wrote: ^^Funny, just today I can across one, got a prompt to activate it, and all it said was "(fire extinguisher)."
Figured it was something that would come into play later on, but it's good to know I should remember them.
Indeed; they are paramount for getting a Platinum and some good bonuses.
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
The Cat Café is nothing at this stage of the game; start finding cats on the street and THEN the café will have a purpose.
I beat Kiwami 2 Wednesday afternoon and man, I still don't see how people love the game's plot so much; for those that can't stand Haruka's part in 5, I don't know how ANYONE can stand the blubbering, wailing mess of Kaoru, at the end of 2 (especially for a, "tough woman," who, "fights and brings down Yakuza)."
Objectively, it just isn't written as well as other titles...
Anyways, I'm beating my dead horse.
The game is just as solid and polished as 6 and just as fun from a gameplay standpoint; the new engine is just fantastic and it is, IMO, the best evolution to the series thus far, even better than the jump from PS2 to PS3. Adding Virtual On as a minigame was a great addition and replaying VF2 is always welcome as well, seeing as its probably the best in the series (I feel it is, anyways).
For those complaining about the cuts in 6 making it a shorter game, well Kiwami 2 is just as short, despite it being 4 MORE chapters than 6 and even heavier from a cutscene standpoint, IIRC. I beat it in 69 hours, only falling short of 10 completion items (literally only Mahjong {as I don't have the time to sit there} and Haruka's wishes, as I couldn't get any of them to work) and missing out on the trophies for maximising Heat Actions (I was only missing one; Haruka's that she gives to you), total upgrades, completion list and the Legendary trophy; all would've probably taken me an extra 2 hours or so.
I platinumed 6 in 66+ hours (or was it 65+? Can't remember) so at only 2-5 hours more, one can see that it is far from being a, "much larger game," than a game that was supposedly heavily cut and rushed. Majima's story took me just over an hour too (and almost half of that was cutscenes), so that isn't a grand addition either.
Soundtrack is worse than the original, I find (which wasn't that great anyways, outside of CKB, "As a Man, As a Brother," and a few in-game tracks), but the graphics are just clean and polished as they were on 6, so that's far from a bad thing. CKB does not return indeed, at any point of the game, but Autotune masters SiM provide the two ending songs; while not brilliant, for my tastes, they aren't bad and musically, both tracks are awesome (lyrically and vocally, they aren't as stellar).
All in all, I place it behind Kurohyo 2 and ahead of Kiwami, on my personal choice for BEST games in the series (as for favourites, it slides right down to 3rd last, ahead of it's predecessor and 4).
5>3>0>6>Ishin!>Kurohyo 2: Ashura Hen>Kiwami 2>Kiwami>Kenzan!>2>4>1>Kurohyo: Shinso>Dead Souls
Just started Hokuto ga Gotoku and it is a ton of fun, thus far. First few chapters are VERY short and flesh out the story more: now in Chapter 3, I'm able to explore and do the usual Yakuza/Ryu ga Gotoku things.