Yakuza Kiwami 2: Tips & Tricks For Beginners

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a huge game, even by the standards of the Yakuza series. It’s okay to feel a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. As such, we’ll help give you a few tips and tricks to get you started. Here are tips and tricks that beginners playing Yakuza Kiwami 2 should know about.

Tips & Tricks For Beginners in Yakuza Kiwami 2

Purchase the Substory Finder and Do Substories

Substories make up a huge portion of every Yakuza game, and more often than not they have hilarious or touching stories to tell. Not only do you get a fun little story to see, but you also get experience and often a reward for completing a substory, so you should absolutely try to do as many as you can find.

There are 72 substories in Yakuza Kiwami 2 that’ll be unlocked as you progress through the game. There’s a very easy way of finding substories too, as you can unlock the “Substory Finder” ability under the Life Skills section of the stats menu. It’s super cheap so it should be the very first ability you unlock, and it’ll display any available substories with a white speech bubble on your map.

Tips & Tricks For Beginners in Yakuza Kiwami 2

Improve Your Base Stats

There are a boatload of different skills and abilities to purchase in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and it can be tempting to unlock new combat skills or flashy heat actions. However, it’s vitally important that you also remember to increase you base stats. The very first page on your Stats menu lets you invest experience points to Kiryu’s basic skills improving his health, attack, defense, and heat gauge.

Neglecting to level up these stats can leave you at a serious disadvantage against strong enemies. We’d recommend pumping up Kiryu’s attack and heat gauge first so you can do more damage against enemies, as you can pump yourself full of healing items to keep Kiryu’s health up.

Just make sure to pump a few points into these stats every now and then, and don’t forget to raise Kiryu’s limit when you’ve reached a stat limit, the option right below the stat.

Tips & Tricks For Beginners in Yakuza Kiwami 2

Invest Time in the Cabaret Club and Clan Creator Minigames

There’s so much to do in Yakuza Kiwami 2 that it’s almost overwhelming, and there are a ton of minigames for you to tackle. The biggest and most worthwhile minigames, however, are the Cabaret Club and Clan Creator. You’ll unlock access to these minigames early on in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and there’s a hefty amount of story attached to them as well. There are some really hilarious moments and great character, especially in the Cabaret Club, but outside of just being plain fun, there are benefits to playing both games as well.

The Clan Creator can reward you with a good amount of experience as you play through it, and the Cabaret Club is easily the best way to make money in the game. Just investing a couple hours into the minigame and getting fans, you’ll easily be able to start making 200,000 plus yen every single time you play the minigame. This can help you circumnavigate the need for money and keep a constant supply of weapons and healing items in your inventory, and you’ll also need a hefty sum of cash for certain substories.

There’s no reason not to dive headfirst into these two minigames, so don’t worry about pushing the main story to the side for a while.

Tips & Tricks For Beginners in Yakuza Kiwami 2

Don’t Forget Equipment and Weapons

While Kiryu’s is plenty capable just with his fists, there are far more options available to you during combat. There’s a ton of different weapons in the game, and now you once again have the option of storing said weapons and using them later. Kiryu can hold a number of different weapons at any given time, and you can buy weapons from the Ebisu Pawn Shop, or other stores scattered around. Alternatively, you can pick up weapons during combat and press down on the D-pad to store them for later.

This is a good way to ensure Kiryu always has a weapon on him, a good idea since weapons generally cause more damage than regular strikes, and have powerful heat actions to boot.

By the same token, it’s also important to keep Kiryu well equipped. When you go to the weapons option on your main menu, you can tab over and see equipment. You can put any three pieces of equipment on Kiryu at any given time, and this can be a great way to bump up your defense especially. Once again you can buy equipment in stores, find it in coin lockers, or get it as rewards. If you’re focusing on boosting Kiryu’s attack and heat in stats, putting on some top-notch equipment will help compensate for defense until you get to the stat.

Tips & Tricks For Beginners in Yakuza Kiwami 2

Find Kamiyama Works

While weapons are powerful tools for you to use, they are limited as each one has a number of uses before it breaks. Luckily, there’s a way to repair any weapon you just don’t want to get rid of. You can see more exact details here, but basically, you’ll want to find the shop Kamiyama Works, a reoccurring place in the series.

Early on in the game after the first few chapters, a substory called “A Pervy Peddler” will appear in Tenkaichi Alley. Head there and complete it and you’ll unlock Kamiyama Works, which will let you repair any weapon you want. It’ll cost you a pretty penny of course, especially for higher quality weapons, but being able to repair things can be vital to your combat strategy in Yakuza Kiwami 2.