OL wrote: ^^Overdramatic and unrealistic (and oftentimes cringeworthy) is the name of the game in most Japanese storytelling. Not sure why you're only pointing it out in Yakuza 2; the series is absolutely filled to the brim with that kind of stuff (the worst offender being Yakuza 5, during the Haruka sections; cringiest trash in the entire series).
I personally like Yakuza 2 because, at its core, it feels the closest to being something that could legitimately appear in a yakuza movie, while pretty much all the others (barring Zero) tend to be much more videogame-y and overly-bombastic.
Anyway, I just got my copy of Yakuza 6 in the mail. And while I really don't give much of a shite about extras anymore (they're nice now and then, but I don't see myself investing much in LE's ever again), whose stupid fucking idea was it to release Y6 in the form of a hardcover book full of fanart, of all things?
I could understand if it was all legitimate concept art from the game's production (or from the rest of the series as a "legacy" kind of thing, being that 6 is Kiryu's last game), but this fanart is all really, really bad. I'm shocked that some of it even made it in, as the artists clearly have no concept of how to draw anatomy.
Seriously, just......what the fuck?
If anything, having all this junk packaged in with the actual game makes the release feel weirdly... less-attractive.
If this is the kind of crap they consider a "bonus," I'd really have preferred just a regular ol' clamshell case with nothing extra at all.
Yeah, didn't get the fanart version myself, but I probably should've gotten After Hours and then sold the game.
lol I still don't find Haruka's parts cringeworthty, but you don't find 2 cringeworthy, so I guess its just a matter of taste!
But I absolutely get where you're coming from; your remark about 2 being most like a Yakuza maovie, that part goes to 1: 1 I think it the most hardened and well-executed, "crime drama," from the entire series.
3, sans the orphanage, would be second best, IMO, as that has government and conspiracy involvement.
Everything else, falls squarely into series-centric storylines, as you mentioned (0 included, IMO).
But yeah, glad you guys are having a good time thus far with 6; I actually bought that same Xperia, when I upgraded my phone, last November, because of this game lol