I finally finished Yakuza 2 today. The ending was satisfying and the story is much better than the first game. I sort of screwed myself over with the final boss, since I ran out of energy drinks and started out the battle with one-eighth of my health. Thanks to the games enhanced heat mode I was able to defeat him with a drop of life left.
Eat tree!
I loved how much I was able to get from the story after knowing the twists in the first game. It felt like Yakuza 1&2 should have been combined into one game since all the characters tie in with each other. Sayama and Kazuma's relationship is also cute. Aw. She's a young, yakuza-hunting detective, while he's the legendary "Dragon of the Dojima family". They also both wear suits. Aww. While they were making out I felt a little guilty that I made Kazuma complete all of those host/hostess club side quests... Oops.
The New Game+ in Yakuza 2 so far is disappointing. I thought the stat point system would be reset, allowing me to power up those abilities I wasn't able to get the first play through. I thought the side quests would also be reset... it doesn't make sense to start an entire game over when all of the side quests are completed.
Well... onto the next game! Space Channel 5 has me groovin'.