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I just finished Kiwami 1 a few minutes ago... After almost a month-long break. While the first game is decent on its own, it seemed worse than the second in every way. The story isn't as engaging, the characters aren't as interesting, and many moments are either drawn out or just not very well done.

I also started playing it after finishing the second game, and eventually dropped it halfway through for about six months. At first, almost nothing appealed to me - the plot was bland, the combat was old, and the music was awful. The final straw was when I equipped the Trouble Finder and saw how many side quests I had to clear on the map - and that was after just finishing the second game, which looked exactly the same and took me dozens of hours. I just got tired of it and couldn't continue, I burned out.
But after half a year, I started it again and finished it in one go. The plot still wasn't any better - a couple of decent characters somehow manage to carry it, but the overall narrative doesn't evoke any interest or emotional response. I don't know if this plot was good when it was released on the PlayStation 2, fifteen years ago, but today it feels quite cliché and doesn't compare at all to the divine direction of the second game from 2015. Nevertheless, after half a year, I missed the gameplay a little, so it was interesting to finish it just for the mechanics. I also started to appreciate the music.




Right after that, the port of the next installment suddenly arrived, and it turned out to be significantly better, like several levels up.
First, the plot is much better. It's better directed, you do more meaningful things, and some familiar characters are no longer nobodies, and you feel the continuity. Towards the end, it does start to lean a bit towards one direction, but still - it's a huge leap forward. Second, the engine has been significantly updated with changed combat and progression, excellent graphics and physics, and finally a completely seamless city - it's a pleasure to explore, fight, and even play optional mini-games. Third, there are a huge number of quality-of-life improvements. Fourth, there are unique remakes and pleasant nods to Yakuza 0 as a bonus.
It falters in two areas - there's not much good and memorable music, plus the quality of the port is terrible. The latter is evident in many ways - not the best optimization, various artifacts with graphics and physics, occasional bugs that never existed in Yakuza 0-1, and I could even fry an egg on my video card during the game. All these problems are due to Sega's simple greed, which rushed to release the ports as soon as possible, even without the simplest testing. I don't think I encountered any game-breaking bugs, and overall it's playable about ninety-five percent of the time, but these things can't be ignored.
I rated the first game an 8, so let's say this one is ~7.5/10. Although, considering the relative scale of other titles with these ratings, I could add half a point to both of them.
But would I be able to play another installment right now, with the same combat, progression, and engine, and not drop it just like I dropped Kiwami 1? That's the question.