Chances are that if you’ve played Yakuza 6, you’re familiar with the series’ Clan Creator system. In Yakuza Kiwami 2, this feature returns, and is centered around Majima and his rise through the Tojo Clan. If you loved the Clan Creator in Yakuza 6, then you’re in luck, because this one is more of the same, and I mean that in a good way.
How to Unlock the Yakuza Kiwami 2 Clan Creator
In Yakuza Kiwami 2, this feature opens up during the fifth chapter where Kiryu gets Majima to agree to return to Tojo Kai. After progressing through the chapter normally and finishing the scenario, players will be able to go back to the construction site to speak to Majima and launch the Clan Creator whenever they want.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 Clan Creator Guide: The Basics
The menu that appears before users when accessing the clan creator is pretty self-explanatory, though still worth pointing out. The Mission option obviously allows players the chance to start a mission and head into clan battles right away. The Organize Troops option allows users to select what employees they’d like to use for their next fight. Strengthen Employees gives players the chance to use manager rewards to upgrade their pawns or attract new ones, and Strengthen Equipment gives players the ability to use money to bolster the company’s equipment/facilities. Network connects the feature to the game’s online community, and Help displays the instructions that players may have first witnessed when initially starting Clan Creator.
In the Yakuza series, Clan Creator represents a tower defense game of sorts that challenges players to protect company facilities from being damaged by competing enterprises within specific time parameters. If the opposing faction fails to completely wipe out your resources and you are able to defeat every member of the enemy team, you win the battle. Players are able to control nine characters to help support their defenses, each with his or her own special skills and abilities. Facility locations are shown on the map, so knowing where your valuable resources are is also key to winning every battle.
Players should be aware that the Organize Troops option in the main menu should be accessed before heading into battle, as this allows users to select which employee abilities and secret techniques are most relevant to the mission at hand. These nine characters should fill out your deck nicely, fleshing out your defensive strength. Note, however, that only that only the four employees on the left side of your team can utilize their special moves, as each person is mapped to a different directional button on the PS4’s D-pad.
The Organize Troops is just as important as the Strengthen Employees and Strengthen Equipment options, especially as Clan Creator missions increase in difficulty. Both employees and equipment/facilities can be upgraded to a maximum level of 10. Manager rewards obtained from completing missions can be used to strengthen members in your deck or recruit new members to your group, whereas money gained from Clan Creator can be used to straighten equipment. Note that the latter option is commensurate to the amount of employees you have in general, so be sure to actively recruit people constantly with your manager rewards lest your facilities die out swiftly in the midst of battle. The number of employees needed is shown in the third column, next to the price.
There are other means of recruiting valuable employees to your team, of course. These include people you meet during side missions, coliseum fights, and NPCs roaming around the world itself. Users may also make job offers, though these do cost money and and the quality/quantity of employees is dependent upon how much currency they plan to spend. Players should be prepared to turn up poor candidates using these efforts, as there’s a high degree of risk involved and no guarantee that they’ll be getting their money’s worth.
In terms of player control, users are able to control employees by selecting them with the circle button and navigating a cursor to where they’d like to place a recruit. Fans will be able to select where they’d like to place their employees before the battle even begins, meaning that it would be wise to memorize enemy paths and attack patterns so as to circumvent their efforts. If an employee in your team is losing strength, players are able to raise their morale with money, though this could only be done five times per battle. The same concept applies to special techniques, as these are only activated by spending money on the selected employees.
Knowing how to move your employees around maps is important not only in the midst of battle, but also to procure valuable item drops. These include Kiwami drinks, which raise employee strength by 25%, Box of Staminan, which raises employee strength by 50%, and cash, which grants the user a 2,000 yen bonus.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 Clan Creator Guide: Character Types
There are four employee types players should know about before diving into Clan Creator.
- Balanced-type employees has his or her attack and defensive abilities balanced.
- Attack-types are especially useful in executing attacks against enemies
- Defensive-types are useful in holding defensive positions.
- Protection-types have ranged attacks and can move swiftly throughout the course of battle.
Of course, there’s a range of enemy types to be aware of, too. This includes:
- brawlers (beginner enemies with low strength)
- gunmen (can attack from ranged distances)
- bombers (throw bombs from a long distance)
- strongman (melee enemies that move slowly)
- batters (enemies who ignore employees completely and go straight to the equipment)
- rocket launchers (enemies who work similarly to batters, only shoot their rockets from long distances).
There are special enemies to be aware of, too, who serve as bosses and require multiple employees to take down. Keiji Muto, Masahiro Butohno, Choshu Power, Geniichiro Tenryu, and Tatsuji Fujinami all possess attacks that can inflict status effects such as numbness and burning. When any of these men produce an aura around them, the player should move every employee out of the way fast.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 Clan Creator Guide: Network Mode
Yakuza Kiwami 2‘s Clan Creator Network Mode works similarly to ranked and recreational matches found in popular Japanese fighting games. Limited Missions are particularly challenging special battles that are only available during certain time periods, and a Ranking Display tallies the top ten players for any online mission. It’s important to keep in mind all the tactics mentioned above when facing off against real-life opponents – especially since the game has been out for a while in Japan already.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 Clan Creator Guide: Scores and Bonuses
As with most games in the series, players are scored on their performance at the end of their missions. A bonus is rewarded just for clearing a stage. Defense bonuses, however, are a bit harder to achieve, as these consider such factors as the amount of equipment remaining, how quickly enemies were defeated, how much cash was saved, and how often players used the “Kiwami Good Luck” special technique. Satisfying these parameters yields S ratings that effect the cumulative amount of cash procured from battle and the overall grade for the mission. The aforementioned manager points are also awarded at this time and vary depending on defense points and how many employees managed to survive the mission.
