Basic Combat

Learn the ins and outs of Yakuza Kiwami's combat system. Understand the HUD, encounter types, and basic moveset to dominate your enemies.

While the multiple styles in this game will seem overwhelming at first, there are certain aspects to combat that are universal.

Combat Display -

This section covers the meters and things you should be monitoring as you battle:

By far the most prominent part of the display is the Style marker. In the upper left corner will be a good-sized icon explaining the current style you have active.

Just to the right of that is the Health Bar. At the top of your screen is a big orange bar. That's your health, and when it's depleted, it's game over. Your health will flash red as it gets really low. You can restore health using food and energy drinks, and you increase maximum health by purchasing upgrades in the Abilities menu. Each style has multiple health upgrades to apply, and each upgrade works for all styles.

Above the Health Bar is the green Experience Meter. As you gain experience it will fill. Once you gain 1000 XP, the meter will reset and the number next to it will increment. These numbers are basically units that you can apply to Upgrading.

Below the Health Bar is the Heat Gauge, represented by a long blue bar and then several smaller bars.

• As you hit other people, this gauge will increase, and when you fill the first large bar, Kiryu will glow and you'll be in "Heat Mode". You'll gain a slight buff in damage and attack speed. You can also spend your Heat to use Heat Actions.
• In the beginning of the game, you have multiple Heat bars, and after you fill the first blue ones, you will then start filling red "Climax Heat" bars, which gives you a further buff and gives you even more Heat Action options.
• Your Heat will decrease as you take damage, are grabbed by enemies, are knocked down, or simply with time spent not punching.
• Once Chapter 2 starts, your Heat will be reduced to a single extra bar, but through upgrading, you can increase the number of small bars, both in terms of regular Heat and Climax Heat.
• Dragon Style changes the Heat Gauge, in that it is entirely Climax Heat.
• You may want to pay attention to which bar you're filling, as certain abilities can only be exploited at a certain level of Heat. Some abilities require you to be on the blue bars to take advantage of them.

Other things to look out for are your minimap in the lower-left. It will point out enemies in the area relative to you as red arrows. In the lower right are enemy health bars. It's tough to tell who's bar is whose, but when they empty, the enemy is knocked out. Bars that are differently colored mean the enemy has higher health. The lowest colored bar is orange, then yellow, green, light blue, purple, and if anyone's a color other than that, you're dealing with a serious foe.

Encounters -

There are essentially two types of encounters in this game: Scripted and Random. Scripted encounters occur as a result of something you've initiated as part of a story, whether it's the main story, a substory, training, or a minigame.

Random encounters are those that are placed around the city. These encounters are further subdivided into three types:

• Aggressors - These are guys that see you on the street, walking around in groups. You can hear them as they gruffly call out to you and above their heads will be a pink-colored word balloon you can use to identify them. Once they notice you, they'll rush towards you to initiate combat. If you walk, they will typically not approach you unless you're too close. Also if you dash around behind them, they will usually not see you until you're at a point where you can get away from them.
• Interventions - As you explore, look at the bottom of your screen for subtitled text. If it seems like a person in distress, search for the source of trouble. Usually there will be a cowering person surrounded by a few tough guys. Speak to them and initiate the fight. When you win, the victim will give you a reward, usually in the form of an energy drink or a plate you can sell.
• Bumpers - These are guys who are minding their own business and are quite docile unless bumped into by a rude Kiryu. Once bumped, they will start chasing after you as if they were aggressors. It's not always easy to tell who can be bumped into to start a fight, but typically they'll be looking rather thuggish.

Once the encounter begins, bystanders will rush up to your fight and surround you, effectively making a fighting arena, and you're locked in. The only way it ends is with the enemy's defeat, or your defeat. You'll get a cool splash screen describing your foes, and then you'll be thrown into the melee. Defeat them to the best of your ability. If defeated yourself, you'll have the option to retry or load from a previous save.

Once you win the fight, your foes will apologize and you'll be back to just walking around. If they were an Intervention fight, the victim will give you a reward. In the case of all other fights, you have a chance to get some yen, but not always.

The Basic Moveset -

For the most part, all styles have the same basic moveset. It's usually once you factor in their special techniques that they differ:

• Rush Combo - Press Light Attack multiple times. How many times you can press Light Attack depends on the style. These are fast and weak attacks. Very useful as openers to combos or quick jabs against enemies that are tougher.
• Heavy Attack - Press the Heavy Attack button. This is a single blow that's useful for causing slightly more damage than a Rush Combo. You can also use this against enemies that are prone on the ground to strike them.
• Finishing Blow - Press Heavy Attack after a Rush Combo. This will change depending on when in the Rush Combo you use it. For example, Light-Heavy is different from Light-Light-Light-Heavy. This typically causes really good damage and usually results in a knockdown on a stronger style.
• Heat Action - As you fight, your Heat Gauge will fill up. When it passes the first marker, you can press Heavy Attack to perform a Heat Actio