Coliseum fights are annoying, especially the floor disappearing one.
Majima Everywhere is entertaining at first until he has 7 health bars then it's a slog.
Little to no decent Karaoke songs, Got rid of JUDGEMENT for example but added in Restart the Night, all songs can likewise be found in 2.
Mesubugs and Pocket Racer are the big side activities, no managing real estate empire and the hostess club has 2 girls.
fighting system is still basically the same.
No disco dancing
Compare to Kiwami 2
New engine, new fighting system, Coliseum fights finally decent in that there's no BS auto elimination.
RTS Majima construction side activity with famous Japanese wrestlers as the baddies.
Can manage Sunshine again with Yuki, Majima gets 3 chapters that resolves stuff on his end.
Still no more disco, but a few more/new Karaoke tracks to make up for it.
If you go from 0 to Kiwami, you will notice how much they gutted in terms of side activites and what Kiryu can do, if you go from Kiwami to 2, you also notice how much they added back in with the new engine.
Kiwami is a remake of Yakuza 1, the first game in the whole series. Yakuza 0 came out after Yakuza 5.
You can't expect the same level of content.
I do agree that Kiwami has much less content and also agree with your stated negative points about Kiwami but I think despite that it is still worth playing for the story.
Kiwami is literally a remake of Yakuza 1.
Why would you skip it?
Yakuza Kiwami may not be as great as 0 or 2 but it is still a good game with a good story.
It is worth playing through the entire series starting with 0 then Kiwami then Kiwami 2.
I am still waiting for the pc ports of Yakuza 3-6.
Glad that there is only a short wait since 3-5 come out on January 28th and 6 comes out on March 25th of 2021.
It's more comparing Kiwami to 0.
Compare to Kiwami 2
If you go from 0 to Kiwami, you will notice how much they gutted in terms of side activites and what Kiryu can do, if you go from Kiwami to 2, you also notice how much they added back in with the new engine.
Kiwami is a remake of Yakuza 1, the first game in the whole series. Yakuza 0 came out after Yakuza 5.
You can't expect the same level of content.
I do agree that Kiwami has much less content and also agree with your stated negative points about Kiwami but I think despite that it is still worth playing for the story.