Yakuza 2 -- Submitting to the Side Missions.

Yakuza 2 kicked off my holiday season. It's the first in a litany of titles coming in the next few months. See, the plan was to buckle down and finish Yakuza 2 in a week and then go right into Star Wars: The Force Unleashed or Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. The Force Unleashed arrived yesterday. Dragon Quest IV arrives tomorrow. And Wario Land: Shake It! and Kirby Super Star Ultra are next Monday. With LEGO Batman that Wednesday, and Sonic Chronicles and Silent Hill: Homecoming the following week. And that's just my September. Don't even get me started on October. The problem is, I'm just now into chapter seven of Yakuza 2's sixteen chapters. That's right, I'm not even halfway through the game as far as chapters are concerned. I've put in just over thirty hours into the game thus far. Yakuza 2 is a massive game. It's packed to the gills with side missions. So skip them some of you might be saying. I can't, because for the most part they're awesome. They are technically optional, but they offer up so much of the game's character, charm, and humor. Plus they're exceptional sources of money and experience. Not to mention the inclusion of the completion entry in the menus. A catalog of everything there is to see and do in the world of Yakuza just waiting there to be filled in. Yakuza 2 is demanding that I not shortchange it by the very nature of how fun the game itself is. And how rare is that? So I'm going to abide and not shortchange it. I'm going to take the time it needs to get it done in the way the game deserve. Schedule be damned.