such a bizarre main narrative this time around. opens with nary a hint of subtlety as per usual but, on the contrary, suggests its writers have direct experience with the subject matter in a way that hasn't exactly been the case for any RGG title prior to this. despite proudly displaying this burgeoning inkling of something rather unique, it shows every card in its deck by the time the second half rolls around and we're made to watch the narrative spin its wheels fruitlessly time and time again. pair that with a modicum more self-awareness than usual and you've got a somewhat frustrating and cumbersome package - the hyperreality of these games is often ill-suited to meaningfully address any issues plaguing modern society because you know the way you'll end up mechanically addressing this is by putting some middle aged guy who represents an extreme solution to the core problem in an armbar. which is still fine, don't get me wrong, but opening the final boss by spelling out 'well, maybe he's got a point here...' feels very much like they don't trust me to reach my own conclusions. obviously it's all endowed with the usual charisma and strength of direction but it's an amateurish legal drama and very likely a weak detective narrative depending on your perspective.
thankfully, lost judgments buoyed by the strongest combat in the dragon engine yet and by its compelling extension to the originals approach to side content. much of the original judgment's side content revolved around currying favour with your community and in building up your reputation bit by bit as you work to dispatch the keihin gang, arms-dealing nuisances who functioned as massive thorns in your side. lost judgment sets much of its side content within the walls of seiryo high school, wherein yagami serves as an advisor to the mystery research club and is made to infiltrate various other clubs and societies at the school in order to investigate a school-wide conspiracy. this facet of lost judgment is often really good! extrapolating a lot from the tenets of substories in previous games is greatly enriched by this adolescent context, which seems to serve as an excellent opportunity for the series' characteristic optimism and humanism to surface while still retaining a lot of the same devil-on-your-shoulder humor. the high school setting obviously never strays too far from the JRPG subconscious, but it's nice to participate in these activities as an adult where the goal is not to lead a kind of fulfilling life but instead to help these kids grow and to tell them to take it easy sometimes cause life ain't easy. a lot of it ends up being touching in ways i didn't expect, and chronicling the journeys of all these respective students and clubs culminates in yet another effective substory finale, something i wish these games would do more rather than throw amon at me and call it a day. some infelicities with some of these minigames - it's both extremely funny and entirely predictable that you're expected to remember more about stray cats than you are about any of the hostesses from girl's bite - but for the most part lost judgment shines in this department.
reminded me a lot of Y5. that's a good thing! appreciated that RGG studio seems to slowly be going back to the Y1/Y2 model of being rewarded for exploration with the judgment subseries; there's still work to be done in this respect but anything beats the borderline mobile game side content structure of, say, Y:LAD. that said im told they hid a fourth battle style behind dlc and that's unforgivable. loved skating through ijincho and kamurocho, weaving through crowds to keep up momentum. similarly enjoyed putting the fear of god into high schoolers.
thankfully, lost judgments buoyed by the strongest combat in the dragon engine yet and by its compelling extension to the originals approach to side content. much of the original judgment's side content revolved around currying favour with your community and in building up your reputation bit by bit as you work to dispatch the keihin gang, arms-dealing nuisances who functioned as massive thorns in your side. lost judgment sets much of its side content within the walls of seiryo high school, wherein yagami serves as an advisor to the mystery research club and is made to infiltrate various other clubs and societies at the school in order to investigate a school-wide conspiracy. this facet of lost judgment is often really good! extrapolating a lot from the tenets of substories in previous games is greatly enriched by this adolescent context, which seems to serve as an excellent opportunity for the series' characteristic optimism and humanism to surface while still retaining a lot of the same devil-on-your-shoulder humor. the high school setting obviously never strays too far from the JRPG subconscious, but it's nice to participate in these activities as an adult where the goal is not to lead a kind of fulfilling life but instead to help these kids grow and to tell them to take it easy sometimes cause life ain't easy. a lot of it ends up being touching in ways i didn't expect, and chronicling the journeys of all these respective students and clubs culminates in yet another effective substory finale, something i wish these games would do more rather than throw amon at me and call it a day. some infelicities with some of these minigames - it's both extremely funny and entirely predictable that you're expected to remember more about stray cats than you are about any of the hostesses from girl's bite - but for the most part lost judgment shines in this department.
reminded me a lot of Y5. that's a good thing! appreciated that RGG studio seems to slowly be going back to the Y1/Y2 model of being rewarded for exploration with the judgment subseries; there's still work to be done in this respect but anything beats the borderline mobile game side content structure of, say, Y:LAD. that said im told they hid a fourth battle style behind dlc and that's unforgivable. loved skating through ijincho and kamurocho, weaving through crowds to keep up momentum. similarly enjoyed putting the fear of god into high schoolers.
Popular perception of sequels suggests they’re usually worse than the original. This arguably rings truer for films than other media, but I have frequently felt mystified when playing game sequels I’d often heard described as better than their predecessor, usually finding that other cornerstones of the experience are neglected or lost in pursuit of mechanical refinement. This is common enough for me that it’s part of why, despite loving the first, I deliberately avoided playing Lost Judgment for over a year. I’ve rarely been so glad to have my misgivings dispelled.
Judgment’s walljumping, leapfrogging and cancelling moves via EX Boost were exactly the sort of expressive tools that RGG Studio’s combat always needed, but Lost Judgment takes several further steps to result in what’s by far their most cohesive system. Buffing Yagami’s attack speed, damage or knockdown resistance through dodges, charged attacks and parries respectively makes styles far more functionally distinct than the first game’s conceptually sound but imbalanced attempt at separating them into fighting individuals and crowds. Get two or more of these active at once and you can do some pretty fun stuff, EX-actions feeling more congruous now that Yagami’s able to do cool things without them. There’s less to it than it looks, but juggling being easier and more consistent pull off than in Judgment allows for more creativity on the player’s part and encourages better knowledge of Yagami’s moves, while also retaining just enough of a barrier that it feels more proportional to its reward than at least two other Dragon Engine titles’ combat. What accentuates this is that enemies are similarly fleshed out, between heavy ones that can throw each other at you and new status effects to watch out for among those with weapons, while bosses are (generally) no longer Frankensteined out of old assets and feel all the more distinctive for it. There’s enough to chew on that I recall feeling like there was a party going on between my hands at this part early on in my first playthrough.
Most full-on action games are still better alternatives to Lost Judgment if combat specifically is what you’re after, but that’s fine, because it’s stuffed to the gills with other things to do. It deserves as much credit for how much more enjoyable it’s made traversing the hub cities this time around, especially Ijincho. With the simple addition of a skateboard, what was once a mire of either absent-mindedly holding forward for prolonged periods or taxi-induced cuts to black becomes a giant playground of endless obstacles to jump over and grind along. Climbing hasn’t much more going on than something like Uncharted’s, but the grip meter at least adds a degree of tension to it, enough so that there are timed challenges in the (very handy) Gauntlet menu. Side cases retain the thematic harmony with the main plot that they enjoyed in the first game, though I did very few on my first run since I was so gripped by wanting to see what happened next.
What the plot comparatively lacks in personal stakes for Yagami, it makes up for in being thought provoking. The issues at its core are treated with a healthy dose of nuance to the extent that even Yagami’s friends will occasionally comment on sharing Kuwana’s perspective; the Mole was, and is, great in his own way, but they made the right call not trying to one up him and instead opting for an antagonist who’s not so clear cut, handling the (usually tired) angle of grey morality with grace. There’s an apparent step up on various levels of its presentation too. Few bosses have had quite so mythical a backdrop as that of Tesso’s first encounter, with its neon-lit rain and eerie throat singing, while the modellers and artists have gotten noticeably better at making characters created from scratch look believable. I was genuinely surprised to learn that Akutsu isn’t facescanned, for instance, a marked contrast from the days of Yakuza protagonists looking uncanny when onscreen alongside obviously real people.
I’ve only just now mentioned Yakuza by name because, increasingly, I feel that Judgment shouldn’t be lumped in with it as though the two are synonymous. I mentioned part of why I avoided playing Lost Judgment for so long at the start; the other part was Yakuza, or more specifically its approach to sequels. They’d conditioned me to expect that Lost Judgment would either diminish or totally axe some of the original’s good ideas for seemingly no reason other than difference for difference’s sake, something likely brought on by a release schedule that occasionally feels akin to an assembly line. It not only does nothing of the kind, it’s marinated in a palpable albeit not completely successful effort at improvement from top to bottom. In any case, the first Judgment did better than most of its sister series in considerably less time despite technically being a new IP, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest one has an appeal which the other lacks.
For me, that appeal lies in the relative clarity of what this now-duology wants to be and do. As aforementioned, Lost Judgment isn’t an entirely rosy sequel; among other things, Hoshino’s dragged through the mud to such a cartoonish extent I can only assume one of the writers (understandably) wanted Saori for himself, detective segments are barebones as ever and perhaps the only part of Kaito’s DLC that isn’t underwhelming is its price tag. These are only slight blemishes, though, on what’s otherwise a game which has dug in its heels and demonstrated unwavering belief in its identity as an (arguably for the first time) unambiguously solid beat ‘em up with plenty to say and plenty else to do that all ties into it. I’m simultaneously interested in a potential third Judgment and so satisfied with the two we now have that I don’t think it’s really needed. It’s almost enough to make a man forget about Sawa-sensei for a split second.
Judgment’s walljumping, leapfrogging and cancelling moves via EX Boost were exactly the sort of expressive tools that RGG Studio’s combat always needed, but Lost Judgment takes several further steps to result in what’s by far their most cohesive system. Buffing Yagami’s attack speed, damage or knockdown resistance through dodges, charged attacks and parries respectively makes styles far more functionally distinct than the first game’s conceptually sound but imbalanced attempt at separating them into fighting individuals and crowds. Get two or more of these active at once and you can do some pretty fun stuff, EX-actions feeling more congruous now that Yagami’s able to do cool things without them. There’s less to it than it looks, but juggling being easier and more consistent pull off than in Judgment allows for more creativity on the player’s part and encourages better knowledge of Yagami’s moves, while also retaining just enough of a barrier that it feels more proportional to its reward than at least two other Dragon Engine titles’ combat. What accentuates this is that enemies are similarly fleshed out, between heavy ones that can throw each other at you and new status effects to watch out for among those with weapons, while bosses are (generally) no longer Frankensteined out of old assets and feel all the more distinctive for it. There’s enough to chew on that I recall feeling like there was a party going on between my hands at this part early on in my first playthrough.
Most full-on action games are still better alternatives to Lost Judgment if combat specifically is what you’re after, but that’s fine, because it’s stuffed to the gills with other things to do. It deserves as much credit for how much more enjoyable it’s made traversing the hub cities this time around, especially Ijincho. With the simple addition of a skateboard, what was once a mire of either absent-mindedly holding forward for prolonged periods or taxi-induced cuts to black becomes a giant playground of endless obstacles to jump over and grind along. Climbing hasn’t much more going on than something like Uncharted’s, but the grip meter at least adds a degree of tension to it, enough so that there are timed challenges in the (very handy) Gauntlet menu. Side cases retain the thematic harmony with the main plot that they enjoyed in the first game, though I did very few on my first run since I was so gripped by wanting to see what happened next.
What the plot comparatively lacks in personal stakes for Yagami, it makes up for in being thought provoking. The issues at its core are treated with a healthy dose of nuance to the extent that even Yagami’s friends will occasionally comment on sharing Kuwana’s perspective; the Mole was, and is, great in his own way, but they made the right call not trying to one up him and instead opting for an antagonist who’s not so clear cut, handling the (usually tired) angle of grey morality with grace. There’s an apparent step up on various levels of its presentation too. Few bosses have had quite so mythical a backdrop as that of Tesso’s first encounter, with its neon-lit rain and eerie throat singing, while the modellers and artists have gotten noticeably better at making characters created from scratch look believable. I was genuinely surprised to learn that Akutsu isn’t facescanned, for instance, a marked contrast from the days of Yakuza protagonists looking uncanny when onscreen alongside obviously real people.
I’ve only just now mentioned Yakuza by name because, increasingly, I feel that Judgment shouldn’t be lumped in with it as though the two are synonymous. I mentioned part of why I avoided playing Lost Judgment for so long at the start; the other part was Yakuza, or more specifically its approach to sequels. They’d conditioned me to expect that Lost Judgment would either diminish or totally axe some of the original’s good ideas for seemingly no reason other than difference for difference’s sake, something likely brought on by a release schedule that occasionally feels akin to an assembly line. It not only does nothing of the kind, it’s marinated in a palpable albeit not completely successful effort at improvement from top to bottom. In any case, the first Judgment did better than most of its sister series in considerably less time despite technically being a new IP, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest one has an appeal which the other lacks.
For me, that appeal lies in the relative clarity of what this now-duology wants to be and do. As aforementioned, Lost Judgment isn’t an entirely rosy sequel; among other things, Hoshino’s dragged through the mud to such a cartoonish extent I can only assume one of the writers (understandably) wanted Saori for himself, detective segments are barebones as ever and perhaps the only part of Kaito’s DLC that isn’t underwhelming is its price tag. These are only slight blemishes, though, on what’s otherwise a game which has dug in its heels and demonstrated unwavering belief in its identity as an (arguably for the first time) unambiguously solid beat ‘em up with plenty to say and plenty else to do that all ties into it. I’m simultaneously interested in a potential third Judgment and so satisfied with the two we now have that I don’t think it’s really needed. It’s almost enough to make a man forget about Sawa-sensei for a split second.
An improvement on the first in almost every way imaginable. Hopefully a third one is still on the table
I've been thinking a lot about whether a corporate product can tell a meaningful story about society. With the release of Star Wars Andor and Kamen Rider Black Sun, I've seen some extraordinarily leftist media that are nonetheless being made by a corporate body. I've got about eight pages of notes detailing my conflicted feelings on a Persona 5 review written in my docs. And then you get where the Yakuza/Lost Judgment series has been going for the past few years. The series often has often tried to take on a general route of acceptance. The treatment of homeless civilians and struggling immigrants is a recurring theme throughout the series. Yakuza 7 took a big risk by directly taking on right-wing movements and how they weaponize bigotry against the oppressed. At the same time, there's a weird tension between that game's support of sex workers and its limited understanding of the topic. The games are also known for their weirdly hostile tone towards non-Japanese gangsters. Its got peaks and valleys. Even compared to those previous risks, Lost Judgment is perhaps the most direct and blatant in its messaging in the franchise thus far.
I'll get back to that later. This game's premise takes the franchise to high school, a location I'd barely believe existed in the universe before now. And by placing its story within a school environment, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio can embark onto storytelling beats they've never attempted before.
This shift is most notable in the School Stories. While sidequests are a natural feature of RGG games, the ones centered on school have a certain freshness to them I struggle to describe. Its the same gimmick that makes Spy X Family work. Everything already feels like life or death when you're a kid. Putting those school situations into the context of the Yakuza universe instantly blends together to a perfect mix. Losing a robot competition, taking photos for the newspaper club, managing group tension among dancing schoolgirls... by amping up the stakes of these little events, it really helps capture that ridiculous period of a person's life.
At the same time, playing through those events through the eyes of Yagami also makes you feel like a real mentor to these kids. So much of anime or jrpgs are riddled with high school environments, but approaching those stories through an adult viewpoint character keeps this switch to high school fresh. You aren't a dumb teen caught up in antics, you're a school counselor helping out kids in need. When nearly every substory has that context of helping a kid through such a weird period of life, it adds a certain kind of heartfelt magic. It just works!
And it certainly helps that the gameplay just feels amazing. I alternated between playing this and Yakuza 2 Kiwami for a while and there will times I just had to start modding Y2 so I could play that in Crane Style. The flow of battle feels electric, although Yagami's defense and harsh limit on health items does put a damper on that normal RGG feeling of strength. The feeling isn't that diminished though. Do a back-flip and kill five dudes. Stellar work.
But back to the plot itself. The name of the game is bullying and the game won't let you forget it. Statistics of student suicides are listed out. The methods in which witnesses and even teachers are pressured by institutions to ignore bullying are displayed in elaborate detail. The failure of the justice system in these incidents are hammered home over and over. Its honestly stunning.
What helps flesh out the story even beyond the school setting is how the game ties bullying into the lives of adults. Grown-up "bullies" are rampant, with adult institutions protecting those bullies for their own ends. While the series has often ignored how the Yakuza have aided right-wing governments, its a centerpiece behind a lot of competing factions here.
By the game's end though, the game does dangerously approach a both sides angle. One faction is specifically interesting in killing bullies to send a message to bullies across the world. And they make a compelling argument. The bullies are so overconfident, so happy to reap benefits from the system, they're clearly going to keep running through life scot-free. The game's central argument against murdering bullies doesn't really do something straight-forward as "killing is bad" or "people can change" or what have you. Its main argument is instead "someone innocent could get killed in the crossfire." And that, I would actually say, is a hell of a strong argument. Its just that the way the plot weaves around to that point doesn't necessarily do that argument justice. The innocent party is only tangentially related to mastermind's scheme and their death doesn't come from a mistake by the mastermind, but because a different bully decided to kill the innocent while hunting down the mastermind. Its not not the mastermind's fault, but it felt like RGG's tangled web/conspiracy-style writing board kind of fell flat in this instance. Its a particularly weird plot point when Yagami's insistence on harassing witnesses, despite knowing his very presence puts them in danger, goes uncommented on as potentially just as culpable in the deaths of innocents.
Even so... the strength of the writing can't be denied. Its possible this sort of plotline was just destined to hit home for me. I experienced some severe bullying as an elementary school student and I've spent the last few weeks completing my observation hours as a student teacher. I observe students for 65 hours this semester, before I upgrade to the next level and actually act as an occasional teacher for 14 weeks. I've been the helpless kid and now I've been the awkward instructor. Even after I've had a hands-on experience running a classroom, I don't know what to tell you I would do in numerous of the situations this game. Would I be able to enforce a classroom and discourage this level of abuse? Would I be able to notice the signs? And if I failed and a student was hurt, what would be the right course of action after that? Is it ever possible to atone for that level of mistake? Especially knowing how the system would protect someone from that harm in the end?
Its hard to say. Lost Judgment is willing to at least try to approach those questions, even if it doesn't have all the answers. Its bold. Its refreshing. Its a good fucking video game. Maybe one of the best stories RGG has ever accomplished. It doesn't provide set answers, but its a sincere demand for something to be done. And that's just such a warm sentiment to sit in for sixty hours.
I'll get back to that later. This game's premise takes the franchise to high school, a location I'd barely believe existed in the universe before now. And by placing its story within a school environment, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio can embark onto storytelling beats they've never attempted before.
This shift is most notable in the School Stories. While sidequests are a natural feature of RGG games, the ones centered on school have a certain freshness to them I struggle to describe. Its the same gimmick that makes Spy X Family work. Everything already feels like life or death when you're a kid. Putting those school situations into the context of the Yakuza universe instantly blends together to a perfect mix. Losing a robot competition, taking photos for the newspaper club, managing group tension among dancing schoolgirls... by amping up the stakes of these little events, it really helps capture that ridiculous period of a person's life.
At the same time, playing through those events through the eyes of Yagami also makes you feel like a real mentor to these kids. So much of anime or jrpgs are riddled with high school environments, but approaching those stories through an adult viewpoint character keeps this switch to high school fresh. You aren't a dumb teen caught up in antics, you're a school counselor helping out kids in need. When nearly every substory has that context of helping a kid through such a weird period of life, it adds a certain kind of heartfelt magic. It just works!
And it certainly helps that the gameplay just feels amazing. I alternated between playing this and Yakuza 2 Kiwami for a while and there will times I just had to start modding Y2 so I could play that in Crane Style. The flow of battle feels electric, although Yagami's defense and harsh limit on health items does put a damper on that normal RGG feeling of strength. The feeling isn't that diminished though. Do a back-flip and kill five dudes. Stellar work.
But back to the plot itself. The name of the game is bullying and the game won't let you forget it. Statistics of student suicides are listed out. The methods in which witnesses and even teachers are pressured by institutions to ignore bullying are displayed in elaborate detail. The failure of the justice system in these incidents are hammered home over and over. Its honestly stunning.
What helps flesh out the story even beyond the school setting is how the game ties bullying into the lives of adults. Grown-up "bullies" are rampant, with adult institutions protecting those bullies for their own ends. While the series has often ignored how the Yakuza have aided right-wing governments, its a centerpiece behind a lot of competing factions here.
By the game's end though, the game does dangerously approach a both sides angle. One faction is specifically interesting in killing bullies to send a message to bullies across the world. And they make a compelling argument. The bullies are so overconfident, so happy to reap benefits from the system, they're clearly going to keep running through life scot-free. The game's central argument against murdering bullies doesn't really do something straight-forward as "killing is bad" or "people can change" or what have you. Its main argument is instead "someone innocent could get killed in the crossfire." And that, I would actually say, is a hell of a strong argument. Its just that the way the plot weaves around to that point doesn't necessarily do that argument justice. The innocent party is only tangentially related to mastermind's scheme and their death doesn't come from a mistake by the mastermind, but because a different bully decided to kill the innocent while hunting down the mastermind. Its not not the mastermind's fault, but it felt like RGG's tangled web/conspiracy-style writing board kind of fell flat in this instance. Its a particularly weird plot point when Yagami's insistence on harassing witnesses, despite knowing his very presence puts them in danger, goes uncommented on as potentially just as culpable in the deaths of innocents.
Even so... the strength of the writing can't be denied. Its possible this sort of plotline was just destined to hit home for me. I experienced some severe bullying as an elementary school student and I've spent the last few weeks completing my observation hours as a student teacher. I observe students for 65 hours this semester, before I upgrade to the next level and actually act as an occasional teacher for 14 weeks. I've been the helpless kid and now I've been the awkward instructor. Even after I've had a hands-on experience running a classroom, I don't know what to tell you I would do in numerous of the situations this game. Would I be able to enforce a classroom and discourage this level of abuse? Would I be able to notice the signs? And if I failed and a student was hurt, what would be the right course of action after that? Is it ever possible to atone for that level of mistake? Especially knowing how the system would protect someone from that harm in the end?
Its hard to say. Lost Judgment is willing to at least try to approach those questions, even if it doesn't have all the answers. Its bold. Its refreshing. Its a good fucking video game. Maybe one of the best stories RGG has ever accomplished. It doesn't provide set answers, but its a sincere demand for something to be done. And that's just such a warm sentiment to sit in for sixty hours.
UNWAVERING BELIEF .
This is it, this is peak RGG Studios and serves as a bittersweet swan-song for Nagoshi before leaving SEGA, who could've imagined his last game with the company would also be his best? This game took everything that made the first Judgment amazing and improved upon it in almost every way possible. This is peak fiction and easily one of my new all time favorite games. Also easily GOTY for me.
Lost Judgment is one of the best detective mystery, courtroom dramas I've ever seen in all of fiction. The way the main plot starts out with what seems to be a cut and dry case of sexual battery and just slowly builds into some crazy grand conspiracy as more details are gradually revealed is excellently written and cohesive. Also the central theming around bullying and its consequences is both relatable and realistic, it hits hard and is emotional as hell and the way the game tackles corruption in the justice system is also just as realistic and relatable as the bullying themes. Lost Judgment is a shining example of moral greyness and clashing ideals where even the 'villains' have well thought out sympathetic motives.
While Lost Judgment has no direct connection to the first in plot, it does have it in characters. This game expects you've played the first Judgment because it constantly brings back past characters and most main characters like Yagami, Kaito, Sugiura and Tsukumo already had their main arcs in the first game and don't get much development in this one, so I would implore anyone reading this to play the first Judgment before this one if you haven't already. With that said Takayuki Yagami is easily one of my new favorite protagonists in video games, I already liked him a lot in the first Judgment, but this game made me love him even more. A Former defense attorney turned detective, charismatic, witty, honorable with a strong sense of justice and desire to always search for the truth also an adept in kung-fu? Maybe I'm biased because I love detectives so much, but how can you not love him? On a side note new characters like Kuwana, Soma, and Sawa among others get efficient character arcs instead and Kuwana especially has become one of my all time favorite characters.
RGG games are known for having enormous amounts of side content and Lost Judgment is no different. Naturally you have all the classics RGG games are known for, your underground gambling halls, your batting cages and arcades (At the arcade you can plays darts, and games like Virtua Figther 5, Space Harrier and Super Hang-On among others) you also have the drone racing and VR board game introduced in the first Judgment, but one big new feature which adds a lot of side content and mini-games is the addition of School Stories. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school Yagami goes undercover as an outside advisor and counselor for the school, infiltrating various clubs, building bonds with the students and helping solve their problems, all the while Yagami is trying to investigate a grand mystery plaguing the halls of the school. A couple examples of these School Stories are the Dance Club where you play a DDR-like mini-game and try to coach the dance team to nationals or the Robotics Club where you build mini-robots and fight them on a grid training to win the robotics championship.
The smaller side cases are also very well written and memorable. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school many of the side cases involve problems the students and teachers are going through and this really made these stories stand out much more than a lot of previous RGG games side stories, nothing ever felt like filler or fluff and was always worth experiencing. Whether it be helping past grads find their time capsule or chasing UFO sightings all over town for the Supernatural Research Club there's tons of compelling stories that range from comedic to tragic waiting to be explored at Seriyo High. That said not every side case involves students and even the ones that don't are still great, like trying to stop a robber in a Metal Gear Solid like homage or hunting down bugged electronics all over town in an effort to stop a corrupt detective.
The combat is fast paced, fluid and stylish. You still get SP from fights and activities around town and use it to unlock new skills which help in battle. Yagami still has his Tiger stance , a power focused stance for one-on-one fights and his Crane stance, a speed focused stance utilized for fighting groups of enemies introduced in the first Judgment, but now he has a third stance known as the Snake stance which is primarily used for disarming opponents and scaring them to make them surrender. The addition of the third style gives it even more complexity than the first game. Also there's no more mortal wounds, but instead a mechanic called Mortal Reversal where enemies glow red and you have a chance to dodge and parry their attack with a QTE and another thing worth noting is no more constant, tedious gang boss fights anymore either. Overall this is the best the Dragon Engine has ever felt.
All the boss fights are just as epic and over-the-top as you'd expect from RGG and the ending fights left such an impact on me I know I'll remember them years to come, some of my fave boss fights of all time no doubt.
The detective aspects of the game are still very much on rails, but they amplified and enhanced them giving Yagami some new gadgets such as a bug detector, a sound amplifier and even a detective dog to help sniff out clues. There's far less tailing missions and they're more fairly balanced this time around as well. If I had one minor complaint (and it's far from a big one), just the smallest nitpick it would be there's a few too many chase sequences and they can drag on a bit at times, but the addition of pseudo MGS stealth sequences and parkour moments definitely made up for that and added some fresh and unique ideas for a RGG game.
When all is said and done Lost Judgment is not only the best RGG game I've played, but also just one of the best games I've played in general. From the compelling and well crafted detective narrative to the stylish and fluid combat and the massive amounts of side content, Lost Judgment is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word and if you're even somewhat a fan of detective mystery stories you'd be a fool to miss out on this one.
Lost Judgment is one of the best detective mystery, courtroom dramas I've ever seen in all of fiction. The way the main plot starts out with what seems to be a cut and dry case of sexual battery and just slowly builds into some crazy grand conspiracy as more details are gradually revealed is excellently written and cohesive. Also the central theming around bullying and its consequences is both relatable and realistic, it hits hard and is emotional as hell and the way the game tackles corruption in the justice system is also just as realistic and relatable as the bullying themes. Lost Judgment is a shining example of moral greyness and clashing ideals where even the 'villains' have well thought out sympathetic motives.
While Lost Judgment has no direct connection to the first in plot, it does have it in characters. This game expects you've played the first Judgment because it constantly brings back past characters and most main characters like Yagami, Kaito, Sugiura and Tsukumo already had their main arcs in the first game and don't get much development in this one, so I would implore anyone reading this to play the first Judgment before this one if you haven't already. With that said Takayuki Yagami is easily one of my new favorite protagonists in video games, I already liked him a lot in the first Judgment, but this game made me love him even more. A Former defense attorney turned detective, charismatic, witty, honorable with a strong sense of justice and desire to always search for the truth also an adept in kung-fu? Maybe I'm biased because I love detectives so much, but how can you not love him? On a side note new characters like Kuwana, Soma, and Sawa among others get efficient character arcs instead and Kuwana especially has become one of my all time favorite characters.
RGG games are known for having enormous amounts of side content and Lost Judgment is no different. Naturally you have all the classics RGG games are known for, your underground gambling halls, your batting cages and arcades (At the arcade you can plays darts, and games like Virtua Figther 5, Space Harrier and Super Hang-On among others) you also have the drone racing and VR board game introduced in the first Judgment, but one big new feature which adds a lot of side content and mini-games is the addition of School Stories. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school Yagami goes undercover as an outside advisor and counselor for the school, infiltrating various clubs, building bonds with the students and helping solve their problems, all the while Yagami is trying to investigate a grand mystery plaguing the halls of the school. A couple examples of these School Stories are the Dance Club where you play a DDR-like mini-game and try to coach the dance team to nationals or the Robotics Club where you build mini-robots and fight them on a grid training to win the robotics championship.
The smaller side cases are also very well written and memorable. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school many of the side cases involve problems the students and teachers are going through and this really made these stories stand out much more than a lot of previous RGG games side stories, nothing ever felt like filler or fluff and was always worth experiencing. Whether it be helping past grads find their time capsule or chasing UFO sightings all over town for the Supernatural Research Club there's tons of compelling stories that range from comedic to tragic waiting to be explored at Seriyo High. That said not every side case involves students and even the ones that don't are still great, like trying to stop a robber in a Metal Gear Solid like homage or hunting down bugged electronics all over town in an effort to stop a corrupt detective.
The combat is fast paced, fluid and stylish. You still get SP from fights and activities around town and use it to unlock new skills which help in battle. Yagami still has his Tiger stance , a power focused stance for one-on-one fights and his Crane stance, a speed focused stance utilized for fighting groups of enemies introduced in the first Judgment, but now he has a third stance known as the Snake stance which is primarily used for disarming opponents and scaring them to make them surrender. The addition of the third style gives it even more complexity than the first game. Also there's no more mortal wounds, but instead a mechanic called Mortal Reversal where enemies glow red and you have a chance to dodge and parry their attack with a QTE and another thing worth noting is no more constant, tedious gang boss fights anymore either. Overall this is the best the Dragon Engine has ever felt.
All the boss fights are just as epic and over-the-top as you'd expect from RGG and the ending fights left such an impact on me I know I'll remember them years to come, some of my fave boss fights of all time no doubt.
The detective aspects of the game are still very much on rails, but they amplified and enhanced them giving Yagami some new gadgets such as a bug detector, a sound amplifier and even a detective dog to help sniff out clues. There's far less tailing missions and they're more fairly balanced this time around as well. If I had one minor complaint (and it's far from a big one), just the smallest nitpick it would be there's a few too many chase sequences and they can drag on a bit at times, but the addition of pseudo MGS stealth sequences and parkour moments definitely made up for that and added some fresh and unique ideas for a RGG game.
When all is said and done Lost Judgment is not only the best RGG game I've played, but also just one of the best games I've played in general. From the compelling and well crafted detective narrative to the stylish and fluid combat and the massive amounts of side content, Lost Judgment is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word and if you're even somewhat a fan of detective mystery stories you'd be a fool to miss out on this one.
fuck it, the final boss and ending of this game made me cry like a little bitch, harder than any emotional moment in this series and im up at almost 4am still teary eyed.
theres so much right in this game and all my friends who said this is the best in the series were not wrong
i love this cast so much god fucking damn
theres so much right in this game and all my friends who said this is the best in the series were not wrong
i love this cast so much god fucking damn
UNWAVERING BELIEF MY BELOVED
Me diz um jogo onde você controla um advogado aposentado de meia idade que virou um detetive, se infiltra numa escola, mete a porrada em estudantes do ensino médio, não é punido por isso e ainda sai como herói? Exato, não existe(tecnicamente agora existe nékkkkk).
Lost Judgment é o único jogo que pôde me proporcionar essa experiência única de poder bater adolescentes sem peso na consciência.
Ah claro, a história é incrível, os personagens são sensacionais, a trilha é foda e o combate é espetacular e blá blá blá. Joguem, só isso que tenho pra dizer mesmo sobre LJ, simplesmente o melhor jogo da série e uma puta evolução em comparação ao jogo anterior em literalmente todos os quesitos, sensacional.
Lost Judgment é o único jogo que pôde me proporcionar essa experiência única de poder bater adolescentes sem peso na consciência.
Ah claro, a história é incrível, os personagens são sensacionais, a trilha é foda e o combate é espetacular e blá blá blá. Joguem, só isso que tenho pra dizer mesmo sobre LJ, simplesmente o melhor jogo da série e uma puta evolução em comparação ao jogo anterior em literalmente todos os quesitos, sensacional.
It's story becomes very messy near the end when the scale of the conspiracy gets too large for its own good which holds this game back from being a perfect sequel in my opinion. The point of losing itself in its own nonsense is the taxi ride scene where the game and writing will not acknowledge an aspect of the dilemma that is very apparent and would have made for a more interesting story is the characters reflected on what is uncovered after this scene. So many times post this moment i wished characters would just tell Yagami he isn't seeing the bigger picture, give him the very obvious counter argument to be had. But all narrative issues aside in the last quarter, Lost Judgement is still a very solid entry worth playing. They actually made the dragon engine have fun combat......only took 4 games.........
I don't know if I like the story better than the first Judgment, but I thought the story was pretty good and had one of the best villains in the series easily ranking up there to Judgment,Yakuza 7 and Yakuza 3's antagonist for me. the gameplay however is the best out of the entire series, as so much content was added and the amount of activities is more than any of the other games. with even new additions like skateboarding (which you can use to traverse the world faster as well),boxing and even bike racing, and the combat is the most refined it's ever been as each fighting style Yagami uses is extremely fun and each has it's own use. you'll be constantly switching fighting styles often, they also added a new fighting style called Snake that is similar to Tanimura's fighting style from Yakuza 4 but this fighting style is way more fun to use and the parrying mechanic is more refined. overall it's one of the best games Ryu Ga Gotoku studio has made and if you're a fan of the series it's easily worth your time
its 3am and im tired af after finishing this game but fuck it im gonna try writing an actual review again
Lost Judgment is a sequel to the 2018 Yakuza spinoff Judgment. The game takes place 2 years after the events of Yakuza Like a Dragon and it shows, with Ijincho, the main location of said game, returning, which is awesome I really enjoyed it in Y7 and it is even more fun now when there is skating, which makes for a better transport alternative than simply walking or taking a taxi like seriously rgg please make skating or something like it a series staple i dont think i can go back to any yakuza game now.
Anyways, let's get to the combat. The new Snake style is REALLY FUN I barely used the other 2 styles in my playthrough, I used tiger from time to time but 90% of the time I was just having fun beating up guys with snake.
I had fun in school stories, at least from what I played, doing the boxing minigame as a Hajime no Ippo fan made me scream honestly lol. However I didn't feel like 100%ing them because...
The story. Oh my god. Phenomenal. It is similar to that of Yakuza 4 and 5 where things which at first are unrelated to each other, start to link up, however I'd say they finally got it right. I liked how the main antagonist was written, unlike any previous antagonist in an RGG game he was not that.. evil or ambitious, he felt more like an anti villain. He just has good intentions but terrible ways to execute them. I like those types of stories, where both sides are not exactly right or wrong, especially if I end up enjoying the bad guy more than the hero. All the other characters were great too, returning and new. I can't think of anyone from the game that I hated, except for a very certain coordinator.
tl;dr i loved this game best rgg game imo one of the best gameplay styles and arguably the best antagonist in all of rgg
if this is nagoshi's last time working on an rgg game then he went off with a bang idk how rgg studio can make it any better than this peak fiction 11/10
Lost Judgment is a sequel to the 2018 Yakuza spinoff Judgment. The game takes place 2 years after the events of Yakuza Like a Dragon and it shows, with Ijincho, the main location of said game, returning, which is awesome I really enjoyed it in Y7 and it is even more fun now when there is skating, which makes for a better transport alternative than simply walking or taking a taxi like seriously rgg please make skating or something like it a series staple i dont think i can go back to any yakuza game now.
Anyways, let's get to the combat. The new Snake style is REALLY FUN I barely used the other 2 styles in my playthrough, I used tiger from time to time but 90% of the time I was just having fun beating up guys with snake.
I had fun in school stories, at least from what I played, doing the boxing minigame as a Hajime no Ippo fan made me scream honestly lol. However I didn't feel like 100%ing them because...
The story. Oh my god. Phenomenal. It is similar to that of Yakuza 4 and 5 where things which at first are unrelated to each other, start to link up, however I'd say they finally got it right. I liked how the main antagonist was written, unlike any previous antagonist in an RGG game he was not that.. evil or ambitious, he felt more like an anti villain. He just has good intentions but terrible ways to execute them. I like those types of stories, where both sides are not exactly right or wrong, especially if I end up enjoying the bad guy more than the hero. All the other characters were great too, returning and new. I can't think of anyone from the game that I hated, except for a very certain coordinator.
tl;dr i loved this game best rgg game imo one of the best gameplay styles and arguably the best antagonist in all of rgg
if this is nagoshi's last time working on an rgg game then he went off with a bang idk how rgg studio can make it any better than this peak fiction 11/10
RGG finally made a game as good as Yakuza 0 with so much content and stories available with changes to the combat that make it soooo much better. Snake style being introduced in the mix makes fighting enemies with weapons much more bearable, and the parry system with the EX surrender heat actions is fun. Thank god they got rid of mortal wounds from the first game because it really was annoying and didnt bring anything interesting to the table as you desperately try to dodge deadly attacks. Now, it adds in mortal reversals to have a reliable counter against bosses. The buffs to the other styles is much appreciated too; crane desperately needed buffs for it being terrible in the first game.
The stuff to do in the overworld and in the school are gargantuan, but to make it short here is what I thought about the minigames in the clubs. Dancing club is good, Robotics club is kinda bad, Boxing is the best minigame there is, Biker gang is pretty solid, Esports club is literally just "do like to play vf5", Skaters is good aside from the racing (it's Dragon Kart but terrible), and the other 3 (photography, girl's bar, casino) are nonexistent. There are other minigames that are fun, but I wanted to focus more on the school stories since it's the big chunk of content here. Side cases range from pretty generic to pretty entertaining, but the former takes up most of it because a lot of it feels like filler. Amon is as usual the insane secret boss fight that tanks your frames.
I don't have much to say about the story other than as per usual with RGG games it's pretty good. Kuwana carries this shit hard... the best character in this game.
I felt this RGG install was just good as Yakuza 0 but doesnt knock it out entirely. If I were to talk about how much I enjoyed the amount of content here then this would just be an essay so I tried to shorten it as best as I could. Very good game that is better than the first Judgement--had rarely any problems with it.
The stuff to do in the overworld and in the school are gargantuan, but to make it short here is what I thought about the minigames in the clubs. Dancing club is good, Robotics club is kinda bad, Boxing is the best minigame there is, Biker gang is pretty solid, Esports club is literally just "do like to play vf5", Skaters is good aside from the racing (it's Dragon Kart but terrible), and the other 3 (photography, girl's bar, casino) are nonexistent. There are other minigames that are fun, but I wanted to focus more on the school stories since it's the big chunk of content here. Side cases range from pretty generic to pretty entertaining, but the former takes up most of it because a lot of it feels like filler. Amon is as usual the insane secret boss fight that tanks your frames.
I don't have much to say about the story other than as per usual with RGG games it's pretty good. Kuwana carries this shit hard... the best character in this game.
I felt this RGG install was just good as Yakuza 0 but doesnt knock it out entirely. If I were to talk about how much I enjoyed the amount of content here then this would just be an essay so I tried to shorten it as best as I could. Very good game that is better than the first Judgement--had rarely any problems with it.
Lost Judgment is one of those rare games we only get every few years; a game so passionately made, so effortlessly executed, so engaging from beginning to end. It's a step up in nearly every way over the original Judge Eyes, which was already a pretty great game itself. The combat has been refined to the point I feel tempted to put this up in a pedestal next to some of the action game greats. The tweaks to crane style and the addition of snake increase the depth of the combat a lot, throw in the already fun tiger style and you have one of the best combat systems we've seen from an action game in the past 10 years. Switching from style to style to match the situation, or to straight up be stylish in front of your foes, never stops being exciting, and the ways these three styles can interact with each other make every counter feel unique. I do have to admit that it would've been nice if each style had been mapped to individual buttons on the dpad, DMC style, instead of cycling through them with one button. There's so much to do too! This is one of those rare cases where there's quantity AND quality. The side cases are tons of fun for the most part, side activities are plentiful, and the introduction of school stories add a lot of flavor to the game. Between the two cities it feels like you can never run out of things to do.
The stealth and parkour segments stick out like a sore thumb, they're by far the worst parts of the game. The parkour is plain boring and so is the stealth, with the added bonus of sometimes being frustrating. Not because it's difficult, not at all, but it's very arbitrary in what you can and can't do which leads to some unfair game overs.
Lost Judgment, much like its predecessor, starts out really good, gets a bit slow in the middle, and towards the back half becomes genuinely legendary. The last five or so chapters of Lost Judgment are some of the most engaging pieces of writing I've had the pleasure of experiencing since maybe Umineko Chiru. It's not as good a mystery as Umineko, not even close, but the drama and character writing are so on point that some moments brought me close to tears. Lost Judgment's antagonist is, in my opinion, one of the best this medium has to offer. Yagami is no slouch either, he is definitely one of my favorite protagonists now, and his interactions with said antagonist are the best scenes in the game. The themes of truth and justice the game tackles are very heavy, sometimes to the point of being almost exhausting. This isn't something I hold against the game, but it might be something that puts some people off. The game does an overall great job of balancing light heartedness with some really heavy topics like bullying, suicide, murder, political corruption, and more. It's a true detective story through and through, and never pulls any punches. The ending is particularly impactful and left me speechless.
Lost Judgment deserves to be called a modern classic, 100%. It's a bit of a shame that this series lives in the shadow of its big brother Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, whatever Sega feels like calling it here in the west), but I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to play. In a medium currently plagued by mediocrity and lame attempts at mimicking the Hollywood machine in the AAA space, it's nice to see a game that marches to the beat of its own drum; one that takes risks by tackling sensitive topics while also being proud of being a video game. Raidou Kuzunoha may be no more, but I'm glad to see his spirit live on through Yagami and the Judge Eyes series. Just don't take this one away from me, Sega. Not this one.
UNWAVERING BELIEF.
The stealth and parkour segments stick out like a sore thumb, they're by far the worst parts of the game. The parkour is plain boring and so is the stealth, with the added bonus of sometimes being frustrating. Not because it's difficult, not at all, but it's very arbitrary in what you can and can't do which leads to some unfair game overs.
Lost Judgment, much like its predecessor, starts out really good, gets a bit slow in the middle, and towards the back half becomes genuinely legendary. The last five or so chapters of Lost Judgment are some of the most engaging pieces of writing I've had the pleasure of experiencing since maybe Umineko Chiru. It's not as good a mystery as Umineko, not even close, but the drama and character writing are so on point that some moments brought me close to tears. Lost Judgment's antagonist is, in my opinion, one of the best this medium has to offer. Yagami is no slouch either, he is definitely one of my favorite protagonists now, and his interactions with said antagonist are the best scenes in the game. The themes of truth and justice the game tackles are very heavy, sometimes to the point of being almost exhausting. This isn't something I hold against the game, but it might be something that puts some people off. The game does an overall great job of balancing light heartedness with some really heavy topics like bullying, suicide, murder, political corruption, and more. It's a true detective story through and through, and never pulls any punches. The ending is particularly impactful and left me speechless.
Lost Judgment deserves to be called a modern classic, 100%. It's a bit of a shame that this series lives in the shadow of its big brother Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, whatever Sega feels like calling it here in the west), but I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to play. In a medium currently plagued by mediocrity and lame attempts at mimicking the Hollywood machine in the AAA space, it's nice to see a game that marches to the beat of its own drum; one that takes risks by tackling sensitive topics while also being proud of being a video game. Raidou Kuzunoha may be no more, but I'm glad to see his spirit live on through Yagami and the Judge Eyes series. Just don't take this one away from me, Sega. Not this one.
UNWAVERING BELIEF.
pretty fun but god that is one of the worst and most tactless narratives i've ever seen in a mainstream video game. the usual Yakuza conspiracy plot structure's presence here is absurd. since the game deals with bullying and the actions that victims' families take to get their own version of justice on the matter, Lost Judgment can't help but to relativize every instance of torture and murder commited against the bullies. it genuinely expects the player to have so little empathy for the bully that they don't see them as human. Yagami just hangs out with the serial killer here. has a toast with him. he's fully convinced that the guy's logic makes sense, but the only problem is getting other innocent people hurt while trying to hide his instances of moral torturemuder.
this only bothers me because this game is mostly a morality tale. it constantly stops to lecture you about bullying and the justice system in an attempt to make you try to think about the situation as if it was hard to decide who's right or wrong. like, man.... most people know bullying is a problem. it's very easy to empathize with someone who got bullied to the verge of suicide. i don't need to see that shit pushed to it's logical limit without any care at all.
also, Yagami kinda goes insane in this game. while he empathizes with many psychos in Lost Judgment, he also stalks and emotionally manipulates 3 different women (1 innocent, 2 guilty) in order to get answers for his investigation. i think his more social and brute way of doing detective work is pretty cool, it fits RGG studios' style. but here, he always goes to the most vulnerable women around him for answers, and pressures them while knowing they won't handle it and can't fight back. this is how he makes most of the more important discoveries. it kinda makes me sick.
ok so, i really like the combat, school stories and substories. for me these games are always more about their whole world than just the main plot, and Lost Judgment is one of my favorites in regards to side stuff! but the Judgment duology is also more focused on story and dialogue than other RGG games, and god this narrative is so long and expository that i can't help but to see as tainting a lot of the game.
i am sad but i will continue trying to have fun with these games. here's hoping i still enjoy the rest as much as i did the first half of the Yakuza series!
this only bothers me because this game is mostly a morality tale. it constantly stops to lecture you about bullying and the justice system in an attempt to make you try to think about the situation as if it was hard to decide who's right or wrong. like, man.... most people know bullying is a problem. it's very easy to empathize with someone who got bullied to the verge of suicide. i don't need to see that shit pushed to it's logical limit without any care at all.
also, Yagami kinda goes insane in this game. while he empathizes with many psychos in Lost Judgment, he also stalks and emotionally manipulates 3 different women (1 innocent, 2 guilty) in order to get answers for his investigation. i think his more social and brute way of doing detective work is pretty cool, it fits RGG studios' style. but here, he always goes to the most vulnerable women around him for answers, and pressures them while knowing they won't handle it and can't fight back. this is how he makes most of the more important discoveries. it kinda makes me sick.
ok so, i really like the combat, school stories and substories. for me these games are always more about their whole world than just the main plot, and Lost Judgment is one of my favorites in regards to side stuff! but the Judgment duology is also more focused on story and dialogue than other RGG games, and god this narrative is so long and expository that i can't help but to see as tainting a lot of the game.
i am sad but i will continue trying to have fun with these games. here's hoping i still enjoy the rest as much as i did the first half of the Yakuza series!
WHAT TOP 25 YOU SMOKING ON KENDRICK BECAUSE MY TOP 25 IS
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Who needs crack when you have maxed out Crane style
If this is the last Judgment game, and with that, the last game Nagoshi is involved in, what a send off. This game trumps the first in every way and aside from a slow start engages you in ways I’ve never seen in a Yakuza game. A genuinely detestable antagonist and some major characters with actions that will make you constantly question yourself, this game will keep you hooked and then some.
And the combat, WOW. Best combat in an RGG game, and this is just the best game RGG have ever made
RGG MAKE MORE BRAWLERS PLEASE
And the combat, WOW. Best combat in an RGG game, and this is just the best game RGG have ever made
RGG MAKE MORE BRAWLERS PLEASE
If you're going for 100% completion you'll play mahjong longer than the actual main story.
This review contains spoilers
Lost Judgment (alongside its companion DLC; The Kaito Files, both make an absolutely killer combo, as one brilliantly supplements the other) is by far the best game RGG Studios have EVER put out to date.
Nearly everything is in tip-top shape and quite the improvement over the last game; the combat, with its wide variety of combo options and approaches to encounters; for starters, the preexisting styles; Crane and Tiger are actually viable and useful in encounters unlike the last time, and we have two new styles; Snake and Boxer, and while Snake is an awesome and fresh new style with plenty of fun mechanics, Boxer falls a little bit short but is still fun in combos. Oh, and there's also the boss fights, the side content and activities, as Seiryo High is a brilliant, unique, and brand new setting for the RGG franchise, the music, the writing, the character interactions, and the majority of the new characters: with my favorites of the bunch being Kuwana, who is the best antagonist in the franchise, Sawa, and Amasawa, who is the best substory character the franchise has seen, (although there are duds like Koda and Bando), hell even Akutsu, Tesso and Soma, as relatively minor as they all are, are still pretty great and memorable despite their lack of screentime comparatively, and there's also the storytelling, which is deliciously gripping, enthralling, and morally complex all the way through, and on par with the great storytelling of the previous game, maybe even slightly better, as the first game had a bit of an issue with its pacing.
Even though the narrative's government conspiracy kind of trips over itself in the last few chapters of the game, the positives far outweigh the negatives, as I think it's a very refreshing, unique, and engrossing story narrative, tackling themes and topics the mainline Yakuza series wouldn't even dare to touch, like bullying and suicide, and what kind of damages it inflicts upon society and its people, and how various people get caught in the crossfire of it all. People might say the story's worse because it's less personal; and I'd say I disagree with that notion because while it may be a bit less personal than the first game, it still fits the Yagami squad's M.O as detectives, taking on various morally complex jobs and stories, and it does the job perfectly.
The only things that fall a bit too flat here are the detective and courtroom aspects, as they feel way too simplistic and tacked-on, and don't really require too much critical thinking to solve, and that Mafuyu does absolutely fucking nothing in this game, and by GOD, I hope JE3 fixes that because these two issues have been plaguing the Judgment series since day one. There are also some other small gripes I have, like some of the bullies' redemption arcs feel a wee bit rushed (looking at you Akane and especially Sakaki who barely counts as a character compared to the other two and on his own), and the sexual harassment plotpoints being a bit weird (they technically make sense but still feel lowkey in poor taste), that and the boxart is uhh... yeah it's bad, not even gonna sugarcoat it. But, despite the negatives, I'd say that the game is still more than the sum of its parts in the best way possible.
If I had to describe this game's narrative in a single word, it would be... morally grey. No one's right in this whole situation, but no one is wrong either, and no single perspective is correct, and that's the beauty of it all, honestly, I rarely see video games approach morally gray topics like that, and I'd say Lost Judgment aces it pretty well! so in short, it's absolutely peak, play the Judgment games now!
See you in Judgment 3! (it's gonna come out sooner or later by the way, Johnny's and Associates is out of commission, and Takuya Kimura has a YT channel, and there's also that big announcement Yokoyama was talking about https://twitter.com/Okami13_/status/1740800530056712454 so it's only a matter of when at this point)
Nearly everything is in tip-top shape and quite the improvement over the last game; the combat, with its wide variety of combo options and approaches to encounters; for starters, the preexisting styles; Crane and Tiger are actually viable and useful in encounters unlike the last time, and we have two new styles; Snake and Boxer, and while Snake is an awesome and fresh new style with plenty of fun mechanics, Boxer falls a little bit short but is still fun in combos. Oh, and there's also the boss fights, the side content and activities, as Seiryo High is a brilliant, unique, and brand new setting for the RGG franchise, the music, the writing, the character interactions, and the majority of the new characters: with my favorites of the bunch being Kuwana, who is the best antagonist in the franchise, Sawa, and Amasawa, who is the best substory character the franchise has seen, (although there are duds like Koda and Bando), hell even Akutsu, Tesso and Soma, as relatively minor as they all are, are still pretty great and memorable despite their lack of screentime comparatively, and there's also the storytelling, which is deliciously gripping, enthralling, and morally complex all the way through, and on par with the great storytelling of the previous game, maybe even slightly better, as the first game had a bit of an issue with its pacing.
Even though the narrative's government conspiracy kind of trips over itself in the last few chapters of the game, the positives far outweigh the negatives, as I think it's a very refreshing, unique, and engrossing story narrative, tackling themes and topics the mainline Yakuza series wouldn't even dare to touch, like bullying and suicide, and what kind of damages it inflicts upon society and its people, and how various people get caught in the crossfire of it all. People might say the story's worse because it's less personal; and I'd say I disagree with that notion because while it may be a bit less personal than the first game, it still fits the Yagami squad's M.O as detectives, taking on various morally complex jobs and stories, and it does the job perfectly.
The only things that fall a bit too flat here are the detective and courtroom aspects, as they feel way too simplistic and tacked-on, and don't really require too much critical thinking to solve, and that Mafuyu does absolutely fucking nothing in this game, and by GOD, I hope JE3 fixes that because these two issues have been plaguing the Judgment series since day one. There are also some other small gripes I have, like some of the bullies' redemption arcs feel a wee bit rushed (looking at you Akane and especially Sakaki who barely counts as a character compared to the other two and on his own), and the sexual harassment plotpoints being a bit weird (they technically make sense but still feel lowkey in poor taste), that and the boxart is uhh... yeah it's bad, not even gonna sugarcoat it. But, despite the negatives, I'd say that the game is still more than the sum of its parts in the best way possible.
If I had to describe this game's narrative in a single word, it would be... morally grey. No one's right in this whole situation, but no one is wrong either, and no single perspective is correct, and that's the beauty of it all, honestly, I rarely see video games approach morally gray topics like that, and I'd say Lost Judgment aces it pretty well! so in short, it's absolutely peak, play the Judgment games now!
See you in Judgment 3! (it's gonna come out sooner or later by the way, Johnny's and Associates is out of commission, and Takuya Kimura has a YT channel, and there's also that big announcement Yokoyama was talking about https://twitter.com/Okami13_/status/1740800530056712454 so it's only a matter of when at this point)
My relationship with Lost Judgement has been a tricky one. I’d put almost 60 hours into the game before my rose tinted glasses started to fog. It’s got everything you could want from an RGG game from the fun combat, charming characters and some of the coolest Boss fight intros to date. There is so much in this game that makes it deserving of a 5 score, it breaks my heart that I can’t give it one. But there’s a good reason why. Shitty box art aside, LJ has a glaring issue that simply cannot go ignored. Imbalance.
Both the main story - which is more interesting and better told than that of its predecessor - and the new secondary School story - arguably also more interesting than that of Judgment 1 :p - both suffer from severe cases of imbalance within. Sometimes the main plot will see an entire chapter go by within which you run down the map for a few minutes at a time between multiple cutscenes, in which you learn information, pass on the information, and then discuss what can be done with said information. Leaving the only action to be found in random encounters along the way, or a short boss fight at the end.
The school story, on the other hand, is engaging at almost all times, just not always in the best way. For example the dance club has only 4 songs which are completed 4 times each and that’s that. Meanwhile, the boxing club has at least 20 opponents, most of which take longer to beat than doing a dance twice, putting you in something of a time sink with no real cause. These aren’t the only imbalanced clubs either, and the boxing minigame is fun, but after a couple hours of grinding it, I was more than ready to be done.
All that said, it would be remiss not to mention that Lost Judgment is a fantastic game. The characters introduced in this are far more memorable than in the first, with more interesting drives and motivations. Amasawa is one of the best characters in the Yakuza series now (okay yeah maybe only like top 50 but shush) and a lot of the frustrating stuff from 1 has been cut out and/or improved upon for the sequel. Hell, even the kids in the school have personalities, and are more interesting than the side characters in the first game.
This game could’ve been perfect for me, and I’m glad to see RGG seem to have found their footing in terms of what they want this spin-off series to be. I really hope they’re able to continue because I’d love to see more.
In conclusion, Lost Judgment is good. Really good. It’s a damn shame it also has just* enough bad to get in the way of that.
[P.S. This is an 'again' review bc I left one before completing it already :)]
Both the main story - which is more interesting and better told than that of its predecessor - and the new secondary School story - arguably also more interesting than that of Judgment 1 :p - both suffer from severe cases of imbalance within. Sometimes the main plot will see an entire chapter go by within which you run down the map for a few minutes at a time between multiple cutscenes, in which you learn information, pass on the information, and then discuss what can be done with said information. Leaving the only action to be found in random encounters along the way, or a short boss fight at the end.
The school story, on the other hand, is engaging at almost all times, just not always in the best way. For example the dance club has only 4 songs which are completed 4 times each and that’s that. Meanwhile, the boxing club has at least 20 opponents, most of which take longer to beat than doing a dance twice, putting you in something of a time sink with no real cause. These aren’t the only imbalanced clubs either, and the boxing minigame is fun, but after a couple hours of grinding it, I was more than ready to be done.
All that said, it would be remiss not to mention that Lost Judgment is a fantastic game. The characters introduced in this are far more memorable than in the first, with more interesting drives and motivations. Amasawa is one of the best characters in the Yakuza series now (okay yeah maybe only like top 50 but shush) and a lot of the frustrating stuff from 1 has been cut out and/or improved upon for the sequel. Hell, even the kids in the school have personalities, and are more interesting than the side characters in the first game.
This game could’ve been perfect for me, and I’m glad to see RGG seem to have found their footing in terms of what they want this spin-off series to be. I really hope they’re able to continue because I’d love to see more.
In conclusion, Lost Judgment is good. Really good. It’s a damn shame it also has just* enough bad to get in the way of that.
[P.S. This is an 'again' review bc I left one before completing it already :)]
Tabo
it definitely has a few rough edges but lost judgment might probably be the best thing that came out from rgg studio. i genuinely have no idea how can they surpass this
Bullying fucking sucks man
The definition of insanity is playing Yakuza games over and over and expecting to like them.
My best friend loves Yakuza and has made repeated attempts to get me into the series, but I'm just not having it. Janky combat, shallow side content, stories mired in dry crime family politicking that I just find boring boring boring. You won't find me singing karaoke in Kamurocho, and I certainly won't be putting a chicken in charge of a bowling alley. These games are not for me.
Or are they?
While the Yakuza are still a major fixture in Lost Judgment, the player's perspective shifts towards the law. You play as Takayuki Yagami, a lawyer-turned-PI who starts his own agency with a former member of the Yakuza named Kaito. After a simple introductory case involving a con artist gambling away his victim's money, Yagami and Kaito are called to Ijincho to assist another agency, Yokohama 99, who are looking into a case of bullying at Seiryo High. In those opening hours, you'll find Yagami hanging around the high school with a pocket full of worms, used tissues, and screws and basically doing the "how do you do, fellow teens" bit after being told multiple times to leave. Alas, he keeps coming back drunker than ever, ready to rock a bunch of 15-year-olds' shit and place hidden cameras in the bathroom (don't worry, he pointed them away from the urinals so it's ok.)
However, the mystery at the heart of Lost Judgment involves a man named Ehara, whose son committed suicide after relentless bullying. The legal system ultimately fails to give Ehara's son justice, and several years later he's arrested for groping a woman on a subway train. However, footage is released shortly after depicting Ehara murdering his son's bully, recorded seemingly at the same time as the groping incident, providing him an airtight alibi. To save face, the police dismiss the footage as a deep fake, giving Ehara proof of the legal system's incompetency and inability to render justice. Yagami has to figure out how Ehara committed both crimes at the same time, and soon stumbles upon a larger conspiracy involving the serial murder of bullies.
The Yakuza games have mostly failed to keep me invested in their narratives, but I found myself engrossed by Lost Judgment's story. It does deal with some very heavy subjects, however. If you find yourself sensitive to matters like suicide and bullying then this probably isn't the game for you, as the two are simply inseparable. Suicide is, in particular, a subject that can too easily be portrayed in a manner that is tactless, and Lost Judgment doesn't get it right 100% of the time. There are some very powerful scenes centered around those who are survived by the victims of suicide that are very well done and provide a genuine sense of weight to the act itself, and though some of these survivors could be considered antagonists, Lost Judgment does a good job maintaining a balance between keeping them sympathetic while showing their actions as deplorable. It also has a cabal of these characters pulling the strings from the shadows and even within the government to murder bullies across Japan in an act of retribution, and that stuff swings the other way and becomes ridiculous and perhaps a bit too insensitive. To be fair, I guess this is still technically a Yakuza game, and you better believe it's going to depict suicide through that kind of lens. You'll watch some very unnerving footage of teenagers beating and berating a student to their breaking point, then immediately hop on your skateboard to link up with Ranpo the Dogtective! (Ohh look at him, he's such a good boy!) Thaaat's Yakuza!
The focus on solving mysteries is a large part of why I think Lost Judgment works better for me mechanically, as well. You spend much of your time investigating crime scenes, collecting evidence, conducting cross examination of witnesses, and picking which pieces of evidence to reveal to put pressure on suspects. The Yakuza series is no stranger to long cutscenes of people talking around tables or in bars, and there's a lot of that stuff here too, but it's about subject matter I find more engaging and the fact that you're also able to be more participatory in those conversations helps as well. Plus, it's just fun when you screw up and pull out the wrong piece of evidence. Master Detective Yagami over here going "haha, ah whoops, didn't mean to show you that..."
Of course, it wouldn't be one of These Games if you didn't get in a hell of a lot of fights, and this is perhaps where I think the game is at its weakest. Combat just doesn't feel good, I don't think it's ever felt good in Yakuza. The targeting system is dogshit and will frequently break away from who you're fighting to throw kicks and punches at the air behind you, button prompts for the EX attacks are finicky and don't always trigger when they should, and there's a few too many fights that take place in very confined locations that don't play nice with the camera. Given how much of the game is focused on solving mysteries, combat feels obligatory and is often weightless. There's a couple of repeat antagonists and set pieces where throwing hands feels earned, but most of the time it's like, well, we haven't had a fight in a while I guess. The final chapter of the game suffers from the opposite problem, interestingly enough, in that the detective mechanics are clumsily inserted between all-out brawls, severely screwing with the climax's momentum.
Despite combat feeling kind of tacked on, I still had a great time with Lost Judgment. It's doing its own unique thing with the detective stuff and I'm way into it, but you can still screw around and play Sonic the Fighters, or go to the batting cages, or help a bunch of weird freaks find their missing Kappa statues or whatever, so it's still definably Yakuza where it counts. I feel like I'm getting as much of that flavor as I want with something better at the center of that experience, basically. I also love beating up teenagers with my bare fists and, sometimes, with pipes and occasionally bikes, so even if that stuff doesn't feel great I'm still into it in spirit. Safe to say I'm still not a Yakuza fan, but I am a Judgment fan and I'll probably pick the sequel up if and when it happens, though my detective's intuition tells me it's all but certain. I mean, 90% of these games are prefabricated anyway, and they make their money back, we're gonna get more Yagami, and maybe more Saori. I almost forgot, you can dress up Saori-kun... ehehehh yeah you gotta... gotta infiltrate the hostess bar by making her look pretty eeerhghehehehuhh wait why are the cops outside my apartment
My best friend loves Yakuza and has made repeated attempts to get me into the series, but I'm just not having it. Janky combat, shallow side content, stories mired in dry crime family politicking that I just find boring boring boring. You won't find me singing karaoke in Kamurocho, and I certainly won't be putting a chicken in charge of a bowling alley. These games are not for me.
Or are they?
While the Yakuza are still a major fixture in Lost Judgment, the player's perspective shifts towards the law. You play as Takayuki Yagami, a lawyer-turned-PI who starts his own agency with a former member of the Yakuza named Kaito. After a simple introductory case involving a con artist gambling away his victim's money, Yagami and Kaito are called to Ijincho to assist another agency, Yokohama 99, who are looking into a case of bullying at Seiryo High. In those opening hours, you'll find Yagami hanging around the high school with a pocket full of worms, used tissues, and screws and basically doing the "how do you do, fellow teens" bit after being told multiple times to leave. Alas, he keeps coming back drunker than ever, ready to rock a bunch of 15-year-olds' shit and place hidden cameras in the bathroom (don't worry, he pointed them away from the urinals so it's ok.)
However, the mystery at the heart of Lost Judgment involves a man named Ehara, whose son committed suicide after relentless bullying. The legal system ultimately fails to give Ehara's son justice, and several years later he's arrested for groping a woman on a subway train. However, footage is released shortly after depicting Ehara murdering his son's bully, recorded seemingly at the same time as the groping incident, providing him an airtight alibi. To save face, the police dismiss the footage as a deep fake, giving Ehara proof of the legal system's incompetency and inability to render justice. Yagami has to figure out how Ehara committed both crimes at the same time, and soon stumbles upon a larger conspiracy involving the serial murder of bullies.
The Yakuza games have mostly failed to keep me invested in their narratives, but I found myself engrossed by Lost Judgment's story. It does deal with some very heavy subjects, however. If you find yourself sensitive to matters like suicide and bullying then this probably isn't the game for you, as the two are simply inseparable. Suicide is, in particular, a subject that can too easily be portrayed in a manner that is tactless, and Lost Judgment doesn't get it right 100% of the time. There are some very powerful scenes centered around those who are survived by the victims of suicide that are very well done and provide a genuine sense of weight to the act itself, and though some of these survivors could be considered antagonists, Lost Judgment does a good job maintaining a balance between keeping them sympathetic while showing their actions as deplorable. It also has a cabal of these characters pulling the strings from the shadows and even within the government to murder bullies across Japan in an act of retribution, and that stuff swings the other way and becomes ridiculous and perhaps a bit too insensitive. To be fair, I guess this is still technically a Yakuza game, and you better believe it's going to depict suicide through that kind of lens. You'll watch some very unnerving footage of teenagers beating and berating a student to their breaking point, then immediately hop on your skateboard to link up with Ranpo the Dogtective! (Ohh look at him, he's such a good boy!) Thaaat's Yakuza!
The focus on solving mysteries is a large part of why I think Lost Judgment works better for me mechanically, as well. You spend much of your time investigating crime scenes, collecting evidence, conducting cross examination of witnesses, and picking which pieces of evidence to reveal to put pressure on suspects. The Yakuza series is no stranger to long cutscenes of people talking around tables or in bars, and there's a lot of that stuff here too, but it's about subject matter I find more engaging and the fact that you're also able to be more participatory in those conversations helps as well. Plus, it's just fun when you screw up and pull out the wrong piece of evidence. Master Detective Yagami over here going "haha, ah whoops, didn't mean to show you that..."
Of course, it wouldn't be one of These Games if you didn't get in a hell of a lot of fights, and this is perhaps where I think the game is at its weakest. Combat just doesn't feel good, I don't think it's ever felt good in Yakuza. The targeting system is dogshit and will frequently break away from who you're fighting to throw kicks and punches at the air behind you, button prompts for the EX attacks are finicky and don't always trigger when they should, and there's a few too many fights that take place in very confined locations that don't play nice with the camera. Given how much of the game is focused on solving mysteries, combat feels obligatory and is often weightless. There's a couple of repeat antagonists and set pieces where throwing hands feels earned, but most of the time it's like, well, we haven't had a fight in a while I guess. The final chapter of the game suffers from the opposite problem, interestingly enough, in that the detective mechanics are clumsily inserted between all-out brawls, severely screwing with the climax's momentum.
Despite combat feeling kind of tacked on, I still had a great time with Lost Judgment. It's doing its own unique thing with the detective stuff and I'm way into it, but you can still screw around and play Sonic the Fighters, or go to the batting cages, or help a bunch of weird freaks find their missing Kappa statues or whatever, so it's still definably Yakuza where it counts. I feel like I'm getting as much of that flavor as I want with something better at the center of that experience, basically. I also love beating up teenagers with my bare fists and, sometimes, with pipes and occasionally bikes, so even if that stuff doesn't feel great I'm still into it in spirit. Safe to say I'm still not a Yakuza fan, but I am a Judgment fan and I'll probably pick the sequel up if and when it happens, though my detective's intuition tells me it's all but certain. I mean, 90% of these games are prefabricated anyway, and they make their money back, we're gonna get more Yagami, and maybe more Saori. I almost forgot, you can dress up Saori-kun... ehehehh yeah you gotta... gotta infiltrate the hostess bar by making her look pretty eeerhghehehehuhh wait why are the cops outside my apartment
Lost Judgment subverts the first game by presenting a moral dilemma unsolvable by brute forcing the black spots out of society, highlighting the fundamental challenges in Japanese government and education and its inability to properly address atrocities that occur every day. Lost Judgment becomes much more biting commentary than its predecessor by tying its story events and main message to a real world challenge that Japan has yet to meet.
Rich side content, gorgeous lighting and cinematic color grading, refined Dragon Engine, lovable high school interactions, and fanservice for those who fell in love with the original 2018 game make Lost Judgment one of the best games RGG has ever put out. That's not to mention the incredibly addictive and cathartic juggle-heavy combat, which I got so into I had to take breaks from the game due to my hands getting sore. When I get the same feeling that I get from a tense match in a real fighting game, you know you did something good with your combat.
LJ is not perfect and one can absolutely criticize some of the stiff dialogue and the use of sexual assault in the story, but it's an incredibly well thought-out and bold product from a studio that has a tendency to meander about when it comes to commenting on the larger world their series takes place in.
Rich side content, gorgeous lighting and cinematic color grading, refined Dragon Engine, lovable high school interactions, and fanservice for those who fell in love with the original 2018 game make Lost Judgment one of the best games RGG has ever put out. That's not to mention the incredibly addictive and cathartic juggle-heavy combat, which I got so into I had to take breaks from the game due to my hands getting sore. When I get the same feeling that I get from a tense match in a real fighting game, you know you did something good with your combat.
LJ is not perfect and one can absolutely criticize some of the stiff dialogue and the use of sexual assault in the story, but it's an incredibly well thought-out and bold product from a studio that has a tendency to meander about when it comes to commenting on the larger world their series takes place in.
rgg studios finally got the memo that juggle combos and stance cancels are fucking dope
rgg gon save gaming omgg
Is it wrong to be right?
Almost a total improvement of the first game. Mainly the combat and side-content. Both being so extended from the previous entry is almost unreal.
You can pretty much see an improvement right at the start of the game. Traling missions! They're ok now, it's still not engigaging as a mechanics of it's own and surprisingly it's not even bought again in the main story, some side-missions had it. They added stealth now as a replacement which isn't much better if I'm honest, it's too scripted. The investigation system was improved as well, now you can zoom without the camera slowing down and ask for hints if you're lost.
The combat feels just so perfect. We have 4 different styles now: Tiger, Crane, Snake and Boxer. Both feel totally different from each other with their own weaknesses and strengths. So much fluid and faster compared to the first game. In Judgment, Yagami felt like a more weak take on Kiryu. On Lost Judgment he feels like it's own character, really agile and stylish.
The story can be seen as an improvement or not. You can see the first game was about Yagami, it felt more personal to him. The sequel doesn't do much of that. It doesn't have that level of personal involment in my opinion, besides Yagami wanting to do his job right. Most of the cast was heavly underutilized for the sake of our protagonist. It just didn't felt it was a team resolving a case, Yagami did almost all the work and the rest were like cheerleaders or something. There is also something I can't get off my mind. At a certain point in the story, let's say a character "dissapears" because collateral. That very same dissapereance is used all through the story as a valid argument from Yagami instead of making it's own Judgment of the situation in general and see the logical side on it.
The main villain is great though. Serve as Yagami contrary way of thinking while not totally being a cartoon one dimensional evil character. Maybe the best villain in the whole Yakuza series? It stil has flaws, but that doesn't take the fact is a good overall antagonist.
As any good modern RGG game is, this has a lot side content. School Stories are that, substories centered around the Seiryo High School. If you ever played any modern Persona title this would feel familiar. Join a club and help them as muchas you can as you level up your stats and start unlocking new stuff for you through the game. There minigames and the substories, not to mention there are two whole different towns to explore: Kamurocho and Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama.
So, in short. Awesome game with a tan weak story compared to the first.
Almost a total improvement of the first game. Mainly the combat and side-content. Both being so extended from the previous entry is almost unreal.
You can pretty much see an improvement right at the start of the game. Traling missions! They're ok now, it's still not engigaging as a mechanics of it's own and surprisingly it's not even bought again in the main story, some side-missions had it. They added stealth now as a replacement which isn't much better if I'm honest, it's too scripted. The investigation system was improved as well, now you can zoom without the camera slowing down and ask for hints if you're lost.
The combat feels just so perfect. We have 4 different styles now: Tiger, Crane, Snake and Boxer. Both feel totally different from each other with their own weaknesses and strengths. So much fluid and faster compared to the first game. In Judgment, Yagami felt like a more weak take on Kiryu. On Lost Judgment he feels like it's own character, really agile and stylish.
The story can be seen as an improvement or not. You can see the first game was about Yagami, it felt more personal to him. The sequel doesn't do much of that. It doesn't have that level of personal involment in my opinion, besides Yagami wanting to do his job right. Most of the cast was heavly underutilized for the sake of our protagonist. It just didn't felt it was a team resolving a case, Yagami did almost all the work and the rest were like cheerleaders or something. There is also something I can't get off my mind. At a certain point in the story, let's say a character "dissapears" because collateral. That very same dissapereance is used all through the story as a valid argument from Yagami instead of making it's own Judgment of the situation in general and see the logical side on it.
The main villain is great though. Serve as Yagami contrary way of thinking while not totally being a cartoon one dimensional evil character. Maybe the best villain in the whole Yakuza series? It stil has flaws, but that doesn't take the fact is a good overall antagonist.
As any good modern RGG game is, this has a lot side content. School Stories are that, substories centered around the Seiryo High School. If you ever played any modern Persona title this would feel familiar. Join a club and help them as muchas you can as you level up your stats and start unlocking new stuff for you through the game. There minigames and the substories, not to mention there are two whole different towns to explore: Kamurocho and Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama.
So, in short. Awesome game with a tan weak story compared to the first.
The most game of any game I've ever gamed... I mean played.
It kept surprising me with the sheer volume of content and side games with their own progression systems; and even full on Sega Master System games plus three fighting games, one of which you have to play in order to complete a side quest, that being Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, yesforreal. AND you can play these fighting games in local multiplayer too, are you serious? Outside the "real games" you got a batting center, skateboarding, dating, photography, walking the dog, befriending cats, a dance rhythm game, a boxing game with its own fighting mechanics, drone racing with its own customization, gambling like blackjack, shogi, build-a-robot, a secret twin stick shooter, and even motorcycle death racing (which I didn't like at all).
This is all insane to me, but in my case, did it make me enjoy the game more? I would say... not especially. Before that though, I'm playing the PC (er... Steam Deck) version with all the game's DLC, minus the Kaito Files. So you have added items and features, the biggest one for me is the addition of the Brawler style. Not unlike Yakuza 0, your protagonist Yagami has different styles of combat that completely change how he plays. So normally Yagami has Tiger, Crane, and Snake. And adding an entirely new style, of course I want to use that. In order to unlock its abilities though you have to play the boxing minigame, makes sense now play the dancing game, Virtua Fighter 5, build-a-robot, and motorcross.
I ended up doing so, SO many minigames just to upgrade this stupid fighting style, plus having to fully complete the boxing side story itself. It takes so long, and frankly I was doing this for the wrong reasons in hindsight. I was rushing this process, trying to do everything as soon as possible which made everything I did to merely unlock this style to its full potential, feel like padding. The dangers of added content, I guess. Regardless of me acknowledging this was a bad mindset now, this caused me to get pretty tired of Lost Judgment just six chapters in.
I definitely had to push myself to play more after that mistake, but at least the combat itself was fun enough. I used every style more or less equally. Sometimes it was just for bonus exp that rewards using all three original styles, which I think is a good way of getting players to experiment, but I did find myself using each for different situations. Tiger was my go-to damage dealer, Crane was for crowds and mobility against more dangerous foes, Snake does grabs, disarms, and insta-kills on scared opponents, and Brawler became a beast of counter attacks and lighting-fast punches. The enemy and boss design though could still use some work. Some have attacks that are way too fast to react to, some can retaliate within your own combo, bosses can have multi-button qte's that I could never get on a first try (one of which is a instant game over, though I found that more funny then annoying), getting hit by bullets or blades can have Yagami be completely helpless for way too long, healing is a clunky pause and scrolling through the menu to eat food, and so on. The combat feels best when your against many opponents, since more often then not these were enemies that wouldn't instantly escape grabs and your combos yet you still had to keep an eye on your other adversaries, in case you got too greedy. And making enemies pass out from fear never gets old
What about the story in this overall-package? I've said in other reviews that I'm not too keen on doing deep-dives into stories, since I don't feel too well-versed in storytelling analysis. So I'll say this: take the content warnings seriously. You will see some intense shit, and some people will be very uncomfortable, even upset. Does it justify these intense content and themes? I'd say mostly. Though this studio does still have a problem with the portrayal of women. Not as bad as their other games, at least from what I've heard, but still not anywhere ideal.
The mystery of this detective story does go crazy with its ever-increasing scale and twists, which I'm all for in these stories. You got twist, turns, betrayals, revelations, and those fun "oh shit!" moments. Certainly don't enjoy the characters as much as 'Yakuza: Like A Dragon', but the villains were definitely a highlight with their ideals and motivations.
I don't think I'll be playing this again for a very long time. This is a game that can last you for months, possibly even a year. I've come to realize that I much prefer more focused games in terms of gameplay, and it does frustrate me that this combat system is so close to being honest-to-god great. But combat only makes up maybe 30% of the runtime, even disregarding all the optional content. Though, I suppose their major focus wasn't combat but sheer variety, which that in itself is admirable.
Did I mention you can walk the dog?
It kept surprising me with the sheer volume of content and side games with their own progression systems; and even full on Sega Master System games plus three fighting games, one of which you have to play in order to complete a side quest, that being Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, yesforreal. AND you can play these fighting games in local multiplayer too, are you serious? Outside the "real games" you got a batting center, skateboarding, dating, photography, walking the dog, befriending cats, a dance rhythm game, a boxing game with its own fighting mechanics, drone racing with its own customization, gambling like blackjack, shogi, build-a-robot, a secret twin stick shooter, and even motorcycle death racing (which I didn't like at all).
This is all insane to me, but in my case, did it make me enjoy the game more? I would say... not especially. Before that though, I'm playing the PC (er... Steam Deck) version with all the game's DLC, minus the Kaito Files. So you have added items and features, the biggest one for me is the addition of the Brawler style. Not unlike Yakuza 0, your protagonist Yagami has different styles of combat that completely change how he plays. So normally Yagami has Tiger, Crane, and Snake. And adding an entirely new style, of course I want to use that. In order to unlock its abilities though you have to play the boxing minigame, makes sense now play the dancing game, Virtua Fighter 5, build-a-robot, and motorcross.
I ended up doing so, SO many minigames just to upgrade this stupid fighting style, plus having to fully complete the boxing side story itself. It takes so long, and frankly I was doing this for the wrong reasons in hindsight. I was rushing this process, trying to do everything as soon as possible which made everything I did to merely unlock this style to its full potential, feel like padding. The dangers of added content, I guess. Regardless of me acknowledging this was a bad mindset now, this caused me to get pretty tired of Lost Judgment just six chapters in.
I definitely had to push myself to play more after that mistake, but at least the combat itself was fun enough. I used every style more or less equally. Sometimes it was just for bonus exp that rewards using all three original styles, which I think is a good way of getting players to experiment, but I did find myself using each for different situations. Tiger was my go-to damage dealer, Crane was for crowds and mobility against more dangerous foes, Snake does grabs, disarms, and insta-kills on scared opponents, and Brawler became a beast of counter attacks and lighting-fast punches. The enemy and boss design though could still use some work. Some have attacks that are way too fast to react to, some can retaliate within your own combo, bosses can have multi-button qte's that I could never get on a first try (one of which is a instant game over, though I found that more funny then annoying), getting hit by bullets or blades can have Yagami be completely helpless for way too long, healing is a clunky pause and scrolling through the menu to eat food, and so on. The combat feels best when your against many opponents, since more often then not these were enemies that wouldn't instantly escape grabs and your combos yet you still had to keep an eye on your other adversaries, in case you got too greedy. And making enemies pass out from fear never gets old
What about the story in this overall-package? I've said in other reviews that I'm not too keen on doing deep-dives into stories, since I don't feel too well-versed in storytelling analysis. So I'll say this: take the content warnings seriously. You will see some intense shit, and some people will be very uncomfortable, even upset. Does it justify these intense content and themes? I'd say mostly. Though this studio does still have a problem with the portrayal of women. Not as bad as their other games, at least from what I've heard, but still not anywhere ideal.
The mystery of this detective story does go crazy with its ever-increasing scale and twists, which I'm all for in these stories. You got twist, turns, betrayals, revelations, and those fun "oh shit!" moments. Certainly don't enjoy the characters as much as 'Yakuza: Like A Dragon', but the villains were definitely a highlight with their ideals and motivations.
I don't think I'll be playing this again for a very long time. This is a game that can last you for months, possibly even a year. I've come to realize that I much prefer more focused games in terms of gameplay, and it does frustrate me that this combat system is so close to being honest-to-god great. But combat only makes up maybe 30% of the runtime, even disregarding all the optional content. Though, I suppose their major focus wasn't combat but sheer variety, which that in itself is admirable.
Did I mention you can walk the dog?