There is a great detective story buried here, starting with a seemingly straightforward Yakuza murder case that spirals deeper and deeper into a web of wild, far-reaching conspiracies. But Jesus Christ, there is just too much padding. This didn't need to be a 30+ hour game. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's design philosophy is way outdated at this point; except for the pretty neat friend system this game is actually a noticeable step down from Yakuza 0 in terms of overall design (the latter being my only other point of reference from Yakuza mastermind Toshihiro Nagoshi so far).
Although I have a lot of love for Yakuza 0 and even Judgment to some degree, I'm not sure how much more time I will be spending exploring the studio's other titles. No matter how good their storytelling may be, if they truly want to retain my long-term interest, they need to show progress on the design front as well. Judgment is definitely an attempt to break away from their formula, but it's a superficial effort at best. Despite some new gameplay elements tailored to the detective angle this game is going for, you will still spend most of the time between cutscenes engaged in quickly tiresome street brawls and the occasional minigame. Unfortunately, the lack of a story-driven campaign attached to any of these minigames is yet another way in which Judgment feels like a step down from Yakuza 0. Moreover, Ryu Ga Gotoku is simply uninterested in providing interesting combat mechanics and enemies, hoping that the over the top heat action cinematics alone are enough to keep fights engaging. While these cinematics are indeed quite priceless, even the most outrageous ones get stale after the umpteenth time.
This is true for the game at large. The overall presentation absolutely kicks ass and Kamurocho feels alive as ever, but it really cannot sustain a game of this length. You've already seen what there is to see after the first few hours (especially if you're already familiar with the setting from the Yakuza games), so from then on the vast majority of the game will have you running up and down the same few streets, beating up the same few goons around every other corner just to progress the story. The characters are mostly cool, Yagami is a badass protagonist (in his own, aloof way) and Kaito is the perfect ex-Yakuza sidekick. Sadly, the few female characters that exist are relegated to obnoxiously misogynistic supporting roles, serving as either bait, glorified cheerleaders or tragic murder victims.
So yeah, these are some very generous 4 stars I'm awarding here. Gotta give credit to a game where smashing random people's bicycles and maintaining a constant stock of Jack Daniel's are your most powerful combat tactics.
Although I have a lot of love for Yakuza 0 and even Judgment to some degree, I'm not sure how much more time I will be spending exploring the studio's other titles. No matter how good their storytelling may be, if they truly want to retain my long-term interest, they need to show progress on the design front as well. Judgment is definitely an attempt to break away from their formula, but it's a superficial effort at best. Despite some new gameplay elements tailored to the detective angle this game is going for, you will still spend most of the time between cutscenes engaged in quickly tiresome street brawls and the occasional minigame. Unfortunately, the lack of a story-driven campaign attached to any of these minigames is yet another way in which Judgment feels like a step down from Yakuza 0. Moreover, Ryu Ga Gotoku is simply uninterested in providing interesting combat mechanics and enemies, hoping that the over the top heat action cinematics alone are enough to keep fights engaging. While these cinematics are indeed quite priceless, even the most outrageous ones get stale after the umpteenth time.
This is true for the game at large. The overall presentation absolutely kicks ass and Kamurocho feels alive as ever, but it really cannot sustain a game of this length. You've already seen what there is to see after the first few hours (especially if you're already familiar with the setting from the Yakuza games), so from then on the vast majority of the game will have you running up and down the same few streets, beating up the same few goons around every other corner just to progress the story. The characters are mostly cool, Yagami is a badass protagonist (in his own, aloof way) and Kaito is the perfect ex-Yakuza sidekick. Sadly, the few female characters that exist are relegated to obnoxiously misogynistic supporting roles, serving as either bait, glorified cheerleaders or tragic murder victims.
So yeah, these are some very generous 4 stars I'm awarding here. Gotta give credit to a game where smashing random people's bicycles and maintaining a constant stock of Jack Daniel's are your most powerful combat tactics.
What the fuck who AUTHORIZED THIS GAME, I love some of the Yakuza game but man oh man did the studio who makes these games step the fuck up, all the characters are great, all the villains are rememberable. There is so much I wanna say but I would be spoiling a lot. Game is great play it if you like Yakuza games especially 0 it improves on so much.
Lo primero, me ha gustado. En general me ha parecido una buena historia de detectives/abogados con la Yakuza mezclada, pero ugh, mil problemas.
Para empezar, lo he tenido que empezar tres veces, la primera culpa mia porque Death Stranding salió justo a la vez que me puse a jugarlo y lo abandoné, pero he tenido que forzarme a pasar de los dos primeros capitulos a la tercera para poder seguir, tiene un inicio super poco inspirado.
Los personajes son odiosos. TODOS. Empezando por Yagami, su amigo, el hacker, los yakuzas, los doctores, los NPC's, todo el mundo es odioso, no hay un solo personaje con una motivación decente o que no sea "quiero venganza", es que nadie tiene carisma, ni siquiera son graciosos como algunos personajes de la saga principal, es increible.
El combate/leveling/skills... Solo he jugado Zero de la saga, pero esto son 25 pasos para atrás. Se que el combate en estos juegos no es lo mas importante, pero es que esto es totalmente lamentable, el sistema de dar puntos para poder subir skills esta super mal balanceado y dan poquisimos, he acabado subiendo 4 cosas y con 2 nuevos movimientos en 30h o algo asi, horrible.
Las sides/minijuegos. Mira que lo intento, pero es que no hay manera, con otros juegos aún cuela alguna cosa, pero es que en este he tenido cero interés por nada que no fuera la main. He maxeado el Mario Party VR que hay, y he avanzado algo en las carreras de Drones, pero todo el resto es plano como el solo.
EL MODO DETECTIVE. ¿Por qué? Simplemente por qué se sigue haciendo esto. Mira que hay maneras de hacer una busqueda de pistas en una habitacion algo interesante, pero ponerte en primera persona e irte forzando a hacer zoom con movimiento restringido, es lamentable.
Las 45 misiones de seguir a alguien merecen mención a parte, creo que no existe ninguna mecánica mas asquerosa en ningun videojuego. Y aquí hay 5 FORZADAS.
Pero aun con todo esto, cada dia tenía ganas de jugarlo, Kamuroucho es una gozada para perderse por el, la ciudad se siente viva y sobre todo, la historia va por unos caminos que te van interesando cada vez más y más.
Tengo una extraña relación de amor-odio con este juego, y cierta parte de mi quiere una segunda parte pero otra parte de mí sabe que no voy a tocar otra cosa de este estudio en mucho tiempo
Para empezar, lo he tenido que empezar tres veces, la primera culpa mia porque Death Stranding salió justo a la vez que me puse a jugarlo y lo abandoné, pero he tenido que forzarme a pasar de los dos primeros capitulos a la tercera para poder seguir, tiene un inicio super poco inspirado.
Los personajes son odiosos. TODOS. Empezando por Yagami, su amigo, el hacker, los yakuzas, los doctores, los NPC's, todo el mundo es odioso, no hay un solo personaje con una motivación decente o que no sea "quiero venganza", es que nadie tiene carisma, ni siquiera son graciosos como algunos personajes de la saga principal, es increible.
El combate/leveling/skills... Solo he jugado Zero de la saga, pero esto son 25 pasos para atrás. Se que el combate en estos juegos no es lo mas importante, pero es que esto es totalmente lamentable, el sistema de dar puntos para poder subir skills esta super mal balanceado y dan poquisimos, he acabado subiendo 4 cosas y con 2 nuevos movimientos en 30h o algo asi, horrible.
Las sides/minijuegos. Mira que lo intento, pero es que no hay manera, con otros juegos aún cuela alguna cosa, pero es que en este he tenido cero interés por nada que no fuera la main. He maxeado el Mario Party VR que hay, y he avanzado algo en las carreras de Drones, pero todo el resto es plano como el solo.
EL MODO DETECTIVE. ¿Por qué? Simplemente por qué se sigue haciendo esto. Mira que hay maneras de hacer una busqueda de pistas en una habitacion algo interesante, pero ponerte en primera persona e irte forzando a hacer zoom con movimiento restringido, es lamentable.
Las 45 misiones de seguir a alguien merecen mención a parte, creo que no existe ninguna mecánica mas asquerosa en ningun videojuego. Y aquí hay 5 FORZADAS.
Pero aun con todo esto, cada dia tenía ganas de jugarlo, Kamuroucho es una gozada para perderse por el, la ciudad se siente viva y sobre todo, la historia va por unos caminos que te van interesando cada vez más y más.
Tengo una extraña relación de amor-odio con este juego, y cierta parte de mi quiere una segunda parte pero otra parte de mí sabe que no voy a tocar otra cosa de este estudio en mucho tiempo
The best RGG story yet, but a few of the new gameplay elements like the tailing missions (Cool the first couple times, extremely annoying the next 50) and the threat meter keep the score from reach the 5/5 status, but without a doubt still a phenomenal game with tons of content, had about 60 hours in when I finished and I still had 5 side cases and a little extra content left to do too.
It does pain me not to be able to give the game a 5/5 because the story is one of the best detective/courtroom drama/serial killer thriller I've seen unfold on my TV screen, but those few gameplay flaws just got too damn tedious to ignore.
Still highly recommended to anyone who wants a great mystery story and some fantastic beat-em up action (This is the Dragon Engine at its absolute best) with amazing martial arts choreography though. If you're a fan of the Yakuza or the Phoenix Wright series this is definitely one you don't want to miss!
It does pain me not to be able to give the game a 5/5 because the story is one of the best detective/courtroom drama/serial killer thriller I've seen unfold on my TV screen, but those few gameplay flaws just got too damn tedious to ignore.
Still highly recommended to anyone who wants a great mystery story and some fantastic beat-em up action (This is the Dragon Engine at its absolute best) with amazing martial arts choreography though. If you're a fan of the Yakuza or the Phoenix Wright series this is definitely one you don't want to miss!
My favourite RGG game, I got into this more than any of the Yakuza games. It helps that it's a standalone story not tied into a 7+ game sprawling saga. It has all the gameplay and
the setting of the Yakuza games but with a more straightforward tale of a Ex-Lawyer turned private detective investigating some suspicious Yakuza killings.
Like the Yakuza games this has a ridiculous amount of things to do too. 50 hours in and the story finished and I'm only at 61% complete.
the setting of the Yakuza games but with a more straightforward tale of a Ex-Lawyer turned private detective investigating some suspicious Yakuza killings.
Like the Yakuza games this has a ridiculous amount of things to do too. 50 hours in and the story finished and I'm only at 61% complete.
Yagami is fun to control with his two fighting styles, as he's more acrobatic compared to Kiryu in the Dragon Engine. I quite enjoyed the main mystery. The Keihin Gang can be very annoying after a while. Aiming for 100% completion isn't fun with this game especially. I definitely would like to see more stories from Yagami and his friends.
One of my favorite games I played in 2019. I was totally into the story and characters all the way through, there's a lot of fun side stories and the combat, while pretty simple, was fun and had some cool encounters. Like the yakuza games its choke full of side content, and I think even after a 60~ hour playthrough I was informed I only did like 35% of the game.
If you like the Yakuza franchise, don't miss this. I see it going on sale pretty often, you'll like it.
If you like the Yakuza franchise, don't miss this. I see it going on sale pretty often, you'll like it.
I fell off Yakuza 0 about Chapter 3 due to having difficulty keeping track of the story and being intimidated by how huge the series was. I didn't plan on playing this but it was a tenner and the demo was impressive so why not.
And, eh...
PEOPLE! WERE! NOT! JOKING! WHEN! THEY! SAID! I! WOULD! FEEL! THINGS!
The characters now occupy a huge place in my heart, the detective story was utterly gripping, the combat was amazing even if I'm a little bad at it and just overall this is one of my new favourite games holy christ!
And, eh...
PEOPLE! WERE! NOT! JOKING! WHEN! THEY! SAID! I! WOULD! FEEL! THINGS!
The characters now occupy a huge place in my heart, the detective story was utterly gripping, the combat was amazing even if I'm a little bad at it and just overall this is one of my new favourite games holy christ!