The best combat RGG has made, great side content, cool QOL changes, less tailing missions, overall big upgrade to Judgment.

Only the story is mixed - great villains, good topic of the story, cool to have a lot of returning characters, but writing is sometimes weird and Yagami as a protag is worse in this game.

Only I wish there was more long battles and boss battles missions and coliseum in side content. Also boxer style should be unlockable in boxing minigame.

Es hat die bekannten Yakuzastärken und die bekannten Yakuzaschwächen.

Die Story und die Hauptdialoge sind super.
Die Nebenstorys zum Vergessen schlecht.
Die Minigames alle viiieeel zu langsam und unbedeutend.
Monopoly ist nachweislich das schlechteste Brettspiel der Welt. Und dennoch wurde hier eine noch schlechtere Version eingebaut. Warum?

Und dennoch bin ich froh, dass ich trotz dem mieserabelen Yakuza Like a Dragon Lost Judgment gespielt zu haben.

Die Dialoge der Mainstory haben so eine hohe Qualität, gerade in Verbindung mit dem genialen Soundtrack.
Wäre nicht alles andere (vom Kämpfen, über die Kletterpassagen bis hin zu den Verfolgungsszenen) nervig, könnte man das Spiel jedem problemlos empfehlen.

Aber die Yakuzakrankheiten bleiben, daher idealerweise auf leicht stellen und einfach ALLES ignorieren, was nicht der Mainstory dient.

This game is fucking awesome.

"She can't say her peace without a voice. So if I don't raise mine for her, what justice prevails!?"

Lost Judgment is a game that is fixated on the injustices of the world, mainly their roots and how society responds to them. It's a game that refuses to answer its moral dilemma that pits vigilantism against the law, instead opting to leave you intriguing questions about morality and what true justice really means. When left unchecked, the evils in the world can fester to terrifying proportions, and what happens when its already too late? How does the law maintain a balance between enacting justice and upholding order? While, RGG has been known for making tight and engaging narratives, this is the type of story you didn't know they had in them.
On a more technical point of view, the narrative definitely has its flaws. The game sacrifices alot of the personal stakes on Yagami from the first game in favor for a more thematically strong tale and the second half definitely loses itself a little in its grand government conspiracy, which makes Yagami's argument feel less fluid than it should be towards the end of the game, with the biggest example being the taxi ride scene. However, the sheer thematic might of Lost Judgment's narrative has solidified this spin-off series' capability to stand on its own two legs and tackle subjects that the Yakuza series rarely explores such as bullying, suicide and vigilantism along with their ramifications towards society, all culminating in one of the best finales the series has ever seen.

Without spoiling their identity, the main antagonist of the game is easily the greatest antagonist RGG has ever made. Each time they interact with Yagami is a sight to behold along with their characterization and parallels to him in the context of what they represent, all culminating in one of the most satisfying conclusion RGG has given to an antagonist in their rogues gallery of already incredible antagonists. Hell, other antagonists in this game like Soma and Akutsu are incredible too, along with the side cast with new and old characters alike (bar the Genda Law Office gang, they really fumbled with them for this game). Shoutouts go to Kuwana, Tesso, Ehara, and my boys Sugiura and Tsukumo.

Comparing the combat in this game to Judgment feels like day and night. Yagami's attacks flow faster from the start and juggling feels way more satisfying and smooth to pull off. Each fighting style has their own unique flow to them: Snake helps for disarming and taking enemies out of the fight quickly, Tiger now feels more balanced compared to the first game and its moveset has increased tremendously, Boxer helps with juggling and punishing enemies for blocking, and Crane...feels better than sex now. The way each style interweaves with each other as you upgrade Yagami with unique boosts that carry to every style provides a sense of diversity to your "build" of Yagami. Its RGG combat at its finest and most polished, to put it simply.

The open world feels incredible to explore too! Ijincho's gargantuan size is accommodated for with the fast travel system and the new skateboard mechanic, which also makes Lost Judgment the true successor to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The school setting is such a breath of fresh air and tones down the scale of the story in a manner akin to Yakuza 3's orphanage setting, introducing fun characters like Amasawa and several intriguing 'school stories', a top contender for my favorite piece of side content in the series. Highlights are definitely the Boxing club and the Robotics Club, both having engaging plots and actual depth to their minigames, almost reminding me of something like the Taxi minigame from Yakuza 5. The open world has its blemishes though, as always. Substories are poorly distributed and paced in this game, with the bulk of them being found around the first half of the game and then becoming non existent in the second half for some reason. The Biker gang school story fucking stinks too, its way too punishing and literally unwinnable.

I'll definitely check out the Kaito Files in the near future but in the end, Lost Judgment is a beautiful gestalt that crushes its slight flaws by marrying its unique premise and thematic complexity to the emotional weight of the mainline series, culminating in an exhilarating and thought-provoking entry that I can gladly say is the best game in the franchise. Only time will tell if Infinite Wealth will dethrone it but as of now, I am very comfortable declaring this stance.

TLDR Unwavering Belief>Kendrick's entire discography

Lost Judgment has its flaws but those flaws are also completely upended by the ludicrous amount of content it has, This game manages to have almost the same amount of content as Yakuza 5 and that is saying something since Yakuza 5 feels like its bloated with content with some of it not justifying its inclusion, This is never the case with the content in LJ it manages to keep each and every aspect of content excess justified and fun to boot.

My main criticism regarding the game is its story not having a really strong basis to drive its messaging in which in turn makes the game feel like a social commentary piece that never really earns the audience's belief in the message that it tries so hard to sell, Which usually is never the case with the Like a Dragon franchise which usually handles societal critique in a mature and much more delicate manner.

The Kaito Files is RGG's first attempt at story expansion through a DLC and honestly they nail their first attempt with the DLC managing to not only flesh out existing characters like Kaito but also providing a newer fresher gameplay experience in a game that is already chock full of content.

There is so much here to enjoy that LJ really feels like a steal even at 70$ with the series' best feeling combat, amazing music and a flawed but meaningful story.

“She Can't Say Her Piece Without A Voice. So If I Don't Raise Mine For Her, What Justice Prevails!?”

WHAT. A. GAME. WHAT A STORY MY GOD.

my god i love this maybe a bit too much, the fixating on the injustice in the court system to taking justice with your own hands, this game really has one the best MORALLY GREY casts of all time.

kuwana is just too good, what a villian. just CINEMA. hes so ominous, the mental torture and the cruelty he projects on his former students and victims in the name of justice, just amazing.

i know people found annoying, but i think yagami bringing up sawa sensei everytime is great. and he makes a pretty good point, can you call what happened to her justice? emphasizing how she deserves justice as well and how kuwanas actions directly led to her death.

ehara and soma were also great characters, and the kaito files were also great.

the combat wow, RGG perfected it, this the peak of combat in the entire franchise, the details the new movesets, the new fighting styles, all the new great Ex-action. honestly top 5 combat of all time.

I really dug Judgment when I played it earlier this year so I was pretty hype for the sequel. For my taste, it doesn't quite stack up. I still think it's a pretty solid title but I have my hang ups.

To start on the positive side, the combat is super smooth. Some of the most fluid gameplay they've had. Snake style is a ton of fun, I loved parrying and making enemies look like fools. That said, I could've done without Yagami taking so fucking long to get up sometimes. I get it's to make him feel more human compared to other protagonists (mainly Kiryu) but it started to grind my gears some. I played with the Japanese audio but the voice acting is always great. Visually this thing's beautiful.

Story wise I'm up and down. They went a similar route with the prior title, giving sympathetic edges to the villains. I dug a fair amount of the characters, I liked seeing the gang back again. But I do think this lost me a little towards the end. I'd personally prefer if they did these LA Noire style with different cases. Maybe give me four cases, four chapters each. The long winded conspiracy shit started to drain me. I think the court segments help tie everything together but it's still so drawn out it gets exhausting.

The side content has always been a plus for me with these games. There's a ton of it, some won't appeal to you at all, but surely something will catch your eye. I liked the side cases here though I'm not into the whole listening to people on the street and trying to twitter search keywords to find substories. Some of this stuff was kinda overwhelming with just the amount of content I didn't find too interesting. I don't care about finding squirrel graffiti then wandering in a circle for 2 minutes to find a fuckin' pebble or something. Extracts can be useful but I never really needed them, I'll never care about VR, I don't care much about becoming BFFs with every stray cat either. So for me, outside of the side cases none of them really hit for me.

Outside of the combat I had issues with the other gameplay features. Parkour is boring, the stealth is pretty weak even laughable at times. Tailing still isn't very good. Chases sequences are still just OK. I wasn't too big on the gadgets either. It felt like filler to pad out the gameplay. Nothing kills momentum like fighting your way through a warehouse of thugs only to stop and start lockpicking doors or fumbling around searching for some obscure clue on where to go next.

All in all, I liked it. Overrated to a degree. If they make another Judgment I'll play it, if not I won't lose any sleep.

this game.. THIS GAME.. by far.. THE BEST GAME RGG HAS EVER MADE, QUITE LITERALLY TOP 1 IN THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE!!!

the story, while not as good as judgment (only because the bar was very high) is still amazing! it's very compelling at kept me on the hook for the entirety of the game! yagami and the gang are as good as ever, the new characters are very good too! and the main antagonist is an amazing antagonist that's just as different from a yakuza game antagonist! the game also looks really damn beautiful!

the gameplay is EASILY the best combat in ANY rgg game, the 2 fighting styles are equally good now, with a new style snake, being just as great too! the speed of the combat is really fast at the start and it's just amazing from start to finish, it's all just SOO GODDAMN GOOD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA the bossfights are amazing in this game too! they're really fun and engaging!

the side content, holy hell i need to divide them into 2:

first let's talk about the school stories, the school stories are REALLY DAMN GOOD

- Dance club: a very fun minigame with an interesting enough story
- Robotics club: at this point this is just another game, it's very fun and engaging! though a bit grindy and would take you a while long to finish
- Boxing gym: it's really damn fun! the boxing style is pretty good and it's a very engaging minigame!
- Biker gang: another really fun minigame! story in simple but interesting enough.
- Photography club: nothing special with this one unfortunately
- Casino: same case
- Girl's club: the closest ill get to finishing a hostess-like minigame, really fun tho and the girls were great!
- Skaters: i love the skateboard in this game so i of course really enjoyed this! with great tracks and arena.
esports club: literally just playing virtua fighter which i like!

overall while there are some that are way more developed than others, the school stories were really excellent and i highly recommend checking them out!

and now the side content outside the school, is pretty damn good too! hell this is the first ever rgg game that i 100% all of the side stories and faced an amon for the first time ever despite knowing about them which was really fun! it has some collectables which i had to use a guide for cuz it would've taken way too long, but overall was a fun distraction! the soundtrack.. if indoomie vegetables noodles were a music, it would be lost judgement due to it being MARVELLOUS!! so many different genres with all of them being really amazing! the final boss theme.. holy mother of god it ASCENDS!!

overall 10/10 PLAY THIS DAMN GAME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEA-

This game rules but the main story is ASS, possibly the worst RGG has made. Which is a real shame as a followup to Judgement, what I'd consider to be the best written game in the series. Or at least the one with the best pacing. On the other end of the spectrum; Lost Judgement's story doesnt execute anything well.

The game effectively reaches it's climax at Chapter7.... of 13 lol. After this point the story becomes reminiscent of the earlier Yakuza titles in the worst possible way. Things just start happening - Go to X. Now go talk to Y in a different city. Oh shit its person Z, time for a 20 minute infodump of things you pieced together 3 hours ago. This continues all the way till the end where you're told "maybe sometimes being a serial killer is justifed..." Great game for attack on titan fans!

Im not kidding when I say the sidestories (both the main overarching one & 4minute jokey ones) are written better.
On that note: Side content this time around is great, some of the best in the series even! Combat is also the best the Dragon Engine has to offer.

If youre playing these games in release order you know what youre in for by now - I had fun with it and you likely will too. But the difference in quality between the main story and everything else is extremely apparent.