I'm just gonna sum my points up for this game because there is A LOT of content in this game you could talk about.
Exploration is pretty fun with the addition of the skateboard. I never found out what the points did though, its probably part of some side quest. I wish the skateboard could be used on sidewalks, had more trick or more thing to interact with in the environment. Its also pretty weird that what you get here is only most of ijincho, some of it is cut off for some reason. I think that if RGG wants these bigger maps, they need to expand the rpg mechanics a bit to give the player more incentive to explore and do things. Its one of the reasons I think ijincho was best in Like a Dragon, its systems made you go around and do things.
Combat is cool, but its not my favorite RGG combat system. Tiger is still the best, it just has the best of all three worlds. Sure, crane's quicksteps is better and snakes parry is better than the standard block but tiger makes both of them good. Cranes attacks get blocked too often, enemies break out of snakes grabs too often. Snake has no quick getup option, cranes jump ability is sadly underwhelming. All that being said, I did use snake mostly because it was better than crane and I didnt want to use tiger the whole game again like I did in the first judgment. I think the reason people like lost judgments combat the most is because its the most polished of the stance switching combat games and it has the most tools to play around with. I much prefer gaidens more focused combat on the 2 stances than lost judgments 3/4 stances that mostly get relegated or I forced myself to use. Another issue I have with this games combat is that you don't really get many opportunities to "express" the combat. What I mean by that is theres surprisingly not many of the traditional levels you go through with combat and most enemies die very fast, on top of no coliseum (which in context of the game makes sense, but still). Playing this game, I was on hard mode and didnt upgrade my attack at all until chapter 11, and I wouldnt upgrade it at all if I were to play again. In fact, I had the training band on which reduced my attack by 15%. After maxing out my attack, I shit stomped every enemy so fast, it was bewildering. I also wish the upgrades were more meaningful, most upgrade suck ass or are just very specific. Like snake stance has a counter that only work if you arent in ex mode and have less than one bar of heat. WHEN THE FUCK AM I EVER USING THAT? Some heats moves too are like, while in ex heat, run towards a wall with 3 enemies and at low health. A bit of an exaggeration but I think it makes my point.
Without getting into spoilers, the story is not reaching the highs the first one did. Given, its kinda hard to do so when yagami was so personally involved in the first one. This game is better paced because you arent forced to do any shitty tailing missions and side quests but its not as dramatic as the first. Sometimes, its even seems like your pals dont even really care about the situation your in. I think its good, dont get me wrong but if the first game was better paced, it would have the better story.
My biggest issue however is how hand holdy the game is. I'm not a big fan of the ps1 millenials that hate quest markers and being told where to go, I hate getting lost in games. But this game is constantly guiding you like it has no faith in its player. This game has climbing and stealth segments but they arent very fun because really any mechanics to them, and they never let you just play the portion. The stealth for example is just a glorified tailing mission where you walk, then sometimes throw a coin, then walk again. I like stealth game, I love all the MGS game but the best part of those games gameplay was that they just let you figure it out on your own. You were free to express yourself through your own gameplay. The stealth in this is constantly telling you where to go and what to do, youre basically on rails. Maybe the comparisons to MGS is too much but if your gonna do these segments, make them interesting or just cut them out the game. Don't add these half baked gameplay segments into the game. The climbing segments also constantly tell you where to go and is pretty stale too. Theres a feature where you have to run on a wall and its used like 3 times in the whole game and its the most fun part of the climbing segments. Both the climbing and the stealth segments are cheap ways to inflate the game length. The game has so many little minigames and segments it forget to use some. Remember those tailing missions I was hating on? Theyre here but in the main game there is only 1, and its in the beginning. Thank god, right? But why even have it here in the first place? Lockpicking also makes a return and is used like twice. Sure, I dont mind some things being used to spice up gameplay, but its strange that you can get skills for these things and barely see them. The hand holding goes so far that I even got a tutorial message on wall running in THE FINAL ZONE. For a detective game, I think its should use its medium well and actually have the player do the thinking instead of just watching the characters figure it out in conversation. The investigation mode sucks so bad, you just look all over the rooms youre in till the game say you can leave. The player never has to piece anything together or really even understand whats happening. I just wish I had to actually figure something out, and not just watch yagami do it himself.
I do believe this game is still really good though, its probably in my top 5 RGG games. The combat is flashy and simple, it looks great, and skateboarding around town will never not be a vibe.
Exploration is pretty fun with the addition of the skateboard. I never found out what the points did though, its probably part of some side quest. I wish the skateboard could be used on sidewalks, had more trick or more thing to interact with in the environment. Its also pretty weird that what you get here is only most of ijincho, some of it is cut off for some reason. I think that if RGG wants these bigger maps, they need to expand the rpg mechanics a bit to give the player more incentive to explore and do things. Its one of the reasons I think ijincho was best in Like a Dragon, its systems made you go around and do things.
Combat is cool, but its not my favorite RGG combat system. Tiger is still the best, it just has the best of all three worlds. Sure, crane's quicksteps is better and snakes parry is better than the standard block but tiger makes both of them good. Cranes attacks get blocked too often, enemies break out of snakes grabs too often. Snake has no quick getup option, cranes jump ability is sadly underwhelming. All that being said, I did use snake mostly because it was better than crane and I didnt want to use tiger the whole game again like I did in the first judgment. I think the reason people like lost judgments combat the most is because its the most polished of the stance switching combat games and it has the most tools to play around with. I much prefer gaidens more focused combat on the 2 stances than lost judgments 3/4 stances that mostly get relegated or I forced myself to use. Another issue I have with this games combat is that you don't really get many opportunities to "express" the combat. What I mean by that is theres surprisingly not many of the traditional levels you go through with combat and most enemies die very fast, on top of no coliseum (which in context of the game makes sense, but still). Playing this game, I was on hard mode and didnt upgrade my attack at all until chapter 11, and I wouldnt upgrade it at all if I were to play again. In fact, I had the training band on which reduced my attack by 15%. After maxing out my attack, I shit stomped every enemy so fast, it was bewildering. I also wish the upgrades were more meaningful, most upgrade suck ass or are just very specific. Like snake stance has a counter that only work if you arent in ex mode and have less than one bar of heat. WHEN THE FUCK AM I EVER USING THAT? Some heats moves too are like, while in ex heat, run towards a wall with 3 enemies and at low health. A bit of an exaggeration but I think it makes my point.
Without getting into spoilers, the story is not reaching the highs the first one did. Given, its kinda hard to do so when yagami was so personally involved in the first one. This game is better paced because you arent forced to do any shitty tailing missions and side quests but its not as dramatic as the first. Sometimes, its even seems like your pals dont even really care about the situation your in. I think its good, dont get me wrong but if the first game was better paced, it would have the better story.
My biggest issue however is how hand holdy the game is. I'm not a big fan of the ps1 millenials that hate quest markers and being told where to go, I hate getting lost in games. But this game is constantly guiding you like it has no faith in its player. This game has climbing and stealth segments but they arent very fun because really any mechanics to them, and they never let you just play the portion. The stealth for example is just a glorified tailing mission where you walk, then sometimes throw a coin, then walk again. I like stealth game, I love all the MGS game but the best part of those games gameplay was that they just let you figure it out on your own. You were free to express yourself through your own gameplay. The stealth in this is constantly telling you where to go and what to do, youre basically on rails. Maybe the comparisons to MGS is too much but if your gonna do these segments, make them interesting or just cut them out the game. Don't add these half baked gameplay segments into the game. The climbing segments also constantly tell you where to go and is pretty stale too. Theres a feature where you have to run on a wall and its used like 3 times in the whole game and its the most fun part of the climbing segments. Both the climbing and the stealth segments are cheap ways to inflate the game length. The game has so many little minigames and segments it forget to use some. Remember those tailing missions I was hating on? Theyre here but in the main game there is only 1, and its in the beginning. Thank god, right? But why even have it here in the first place? Lockpicking also makes a return and is used like twice. Sure, I dont mind some things being used to spice up gameplay, but its strange that you can get skills for these things and barely see them. The hand holding goes so far that I even got a tutorial message on wall running in THE FINAL ZONE. For a detective game, I think its should use its medium well and actually have the player do the thinking instead of just watching the characters figure it out in conversation. The investigation mode sucks so bad, you just look all over the rooms youre in till the game say you can leave. The player never has to piece anything together or really even understand whats happening. I just wish I had to actually figure something out, and not just watch yagami do it himself.
I do believe this game is still really good though, its probably in my top 5 RGG games. The combat is flashy and simple, it looks great, and skateboarding around town will never not be a vibe.