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 :)]