Easily the most well written story I've seen RGG make from the games I've played so far. The pacing issues from the first game are non-existent in this game, as there's only like, 3-ish interruptions in the story, but those were to introduce mechanics and only lasted for around 5-ish minutes so it was fine. I adore how the Judgment series continues to tackle real life issues in their stories, and with the focus on bullying in this game, as it makes many characters sympathetic and you can understand why certain characters do the things they do. This is the perfect time to segue to the main antagonist of the game. This character has quickly become one of my favorite antagonists I've seen in any media. They do such a good job making the player understand where this character is coming from and sympathizing with them, there are moments where you might even go "hold up, let them cook" at certain points. And that final boss theme is so fucking rad
The combat has had a huge upgrade from 1, and it shows. Every style is now much more balanced and are more varied where each style has been given more utility in certain situations. The addition of the Snake style is also fantastic. One of my complaints with the previous game is that when doing combos, you're stuck during your combo animations with no way of canceling, leading to you getting hit. Games like Dark Souls I can let get away with this because your attacks as well as the enemies are slow but deliberate and you can pick and chose your battles most of the time, but with the Yakuza games, you are consistently forced into small areas with multiple enemies that have very fast attacks. Snake style extremely mitigates that (the other styles still have the same problem with the exception of being in certain states). Something this game does really well is the added incentives of trying out different styles. The addition of the little combat bonuses given at the end of battles is great at making the player wanting to try out different things and use a lot more of the mechanics, and I really hope this small feature will show up in more RGG games. Another way how the game wants you to keep switching styles which I adore are the 'Secret of the X', and the 'Hidden Arts' skills. I love how you can get certain buffs with your styles, and then transfer the buffs to the other styles, constantly making you switch styles to gain/keep the buffs.
One of the biggest things about Lost Judgment are the school stories. I'll be honest, I barely touched any of the side content in this game mainly because I was so engrossed with the story and I didn't want to kill the high I was having with the plot, so I can't really say much about the side content. I will say, from like the 10 sub-stories I have done, they already feel more memorable than the first Judgment. They were more entertaining humor wise, and the scenarios were a lot more out there. There wasn't a single 'oh no I think my spouse is cheating on me' side story I've encountered and I'm grateful.
This game is like a constant 8/10 or above, and is an improvement over the first game in basically every single way. I don't know how RGG has done it, but the Judgment series is 2 for 2 when it comes to the stories. It's a shame that the series is most likely gonna end here because I would love to see more of what they would do with how they depict the law in future games. Can't wait to start the Kaito DLC.
The combat has had a huge upgrade from 1, and it shows. Every style is now much more balanced and are more varied where each style has been given more utility in certain situations. The addition of the Snake style is also fantastic. One of my complaints with the previous game is that when doing combos, you're stuck during your combo animations with no way of canceling, leading to you getting hit. Games like Dark Souls I can let get away with this because your attacks as well as the enemies are slow but deliberate and you can pick and chose your battles most of the time, but with the Yakuza games, you are consistently forced into small areas with multiple enemies that have very fast attacks. Snake style extremely mitigates that (the other styles still have the same problem with the exception of being in certain states). Something this game does really well is the added incentives of trying out different styles. The addition of the little combat bonuses given at the end of battles is great at making the player wanting to try out different things and use a lot more of the mechanics, and I really hope this small feature will show up in more RGG games. Another way how the game wants you to keep switching styles which I adore are the 'Secret of the X', and the 'Hidden Arts' skills. I love how you can get certain buffs with your styles, and then transfer the buffs to the other styles, constantly making you switch styles to gain/keep the buffs.
One of the biggest things about Lost Judgment are the school stories. I'll be honest, I barely touched any of the side content in this game mainly because I was so engrossed with the story and I didn't want to kill the high I was having with the plot, so I can't really say much about the side content. I will say, from like the 10 sub-stories I have done, they already feel more memorable than the first Judgment. They were more entertaining humor wise, and the scenarios were a lot more out there. There wasn't a single 'oh no I think my spouse is cheating on me' side story I've encountered and I'm grateful.
This game is like a constant 8/10 or above, and is an improvement over the first game in basically every single way. I don't know how RGG has done it, but the Judgment series is 2 for 2 when it comes to the stories. It's a shame that the series is most likely gonna end here because I would love to see more of what they would do with how they depict the law in future games. Can't wait to start the Kaito DLC.