Going into this game I was very excited to see a new spin off of RGG Studios start to branch off more and become its own identity, and one thing for sure, this game is unapologetically its own game; however, after finishing the game I keep finding myself underwhelmed with its overall scope. I really wanted to like the game, but in all honesty I cannot fake it. It definitely feels like one of RGGs weaker titles.
I mostly have an issue with the story and feature creep in this game. The story feels very messy compared to its predecessor and the amount of things you can do in this game are wayyy too overwhelming for its own good, or at least for my interest. I know it's weird to say that when almost every Yakuza game is like that, but this game is different. While you have a whole side career as a club adviser for a High School that doesn't require you to finish it in order to beat the game, it's tied to minigames that I just could not for the life me get very far in. I understand its to help give some logical progression in their respective stories, but it gets exhausting after a few hours. It doesn't have the same impact that Yakuza 5 has with the side quests that each character had. Sure it got repetitive doing Haruka's dance battles or Saejima's hunting dragged out a lot at times, but there was a whole system fleshed out with their side quests that genuinely felt incentivizing. Lost Judgment I didn't feel enough incentives to progress. Maybe that's just a personal issue rather than a general issue, but I leave that up to the viewer.
I know there's a lot that I could have done had I progress, but quite honestly I got the game to experience the story and characters of Lost Judgment, not to play as a club advisor for a high school which I am aware is apart of its world, but eh its inconsequential at best. I appreciate the ambition and massive world building opportunities present to me, but it just felt like RGG got too excited/ambitious and bit off more than they could chew.
I don't know how their development functions, but I genuinely would not be surprised if the story fell through because of the amount of stuff you could do with the high school quests because the story fell pretty flat. It played it safe, and not in a very good way. I won't spoil it, but I will say there felt no major consequence to anyone's actions in the end or a sudden dramatic change in character to express the pressure of the circumstances. I know it's hard for a studio to hit the mark twice with their own franchises, and in a way unrealistic, but man with the way the story felt like a constant plateau the ending just didn't feel satisfactory enough. I'm not saying more deaths or punishments or something, but just something that didn't just feel like another event with a plateau feeling.
The only saving grace for this game would be the cast and the combat. The cast as always is memorable and lovable/hatable. I never got enough of them and I'm happy with the future DLC I'll get a bit more in the end too. The combat is probably the BEST in the entire franchise in my opinion. Everything just feels fluid and kinetic as hell. I don't remember if it was the same in the original game, but there was DEFINITELY some massive improvements in that field with this game and I'm glad it did. I'll take a mid story with over ambitious features if it means having a wonderful combat system.
Overall, I'd say this game isn't a BAD game. Even when it sucks, it still could be a LOT worse, but I just feel like RGG needs to stop overdoing itself. Yakuza 5's and 0's ambitious worlds were fine enough as it was. There was a lot to do, had a lot of satisfying incentives, and it just overall FELT good. I wish they didn't feel the need to keep outdoing themselves (assuming that is the case) sometimes just playing a game about being a detective. doing detective things and maybe even lawyer things is more than enough for me. I don't need to be this all encompassing hero of the day kind of stuff. Leave that for future projects to add to RGG's belt of amazing titles! Please RGG!
I'd recommend this to the following:
-Yakuza fans (obviously)
-people looking for a massive world to explore and have fun in
-Have an inkling for "open world" AAA titles but want a more unique experience.
I really can't recommend this much to anyone else unfortunately, yet in that same sentiment, I think thats ok. Not all games have to be 100% perfect. That's too much to ask out of a developer.
I mostly have an issue with the story and feature creep in this game. The story feels very messy compared to its predecessor and the amount of things you can do in this game are wayyy too overwhelming for its own good, or at least for my interest. I know it's weird to say that when almost every Yakuza game is like that, but this game is different. While you have a whole side career as a club adviser for a High School that doesn't require you to finish it in order to beat the game, it's tied to minigames that I just could not for the life me get very far in. I understand its to help give some logical progression in their respective stories, but it gets exhausting after a few hours. It doesn't have the same impact that Yakuza 5 has with the side quests that each character had. Sure it got repetitive doing Haruka's dance battles or Saejima's hunting dragged out a lot at times, but there was a whole system fleshed out with their side quests that genuinely felt incentivizing. Lost Judgment I didn't feel enough incentives to progress. Maybe that's just a personal issue rather than a general issue, but I leave that up to the viewer.
I know there's a lot that I could have done had I progress, but quite honestly I got the game to experience the story and characters of Lost Judgment, not to play as a club advisor for a high school which I am aware is apart of its world, but eh its inconsequential at best. I appreciate the ambition and massive world building opportunities present to me, but it just felt like RGG got too excited/ambitious and bit off more than they could chew.
I don't know how their development functions, but I genuinely would not be surprised if the story fell through because of the amount of stuff you could do with the high school quests because the story fell pretty flat. It played it safe, and not in a very good way. I won't spoil it, but I will say there felt no major consequence to anyone's actions in the end or a sudden dramatic change in character to express the pressure of the circumstances. I know it's hard for a studio to hit the mark twice with their own franchises, and in a way unrealistic, but man with the way the story felt like a constant plateau the ending just didn't feel satisfactory enough. I'm not saying more deaths or punishments or something, but just something that didn't just feel like another event with a plateau feeling.
The only saving grace for this game would be the cast and the combat. The cast as always is memorable and lovable/hatable. I never got enough of them and I'm happy with the future DLC I'll get a bit more in the end too. The combat is probably the BEST in the entire franchise in my opinion. Everything just feels fluid and kinetic as hell. I don't remember if it was the same in the original game, but there was DEFINITELY some massive improvements in that field with this game and I'm glad it did. I'll take a mid story with over ambitious features if it means having a wonderful combat system.
Overall, I'd say this game isn't a BAD game. Even when it sucks, it still could be a LOT worse, but I just feel like RGG needs to stop overdoing itself. Yakuza 5's and 0's ambitious worlds were fine enough as it was. There was a lot to do, had a lot of satisfying incentives, and it just overall FELT good. I wish they didn't feel the need to keep outdoing themselves (assuming that is the case) sometimes just playing a game about being a detective. doing detective things and maybe even lawyer things is more than enough for me. I don't need to be this all encompassing hero of the day kind of stuff. Leave that for future projects to add to RGG's belt of amazing titles! Please RGG!
I'd recommend this to the following:
-Yakuza fans (obviously)
-people looking for a massive world to explore and have fun in
-Have an inkling for "open world" AAA titles but want a more unique experience.
I really can't recommend this much to anyone else unfortunately, yet in that same sentiment, I think thats ok. Not all games have to be 100% perfect. That's too much to ask out of a developer.