such a bizarre main narrative this time around. opens with nary a hint of subtlety as per usual but, on the contrary, suggests its writers have direct experience with the subject matter in a way that hasn't exactly been the case for any RGG title prior to this. despite proudly displaying this burgeoning inkling of something rather unique, it shows every card in its deck by the time the second half rolls around and we're made to watch the narrative spin its wheels fruitlessly time and time again. pair that with a modicum more self-awareness than usual and you've got a somewhat frustrating and cumbersome package - the hyperreality of these games is often ill-suited to meaningfully address any issues plaguing modern society because you know the way you'll end up mechanically addressing this is by putting some middle aged guy who represents an extreme solution to the core problem in an armbar. which is still fine, don't get me wrong, but opening the final boss by spelling out 'well, maybe he's got a point here...' feels very much like they don't trust me to reach my own conclusions. obviously it's all endowed with the usual charisma and strength of direction but it's an amateurish legal drama and very likely a weak detective narrative depending on your perspective.
thankfully, lost judgments buoyed by the strongest combat in the dragon engine yet and by its compelling extension to the originals approach to side content. much of the original judgment's side content revolved around currying favour with your community and in building up your reputation bit by bit as you work to dispatch the keihin gang, arms-dealing nuisances who functioned as massive thorns in your side. lost judgment sets much of its side content within the walls of seiryo high school, wherein yagami serves as an advisor to the mystery research club and is made to infiltrate various other clubs and societies at the school in order to investigate a school-wide conspiracy. this facet of lost judgment is often really good! extrapolating a lot from the tenets of substories in previous games is greatly enriched by this adolescent context, which seems to serve as an excellent opportunity for the series' characteristic optimism and humanism to surface while still retaining a lot of the same devil-on-your-shoulder humor. the high school setting obviously never strays too far from the JRPG subconscious, but it's nice to participate in these activities as an adult where the goal is not to lead a kind of fulfilling life but instead to help these kids grow and to tell them to take it easy sometimes cause life ain't easy. a lot of it ends up being touching in ways i didn't expect, and chronicling the journeys of all these respective students and clubs culminates in yet another effective substory finale, something i wish these games would do more rather than throw amon at me and call it a day. some infelicities with some of these minigames - it's both extremely funny and entirely predictable that you're expected to remember more about stray cats than you are about any of the hostesses from girl's bite - but for the most part lost judgment shines in this department.
reminded me a lot of Y5. that's a good thing! appreciated that RGG studio seems to slowly be going back to the Y1/Y2 model of being rewarded for exploration with the judgment subseries; there's still work to be done in this respect but anything beats the borderline mobile game side content structure of, say, Y:LAD. that said im told they hid a fourth battle style behind dlc and that's unforgivable. loved skating through ijincho and kamurocho, weaving through crowds to keep up momentum. similarly enjoyed putting the fear of god into high schoolers.
thankfully, lost judgments buoyed by the strongest combat in the dragon engine yet and by its compelling extension to the originals approach to side content. much of the original judgment's side content revolved around currying favour with your community and in building up your reputation bit by bit as you work to dispatch the keihin gang, arms-dealing nuisances who functioned as massive thorns in your side. lost judgment sets much of its side content within the walls of seiryo high school, wherein yagami serves as an advisor to the mystery research club and is made to infiltrate various other clubs and societies at the school in order to investigate a school-wide conspiracy. this facet of lost judgment is often really good! extrapolating a lot from the tenets of substories in previous games is greatly enriched by this adolescent context, which seems to serve as an excellent opportunity for the series' characteristic optimism and humanism to surface while still retaining a lot of the same devil-on-your-shoulder humor. the high school setting obviously never strays too far from the JRPG subconscious, but it's nice to participate in these activities as an adult where the goal is not to lead a kind of fulfilling life but instead to help these kids grow and to tell them to take it easy sometimes cause life ain't easy. a lot of it ends up being touching in ways i didn't expect, and chronicling the journeys of all these respective students and clubs culminates in yet another effective substory finale, something i wish these games would do more rather than throw amon at me and call it a day. some infelicities with some of these minigames - it's both extremely funny and entirely predictable that you're expected to remember more about stray cats than you are about any of the hostesses from girl's bite - but for the most part lost judgment shines in this department.
reminded me a lot of Y5. that's a good thing! appreciated that RGG studio seems to slowly be going back to the Y1/Y2 model of being rewarded for exploration with the judgment subseries; there's still work to be done in this respect but anything beats the borderline mobile game side content structure of, say, Y:LAD. that said im told they hid a fourth battle style behind dlc and that's unforgivable. loved skating through ijincho and kamurocho, weaving through crowds to keep up momentum. similarly enjoyed putting the fear of god into high schoolers.
6 Comments
one additional thought on the narrative:
- one might be mistaken to assume that the bullying that informs one of the biggest chunks in lost judgment is the core theme of the game; after all, its related to the motivations of yagami's foil, is one of the game's most exposed throughlines, and sets the stage for the conflict at every turn. the idea of bullying, hazing, pressure, whatever you want to call it is even said to persist through to adult life, which is vaguely implied through kusumoto's circumstances. but this really isn't what the game is about, and LJ could have rested its narrative foundation on really any other subject matter if they had the interest. and this is chiefly because if you look towards the bigger picture, what's actually happening - and what i presume LJ's main theme is - is the idea of 'fujouri', ie something that is abrupt, senseless or illogical, and how one responds to that feeling of despair. in LJ's case you see people constantly grapple with the idea that justice hasn't been meted out effectively, and that the law has served only to obfuscate issues and protect people who deserved punishment (which is also true in real life). but LJ often ends up flattening the issue to a binary - either give in to your carceral or punitive urges, or dont. what's clear is that setting up a legal drama on the idea of fujouri is not only kind of played out, but if handled inappropriately, is difficult to truly come up with resolute answers for. for yagami in LJ, this means a constant reiteration of the status quo: that yes, the law is flawed, but that it can get better with time and with the right people. but it's not much of an answer, is it? so of course the antagonistic force here is centered around vigilanteism and taking justice into one's own hands, to uh, kind of an insane extreme, whereas yagami and co.'s retort constantly from the second half onwards revolves around bringing up the life of an innocent that was lost in the crossfire between the various factions in LJ as a symbolic measure. a plot point serving as a convenient get-out-of-jail free card. in a way, the theme of fujouri should play nicely off the original, but it struggles to keep up that pace because the perspectives that inform the narrative arent really meaningful or in-depth. the devs talked a lot about having troubles with how to go about ending the game and i think a lot of that is pretty abundantly clear by the time the credits roll.
- one might be mistaken to assume that the bullying that informs one of the biggest chunks in lost judgment is the core theme of the game; after all, its related to the motivations of yagami's foil, is one of the game's most exposed throughlines, and sets the stage for the conflict at every turn. the idea of bullying, hazing, pressure, whatever you want to call it is even said to persist through to adult life, which is vaguely implied through kusumoto's circumstances. but this really isn't what the game is about, and LJ could have rested its narrative foundation on really any other subject matter if they had the interest. and this is chiefly because if you look towards the bigger picture, what's actually happening - and what i presume LJ's main theme is - is the idea of 'fujouri', ie something that is abrupt, senseless or illogical, and how one responds to that feeling of despair. in LJ's case you see people constantly grapple with the idea that justice hasn't been meted out effectively, and that the law has served only to obfuscate issues and protect people who deserved punishment (which is also true in real life). but LJ often ends up flattening the issue to a binary - either give in to your carceral or punitive urges, or dont. what's clear is that setting up a legal drama on the idea of fujouri is not only kind of played out, but if handled inappropriately, is difficult to truly come up with resolute answers for. for yagami in LJ, this means a constant reiteration of the status quo: that yes, the law is flawed, but that it can get better with time and with the right people. but it's not much of an answer, is it? so of course the antagonistic force here is centered around vigilanteism and taking justice into one's own hands, to uh, kind of an insane extreme, whereas yagami and co.'s retort constantly from the second half onwards revolves around bringing up the life of an innocent that was lost in the crossfire between the various factions in LJ as a symbolic measure. a plot point serving as a convenient get-out-of-jail free card. in a way, the theme of fujouri should play nicely off the original, but it struggles to keep up that pace because the perspectives that inform the narrative arent really meaningful or in-depth. the devs talked a lot about having troubles with how to go about ending the game and i think a lot of that is pretty abundantly clear by the time the credits roll.
the dlc shit is pretty annoying yeah. Picked up the season pass for cheap cuz it had Kaito Files and I lowkey regret it
@LukeGirard think you'd really appreciate it! they hit a stride with the combat here, boss battles are still kind of woefully bad but the spectacle carries ya through and the fights against regular enemies are sublime. will be curious to see what y8 achieves as a follow up to 7 for sure, seems like they're actually resting on it and taking their time given that they said last week they only just finished writing the climax - kind of uncharacteristic of em
I'm not regretting paying for DLCs since boxing style is hilariously broken and additional dates you get are some of the nicest side characters in the game but SEGA's policies are getting egregious fast
i agree w what you said about the overarching message - i feel part of judgment's issue is that it's kind of backed itself into a corner where it HAS to bite off more than it can chew RE the problems with society it addresses, being a game series about the ins and outs of the nature of the law, and like you said, lost judgment kind of finds itself at the same big picture conclusion judgment does, ie. "the law is flawed but it will get better", with the only addition here being "...but both sides have points here", that you could probably make a whole other game about. i feel like there were plenty of good arguments yagami COULD have made in response to a lot of things but he tends to shy away from those in favour of the one innocent's life over and over in the second half. i'm not surprised to hear the devs had trouble making an ending though, i would too if i'd backed myself into that kind of corner
LukeGirard
1 year ago