The events of Yakuza: Like A Dragon were the best thing to happen to Judgment next to getting a sequel. My biggest gripes with Judgment's story was how often it took breaks to acquaint us with the new cast of Yagami, Kaito, and the Genda Law Office alongside the lead being deeply tied to yakuza politics and the Tojo Clan beyond his partner being a former family member. It came across like RGG didn't feel that Judgment could stand as it's own thing and the audience needed their hand held into trying something new (and with Kiryu coming back after only being unplayable for one entry of the main series shows they still don't have full faith in anything new). Lost Judgment however is a great step in a better direction for the spinoff series.
The dissolution of the Tojo Clan means the story goes in a direction that I was hoping for when I started up Judgment, Yagami getting himself involved in a case that goes far deeper than anyone could guess and learning with the player about a side of the world we haven't seen before with characters from walks of life we haven't interacted with until now. Also thankfully scaled back from how internationally implicating both Song of Life and Judgment were. A moral quandry is perfect for a character like Yagami who's left behind his legal background but works in a weird space thats between the legal system and underground crime.
All the core gameplay issues I had are fixed. Combat is much smoother. Getting SP for skills isn't nearly as much of a nightmare. The tailing mechanic is mostly gone and whenever it's used it's not for NEARLY as long as it was in the first. You aren't stuck on a time limit for street fights. All great!
My only real gripe with this game is how the side content is handled. Far less cases are taken through Yagami Detective Agency which is a bummer, I appreciated that for world/character building far more than taking a break from investigating government sanctioned murder to have a mock trial at a law office. The friendships with businesses and individuals around the city are just gone and the dating aspect (in the base game) is taken down to just one not very fun to talk to girl. Instead of having as many substories they present a larger set through the School Stories paired with their own Minigames that range from fun (Boxing, Robotics, Dancing) to Frustrating (Skateboarding, Biker Gang, Photography) to pointless feeling (eSports, Casino, Girls Bar). I like the overall idea of the School Stories but being tied to playing these minigames is more frustrating that it is satisfying and even if you do things like lower the difficulty settings to make the games easier they're still a massive time sink that had me going through the motions to finish. Also the chatter system isn't as fun as I thought it was in Judgment.
I don't think it deserves a spoiler warning for this but I'm also incredibly surprised and thankful that there hasn't been any major characters from the main line of games to come and talk or interact with or fight Yagami (besides Amon) making it that when it finally happens it's gonna be huge.
Great game! can't wait for more of anything from these guys!
The dissolution of the Tojo Clan means the story goes in a direction that I was hoping for when I started up Judgment, Yagami getting himself involved in a case that goes far deeper than anyone could guess and learning with the player about a side of the world we haven't seen before with characters from walks of life we haven't interacted with until now. Also thankfully scaled back from how internationally implicating both Song of Life and Judgment were. A moral quandry is perfect for a character like Yagami who's left behind his legal background but works in a weird space thats between the legal system and underground crime.
All the core gameplay issues I had are fixed. Combat is much smoother. Getting SP for skills isn't nearly as much of a nightmare. The tailing mechanic is mostly gone and whenever it's used it's not for NEARLY as long as it was in the first. You aren't stuck on a time limit for street fights. All great!
My only real gripe with this game is how the side content is handled. Far less cases are taken through Yagami Detective Agency which is a bummer, I appreciated that for world/character building far more than taking a break from investigating government sanctioned murder to have a mock trial at a law office. The friendships with businesses and individuals around the city are just gone and the dating aspect (in the base game) is taken down to just one not very fun to talk to girl. Instead of having as many substories they present a larger set through the School Stories paired with their own Minigames that range from fun (Boxing, Robotics, Dancing) to Frustrating (Skateboarding, Biker Gang, Photography) to pointless feeling (eSports, Casino, Girls Bar). I like the overall idea of the School Stories but being tied to playing these minigames is more frustrating that it is satisfying and even if you do things like lower the difficulty settings to make the games easier they're still a massive time sink that had me going through the motions to finish. Also the chatter system isn't as fun as I thought it was in Judgment.
I don't think it deserves a spoiler warning for this but I'm also incredibly surprised and thankful that there hasn't been any major characters from the main line of games to come and talk or interact with or fight Yagami (besides Amon) making it that when it finally happens it's gonna be huge.
Great game! can't wait for more of anything from these guys!