É assim que se faz um spin-off pois PUTA MERDA QUE JOGO FENOMENAL
Eu joguei ele pq tava muito animado pra jogar o Lost Judgment já que só vi coisa boa sobre ele, e eu comecei meio empurrando pra frente e meio gostando da vibe mas não sentindo completamente o jogo
Foi no capítulo 5 que eu vi que eu tinha que terminar o jogo a todo custo pra ver a conclusão pois já tava completamente preso na trama.
Capítulo 11 do jogo é peak absoluto, capítulo 12 é incrível, final do jogo é uma perfeição
Agora eu tô olhando pros créditos, segurando pra não chorar, ouvindo Arpeggio e eu não podia me sentir mais triste porque eu acabei uma das melhores obras que eu já consumi e vai ser impossível revivenciar todas as revelações dela pela primeira vez de novo.
Eu te amo Yagami, eu te amo Kaito, eu te acho gostoso Sugiura e eu te amo Ryu Ga Gotoku ❤
Eu joguei ele pq tava muito animado pra jogar o Lost Judgment já que só vi coisa boa sobre ele, e eu comecei meio empurrando pra frente e meio gostando da vibe mas não sentindo completamente o jogo
Foi no capítulo 5 que eu vi que eu tinha que terminar o jogo a todo custo pra ver a conclusão pois já tava completamente preso na trama.
Capítulo 11 do jogo é peak absoluto, capítulo 12 é incrível, final do jogo é uma perfeição
Agora eu tô olhando pros créditos, segurando pra não chorar, ouvindo Arpeggio e eu não podia me sentir mais triste porque eu acabei uma das melhores obras que eu já consumi e vai ser impossível revivenciar todas as revelações dela pela primeira vez de novo.
Eu te amo Yagami, eu te amo Kaito, eu te acho gostoso Sugiura e eu te amo Ryu Ga Gotoku ❤
Might be one of the best RGG games in my opinion, the story has the same quirks as Yakuza but also comes with a more grounded tone. The new detective mystery direction also helps with engaging the player in the story and it comes with some really good characters. The combat itself also feels really good with the return of styles and how all the moves are parkour themed. There are times I'd even consider this better than Yakuza/Like a Dragon.
there’s no way lost judgment can somehow be better
combat is a little poopoo stinky and the detective mechanics are as deep as a shot glass and don't let you ever fail anything even if you weren't pay attention but the story is cool and Kaito is based
this took me 84 years to finish because i need everyone to be my friend and i NEED 4 girlfriends
The "Mortal Wounds" mechanic implies that every other yakuza protagonist were immortal beings with supernatural resilience
My new favorite RGG game. SO glad I saved the judgment games for last. Combat is amazing, blew me away with how much better it is than the other dragon engine games, the story is great and kept me engaged all the way through. I'm such a sucker for the ace attorney series, and this game feels like a spin on that but yakuza. I also love the side content a ton, its really fun. To think that lost judgment is probably even better makes me so excited to play it after I finish this games side content. 10/10
I don't understand how RGG can maintain this kind of quality in their games time after time.
An excellent spin-off from an already amazing series. The story was well-written and grounded, and genuinely had me surprised a lot of the time with its twists and turns. The detective aspects were solid, although the tailing missions got a bit annoying after a while. The combat was tight, responsive and so much fun once you've built up a few abilities.
Where this game went from really good to excellent for me, though, was the ending. The entire last chapter is near perfection--the narrative pay-offs are huge and the final boss fight is one of the best in the series. It's one of my favorite video game endings in recent memory.
The game isn't without it's issues though, even if my complaints are minor. The mortal wound mechanic is seriously frustrating, as you can only fix it in a very specific place; it's also difficult to stop some of the attacks that cause them when you're fighting in such tight spaces. And the combat encounters that happen in the world feel far too frequent sometimes; I'd need to get from point A to point B and be interrupted 3-4 times by a pack of goons.
Taken together, this was an amazing video game. I loved the detective mystery storyline, the combat is as fun as ever and the ending was just too damn good. I'm already eager to jump into Lost Judgment to keep the experience going.
An excellent spin-off from an already amazing series. The story was well-written and grounded, and genuinely had me surprised a lot of the time with its twists and turns. The detective aspects were solid, although the tailing missions got a bit annoying after a while. The combat was tight, responsive and so much fun once you've built up a few abilities.
Where this game went from really good to excellent for me, though, was the ending. The entire last chapter is near perfection--the narrative pay-offs are huge and the final boss fight is one of the best in the series. It's one of my favorite video game endings in recent memory.
The game isn't without it's issues though, even if my complaints are minor. The mortal wound mechanic is seriously frustrating, as you can only fix it in a very specific place; it's also difficult to stop some of the attacks that cause them when you're fighting in such tight spaces. And the combat encounters that happen in the world feel far too frequent sometimes; I'd need to get from point A to point B and be interrupted 3-4 times by a pack of goons.
Taken together, this was an amazing video game. I loved the detective mystery storyline, the combat is as fun as ever and the ending was just too damn good. I'm already eager to jump into Lost Judgment to keep the experience going.
An incredibly captivating mystery thriller, with action scenes akin to old martial arts flicks. Takayuki Yagami is a stellar lead and quickly became one of my favorite main characters of all time within the series and in general, a character who acts a former lawyer turned detective with a strong sense of justice.
This game also has probably one of my favorite combat systems alongside Yakuza 5 and Kiwami 1, and having one of the best OSTs in the entire franchise. There are very little complaints with this game in my eyes besides tailing mission, but that can be easily overlooked with how much the game provides to make up for it. Also Penumbra go dummy hard, top 3 boss fight in the entire series
Yagami would’ve solved the Zodiac case in 15 minutes btw
This game also has probably one of my favorite combat systems alongside Yakuza 5 and Kiwami 1, and having one of the best OSTs in the entire franchise. There are very little complaints with this game in my eyes besides tailing mission, but that can be easily overlooked with how much the game provides to make up for it. Also Penumbra go dummy hard, top 3 boss fight in the entire series
Yagami would’ve solved the Zodiac case in 15 minutes btw
Is good writing too high of an ambition?
I was listening to Jacob Geller and Blake Hester's Something Rotten podcast, where the two men discuss Max Payne 3 and the two Kane & Lynch games. Geller brought up that he heard Hester share a hot take: that the best video game stories are only, barely, on par with mediocre movies and TV.
My response to this take evolved through three stages;
1) "omg no way! I totally teared up playing Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us!"
2) "hmm, yeah. You're write. Games suck at writing. It's a special skill that game developers aren't necessarily equipped for. To paraphrase the oft-quoted John Carmack, story in games is like story in porn. Most games are not developed from a script first, but with a series of system and mechanic documents in place first with the story and writing poured on after like a cheap, cold tin of tomato sauce over a hot plate of pasta (at best, maybe it's more like a little garnish)."
3) "you know what, who cares? Most movies and TV have mediocre writing. Green Book won for best Original Screenplay at the 2019 Oscars. The Avengers movies made like a billion dollars. Writing isn't easy for anyone, no matter the medium. Not to mention, film, to me, is like a sensory artform. Story is cool but movies aren't literature. And even literature can appeal on prose over narrative and "character development". But cinema to me is all light and montage. My favourite movie is Michael Mann's Miami Vice, and I can't explain why because I've never really been able to properly articulate the feeling that movie's digital grain gives me. It is quite literally "the vibe". The work of filmmakers like Paul WS Anderson, Edward Yang and Pedro Costa excite me, too, purely on a compositional level. Late era Tony Scott's avant garde editing style isn't something I am equipped to talk about, all I know is when I see it I go gaga. Similarly, the collaborative work of Martin Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker just tickles a part of my brain - and I could spend 1000 years still fail to explain why and how the rhythms of their cuts dazzle me.
Anyway, my point is, I don't come to film for writing, so why should I come to games for it? I ask myself this because good game writing is still, probably, what I consider the biggest hook. Or I consider character writing, specifically, a big hook. I need someone and something to care about to pull me through to a game's conclusion... at least most of the time. I certainly don't come to games for gameplay. I mean, I do, but not really. I don't really come to games for complex gameplay, at least. I don't play games to master systems. I do return to shooters and sword-swinging adventures a lot but that's partly because, with brawlers aside, that's 2/3s of combat in combat-centric games.
What I am beginning to think, however, is maybe I come to games for the vibes; for the same visual sensory appeal I get from movies. I come to games for - oh wow, I don't want to say it... - the digital spaces. The way games create architecture and worlds and allow you the freedom to explore rich, detailed spaces is so exciting. I don't want to live in these worlds, but I want to occupy them the same way I want to occupy the Baltimore depicted in The Wire or the west from Blood Meridian. I love reading because I love when my imagination works, filling in all the visual details around the worlds. When I read Raymond Chandler and I picture 30s/40s California; when I read The Wheel of Time and picture the endless Aiel Waste (wow, I read so little, these aren't great references lol). I love how games can even better render those details, and then let you literally, physically explore them. In a way, games are living dreams.
I've lost track of a coherent thesis here.
To swing it to Judgment. I don't know that Judgment is well written. It hinges on a lot of cliches and rote twists. The dialogue isn't particularly remarkable. Characters are complex only in the sense that they're all morally grey, and the ones who aren't are just good people. Its whole deal can be summed up as "isn't the truth really cool?" But, man, as a vibe, I dug it a lot. I loved noir twinges. The smoky, cramped, humid detective office. The stale, sterile courtrooms and hospital hallways. The busy, glittery Kamurocho streets. I love the soap opera plot. I like a good mystery, and there aren't many (non-visual novel) games wholly dedicated to unravelling a mystery. At the end of the day, it is less Raymond Chandler and more daytime court TV, but I was pretty damned hooked.
A lot of what Judgment exemplifies best is what I do consider game writing though. And it's not the execution I appreciate but the set up. I love when game presents the player with a fully fleshed out, lived-in universe, especially when that universe has a footing in the real world, depicting real people/cultures. A love when a game presents you with a character who has their own thoughts and feelings and history that exists beyond the player. Judgment is maybe the best example of what I think of when I hear the term "immersive sim". Not just because the game is maybe the best execution of one of the immersive sim genre's grandfathers, Warren Spector's idea for the "one perfect block" concept. Judgment isn't exactly a living sim. And it's not an open world game per se, so it doesn't really even matter. sure, you can't interact with everyone and everything. But you walk the streets of Kamurocho and you get a real sense of place and atmosphere and life that exists independent of your actions. You can walk into enough interiors, and around plenty of pedestrians to feel like you're in a real city. It's small enough, too, to memorise after 10-ish hours of playtime.
I think in contrast, too much of the actual immersive sim genre is dedicated to bringing to life unreal places to life, not reality and of its sober doldrums. It's a genre dedicated to placing very specific characters on dedicated paths purely to serve as obstacles for the player. Every nook and cranny is explorable but only because it wants you to collect things, not take in and truly occupy those spaces. It presents you with alternate paths with both violent and stealthy, pacifist routes ahead because it wants you to feel catered to, because it values choice, even though it cannot admit choice in video games is always a carefully, constructed lie/illusion. It's a genre with its head in the clouds, and you hoisted up on its shoulders in effort to make you feel important.
I don't know how I got here but I think a really "immersive" games is one that places you in a real location, with real history, and most importantly in the shoes of a real, pre-spec'd character - one, who again, let's say has their own character sheet and could - at least, and most certainly - in the game world exist independently of the player. I think of games like Disco Elysium, the little bit of The Witcher 2 I played hours before Judgment, Red Dead Redemption II (and Red Dead Redemption). For me, when I want to roleplay, I want to be somebody else, and not in the Ready Player One/Comic-Con cosplay way where I am me but with wackier hair and nicer clothes, or one where I am, like, Godzilla. I want to be a whole person. To me, that's immersion - when a game can successfully transfer that feeling over to you and make you feel like another person for 10/20/40+ hours. Judgment does that, in my opinion. Takayuki Yagami isn't some amazingly written individual, but the game goes to lengths to give him a history and a personality and reasons to care about the people around him. I don't care that it's not as good as The Sopranos but it's as good as a show like Justified or Bosch - neither of which I think of as mediocre (actually two of my all-time fave shows) - and I think that's a safe, reasonable ambition most character-action AAA games can aim for. The best games can be as well-written as Bosch... if they want to be. Not that they really have to be.
Maybe I am overrating this but the experience reminded me a lot of what I got out of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Metro Exodus. That's starting to become the baseline for what I consider a good, modern game, I suppose.
I was listening to Jacob Geller and Blake Hester's Something Rotten podcast, where the two men discuss Max Payne 3 and the two Kane & Lynch games. Geller brought up that he heard Hester share a hot take: that the best video game stories are only, barely, on par with mediocre movies and TV.
My response to this take evolved through three stages;
1) "omg no way! I totally teared up playing Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us!"
2) "hmm, yeah. You're write. Games suck at writing. It's a special skill that game developers aren't necessarily equipped for. To paraphrase the oft-quoted John Carmack, story in games is like story in porn. Most games are not developed from a script first, but with a series of system and mechanic documents in place first with the story and writing poured on after like a cheap, cold tin of tomato sauce over a hot plate of pasta (at best, maybe it's more like a little garnish)."
3) "you know what, who cares? Most movies and TV have mediocre writing. Green Book won for best Original Screenplay at the 2019 Oscars. The Avengers movies made like a billion dollars. Writing isn't easy for anyone, no matter the medium. Not to mention, film, to me, is like a sensory artform. Story is cool but movies aren't literature. And even literature can appeal on prose over narrative and "character development". But cinema to me is all light and montage. My favourite movie is Michael Mann's Miami Vice, and I can't explain why because I've never really been able to properly articulate the feeling that movie's digital grain gives me. It is quite literally "the vibe". The work of filmmakers like Paul WS Anderson, Edward Yang and Pedro Costa excite me, too, purely on a compositional level. Late era Tony Scott's avant garde editing style isn't something I am equipped to talk about, all I know is when I see it I go gaga. Similarly, the collaborative work of Martin Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker just tickles a part of my brain - and I could spend 1000 years still fail to explain why and how the rhythms of their cuts dazzle me.
Anyway, my point is, I don't come to film for writing, so why should I come to games for it? I ask myself this because good game writing is still, probably, what I consider the biggest hook. Or I consider character writing, specifically, a big hook. I need someone and something to care about to pull me through to a game's conclusion... at least most of the time. I certainly don't come to games for gameplay. I mean, I do, but not really. I don't really come to games for complex gameplay, at least. I don't play games to master systems. I do return to shooters and sword-swinging adventures a lot but that's partly because, with brawlers aside, that's 2/3s of combat in combat-centric games.
What I am beginning to think, however, is maybe I come to games for the vibes; for the same visual sensory appeal I get from movies. I come to games for - oh wow, I don't want to say it... - the digital spaces. The way games create architecture and worlds and allow you the freedom to explore rich, detailed spaces is so exciting. I don't want to live in these worlds, but I want to occupy them the same way I want to occupy the Baltimore depicted in The Wire or the west from Blood Meridian. I love reading because I love when my imagination works, filling in all the visual details around the worlds. When I read Raymond Chandler and I picture 30s/40s California; when I read The Wheel of Time and picture the endless Aiel Waste (wow, I read so little, these aren't great references lol). I love how games can even better render those details, and then let you literally, physically explore them. In a way, games are living dreams.
I've lost track of a coherent thesis here.
To swing it to Judgment. I don't know that Judgment is well written. It hinges on a lot of cliches and rote twists. The dialogue isn't particularly remarkable. Characters are complex only in the sense that they're all morally grey, and the ones who aren't are just good people. Its whole deal can be summed up as "isn't the truth really cool?" But, man, as a vibe, I dug it a lot. I loved noir twinges. The smoky, cramped, humid detective office. The stale, sterile courtrooms and hospital hallways. The busy, glittery Kamurocho streets. I love the soap opera plot. I like a good mystery, and there aren't many (non-visual novel) games wholly dedicated to unravelling a mystery. At the end of the day, it is less Raymond Chandler and more daytime court TV, but I was pretty damned hooked.
A lot of what Judgment exemplifies best is what I do consider game writing though. And it's not the execution I appreciate but the set up. I love when game presents the player with a fully fleshed out, lived-in universe, especially when that universe has a footing in the real world, depicting real people/cultures. A love when a game presents you with a character who has their own thoughts and feelings and history that exists beyond the player. Judgment is maybe the best example of what I think of when I hear the term "immersive sim". Not just because the game is maybe the best execution of one of the immersive sim genre's grandfathers, Warren Spector's idea for the "one perfect block" concept. Judgment isn't exactly a living sim. And it's not an open world game per se, so it doesn't really even matter. sure, you can't interact with everyone and everything. But you walk the streets of Kamurocho and you get a real sense of place and atmosphere and life that exists independent of your actions. You can walk into enough interiors, and around plenty of pedestrians to feel like you're in a real city. It's small enough, too, to memorise after 10-ish hours of playtime.
I think in contrast, too much of the actual immersive sim genre is dedicated to bringing to life unreal places to life, not reality and of its sober doldrums. It's a genre dedicated to placing very specific characters on dedicated paths purely to serve as obstacles for the player. Every nook and cranny is explorable but only because it wants you to collect things, not take in and truly occupy those spaces. It presents you with alternate paths with both violent and stealthy, pacifist routes ahead because it wants you to feel catered to, because it values choice, even though it cannot admit choice in video games is always a carefully, constructed lie/illusion. It's a genre with its head in the clouds, and you hoisted up on its shoulders in effort to make you feel important.
I don't know how I got here but I think a really "immersive" games is one that places you in a real location, with real history, and most importantly in the shoes of a real, pre-spec'd character - one, who again, let's say has their own character sheet and could - at least, and most certainly - in the game world exist independently of the player. I think of games like Disco Elysium, the little bit of The Witcher 2 I played hours before Judgment, Red Dead Redemption II (and Red Dead Redemption). For me, when I want to roleplay, I want to be somebody else, and not in the Ready Player One/Comic-Con cosplay way where I am me but with wackier hair and nicer clothes, or one where I am, like, Godzilla. I want to be a whole person. To me, that's immersion - when a game can successfully transfer that feeling over to you and make you feel like another person for 10/20/40+ hours. Judgment does that, in my opinion. Takayuki Yagami isn't some amazingly written individual, but the game goes to lengths to give him a history and a personality and reasons to care about the people around him. I don't care that it's not as good as The Sopranos but it's as good as a show like Justified or Bosch - neither of which I think of as mediocre (actually two of my all-time fave shows) - and I think that's a safe, reasonable ambition most character-action AAA games can aim for. The best games can be as well-written as Bosch... if they want to be. Not that they really have to be.
Maybe I am overrating this but the experience reminded me a lot of what I got out of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Metro Exodus. That's starting to become the baseline for what I consider a good, modern game, I suppose.
A game with a great story to tell, and fun combat to back it up (finally for a dragon engine game)... but one bogged down by horrendous story pacing and frustrating side cases shoehorned into the main plot that drag this game out.
Probably my favourite Yakuza game I've played so far in the series. The story and performances are up there with the best in the series (Yakuza 0, looking at you), but what ekes it out for me is the slick presentation, style and how fun all of the side content and mini-games are.
Mortal Wounds are an AWFUL mechanic but otherwise, this is easily the most straight-up fun I've had (so far) with an RGG game.
loved this game. the main story was gripping, and i fell in love with the side characters: hamura, higashi, saori. just loved them. the mc, yagami, was harder for me to get a grip in - he's noticeably much more bitter than the previous rgg heroes - the guilt he's carrying around with him makes him somehow seem like more of an adult than kiryu or ichiban. but maybe that's because the tone of the story feels much more serious than the mainline rgg games.
things i did not like:
- no karaoke :( and one of my friends told me that takuya kimura is literally one of the most famous singers in japan! i guess it would have been too expensive to have him singing in the game, but still. how am i supposed to understand a character if i can't see how they imagine a music video starring them and their friends?
- the combat felt a bit clumsy to me, but maybe that's just me.
- mafuyu, unfortunately, really does nothing in the game. she has one of the most beautiful character designs in the entire series, but all she does is show up and look worried occasionally :( sad!
- no way to tone down the random encounters. it got to be kind of annoying at around the middle of the game, where i just wanted to focus on the main story because i was so enthralled.
- don't like the dice and cube minigame. yagami looks stupid with the glasses. sorry. actually i don't like his outfit either. he looks better with the lawyer get-up.
things i did like:
- whatever was going on with hamura. wow
things i did not like:
- no karaoke :( and one of my friends told me that takuya kimura is literally one of the most famous singers in japan! i guess it would have been too expensive to have him singing in the game, but still. how am i supposed to understand a character if i can't see how they imagine a music video starring them and their friends?
- the combat felt a bit clumsy to me, but maybe that's just me.
- mafuyu, unfortunately, really does nothing in the game. she has one of the most beautiful character designs in the entire series, but all she does is show up and look worried occasionally :( sad!
- no way to tone down the random encounters. it got to be kind of annoying at around the middle of the game, where i just wanted to focus on the main story because i was so enthralled.
- don't like the dice and cube minigame. yagami looks stupid with the glasses. sorry. actually i don't like his outfit either. he looks better with the lawyer get-up.
things i did like:
- whatever was going on with hamura. wow
Cara se a RGG superar isso daqui eu acho que eu fico maluco
I originally expected this to have more emphasis on problem solving but it really is leaning more into the other Yakuza games and they tossed in 20 tailing sequences that make Assassin's Creed look considerate of your time. I did tolerate it because I really like the series at this point, but I must imagine what someone feels when this is their first game.
The combat is pretty good, with shades of Akiyama in the moveset. Bonus points for the first DE combat I enjoyed. Sadly, with no coliseum equivalent here and no climax battles, I can't help but feel we're losing out on a lot of combat gameplay. The drone racing was amazing and possibly the most difficult minigame in the series so far. The sidecases were great when they didn't ask you to tail people or get spliced into the main story (which makes them feel like filler). Unfortunately, that takes out more than half of them. The friend system was also interesting, and then you realize each restaurant/shop has one, with multiple ones being the same. Girlfriends are introduced here as a more personalized hostess while also being just worse in general. Half your girlfriends are half your age making it so fucking weird. Y6 at least had a unique minigame, whereas here they turned it into stupid texts. You could take your hostess on dates to karaoke to see a video of each of them in a certain song. Now you take your gf on pointless activities with nothing special about each of them. The loss of karaoke really didn't help how I felt about hostess/gf. Chases now are auto-run, with most of them not even having you catch up to them. I miss actually throwing bottles at them and cutting corners rather than just qtes.
My most hated aspect of the game was the stupid Keihan gangs. This shit gets spammed all the time and always alerts you with a text. During the event, it's rare to take one step without running into enemies. Of course, once the event is over, you must then be told by text over and over for the entire game. The random crafting materials out in the world made me feel like a little kid running to pick up a piece of candy. They're easy to pick up but also just seem so pointless when I didn't really interact with any extracts. Sure, some of them are used for drone crafting, but it was much easier to buy them at Ebisu. It really just feels like there is a lot of padding compared to the other games.
I did like Yagami and his buddy dynamic with Kaito reminded me of the great parts of Y0 with Kiryu and Nishiki. Too bad they didn't decide to put more effort into this. Imagine deciding to leave the Kaito and Yagami fight as a filler sidecase in the main story for no reason. Even with the other sidecases in the story not being voiced, it was a huge disservice to have this one lumped in. The rest of his allies were pretty good with no complaints, and the story was enjoyable with a solid mystery that sticks the landing.
I know these don't really matter for most players, but I have to complain about the final quickstarter projects. Even if you do everything else in the completion list/trophy and game the VR each time you are forced to go in, you will still need around 10m more yen to fully complete. It's just another hour or so in VR to get it, but at this point you really shouldn't need to grind for more. I was even gaming the quickstarters for the entire game, letting the meter fill to 50% before contributing.
They removed Puyo Puyo in the remaster and replaced it with Virtua Fighter 2 when you can already play Virtua Fighter 5 & Fighting Vipers...
The combat is pretty good, with shades of Akiyama in the moveset. Bonus points for the first DE combat I enjoyed. Sadly, with no coliseum equivalent here and no climax battles, I can't help but feel we're losing out on a lot of combat gameplay. The drone racing was amazing and possibly the most difficult minigame in the series so far. The sidecases were great when they didn't ask you to tail people or get spliced into the main story (which makes them feel like filler). Unfortunately, that takes out more than half of them. The friend system was also interesting, and then you realize each restaurant/shop has one, with multiple ones being the same. Girlfriends are introduced here as a more personalized hostess while also being just worse in general. Half your girlfriends are half your age making it so fucking weird. Y6 at least had a unique minigame, whereas here they turned it into stupid texts. You could take your hostess on dates to karaoke to see a video of each of them in a certain song. Now you take your gf on pointless activities with nothing special about each of them. The loss of karaoke really didn't help how I felt about hostess/gf. Chases now are auto-run, with most of them not even having you catch up to them. I miss actually throwing bottles at them and cutting corners rather than just qtes.
My most hated aspect of the game was the stupid Keihan gangs. This shit gets spammed all the time and always alerts you with a text. During the event, it's rare to take one step without running into enemies. Of course, once the event is over, you must then be told by text over and over for the entire game. The random crafting materials out in the world made me feel like a little kid running to pick up a piece of candy. They're easy to pick up but also just seem so pointless when I didn't really interact with any extracts. Sure, some of them are used for drone crafting, but it was much easier to buy them at Ebisu. It really just feels like there is a lot of padding compared to the other games.
I did like Yagami and his buddy dynamic with Kaito reminded me of the great parts of Y0 with Kiryu and Nishiki. Too bad they didn't decide to put more effort into this. Imagine deciding to leave the Kaito and Yagami fight as a filler sidecase in the main story for no reason. Even with the other sidecases in the story not being voiced, it was a huge disservice to have this one lumped in. The rest of his allies were pretty good with no complaints, and the story was enjoyable with a solid mystery that sticks the landing.
I know these don't really matter for most players, but I have to complain about the final quickstarter projects. Even if you do everything else in the completion list/trophy and game the VR each time you are forced to go in, you will still need around 10m more yen to fully complete. It's just another hour or so in VR to get it, but at this point you really shouldn't need to grind for more. I was even gaming the quickstarters for the entire game, letting the meter fill to 50% before contributing.
They removed Puyo Puyo in the remaster and replaced it with Virtua Fighter 2 when you can already play Virtua Fighter 5 & Fighting Vipers...
First experience with a Yakuza style game. Over the top fighting segments, funny dialogue, cutscenes that were very entertaining.
All around this game was pretty good. It did take a while to sink its teeth into me as i started to lose interest, but the story reaaaaally started to get good and delivered a twist that blew me away.
Really good game and a definite sleeper title for me
All around this game was pretty good. It did take a while to sink its teeth into me as i started to lose interest, but the story reaaaaally started to get good and delivered a twist that blew me away.
Really good game and a definite sleeper title for me
Starts as a crime focused murder mystery and ends in a full blown condemnation of the Japanese justice system. Covers similar territory as it's sister series (particularly Yakuza 4) but it's new perspective allows for a different "judgment" if you will on the material that makes it a unique experience. A compelling arc for Yagami is what tips this over the edge as one of the best stories of the series as well, as his vulnerability and morally questionable actions make him shockingly human when compared to the stoic Kiryu or the hyperactive Ichiban.
It also plays like a dream. The Dragon Engine has never been better, and while there is some clunkiness for sure once you get into a groove it's a blast. Unsure if the styles are as effective as Yakuza 0 but I like how they are more based around group fights/individual fights more then anything else. Combine that with great minigames and one of the best supporting casts of the series and you have a winner. Loved this!
It also plays like a dream. The Dragon Engine has never been better, and while there is some clunkiness for sure once you get into a groove it's a blast. Unsure if the styles are as effective as Yakuza 0 but I like how they are more based around group fights/individual fights more then anything else. Combine that with great minigames and one of the best supporting casts of the series and you have a winner. Loved this!
maybe all those dementia patients should just go to that cool doctor i met in the sewer earlier
Combat feels a bit off. Switching styles could be more instantaneous to help it flow better. You can do this by activating your EX mode but it barely lasts and using it up removes your ability to use special moves, so I barely got a chance to use special moves which sucks the enjoyment out of encounters. There also felt like less variety in your special takedowns. Even after scouring Kamurocho for the QR codes necessary to get vital combat abilities, opportunities rarely presented themselves to really showcase the cool moves I earned. The hyper-specificity of how to get them to proc led to me just kicking fools while they were down 4 out of 5 times. I really wish I didn’t find every RGG games combat so shallow because it’s genuinely the only thing that keeps these games from entering my personal upper echelon. No Yakuza game ever clicked with me 100% on a gameplay level so it might just be me. The tailing minigame put me to sleep, and they use it exponentially more than in other RGG games. They drag on so long I genuinely think it’s the thing that’s keeping this game from a higher score for me.
Thankfully this game has the best narrative of any Yakuza game so far. I'd never describe a Yakuza game's story as "gripping". They're schlocky but more than serviceable, but this time around I was fully invested. It helps that it shows a lot more restraint with the twists, even with it being a detective story. Excellent cast of characters. Yagami is cool and likable. The crew you end up assembling are also great, and some of the antagonists are my favorite in the series, Hamura was excellent in particular. The dub is really strong. I could easily recommend it.
I didn’t really care for the side quest structure at all, in that some of them need you to make friends with unknown individuals to progress them, and without, after all these years, decently functional quest marking, makes some of them impossible to complete without a guide. I ended up just befriending everyone I could before doing any side case, which aren’t nearly as fleshed out and way more tedious. The side cases themselves are an absolute joy of course. Multiple multipart stories feel way more intimate this time around, which admittedly does lend some justification to the friendship system.
It’s such a brief moment but I can’t not mention the woman harassment simulator that I honestly can't tell if it was supposed to make the characters in question uncomfortable or uplift them in some cumbrains idea of empowerment.
Thankfully this game has the best narrative of any Yakuza game so far. I'd never describe a Yakuza game's story as "gripping". They're schlocky but more than serviceable, but this time around I was fully invested. It helps that it shows a lot more restraint with the twists, even with it being a detective story. Excellent cast of characters. Yagami is cool and likable. The crew you end up assembling are also great, and some of the antagonists are my favorite in the series, Hamura was excellent in particular. The dub is really strong. I could easily recommend it.
I didn’t really care for the side quest structure at all, in that some of them need you to make friends with unknown individuals to progress them, and without, after all these years, decently functional quest marking, makes some of them impossible to complete without a guide. I ended up just befriending everyone I could before doing any side case, which aren’t nearly as fleshed out and way more tedious. The side cases themselves are an absolute joy of course. Multiple multipart stories feel way more intimate this time around, which admittedly does lend some justification to the friendship system.
It’s such a brief moment but I can’t not mention the woman harassment simulator that I honestly can't tell if it was supposed to make the characters in question uncomfortable or uplift them in some cumbrains idea of empowerment.
Judgment is a solid title that has pretty much everything you come to expect from a mainline Yakuza game, with the exception of the franchise’s usual cast. It has a pretty good (albeit a tad bloated) story, there’s decent combat, and plenty of quirky side content to enjoy. Sadly, the game struggles in its attempts to differentiate itself from the Yakuza games with its introduction of detective-themed mechanics that at best don’t really impress, and at worse, serve as tedious endeavors that drag the pacing of the game down. If you’ve played the other Yakuza games, then Judgment for all intents and purposes is simply another one, and it's extremely hard to see it for its own merits.
Judgment’s story is an intriguing mystery that plays out in much the same fashion as the Yakuza games that stem before it, with characters that didn’t leave quite as much of an impact on me. Yagami is similar to Kiryu in many ways, but comes off as a lot more outwardly reserved for much of the game, which I felt like made it harder for him to stick out in my mind as a protagonist compared not just to Kiryu, but to pretty much all of the other Yakuza protagonists as well. In fact, for much of the game, I wished I was playing as Kaito, who stood out a lot more to me and was a much more likable character in comparison to Yagami. I struggled to feel much of anything towards Yagami until the end of the game, where there was some pretty heavy emotional moments that finally won me over on him. The game also has a lot of story segments that are specifically designated as side content as a part of the main story, which makes the main campaign feel very bloated. I wouldn’t mind if these side cases were specifically kept as side cases, but their inclusion in the main campaign really stretches it out and makes it a lot longer than it needed to be.
Combat feels solid and satisfying, but also a tad undercooked. Judgment brings back the style switching that was introduced in Yakuza 0, except whereas previous characters had four well fleshed out styles to switch from, Yagami only has two, the Tiger and Crane styles, and it feels like there was a lot more attention given to the Tiger style in comparison to the Crane style. In fact, it’s to the point where Crane feels almost completely irrelevant. Tiger, despite being a style meant to focus on a single opponent, allows you to handle groups of opponents just fine for the most part. It also comes with many additional moves exclusive to that style. It’s very fun to use, and I really like Yagami’s kung-fu inspired moveset. Unfortunately, Crane lacks any exclusive upgrades (at least, none that I found over the course of the game). I never really felt like Crane was a style worth using, as like I mentioned, Tiger allows you to handle groups of opponents just fine and also has way more abilities that you can use. As a result, despite a strong foundation that could be built upon in future Judgment titles, the lack of variety in the options that Yagami has in combat makes him feel a lot more linear when compared to the protagonists of the more recent Yakuza titles.
Then there are the new detective mechanics. On paper, I can definitely see what they were trying to achieve with these, as they were likely meant to give the game a more realistic detective feel distinctive from that of the mainline Yakuza games. In practice however, these new mechanics only really serve to drag the overall pacing of the game down. The simple act of opening doors now requires you to go through this very slow and extremely simple lock picking segment, or selecting the correct key from a key ring. This doesn't necessarily apply to every door in the game, and I didn’t find these to be particularly offensive, but coming from previous Yakuza games where you open doors by just… walking through them, makes this feel like an unnecessary extra step. I did like the Ace Attorney inspired segments where you have to search an area for clues to use as evidence, though like the Ace Attorney games, it can be difficult to tell what the game wants you to find.
The tailing segments are very poorly executed. I feel like these segments really need to be reworked. Slowly following behind your target, and trying to reach designated hiding spots using the game’s default movement (which was never really designed for stealth) doesn’t feel particularly fun or satisfying, and the gauge at the top of the screen that fills when your target can see you feels too lenient. I think these segments should’ve had their own unique movement mechanics, with the ability to crouch and hide from the target’s sight at any point, as opposed to forcing you to use the standard walk/sprint to make it to the awkwardly placed hiding spots. I also think that instead of the gauge that fills when you’re spotted, you should have a limited number of times where you can be spotted before failing the segment altogether. Disguises aren’t required for the tailing segments, and Yagami has such a distinctive appearance that it especially makes no sense for targets that know who he is to take so long to recognize him.
Despite its attempts to stick out from its parent franchise not really panning out well, I do think that Judgment is a decent game that can satisfy those that love the typical Yakuza formula, and I’m glad it exists. As much as I loved Yakuza 7, I’d feel a tad apprehensive towards it if its existence meant that traditional Yakuza combat would be forever axed. While I didn’t find the story or characters of Judgment nearly as good or captivating as those from the mainline Yakuza games, I feel like Yagami and friends have a lot of potential, and I hope that Lost Judgment builds upon the foundation that this game laid out, irons out the kinks, and manages to be a title that’s able to escape the mainline series’ shadow.
Judgment’s story is an intriguing mystery that plays out in much the same fashion as the Yakuza games that stem before it, with characters that didn’t leave quite as much of an impact on me. Yagami is similar to Kiryu in many ways, but comes off as a lot more outwardly reserved for much of the game, which I felt like made it harder for him to stick out in my mind as a protagonist compared not just to Kiryu, but to pretty much all of the other Yakuza protagonists as well. In fact, for much of the game, I wished I was playing as Kaito, who stood out a lot more to me and was a much more likable character in comparison to Yagami. I struggled to feel much of anything towards Yagami until the end of the game, where there was some pretty heavy emotional moments that finally won me over on him. The game also has a lot of story segments that are specifically designated as side content as a part of the main story, which makes the main campaign feel very bloated. I wouldn’t mind if these side cases were specifically kept as side cases, but their inclusion in the main campaign really stretches it out and makes it a lot longer than it needed to be.
Combat feels solid and satisfying, but also a tad undercooked. Judgment brings back the style switching that was introduced in Yakuza 0, except whereas previous characters had four well fleshed out styles to switch from, Yagami only has two, the Tiger and Crane styles, and it feels like there was a lot more attention given to the Tiger style in comparison to the Crane style. In fact, it’s to the point where Crane feels almost completely irrelevant. Tiger, despite being a style meant to focus on a single opponent, allows you to handle groups of opponents just fine for the most part. It also comes with many additional moves exclusive to that style. It’s very fun to use, and I really like Yagami’s kung-fu inspired moveset. Unfortunately, Crane lacks any exclusive upgrades (at least, none that I found over the course of the game). I never really felt like Crane was a style worth using, as like I mentioned, Tiger allows you to handle groups of opponents just fine and also has way more abilities that you can use. As a result, despite a strong foundation that could be built upon in future Judgment titles, the lack of variety in the options that Yagami has in combat makes him feel a lot more linear when compared to the protagonists of the more recent Yakuza titles.
Then there are the new detective mechanics. On paper, I can definitely see what they were trying to achieve with these, as they were likely meant to give the game a more realistic detective feel distinctive from that of the mainline Yakuza games. In practice however, these new mechanics only really serve to drag the overall pacing of the game down. The simple act of opening doors now requires you to go through this very slow and extremely simple lock picking segment, or selecting the correct key from a key ring. This doesn't necessarily apply to every door in the game, and I didn’t find these to be particularly offensive, but coming from previous Yakuza games where you open doors by just… walking through them, makes this feel like an unnecessary extra step. I did like the Ace Attorney inspired segments where you have to search an area for clues to use as evidence, though like the Ace Attorney games, it can be difficult to tell what the game wants you to find.
The tailing segments are very poorly executed. I feel like these segments really need to be reworked. Slowly following behind your target, and trying to reach designated hiding spots using the game’s default movement (which was never really designed for stealth) doesn’t feel particularly fun or satisfying, and the gauge at the top of the screen that fills when your target can see you feels too lenient. I think these segments should’ve had their own unique movement mechanics, with the ability to crouch and hide from the target’s sight at any point, as opposed to forcing you to use the standard walk/sprint to make it to the awkwardly placed hiding spots. I also think that instead of the gauge that fills when you’re spotted, you should have a limited number of times where you can be spotted before failing the segment altogether. Disguises aren’t required for the tailing segments, and Yagami has such a distinctive appearance that it especially makes no sense for targets that know who he is to take so long to recognize him.
Despite its attempts to stick out from its parent franchise not really panning out well, I do think that Judgment is a decent game that can satisfy those that love the typical Yakuza formula, and I’m glad it exists. As much as I loved Yakuza 7, I’d feel a tad apprehensive towards it if its existence meant that traditional Yakuza combat would be forever axed. While I didn’t find the story or characters of Judgment nearly as good or captivating as those from the mainline Yakuza games, I feel like Yagami and friends have a lot of potential, and I hope that Lost Judgment builds upon the foundation that this game laid out, irons out the kinks, and manages to be a title that’s able to escape the mainline series’ shadow.
Este jogo provavelmente representa o ápice da escrita da RGG com tranquilidade. No entanto, vou abordar os prós e contras:
Prós:
- Excelente sistema de combate adotando um estilo mais Anime/Cinematográfico, o que beneficia muito o jogo, embora apresente alguns pontos fracos (explicarei mais detalhadamente em outro ponto).
- A história é uma das melhores, senão a melhor, da franquia. Tudo aqui tem um propósito e consegue capturar completamente a atenção do jogador.
- A trilha sonora é boa, principalmente no aspecto de criar uma atmosfera mais detetivesca, mas não se destaca tanto no combate.
- O elenco principal e a "gangue" final são essencialmente o que Yakuza 4 tentou alcançar, porém com uma escrita muito melhor.
Contras:
- As missões secundárias são muito intrusivas. Sinceramente, a maioria delas quebra o ritmo da história e acaba tirando a seriedade do jogo.
- O sistema de SP deste jogo é péssimo, sinceramente. É difícil acumular a barra de cólera a tempo, e para piorar, só se desbloqueiam melhorias para isso lá pelo capítulo 5.
- Existem duas posturas de combate, mas apenas uma é verdadeiramente eficaz. O estilo Crane simplesmente não funciona; os inimigos se defendem e você é arremessado para o outro lado da sala, além de causar menos dano.
- Há um vazio entre os capítulos 6 e 8 em que NADA ACONTECE. Sério, se alguém desistir nessa parte, eu entenderia, porque é preciso ter muita determinação para aguentar esse trecho.
- Acredito que a Dragon Engine precisa ser aposentada neste ponto. Este jogo poderia ser o último a utilizá-la, pois é evidente que ela possui muitas limitações.
Prós:
- Excelente sistema de combate adotando um estilo mais Anime/Cinematográfico, o que beneficia muito o jogo, embora apresente alguns pontos fracos (explicarei mais detalhadamente em outro ponto).
- A história é uma das melhores, senão a melhor, da franquia. Tudo aqui tem um propósito e consegue capturar completamente a atenção do jogador.
- A trilha sonora é boa, principalmente no aspecto de criar uma atmosfera mais detetivesca, mas não se destaca tanto no combate.
- O elenco principal e a "gangue" final são essencialmente o que Yakuza 4 tentou alcançar, porém com uma escrita muito melhor.
Contras:
- As missões secundárias são muito intrusivas. Sinceramente, a maioria delas quebra o ritmo da história e acaba tirando a seriedade do jogo.
- O sistema de SP deste jogo é péssimo, sinceramente. É difícil acumular a barra de cólera a tempo, e para piorar, só se desbloqueiam melhorias para isso lá pelo capítulo 5.
- Existem duas posturas de combate, mas apenas uma é verdadeiramente eficaz. O estilo Crane simplesmente não funciona; os inimigos se defendem e você é arremessado para o outro lado da sala, além de causar menos dano.
- Há um vazio entre os capítulos 6 e 8 em que NADA ACONTECE. Sério, se alguém desistir nessa parte, eu entenderia, porque é preciso ter muita determinação para aguentar esse trecho.
- Acredito que a Dragon Engine precisa ser aposentada neste ponto. Este jogo poderia ser o último a utilizá-la, pois é evidente que ela possui muitas limitações.
Judgment is amazing. From start to finish the game is engaging,fun puzzles,great combat the twists and story are very well done, the cast is great it’s easily some of the best Nagoshi and RGG Studio have made.
Can RGG do the impossible and make the same type of game that they'd been making for thirteen years with a different cast, but still be good? The answer is unsurpsingly yes.
You return to the familiar site of modern day Kamurocho with an entierly new cast of characters. Gone is the familiar cast of Kazuma Kiryu, Date, Daigo Dojima, Goro Majima, Akiyama and the like and in is a completely new crew of friends and foes that you'll fall in love with all the same. Takayuki Yagami is an instantly loveable private detective with an extensive history in litigation. His trials and tribulations as a lawyer are a direct lead in to this game's story and set a picture perfect narrative that will seep its way into the story of Judgment, dripping piece by piece into the player's memory bank while they pick up along the mystery of the Mole. Kaito is a phenomenal sidekick, something RGG has nailed since the first Yakuza title, not a dumb himbo to be comedic relief, but a good friend and reliable muscle when Yagami is in a pinch. The young Sugiura was a fresh addition as well, making an unlikely friend group in a grim situation which complimented the story at hand extremely well. These three coupled with the friends at the Genda Law Office and Matsugane Family of Yakuza are more of what the Like a Dragon series has done best; create a recognizable and enjoyable cast of characters to surround the protagonist. RGG titles play out like a movie, introducing allies and enemies at optimal pacing, and Judgment is another rock in that pond.
As not much of a shock, the plot of Judgment starts out with something as simple as investigating a serial murder case as part of Yagami's detective agency, yet morphs into something much more sinister. This was the case with all Yakuza games before it, a spiraling story that sucks you in and keeps you invested even if the games run long. I don't want to go into detail as to avoid spoilers but if you found the initial few chapters to be a little slow pacing wise, just trust that this one will play out... it really does.
Detractions from a five star rating into a four star boil down into the same issues I've had since Y0, and that's the combat and mandatory side missions. Combat again is pretty poor, I had to turn it way down to avoid face-to-desk slamming monotony as the Blockuza came out and I didn't find combat to be diverse enough (I miss you Goro "Bat Wielder" Majima) to warrant playing the hard way. Per the latter issue, there were plenty of times until about chapter ten where you'd start embarking on your quest to find the serial killing culprit only to be phoned and interrupted with a side quest that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I appreciate how fun these can be in LAD/Yakuza games but eventually it feels like a slog, especially when forced upon the player. Consider this a plea to RGG to keep these as SIDE quests down the line. Additionally, I found the constant inclusion of tailing/chase missions to be quite annoying as it just drew out the time of play and didn't add much to my immersion.
I'm excited to play Lost Judgment eventually, but I think I'm going to take an extended break from RGG after Isshin comes out as to keep myself not burnt out. I would recommend Judgment to anybody who was a fan of Kiryu's Yakuza saga.
You return to the familiar site of modern day Kamurocho with an entierly new cast of characters. Gone is the familiar cast of Kazuma Kiryu, Date, Daigo Dojima, Goro Majima, Akiyama and the like and in is a completely new crew of friends and foes that you'll fall in love with all the same. Takayuki Yagami is an instantly loveable private detective with an extensive history in litigation. His trials and tribulations as a lawyer are a direct lead in to this game's story and set a picture perfect narrative that will seep its way into the story of Judgment, dripping piece by piece into the player's memory bank while they pick up along the mystery of the Mole. Kaito is a phenomenal sidekick, something RGG has nailed since the first Yakuza title, not a dumb himbo to be comedic relief, but a good friend and reliable muscle when Yagami is in a pinch. The young Sugiura was a fresh addition as well, making an unlikely friend group in a grim situation which complimented the story at hand extremely well. These three coupled with the friends at the Genda Law Office and Matsugane Family of Yakuza are more of what the Like a Dragon series has done best; create a recognizable and enjoyable cast of characters to surround the protagonist. RGG titles play out like a movie, introducing allies and enemies at optimal pacing, and Judgment is another rock in that pond.
As not much of a shock, the plot of Judgment starts out with something as simple as investigating a serial murder case as part of Yagami's detective agency, yet morphs into something much more sinister. This was the case with all Yakuza games before it, a spiraling story that sucks you in and keeps you invested even if the games run long. I don't want to go into detail as to avoid spoilers but if you found the initial few chapters to be a little slow pacing wise, just trust that this one will play out... it really does.
Detractions from a five star rating into a four star boil down into the same issues I've had since Y0, and that's the combat and mandatory side missions. Combat again is pretty poor, I had to turn it way down to avoid face-to-desk slamming monotony as the Blockuza came out and I didn't find combat to be diverse enough (I miss you Goro "Bat Wielder" Majima) to warrant playing the hard way. Per the latter issue, there were plenty of times until about chapter ten where you'd start embarking on your quest to find the serial killing culprit only to be phoned and interrupted with a side quest that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I appreciate how fun these can be in LAD/Yakuza games but eventually it feels like a slog, especially when forced upon the player. Consider this a plea to RGG to keep these as SIDE quests down the line. Additionally, I found the constant inclusion of tailing/chase missions to be quite annoying as it just drew out the time of play and didn't add much to my immersion.
I'm excited to play Lost Judgment eventually, but I think I'm going to take an extended break from RGG after Isshin comes out as to keep myself not burnt out. I would recommend Judgment to anybody who was a fan of Kiryu's Yakuza saga.
Outside the structure and gameplay feeling a bit off yet pretty damn refined, straight up perfect game
The story has some on the nose moments holding it back with the super off-key pacing, but I would lying if it didn't have me excited and emotional like a kid
I'm really glad Nagoshi finally got to do his mafia mystery without Yakuza holding him back, this game reeks of his inner wanna-make mystery game especially if you've followed all 7 games before
The story has some on the nose moments holding it back with the super off-key pacing, but I would lying if it didn't have me excited and emotional like a kid
I'm really glad Nagoshi finally got to do his mafia mystery without Yakuza holding him back, this game reeks of his inner wanna-make mystery game especially if you've followed all 7 games before
RGG's story writing peaked with Judgment like HOLY SHIT THEY COOKED
No karaoke, but you do get to beat up tons of cops. I'd like to hang out with these guys again.
CASE NO. 13-2018
MINISTRY OF HEALTH V. TAKAYUKI YAGAMI
reading about RGG's history, it's evident there was a bit of a conscious tonal shift when the main Yakuza series was transitioning to the seventh generation — the development team wanted to move away from the more brazen kiryu portrayed in 2 and especially 1 in order to focus on a different side of the character, and thus began his arc from 3 - 6, his journey with the kids at morning glory, and the never ending struggle to crawl out of the hellhole he thrust himself into so many years ago, lest those he love suffer for it.
i bring this up because, as RGG's approach towards Kiryu's character changed, so did the series itself, going from very classic yakuza-flick inspired games to these more earnest, almost melodramatic titles, and as a result, Yakuza 3 in many aspects ended up being the bedrock for the next ten years of the franchise. I like both styles, but while I'm not here to argue about which one is better, a quick glance at the top spot of my series ranking (note when i made this review it was Yakuza 2, it is now Lost Judgment) should give you a good idea of my personal preference. regardless, playing through the post-2 games I'd always wonder how the series would have progressed if they had stuck with the tone and design goals of the ps2 games. this sentiment was amplified during my playthrough of 7 - probably the game that buckles down the most on the goofier reputation this series has garnered, especially across various social media circles. i don't take issue with it, but it's hard to deny a small part of me longed to see the more grounded experience of the older output ... in a twist of irony, my decision to not play these games in release order led me to gloss over the fact that, in those moments, my wish had already come true...
judgment is a look into that exact reality - an evidently tight budget does little to tarnish the most well executed story in this franchise yet; a delightfully gritty mystery that displays how over-ambition and guilt leads even the most well meaning of people astray, and their varying efforts to claw back to the path they were to walk, yagami and the crew's relentless search for the truth against those who will stop at nothing to conceal it leads to some of the highest points in this series for plot, characterization, conflict, theming and structure — rarely do they ever miss a beat on any of these fronts - even the crowbarring of side content into the main story, especially prevalent here and something I'd usually lambaste if it were any other game I find difficult to get mad at because of how on top of their game the writers were... out of the eleven RGG games I've played, this is only just the second one where i had bothered to do all the side content, because of how much of a joy i found it to simply exist within this world.
to continue on, in general this is probably my favourite iteration of kamurocho, yagami remarks about the city's seediness at the beginning of the game, saying something among the lines of "the brighter the lights, the darker the shadows", and you can physically feel this when walking around at night, the grading of the environments and the toned down glitz from 6 leads to something that looks like it was plucked from a neo-noir movie, small pockets of sensory overload do little to drown out the air of darkness that envelops the city, extremely apt given the lurking threat we spend so long investigating. despite that, the place still buzzes with life thanks to a much more expansive version of 0's friendship system and the side cases - the voice of kamurocho is really felt here, once again like the original games you really have to ruthlessly engage with the city to progress and upgrade, and yagami's position gives you a real chance to look into the lives of these people compared to the other protagonists, which i deeply enjoyed.
being a detective also leads to some real shake-ups when it comes to scenario design, while it can be hit or miss (mostly miss in regards to things like tailing and chases), the gradual deviation from the standard waypoint to waypoint progression of yakuza games is something that was sorely needed, and the overall vulnerability of yagami as a character compared to someone like kiryu leads to setpieces far more interesting than those in the main series... imagine my surprise when a protagonist in this series' first instinct when it came to infiltrating a building wasn't busting in through the front door!
my main complaints really largely lie with the combat, obviously an important thing to get right being a beat-em up - to give credit where credit's due, this game is responsible for some of the most innovative stuff to grace the series's combat since Y2, and as a result there is some real fun to be had in the moment to moment stuff, but the designers continue to stumble through their first attempts with dragon engine - the crane style is all but useless in ninety percent of combat encounters, it's borderline comical how utterly devoid of upgrades it is compared to tiger and genuinely makes me wonder if it was a late addition or something, and while we're on the topic of upgrades, this is probably the most atrocious game in the series when it comes to exp distribution... doing a few of the trite "interact with this character, walk to this location" story objectives can net you hundreds of skill points, something as simple as restaurant completion will earn thousands, yet genuinely taxing things like bosses and side cases dish out crumbs. there are the street fights, but the abysmally high encounter rate puts me off after a while, and while that makes them easy to grind, i find that to be a really shitty way to have to stay up to par in a game like this when it could have been done a million other ways - the reward for beating amon ( prerequisite of clearing every friendship and every side case , being far and beyond the most difficult fight in the game) in this game is three hundred sp ! talking to a character for a story objective is worth two thirds of that... even the keihin gang encounters (which are probably the most infuriating reoccurring combat events in the series) barely reward you with anything for going out of your way to engage with, and as a result it ends up being unnecessarily difficult to get yagami upgraded sometimes, a severe issue, as he can feel hopelessly sluggish without the adequate skills.
many of these things are relatively simple fixes i'd say, but alas this is the final product and unfortunately this is what has to hold the game back being such a crucial element. it's easy to see why judgment's shortcomings in gameplay can really hamper a person's experience of the game, and it certainly did mine in some regards, but as someone who usually never comes to this series for the punching, rarely does it stain what is in my eyes the apex of virtually everything RGG otherwise. a fascinating look into the mind, or more accurately, the eyes of toshihiro nagoshi. very much looking forward to playing lost judgment.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH V. TAKAYUKI YAGAMI
reading about RGG's history, it's evident there was a bit of a conscious tonal shift when the main Yakuza series was transitioning to the seventh generation — the development team wanted to move away from the more brazen kiryu portrayed in 2 and especially 1 in order to focus on a different side of the character, and thus began his arc from 3 - 6, his journey with the kids at morning glory, and the never ending struggle to crawl out of the hellhole he thrust himself into so many years ago, lest those he love suffer for it.
i bring this up because, as RGG's approach towards Kiryu's character changed, so did the series itself, going from very classic yakuza-flick inspired games to these more earnest, almost melodramatic titles, and as a result, Yakuza 3 in many aspects ended up being the bedrock for the next ten years of the franchise. I like both styles, but while I'm not here to argue about which one is better, a quick glance at the top spot of my series ranking (note when i made this review it was Yakuza 2, it is now Lost Judgment) should give you a good idea of my personal preference. regardless, playing through the post-2 games I'd always wonder how the series would have progressed if they had stuck with the tone and design goals of the ps2 games. this sentiment was amplified during my playthrough of 7 - probably the game that buckles down the most on the goofier reputation this series has garnered, especially across various social media circles. i don't take issue with it, but it's hard to deny a small part of me longed to see the more grounded experience of the older output ... in a twist of irony, my decision to not play these games in release order led me to gloss over the fact that, in those moments, my wish had already come true...
judgment is a look into that exact reality - an evidently tight budget does little to tarnish the most well executed story in this franchise yet; a delightfully gritty mystery that displays how over-ambition and guilt leads even the most well meaning of people astray, and their varying efforts to claw back to the path they were to walk, yagami and the crew's relentless search for the truth against those who will stop at nothing to conceal it leads to some of the highest points in this series for plot, characterization, conflict, theming and structure — rarely do they ever miss a beat on any of these fronts - even the crowbarring of side content into the main story, especially prevalent here and something I'd usually lambaste if it were any other game I find difficult to get mad at because of how on top of their game the writers were... out of the eleven RGG games I've played, this is only just the second one where i had bothered to do all the side content, because of how much of a joy i found it to simply exist within this world.
to continue on, in general this is probably my favourite iteration of kamurocho, yagami remarks about the city's seediness at the beginning of the game, saying something among the lines of "the brighter the lights, the darker the shadows", and you can physically feel this when walking around at night, the grading of the environments and the toned down glitz from 6 leads to something that looks like it was plucked from a neo-noir movie, small pockets of sensory overload do little to drown out the air of darkness that envelops the city, extremely apt given the lurking threat we spend so long investigating. despite that, the place still buzzes with life thanks to a much more expansive version of 0's friendship system and the side cases - the voice of kamurocho is really felt here, once again like the original games you really have to ruthlessly engage with the city to progress and upgrade, and yagami's position gives you a real chance to look into the lives of these people compared to the other protagonists, which i deeply enjoyed.
being a detective also leads to some real shake-ups when it comes to scenario design, while it can be hit or miss (mostly miss in regards to things like tailing and chases), the gradual deviation from the standard waypoint to waypoint progression of yakuza games is something that was sorely needed, and the overall vulnerability of yagami as a character compared to someone like kiryu leads to setpieces far more interesting than those in the main series... imagine my surprise when a protagonist in this series' first instinct when it came to infiltrating a building wasn't busting in through the front door!
my main complaints really largely lie with the combat, obviously an important thing to get right being a beat-em up - to give credit where credit's due, this game is responsible for some of the most innovative stuff to grace the series's combat since Y2, and as a result there is some real fun to be had in the moment to moment stuff, but the designers continue to stumble through their first attempts with dragon engine - the crane style is all but useless in ninety percent of combat encounters, it's borderline comical how utterly devoid of upgrades it is compared to tiger and genuinely makes me wonder if it was a late addition or something, and while we're on the topic of upgrades, this is probably the most atrocious game in the series when it comes to exp distribution... doing a few of the trite "interact with this character, walk to this location" story objectives can net you hundreds of skill points, something as simple as restaurant completion will earn thousands, yet genuinely taxing things like bosses and side cases dish out crumbs. there are the street fights, but the abysmally high encounter rate puts me off after a while, and while that makes them easy to grind, i find that to be a really shitty way to have to stay up to par in a game like this when it could have been done a million other ways - the reward for beating amon ( prerequisite of clearing every friendship and every side case , being far and beyond the most difficult fight in the game) in this game is three hundred sp ! talking to a character for a story objective is worth two thirds of that... even the keihin gang encounters (which are probably the most infuriating reoccurring combat events in the series) barely reward you with anything for going out of your way to engage with, and as a result it ends up being unnecessarily difficult to get yagami upgraded sometimes, a severe issue, as he can feel hopelessly sluggish without the adequate skills.
many of these things are relatively simple fixes i'd say, but alas this is the final product and unfortunately this is what has to hold the game back being such a crucial element. it's easy to see why judgment's shortcomings in gameplay can really hamper a person's experience of the game, and it certainly did mine in some regards, but as someone who usually never comes to this series for the punching, rarely does it stain what is in my eyes the apex of virtually everything RGG otherwise. a fascinating look into the mind, or more accurately, the eyes of toshihiro nagoshi. very much looking forward to playing lost judgment.
Game good when it’s not breaking the flow with the most mundane and basic detective gameplay.
Quando comecei esperava achar só ok mas agora cá estou sem palavras para ele
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