RGG's story writing peaked with Judgment like HOLY SHIT THEY COOKED
Cara se a RGG superar isso daqui eu acho que eu fico maluco
After spending much of the past two years wandering through the endless sprawl of the Yakuza Remastered Origins bundle, let me just start by saying it was a real thrill to finally return to the Kamurocho of Yakuza Kiwami 2, awash in neon lights, overwhelmingly high resolution advertisements that hint at a Metaversian confluence of real and fake, full of dense infrastructure and a far too common propensity for truly epic brawls. I'll come back around to that latter bit, because much to my surprise I wound up enjoying the combat far more than any previous Yakuza game. In a game that spotlights combat as often as Judgement does (the street fight slider feels as much as 50% more aggressive than those PS3 titles) that's no small thing.
In my roughly 30 hours with the game, however, I found that Ryu ga Gatoku Studio had either lost some of what made Yakuza's unique blend of melodrama and slapstick cohere or, even worse, found a clever excuse for a dumping ground to wrap various mini-games cut from the Yakuza series over the years and have a little fun with it. About half way through the game I'd realized that the latter might actually be a more charitable take than the former. If that's confusing, think of it this way: through one lens, Judgement is a fun brawler you mostly ignore in favor of side stories and awful mini-games. Through another, it's like listening to a b-sides collection in an anthology, and that's not so bad, right? Who'd listen to the b-sides if they didn't already like the band to begin with?
Judgement really doesn't do itself a ton of favors off the bat, though. For one thing, Yagami is a total mess of a character. At his most abstract, he's essentially a blend of two classic Yakuza protagonists packaged in a mashup of a couple previous side characters. The honor of Kiryu married to the aloofness of Akiyama while slipping in and out of the cop world like Tanimura via the underworld lens of Shinada. There's a version of this on paper that works, but in practice he's a nearly impossible character to get a read on. I was always pretty taken aback by the Yakuza franchise's ability to keep introducing new characters that were neither caricatures nor hard to find the motivation for, but Yagami is kind of a generic superhero archetype. His motley crue of buddies feel similarly market tested, particularly the mysterious masked teen that's been ubiquitous for half a decade at least. Contradicting what I'll argue later, at least the yakuza dudes continue to contain layers that feel as personal as they do burdened by plot or screenwriting.
Some could argue, probably rightly, that Kiryu has the same problem as Yagami generally. But if Kiryu at his core is always wound tight and prepared to spring back to a stoic scold at any moment, Yagami seems too prepared to adjust to the moment. Sometimes he's a hard drinking party guy, sometimes he's practically a clergyman, and his role in the story stumbles around in much the same way. If you're the sort of person that every so often while playing a Yakuza proper found themselves wondering, "why is this character being allowed to live right now?" - keep in mind that the yakuza of Yakuza spend about as much time discussing the operational restrictions of suboordinates as they do actually killing people - Judgement can only amplify that effect.
This is where I spend a little time talking about all the ways that even such a subtle shift as yakuza protagonist to civilian protagonist upsets the balance of the franchise a bit. Whatever the reason may be, Judgement is by far the horniest game in the series. The side missions are full of stalkers, perverts and outright predators (remember, in Kamurocho stalking is a kind of clumsy, nerdy behavior but not actually that worrying) while a key plot point of its middle third involves a She's All That sequence surprisingly had the potential to be more than a "wow, she took her glasses off" trope but air balls the hell out of the shot. All too often are conversations about sexual abuse and coercive sexual conduct met with a comedy soundtrack, or a camera panning up and down the female body, or just otherwise inundating the game.
The Yakuza series has always had a problem with that stuff, but it was a problem that it seemed to be commenting on within Japanese subcultures as a whole. While never outright excusable, these moments were sparing in the grand scheme of each game and the joke was always on the perp. Somehow, in 2019, that no longer always feels like the case, which is what makes it so shocking when you spend a brief mid-game sequence playing dress up with a friendly, helpful, named cast woman like a child's doll only to then inhabit her as she walks down the street, gawked at and cat-called on the way to the next waypoint.
It's simple, and the second time the player is put in this character's shoes neither the effect nor the scenario is nearly as surprising, but as I'll keep exploring this is a game that could've really been onto something if it had just focused more on its core competencies: small claims cases and sexual lunatics.
While it makes sense that a private eye would come across, or be asked to uncover, plenty of lewd moments in the Kamurocho underbelly, there's something about the frequency of it here, let alone the sloppy way most of it is played for laughs rather than any real cause for concern, that exposes Judgement's main flaw: the involvement of the Yakuza at all. As it turns out, when you aren't approaching the streets of Kamurocho from the perspective of a shot-calling wiseguy a lot of these smaller tales from the common people being thrust into the spotlight makes it all feel weird in a bad way rather than a little lark.
Similarly, while the yakuza characters allow for the game to track similar plot details as, well, every Yakuza game in the series excluding Zero and Kiwami and go all the way to the top of the political food chain...it doesn't allow for the player to really get intimate with another side of Kamurocho life in the way this game often suggests. From its "previously on..." stylized recaps to the shockingly dense business and hospitality districts, heavy emphasis on getting to know your local service workers and of course Yagami's position of P.I., Judgement teases a ridiculously enticing pivot for the franchise and it's a real shame RGG either didn't see it the same way or couldn't bring themselves to take such a risk.
And look, I get it. For all its groundings in the real world, the Yakuza franchise is all this studio knows and in many ways the comic book characters that help them get away with the luxurious bullshit they're known for. But from the chapter structure to the severe reduction in the dramatic needs of the protagonist, I had this strange feeling of being let down the more interesting the story became. Initially I figured this was because the story itself was, however relatively ambitious for a video game, quite stock for a noir-adjacent corruption story - though the Resident Evil reference was appreciated when it barged in. Near the end of the game I'd realized that what I was actually bemoaning was that Judgement hadn't fully invested in that zoomed in vision of Kamurocho nor the gimmickry of its nods at procedural television. Who wouldn't want a series of Murders of the Week from RGG Studio, their sort of take on LA Noire's desk-based progression?
Let me step back from that train of thought a bit, because this was ultimately a game I quite enjoyed. In the most basic ways, Judgement knows its way around making a combat encounter shine in their next-gen Dragon Engine. Whether its offices full of desks, chairs and other ephemera, street fights surrounding by glass for the breaking or backyard brawls with water features to duel in, creating moments on par with some of the cutscenes' more clever set pieces has never been easier. Of particular note is a fight at the batting cages in which characters can spill out into the parking lot or a few areas with fish ponds. It's never quite as polished as what you'd see in a Rockstar game from an experiential standpoint, but then Arthur Morgan never leapfrog threw a street thug through a plate glass window like a ragdoll Shane MacMahon, either.
As I got into the later stages of the game I definitely was grateful to have purchased some kind of special edition during a PSN sale, as I had a trio of flaming fists, explosive ground pound and perpetual healing extracts that never left my side from the very beginning. I suppose this means I never fully explored the fighting system, but that's always been my M.O. in these games. My experience with the weapons manufacturers, for example, basically begins and ends with the side quests that unlock them. That was again the case here with the medicine man, but I can see some potential in that whole system being fun in a more concrete, less excessive aspect than the arms of previous games. It's the most Game Ass Game concession the Yakuza franchise has ever made to players who might find its core brawler both too simple and too cheap. Especially if you're in my position and are granted a number of infinite stones that may as well by cheat codes. Anyway, back to the complaining - Kamurocho is showing its damn age.
For what it's worth, Judgement doesn't always look at its play space the same as a Yakuza game would. Several of its missions amount to little more than going to work, heading to the bar for a little R&R then heading home for bed.
Similarly, the side missions are often far lower stakes than those presented in the Yakuza series, to the point that many of them simply revolve around frequenting coffee shops or setting characters up on dates (in a strange twist, you usually don't even accompany the clumsy teens to offer your virginal advice about flirting). Unfortunately, for me this exposed that I've spent the better part of five years indulging in this game world and yet I could turn off the GPS and get you from Armadillo to Valentine in Red Dead Redemption faster than I could Shellac to Ebisu Pawn. A slight exaggeration, but adding all these interiors and businesses into the same square mileage more often just makes this confusing rather than feel more lived in. Yakuza characters may wield fascinating turns of phrase, often strange day jobs and at the top level some of the best variety of face scans in all of gaming, but even in 2019 nobody could excuse them of being all that emotive and the city itself flows from that core robotic state.
Which is to say that by nodding to the bigger ambitions of the modern world's open world game designs, whether that's a sprawling map, a quest log that never quits updating, zoomed in and slow paced interior infiltration types of missions or just hanging out on a date, playing a Yakuza release that's practically contemporary for the first time one can't help but notice how slapdash its approaches to these open world staples is. Likewise, Judgement's base charms can't really distract from the fact that RGG have never so much as teased they could crack the code of narrative pacing in a world where the player could just as easily fuck off and play Fantasy Zone for five hours. Especially in the last three acts of the game, there are all kinds of urgency stacked onto the player from death sentences to members of the party's own desire to see things end quickly. The cumulative effect is a game that feels like its trying to do a little too much both in the stereotypical way all modern video games do but also simply a project of this scope and story of this ambition.
The thing that really, really hurt my time with this game however and had me worrying this might be the absolute worst RGG product I've played was Judgement's pacing. While this is clearly a procedural at its core - again, see the "previously on..." segments and first ten or so hours of the game - the bulk of its storytelling is quite serialized. Unfortunately, this means roughly 65% of the conversations you'll be watching in this game are little more than recaps of the information you'd acquired before. Accompanied by a ripping, endless heavy rock guitar line, most of Judgement's most fraught scenes are little more than Yagami and a character he went on an adventure with explaining what they did and learned to the other characters who weren't there, spiraling their way towards an idea for what to do next. Not only that, the player character often interjects with a blue-coded inner-thought that both accidentally implies the player is an idiot who can't follow along AND stops the flow of conversation until you press X alongside an annoying chime noise.
Quick tangent: musical cues are an entire other gripe with this game, whatever positives the soundtrack might have to offer is far outweighed by the looney tunes way its spare number of themes are employed throughout the game. It's so rarely comedic, or dramatic, that the times they do feel sympatico with the cinematography it feels accidental. This chime, likewise, highlights a pointless aspect of the game that in attempting to be "detective-y" just slows things down. I won't even get started on the whack-a-mole interrogation or crime scene investigation scenes, let alone the dreadful tailing (scored by the game's standout track no less, a beautiful little acid jazz cut reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII's Deling City theme among others) sequences that do little more than insult everyone's intelligence and suspension of disbelief.
If this seems like a lot of complaining, it's only because Judgement has made a bunch of problems for itself at the exact same time that it solves the franchise's longest running flaw. The combat is still mindless, of course, but it seems ready to accept that and stop throwing enemies with specific attack patterns, cheap weapons, aggravating special tactics or any other cheap bullshit at you. We're a long way from the Blockuza meme of Yakuza 3 and while I'm quite sure there are those who wish Judgement weren't so easy to mash your way through I'm personally ecstatic. Y'all mad men and women can have your Amon pit fights; I just wanna mash my way to the same basic EX move cutscenes for dozens of hours and watch a soap opera on the side.
Finally, generic as a quality doesn't necessarily condemn a story, and Judgement comes out the other side just fine on that front. When suspicious characters aren't telling you the full story of a photo you and your friends already sussed the details of 10 minutes prior, it doesn't necessarily matter that Judgement is using the same story agriculture as previous Yakuza games. There's just enough of a sense of audacity in the fire at the center of it all that, for whatever reason, the incessant pauses to explain why a bad dude isn't all that bad, really, other than how bad he is of course that the core charm of the franchise can still shine through. I liken it to boys playing with new action figures - sometimes there is a bit of Marvel-esque creep into these characters, especially Sugiura and Kaito, that feels threatening - in the same corners of the room they always have.
Clearly I found much - MUCH - to dislike about this game, but I also found its 30 hours to be pretty breezy and cordial, completed in about three weeks despite everything weighed against it. Sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder if I hadn't been making my way through this series in as short a time as I have if some more of that RGG charm could've made up for the complaints.
As it stands, it was nice to spend some time in this world that wasn't quite as intensely splayed out as Yakuza 4 or 5 and also take a break from some of the more byzantine paths Kiryu and Co.'s lives have gone down. And I can't stress enough that however annoying the frequency of the combat can be in this game, the fact that the GAME bit of a Yakuza game is the most successful aspect is a minor shock and went a good way towards Judgement not joining Yakuza 3, or in some ways 4, as a bad game propped up by compelling characters and bonkers translations. Judgement is sparingly good, often bad, and far more mediocre in the middle than you'd like...but this is still a world in which you'll have an actual belly laugh every hour or so. That's not nothin'.
And for what it's worth, I'm not even necessarily opposed to a beelining of the NG+ save with the English voice acting at some point, just to see how that feels in a Yakuza setting.
But it'll probably be quite a while before I look into whether Lost Judgement sorted all of this out. I heard something about a high school...
In my roughly 30 hours with the game, however, I found that Ryu ga Gatoku Studio had either lost some of what made Yakuza's unique blend of melodrama and slapstick cohere or, even worse, found a clever excuse for a dumping ground to wrap various mini-games cut from the Yakuza series over the years and have a little fun with it. About half way through the game I'd realized that the latter might actually be a more charitable take than the former. If that's confusing, think of it this way: through one lens, Judgement is a fun brawler you mostly ignore in favor of side stories and awful mini-games. Through another, it's like listening to a b-sides collection in an anthology, and that's not so bad, right? Who'd listen to the b-sides if they didn't already like the band to begin with?
Judgement really doesn't do itself a ton of favors off the bat, though. For one thing, Yagami is a total mess of a character. At his most abstract, he's essentially a blend of two classic Yakuza protagonists packaged in a mashup of a couple previous side characters. The honor of Kiryu married to the aloofness of Akiyama while slipping in and out of the cop world like Tanimura via the underworld lens of Shinada. There's a version of this on paper that works, but in practice he's a nearly impossible character to get a read on. I was always pretty taken aback by the Yakuza franchise's ability to keep introducing new characters that were neither caricatures nor hard to find the motivation for, but Yagami is kind of a generic superhero archetype. His motley crue of buddies feel similarly market tested, particularly the mysterious masked teen that's been ubiquitous for half a decade at least. Contradicting what I'll argue later, at least the yakuza dudes continue to contain layers that feel as personal as they do burdened by plot or screenwriting.
Some could argue, probably rightly, that Kiryu has the same problem as Yagami generally. But if Kiryu at his core is always wound tight and prepared to spring back to a stoic scold at any moment, Yagami seems too prepared to adjust to the moment. Sometimes he's a hard drinking party guy, sometimes he's practically a clergyman, and his role in the story stumbles around in much the same way. If you're the sort of person that every so often while playing a Yakuza proper found themselves wondering, "why is this character being allowed to live right now?" - keep in mind that the yakuza of Yakuza spend about as much time discussing the operational restrictions of suboordinates as they do actually killing people - Judgement can only amplify that effect.
This is where I spend a little time talking about all the ways that even such a subtle shift as yakuza protagonist to civilian protagonist upsets the balance of the franchise a bit. Whatever the reason may be, Judgement is by far the horniest game in the series. The side missions are full of stalkers, perverts and outright predators (remember, in Kamurocho stalking is a kind of clumsy, nerdy behavior but not actually that worrying) while a key plot point of its middle third involves a She's All That sequence surprisingly had the potential to be more than a "wow, she took her glasses off" trope but air balls the hell out of the shot. All too often are conversations about sexual abuse and coercive sexual conduct met with a comedy soundtrack, or a camera panning up and down the female body, or just otherwise inundating the game.
The Yakuza series has always had a problem with that stuff, but it was a problem that it seemed to be commenting on within Japanese subcultures as a whole. While never outright excusable, these moments were sparing in the grand scheme of each game and the joke was always on the perp. Somehow, in 2019, that no longer always feels like the case, which is what makes it so shocking when you spend a brief mid-game sequence playing dress up with a friendly, helpful, named cast woman like a child's doll only to then inhabit her as she walks down the street, gawked at and cat-called on the way to the next waypoint.
It's simple, and the second time the player is put in this character's shoes neither the effect nor the scenario is nearly as surprising, but as I'll keep exploring this is a game that could've really been onto something if it had just focused more on its core competencies: small claims cases and sexual lunatics.
While it makes sense that a private eye would come across, or be asked to uncover, plenty of lewd moments in the Kamurocho underbelly, there's something about the frequency of it here, let alone the sloppy way most of it is played for laughs rather than any real cause for concern, that exposes Judgement's main flaw: the involvement of the Yakuza at all. As it turns out, when you aren't approaching the streets of Kamurocho from the perspective of a shot-calling wiseguy a lot of these smaller tales from the common people being thrust into the spotlight makes it all feel weird in a bad way rather than a little lark.
Similarly, while the yakuza characters allow for the game to track similar plot details as, well, every Yakuza game in the series excluding Zero and Kiwami and go all the way to the top of the political food chain...it doesn't allow for the player to really get intimate with another side of Kamurocho life in the way this game often suggests. From its "previously on..." stylized recaps to the shockingly dense business and hospitality districts, heavy emphasis on getting to know your local service workers and of course Yagami's position of P.I., Judgement teases a ridiculously enticing pivot for the franchise and it's a real shame RGG either didn't see it the same way or couldn't bring themselves to take such a risk.
And look, I get it. For all its groundings in the real world, the Yakuza franchise is all this studio knows and in many ways the comic book characters that help them get away with the luxurious bullshit they're known for. But from the chapter structure to the severe reduction in the dramatic needs of the protagonist, I had this strange feeling of being let down the more interesting the story became. Initially I figured this was because the story itself was, however relatively ambitious for a video game, quite stock for a noir-adjacent corruption story - though the Resident Evil reference was appreciated when it barged in. Near the end of the game I'd realized that what I was actually bemoaning was that Judgement hadn't fully invested in that zoomed in vision of Kamurocho nor the gimmickry of its nods at procedural television. Who wouldn't want a series of Murders of the Week from RGG Studio, their sort of take on LA Noire's desk-based progression?
Let me step back from that train of thought a bit, because this was ultimately a game I quite enjoyed. In the most basic ways, Judgement knows its way around making a combat encounter shine in their next-gen Dragon Engine. Whether its offices full of desks, chairs and other ephemera, street fights surrounding by glass for the breaking or backyard brawls with water features to duel in, creating moments on par with some of the cutscenes' more clever set pieces has never been easier. Of particular note is a fight at the batting cages in which characters can spill out into the parking lot or a few areas with fish ponds. It's never quite as polished as what you'd see in a Rockstar game from an experiential standpoint, but then Arthur Morgan never leapfrog threw a street thug through a plate glass window like a ragdoll Shane MacMahon, either.
As I got into the later stages of the game I definitely was grateful to have purchased some kind of special edition during a PSN sale, as I had a trio of flaming fists, explosive ground pound and perpetual healing extracts that never left my side from the very beginning. I suppose this means I never fully explored the fighting system, but that's always been my M.O. in these games. My experience with the weapons manufacturers, for example, basically begins and ends with the side quests that unlock them. That was again the case here with the medicine man, but I can see some potential in that whole system being fun in a more concrete, less excessive aspect than the arms of previous games. It's the most Game Ass Game concession the Yakuza franchise has ever made to players who might find its core brawler both too simple and too cheap. Especially if you're in my position and are granted a number of infinite stones that may as well by cheat codes. Anyway, back to the complaining - Kamurocho is showing its damn age.
For what it's worth, Judgement doesn't always look at its play space the same as a Yakuza game would. Several of its missions amount to little more than going to work, heading to the bar for a little R&R then heading home for bed.
Similarly, the side missions are often far lower stakes than those presented in the Yakuza series, to the point that many of them simply revolve around frequenting coffee shops or setting characters up on dates (in a strange twist, you usually don't even accompany the clumsy teens to offer your virginal advice about flirting). Unfortunately, for me this exposed that I've spent the better part of five years indulging in this game world and yet I could turn off the GPS and get you from Armadillo to Valentine in Red Dead Redemption faster than I could Shellac to Ebisu Pawn. A slight exaggeration, but adding all these interiors and businesses into the same square mileage more often just makes this confusing rather than feel more lived in. Yakuza characters may wield fascinating turns of phrase, often strange day jobs and at the top level some of the best variety of face scans in all of gaming, but even in 2019 nobody could excuse them of being all that emotive and the city itself flows from that core robotic state.
Which is to say that by nodding to the bigger ambitions of the modern world's open world game designs, whether that's a sprawling map, a quest log that never quits updating, zoomed in and slow paced interior infiltration types of missions or just hanging out on a date, playing a Yakuza release that's practically contemporary for the first time one can't help but notice how slapdash its approaches to these open world staples is. Likewise, Judgement's base charms can't really distract from the fact that RGG have never so much as teased they could crack the code of narrative pacing in a world where the player could just as easily fuck off and play Fantasy Zone for five hours. Especially in the last three acts of the game, there are all kinds of urgency stacked onto the player from death sentences to members of the party's own desire to see things end quickly. The cumulative effect is a game that feels like its trying to do a little too much both in the stereotypical way all modern video games do but also simply a project of this scope and story of this ambition.
The thing that really, really hurt my time with this game however and had me worrying this might be the absolute worst RGG product I've played was Judgement's pacing. While this is clearly a procedural at its core - again, see the "previously on..." segments and first ten or so hours of the game - the bulk of its storytelling is quite serialized. Unfortunately, this means roughly 65% of the conversations you'll be watching in this game are little more than recaps of the information you'd acquired before. Accompanied by a ripping, endless heavy rock guitar line, most of Judgement's most fraught scenes are little more than Yagami and a character he went on an adventure with explaining what they did and learned to the other characters who weren't there, spiraling their way towards an idea for what to do next. Not only that, the player character often interjects with a blue-coded inner-thought that both accidentally implies the player is an idiot who can't follow along AND stops the flow of conversation until you press X alongside an annoying chime noise.
Quick tangent: musical cues are an entire other gripe with this game, whatever positives the soundtrack might have to offer is far outweighed by the looney tunes way its spare number of themes are employed throughout the game. It's so rarely comedic, or dramatic, that the times they do feel sympatico with the cinematography it feels accidental. This chime, likewise, highlights a pointless aspect of the game that in attempting to be "detective-y" just slows things down. I won't even get started on the whack-a-mole interrogation or crime scene investigation scenes, let alone the dreadful tailing (scored by the game's standout track no less, a beautiful little acid jazz cut reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII's Deling City theme among others) sequences that do little more than insult everyone's intelligence and suspension of disbelief.
If this seems like a lot of complaining, it's only because Judgement has made a bunch of problems for itself at the exact same time that it solves the franchise's longest running flaw. The combat is still mindless, of course, but it seems ready to accept that and stop throwing enemies with specific attack patterns, cheap weapons, aggravating special tactics or any other cheap bullshit at you. We're a long way from the Blockuza meme of Yakuza 3 and while I'm quite sure there are those who wish Judgement weren't so easy to mash your way through I'm personally ecstatic. Y'all mad men and women can have your Amon pit fights; I just wanna mash my way to the same basic EX move cutscenes for dozens of hours and watch a soap opera on the side.
Finally, generic as a quality doesn't necessarily condemn a story, and Judgement comes out the other side just fine on that front. When suspicious characters aren't telling you the full story of a photo you and your friends already sussed the details of 10 minutes prior, it doesn't necessarily matter that Judgement is using the same story agriculture as previous Yakuza games. There's just enough of a sense of audacity in the fire at the center of it all that, for whatever reason, the incessant pauses to explain why a bad dude isn't all that bad, really, other than how bad he is of course that the core charm of the franchise can still shine through. I liken it to boys playing with new action figures - sometimes there is a bit of Marvel-esque creep into these characters, especially Sugiura and Kaito, that feels threatening - in the same corners of the room they always have.
Clearly I found much - MUCH - to dislike about this game, but I also found its 30 hours to be pretty breezy and cordial, completed in about three weeks despite everything weighed against it. Sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder if I hadn't been making my way through this series in as short a time as I have if some more of that RGG charm could've made up for the complaints.
As it stands, it was nice to spend some time in this world that wasn't quite as intensely splayed out as Yakuza 4 or 5 and also take a break from some of the more byzantine paths Kiryu and Co.'s lives have gone down. And I can't stress enough that however annoying the frequency of the combat can be in this game, the fact that the GAME bit of a Yakuza game is the most successful aspect is a minor shock and went a good way towards Judgement not joining Yakuza 3, or in some ways 4, as a bad game propped up by compelling characters and bonkers translations. Judgement is sparingly good, often bad, and far more mediocre in the middle than you'd like...but this is still a world in which you'll have an actual belly laugh every hour or so. That's not nothin'.
And for what it's worth, I'm not even necessarily opposed to a beelining of the NG+ save with the English voice acting at some point, just to see how that feels in a Yakuza setting.
But it'll probably be quite a while before I look into whether Lost Judgement sorted all of this out. I heard something about a high school...
why the fuck did i not play a ryu ga gotoku studios game until now this is awesome
While I do miss the days where RgG games were not on the Dragon Engine, this is as close as we've gotten to a game that reaches the highs of the Yakuza games. The combat is still really sluggish and stiff at times, but when it works, it's some of the best work for RgG studio.
A lot of the detective stuff is kinda whatever, and way too repetitive, and a lot of boss fights are kinda just there. The Keihin gang is way too prevalent and obnoxious when you're just trying to complete cases, etc. The story, characters, and select moments in the game were strong enough to make me love it overall. I do hope that they improve on the detective element of the game in Lost Judgment, which I'm looking forward to playing in the near future.
They might've ruined Yakuza by making it a turn based series from here on out, but I'm happy if Judgment carries on the old formula, assuming we get more games in the future.
A lot of the detective stuff is kinda whatever, and way too repetitive, and a lot of boss fights are kinda just there. The Keihin gang is way too prevalent and obnoxious when you're just trying to complete cases, etc. The story, characters, and select moments in the game were strong enough to make me love it overall. I do hope that they improve on the detective element of the game in Lost Judgment, which I'm looking forward to playing in the near future.
They might've ruined Yakuza by making it a turn based series from here on out, but I'm happy if Judgment carries on the old formula, assuming we get more games in the future.
A seamless baton pass from the Yakuza games, Judgment exceeds expectations, even when certain gameplay tropes and a bit of lacking direction are present.
While I'm almost content that RGG will never make a bad game, I was worried that Judgment would follow in the footsteps of Yakuza 6. The Dragon Engine combat would be wobbly. The story would be over something as stupid as a corporation's corruption and Yagami wouldn't nearly be as fun as Kiryu Kazama, to play or to hear.
Well, Judgment, just like 2020's Like A Dragon (haven't beaten it but just under halfway) comes out again with making a likable protagonist with a whole new take on things. I love the way the game balances the Yakuza through the Matsugane backstory, as well as the courtroom drama you witness play out through the game's story. On top of this, Judgment really makes every murder or twist stand out more than any Yakuza game did. I felt like the twists in this game were well-written and earned, unlike the quadruple or quintuple twists we've gotten in cutscenes like games like Yakuza 2 or Yakuza 5. Judgment very well might be the best story RGG has worked on and creates characters that will make you laugh, cry, and seethe. Not to mention the star-studded English VA casting of people like Matthew Mercer (Kuroiwa) and Fred Tatasciore (Shintani). Judgment won't let you down in this department through a thrilling, motivating epic that topples most of the previous Yakuza stories.
So then, where's the beef? Well, the gameplay and progression is probably the biggest mixed bag out there. The gameplay itself is awesome, the style switching allows for huge variety, even if the game tells you to mostly use Crane fighting lots of people, and Tiger fighting one person (also, most previous Yakuza players will most likely gravitate towards Tiger, as it mimics most of the moves franchise players would be familiar with). Wall-running is badass, and the chases are pretty great too when needed.
The few large hangups I have on this game are:
-Following missions. Oh my God, I thought after Assassin's Creed III I'd never have to keep someone within focus for 9 minutes straight as they consistently turn around and go "hey, is someone following me?" before turning around and proceeding on their NPC path. This kind of follow-quest is super dated and deserved to die in the 00s, let alone the fact that the game acts like they're fun here. I sure do hope Lost Judgment and future iterations improve on this, because Lord almighty, almost every substory, and at least 10 times in the main story, involves following someone for 5 minutes as you just peer your 3rd person camera out from around the corner and wait for them to cross yet another corner. It's so damn lame, and I have no idea why RGG (who usually throws out the AAA crap for stuff that's actually fun) threw this into the mix.
-Content drought. While I don't usually cry "where's the content!" and get frustrated by most people who cry for why this game doesn't have Yakuza 0 or Yakuza 5 amounts of content, they have an extremely valid point. There's only about two or three new minigames. The rest are things like Mahjong, Club Sega, Gambling, or Shogi. In a game where the sky is the limit, modern Kamurocho is buzzing with new technology, they're only able to come up with...two new minigames. I was surprised myself as I was going for the platinum. I completed Dice & Cube, Drone Racing, and the Batting Cages, along with all the restaurants, and y'know what I had left? Mahjong, Club Sega, Gambling, and Shogi. The stuff no one really spends a ton of time at in any Yakuza game. Wow, did they drop the ball on getting rid of things like Kareoke and plenty of fun activities even from 6 like Baseball or Spearfishing. I can't believe Yakuza 6 looks like a great game compared to Judgment in this regard.
-Substories/Friendships. They just vary HIGHLY in quality, and I somewhat hate when the game forces you into a substory while you're trying to complete the main story. It just feels like literal padding to a game that's long enough, even if you removed those moments in them. While some substories involve full sleuthing, fun battles, and great twists that Yagami has to uncover, there are plenty that just involves checking in on someone 9 times in a row for a friendship to make them your friend, or doing the same thing for them over and over. This really ruins the mood from previous games where I felt that most substories you uncover are just these fun mysteries that you feel lucky that you even catch. The way Judgment shovels the sidequests and friendships in your face feels wrong, almost like it's telling you how it wants to be played, despite the rewards being much more paltry than grinding Dice & Cube.
Judgment is a great game that still to me is on the upper half of what RGG has made. But don't mistake that for some glowing beacon away from the already great games out there. Just because it's the shiny new toy compared to the "dingy" old Dragon Engine and the original games, doesn't mean it comes with no flaws and a perfect first attempt. But it is really damn good and worth a try.
While I'm almost content that RGG will never make a bad game, I was worried that Judgment would follow in the footsteps of Yakuza 6. The Dragon Engine combat would be wobbly. The story would be over something as stupid as a corporation's corruption and Yagami wouldn't nearly be as fun as Kiryu Kazama, to play or to hear.
Well, Judgment, just like 2020's Like A Dragon (haven't beaten it but just under halfway) comes out again with making a likable protagonist with a whole new take on things. I love the way the game balances the Yakuza through the Matsugane backstory, as well as the courtroom drama you witness play out through the game's story. On top of this, Judgment really makes every murder or twist stand out more than any Yakuza game did. I felt like the twists in this game were well-written and earned, unlike the quadruple or quintuple twists we've gotten in cutscenes like games like Yakuza 2 or Yakuza 5. Judgment very well might be the best story RGG has worked on and creates characters that will make you laugh, cry, and seethe. Not to mention the star-studded English VA casting of people like Matthew Mercer (Kuroiwa) and Fred Tatasciore (Shintani). Judgment won't let you down in this department through a thrilling, motivating epic that topples most of the previous Yakuza stories.
So then, where's the beef? Well, the gameplay and progression is probably the biggest mixed bag out there. The gameplay itself is awesome, the style switching allows for huge variety, even if the game tells you to mostly use Crane fighting lots of people, and Tiger fighting one person (also, most previous Yakuza players will most likely gravitate towards Tiger, as it mimics most of the moves franchise players would be familiar with). Wall-running is badass, and the chases are pretty great too when needed.
The few large hangups I have on this game are:
-Following missions. Oh my God, I thought after Assassin's Creed III I'd never have to keep someone within focus for 9 minutes straight as they consistently turn around and go "hey, is someone following me?" before turning around and proceeding on their NPC path. This kind of follow-quest is super dated and deserved to die in the 00s, let alone the fact that the game acts like they're fun here. I sure do hope Lost Judgment and future iterations improve on this, because Lord almighty, almost every substory, and at least 10 times in the main story, involves following someone for 5 minutes as you just peer your 3rd person camera out from around the corner and wait for them to cross yet another corner. It's so damn lame, and I have no idea why RGG (who usually throws out the AAA crap for stuff that's actually fun) threw this into the mix.
-Content drought. While I don't usually cry "where's the content!" and get frustrated by most people who cry for why this game doesn't have Yakuza 0 or Yakuza 5 amounts of content, they have an extremely valid point. There's only about two or three new minigames. The rest are things like Mahjong, Club Sega, Gambling, or Shogi. In a game where the sky is the limit, modern Kamurocho is buzzing with new technology, they're only able to come up with...two new minigames. I was surprised myself as I was going for the platinum. I completed Dice & Cube, Drone Racing, and the Batting Cages, along with all the restaurants, and y'know what I had left? Mahjong, Club Sega, Gambling, and Shogi. The stuff no one really spends a ton of time at in any Yakuza game. Wow, did they drop the ball on getting rid of things like Kareoke and plenty of fun activities even from 6 like Baseball or Spearfishing. I can't believe Yakuza 6 looks like a great game compared to Judgment in this regard.
-Substories/Friendships. They just vary HIGHLY in quality, and I somewhat hate when the game forces you into a substory while you're trying to complete the main story. It just feels like literal padding to a game that's long enough, even if you removed those moments in them. While some substories involve full sleuthing, fun battles, and great twists that Yagami has to uncover, there are plenty that just involves checking in on someone 9 times in a row for a friendship to make them your friend, or doing the same thing for them over and over. This really ruins the mood from previous games where I felt that most substories you uncover are just these fun mysteries that you feel lucky that you even catch. The way Judgment shovels the sidequests and friendships in your face feels wrong, almost like it's telling you how it wants to be played, despite the rewards being much more paltry than grinding Dice & Cube.
Judgment is a great game that still to me is on the upper half of what RGG has made. But don't mistake that for some glowing beacon away from the already great games out there. Just because it's the shiny new toy compared to the "dingy" old Dragon Engine and the original games, doesn't mean it comes with no flaws and a perfect first attempt. But it is really damn good and worth a try.
Judgment is so good I wish lawyers were real
Outside certain parts in the middle like Chapter 7 being slow, straight up perfect game that kept me hooked from start to finish. Amazing balance between the suspense of the mystery crime thriller drama and chemistry between the boys in the Detective Agency which is all the hallmarks and strengths of a good RGG game. I love how this game gives us a different perspective, it has a more grounded feeling compared to the Yakuza games as we view Kamurocho from the lens of families not on top of the chain yet the stakes are just as high.
Yagami's character writing in this game from start to finish is absolutely brilliant. He's already one of my favorite characters in RGG with the way his story arcs unfolds where he ran away from the truth for the longest time yet still being the one who strives towards justice. The ending to the game was also haunting, they really should have been the main title Judge Eyes cuz of how well it ties into the ending fr.
Every game RGG has made since Yakuza 0 onwards have been non stop bangers, its only upwards from here
Yagami's character writing in this game from start to finish is absolutely brilliant. He's already one of my favorite characters in RGG with the way his story arcs unfolds where he ran away from the truth for the longest time yet still being the one who strives towards justice. The ending to the game was also haunting, they really should have been the main title Judge Eyes cuz of how well it ties into the ending fr.
Every game RGG has made since Yakuza 0 onwards have been non stop bangers, its only upwards from here
This is a tough game for me to review, because I want to say I adore it, and parts of it I absolutely do. However, It's marred by flaws that sour the experience to the point where I can't say that.
One of the parts that I adore is the story. This is hands down the best narrative in the entire series and a big part of it is thanks to how it's set out. Judgment has an episodic feel to its plot as the main story consists of several smaller cases that all tie into the games main mystery and unravelling how everything is connected as the game progresses reaches levels of intrigue that's unlike anything in the series. As it reaches its crescendo in the final 3 chapters, it becomes an absolute rollercoaster of reveals, hard-hitting dialogue and incredibly satisfying resolutions. The cast is strong too, Yagami, while not being a fountain of personality, has a level of cheek to him which, when coupled with the banter he shares with character like Kaito, makes for some really enjoyable dialogue. The supporting cast is also very likeable and despite the game only being 13 chapters long, I feel everyone gets a decent amount of screen time. Even with all that said though, it's impossible for me to do the story justice, you just have to experience it for yourself.
The only blemish on the story is the fact that you're forced to do side cases during it. In fairness, these are some of the stronger side cases in the game, but when you're forced to do them during the game's main story, it just feels like padding that ends up hurting the stories pacing. That brings me to one of my main issues with Judgment, for a game in the Yakuza series, the side content here is much weaker than usual. To begin with, side cases feel really repetitive here since a lot of them get repeated up to 3 times, like the Bomber side cases where you just find a bomb 3 different times, or when you have to find a kid who is hiding 3 different times. The game has 50 side cases total but it really only feels like there's about 20 with how much repetition there is. There simply wasn't as much effort placed into these side cases and a big reason why is because of the Friend Events. Friend Events have you befriend people in Kamurocho by performing various tasks like beating up people who are threatening them or buying food at their restaurant. I'm split on this system since while it does make the town of Kamurocho feel more alive than ever and having certain friends help out during combat does feel really cool, the storylines in Friend Events are mostly really generic and forgettable.
However, the side cases still have a lot of highlights like the Haunted Apartment or the Twisted Trio cases which are both hilarious, and that goes for the game as a whole. Judgment retains the absurdity of the mainline games and it makes for some of the most hilarious moments in the series. The payoff for completing all side cases and friend events is great too as you see the friends you've made help out in The Golden Mouse side case which was really heart-warming. Also, this game has the best Amon fight so far. As for other parts of side content, it's hit and miss. The girlfriend stuff is just creepy and Paradise VR is too RNG-Based for my liking (and getting play passes is a pain). Drone-racing is awesome though
As for combat, I'm not very fond of it here. It might just be me, but Yagami's attacks feel really rigid, there's also a huge amount of endlag on his moves which only makes the combat feel more awkward. I did eventually get used to it though, also, this game has the coolest looking heat actions in the series. It's the only Yakuza game in which I went out of my way to see as many obscure ones as possible. This wasn't too hard, since you're constantly fucking bombarded with enemies from the Keihin Gang and it's honestly the worst part of the game. Trying to do side cases and friend events only to have the Threat Level rise to 100% and having to constantly hide from enemies is just infuriating.
Another rough spot in terms of gameplay for me would be all the detective-work based segments. Taking incriminating pictures, Thumb turn bypass and lock-picking are ok but chasing and tailing segments are just awful. Chasing segments seem impossible to fail and sometimes, even when you do the QTE properly, it still feels like you slowed down. Tailing segments are even worse since while they're just as mind-numbingly easy with how rudimentary the "stealth" is, they're also extremely long and are insanely overused. Waaaaaaay too many side cases just boil down to you tailing someone for the vast majority of the mission.
Even with all my complaints about the gameplay, the one thing that remains consistent during it is the quality of the soundtrack. This is my favourite OST in the series. It manages to be just as hype when it needs to be, while having a great level of variety and a way bigger emphasis on jazz which I enjoyed.
Being a spin-off is a blessing and a curse for Judgment. It gets to tell a standalone story without being shackled by past games, but on the flipside, it feels it has to do things differently from the Yakuza games in terms of gameplay, and barely any of it pays off. Even with that said though, I really enjoyed my time with it overall.
One of the parts that I adore is the story. This is hands down the best narrative in the entire series and a big part of it is thanks to how it's set out. Judgment has an episodic feel to its plot as the main story consists of several smaller cases that all tie into the games main mystery and unravelling how everything is connected as the game progresses reaches levels of intrigue that's unlike anything in the series. As it reaches its crescendo in the final 3 chapters, it becomes an absolute rollercoaster of reveals, hard-hitting dialogue and incredibly satisfying resolutions. The cast is strong too, Yagami, while not being a fountain of personality, has a level of cheek to him which, when coupled with the banter he shares with character like Kaito, makes for some really enjoyable dialogue. The supporting cast is also very likeable and despite the game only being 13 chapters long, I feel everyone gets a decent amount of screen time. Even with all that said though, it's impossible for me to do the story justice, you just have to experience it for yourself.
The only blemish on the story is the fact that you're forced to do side cases during it. In fairness, these are some of the stronger side cases in the game, but when you're forced to do them during the game's main story, it just feels like padding that ends up hurting the stories pacing. That brings me to one of my main issues with Judgment, for a game in the Yakuza series, the side content here is much weaker than usual. To begin with, side cases feel really repetitive here since a lot of them get repeated up to 3 times, like the Bomber side cases where you just find a bomb 3 different times, or when you have to find a kid who is hiding 3 different times. The game has 50 side cases total but it really only feels like there's about 20 with how much repetition there is. There simply wasn't as much effort placed into these side cases and a big reason why is because of the Friend Events. Friend Events have you befriend people in Kamurocho by performing various tasks like beating up people who are threatening them or buying food at their restaurant. I'm split on this system since while it does make the town of Kamurocho feel more alive than ever and having certain friends help out during combat does feel really cool, the storylines in Friend Events are mostly really generic and forgettable.
However, the side cases still have a lot of highlights like the Haunted Apartment or the Twisted Trio cases which are both hilarious, and that goes for the game as a whole. Judgment retains the absurdity of the mainline games and it makes for some of the most hilarious moments in the series. The payoff for completing all side cases and friend events is great too as you see the friends you've made help out in The Golden Mouse side case which was really heart-warming. Also, this game has the best Amon fight so far. As for other parts of side content, it's hit and miss. The girlfriend stuff is just creepy and Paradise VR is too RNG-Based for my liking (and getting play passes is a pain). Drone-racing is awesome though
As for combat, I'm not very fond of it here. It might just be me, but Yagami's attacks feel really rigid, there's also a huge amount of endlag on his moves which only makes the combat feel more awkward. I did eventually get used to it though, also, this game has the coolest looking heat actions in the series. It's the only Yakuza game in which I went out of my way to see as many obscure ones as possible. This wasn't too hard, since you're constantly fucking bombarded with enemies from the Keihin Gang and it's honestly the worst part of the game. Trying to do side cases and friend events only to have the Threat Level rise to 100% and having to constantly hide from enemies is just infuriating.
Another rough spot in terms of gameplay for me would be all the detective-work based segments. Taking incriminating pictures, Thumb turn bypass and lock-picking are ok but chasing and tailing segments are just awful. Chasing segments seem impossible to fail and sometimes, even when you do the QTE properly, it still feels like you slowed down. Tailing segments are even worse since while they're just as mind-numbingly easy with how rudimentary the "stealth" is, they're also extremely long and are insanely overused. Waaaaaaay too many side cases just boil down to you tailing someone for the vast majority of the mission.
Even with all my complaints about the gameplay, the one thing that remains consistent during it is the quality of the soundtrack. This is my favourite OST in the series. It manages to be just as hype when it needs to be, while having a great level of variety and a way bigger emphasis on jazz which I enjoyed.
Being a spin-off is a blessing and a curse for Judgment. It gets to tell a standalone story without being shackled by past games, but on the flipside, it feels it has to do things differently from the Yakuza games in terms of gameplay, and barely any of it pays off. Even with that said though, I really enjoyed my time with it overall.
começando pelos pontos positivos
história/personagens:
surpreendentemente, a melhor coisa do jogo. Já no primeiro capítulo, que talvez seja a maior introdução de um jogo na franquia, você é familiarizado com tudo que o jogo vai ter: investigação, plot twist, tribunal, diálogos tensos e o mais importante, porrada. Em Kamurocho vem acontecendo uns assassinatos estranhos, com o mesmo padrão e praticamente sem deixar rastros, e acompanhamos o nosso querido Yagami tentando solucionar esse mistério. Fiquei preso nessa narrativa do começo ao final, todo o caso é lentamente bem construído e imprevisível, o jeito que as coisas escalam é incrível, o que no começo parece simples vai se expandido e você vê que envolve muito mais coisa do que se imaginava. Dito isso, ela não é perfeita, em alguns momentos lá pro meio fica lento demais e mais expositivo do que deveria, alguns diálogos cansam por conta do personagem só estar repassando informação pra quem tá assistindo em vez de parecer uma conversa natural, é do capítulo 9 pra frente que fica masterpiece
o cast de personagens é muito bom. Gostei bastante do Yagami, apesar de não ter o mesmo carisma do Kiryu e do Ichiban, ele é um personagem muito interessante de acompanhar, tem uma boa backstory e bastante personalidade, o jogo soube muito bem como trabalhar com o trauma dele. O resto pode não ser lá muito aprofundado mas são ótimos mesmo assim, os vilões são verdadeiramente antagonistas e não são só feitos pra serem escrotos, e os aliados do yagami têm o seu carisma e são legais de ter ao lado, confesso que não coloquei muita fé neles de começo, mas lá pro final eu me peguei muito apegado a esse grupo, quando começam os créditos quase sai uma lágrima. E puta que pariu, que bossfight final foda, a música, a coreografia, a mudança de cenários, arrepiei pra caralho
*pontos que eu gosto com ressalvas:
combate: de longe o melhor combate da dragon engine, pelo menos antes da sequência. Agora não é mais aquela coisa esquisita do Y6 e do kiwami 2, não que era ruim mas dava pra ver claramente que faltava polimento, a física era muito estranha, o flow do combate muitas vezes era arruinado pelo quanto o block do inimigo te deixava bambeando. Judgment veio pra consertar esses problemas e trazer de volta o combate de Yakuza que te faz se sentir foda, meter combo, trocar de estilo, quebrar pernas, esmagar cabeças, heat actions exageradas, tudo que gostamos. A ressalva é: durante boa parte do jogo, tu simplesmente não é incentivado a tirar proveito de verdade desse combate, não que eu espereve dificuldade, mas a maioria das bossfights nem são bossfights de verdade, é só um inimigo mais forte e com mais vida, às vezes acompanhados de mais alguns inimigos fracos que nao duram 30 segundos e é isso, a primeira Long Battle (pra quem não tá familiarizado, long battles são as sessões onde você vai abrindo portas, subindo andares etc enfrentando várias hordas de inimigos) só vai acontecer lá pro capítulo 9, achei isso uma escolha estranha, e as únicas bossfights que não é só um inimigo mais forte e é realmente um boss com um moveset mais complexo são as últimas 3, nos últimos 2 capítulos. Outra coisa que vale ressaltar é que nesse jogo você tem 2 estilos de luta, o Tiger e o Crane, o problema é que o tiger é claramente bem melhor e mais útil, você basicamente só vai usar o crane pra continuar combos, poderia ter sido melhor balanceado
conteúdo secundário: como esperado de um jogo da RGG, tem bastante conteúdo secundário e muita coisa pra se divertir, incluindo alguns minigames novos como o Paradise VR e o Drone Race (a IA dos drones é muito roubada), uma mecânica nova que se baseia em fazer amigos por kamurocho pra aumentar sua reputação, assim fazendo mais gente te contratar pra resolver casos (que são as substories/side quests). Infelizmente, apesar de eu achar bom eu não me diverti tanto assim com as secundárias desse jogo, não tanto quanto me diverti com os yakuzas que joguei recentemente. Não me entenda mal, tem muita coisa boa, completei vários minigames e finalmente aprendi a gostar do baseball, alguns casos eu ri muito (tem um onde você vai num jantar pra substituir o marido de uma senhora enquanto ele precisa pilotar um avião, e nesse tempo tem que manter ela entretida e nao ser descoberto), mas o processo de fazer as side quests está mais cansativo do que o normal, você constantemente tem que ficar andando pelo mapa pra continuar os casos, indo pra lá e pra cá, tendo que fazer mais amigos e alguns dão trabalho de encher a barrinha de amizade, em alguns momentos também não aparece no mapa o lugar onde continua algum caso então tu tem que deduzir ou pesquisar na internet. Enfim, numa hora eu só pensei "ah, já fiz 30/50 casos e 30/50 amigos, não vale mais a pena, vou jogar só a história ". A quem pretende jogar, eu não recomendo tu almejar o 100%, só vai jogando e fazendo uma coisa secundária ou outra pra se distrair
pontos que eu realmente não gosto:
tudo que envolve o jeito que o jogo tenta emular uma gameplay de detetive é mal feito, não funciona, não é divertido e nem me faz eu me sentir um detetive. Às vezes tu tá interessado no que vai acontecer e tem que seguir um cara por 10 minutos, numa tentativa de missão stealth mas tu tá só andando devagar pra frente e se escondendo, e essa porra parece que não acaba nunca, aliás, se tu errar algo, volta do começo. E mano, no começo achei inofensivo, não é possível que vai ter de novo, e tem, várias vezes. E esse é só um tipo de missão "detetive", tem várias outras coisinhas que só servem pra perder tempo, não é tão chato quanto as missões stealth mas estão aí pra te dar uma inconveniência. A de procurar pistas em cena de crime é até daora, mas a mesma mecânica se repete em coisas inúteis, tipo pra que eu tenho que ficar procurando uma chave numa sala como se isso fosse uma missão de ace attorney, só bota uma cena dele achando a chave
outra reclamaçãozinha: por que colocar side cases obrigatórios no meio da mainstory? Eu entendo quando é pra introduzir algo que tu vai usar depois, introduzir algum minigame ou algo assim, mas tem momentos em que é só um filler que tu tem que fazer, quebrando o pacing da história, não acontece tanto assim mas me irritou algumas vezes
**conclusão: puta jogo foda, uma das melhores histórias da saga, gameplay (na maior parte) excelente, mas que precisa de alguns refinamentos, o que me impede de dar um 5. Estou muito ansioso pra jogar o Lost Judgment e espero que melhore as inconsistências desse
história/personagens:
surpreendentemente, a melhor coisa do jogo. Já no primeiro capítulo, que talvez seja a maior introdução de um jogo na franquia, você é familiarizado com tudo que o jogo vai ter: investigação, plot twist, tribunal, diálogos tensos e o mais importante, porrada. Em Kamurocho vem acontecendo uns assassinatos estranhos, com o mesmo padrão e praticamente sem deixar rastros, e acompanhamos o nosso querido Yagami tentando solucionar esse mistério. Fiquei preso nessa narrativa do começo ao final, todo o caso é lentamente bem construído e imprevisível, o jeito que as coisas escalam é incrível, o que no começo parece simples vai se expandido e você vê que envolve muito mais coisa do que se imaginava. Dito isso, ela não é perfeita, em alguns momentos lá pro meio fica lento demais e mais expositivo do que deveria, alguns diálogos cansam por conta do personagem só estar repassando informação pra quem tá assistindo em vez de parecer uma conversa natural, é do capítulo 9 pra frente que fica masterpiece
o cast de personagens é muito bom. Gostei bastante do Yagami, apesar de não ter o mesmo carisma do Kiryu e do Ichiban, ele é um personagem muito interessante de acompanhar, tem uma boa backstory e bastante personalidade, o jogo soube muito bem como trabalhar com o trauma dele. O resto pode não ser lá muito aprofundado mas são ótimos mesmo assim, os vilões são verdadeiramente antagonistas e não são só feitos pra serem escrotos, e os aliados do yagami têm o seu carisma e são legais de ter ao lado, confesso que não coloquei muita fé neles de começo, mas lá pro final eu me peguei muito apegado a esse grupo, quando começam os créditos quase sai uma lágrima. E puta que pariu, que bossfight final foda, a música, a coreografia, a mudança de cenários, arrepiei pra caralho
*pontos que eu gosto com ressalvas:
combate: de longe o melhor combate da dragon engine, pelo menos antes da sequência. Agora não é mais aquela coisa esquisita do Y6 e do kiwami 2, não que era ruim mas dava pra ver claramente que faltava polimento, a física era muito estranha, o flow do combate muitas vezes era arruinado pelo quanto o block do inimigo te deixava bambeando. Judgment veio pra consertar esses problemas e trazer de volta o combate de Yakuza que te faz se sentir foda, meter combo, trocar de estilo, quebrar pernas, esmagar cabeças, heat actions exageradas, tudo que gostamos. A ressalva é: durante boa parte do jogo, tu simplesmente não é incentivado a tirar proveito de verdade desse combate, não que eu espereve dificuldade, mas a maioria das bossfights nem são bossfights de verdade, é só um inimigo mais forte e com mais vida, às vezes acompanhados de mais alguns inimigos fracos que nao duram 30 segundos e é isso, a primeira Long Battle (pra quem não tá familiarizado, long battles são as sessões onde você vai abrindo portas, subindo andares etc enfrentando várias hordas de inimigos) só vai acontecer lá pro capítulo 9, achei isso uma escolha estranha, e as únicas bossfights que não é só um inimigo mais forte e é realmente um boss com um moveset mais complexo são as últimas 3, nos últimos 2 capítulos. Outra coisa que vale ressaltar é que nesse jogo você tem 2 estilos de luta, o Tiger e o Crane, o problema é que o tiger é claramente bem melhor e mais útil, você basicamente só vai usar o crane pra continuar combos, poderia ter sido melhor balanceado
conteúdo secundário: como esperado de um jogo da RGG, tem bastante conteúdo secundário e muita coisa pra se divertir, incluindo alguns minigames novos como o Paradise VR e o Drone Race (a IA dos drones é muito roubada), uma mecânica nova que se baseia em fazer amigos por kamurocho pra aumentar sua reputação, assim fazendo mais gente te contratar pra resolver casos (que são as substories/side quests). Infelizmente, apesar de eu achar bom eu não me diverti tanto assim com as secundárias desse jogo, não tanto quanto me diverti com os yakuzas que joguei recentemente. Não me entenda mal, tem muita coisa boa, completei vários minigames e finalmente aprendi a gostar do baseball, alguns casos eu ri muito (tem um onde você vai num jantar pra substituir o marido de uma senhora enquanto ele precisa pilotar um avião, e nesse tempo tem que manter ela entretida e nao ser descoberto), mas o processo de fazer as side quests está mais cansativo do que o normal, você constantemente tem que ficar andando pelo mapa pra continuar os casos, indo pra lá e pra cá, tendo que fazer mais amigos e alguns dão trabalho de encher a barrinha de amizade, em alguns momentos também não aparece no mapa o lugar onde continua algum caso então tu tem que deduzir ou pesquisar na internet. Enfim, numa hora eu só pensei "ah, já fiz 30/50 casos e 30/50 amigos, não vale mais a pena, vou jogar só a história ". A quem pretende jogar, eu não recomendo tu almejar o 100%, só vai jogando e fazendo uma coisa secundária ou outra pra se distrair
pontos que eu realmente não gosto:
tudo que envolve o jeito que o jogo tenta emular uma gameplay de detetive é mal feito, não funciona, não é divertido e nem me faz eu me sentir um detetive. Às vezes tu tá interessado no que vai acontecer e tem que seguir um cara por 10 minutos, numa tentativa de missão stealth mas tu tá só andando devagar pra frente e se escondendo, e essa porra parece que não acaba nunca, aliás, se tu errar algo, volta do começo. E mano, no começo achei inofensivo, não é possível que vai ter de novo, e tem, várias vezes. E esse é só um tipo de missão "detetive", tem várias outras coisinhas que só servem pra perder tempo, não é tão chato quanto as missões stealth mas estão aí pra te dar uma inconveniência. A de procurar pistas em cena de crime é até daora, mas a mesma mecânica se repete em coisas inúteis, tipo pra que eu tenho que ficar procurando uma chave numa sala como se isso fosse uma missão de ace attorney, só bota uma cena dele achando a chave
outra reclamaçãozinha: por que colocar side cases obrigatórios no meio da mainstory? Eu entendo quando é pra introduzir algo que tu vai usar depois, introduzir algum minigame ou algo assim, mas tem momentos em que é só um filler que tu tem que fazer, quebrando o pacing da história, não acontece tanto assim mas me irritou algumas vezes
**conclusão: puta jogo foda, uma das melhores histórias da saga, gameplay (na maior parte) excelente, mas que precisa de alguns refinamentos, o que me impede de dar um 5. Estou muito ansioso pra jogar o Lost Judgment e espero que melhore as inconsistências desse
One of the best RGG game in terms of story. Sadly, everything else leaves a lot to be desired.
Yagami's combat styles make very good use of the fluid nature of the new dragon engine. Story is great too. OST great of course, I mean it's a yakuza game, that's obvious
This review contains spoilers
5.5
Writing really irked me this time around. So many conversations are spent talking in circles and characters always talk about how they're feeling but they never really show it. (There are a few clever moments building up Sugiura's relationship to Emi Terasawa but that's all I remember.) Kamurocho also isn't very engrossing. The side-content ranges from boring to bad, some aspects don't even fit Yagami (Friends system). Pacing is awful, lots of Cutscene->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency->Cutscene->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency->Fight->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency, feels so much slower coming off of Kiwami 2 which has 3 more chapters. Didn't enjoy the replay which disappoints me because this used to be my favorite game in the series.
Writing really irked me this time around. So many conversations are spent talking in circles and characters always talk about how they're feeling but they never really show it. (There are a few clever moments building up Sugiura's relationship to Emi Terasawa but that's all I remember.) Kamurocho also isn't very engrossing. The side-content ranges from boring to bad, some aspects don't even fit Yagami (Friends system). Pacing is awful, lots of Cutscene->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency->Cutscene->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency->Fight->Rest at Yagami Detective Agency, feels so much slower coming off of Kiwami 2 which has 3 more chapters. Didn't enjoy the replay which disappoints me because this used to be my favorite game in the series.
Judgement is a Yakuza game in all but name, and RGG Studio’s first one set in Kamurocho without Kiryu as the main character. After giving up being an attorney, Takayuki Yagami becomes a freelance detective and investigates a series of murders in the city with the help of his former law office and ex-Tojo clan friend Masaharu Kaito. Substories are framed as side cases that Yagami can take on to earn some extra money, and new mini-games like drone racing and the Paradise VR board game are incredible additions. Anyone who is a fan of the Yakuza series should really check this out, and newcomers can jump right in without prior knowledge.
Good way to end 2021/start 2022
Pretty fantastic game to come out of RGG, although its got some dips and cracks throughout that keep it from being perfect imo. Pacing wise its pretty slow at the start, but its got the benefit of having probably one of the best casts RGG has written and an intriguing plot once things do start to get rolling, with really great reveals/twists/arcs throughout.
Stuff like the Keihen Gang and the Trailing missions are definitely what hold it back from being my favorite. For either of these mechanics, if these just happened way less often they'd be kind of a non-issue that I could more easily wave off but nah. Legitimately both of these are probably some of my least favorite things in the entire Yakuza-Judgment series, with Keihen being something that could have probably been entirely cut. Trailing I could more easily forgive if it didn't just show up all the goddamn time. Chase missions aren't too spectacular but they show up only every now and then, whereas I swear 50% of side cases will have 1 trailing mission and they all take way more time than i would like.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a good chunk of the side content as a lot of the side cases and friends you make are really enjoyable. It also helps that Tak is a really great protagonist with a lot of great moments, personality and charm from the get-go.
It's odd, even as much as I've enjoyed prior Yakuza games and I think the lulls of those games are less severe than some of the faults in this game, I appreciate this slightly more overall. I enjoyed what I've played of Yakuza so far but with the exception of 7 imo, it's kinda harder for me to think of times where I was as engaged as I was here regarding the main game. I love 0 and K2, and I look forward to playing 3-6 eventually but it was great getting to the end of this game and seeing not just the cast wrap up loose ends but caring about almost the entire cast. Pretty much each character does a good job of establishing themselves in the narrative in a way that feels meaningful so by the end its great to see how even minor characters have developed. All I can say is that I look forward to playing Lost Judgment after hearing how much that game improves upon this one.
Pretty fantastic game to come out of RGG, although its got some dips and cracks throughout that keep it from being perfect imo. Pacing wise its pretty slow at the start, but its got the benefit of having probably one of the best casts RGG has written and an intriguing plot once things do start to get rolling, with really great reveals/twists/arcs throughout.
Stuff like the Keihen Gang and the Trailing missions are definitely what hold it back from being my favorite. For either of these mechanics, if these just happened way less often they'd be kind of a non-issue that I could more easily wave off but nah. Legitimately both of these are probably some of my least favorite things in the entire Yakuza-Judgment series, with Keihen being something that could have probably been entirely cut. Trailing I could more easily forgive if it didn't just show up all the goddamn time. Chase missions aren't too spectacular but they show up only every now and then, whereas I swear 50% of side cases will have 1 trailing mission and they all take way more time than i would like.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a good chunk of the side content as a lot of the side cases and friends you make are really enjoyable. It also helps that Tak is a really great protagonist with a lot of great moments, personality and charm from the get-go.
It's odd, even as much as I've enjoyed prior Yakuza games and I think the lulls of those games are less severe than some of the faults in this game, I appreciate this slightly more overall. I enjoyed what I've played of Yakuza so far but with the exception of 7 imo, it's kinda harder for me to think of times where I was as engaged as I was here regarding the main game. I love 0 and K2, and I look forward to playing 3-6 eventually but it was great getting to the end of this game and seeing not just the cast wrap up loose ends but caring about almost the entire cast. Pretty much each character does a good job of establishing themselves in the narrative in a way that feels meaningful so by the end its great to see how even minor characters have developed. All I can say is that I look forward to playing Lost Judgment after hearing how much that game improves upon this one.
Possibly the best designed side content in an RGG title as of yet. The Friend Events are a brilliant addition and really made Kamurocho feel more alive, and also how different Side Cases overlap with each other made for a bunch of equally hilarious and interesting stories (Sashimi of the Fallen has to be one of my all-time favorite substories).
The minigames are also some of the best the series has to offer, with games like Kamuro of the Dead and Motor Raid being the highlight (I suck at fighting games, so I haven't touched Viruta Fighter 5).
The Drone racing is my favorite racing minigame, second only to Taxi racing in Yakuza 5.
I was planning to do all of the Side Cases, but I got burned out after 40 Side Cases, 38 Friends and 2 Girlfriends, and I was in Chapter 12, so I couldn't resist finishing the game.
The combat is the best in Dragon Engine titles, and I really liked the duality of the focused high-damage Tiger-style, and the wide-range low-damage Crane-style. Playing the game on Hard was a wise choice.
The story was amazing as usual, with the twists and turns characteristic of RGG titles. The cast are all amazing characters and Hamura is one of my favorite characters in the frachise.
The Finale is a 2-hour-long extravaganza of court room drama, over-the-top action sequences, and one of the best final bosses I've ever fought.
The opening drop was hard as fuck.
The minigames are also some of the best the series has to offer, with games like Kamuro of the Dead and Motor Raid being the highlight (I suck at fighting games, so I haven't touched Viruta Fighter 5).
The Drone racing is my favorite racing minigame, second only to Taxi racing in Yakuza 5.
I was planning to do all of the Side Cases, but I got burned out after 40 Side Cases, 38 Friends and 2 Girlfriends, and I was in Chapter 12, so I couldn't resist finishing the game.
The combat is the best in Dragon Engine titles, and I really liked the duality of the focused high-damage Tiger-style, and the wide-range low-damage Crane-style. Playing the game on Hard was a wise choice.
The story was amazing as usual, with the twists and turns characteristic of RGG titles. The cast are all amazing characters and Hamura is one of my favorite characters in the frachise.
The Finale is a 2-hour-long extravaganza of court room drama, over-the-top action sequences, and one of the best final bosses I've ever fought.
The opening drop was hard as fuck.
Quando comecei esperava achar só ok mas agora cá estou sem palavras para ele
👊👊👊👊👏👏👏
👊👊👊👊👏👏👏
ressalvas a parte o pico da narrativa e alguns personagens estão entre os melhores que já joguei.
This is one of the best playable TV shows ever made.
Dating sim features = <3
One of the best stories in the Yakuza franchise to date, even with the game having forced substories for quite a large part of it, which really stonewalls the pacing and is just a bizarre idea to implement into the story, as you're now stuck dealing with some gutter trash writing and storylines that amount to nothing
It does however have very fun combat despite it's issues, like with the Crane style being practically abandoned in terms of unique moves in comparison to the Tiger one, as that leaves Crane with just shared ones. There are also some issues stemming with the Dragon Engine and it's design flaws that still haunt this game like it did Yakuza's 6 and Kiwami 2.
The most god-awful aspect of Judgment is easily the investigation mechanics, especially tailings, as they don't add anything of actual note to the gameplay and are just filler that slows down the pace of the game.
Another issue is with how lackluster the side-content is, aside from some noteworthy substories and certain friendships, it's just average. However, I did like how they made Kamuroucho feel more alive with the friendship mechanic, even if the gameplay most of the time boils down to just buying items or re-visiting a person multiple times in the same location. The newly added drone races are pretty fun and so is Paradise VR, but the second ends up being pretty repetitive especially since it's your only major money maker.
The Keihin Gang is a fun idea, but it's horribly executed, while the bosses are pretty fun to fight, the threat system is super annoying to deal with, as it ends up increasing the number of random encounters by what feels like times ten.
All in all, very flawed but the good aspects really shine through the gunk of it
It does however have very fun combat despite it's issues, like with the Crane style being practically abandoned in terms of unique moves in comparison to the Tiger one, as that leaves Crane with just shared ones. There are also some issues stemming with the Dragon Engine and it's design flaws that still haunt this game like it did Yakuza's 6 and Kiwami 2.
The most god-awful aspect of Judgment is easily the investigation mechanics, especially tailings, as they don't add anything of actual note to the gameplay and are just filler that slows down the pace of the game.
Another issue is with how lackluster the side-content is, aside from some noteworthy substories and certain friendships, it's just average. However, I did like how they made Kamuroucho feel more alive with the friendship mechanic, even if the gameplay most of the time boils down to just buying items or re-visiting a person multiple times in the same location. The newly added drone races are pretty fun and so is Paradise VR, but the second ends up being pretty repetitive especially since it's your only major money maker.
The Keihin Gang is a fun idea, but it's horribly executed, while the bosses are pretty fun to fight, the threat system is super annoying to deal with, as it ends up increasing the number of random encounters by what feels like times ten.
All in all, very flawed but the good aspects really shine through the gunk of it
This is a really hard game to talk about for myself. Because there is things that really good and there is things that really really pushes me to say "why...?". I still liked a lot but I don't think it was a full slamdunk for it's favor.
Gameplay
With this game, styles finally back! There is now 2 styles our character Yagami uses: crane and tiger. Crane is a wide group control kick based style, Tiger is a more narrow but better suited for one on one action judo? Style. When I first played judgment, I found it pretty boring. Why? Because both Crane and Tiger felt pretty slow, at least crane had some fasty moves that hiding behind some combos. But enemies that interrupt your attacks really killed my enjoyment for it too. It was like yakuza 6 and kiwami 2 unfortunately (maybe if no hit bounce mod existed for it, it would made my experience even better). The problem with judgment is slow combat felt even more slower because of the yagami's anger inducing repositioning himself after rebounding kicks animation. I said okay whatever let's push through and I am glad I did. Because after getting the wall jump then grap upgrade(that one really helps for crowd control), couple of speed upgrades and tiger fissure for tiger style, game really started to feel fun. But unfortunately another problem came through and that is balance. I don't know why but they didn't put any hard hitting upgrade for crane style and because of that, it became more and more obsolete for me. I found this a bit upsetting because with only thing crane have exclusive at that point is a juggle move that you can do on the end of the combo. But it's pretty hard to do when rebound thingy exists so, because of that I feel like a upgrade like easier juggle or no interrupt upgrade like the one tiger has would pretty much solve this issue but that's the end product unfortunately. Another unfortunate thing is reused moves and heat actions for Yagami. I don't know how many people realised but Yagami uses akiyama's kicks, tanimura's turning slap and kiryu's all of the back attacks. Not just that, there is a lot of kiryu's copy pasted heat actions in there as well. Rather than copy pasting it, at least modify a bit to make it more true for the character? Other unfortunate thing is burst/spirit/devil trigger thingy is back and it works like 5. What I mean is you can't get damaged in it, I think they added this for the casual players if they struggle with the mortal system(big boss attacks can damage your max health and only expensive items can cure it), but it throws already unbalanced game straight to the garbage bin. I know that yakuza games designed for casual players but even in hard mod it does make the game too easy. What the hell? I mean yakuza 6 have it too but this is a bigger step back like the yakuza 5(I don't like this press to win system).
So I don't know what you think with combat but it felt to me one step forward, one step back unfortunately. I like the new moves don't get me wrong but things so unbalanced that half of it goes straight to the garbage bin for me unfortunately.
Side Content
"Catching minigame back with a vengeance"
I think this one sentence enough to convey to you how I feel about substories. why? Because I found them pretty pacebreaking when you can combo an enemy multiple different ways, but game thinks holding the control stick up is more interesting. This is not the only problem, there is now variation of it and it's following a person stealthily and it's sucks even more. Because only thing you do is hold the button up, then when the person you are following starts turning you press the hide button and that's it. Unfortunate thing is it takes A LOT OF TIME, even more time than a catching minigame...
There is also new side activites too, one is zombie railshooting minigame that comes from dead souls's assets and I found it pretty fun even though it's pretty short and drone minigame. I haven't completed the drone minigame because there is no story..? It felt pretty weird to me since there is an npc connected to it for the friendship system that goes nowhere.
Friendship system comes back from yakuza kiwami 2 I think? I haven't played yk2 but it was also in the og one and y0 so I know what it is, but in this one there is one annoying thing and that is, it's required to get to amon... I found this pretty stupid because friendship system is a huge chore to get through. You have to do one thing like eating, buying, baseball etc. Multiple multiple multiple times... For what reason? There is a fun substories connected to it yes but only small number of them have it. There is one substory that unlocks after you finished the friendship and it's pretty cool. But the amount of grind you have to put yourself is unreal! At this point I started to wonder are they padding time just to show full completion takes considerable amount time?
After I played substories I became sure of it. Why? Because at least half of the substories requires you to do same thing thrice! I am not kidding. They made it this way because there is only 20 or so "real" substories but with repeats, it becomes 50... I would even replay yakuza 1 substories because compared to judgment, at least they don't take your damn time. Only thing I can say good is amon fight was creative at least. Unfortunately you can cheese it with spamming burst, devil trigger/spirit thingy but at least it was something different.
Story
I look pretty negative ain't I? But now it's time to get positive because since yakuza 1 and 4. This game really tries hard to inject new life to kamurocho and I really felt the danger every point of the story like the yakuza 1 did! I couldn't believe it because it's sooo nicely done! There is a lot factions like new yakuzas, killings, strange ocurrings all over the town that you start to feel kind of unedge and that's super awesome. Not just that, slowly unrevealing the mystery keeps you intrigued in every moment. Unfortunately not every part of the mystery used to it's potential in my opinion(especially things happening after the second half of the game regarding to the serial killer). But rest of it was fantastic. You learn Yagami's past and his motivations to solve this case, you learn his partners that how connects to both past, present and the future, you see how things chaoticly go out of hand! Because of this reason alone just go and play this game, I am not kidding it. If you like detective work and slowly revealing the mystery you are gonna like the main story with couple of exceptions.
World
Normally I would pass this part, but this time I wanted to talk about it. I already talked about uneasy feeling the main story does but there is more. The music tone they use on the overworld is more mysterious and dark this time. Also I wasn't a big fan of friendship thingy yes but seeing some of your friends in random places of the Kamurocho makes it feel alive. Combine this with the mysterious song list and bum. Vibes are flowing into me! Also I forgot to talk about how they added small shorcuts to Kamurocho too! They really tried their best to make Kamurocho feel fresh with this small changes. Because of that like I said I had emotions similar to Yakuza 1(ps2)'s Kamurocho. I mean Yakuza 1 still have the crown for atmosphere but this game is just behind it with yakuza 2.
So... Good game. Fun but badly balanced combat. Masterpiece level of atmosphere. Monotonous side quests. Really good story with an unfortunate weak villain. They balance itself together with positives and negatives so unfortunately it doesn't go as far as to masterpiece level. But still recommended.
Gameplay
With this game, styles finally back! There is now 2 styles our character Yagami uses: crane and tiger. Crane is a wide group control kick based style, Tiger is a more narrow but better suited for one on one action judo? Style. When I first played judgment, I found it pretty boring. Why? Because both Crane and Tiger felt pretty slow, at least crane had some fasty moves that hiding behind some combos. But enemies that interrupt your attacks really killed my enjoyment for it too. It was like yakuza 6 and kiwami 2 unfortunately (maybe if no hit bounce mod existed for it, it would made my experience even better). The problem with judgment is slow combat felt even more slower because of the yagami's anger inducing repositioning himself after rebounding kicks animation. I said okay whatever let's push through and I am glad I did. Because after getting the wall jump then grap upgrade(that one really helps for crowd control), couple of speed upgrades and tiger fissure for tiger style, game really started to feel fun. But unfortunately another problem came through and that is balance. I don't know why but they didn't put any hard hitting upgrade for crane style and because of that, it became more and more obsolete for me. I found this a bit upsetting because with only thing crane have exclusive at that point is a juggle move that you can do on the end of the combo. But it's pretty hard to do when rebound thingy exists so, because of that I feel like a upgrade like easier juggle or no interrupt upgrade like the one tiger has would pretty much solve this issue but that's the end product unfortunately. Another unfortunate thing is reused moves and heat actions for Yagami. I don't know how many people realised but Yagami uses akiyama's kicks, tanimura's turning slap and kiryu's all of the back attacks. Not just that, there is a lot of kiryu's copy pasted heat actions in there as well. Rather than copy pasting it, at least modify a bit to make it more true for the character? Other unfortunate thing is burst/spirit/devil trigger thingy is back and it works like 5. What I mean is you can't get damaged in it, I think they added this for the casual players if they struggle with the mortal system(big boss attacks can damage your max health and only expensive items can cure it), but it throws already unbalanced game straight to the garbage bin. I know that yakuza games designed for casual players but even in hard mod it does make the game too easy. What the hell? I mean yakuza 6 have it too but this is a bigger step back like the yakuza 5(I don't like this press to win system).
So I don't know what you think with combat but it felt to me one step forward, one step back unfortunately. I like the new moves don't get me wrong but things so unbalanced that half of it goes straight to the garbage bin for me unfortunately.
Side Content
"Catching minigame back with a vengeance"
I think this one sentence enough to convey to you how I feel about substories. why? Because I found them pretty pacebreaking when you can combo an enemy multiple different ways, but game thinks holding the control stick up is more interesting. This is not the only problem, there is now variation of it and it's following a person stealthily and it's sucks even more. Because only thing you do is hold the button up, then when the person you are following starts turning you press the hide button and that's it. Unfortunate thing is it takes A LOT OF TIME, even more time than a catching minigame...
There is also new side activites too, one is zombie railshooting minigame that comes from dead souls's assets and I found it pretty fun even though it's pretty short and drone minigame. I haven't completed the drone minigame because there is no story..? It felt pretty weird to me since there is an npc connected to it for the friendship system that goes nowhere.
Friendship system comes back from yakuza kiwami 2 I think? I haven't played yk2 but it was also in the og one and y0 so I know what it is, but in this one there is one annoying thing and that is, it's required to get to amon... I found this pretty stupid because friendship system is a huge chore to get through. You have to do one thing like eating, buying, baseball etc. Multiple multiple multiple times... For what reason? There is a fun substories connected to it yes but only small number of them have it. There is one substory that unlocks after you finished the friendship and it's pretty cool. But the amount of grind you have to put yourself is unreal! At this point I started to wonder are they padding time just to show full completion takes considerable amount time?
After I played substories I became sure of it. Why? Because at least half of the substories requires you to do same thing thrice! I am not kidding. They made it this way because there is only 20 or so "real" substories but with repeats, it becomes 50... I would even replay yakuza 1 substories because compared to judgment, at least they don't take your damn time. Only thing I can say good is amon fight was creative at least. Unfortunately you can cheese it with spamming burst, devil trigger/spirit thingy but at least it was something different.
Story
I look pretty negative ain't I? But now it's time to get positive because since yakuza 1 and 4. This game really tries hard to inject new life to kamurocho and I really felt the danger every point of the story like the yakuza 1 did! I couldn't believe it because it's sooo nicely done! There is a lot factions like new yakuzas, killings, strange ocurrings all over the town that you start to feel kind of unedge and that's super awesome. Not just that, slowly unrevealing the mystery keeps you intrigued in every moment. Unfortunately not every part of the mystery used to it's potential in my opinion(especially things happening after the second half of the game regarding to the serial killer). But rest of it was fantastic. You learn Yagami's past and his motivations to solve this case, you learn his partners that how connects to both past, present and the future, you see how things chaoticly go out of hand! Because of this reason alone just go and play this game, I am not kidding it. If you like detective work and slowly revealing the mystery you are gonna like the main story with couple of exceptions.
World
Normally I would pass this part, but this time I wanted to talk about it. I already talked about uneasy feeling the main story does but there is more. The music tone they use on the overworld is more mysterious and dark this time. Also I wasn't a big fan of friendship thingy yes but seeing some of your friends in random places of the Kamurocho makes it feel alive. Combine this with the mysterious song list and bum. Vibes are flowing into me! Also I forgot to talk about how they added small shorcuts to Kamurocho too! They really tried their best to make Kamurocho feel fresh with this small changes. Because of that like I said I had emotions similar to Yakuza 1(ps2)'s Kamurocho. I mean Yakuza 1 still have the crown for atmosphere but this game is just behind it with yakuza 2.
So... Good game. Fun but badly balanced combat. Masterpiece level of atmosphere. Monotonous side quests. Really good story with an unfortunate weak villain. They balance itself together with positives and negatives so unfortunately it doesn't go as far as to masterpiece level. But still recommended.
The way the main plot comes together is great, side missions are mostly pretty good too and actually provide more insight into what kind of person Yagami is, the cast is great, so yeah it makes for a very solid yakuza spin-off
It has some very glaring issues but I can forgive them because everything else more than makes up for it
It has some very glaring issues but I can forgive them because everything else more than makes up for it
Greatest RGG Studio game story-wise that I played. There was barely any down time during my 43 hours with the game, and if there was it was entirely on me as I stepped away from the main story to do degenerate amounts of gambling, drone racing, side questing, friends missions, finding stickers for skills, just taking silly photos, looking at cats. It's honestly almost perfect, wish you did more lawyer-ing during the story tho, the bits that were in court were amazing but way too short and did not require much from you.
Judgment is yet another banger in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Not only that, it probably has one of its cleanest and best written stories in terms of execution: there is no bullshit twist, pointless sub-plot, needlessly convoluted story, none of that. It didn't make me as emotional as most of the other games did - even those that had said issues - but it was still an exciting ride.
Yagami is absolutely a worthy addition to the roster of protagonists RGG has served up; the same goes for the main antagonist who is exceptionally well-writtten, -acted and bounces off of Yagami with a fiery spark.
As usual, the combat takes a while to get used to/open up via a skill tree. Once it does, it's really fun. The crane style definitely needed some more moves though.
Now, after my gushing introduction, come the reasons why I'm taking away a few points. Firstly, the detective game aspect of Judgment at times clashes pretty hard with its linear storytelling: you rarely need to activate your brain during investigations and you can't really make any wrong decisions, as the game will eventually just guide you towards the right one in the main story.
Furthermore, while some of the detective gameplay can be decently fun - like the lockpicking - I really need to throw a can of trash at the tailing missions: they are profoundly boring and excrutiating every time they pop up.
For my second/third and last big complaint: I found the side content to be much less exciting than in a number of the other games. The side cases are just super forgettable and none of the bigger side activities kept me hooked like say the Cabaret Club in Y0/Kiwami 2 did.
Still, Judgment is a rock-solid game whose strength lies in its main story, characters, combat and stylish presentation. It's a game I'd recommend in a heartbeat to any Yakuza fan and also to complete newcomers.
Yagami is absolutely a worthy addition to the roster of protagonists RGG has served up; the same goes for the main antagonist who is exceptionally well-writtten, -acted and bounces off of Yagami with a fiery spark.
As usual, the combat takes a while to get used to/open up via a skill tree. Once it does, it's really fun. The crane style definitely needed some more moves though.
Now, after my gushing introduction, come the reasons why I'm taking away a few points. Firstly, the detective game aspect of Judgment at times clashes pretty hard with its linear storytelling: you rarely need to activate your brain during investigations and you can't really make any wrong decisions, as the game will eventually just guide you towards the right one in the main story.
Furthermore, while some of the detective gameplay can be decently fun - like the lockpicking - I really need to throw a can of trash at the tailing missions: they are profoundly boring and excrutiating every time they pop up.
For my second/third and last big complaint: I found the side content to be much less exciting than in a number of the other games. The side cases are just super forgettable and none of the bigger side activities kept me hooked like say the Cabaret Club in Y0/Kiwami 2 did.
Still, Judgment is a rock-solid game whose strength lies in its main story, characters, combat and stylish presentation. It's a game I'd recommend in a heartbeat to any Yakuza fan and also to complete newcomers.
The only flaws in this game are, in my opinion, the minigames are not as fun and crazy as the Yakuza series, they are a bit boring, the combat can get a little repetitive by the last third of the game, because they loooooove to send you 100s of goons for you to fight, and the trailing missions (these are never good, in any game). Everything else is pretty fucking good, the story, characters, sidemissions and ost, this game is awesome
My cum has more personality than Yagami
About 3 weeks ago I finished Yakuza Kiwami 2. As a sort of palate cleanser before moving on to Yakuza 3, I decided to go back and restart and finish Judgment. Wow, what a fantastic game.
Just to begin, Yagami is a standout protagonist, even for RGG. Kimura's performance is exceptional, and his voice work is so varied and funny by comparison to Kiryu's stoic manner. Judgment wears the inspiration of HERO (one of Kimura's most famous roles) on its sleeve, and it's almost impossible to think this could work as well as it does with someone else.
The thing that stands out the most about Judgment is the story. While I enjoyed 0 and K2's stories a lot, they were mostly retreading classic yakuza film tropes and their writing can be a little finicky or below par at times. Judgment's story, on the other hand, blows them out of the water. The narrative is tightly crafted and intentional in a way that the mainline games don't quite reach. Where sometimes it feels like Kiryu is just a guy roped into insane situations, Yagami's past and his character motivations are central to what unfolds in Judgment. The mystery unfolds in interesting and surprising ways and the conclusion feels earned. There's one midgame mission / chapter in particular that blew me away both from a gameplay perspective but also the narrative importance and subsequent reveal it carried. Beyond that, Judgment does a great job of telling a story in Kamurocho separate from the Tojo Clan. I love how these events feel like one link in the chain of behind-the-scenes Kamurocho history. The supporting cast is extremely strong, and I look forward to seeing Kaito, Sugiura, Higashi, Saori, Genda, Mafuyu, and others in Lost Judgment. Kaito and Saori in particular are just stellar.
One thing that really sets it apart is just how much it focuses on Yagami as a citizen of Kamurocho, and a real member of the community. Side stories are equally bizarre as in the mainline games but lack the one-and-done aspect that could sometimes make them feel like filler in Y0-2. After you complete them, you oftentimes become friends with the person in question, either allowing for new items or side stories or even allies in battle. As you do this, Yagami's "city reputation" grows, and you get access to new cases and people. Even just giving every one of these characters an actual name goes a long way to making Kamurocho feel real.
Combat is just as good as the mainline games, if not better. Yagami's combo paths are rewarding, and the sheer amount of options you have in a fight is staggering. EX actions, EX mode, flux fissure, wall jumps / attacks / grabs, team combos, unique EX actions, the list goes on. The mortal wounds system is slightly annoying at times but I think it's an interesting change that does actually add a layer of complexity to fights.
Despite the lack of karaoke, the side content is fairly engaging. I was skeptical of drone racing at first but it is genuinely a lot of fun.
I did waver a bit on what to give this. From a gameplay perspective there were a few irritations that were tempting me towards a 4.5, but ultimately the story and presentation won out over those. Stuff that pretty much everyone else has mentioned, like the Keihin Gang mechanic and tailing missions. The latter isn't egregious by any means but the mechanics never evolve beyond the tutorial section and they can routinely be the most tedious and boring parts of any case or story mission that involves them. The former is just an unnecessary complication for the street fights that offers little reward. There's also even more minor stuff like the gameplay / fighting tutorials that pop up after fights with no option to remove them, even when you're 20+ hours in. Also, there were far more camera glitches here than in the other Dragon Engine games, which is odd. Sometimes it's just an EX action not triggering the camera but I did also have 3-4 cutscenes break on me in that way.
Really just a fantastic experience all around and I'm even more hyped for Lost Judgment. Up next: Yakuza 3 Remastered.
Just to begin, Yagami is a standout protagonist, even for RGG. Kimura's performance is exceptional, and his voice work is so varied and funny by comparison to Kiryu's stoic manner. Judgment wears the inspiration of HERO (one of Kimura's most famous roles) on its sleeve, and it's almost impossible to think this could work as well as it does with someone else.
The thing that stands out the most about Judgment is the story. While I enjoyed 0 and K2's stories a lot, they were mostly retreading classic yakuza film tropes and their writing can be a little finicky or below par at times. Judgment's story, on the other hand, blows them out of the water. The narrative is tightly crafted and intentional in a way that the mainline games don't quite reach. Where sometimes it feels like Kiryu is just a guy roped into insane situations, Yagami's past and his character motivations are central to what unfolds in Judgment. The mystery unfolds in interesting and surprising ways and the conclusion feels earned. There's one midgame mission / chapter in particular that blew me away both from a gameplay perspective but also the narrative importance and subsequent reveal it carried. Beyond that, Judgment does a great job of telling a story in Kamurocho separate from the Tojo Clan. I love how these events feel like one link in the chain of behind-the-scenes Kamurocho history. The supporting cast is extremely strong, and I look forward to seeing Kaito, Sugiura, Higashi, Saori, Genda, Mafuyu, and others in Lost Judgment. Kaito and Saori in particular are just stellar.
One thing that really sets it apart is just how much it focuses on Yagami as a citizen of Kamurocho, and a real member of the community. Side stories are equally bizarre as in the mainline games but lack the one-and-done aspect that could sometimes make them feel like filler in Y0-2. After you complete them, you oftentimes become friends with the person in question, either allowing for new items or side stories or even allies in battle. As you do this, Yagami's "city reputation" grows, and you get access to new cases and people. Even just giving every one of these characters an actual name goes a long way to making Kamurocho feel real.
Combat is just as good as the mainline games, if not better. Yagami's combo paths are rewarding, and the sheer amount of options you have in a fight is staggering. EX actions, EX mode, flux fissure, wall jumps / attacks / grabs, team combos, unique EX actions, the list goes on. The mortal wounds system is slightly annoying at times but I think it's an interesting change that does actually add a layer of complexity to fights.
Despite the lack of karaoke, the side content is fairly engaging. I was skeptical of drone racing at first but it is genuinely a lot of fun.
I did waver a bit on what to give this. From a gameplay perspective there were a few irritations that were tempting me towards a 4.5, but ultimately the story and presentation won out over those. Stuff that pretty much everyone else has mentioned, like the Keihin Gang mechanic and tailing missions. The latter isn't egregious by any means but the mechanics never evolve beyond the tutorial section and they can routinely be the most tedious and boring parts of any case or story mission that involves them. The former is just an unnecessary complication for the street fights that offers little reward. There's also even more minor stuff like the gameplay / fighting tutorials that pop up after fights with no option to remove them, even when you're 20+ hours in. Also, there were far more camera glitches here than in the other Dragon Engine games, which is odd. Sometimes it's just an EX action not triggering the camera but I did also have 3-4 cutscenes break on me in that way.
Really just a fantastic experience all around and I'm even more hyped for Lost Judgment. Up next: Yakuza 3 Remastered.
My favourite line from this game was "Yagami you gotta use your judge eyes to find our lost judgement"
Cacmento