The half star this game gets over Judgment is for it feeling like an improved version of that game. But then that begs the question, is this an improved version... of itself? This might end up being one of my longer reviews, so skip to the end if you want my short summary of how I felt overall. But I'll be going over a couple different areas here. Starting with...
The Combat:
It feels great! Maybe the best the combat has felt for an individual character since Yakuza 0 introduced multiple styles. Snake style is a great addition, and one I feel like they included with the mercy EX moves for all the children you'd be brutalizing using any other style. Not that that's stopping you from smashing kids faces into the pavement. Crane and Tiger style also feel like they got a good revamp while keeping their individual strengths.
Gone are mortal wounds in exchange for tougher enemies having big charge moves that just hurt a lot. But the addition of the mortal counter system feels great, giving you more reason to stay and dodge rather than just run from the high damage moves.
The last couple encounters and final bosses all felt fantastic. They did a good job in the story to give them a nice level of emotional impact for their fights as well. Never has fighting a huge group of enemies felt quite so satisfying either with how long you can string your combos and how quickly you can change styles without breaking your flow.
The combat does a lot of heavy lifting for this game, so let's now move on to...
The Not Combat:
Modern Yakuza games have been polarizing with their split focus between great combat/narrative and side activities for the Japan simulator they've become. I regret to report that Lost Judgment does not solve this problem in any big way.
I will be fair and say Lost Judgment, unlike Judgment, did not have any half hour long diverging side quests because someone in the main story said to wait for a phone call.
However the game does try to get you invested in the detective agency by peppering in new devices to help solve mostly side quest related mysteries sprinkled throughout your playtime. I don't have nearly enough time to do even most of these side quests, and was shocked when I saw I hadn't even completed 10% of them before seeing my end of game report card. I don't have an exact number, but it was somewhere upwards of 700.
Most of the mandatory slow tailing and chase sequences are gone this time around, but the new sneaking section they've included was never something I looked forward to. That and what I can only assume is trend chasing a bit too late with Uncharted style ledge climbing and parkour with observation minigames to look for the cum stains on pipes and ledges you can climb on. I'm never sure why these sections are included in games like these. The combat speaks for itself as the highlight of the series. One section near the end had a ledge climbing sequence that, if failed, you fight a room full of guys. But is it really a failure if my punishment is playing the part of the game I enjoy the most?
Lost Judgment is just so full of stuff, but never much stuff that makes me want to drag myself away from the main narrative that I end up getting very invested in. The side quests and club activities at the school were definitely some of my favorites, but by the time the story was really ramping up and more quests were unlocking, I didn't want to derail myself too hard.
The not combat stuff in Lost Judgment isn't bad so much as it never feels like much else besides bloat to what's become some kind of sicko forever game of doing side quests, crafting items and gear, and checking off everything on what never stops feeling like just a big To Do list. I suppose it's a blessing then that Lost Judgment has a good...
Story:
I'll try my best to not spoil anything major in here, but overall I thought the story was pretty damn good this time around. What starts as a dive into the daily lives of high schoolers and combatting bullying becomes a look into the lives of people that are deeply affected by victims of bullying on a much greater scale. Our main characters have to uncover a deep conspiracy into what happened to a recently deceased bully, someone that I don't imagine most players feel any great mourning for.
That's the short of it without spoiling anything, but an important theme throughout the story is that the law can end up being a very flawed system. Those who feel the ramifications of bullying the hardest can feel stifled that bullies get off too easily by ruining the lives of others. But is taking justice into your own hands the right thing to do when you don't consider the consequences?
I really dug a lot of the new characters they introduced, and it was nice to see some of the returning cast. The villains this time around are also an incredible step up from the previous game, but them also being very prominent throughout the story helped to establish them as real threats that I could still enjoy.
The story was pretty touch and go for me a decent amount of my play time, but I did come around to the overarching message the game was trying to convey. You could say I had moments of...
Lost Judgment in Conclusion:
The game's fun! Most of my complaints about Judgment are either very sparsely present or gone entirely. Yet like any new entry that has to create more new content, that content feels much more shallow in exchange. Must we now wait for Judgment 3 to improve on those systems, only to create a similar situation? I say probably, but Johnny's says no.
I made this review longer than usual to also try and say that I think the Yakuza magic is starting to die in me again. Yakuza 7 brought back the spark when I saw how much the series could change and still keep everything I've grown to love. But entries like Lost Judgment cloud my vision of this series, showing that you really can fill a game with too much stuff to do. I don't want this combat to just disappear after this game because I think it's just that refined now. But with Ichiban and his JRPG pals being the new mainline focus and side games like these still having the same not combat problems, I'm not sure if I'll be so terribly excited for the future.
That is to say, I am definitely going to be playing that Ishin remake because me likey the samurai Kazuma Kiryu game, and I've been clamoring for this game for years.
The Combat:
It feels great! Maybe the best the combat has felt for an individual character since Yakuza 0 introduced multiple styles. Snake style is a great addition, and one I feel like they included with the mercy EX moves for all the children you'd be brutalizing using any other style. Not that that's stopping you from smashing kids faces into the pavement. Crane and Tiger style also feel like they got a good revamp while keeping their individual strengths.
Gone are mortal wounds in exchange for tougher enemies having big charge moves that just hurt a lot. But the addition of the mortal counter system feels great, giving you more reason to stay and dodge rather than just run from the high damage moves.
The last couple encounters and final bosses all felt fantastic. They did a good job in the story to give them a nice level of emotional impact for their fights as well. Never has fighting a huge group of enemies felt quite so satisfying either with how long you can string your combos and how quickly you can change styles without breaking your flow.
The combat does a lot of heavy lifting for this game, so let's now move on to...
The Not Combat:
Modern Yakuza games have been polarizing with their split focus between great combat/narrative and side activities for the Japan simulator they've become. I regret to report that Lost Judgment does not solve this problem in any big way.
I will be fair and say Lost Judgment, unlike Judgment, did not have any half hour long diverging side quests because someone in the main story said to wait for a phone call.
However the game does try to get you invested in the detective agency by peppering in new devices to help solve mostly side quest related mysteries sprinkled throughout your playtime. I don't have nearly enough time to do even most of these side quests, and was shocked when I saw I hadn't even completed 10% of them before seeing my end of game report card. I don't have an exact number, but it was somewhere upwards of 700.
Most of the mandatory slow tailing and chase sequences are gone this time around, but the new sneaking section they've included was never something I looked forward to. That and what I can only assume is trend chasing a bit too late with Uncharted style ledge climbing and parkour with observation minigames to look for the cum stains on pipes and ledges you can climb on. I'm never sure why these sections are included in games like these. The combat speaks for itself as the highlight of the series. One section near the end had a ledge climbing sequence that, if failed, you fight a room full of guys. But is it really a failure if my punishment is playing the part of the game I enjoy the most?
Lost Judgment is just so full of stuff, but never much stuff that makes me want to drag myself away from the main narrative that I end up getting very invested in. The side quests and club activities at the school were definitely some of my favorites, but by the time the story was really ramping up and more quests were unlocking, I didn't want to derail myself too hard.
The not combat stuff in Lost Judgment isn't bad so much as it never feels like much else besides bloat to what's become some kind of sicko forever game of doing side quests, crafting items and gear, and checking off everything on what never stops feeling like just a big To Do list. I suppose it's a blessing then that Lost Judgment has a good...
Story:
I'll try my best to not spoil anything major in here, but overall I thought the story was pretty damn good this time around. What starts as a dive into the daily lives of high schoolers and combatting bullying becomes a look into the lives of people that are deeply affected by victims of bullying on a much greater scale. Our main characters have to uncover a deep conspiracy into what happened to a recently deceased bully, someone that I don't imagine most players feel any great mourning for.
That's the short of it without spoiling anything, but an important theme throughout the story is that the law can end up being a very flawed system. Those who feel the ramifications of bullying the hardest can feel stifled that bullies get off too easily by ruining the lives of others. But is taking justice into your own hands the right thing to do when you don't consider the consequences?
I really dug a lot of the new characters they introduced, and it was nice to see some of the returning cast. The villains this time around are also an incredible step up from the previous game, but them also being very prominent throughout the story helped to establish them as real threats that I could still enjoy.
The story was pretty touch and go for me a decent amount of my play time, but I did come around to the overarching message the game was trying to convey. You could say I had moments of...
Lost Judgment in Conclusion:
The game's fun! Most of my complaints about Judgment are either very sparsely present or gone entirely. Yet like any new entry that has to create more new content, that content feels much more shallow in exchange. Must we now wait for Judgment 3 to improve on those systems, only to create a similar situation? I say probably, but Johnny's says no.
I made this review longer than usual to also try and say that I think the Yakuza magic is starting to die in me again. Yakuza 7 brought back the spark when I saw how much the series could change and still keep everything I've grown to love. But entries like Lost Judgment cloud my vision of this series, showing that you really can fill a game with too much stuff to do. I don't want this combat to just disappear after this game because I think it's just that refined now. But with Ichiban and his JRPG pals being the new mainline focus and side games like these still having the same not combat problems, I'm not sure if I'll be so terribly excited for the future.
That is to say, I am definitely going to be playing that Ishin remake because me likey the samurai Kazuma Kiryu game, and I've been clamoring for this game for years.