This shit is so magnificent ðŸ˜
I already knew that i was gonna love this game because i absolutely adored Judgment. Yeah it might have had a few problems such as too many tailing missions, and the annoying mortal wounds, but it was still an amazing experience thanks to its well written story, awesome cast of characters, and fun gameplay.
First of all the combat receives a lot of major improvements, and it's probably the best combat system that rgg has created. Crane and tiger style are back, and there's also a new one called snake (boxer style also exists but i didn't unlock it).
Tiger style is less overpowered now, but it still feels way better to use compared to Judgment thanks to the expanded moveset.
Crane style got a MAJOR ass upgrade, now it has faster attacks, more moves, it feels exquisite to use, it's argueably the most useful style, and it might be my favorite fighting style in the whole series.
Snake style is an amazing addition to the combat. With it you can parry, disarm, and terrify the shit out of scared enemies by doing a heat action.
Style switching is much faster now, which makes juggling easier to pull off, and it makes the combat feel better.
Each fighting style can gain a buff during enemy encounters. If you dodge an enemy attack at the last moment with crane style your attack speed will increase, once you land a finishing blow with tiger style your damage will increase, and once you parry an enemy with snake style you will gain temporary immunity to knockdowns. These buffs not only make the combat feel better, they also encourage style switching since the buffs won't disappear once you switch styles.
The side content in the first Judgment was decent i guess, but the side content in this game is absolutely wonderful. The side cases are much more fun and memorable, and unlike in the first game you won't have to go through many tedious tailing missions. However the main reason why i love the side content are the school stories.
During the school stories Yagami will participate in various different clubs. Each club has a different activity that you will have to do, for example in the dance club you will play a dancing minigame, and during the boxing club you will play a boxing minigame. I found most of these activities to be a lot of fun (except the robotics club minigame fuck that one). Another thing that makes me love the school stories more is that it actually has a pretty good storyline with some memorable characters such as Kenya, Itokura, and the GOAT Amasawa! The school stories also give Yagami some personality which is very nice.
Yokohama is a really cool city in my opinion, and travelling around it with the skateboard was really fun.
The main story is on par with the first game in my opinion. It talks about bullying, suicide, and different definitions of justice. Most characters that we all know and love from the first game are still here(they forgot about Ayabe for some reason), and i also liked how this time Tsukumo plays a more major role in the story. I really loved the majority of the new characters introduced in this game. Sawa is an important character to both Yagami and the story, but i feel like she needed more scenes with him.
Soma is another character that i wish had more screentime because he's honestly a really cool villain with a calm and calculative personality, and he's a big obstacle to Yagami in the main story.
Tesso is pretty much Yagami's Rikiya so that automatically makes him an awesome character.
The main antagonist (i won't spoil who they are) is easily the best character introduced in this game, and he is probably one of my favorite videogame antagonists. Yagami and the antagonist are 2 sides of the same coin, but between the 2 of them there isn't really a correct side which is what makes their confrontation of ideals so captivating. Their dynamic is genuinely spectacular.
The conclusion of the antagonist is also amazing, and for the love of god DO NOT BRING HIM BACK RGG!!
The music is just as good if not better than the music of the previous game.
My favorite tracks are:
The song in the opening (rasen)
Kazuki Soma's boss theme (viper)
Daimu Akutsu's boss theme (K.O.G)
The godly final boss theme (unwavering belief)
Snake style's theme (snake style)
Kosuke's boss theme (Hydra).
The boss fights were pretty solid. The last 2 bosses were incredible, and the Akutsu boss fights are really fun aswell. However those random rk members bosses are pretty forgettable.
The detective mechanics in this game were also improved. They added some new gadgets, and a dog that tracks scents which is super awesome!
A few other improvements that Lost judgment adds are: way less tailing missions (the tailing missions also had some small improvements), items dropped by enemies will fly towards you, a conversation log so you can read any dialogue that you have missed, a skateboard for faster travelling, less lockpicking, less investigations, mortal wounds were removed, keihin gang invasions were removed, you can gain a lot more sp now which means that you can buy upgrades much quicker, and finally Kim doesn't text you anymore.
A small complaint that i have are the new climbing sections, the new stealth missions, and the new qte. The climbing sections are just boring, and the stealth missions lack a lot of freedom. In the new qte you will have to press various buttons instead of one, and i honestly think this was very unnecessary. I prefer the simple one button qte where you don't fail 90% of the time.
For me this game doesn't have any major flaws, it only has small problems that i don't think are worth cutting points for.
Overall this was an absolutely exquisite experience, and i'm excited to play the dlc in the future. Awesome story, great characters, fantastic antagonist, great music, amazing side cotent, and a fantastic combat system.
Easy 10/10
I already knew that i was gonna love this game because i absolutely adored Judgment. Yeah it might have had a few problems such as too many tailing missions, and the annoying mortal wounds, but it was still an amazing experience thanks to its well written story, awesome cast of characters, and fun gameplay.
First of all the combat receives a lot of major improvements, and it's probably the best combat system that rgg has created. Crane and tiger style are back, and there's also a new one called snake (boxer style also exists but i didn't unlock it).
Tiger style is less overpowered now, but it still feels way better to use compared to Judgment thanks to the expanded moveset.
Crane style got a MAJOR ass upgrade, now it has faster attacks, more moves, it feels exquisite to use, it's argueably the most useful style, and it might be my favorite fighting style in the whole series.
Snake style is an amazing addition to the combat. With it you can parry, disarm, and terrify the shit out of scared enemies by doing a heat action.
Style switching is much faster now, which makes juggling easier to pull off, and it makes the combat feel better.
Each fighting style can gain a buff during enemy encounters. If you dodge an enemy attack at the last moment with crane style your attack speed will increase, once you land a finishing blow with tiger style your damage will increase, and once you parry an enemy with snake style you will gain temporary immunity to knockdowns. These buffs not only make the combat feel better, they also encourage style switching since the buffs won't disappear once you switch styles.
The side content in the first Judgment was decent i guess, but the side content in this game is absolutely wonderful. The side cases are much more fun and memorable, and unlike in the first game you won't have to go through many tedious tailing missions. However the main reason why i love the side content are the school stories.
During the school stories Yagami will participate in various different clubs. Each club has a different activity that you will have to do, for example in the dance club you will play a dancing minigame, and during the boxing club you will play a boxing minigame. I found most of these activities to be a lot of fun (except the robotics club minigame fuck that one). Another thing that makes me love the school stories more is that it actually has a pretty good storyline with some memorable characters such as Kenya, Itokura, and the GOAT Amasawa! The school stories also give Yagami some personality which is very nice.
Yokohama is a really cool city in my opinion, and travelling around it with the skateboard was really fun.
The main story is on par with the first game in my opinion. It talks about bullying, suicide, and different definitions of justice. Most characters that we all know and love from the first game are still here(they forgot about Ayabe for some reason), and i also liked how this time Tsukumo plays a more major role in the story. I really loved the majority of the new characters introduced in this game. Sawa is an important character to both Yagami and the story, but i feel like she needed more scenes with him.
Soma is another character that i wish had more screentime because he's honestly a really cool villain with a calm and calculative personality, and he's a big obstacle to Yagami in the main story.
Tesso is pretty much Yagami's Rikiya so that automatically makes him an awesome character.
The main antagonist (i won't spoil who they are) is easily the best character introduced in this game, and he is probably one of my favorite videogame antagonists. Yagami and the antagonist are 2 sides of the same coin, but between the 2 of them there isn't really a correct side which is what makes their confrontation of ideals so captivating. Their dynamic is genuinely spectacular.
The conclusion of the antagonist is also amazing, and for the love of god DO NOT BRING HIM BACK RGG!!
The music is just as good if not better than the music of the previous game.
My favorite tracks are:
The song in the opening (rasen)
Kazuki Soma's boss theme (viper)
Daimu Akutsu's boss theme (K.O.G)
The godly final boss theme (unwavering belief)
Snake style's theme (snake style)
Kosuke's boss theme (Hydra).
The boss fights were pretty solid. The last 2 bosses were incredible, and the Akutsu boss fights are really fun aswell. However those random rk members bosses are pretty forgettable.
The detective mechanics in this game were also improved. They added some new gadgets, and a dog that tracks scents which is super awesome!
A few other improvements that Lost judgment adds are: way less tailing missions (the tailing missions also had some small improvements), items dropped by enemies will fly towards you, a conversation log so you can read any dialogue that you have missed, a skateboard for faster travelling, less lockpicking, less investigations, mortal wounds were removed, keihin gang invasions were removed, you can gain a lot more sp now which means that you can buy upgrades much quicker, and finally Kim doesn't text you anymore.
A small complaint that i have are the new climbing sections, the new stealth missions, and the new qte. The climbing sections are just boring, and the stealth missions lack a lot of freedom. In the new qte you will have to press various buttons instead of one, and i honestly think this was very unnecessary. I prefer the simple one button qte where you don't fail 90% of the time.
For me this game doesn't have any major flaws, it only has small problems that i don't think are worth cutting points for.
Overall this was an absolutely exquisite experience, and i'm excited to play the dlc in the future. Awesome story, great characters, fantastic antagonist, great music, amazing side cotent, and a fantastic combat system.
Easy 10/10