figleafplays
2021
Lost Judgment is the latest in RGG’s series that is supposed to be replacing Like a Dragon as RGG’s action game series. Even among potential rumors of an announcement of a third installment to the Judgement series, its potential future is up in the air. Some disagreements between RGG studios and Johnny's, the talent agency that represents Takuya Kimura, Yagimi’s voice actor and model inspiration for the character, led to a delay of the Judgment and Lost Judgement PC ports that only saw such release to PC this year. Regardless, for now, Lost Judgement is the currently last adventure of Takayuki Yagami, lawyer turned detective in the fictional city of Kamurocho. This time, Yagami is summoned to Yokohama to assist returning characters Sugira and Tsukumo with a case regarding bullying at a local high school. From there the plot goes on several twists and turns with lives at stake.
Lost Judgment’s plot is pretty great. Sure, it's basically a lot like standard Like a Dragon plots with a detective instead of a Yakuza, but this story in particular is very compelling. Lost Judgment does something that RGG has only occasionally done, but hasn't accomplished in a way that I enjoyed. RGG managed to keep the story fairly personal and low key (in comparison to other RGG plots) and I think the story succeeds greatly because of it. There is one fairly small element that I wish was kept out of the plot but I won't elaborate for the sake of spoilers.
RGG has also refined the beat em up formula to a mirror shine on this entry. With the introduction of the snake style for Yagami, Lost Judgement’s combat gets to a point where it is very similar to Yakuza 0’s combat, but has been more refined since that installment's release. Combos feel smooth and satisfying, EX attacks feel weighty and powerful.
Yokohama is basically a cut and paste from RGG’s 2019 effort Yakuza: Like a Dragon with some minor changes. This is fine, RGG is the master of reusing environmental and combat assets without it feeling too samey from game to game, so its something I am fairly willing to excuse from them.
Overall RGG succeeds with Lost Judgement in a way that I am very excited to see how their next beat em up game is. They have refined the beat em up game to a mirror shine formula, I am excited to see what bells and whistles they create for us next time.
This review was cross posted from The Fig Tree, linked here: https://figleafgamingnetwork.wordpress.com/2023/06/02/lost-judgment-review/
Lost Judgment’s plot is pretty great. Sure, it's basically a lot like standard Like a Dragon plots with a detective instead of a Yakuza, but this story in particular is very compelling. Lost Judgment does something that RGG has only occasionally done, but hasn't accomplished in a way that I enjoyed. RGG managed to keep the story fairly personal and low key (in comparison to other RGG plots) and I think the story succeeds greatly because of it. There is one fairly small element that I wish was kept out of the plot but I won't elaborate for the sake of spoilers.
RGG has also refined the beat em up formula to a mirror shine on this entry. With the introduction of the snake style for Yagami, Lost Judgement’s combat gets to a point where it is very similar to Yakuza 0’s combat, but has been more refined since that installment's release. Combos feel smooth and satisfying, EX attacks feel weighty and powerful.
Yokohama is basically a cut and paste from RGG’s 2019 effort Yakuza: Like a Dragon with some minor changes. This is fine, RGG is the master of reusing environmental and combat assets without it feeling too samey from game to game, so its something I am fairly willing to excuse from them.
Overall RGG succeeds with Lost Judgement in a way that I am very excited to see how their next beat em up game is. They have refined the beat em up game to a mirror shine formula, I am excited to see what bells and whistles they create for us next time.
This review was cross posted from The Fig Tree, linked here: https://figleafgamingnetwork.wordpress.com/2023/06/02/lost-judgment-review/
I'm gonna do a full review later on but I wanted to get this out there now.
Nintendo pulled some wizardary improving on BOTW this much, im still not sure how its possible that Tears is everything that I was expecting and so much more. Even some things that kind of annoyed such as different arrows and the weapons mechanic are improved upon in ways that I just didn't think were possible. The next Zelda game has to be a once in a lifetime achievement to even come close to this.
Nintendo pulled some wizardary improving on BOTW this much, im still not sure how its possible that Tears is everything that I was expecting and so much more. Even some things that kind of annoyed such as different arrows and the weapons mechanic are improved upon in ways that I just didn't think were possible. The next Zelda game has to be a once in a lifetime achievement to even come close to this.
2023
The game was really good overall, everything the story did to pretend to be Game of Thrones/ A Song of Ice and Fire was annoying and came off as the little kid pretending to be edgy online version of dark fantasy. I really like the direction that the gameplay went overall, and I will love to see if square is interested on iterating on this gameplay design more for Final Fantasy 17, which may come out before the heat death of the universe if we are lucky.
2023
A bit rough in places but it was pretty good. Set your expectations right and this is a nice snacky little action RPG. Game really could do with some more definition of its social aspects, I really felt like my social stats leveled up randomly and I didnt really get how each choice would effect my stats at all. I eventually got locked out of finishing two characters questlines cause of it, I have no idea how you are supposed to do everything in one run. Have a guide up and you might have a better experience with this then i did.
I really enjoyed this game a lot. Really fixed a lot of the problems the original and its ports have with controls being a major pain. Not without flaws, the dialouge can get cringy sometimes and it really feels like sometimes you get hit for large chunks of damage out of nowhere. I really started to miss traditional level ups, the food mechanics are a really hard metric to use. Its almost impossible to figure out if you are under or overleveled cause of it. It just feels like its trying to be different for its own sake. Too bad this game was marketed like shit so we may never see another. Id love to see them port the original game to match this gameplay structure.
I have to admit, this game being 50 bucks with a campaign this short with the side stories not being as varied as they have been for past games stings a little bit. I really like the new agent style and the side actives were fun, I just wish the side stories were more substantial overall. I liked the idea of the coliseum and its clear that a lot of effort went into it, even going so far as letting you play as anyone you have recruited (which is a nice gimmick, but overall you should play as Kiryu, the agent gadgets are straight busted against cannon fodder enemies). Pick this up on sale and itll feel more worth the money. Just overall feels a bit shallow for a 50 dollar release when LAD7 is huge and IW is going to be massively huge for just a little more of an MSRP.
2013
One of my favorite traditional RPGs of all time. the brave and default features really add a new sense of depth to the system that wouldnt be possible otherwise. I totally get peoples gripes with the story; feeling like you are circling the drain a bit as the game comes to a close doesnt feel good, but it never bothered me as much as it bothered others. Praying for Bravely Default and Bravely Second to get ports at some point.
ive decided recently that i really dont have time anymore for games that dont respect my time. I've tried to get into souls but I don't think i have it in me to also play the carbon copy ripoffs unless they do something unique that makes the game less punishing or provides a neat twist. Mortal Shells shell and harden mechanics do neither in my eyes.
2016
2018