that high school comment is very accurate. people who complain about that never got into a fight or never was in an environment near it. it's fight or flight at the end of the day
Kuwana's moment at the end was truly memorable. The broken mastermind walks free but he will have to stay in the shadows of Yokohama with a guilt for the rest of his life. Even if he eventually wishes to atone for what he had done, nobody will be there to hear him out, nor the court of justice - there's no way he can be convicted. Yagami may have lost, for he couldn't bring the perpetrator to justice, but also won by uncovering the truth into light as well. Such bitter gray ending was really impressive for me. Still, Yagami in second-half of the plot being like "Keep calm and leave it to Sawa-sensei" all the way through was a bit annoying, necessary as it may be.
@@TheSpawnfan It isn't actually, if you really think about it. I get why some might think that, I myself thought it at one point, but after watching a second playthru of this game, I noticed something impressive behind this. It's actually amazing that the game doggedly kept Yagami on point, insistent and undetracted from Sawa-sensei. It speaks volumes about the kind of character the devs are making Yagami out to be. Because where most of us would have been swayed by Kuwana's logic as the story unfolds to reveal a plot that keeps getting bigger, Yagami kept his focus on the one element that tends to get overlooked when people lay out their grand plans: collateral damage like Sawa-sensei. And Yagami kept insisting on bringing her up precisely because he **got** where Kuwana was coming from. He already said he heard the guy loud and clear, twice, and he never once denied the guy's logic or begrudged him of it. But he also said he that he couldnt condone it. And he kept insisting on bringing Sawa-sensei up because Kuwana was the one who wasn't really hearing him on that point.
@vspirit this is how I feel about it. Yeah he could have brought up solutions but I don't think him not is bad writing. Yagami doesn't have any idea what to do so he focused on what he did know. That innocent people can't be ignored for the sake of one's goal. Yagami was right and the reason people get mad he keeps saying it is cause they can't prove him wrong. Kuwana seemed to agree too when he reports all the bodies in the credits and saori mentions she doesn't think he'll keep killing. I like to think kuwana himself discovered a better way to deal with bullying.
Tbh when it comes down to it. Kuwana had a reason for doing what he did, at certain points he’s downright understandable. The Yakuza series has always showed that a person can redeem themselves regardless of their previous actions (Nishiki, Mine, Awano, Sagawa, Goda, etc.), so I think that killing someone prematurely before they repent (if they ever do) is wrong. Yagami was right and easily had the moral high ground because he doesn’t kill people, I feel that it would be wayyy more morally ambiguous if Kuwana only brutally punished the bullies, but that wouldn’t really work with how the story is designed with Reiko and Public Security and all. I feel that Kuwana had many supporters due to personal reasons, such as previous bullying, or just witness that sort of brutality, which is completely understandable, but I don’t believe any human has the right to kill another, which makes me feel that Yagami is morally correct. I do feel another reason Yagami had such a moral high ground is due to Sawa being collateral damage, she died due to Kuwana’s “justice” and this motivated Yagami to end the ordeal. Had we not seen any of Kuwana’s collateral damage, the game would’ve been much more morally ambiguous, but I’m glad it’s the way it is, because I’m happy to agree with Yagami over Kuwana. I do also feel that Yagami literally had no personal stake in this game so they had to kill Sawa (similar to how Emi was collateral) to motivate him, which is fine, but Sawa did really become the “YUME” of this game lol.
She kinda did, but I get why. If Kuwana was allowed to continue, how many more Sawas would there be, people who had nothing to do with the conflict that just got caught in the crossfire? Someone has to look out for them, and Yagami is that guy.
@@TrajGreekFire but his actions don't support those words. Yagami is at least willing to admit that his side of the argument has flaws, and major ones at that, but Kuwana never really wants to face up to the consequences of his actions in a way that I found convincing.
@@kartikayysola except Kuwana can't do anything and is characterised as someone who would still go kill bullies. He mentions at Lumang that Sawa's death was not something he wanted as she was innocent and will haunt him to the end. Turning himself to the police will kill him as characters figure out that public security will kill him then and it will achieve nothing. He can't go public due to conflict of interests and there is no evidence to condemn him due to japanese law being very strict. He is character defined by his guilt over Mitsuru being bullied, sheer force of will and loyalty to Reiko.
@@TrajGreekFire I get all that, and don't get me twisted here, I loved Kuwana's character and slowly but surely pulling back the curtain on who he really was and why he did what he did was incredible. But in terms of who I personally thought was more in the right between the two of them, my vote goes to Yagami.
@@Flambingo makes sense. In Judgment 3, she and her brother could be interns, learning from Yagami and Kaito. Its the only way to continue the series since Yagamis actor would cost too much and his agency doesn't want him doing Judgment anymore.
@@FatKekBoy they’re gonna keep him as the actor since the beef between ryu ga and johnny was because they didn’t want the game on PC, and since it isn’t on PC he is gonna stay on hopefully. I hope.
This game has replaced 0 for me in terms of my favorite Yakuza game. Some things really annoyed me, namely the QTE change, but it told a phenomenal story, the combat was much more balanced between the three styles than judgment and had a lot more potential, and the side content was fantastic. Soundtrack was amazing but that goes without saying. Easy 9.5/10 for me
My thoughts on it: it have a slow start, like usual RGG game. Once you're deep in the game, it's addicting as hell. The combat is Judgment but better and faster, which I really loved. The style change so quick and doing combos are super fun. Story wise, in my opinion its one of best written story in this year. Hell i think its better than any story-focused game that came out recently. For music, RGG Studios did it again, creating banger stuff like always. If i have to pick which game ost in 2021 are the best, this will be tied with No More Heroes 3. Overall, its one of my GOTY picks.
Bro I pray to god they don’t cancel this series, I loved this game so much, they added so many new interesting mechanics, it’s not worth flushing away. I hope J&A fixes their shit, or they just put Greg Chun’s face for PC Yagami.
Well sorry kid, their head is too far up in the ass that it ends up eating itself, we'll experience the heat death of the universe before Judgement gets ported.
@@mr.kenway4554 tbh, I think they should continue the series no matter what, Yakuza was PS only for like 14 years, I think Judgment will be fine. I think this should teach them on over-reliance on an actor’s irl personality.
This could possibly be one of the best RGG games ever considering how it tackles some of Japan's most serious social issues among the youth namely bullying and suicide where youtube channel Nobita from Japan even had a video about the subject. I was legitimately saddened on Sawa-sensei's death where the scene of her murder really showed RGG Studio's attention to detail like how they showed her tears knowing how they did the cutscenes since Yakuza. Soma really had this obsession of slitting throats with a knife making him like a slasher villain unlike Kuroiwa's skill on guns, martial arts and assasinations and Kuwana is a morally conflicted mess with a much worse grey morals than any Yakuza character even the likes of Hamura, Sawashiro or Arakawa. Now for some annoying parts besides the cheap Watanabe QTE and stealth, some items like the VR pass and some important materials for the robotics club upgrades are so stupidly rare(I'm looking at you abundant oil) that I have to go back to the main story then go to NG+ right away considering I need some more cash for stuff. Glad I played Like A Dragon where I knew the story behind the Tojo Clan disbandment and what Ijincho have like the Liumang and the Geomijul Overall what a great game despite its imperfections where we come back to Ijincho with a much darker tone than Like A Dragon where Yagami had a much worse time there than Ichiban. I would like to see more Amasawa in a future game considering I like how smart this girl is for a high schooler where she could learn more stuff from Yagami with his adventures. Maybe a part where we play as her just like we did with Saori that made even better in this game such as being able to take selfies as her.
Yep. Pretty much the only complaint about this game that I have. Stealth is boring af, and there is ridiculously little amount of long battles. It’s illogical even in concept, considering how they improved battle system for this game
Someone pointed this out to me after I finished the game regarding the theme of bullying: you go from putting high school bullies in their place to putting down the biggest bully of them all: Public Security. The conversation between Yagami and Reiko in the taxi scene even talks about the amount of bullying that's been put on Reiko in the gov't because her political path was a bit unusual and that led to her adult peers wanting to put pressure on her. I know the game focuses on the effects of high school bullying. But damn, bullying is truly present beyond high school given all the harassment scandals in many workplaces. I think this is what makes Lost Judgment stand out even more (i.e. highlights how adults can get bullied by the likes of RK/Public Security to preserve "order") and like you said, bullying is an endless cycle. Kuwana did what he could, but he ended up pissing off a bigger bully that he himself couldn't take on and had to begrudgingly rely on Yagami to expose them. I was hoping you would discuss what Kuwana did in the end (maybe I missed it?): reporting the bullies he killed anonymously after hearing Yagami's last words to him. Kuwana probably did realize that any actions involving murder just ends up hurting people than helping them. Kuwana and Yagami are so similar and I love the conversation they had at Yagami's place about their similarities (both driven by the murder of a young woman that they felt responsible for). I honestly would love to see Kuwana in a future Judgment game if the series continues because this story is about Kuwana losing his sense of judgment due to his past and showing signs of gaining it back (thanks to Yagami).
We got Alzheimer's Arc that tackled the real issue of the aging population and the effects of Alzheimer's to the affected and their love ones. The Bully Hunter Arc showed that societal apathy is bad and turning a blind eye is wrong, while the solution of murdering your bullies is very damn wrong. What will they do next if a Judge Eyes 3 will happen.
Revenge maybe? Tbh, at first I want to see more of Yagami's past like the reason behind his parents' being murdered, does the person still alive, why they targeting Yagami's parents only, did Yagami's parents had done something that troubled them and all that.
You already said all the good points i can think of this game , so I'll just add one bad thing i wish the game will improve , the chasing suspect minigame should just take Y4 approach , in Y4 you can tackle the suspect or throw stuff at the target than just running around until one stamina gone completely.
Yeah I did not like that aspect of the chases cause there are moments where you are literally right behind the person running away and Yagami decides to not tackle him. I would actually like it if they made where we could catch them without all that.
Personally I don't think any of them is completely right but they aren't wrong either Kuwana does have a point tho, I don't agree with his actions, but he has a point that the system fails victims and waiting for it to change while more and more kids experience bullying everyday is a problem But Yagami is right in that doing something as extreme as killing, will only affect the victims and harm innocent people that doesn't deserve it The thing is, I don't remember if this was stated in game but does Kuwana really kills bullies blindly? Because if you think about it, isn't it weird that the guy approaches the parents YEARS after their kids were bullied (so the victims and bullies are adults by now), and at least the two bullies he killed that we are introduced in game, were awful people even after growing up. What I mean is... is it possible that he picks only bullies that didn't change over the years and are still bad people? Not justifying what he did of course, but if this is true, it would make sense for his character Ofc doesn't change that he killed people, but I don't believe Kuwana doesn't think that someone can change over the years considering HE changed over the years
That's exactly what I was thinking as well. Like if he see that the person suffering from the guilt that they cause someone to commit suicide. Would he let them live. Cause that's a worse fate then death.
I do think with the two cases we got. Kuwana seems to do his research before he renders judgement on them. Mikoshiba and kawai were horrible afterwards as well, so there was little hope for change there. Great character all around
I think the ones he picked were the ones still at a crossroads, either they dealt with the problem themselves or have moved on with the loss of their loved ones. The ones that Kuwana got hired to kill were the ones who felt they only had closure if the bully was dead but had too much riding on to consider that step because unlike Kuwana, the moment they lay their hands on someone who killed their loved ones indirectly their lives could be over. Both Toshiro and Mitsuru could have endured one more year and they would be able to move on with their lives, but they were broken by one moment of injustice yet inaction kept them from taking matters into their own hands for Sawa's sake and believing at least taking their own lives would leave their parents conscience clean that they died a victim and not some angry animal raging at it's tormentor.
After reading your comment, I’m starting to think Kuwana is like Red Hood and Yagami is Batman. Both have their flaws and points regarding if criminals should be killed or judged.
I just want to congratulate all RGG Studio fans with a release of another beautiful game, which has mind-blowing plot, amazing gameplay, top-tier humor and absolute banger of a soundtrack. Honestly, I feel like it’s some kind of huge holiday. Thank you RGG Studio for all your work and thank you RGG fans from all over the world for standing together and making possible the existence of the games we all love so much. And thank you devilleon7 for taking such a huge part in giving this franchise the appreciation it deserves. I genuinely love you all, RGG community is the best ❤️
Around the 28 minute ish mark when talking about Kuwana. I finished the game the other day, and I'm still mostly digesting it, but I think what makes that situation feel so unique is that as you said, it's different from the series norm and I really like that a lot. It makes for an excellent change and something new for them to try out instead of rehashing what they've done over and over. With Kuwana's character, I feel like he's an antagonist in the sense of being opposite the protagonist-Yagami, but he's no villain *in the sense that he's not just evil, but that's also grey description wise*, and there's no desire on the end of either himself or Yagami to 'end' the other person. For me, it almost feels like these two do understand each other to some degree, but vehemently disagree on how to handle a situation they both agree is a huge problem. It's almost like they *wish* they could be allies, or that they wish they could come to an agreement, but can't. Their ideas of justice are too divided. Kuwana taking justice to an extreme in a very broken system, and Yagami asserting that yes, the justice system and the law itself is broken and flawed, but innocent people cannot just be collateral to that. I think a part of Kuwana does also agree with that, but he sees it at the end of the day as an almost..necessary sacrifice to be made, but hates it, in the grand scheme of putting people the justice system is fine to let walk away in their place. RGG has taken plenty of morally grey stances before, and most if not all of their cast exists in moral grey *the main characters who aren't just there for the sole purpose of good/evil anyway*, and I really appreciate that about the series.
I think the reason that Yagami can't buy high quality heal items is because Yagami is weaker than other protagonists and limiting healing items is a way to show this also Yagami has extracts and I think that there ment to act as substitute for high end items. I agree with the long QTE point at a minimum the buttons you need to press could be faded so you have an idea of what you need to do I liked the ending, it fit well with the rest of the game with Kuwana walking free like Mikoshiba and showing that the law isn't perfect and people will slip through the cracks
You know, when the game’s theme song, RASEN by jun-YAKITORY feat. Ado (fantastic song, been listening non-stop), was released close to my birthday, September 17th, I thought of it as just a cute coincidence. And then I found the real intention behind the release date… Needless to say, I was a bit conflicted. On the one hand, it’s cool seeing my birthday as an important date in the franchise’s history. But on the other, it’s kinda messed up that it’s the anniversary of a kid nearly killing himself due to bullying. Not as bad as the date of the Jingweon massacre (let’s pray that Ichiban never says Merry Christmas to Yeonsu Kim’s face) but still. Every time the game points out that date, I can feel my body sink deeper into my couch like I’m subconsciously trying to hide or something.
@@kartikayysola Yeah, the event that acted as the catalyst for Lost Judgement's story with Kuwana and the bully murders? The day that Mitsuru Kusumoto jumped off the school roof and put himself into a coma due to the bullying at Sawa's old school? Which in turn led to Sawa getting involved with the Ehara case and killed by RK, dragging Yagami and the gang further into this mess? All that dates back to Sept 17th 2008. Which just so happens to my birthday. Yaaay... It's like the game was made for me or something.
@@somethingcool1533 ooooh fuck that's right. I thought you were referring to an irl event or something. And goddamn if that is not one helluva coincidence.
Yeah I'm gonna have to disagree with you on Soma man. Man was absolutely TERRIFYING in both appearances for me, also helped by the fact that I'm absolute shit at reading him. He absolutely cut my ass up compared to Kuroiwa.
It'd probably help if I didn't know the guy as Chiaki-senpai first lol. Or a good-natured do-gooder of a police chief whose ever present idyllic smile you want to sometimes punch off his face. Or a lazyass not-overly-competent PI who has more of a nose for money than he does cases. But yeah, Tamaki was great in this role. A snakey sneaky slick bastard all around. And irredeemable too. Perfectly casted. Goofy older drama roles notwithstanding. He's played evil bastards before and he was just as good in them as he was as Soma. Very versatile actor.
This is something Writing On Games touched on briefly, but one crux I find with the narrative is that Yagami doesn't have much room to grow past the end of Judgment 1. He doesn't suffer from a personal conflict that he needs to overcome anymore and doesn't really have an arc. Yagami also uses Sawa's death to shutdown most of Kuwana and Kusumoto's arguments. It would have been interesting to see Yagami ponder wether or not Kuwana's actions are for the better instead of being confident that Kuwana's wrong with no room for argument. I feel like the conflict could have been more grey if Sawa's death wasn't brought up so often or was written out of the plot. Kuwana's character still makes the story strong, but I think these reasons make me prefer Judgment 1 more personally.
You know, I also keep seeing complaints like this by people elsewhere that the story is less engaging because he's got less of a personal involvement in this story than the one in the first game only to turn around and complain about him bringing Sawa-sensei up when her death is the entire reason he became personally invested in the case. It's not as deeply personal as the first, sure, but people seem to forget that the guy is a PI, and as a private dick, investigating cases is his profession so I don't get why people didn't like the fact that some cases are going to be less personal. But the game went ahead and made it personal anyway with Sawa-sensei's death as it also reminds him of Emi's. He as much as declared it with his promise to the principal to find out why she had to die. And when people keep trivializing her sacrifice at best or forgetting her at worst, the guy practically shouted it at everyone including us every chance he got but just like Kuwana, no one's really listening, finding it annoying instead. Pretty ironic, if you asked me. He even wrapped everything up in a neat summary with a wise conclusion at the end after beating Kuwana where he didn't just put everything down to Sawa-sensei, but more what she represents so people can see where he's coming from. Well at least it seems he got through to Kuwana somewhat at the end, since the guy revealed where the other bodies are and the game hinted that he may be retiring his vigilante activities.
Story-wise,They were both good in different ways to me. And I appreciate RGG for putting out two different stories, despite both have similarly dark social themes and having underlying government conspiracies lurking underneath the plot. How different the stories are from one another is best illustrated by how different the last bosses are from one another. Both excellent, in different ways. But I agree that in terms of gameplay, LJ beats Judgment. Which is par for the course seeing as it's a sequel and should be an improvement on its predecessor.
also one thing i really loved about this game is the fact they can be bothered to have call backs to chars from the previous game and show u what happened to them. tsukumo especially showed the most character growth and it felt satisfying to watch
I really enjoyed lost judgement. The combat, music and story were great! The story did touch some sensitive topics but it did handle them well IMO. Music was indeed a highlight with unwavering belief (kuwana's) and final destination (final long battle) are a couple of my favourites. The stealth needed a little work though since you had to distract enemies to take them down and couldn't just sneak up behind them and take them down which was annoying. I still need to do a lot of the side content since I missed quite a bit.
To be honest in my opinion the stealth should add more takedown moves and a Timer if your detected and you need to take them down before it’s game over
The issue is that a lot of the things RGG adds are not fleshed out well at all(except the combat where they put most of their effort into cause it's a Yakuza spin off) and it has to do with them doing this yearly release for Yakuza games so they don't have time to actually turn them into how they should be.
Honestly, its the best game of the year for me. Its a shame this series is getting downplayed by the gaming media. Powerful stories, dense populated worlds and gorgeous lighting
The stealth was complete ass. There's no creativity in takedowns and when you enter a coin-toss zone you can't leave until you toss a coin which is really annoying
True. If this continues, I sure hope they'll get people on board to improve upon it and also the parkouring. As well as other investigative aspects. The current gameplay development team is excellent when it comes to devising awesome combat systems but seem to still be largely inexperienced when it comes to all these auxiliary gameplay mechanics.
I watched the entire thing, this review was really well done and I really about agreed to all of your points. Also will you be uploading the challenges from the gauntlet as well as the secret boss? it'll be nice to see how you tackle those, but also perfectly fine if you don't want too since you have been playing this non stop so it would make since if you became burned out and need a break.
@@TaigaXsenpai Being able to fight back doesn't mean you aren't being bullied. I mean the attempt would still have been made. You just wouldn't have become a victim.
Your thoughts were intriguing, and helped me solidify some of my own lingering thoughts on the game. Though one thing I want to say is I feel a lot of reviewers seriously misrepresent this game's plot to a horrid extreme. So many of them want to discuss things like the bullies being beaten up by a dude in his 30s, the suicide stuff, the sexual harassment stuff, just only the things that are the most "controversial" so to speak while completely ignoring the game's main theme of one's own justice. I really wish the reviewers either paid attention to the game or didn't try to garner clicks by bringing up those points because I feel a lot of people will have their opinion formed by people who most likely do not play a lot of RGG games meanwhile most of the RGG youtubers will either not put out a proper Lost Judgment review for some time or, it's not in their repertoire which is understandable. I really think that Judgment, Yakuza 7 and Lost Judgment are the strongest the games have ever been plot-wise. I know a lot of my friends really either hated or disliked plot points between 3-6, but these games blew them out of the water. I hope RGG can continue this steam going forward! We'll probably get Yakuza 8 before we get another Judgment game, if not another Judgment style game, but I really hope they keep going. For a sequel of a game meant to be a one-off character arc for Yagami, they really blew it out of the park.
I have a feeling that if this was made by a western developer with strong financial backing, it would be an edgy masterpiece (which in itself is an insult because the game wasn't being edgy, it was shining a light on cold hard truth of society that people like to pretend they don't see) where gray tones are masterfully used. Although I think a number of them were just uncomfortable about the topics raised and didn't know how to deal with them other than in the shallow way they did.
Will reversing boss order make the game better? If you ask me then I'd say No. I think if you reverse the bosses order, so Kuwana goes first and Soma for the final boss, Lost Judgment won't be unique. We'll end up comparing Soma and Kuroiwa. Then probably people would say that the first game is better than the second one because Kuroiwa is more menacing than Soma. For me, they are the best in their respective games. About Kuroiwa: Kuroiwa for me is like a more classic villain. Like you say he's a serial killer so you want to beat the shit out of him. His theme is still one of my favourites. He's pretty badass. Other points you already explained and I agree with you. About Soma: Meanwhile, Soma is the best employee you can get. His purpose in life is maintaining order with any means. How many times he says not to kill Kuwana etc. because that's the order he got from the higher-up he won't dare to make a mess. The way he carried out the duties of his superiors perfectly was the best characteristic of him. A member of the state intelligence agency must have a calm attitude, be alert to all situations, and be able to take advantage of existing resources. If you are interested in government, politics, and terrorism you'll like Soma. Making RK to contain the ex-Yakuza in one place so they can get monitored, that's what government does in real life, too. How many people like him are actively placed in hotbeds of troublemakers or terrorism to control them so they don't harm the country? Look at the people around you, it could be your neighbours, gardeners, food vendors, taxi drivers, or mall security guards are these chosen people. And those who excel and have characteristics similar to Soma are placed deep into enemy bases to weaken them from within, in order to maintain the integrity of the country and the status quo.
For me this game was phenomenal but there was one thing that really got on my nerves, whenever there was part of the main story that was ‘kill some time’ or ‘wait for someone to call you’ you never got time to explore or genuinely kill time, id barely make it down the road and Id be getting a phone call
I don't know why anyone would complain about bullying being a topic in this. How many times has the Yakuza series shown someone being victimised by someone stronger than them, or had their behaviour be the result of someone holding some power over them? It makes sense to remind us this is something that happens in all areas of life, not just the criminal underworld. And the "if you see something, do something about it" fix is a pretty sensible one.
I loved the game and story so much, one thing I wanted is just that they should have more Dynamic Intros for bosses. For example may be Kuwana (chapter 10) and Akutsu (chapter 8).
My worst fights were in high school. 16 year olds that don't need jobs and are eager to find out what they want to do in life are time-bombs. I remember staring at a guy for 5 seconds too long and he came up to me asking for a fight.
As much as i enjoyed it, i still prefer the first Judgment. I feel like this was a bit more over the place, throwing a ton of new ideas and characters, and not exploiting them as good as they could have. The story was good, but really unconsistent when it comes to its pacing. Some scenes were truely memorable though. The gameplay is great, and managed to improve even more on the first game, which is truely a good point. I really liked the idea of the new QTE in combat, but felt like they were quite... imprecise? Maybe my controller is to blame, but i felt like the input weren't exactly what i did (going too fast seemed like an issue), which is really weird, and ended up in quite a lot of fails. I absolutly loved the difficulty. The game was challenging in hard difficulty, and most of the boss fights were really fun. But one of the weakest part for me was the soundtrack. The first one was probably my favorite RGG games when it comes to the music, but this one was... Somehow, worse to me than Like a dragon. Except during the last chapter, where i feel like they went all in with the soundtrack, and oh boi that was something. Overall, i was really happy to see Yagami and the boys again, but i still feel a bit disapointed. I loved the first game, it's on my top 3 RGG games, and this one was just... Good. Maybe i expected too much.
I started playing it the other day. I didn’t a chance to play Judgment 1 due to it being a PlayStation exclusive (I had to resort to watching a playthrough of it on RUclips) so this is my entry point into the Judgment series. Yagami’s fighting styles are perfect for the Dragon Engine. Heck his fighting styles are way better than Kiryu’s (Ichiban’s fighting style doesn’t count due to how different it is compared to Yagami’s and Kiryu’s).
this was a fantastic game, had me conflicted , so much was grey area, and i really love that kinda story. Yakuza stories are often very black and white, so its nice to get an end boss that feels different. They really were in a sense the same person dealing with the law in starkly different ways. Side content was fantastic, combat some of the best RGG have done , the last few boss fights were amazing. If i were to put it in with yakuza id say its defo up there with the best. Judgment is really grabbing me so much more than yakuza 7 did.
Just finished the game. It’s hovering between an 8/10 to 9/10 for me depending on how I feel about some aspects of the sidequests given some time. So many things from the first game got improved gameplay wise. For my first play through I mostly stuck with the Snake style just because it was new and I already used the other two styles in Judgment. Snake Style on its own is way more fun overall compared to the other two. But Tiger still seems to be the way to go if you just want to bum rush everything. I’m excited for the boxing style that comes at the end of the month. My main gripes with the main story is that the big bads are revealed a little too late and I had a feeling they were just gonna use Sawa as a plot device. But I did like how the antagonists were a lot more fleshed out in this game compared to Judgment (as awesome as Kuroiwa was). The final battle I thought was awesome because of how personal it felt. So it was nice to have a badass final battle different from Kuroiwa’s which was badass because of Kuroiwa’s menacing character. Excited for Kaito’s DLC and I wouldn’t mind if they did something like what Final Fantasy XV did where they had character episodes. It would be cool to play through the story’s events from Higashi, Sugiura, and even Tesso’s point of view. If the devs can’t get around the agency issue, I think they could still continue the series through Kuwana’s character which would do wonders in conflicting players as they are controlling a sympathetic character who still murdered 7 people.
I have a question what did you think about the sexual assault case and how game informer gave it a bad review cause he said they brushed off the sexual assault case even though we all know it was staged!! Plus the comments under game informers review people said to get actually people that play the series and they said the reviewer was a big fan. I didn’t like that they only gave it a terrible review cause of the sexual assault. The guy literally says that when they took sexual assault away it made him sick and enjoy the game less.
For me I can't see why people would support Kuwana, the only victims that we know is Kawai (he really had it coming in all fairness) and Mikoshiba, the other 5 you never know who, unknown genders or age. He basically accept requests of former bullies getting killed by the former bully-victim parents free of charge, who knows how the remaining 5 victims went. I also agree with his final boss barely having any impact, but for me the reason is that Yagami already fought Soma, basically Japan's version of CIA undercover agent. The victims(besides Kawai, he's dead either way) might have a better future and repent themselves, shit it's not like the Yakuza guys ran their families by simply being strong and smart, Majima definitely killed one of his subordinates bum at one point, and Kiryu becoming one of the Loan Shark guys that demands for loan paybacks.
@Jonathan Fakhoury And he is only doing it for the people with something to lose, it is kind of sad when the rich and the poor have the tool to handle bullies (the rich pay people to hurt/intimidate the bully while the poor use street justice to deal with a bully). But working stiffs don't have any recourse if they don't want the label of a murderer or criminal.
@Jonathan Fakhoury True, that was what exactly happened to Mitsuru as he didn't want to get his mom fired for fighting back or causing a scene. Also for Kawai, it is understandable why he won't repent is because his life was over as he was made the scapegoat while his schoolmates walked and after being sent to a shit school that likely would only enable his worst traits and later taking on a life of crime meant that suicide attempt became street cred. That he has the ability to break people and be proud of what he done because the underworld is not a place where compassion rules.
im into chapter 4 now. game play wise I have to say this game proves my hypothesis right: that they should have used the original engine for yakuza 6 and kiwami 2 and kept the dragon engine to debut in judgment and shin yakuza. The amt of polish that the system has here made me effing wish it's what we got for kiryu's send off but now i will forever feel like they cheated me w that awful rushed 6 and kiwami 2.
But then we'd have a clunky Judgment which would be a death sentence to what is a new unknown spinoff, and they've invested too much in it to risk it failing. Yakuza was at least already a known franchise. I think they made the right business decision. If the engine needed to be tested either way, it's better to use it on an established franchise so that the engine is directly linked to it and even if clunky, people already like the franchise for what it is.
I think they have left it open for kuwana to come back in a future judgement game maybe not 3 but some time further in the series and yagami has to hunt him down the one that got away
All Nishiki's theme collection for what I know Yakuza 1:For Who's Sake. Yakuza Restoration: For Your Sake. Yakuza 0: For Buddy. Yakuza Kiwami: For Who's sake Reprise.
I really enjoyed this discussion. So glad that someone is discussing the moral issues brought up in this game, and I'm also glad that Lost Judgment take up these uncomfortable and ambiguous topics.
Agree with a lot of what is said. One thing I just wanted to add that I saw as an improvement was they did what I wish they did for the first Kuroiwa fight with Soma and had him “win” it in a cutscene, I actually really wish Kuroiwa won that first fight instead of getting beaten and pulling out a gun so I was really glad to see they chose to do that with Soma to make him more impactful. Although that being said I still found Kuroiwa to be a bit more menacing in the end regardless.
Nah. If they did that for Kuroiwa and than again for Soma here, it'd just be a gimmick. But now, it proves that Soma is actually deadlier than Kuroiwa.
I think reversing the boss fights would be interesting. But i feel that if you changed the order the end message, the conclusion to the ideological conflict wouldn't be as strong.
Yep. This is perfect for the narrative they wanted to tell. Where Kuroiwa as the last boss helped solidify the tone of Judgment, Kuwana as the final boss here justifies the entire story. So far, all the final bosses of Judgment helped carry the plot in a major way so it had to be Kuwana for LJ, not Soma.
To me it feels like after seing how he falls on his knees in front of Kusumoto San that he did as a redemption act to be forgiven by her. I mean yea he had his ideology behind it but in the end it came from a selfish reason because he knew he fcked up. I mean if he would have been righteous from the start than he would have listen to Sawa when she reported the bullying but he wasnt and I know people change after what happens when they see the consequences of their actions yet this doesnt justify running around and killing those bullies. The End where the former Bullies help shows that people can change even bullies they are also human beings too. Just as Kuwana didnt foresee the consequences of his actions the same applies also for the bullies. You cant just difference those things because it suits your world. Yagami is right when we start to apply our own justice than law shouldnt even exist. Yet it does and it is flawed, it makes mistakes just like Kuwana made his mistakes by not listening to Sawa but It can change and it can evolve. We should be the progress to change that rather than making our own justice. I firmly believe everyone can change for the better this applies to bullies or to the law or even to Kuwana.
I actually liked it better in Judgment where they give you SP for making the correct choices when asking questions because it actually makes players think for themselves what the right question should be. And It wasn't immediately obvious which one was wrong too. It makes a game that only has one outcome feel less like it's on rails. With no consequence for making the wrong choices and the wrong choices being as obvious as they are in this second instalment, they took away one of the more intriguing aspects of a detective game, which is to make the players think and deduce for themselves. Otherwise, everything else gameplay-wise is a marked improvement. Ofc, mechanics like stealth and parkour could definitely be enriched as it feels rudimentary at best here. And it'd be good if they incorporated more of the other investigative mechanics into the main story as well. Story-wise, both are excellent in different ways.
I was sad about how only one tailing mission is in the story and aside from that, there's barely any of them and they're all half-assed. Breaks my heart to hear people hated those.
@@mazingetter5965 Sorry if it breaks your heart but that mechanic...wasn't fun for me either and I can't fault the devs for it because I'm not sure if there **is** a way to make it more fun, altho I feel having a measure of it does make the game more real somehow. I think the only way it can be better is actually be made less...not fun, not the other way around. Such is the nature of tailing. I'd take improvements of the other mechanics they introduced, esp stealth and parkour, over tailing as those seem to have more potential. And I think they had less tailing in the main story this time so they could have room for those other mechanics in the first place.
Disappointed you didn't talk about the huge negative in the game that is Sawa, how horrible of a character is and Yagami's constant "Sawa-simping" for a woman who is a uncooperative, miserable bitch who treated him like shit. "MUH SAWA SENSEI! MUH SAWA SENSEI"! all throughout the game. You should have talked about that at least.
It's not simping. Everybody ,even Kuwana was ready to hide Sawa's death under the rag and like it never happened. How can you say you punish the guilty to avenge those who died unfairly when you ignore a woman who lost her like unfairly because of you? The constant reminder was necessary to make kuwana realise his mistake.
It's probably good if you are just someone who watches playthrus but not so much if you actually play the game. No matter how realistic and human it makes Yagami as a character, I don't think there is a single player who isn't glad to not have to go through the trouble of stocking med kits, especially with as many gun-happy enemies as there are in these games.
Akutsu was a great villain imo. I like the way he was introduced, I liked that the game just zooms onto his face, K.O.G is a great boss theme, his boss battles are great and has one of the best dynamic intros in the franchise. Yes he isn’t an overly complicated or a significant character in the overall story compared but he’s just a fun character to watch.
I think Soma is way stronger than Yagami. But Yagami won second because you're in a freezer room. Soma has some nose trouble (cold?) so maybe.... That's why he was in a weak spot
I have almost finished the game on legend difficulty the second time. I gotta say, i'm a huge fan to this spin-off, because Judgment introduced me for the first time to the Yakuza universe. Still, my opinion doesn't change after the second playthrough, that i loved this sequel a bit more. I get why people tend to like Judgment more. It was a classic origin story, a reborn of a hero. Kuroiwa was a great villain with his fearless gunslinger attribute, and his actions was somewhat justifiable. But i felt like the story got some slumps in the middle chapters. But in the sequel, in my opinion, after the very slow burn and tablesetting, they keep the story exciting with the twist and turns. And after the second walkthrough i think it was a great move to put Public Security in the "game" that late in the story. Another strengthness of the story was the topic, and i value much that they keep it all the way to the end in the grey zone. They let the player decide the fact, that Kuwanas actions was justifiable or not. And thats the main reason why i consider a really great move to give us him as the final boss. What is a great downside to me are some of the new game mechanics. Like the detective gadgets. I was really looking forward to use Ranpo in the main story, or the new devices, but sadly they passed this chance. The stealth mechanic could be great, but it felt waaaaaay off in this game. The parkour is better, but it also need some adjustments. On the plus side, i can't get bored with the combat, with the new snake style fighting is really amazing in Judgment. The amount of side content is also respectable, however there are some what gives you more headache than amusement. To sum up, Lost Judgment almost a game of the year for me. (8/10) I hope that the future of the series isn't doomed, and also looking forward the dlc with Kaito.
Yeah, I guess for those who have family suffering from it, the first one would strike more of a chord while those who have personally experienced bullying in one form or another would find LJ more hard-hitting emotionally. And for those who have personal connections to both, they must feel as though RGG is speaking to them.
I really love this game it's even better than the first one and that game was amazing too. This game is definitely a 9/10 for me and its probably creeping in my top 3 best game of the series including the yakuza games ofcourse. After finishing the game I'm now gonna play the substories see if they are good as well in this game❤🤗
Honestly if the roles between the final boss were reversed then, they have to repeat the same formula of killing more major or supportive characters like that bully who shot or Kuwana, to make us hate him more and be more of a deranged psycho to be a threat. As far as I can see, Soma is a henchman of the "government" who loves his job and gives him a "reason" to kill and dirt his hands whenever is necessary. He doesn't seem someone who kills needlessly or is too desperate to get a kill. Which I was surprised he didn't untie himself and took a hostage or as I said again, kill Kuwana in the process (even though, I'm wondering how they will pull that out). What I agree is he didn't look much of a threat in the 2nd encounter, even when Yagami and the boys took an entire army of gangsters, he could still have some stamina left to fight Soma which I was disappointed when he didn't get some stun moves like he did with that cut scene on his first encounter. As for the Yagami and Kuwana clash of ideals I don't know what to say, aside that I pretty much condemn him for his acts as a teacher when it happened, which right now I can't say much since I miss a lot of scenes of Kuwana so I can't judge him or completely empathize with him until I play the game myself (or watch the whole streaming again lel).
Unlike Kuroiwa who was always looming over you menacingly throughout the story, Soma felt like he was just there when the plot/scene needed a "bad guy", you barely feel his presence as a villain, he gets overshadowed by Kuwana as the main conflict with Yagami, and you can't even call kuwana a villain, antagonist, sure but villain, nah.
Get rid of the detective mechanics. Their so boring. The chase minigame is the only engaging thing, but you cant catch anyone early, only until their stamina runs out. The other minigames are great, the more the better. The story is up their with the first Judgement; It was fun to follow. Yagami and Jin really felt like rivals, though Sawa being the bridge that connects them is shaky. I felt their understanding of the law is their strongest connection.
I loved the game but hated that in premium adventure you can’t wear disguises why not give it to us that’s my favorite part of premium adventure it’s just there for one or two wears make no sense
Why does this have to end for Kurohyo to continue? If they plan on continuing Kurohyo, whether or not this one ends shouldn't be a factor. And if they have no plans to continue it, ending Judgment won't change anything. Why not wish for Kurohyo to be officially localized and released internationally so as to gain enough of a following to garner a sequel, instead of nonsensically wishing for the end of a perfectly good and already successful franchise that won't have an effect on the development of the game you like either way?
Personally love the story and the school stories. Have always been a fan of their stories. The school stories are so good that I just stop playing main for awhile before they gate the progress. And I agree, Snake is fun to play, even if Tiger is solid one-on-one style. Reminds me of playing Tanimura. Skateboard's slightly clumsy in terms of steering when I have to press L3 forward and move camera with R3 just to turn but enjoyable. Some of the school stories are so short though, and somehow the minigame can get horrendously difficult towards the end that you feel the first 3/4 is not helping much
fyi never noticed that the high-tier healing items didnt exist. But im guessing it has something to do with the abundance of food items they have in the game
BGM-wise, Yakuza 7 is probably still better. The only one sticking in my mind from Lost Judgment is Soma's fight BGM because it feels like a horror movie
I think Lost Judgment is a mixed bag for me. The story was great once it gets going. Kuwana is one of the best characters introduced into the series. The changes to the combat were needed and greatly appreciated. However, the game takes forever to actually start getting to place where it is interesting. The beginning with the bullying case at the school is excruciatingly corny and takes too long to get to the point. The game constantly beats you over the head with its message even more than Yakuza 5. Sawa's death was tragic, but the game made me hate her so much that I had a hard time feeling too bad for her. The school stories were interesting, but I felt like they overstayed their welcome. I also figured out who "The Professor" was less than halfway into them. The substories are largely forgettable. Also, this is the game which has Robotics Club, which automatically docks at least 3 points off my ranking of this game. Overall, if I had to give it a point ranking, I would say that it is a 6/10 for me. Not one of the worst games in the RGG universe, but not one of the more stand out entries either.
![OsamaSon - ik what you did last summer [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4DIQDnu3mr4/mqdefault.jpg)
My thought: Lost Judgement is the game of the year for me.
💯
I agree
that high school comment is very accurate. people who complain about that never got into a fight or never was in an environment near it. it's fight or flight at the end of the day
Kuwana's moment at the end was truly memorable. The broken mastermind walks free but he will have to stay in the shadows of Yokohama with a guilt for the rest of his life. Even if he eventually wishes to atone for what he had done, nobody will be there to hear him out, nor the court of justice - there's no way he can be convicted. Yagami may have lost, for he couldn't bring the perpetrator to justice, but also won by uncovering the truth into light as well. Such bitter gray ending was really impressive for me. Still, Yagami in second-half of the plot being like "Keep calm and leave it to Sawa-sensei" all the way through was a bit annoying, necessary as it may be.
There are some other arguments he could have used though, pulling the Sawa card every time was strange.
@@TheSpawnfan It isn't actually, if you really think about it. I get why some might think that, I myself thought it at one point, but after watching a second playthru of this game, I noticed something impressive behind this. It's actually amazing that the game doggedly kept Yagami on point, insistent and undetracted from Sawa-sensei. It speaks volumes about the kind of character the devs are making Yagami out to be. Because where most of us would have been swayed by Kuwana's logic as the story unfolds to reveal a plot that keeps getting bigger, Yagami kept his focus on the one element that tends to get overlooked when people lay out their grand plans: collateral damage like Sawa-sensei. And Yagami kept insisting on bringing her up precisely because he **got** where Kuwana was coming from. He already said he heard the guy loud and clear, twice, and he never once denied the guy's logic or begrudged him of it. But he also said he that he couldnt condone it. And he kept insisting on bringing Sawa-sensei up because Kuwana was the one who wasn't really hearing him on that point.
@vspirit this is how I feel about it. Yeah he could have brought up solutions but I don't think him not is bad writing. Yagami doesn't have any idea what to do so he focused on what he did know. That innocent people can't be ignored for the sake of one's goal. Yagami was right and the reason people get mad he keeps saying it is cause they can't prove him wrong. Kuwana seemed to agree too when he reports all the bodies in the credits and saori mentions she doesn't think he'll keep killing. I like to think kuwana himself discovered a better way to deal with bullying.
Tbh when it comes down to it. Kuwana had a reason for doing what he did, at certain points he’s downright understandable. The Yakuza series has always showed that a person can redeem themselves regardless of their previous actions (Nishiki, Mine, Awano, Sagawa, Goda, etc.), so I think that killing someone prematurely before they repent (if they ever do) is wrong.
Yagami was right and easily had the moral high ground because he doesn’t kill people, I feel that it would be wayyy more morally ambiguous if Kuwana only brutally punished the bullies, but that wouldn’t really work with how the story is designed with Reiko and Public Security and all.
I feel that Kuwana had many supporters due to personal reasons, such as previous bullying, or just witness that sort of brutality, which is completely understandable, but I don’t believe any human has the right to kill another, which makes me feel that Yagami is morally correct.
I do feel another reason Yagami had such a moral high ground is due to Sawa being collateral damage, she died due to Kuwana’s “justice” and this motivated Yagami to end the ordeal. Had we not seen any of Kuwana’s collateral damage, the game would’ve been much more morally ambiguous, but I’m glad it’s the way it is, because I’m happy to agree with Yagami over Kuwana.
I do also feel that Yagami literally had no personal stake in this game so they had to kill Sawa (similar to how Emi was collateral) to motivate him, which is fine, but Sawa did really become the “YUME” of this game lol.
She kinda did, but I get why. If Kuwana was allowed to continue, how many more Sawas would there be, people who had nothing to do with the conflict that just got caught in the crossfire? Someone has to look out for them, and Yagami is that guy.
Remember how Kuwana mentions that Sawa being killed will haunt him to his grave and later Yagami forgets about it
@@TrajGreekFire but his actions don't support those words. Yagami is at least willing to admit that his side of the argument has flaws, and major ones at that, but Kuwana never really wants to face up to the consequences of his actions in a way that I found convincing.
@@kartikayysola except Kuwana can't do anything and is characterised as someone who would still go kill bullies.
He mentions at Lumang that Sawa's death was not something he wanted as she was innocent and will haunt him to the end. Turning himself to the police will kill him as characters figure out that public security will kill him then and it will achieve nothing.
He can't go public due to conflict of interests and there is no evidence to condemn him due to japanese law being very strict.
He is character defined by his guilt over Mitsuru being bullied, sheer force of will and loyalty to Reiko.
@@TrajGreekFire I get all that, and don't get me twisted here, I loved Kuwana's character and slowly but surely pulling back the curtain on who he really was and why he did what he did was incredible. But in terms of who I personally thought was more in the right between the two of them, my vote goes to Yagami.
I really liked Amasawa as a character. I hope she will return
Me too
Adult Amasawa as Yagami's replacement? 👀
@@Flambingo makes sense. In Judgment 3, she and her brother could be interns, learning from Yagami and Kaito. Its the only way to continue the series since Yagamis actor would cost too much and his agency doesn't want him doing Judgment anymore.
@@FatKekBoy they’re gonna keep him as the actor since the beef between ryu ga and johnny was because they didn’t want the game on PC, and since it isn’t on PC he is gonna stay on hopefully. I hope.
One of the substories was like having a Date with her. Kinda sus for Yagami
You forgot to talk about Kosuke, best boss in the game
I am ashamed of myself.
GODsuke is the strongest character in the RGGverse.
They added tesso best game 10/10
Tesso is not new?
Kosuke is intimidating 10/10 game
I fucking love Tesso so much.
Tesso best bro
Tesso best bro
This game has replaced 0 for me in terms of my favorite Yakuza game. Some things really annoyed me, namely the QTE change, but it told a phenomenal story, the combat was much more balanced between the three styles than judgment and had a lot more potential, and the side content was fantastic. Soundtrack was amazing but that goes without saying. Easy 9.5/10 for me
My thoughts of Lost Judgement: Overwhelmed. Who knew that a bullying case can give such a huge impact. Wish this game is available in PC though
Yeah I wished it was on pc too
One part of the story that I feel really shined was Saori. She stepped things up and became an incredible supporting character.
My thoughts on it: it have a slow start, like usual RGG game. Once you're deep in the game, it's addicting as hell.
The combat is Judgment but better and faster, which I really loved. The style change so quick and doing combos are super fun.
Story wise, in my opinion its one of best written story in this year. Hell i think its better than any story-focused game that came out recently.
For music, RGG Studios did it again, creating banger stuff like always. If i have to pick which game ost in 2021 are the best, this will be tied with No More Heroes 3.
Overall, its one of my GOTY picks.
i actually thought the beginning was quite faster paced then most RGG games
I couldn't agree more.
Bro I pray to god they don’t cancel this series, I loved this game so much, they added so many new interesting mechanics, it’s not worth flushing away. I hope J&A fixes their shit, or they just put Greg Chun’s face for PC Yagami.
seriously damn it johnnys
Well sorry kid, their head is too far up in the ass that it ends up eating itself, we'll experience the heat death of the universe before Judgement gets ported.
@俊也角田 it’s better than not having Lost Judgment at all
@@mr.kenway4554 tbh, I think they should continue the series no matter what, Yakuza was PS only for like 14 years, I think Judgment will be fine. I think this should teach them on over-reliance on an actor’s irl personality.
@@LongLiveSK the only problem was his face.
His face was the only thing between Johnny's and Sega.
This could possibly be one of the best RGG games ever considering how it tackles some of Japan's most serious social issues among the youth namely bullying and suicide where youtube channel Nobita from Japan even had a video about the subject. I was legitimately saddened on Sawa-sensei's death where the scene of her murder really showed RGG Studio's attention to detail like how they showed her tears knowing how they did the cutscenes since Yakuza.
Soma really had this obsession of slitting throats with a knife making him like a slasher villain unlike Kuroiwa's skill on guns, martial arts and assasinations and Kuwana is a morally conflicted mess with a much worse grey morals than any Yakuza character even the likes of Hamura, Sawashiro or Arakawa.
Now for some annoying parts besides the cheap Watanabe QTE and stealth, some items like the VR pass and some important materials for the robotics club upgrades are so stupidly rare(I'm looking at you abundant oil) that I have to go back to the main story then go to NG+ right away considering I need some more cash for stuff. Glad I played Like A Dragon where I knew the story behind the Tojo Clan disbandment and what Ijincho have like the Liumang and the Geomijul
Overall what a great game despite its imperfections where we come back to Ijincho with a much darker tone than Like A Dragon where Yagami had a much worse time there than Ichiban. I would like to see more Amasawa in a future game considering I like how smart this girl is for a high schooler where she could learn more stuff from Yagami with his adventures. Maybe a part where we play as her just like we did with Saori that made even better in this game such as being able to take selfies as her.
my thoughts:
idk I'm on PC so I can only watch YT walkthroughs/10
I feel you bro
Yeah same
Honestly hope they improve the stealth or just go back to having more long battles~ >_
Yep. Pretty much the only complaint about this game that I have. Stealth is boring af, and there is ridiculously little amount of long battles. It’s illogical even in concept, considering how they improved battle system for this game
Someone pointed this out to me after I finished the game regarding the theme of bullying: you go from putting high school bullies in their place to putting down the biggest bully of them all: Public Security. The conversation between Yagami and Reiko in the taxi scene even talks about the amount of bullying that's been put on Reiko in the gov't because her political path was a bit unusual and that led to her adult peers wanting to put pressure on her.
I know the game focuses on the effects of high school bullying. But damn, bullying is truly present beyond high school given all the harassment scandals in many workplaces. I think this is what makes Lost Judgment stand out even more (i.e. highlights how adults can get bullied by the likes of RK/Public Security to preserve "order") and like you said, bullying is an endless cycle. Kuwana did what he could, but he ended up pissing off a bigger bully that he himself couldn't take on and had to begrudgingly rely on Yagami to expose them.
I was hoping you would discuss what Kuwana did in the end (maybe I missed it?): reporting the bullies he killed anonymously after hearing Yagami's last words to him. Kuwana probably did realize that any actions involving murder just ends up hurting people than helping them. Kuwana and Yagami are so similar and I love the conversation they had at Yagami's place about their similarities (both driven by the murder of a young woman that they felt responsible for). I honestly would love to see Kuwana in a future Judgment game if the series continues because this story is about Kuwana losing his sense of judgment due to his past and showing signs of gaining it back (thanks to Yagami).
Watanabe was underused 😔 we couldve gotten another date
DADDY
We got Alzheimer's Arc that tackled the real issue of the aging population and the effects of Alzheimer's to the affected and their love ones. The Bully Hunter Arc showed that societal apathy is bad and turning a blind eye is wrong, while the solution of murdering your bullies is very damn wrong. What will they do next if a Judge Eyes 3 will happen.
Suicide?
@@redserv3nt62 As long as they don't take too much ques from Suicide Club
Revenge maybe?
Tbh, at first I want to see more of Yagami's past like the reason behind his parents' being murdered, does the person still alive, why they targeting Yagami's parents only, did Yagami's parents had done something that troubled them and all that.
oh yeah i knew that one. but still, after they killed yagami's parent, where are they now?
You already said all the good points i can think of this game , so I'll just add one bad thing i wish the game will improve , the chasing suspect minigame should just take Y4 approach , in Y4 you can tackle the suspect or throw stuff at the target than just running around until one stamina gone completely.
Yeah I did not like that aspect of the chases cause there are moments where you are literally right behind the person running away and Yagami decides to not tackle him. I would actually like it if they made where we could catch them without all that.
Personally I don't think any of them is completely right but they aren't wrong either
Kuwana does have a point tho, I don't agree with his actions, but he has a point that the system fails victims and waiting for it to change while more and more kids experience bullying everyday is a problem
But Yagami is right in that doing something as extreme as killing, will only affect the victims and harm innocent people that doesn't deserve it
The thing is, I don't remember if this was stated in game but does Kuwana really kills bullies blindly?
Because if you think about it, isn't it weird that the guy approaches the parents YEARS after their kids were bullied (so the victims and bullies are adults by now), and at least the two bullies he killed that we are introduced in game, were awful people even after growing up.
What I mean is...
is it possible that he picks only bullies that didn't change over the years and are still bad people? Not justifying what he did of course, but if this is true, it would make sense for his character
Ofc doesn't change that he killed people, but I don't believe Kuwana doesn't think that someone can change over the years considering HE changed over the years
That's exactly what I was thinking as well. Like if he see that the person suffering from the guilt that they cause someone to commit suicide. Would he let them live. Cause that's a worse fate then death.
I do think with the two cases we got. Kuwana seems to do his research before he renders judgement on them. Mikoshiba and kawai were horrible afterwards as well, so there was little hope for change there.
Great character all around
I think the ones he picked were the ones still at a crossroads, either they dealt with the problem themselves or have moved on with the loss of their loved ones. The ones that Kuwana got hired to kill were the ones who felt they only had closure if the bully was dead but had too much riding on to consider that step because unlike Kuwana, the moment they lay their hands on someone who killed their loved ones indirectly their lives could be over.
Both Toshiro and Mitsuru could have endured one more year and they would be able to move on with their lives, but they were broken by one moment of injustice yet inaction kept them from taking matters into their own hands for Sawa's sake and believing at least taking their own lives would leave their parents conscience clean that they died a victim and not some angry animal raging at it's tormentor.
I think it's more of based on what the parents want
If they agree, then he does what he planned. If they didn't, he'll let the bully be.
After reading your comment, I’m starting to think Kuwana is like Red Hood and Yagami is Batman. Both have their flaws and points regarding if criminals should be killed or judged.
The scene in the abandoned building saving the girls. The dynamic intro was hype as hell. Favorite mission and intro in the game 🤘🏻
I just want to congratulate all RGG Studio fans with a release of another beautiful game, which has mind-blowing plot, amazing gameplay, top-tier humor and absolute banger of a soundtrack. Honestly, I feel like it’s some kind of huge holiday.
Thank you RGG Studio for all your work and thank you RGG fans from all over the world for standing together and making possible the existence of the games we all love so much. And thank you devilleon7 for taking such a huge part in giving this franchise the appreciation it deserves.
I genuinely love you all, RGG community is the best ❤️
Around the 28 minute ish mark when talking about Kuwana. I finished the game the other day, and I'm still mostly digesting it, but I think what makes that situation feel so unique is that as you said, it's different from the series norm and I really like that a lot. It makes for an excellent change and something new for them to try out instead of rehashing what they've done over and over.
With Kuwana's character, I feel like he's an antagonist in the sense of being opposite the protagonist-Yagami, but he's no villain *in the sense that he's not just evil, but that's also grey description wise*, and there's no desire on the end of either himself or Yagami to 'end' the other person. For me, it almost feels like these two do understand each other to some degree, but vehemently disagree on how to handle a situation they both agree is a huge problem.
It's almost like they *wish* they could be allies, or that they wish they could come to an agreement, but can't. Their ideas of justice are too divided. Kuwana taking justice to an extreme in a very broken system, and Yagami asserting that yes, the justice system and the law itself is broken and flawed, but innocent people cannot just be collateral to that. I think a part of Kuwana does also agree with that, but he sees it at the end of the day as an almost..necessary sacrifice to be made, but hates it, in the grand scheme of putting people the justice system is fine to let walk away in their place.
RGG has taken plenty of morally grey stances before, and most if not all of their cast exists in moral grey *the main characters who aren't just there for the sole purpose of good/evil anyway*, and I really appreciate that about the series.
I think the reason that Yagami can't buy high quality heal items is because Yagami is weaker than other protagonists and limiting healing items is a way to show this also Yagami has extracts and I think that there ment to act as substitute for high end items.
I agree with the long QTE point at a minimum the buttons you need to press could be faded so you have an idea of what you need to do
I liked the ending, it fit well with the rest of the game with Kuwana walking free like Mikoshiba and showing that the law isn't perfect and people will slip through the cracks
I love everything that this game has to offer! Definitely 10/10 for sure! Can't wait to see what's next for the series...
Even the grinding?
@@nickneal8676 Even the grinding yes!
@@Natesmb164 nah the grinding is a pain but it's worth it to get to the top
Sugiura is the most handsome character on the game
Change my mind
Fun fact: the Sugiura's face is actually real and it was based on his VA, Terashima Junta
He literally had the bully girl fangirling at him.
So you ain't wrong
You forgot about Kosuke smh
@@jorntumrongwit9056 he is barely 1/10
@@JuG38 aaaand you missed the meme
You know, when the game’s theme song, RASEN by jun-YAKITORY feat. Ado (fantastic song, been listening non-stop), was released close to my birthday, September 17th, I thought of it as just a cute coincidence. And then I found the real intention behind the release date…
Needless to say, I was a bit conflicted. On the one hand, it’s cool seeing my birthday as an important date in the franchise’s history. But on the other, it’s kinda messed up that it’s the anniversary of a kid nearly killing himself due to bullying. Not as bad as the date of the Jingweon massacre (let’s pray that Ichiban never says Merry Christmas to Yeonsu Kim’s face) but still.
Every time the game points out that date, I can feel my body sink deeper into my couch like I’m subconsciously trying to hide or something.
Wait what????
@@kartikayysola Yeah, the event that acted as the catalyst for Lost Judgement's story with Kuwana and the bully murders? The day that Mitsuru Kusumoto jumped off the school roof and put himself into a coma due to the bullying at Sawa's old school? Which in turn led to Sawa getting involved with the Ehara case and killed by RK, dragging Yagami and the gang further into this mess?
All that dates back to Sept 17th 2008. Which just so happens to my birthday. Yaaay... It's like the game was made for me or something.
@@somethingcool1533 ooooh fuck that's right. I thought you were referring to an irl event or something.
And goddamn if that is not one helluva coincidence.
Some Japanese players have also pointed out that Kuwana's name can be read as 917 as well.... 😭
@@queenofbel And it keeps going XD
Yeah I'm gonna have to disagree with you on Soma man. Man was absolutely TERRIFYING in both appearances for me, also helped by the fact that I'm absolute shit at reading him. He absolutely cut my ass up compared to Kuroiwa.
It'd probably help if I didn't know the guy as Chiaki-senpai first lol. Or a good-natured do-gooder of a police chief whose ever present idyllic smile you want to sometimes punch off his face. Or a lazyass not-overly-competent PI who has more of a nose for money than he does cases.
But yeah, Tamaki was great in this role. A snakey sneaky slick bastard all around. And irredeemable too. Perfectly casted. Goofy older drama roles notwithstanding. He's played evil bastards before and he was just as good in them as he was as Soma. Very versatile actor.
In Yakuza 5 you fight alongside and against Aizawa and Baba.
This is something Writing On Games touched on briefly, but one crux I find with the narrative is that Yagami doesn't have much room to grow past the end of Judgment 1. He doesn't suffer from a personal conflict that he needs to overcome anymore and doesn't really have an arc. Yagami also uses Sawa's death to shutdown most of Kuwana and Kusumoto's arguments. It would have been interesting to see Yagami ponder wether or not Kuwana's actions are for the better instead of being confident that Kuwana's wrong with no room for argument. I feel like the conflict could have been more grey if Sawa's death wasn't brought up so often or was written out of the plot. Kuwana's character still makes the story strong, but I think these reasons make me prefer Judgment 1 more personally.
You know, I also keep seeing complaints like this by people elsewhere that the story is less engaging because he's got less of a personal involvement in this story than the one in the first game only to turn around and complain about him bringing Sawa-sensei up when her death is the entire reason he became personally invested in the case. It's not as deeply personal as the first, sure, but people seem to forget that the guy is a PI, and as a private dick, investigating cases is his profession so I don't get why people didn't like the fact that some cases are going to be less personal. But the game went ahead and made it personal anyway with Sawa-sensei's death as it also reminds him of Emi's. He as much as declared it with his promise to the principal to find out why she had to die. And when people keep trivializing her sacrifice at best or forgetting her at worst, the guy practically shouted it at everyone including us every chance he got but just like Kuwana, no one's really listening, finding it annoying instead. Pretty ironic, if you asked me. He even wrapped everything up in a neat summary with a wise conclusion at the end after beating Kuwana where he didn't just put everything down to Sawa-sensei, but more what she represents so people can see where he's coming from.
Well at least it seems he got through to Kuwana somewhat at the end, since the guy revealed where the other bodies are and the game hinted that he may be retiring his vigilante activities.
Gameplay wise, Lost Judgment is better. Story wise, I think the Judgment is better.
Story-wise,They were both good in different ways to me. And I appreciate RGG for putting out two different stories, despite both have similarly dark social themes and having underlying government conspiracies lurking underneath the plot. How different the stories are from one another is best illustrated by how different the last bosses are from one another. Both excellent, in different ways.
But I agree that in terms of gameplay, LJ beats Judgment. Which is par for the course seeing as it's a sequel and should be an improvement on its predecessor.
Actually about to get some sleep, but when devilleon7 upload a clip, you drop everything
also one thing i really loved about this game is the fact they can be bothered to have call backs to chars from the previous game and show u what happened to them. tsukumo especially showed the most character growth and it felt satisfying to watch
Really enjoyed tsukumo in lost judgment
I really enjoyed lost judgement. The combat, music and story were great! The story did touch some sensitive topics but it did handle them well IMO. Music was indeed a highlight with unwavering belief (kuwana's) and final destination (final long battle) are a couple of my favourites. The stealth needed a little work though since you had to distract enemies to take them down and couldn't just sneak up behind them and take them down which was annoying. I still need to do a lot of the side content since I missed quite a bit.
To be honest in my opinion the stealth should add more takedown moves and a Timer if your detected and you need to take them down before it’s game over
The issue is that a lot of the things RGG adds are not fleshed out well at all(except the combat where they put most of their effort into cause it's a Yakuza spin off) and it has to do with them doing this yearly release for Yakuza games so they don't have time to actually turn them into how they should be.
The worst thing about the game is that it's not on pc
It has to do with japanese market.They dont care about PC games except MMO
@@TaigaXsenpai actually, not in this case. It's Yagami's actor's contract company not wanting his face on anything published on PC for some reason.
@@jorntumrongwit9056 They're basically boomers who can't handle technology.
Best game on PS5 right now
Honestly, its the best game of the year for me. Its a shame this series is getting downplayed by the gaming media. Powerful stories, dense populated worlds and gorgeous lighting
I was really suppried how much the impact of Yakuza 7 effected this games Story, like the Tojo clans disbandment plays a big role in this game
The stealth was complete ass. There's no creativity in takedowns and when you enter a coin-toss zone you can't leave until you toss a coin which is really annoying
True. If this continues, I sure hope they'll get people on board to improve upon it and also the parkouring. As well as other investigative aspects. The current gameplay development team is excellent when it comes to devising awesome combat systems but seem to still be largely inexperienced when it comes to all these auxiliary gameplay mechanics.
I haven’t finished the video yet but I wanted to see Hoshino use his black belt and beat up a few people
I watched the entire thing, this review was really well done and I really about agreed to all of your points. Also will you be uploading the challenges from the gauntlet as well as the secret boss? it'll be nice to see how you tackle those, but also perfectly fine if you don't want too since you have been playing this non stop so it would make since if you became burned out and need a break.
The Judgment series always has a word they'll always be pronouncing. The first game was "Ado tech 9" and in this is "Sawa-Sensei" lmao.
I think it was kinda implied in judgment that Yagami was bullied with the dialogue before the fight with Kaito.
Yagami was delinquent and school drop out in the past. He often got in fights. I doubt he was delinquent as he always fought back
@@TaigaXsenpai Being able to fight back doesn't mean you aren't being bullied. I mean the attempt would still have been made. You just wouldn't have become a victim.
The only thing I don't like about the plot is that Kuwana really *isn't* responsible for Sawa-Sensei's death.
Leave it to RGG to make a good ass story out of a bully hunter. The last person who tried that ended up being a grifter.
Who?
Huh?
Your thoughts were intriguing, and helped me solidify some of my own lingering thoughts on the game.
Though one thing I want to say is I feel a lot of reviewers seriously misrepresent this game's plot to a horrid extreme. So many of them want to discuss things like the bullies being beaten up by a dude in his 30s, the suicide stuff, the sexual harassment stuff, just only the things that are the most "controversial" so to speak while completely ignoring the game's main theme of one's own justice. I really wish the reviewers either paid attention to the game or didn't try to garner clicks by bringing up those points because I feel a lot of people will have their opinion formed by people who most likely do not play a lot of RGG games meanwhile most of the RGG youtubers will either not put out a proper Lost Judgment review for some time or, it's not in their repertoire which is understandable.
I really think that Judgment, Yakuza 7 and Lost Judgment are the strongest the games have ever been plot-wise. I know a lot of my friends really either hated or disliked plot points between 3-6, but these games blew them out of the water. I hope RGG can continue this steam going forward! We'll probably get Yakuza 8 before we get another Judgment game, if not another Judgment style game, but I really hope they keep going. For a sequel of a game meant to be a one-off character arc for Yagami, they really blew it out of the park.
I have a feeling that if this was made by a western developer with strong financial backing, it would be an edgy masterpiece (which in itself is an insult because the game wasn't being edgy, it was shining a light on cold hard truth of society that people like to pretend they don't see) where gray tones are masterfully used.
Although I think a number of them were just uncomfortable about the topics raised and didn't know how to deal with them other than in the shallow way they did.
Will reversing boss order make the game better? If you ask me then I'd say No.
I think if you reverse the bosses order, so Kuwana goes first and Soma for the final boss, Lost Judgment won't be unique. We'll end up comparing Soma and Kuroiwa. Then probably people would say that the first game is better than the second one because Kuroiwa is more menacing than Soma. For me, they are the best in their respective games.
About Kuroiwa:
Kuroiwa for me is like a more classic villain. Like you say he's a serial killer so you want to beat the shit out of him. His theme is still one of my favourites. He's pretty badass. Other points you already explained and I agree with you.
About Soma:
Meanwhile, Soma is the best employee you can get. His purpose in life is maintaining order with any means. How many times he says not to kill Kuwana etc. because that's the order he got from the higher-up he won't dare to make a mess. The way he carried out the duties of his superiors perfectly was the best characteristic of him. A member of the state intelligence agency must have a calm attitude, be alert to all situations, and be able to take advantage of existing resources.
If you are interested in government, politics, and terrorism you'll like Soma. Making RK to contain the ex-Yakuza in one place so they can get monitored, that's what government does in real life, too.
How many people like him are actively placed in hotbeds of troublemakers or terrorism to control them so they don't harm the country? Look at the people around you, it could be your neighbours, gardeners, food vendors, taxi drivers, or mall security guards are these chosen people. And those who excel and have characteristics similar to Soma are placed deep into enemy bases to weaken them from within, in order to maintain the integrity of the country and the status quo.
For me this game was phenomenal but there was one thing that really got on my nerves, whenever there was part of the main story that was ‘kill some time’ or ‘wait for someone to call you’ you never got time to explore or genuinely kill time, id barely make it down the road and Id be getting a phone call
u can still do shit after they call you, it was annoying on repeat playthroughs in other games i think its an improvment
I don't know why anyone would complain about bullying being a topic in this. How many times has the Yakuza series shown someone being victimised by someone stronger than them, or had their behaviour be the result of someone holding some power over them? It makes sense to remind us this is something that happens in all areas of life, not just the criminal underworld. And the "if you see something, do something about it" fix is a pretty sensible one.
I loved the game and story so much, one thing I wanted is just that they should have more Dynamic Intros for bosses. For example may be Kuwana (chapter 10) and Akutsu (chapter 8).
My worst fights were in high school. 16 year olds that don't need jobs and are eager to find out what they want to do in life are time-bombs. I remember staring at a guy for 5 seconds too long and he came up to me asking for a fight.
As much as i enjoyed it, i still prefer the first Judgment. I feel like this was a bit more over the place, throwing a ton of new ideas and characters, and not exploiting them as good as they could have.
The story was good, but really unconsistent when it comes to its pacing. Some scenes were truely memorable though.
The gameplay is great, and managed to improve even more on the first game, which is truely a good point. I really liked the idea of the new QTE in combat, but felt like they were quite... imprecise? Maybe my controller is to blame, but i felt like the input weren't exactly what i did (going too fast seemed like an issue), which is really weird, and ended up in quite a lot of fails. I absolutly loved the difficulty. The game was challenging in hard difficulty, and most of the boss fights were really fun.
But one of the weakest part for me was the soundtrack. The first one was probably my favorite RGG games when it comes to the music, but this one was... Somehow, worse to me than Like a dragon. Except during the last chapter, where i feel like they went all in with the soundtrack, and oh boi that was something.
Overall, i was really happy to see Yagami and the boys again, but i still feel a bit disapointed. I loved the first game, it's on my top 3 RGG games, and this one was just... Good.
Maybe i expected too much.
If you're having an issue with the analog inputs specifically, just use the dpad.
I started playing it the other day. I didn’t a chance to play Judgment 1 due to it being a PlayStation exclusive (I had to resort to watching a playthrough of it on RUclips) so this is my entry point into the Judgment series. Yagami’s fighting styles are perfect for the Dragon Engine. Heck his fighting styles are way better than Kiryu’s (Ichiban’s fighting style doesn’t count due to how different it is compared to Yagami’s and Kiryu’s).
YOU CAN USE THE D PAD FOR QTES????? THANK YOU
this was a fantastic game, had me conflicted , so much was grey area, and i really love that kinda story. Yakuza stories are often very black and white, so its nice to get an end boss that feels different. They really were in a sense the same person dealing with the law in starkly different ways. Side content was fantastic, combat some of the best RGG have done , the last few boss fights were amazing. If i were to put it in with yakuza id say its defo up there with the best. Judgment is really grabbing me so much more than yakuza 7 did.
Just finished the game. It’s hovering between an 8/10 to 9/10 for me depending on how I feel about some aspects of the sidequests given some time. So many things from the first game got improved gameplay wise. For my first play through I mostly stuck with the Snake style just because it was new and I already used the other two styles in Judgment. Snake Style on its own is way more fun overall compared to the other two. But Tiger still seems to be the way to go if you just want to bum rush everything. I’m excited for the boxing style that comes at the end of the month.
My main gripes with the main story is that the big bads are revealed a little too late and I had a feeling they were just gonna use Sawa as a plot device. But I did like how the antagonists were a lot more fleshed out in this game compared to Judgment (as awesome as Kuroiwa was). The final battle I thought was awesome because of how personal it felt. So it was nice to have a badass final battle different from Kuroiwa’s which was badass because of Kuroiwa’s menacing character.
Excited for Kaito’s DLC and I wouldn’t mind if they did something like what Final Fantasy XV did where they had character episodes. It would be cool to play through the story’s events from Higashi, Sugiura, and even Tesso’s point of view.
If the devs can’t get around the agency issue, I think they could still continue the series through Kuwana’s character which would do wonders in conflicting players as they are controlling a sympathetic character who still murdered 7 people.
I have a question what did you think about the sexual assault case and how game informer gave it a bad review cause he said they brushed off the sexual assault case even though we all know it was staged!! Plus the comments under game informers review people said to get actually people that play the series and they said the reviewer was a big fan. I didn’t like that they only gave it a terrible review cause of the sexual assault. The guy literally says that when they took sexual assault away it made him sick and enjoy the game less.
imagine caring about what "videogame journalists" think, giving a game a lower score because it has uncomfortable stuff in it is just plain retarded.
I like that the school dlc will add the boxing style
15:12 - And why only 3 of those at any given time? Afraid that the gamers would cheat? Apart from the boss fights, most encounters are easy.
For me I can't see why people would support Kuwana, the only victims that we know is Kawai (he really had it coming in all fairness) and Mikoshiba, the other 5 you never know who, unknown genders or age. He basically accept requests of former bullies getting killed by the former bully-victim parents free of charge, who knows how the remaining 5 victims went. I also agree with his final boss barely having any impact, but for me the reason is that Yagami already fought Soma, basically Japan's version of CIA undercover agent.
The victims(besides Kawai, he's dead either way) might have a better future and repent themselves, shit it's not like the Yakuza guys ran their families by simply being strong and smart, Majima definitely killed one of his subordinates bum at one point, and Kiryu becoming one of the Loan Shark guys that demands for loan paybacks.
@Jonathan Fakhoury And he is only doing it for the people with something to lose, it is kind of sad when the rich and the poor have the tool to handle bullies (the rich pay people to hurt/intimidate the bully while the poor use street justice to deal with a bully). But working stiffs don't have any recourse if they don't want the label of a murderer or criminal.
@Jonathan Fakhoury True, that was what exactly happened to Mitsuru as he didn't want to get his mom fired for fighting back or causing a scene. Also for Kawai, it is understandable why he won't repent is because his life was over as he was made the scapegoat while his schoolmates walked and after being sent to a shit school that likely would only enable his worst traits and later taking on a life of crime meant that suicide attempt became street cred. That he has the ability to break people and be proud of what he done because the underworld is not a place where compassion rules.
im into chapter 4 now. game play wise I have to say this game proves my hypothesis right: that they should have used the original engine for yakuza 6 and kiwami 2 and kept the dragon engine to debut in judgment and shin yakuza. The amt of polish that the system has here made me effing wish it's what we got for kiryu's send off but now i will forever feel like they cheated me w that awful rushed 6 and kiwami 2.
Agreed.
But then we'd have a clunky Judgment which would be a death sentence to what is a new unknown spinoff, and they've invested too much in it to risk it failing. Yakuza was at least already a known franchise. I think they made the right business decision. If the engine needed to be tested either way, it's better to use it on an established franchise so that the engine is directly linked to it and even if clunky, people already like the franchise for what it is.
I think they have left it open for kuwana to come back in a future judgement game maybe not 3 but some time further in the series and yagami has to hunt him down the one that got away
Could be. He did repeat a couple of times that he'd have a new name and face. So he could be anyone.
All Nishiki's theme collection for what I know
Yakuza 1:For Who's Sake.
Yakuza Restoration: For Your Sake.
Yakuza 0: For Buddy.
Yakuza Kiwami: For Who's sake Reprise.
I agree with you the QTE were annoying as hell the should stuck with one button press.
I really enjoyed this discussion. So glad that someone is discussing the moral issues brought up in this game, and I'm also glad that Lost Judgment take up these uncomfortable and ambiguous topics.
Agree with a lot of what is said. One thing I just wanted to add that I saw as an improvement was they did what I wish they did for the first Kuroiwa fight with Soma and had him “win” it in a cutscene, I actually really wish Kuroiwa won that first fight instead of getting beaten and pulling out a gun so I was really glad to see they chose to do that with Soma to make him more impactful. Although that being said I still found Kuroiwa to be a bit more menacing in the end regardless.
Nah. If they did that for Kuroiwa and than again for Soma here, it'd just be a gimmick.
But now, it proves that Soma is actually deadlier than Kuroiwa.
14:14 - I agree. What the hell? Do we really need Detective Mode to turn on the lights or to find another path to get to someplace?
I want a Kaito game
I mean ur getting 10 hour kaito dlc
Loved the game still doing premium adventure and legend story afterwards. Can’t wait for more content soon🤘🏻
I think reversing the boss fights would be interesting. But i feel that if you changed the order the end message, the conclusion to the ideological conflict wouldn't be as strong.
Yep. This is perfect for the narrative they wanted to tell. Where Kuroiwa as the last boss helped solidify the tone of Judgment, Kuwana as the final boss here justifies the entire story. So far, all the final bosses of Judgment helped carry the plot in a major way so it had to be Kuwana for LJ, not Soma.
i liked the way quick time events were done in this game
To me it feels like after seing how he falls on his knees in front of Kusumoto San that he did as a redemption act to be forgiven by her. I mean yea he had his ideology behind it but in the end it came from a selfish reason because he knew he fcked up. I mean if he would have been righteous from the start than he would have listen to Sawa when she reported the bullying but he wasnt and I know people change after what happens when they see the consequences of their actions yet this doesnt justify running around and killing those bullies. The End where the former Bullies help shows that people can change even bullies they are also human beings too. Just as Kuwana didnt foresee the consequences of his actions the same applies also for the bullies. You cant just difference those things because it suits your world. Yagami is right when we start to apply our own justice than law shouldnt even exist. Yet it does and it is flawed, it makes mistakes just like Kuwana made his mistakes by not listening to Sawa but It can change and it can evolve. We should be the progress to change that rather than making our own justice. I firmly believe everyone can change for the better this applies to bullies or to the law or even to Kuwana.
In a side mission i saw a mention of a chimpanzee in a excavator.
I think this should of been the first judgement game
I actually liked it better in Judgment where they give you SP for making the correct choices when asking questions because it actually makes players think for themselves what the right question should be. And It wasn't immediately obvious which one was wrong too. It makes a game that only has one outcome feel less like it's on rails. With no consequence for making the wrong choices and the wrong choices being as obvious as they are in this second instalment, they took away one of the more intriguing aspects of a detective game, which is to make the players think and deduce for themselves.
Otherwise, everything else gameplay-wise is a marked improvement. Ofc, mechanics like stealth and parkour could definitely be enriched as it feels rudimentary at best here. And it'd be good if they incorporated more of the other investigative mechanics into the main story as well. Story-wise, both are excellent in different ways.
I was sad about how only one tailing mission is in the story and aside from that, there's barely any of them and they're all half-assed. Breaks my heart to hear people hated those.
@@mazingetter5965 Sorry if it breaks your heart but that mechanic...wasn't fun for me either and I can't fault the devs for it because I'm not sure if there **is** a way to make it more fun, altho I feel having a measure of it does make the game more real somehow. I think the only way it can be better is actually be made less...not fun, not the other way around. Such is the nature of tailing.
I'd take improvements of the other mechanics they introduced, esp stealth and parkour, over tailing as those seem to have more potential. And I think they had less tailing in the main story this time so they could have room for those other mechanics in the first place.
Disappointed you didn't talk about the huge negative in the game that is Sawa, how horrible of a character is and Yagami's constant "Sawa-simping" for a woman who is a uncooperative, miserable bitch who treated him like shit.
"MUH SAWA SENSEI! MUH SAWA SENSEI"! all throughout the game.
You should have talked about that at least.
By the way, who did nothing when her classmate and her students were bullied and off themselves.
It's not simping. Everybody ,even Kuwana was ready to hide Sawa's death under the rag and like it never happened. How can you say you punish the guilty to avenge those who died unfairly when you ignore a woman who lost her like unfairly because of you? The constant reminder was necessary to make kuwana realise his mistake.
She's not a favorite character of mine either but you...completely missed the point of the game. My condolences.
Man i really loved this game and i wish they brought back Critical wounds from the 1st game
I’m glad they haven’t. It was just annoying and nothing else. Especially if you don’t have medkits on you and it’s the Keihin gang time
It's probably good if you are just someone who watches playthrus but not so much if you actually play the game. No matter how realistic and human it makes Yagami as a character, I don't think there is a single player who isn't glad to not have to go through the trouble of stocking med kits, especially with as many gun-happy enemies as there are in these games.
Akutsu was a great villain imo. I like the way he was introduced, I liked that the game just zooms onto his face, K.O.G is a great boss theme, his boss battles are great and has one of the best dynamic intros in the franchise. Yes he isn’t an overly complicated or a significant character in the overall story compared but he’s just a fun character to watch.
I think Soma is way stronger than Yagami. But Yagami won second because you're in a freezer room. Soma has some nose trouble (cold?) so maybe.... That's why he was in a weak spot
I have almost finished the game on legend difficulty the second time. I gotta say, i'm a huge fan to this spin-off, because Judgment introduced me for the first time to the Yakuza universe. Still, my opinion doesn't change after the second playthrough, that i loved this sequel a bit more.
I get why people tend to like Judgment more. It was a classic origin story, a reborn of a hero. Kuroiwa was a great villain with his fearless gunslinger attribute, and his actions was somewhat justifiable. But i felt like the story got some slumps in the middle chapters. But in the sequel, in my opinion, after the very slow burn and tablesetting, they keep the story exciting with the twist and turns. And after the second walkthrough i think it was a great move to put Public Security in the "game" that late in the story. Another strengthness of the story was the topic, and i value much that they keep it all the way to the end in the grey zone. They let the player decide the fact, that Kuwanas actions was justifiable or not. And thats the main reason why i consider a really great move to give us him as the final boss.
What is a great downside to me are some of the new game mechanics. Like the detective gadgets. I was really looking forward to use Ranpo in the main story, or the new devices, but sadly they passed this chance. The stealth mechanic could be great, but it felt waaaaaay off in this game. The parkour is better, but it also need some adjustments. On the plus side, i can't get bored with the combat, with the new snake style fighting is really amazing in Judgment. The amount of side content is also respectable, however there are some what gives you more headache than amusement.
To sum up, Lost Judgment almost a game of the year for me. (8/10) I hope that the future of the series isn't doomed, and also looking forward the dlc with Kaito.
Storywise. so far it's engrossing. but the first game's story was a lot more personal to me because of the dementia factor of its plot.
Yeah, I guess for those who have family suffering from it, the first one would strike more of a chord while those who have personally experienced bullying in one form or another would find LJ more hard-hitting emotionally. And for those who have personal connections to both, they must feel as though RGG is speaking to them.
I really love this game it's even better than the first one and that game was amazing too. This game is definitely a 9/10 for me and its probably creeping in my top 3 best game of the series including the yakuza games ofcourse. After finishing the game I'm now gonna play the substories see if they are good as well in this game❤🤗
Honestly if the roles between the final boss were reversed then, they have to repeat the same formula of killing more major or supportive characters like that bully who shot or Kuwana, to make us hate him more and be more of a deranged psycho to be a threat. As far as I can see, Soma is a henchman of the "government" who loves his job and gives him a "reason" to kill and dirt his hands whenever is necessary. He doesn't seem someone who kills needlessly or is too desperate to get a kill. Which I was surprised he didn't untie himself and took a hostage or as I said again, kill Kuwana in the process (even though, I'm wondering how they will pull that out). What I agree is he didn't look much of a threat in the 2nd encounter, even when Yagami and the boys took an entire army of gangsters, he could still have some stamina left to fight Soma which I was disappointed when he didn't get some stun moves like he did with that cut scene on his first encounter.
As for the Yagami and Kuwana clash of ideals I don't know what to say, aside that I pretty much condemn him for his acts as a teacher when it happened, which right now I can't say much since I miss a lot of scenes of Kuwana so I can't judge him or completely empathize with him until I play the game myself (or watch the whole streaming again lel).
Unlike Kuroiwa who was always looming over you menacingly throughout the story,
Soma felt like he was just there when the plot/scene needed a "bad guy", you barely feel his presence as a villain, he gets overshadowed by Kuwana as the main conflict with Yagami, and you can't even call kuwana a villain, antagonist, sure but villain, nah.
Get rid of the detective mechanics. Their so boring. The chase minigame is the only engaging thing, but you cant catch anyone early, only until their stamina runs out. The other minigames are great, the more the better. The story is up their with the first Judgement; It was fun to follow. Yagami and Jin really felt like rivals, though Sawa being the bridge that connects them is shaky. I felt their understanding of the law is their strongest connection.
Devilleon, will Judgement continue? I LOVE THIS GAME.
At least they put ONE whole Staminan Spark hidden away during the final stretch to find.
Amons are immune to the isekai truck
no he is not xD
You forgot that he and Kiryu reunited in Fist of the North Star world xD
Kiryu experienced his own isekai becoming Kenshirou xD
i away spoil the story for the Yakuza series
cuz i never know wtf going on lol
*im 4 chapters in and i already feel like ive played an entire game lol.*
I didn’t like sawa character at all, which was yagamis motavation.
I'd like to see you your opinion tier ranking minigame this franchise so far :)
I loved the game but hated that in premium adventure you can’t wear disguises why not give it to us that’s my favorite part of premium adventure it’s just there for one or two wears make no sense
How the sawa sensei footage recovered at the end ??
that being said. are you planning to get the kaito dlc?
To be Honest I hope this game was the last judgment game, I like judgment but if it ends maybe we can have a new game with Ukyo
@@lemotion3771 Tatsuya Ukyo the main protagonist from an other Yakuza Spin off, Kurohyo
Why does this have to end for Kurohyo to continue? If they plan on continuing Kurohyo, whether or not this one ends shouldn't be a factor. And if they have no plans to continue it, ending Judgment won't change anything. Why not wish for Kurohyo to be officially localized and released internationally so as to gain enough of a following to garner a sequel, instead of nonsensically wishing for the end of a perfectly good and already successful franchise that won't have an effect on the development of the game you like either way?
Personally love the story and the school stories. Have always been a fan of their stories. The school stories are so good that I just stop playing main for awhile before they gate the progress. And I agree, Snake is fun to play, even if Tiger is solid one-on-one style. Reminds me of playing Tanimura. Skateboard's slightly clumsy in terms of steering when I have to press L3 forward and move camera with R3 just to turn but enjoyable. Some of the school stories are so short though, and somehow the minigame can get horrendously difficult towards the end that you feel the first 3/4 is not helping much
fyi never noticed that the high-tier healing items didnt exist. But im guessing it has something to do with the abundance of food items they have in the game
BGM-wise, Yakuza 7 is probably still better. The only one sticking in my mind from Lost Judgment is Soma's fight BGM because it feels like a horror movie
Kuwana did nothing wrong
so basically soma lacked menace.
I think Lost Judgment is a mixed bag for me. The story was great once it gets going. Kuwana is one of the best characters introduced into the series. The changes to the combat were needed and greatly appreciated. However, the game takes forever to actually start getting to place where it is interesting. The beginning with the bullying case at the school is excruciatingly corny and takes too long to get to the point. The game constantly beats you over the head with its message even more than Yakuza 5. Sawa's death was tragic, but the game made me hate her so much that I had a hard time feeling too bad for her. The school stories were interesting, but I felt like they overstayed their welcome. I also figured out who "The Professor" was less than halfway into them. The substories are largely forgettable. Also, this is the game which has Robotics Club, which automatically docks at least 3 points off my ranking of this game. Overall, if I had to give it a point ranking, I would say that it is a 6/10 for me. Not one of the worst games in the RGG universe, but not one of the more stand out entries either.