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Lost Judgment - Review Thread

SkylineRKR

Member
I agree with lots of your points, but I still think LJ is better than the previous game. I think the story is more engaging. The first one had a great story, for the first half anyway, but fell apart and there were too many parties involved. In LJ, I do feel the pacing is higher. By chapter 4 you have a general idea of where its going. But I put it on hold about halfway through. I think, contrary to my initial feelings, the school is awesome. Currently I'm spending all my time on that. The dance club grinding does go on for too long, but once you hit those social stats you rapidly open up the other clubs. So far I dislike the Robotics one, but the rest has been fun to do.

The gameplay is an improvement over the first, disarming enemies is good. But it does feel clunky still. I like the parkour they added, I didn't expect it to be like Creed or Spidey but it does add some verticality though its very limited. The tailing is slightly better as you can just hold triangle if you're being suspected and you can hide anywhere. Chase sequences are worse. You just have to deplete your opponents health by keeping it going and you quickly find you're just running laps without change. Also the FP mode sucks, you can't run in it. And indeed you have to select gadgets each time but again they seem to be largely for side missions. This struck me as odd in the 1st game, where you use the drone like twice in the story. It seems to be the case here.

As for some issues I have with it. Well I played Like a Dragon last fall, and I noticed I like the turn based combat more than I realized. Its pretty chill and you were always walking around with a full party including banter. Judgment has okay combat, but its getting stale. Bosses still super armor and block a lot, though you can reversal their supers now. Its not always that fun to play, its difficult selecting targets, and the slow getups become a chore especially when done repeatedly. I'd say both random battles take about the same time, eventually you would one shot goons in LaD anyway but you had the introduction and winning screens slowing the pace. The beat em up gameplay needs an overhaul. It needs to flow better, with easier crowd control, less turtling and simply more responsive.

Another issue is that Lost Judgment doesn't add any new playgrounds aside from the school (which is largely your side missions base). We know the Yokohama map from Like a Dragon, where it was new and unexplored in typical RPG fashion. LJ is treading mostly familliar ground.

When Judgment came out it shot up to be my fave Yakuza game along with 6 and 0. Lost Judgment just feels a bit more of a rehash after Like a Dragon. I'm ok with how its being handled though, I think I have my beat em up fill here. Its fine to go back to turn based in 8.
 
Just finish the game, overall i love it. Ending is a bit weak but i wonder if the dlc will address that. Can we blame
Daigo
again for this mess. I know he meant well but the creation of
RF
happen because both
Tojo and Omi
disbanded in LAD.
Tojo and Omi disband because they don't want to be used by police but police end up creating their own essentialy black ops thugs.
I wonder what happen to RK at the end anyway as it one thing they didn;t address.
 

nowhat

Member
I agree with lots of your points, but I still think LJ is better than the previous game. I think the story is more engaging. The first one had a great story, for the first half anyway, but fell apart and there were too many parties involved. In LJ, I do feel the pacing is higher. By chapter 4 you have a general idea of where its going.
Agreed that the plot gets too convoluted in the first game. I guess the reason I prefer it plotwise is twofold: first, it feels more personal, you get to know the main cast and their motivations quite well. Obviously no such thing is required in a sequel, but I would have liked to see some character growth, changes in relationships, something. Also the antagonists are quite one-dimensional, but this is a common complaint in pretty much any media. The other thing is that while the first game went overboard with the plot twists, here it seems more like once something is discovered, it's true and remains so. It's a detective story after all, would have liked a bit more of "whodunnit". But all of this is of course very subjective.

Agreed that the turn-based combat was good in LaD, with a small asterisk. I'm not a fan of difficulty spikes, and towards the end (before some completely nonsensical cameos by you-know-who-three) there is a pretty steep one. Sure, there's that combat area you can grind, and it really showers you with XP so by the time you clear it you're good to go. Still not a fan that it practically is mandatory, hopefully no such thing in 8.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Agreed that the plot gets too convoluted in the first game. I guess the reason I prefer it plotwise is twofold: first, it feels more personal, you get to know the main cast and their motivations quite well. Obviously no such thing is required in a sequel, but I would have liked to see some character growth, changes in relationships, something. Also the antagonists are quite one-dimensional, but this is a common complaint in pretty much any media. The other thing is that while the first game went overboard with the plot twists, here it seems more like once something is discovered, it's true and remains so. It's a detective story after all, would have liked a bit more of "whodunnit". But all of this is of course very subjective.

Agreed that the turn-based combat was good in LaD, with a small asterisk. I'm not a fan of difficulty spikes, and towards the end (before some completely nonsensical cameos by you-know-who-three) there is a pretty steep one. Sure, there's that combat area you can grind, and it really showers you with XP so by the time you clear it you're good to go. Still not a fan that it practically is mandatory, hopefully no such thing in 8.

Yep, LaD had an insane spike. I did quite a bit of stuff and was 10 levels below them.

But you could fight one or 2 of those special enemies underground and you'd be set. I think I was about 2 levels below the final boss and it was too easy. I think 5 levels lower would've been okay still. Leveling up different jobs is also a way to make it easier, but the game never forces you to do it earlier on. Perhaps 8 will even things out, I think it was a good first try at turn based though.
 

Nankatsu

Gold Member
I just finished the main story (but still have lots of side content to clear, will probably do a more complete run at a later date). As there is no OT, I'll post my ramblings about the game here instead. "Reviewed" on PS5. And I will be calling (Lost) Judgment Yakuza games because, let's be real, they are in all but name. "First game"/"original" refers to Judgement.
it.

 
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drganon

Member
Since I had to shit can my vacation plans and cant go anywhere now, I went ahead and bought my copy to give me something to do.
 
Can I buy the PS4 version and upgrade to PS5 version for free?
Another bonus is that Lost Judgment will support Xbox Smart Delivery, as well as include a free upgrade for PlayStation 4 owners who want to move up to a PlayStation 5 version. This is a welcome surprise as the first Judgment game on PS4 did not allow owners to upgrade to a PS5 version for free.

 
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jonnyp

Member
Another bonus is that Lost Judgment will support Xbox Smart Delivery, as well as include a free upgrade for PlayStation 4 owners who want to move up to a PlayStation 5 version. This is a welcome surprise as the first Judgment game on PS4 did not allow owners to upgrade to a PS5 version for free.


Cheers amigo
 

Senhua

Member
Finished the main story and some high school side quest and I think the predecessor is better.
LJ main story is ok but I find too serious and boring? compared to the predecessor especially after the high school segment.

While the predecessor managed to find a balance between fun and serious for the entire length of the main story, LG after high school segment feel too bland/serious/boring?

7/10 mainly because of the high school segment and side quest, outside of that I rather to give this game 5/10.
 

Clocecko

Banned
I've been bouncing in and out of Yakuza games for a while and man did I dislike the first Judgement game. I loved the Yakuza style and the crazy side missions as I always do, but the main character was dreadfully boring. It feels like his personality doesn't exist and just reacts to the absurdity around him, which could be said for Kiryu, but that makes Kiryu loveable as a character where-as this guy (who I can't remember his name even) feel very dull (maybe that changes in this Lost Judgment as I'm only a few chapters in. Ichiban on the other hand, I instantly enjoyed his story and how he interacted with his friends and everyone around with incredible positivity.

I can't wait to get more invested in Lost Judgement. Seeing the side missions looks like a blast, but the detective stuff is absolutely dull and 'investigating' scenes doesn't feel engaging at all. I just want to get them over with as soon as you hear him start to make noises.

Also, putting me in the same city as Yakuza 7 and not running into any Yakuza characters is kind of crazy. But it is what it is. I'm sure I'll love everything about it - even it's tedious boredom (as it's more entertaining than most games out there still). But I'll never search for those damn cats in either game. Absolutely not.
 
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