![]() If anything, this is a franchise that has transcended its need for rote skirmishes with roving bands of baddies. And for over a decade it hasn’t needed to. Trust me, I’ve had friends try and get me to appreciate “the finer points” for years-I know the systems are present, but it just doesn’t all hang together as well as a great brawler should. People who go really deep into the combos, stance dancing their way to mastery of blocks, parries, and side steps. They take the skill trees all the way, and go looking for random encounters just for the chance to flex. I know there are people who really love combat in Yakuza games. And while this was the most egregious moment, the high rate of random encounters makes both Final Fantasy and Wizardry look gentle. One fight would end only for another to begin moments later. Or we’d be looking at the peek of panties (yeah, it’s an RGG Studio game, you’re going to deal with a panty thief) from his back pants pocket when the shouting of rambunctious school students would prompt me to break away from being a detective and adopt the Crane stance to kick their asses. Yagami would be deep in thought staring at an air conditioner duct when the punches started landing out of nowhere. For some reason roving mobs of bar drunkards and shitty students just couldn’t stop walking down this particular street. I was interrupted nine times during this one quest. And they never stop.Īt one point I was in the middle of a quest that asked me to observe some apartment buildings while also bouncing between talking to two characters. Which is where the big glaring flaw of Lost Judgment comes in, the decision to retain Yakuza’s random brawling and keep a connection to the action system its parent franchise let go of. I’m in the neighborhood of 37 hours with plenty of side content still on the table. Adding in the side cases, the Persona-like school club missions, and the various maximalist minigames like Drone Racing and the legit Motorcycle Gang mean this can be an extremely long experience. Like the game before it, Lost Judgment is a huge narrative with a long fuse. Yagami might not be the next Kosuke Kindaichi, but he’s a charming sleuth you’ll want to guide along through this latest mystery. Did you like the narrative in Judgment? Odds are you’ll love this one too. From a simple phone call, an open-and-shut investigation into school bullying that scrambles into an ex-cop turned subway groper announces mid-sentencing knowledge of a recent and yet unannounced murder. The sequel to Judgment, Lost Judgment once again proves a master of the slow burn of mystery that spirals out in a torturously circuitous gyre. And Ryu Ga Gotoku weaves all this in with some compelling gameplay that spans two thriving cities. But if you can stack the deck with fully-realized supporting characters and a clever and often brutal rogues gallery? Then you’ve got magic on tap. Honestly, all you need is a good enough hook, an endearing main character, and a solid sense of aesthetics and I’ll give you a chance. And he just can’t turn down a job, at least it’s steady work. Yagami is a private investigator in a world where corruption spreads like mycelium. And what should be simple cases can’t stop from threatening to explode. He just has that one problem: People in his orbit keep dying. He keeps fit, knows kung fu, and is tireless in his principled idealism. Yagami even has a good relationship with his previous employer/foster father Ryuzo Genda. Just now 35, and still running his own seemingly successful enough detective agency with his good friend and ex-yakuza lieutenant Masaharu Kaito. He’s still a handsome, lean, and vigorous lad. In another life he’d have stayed a lawyer, and his face wouldn’t be so drawn and creased. He can’t go five minutes without stumbling into a sprawling network of crime and intrigue. Like all great literary detectives, Takayuki Yagami has a problem. ![]()
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