Lost Judgment (Judgment sequel)

[Hero-of-Time]

The official tweets have been leading up to a showing tomorrow but it appears someone in charge of PSN has pushed the button early. Looks like it’s arriving on both PS4 and PS5.

[Julius]

Considering how they started teasing it a couple of weeks ago, I'm kind of surprised it took until the day before the announcement for something to sneak through, just given how many leaks there are these days. Still sucks that it leaked at all, but I'll take a genuine mistake by a store like this over some journalist trying to steal their thunder. 

I've got to play the first Judgment, so I'll see when this lands, but no doubt I'll end up playing it at some point. I would assume based on their past announcement to launch windows that this would be coming late 2021 or early 2022?

And for the love of all that is good, RGG, I love what I've experienced of your games and want to support you on day 1, but the insistence of launching with steelbooks is killing me. I'm still waiting for the standard PS4 version of Yakuza 7  

[Hero-of-Time]

I don’t think Judgment launched with a steelbook. I think we are safe.....hopefully. 

[Mandalore]

In many ways the original Judgement was the best Yakuza, looking forward to a sequel. Hopefully Kaito returns too, it won't be quite the same if he's not the sidekick anymore.

[Julius]

So according to this screen grab, it looks like there will be a season pass? 

Question is, is that going to be additional story content, or will it be like DLC in previous games aimed at a mini-game, like the Clan Creator Cards in Yakuza 6?

I'd guess it's something along the lines of the former, I think a detective story just hands itself to being updated with more story content in a way which wouldn't necessarily impact the game in a major way. RGG have shown that they can pump great content out at a nice clip (now that I think about, surely they have to be one of the best managed teams in the industry?), so I'd always be down to supporting them through a season pass.

I also wonder if this hints at either needing to stagger content somewhat as a result of COVID impacting development (maybe something originally planned as part of the base game was moved over to a season pass?), or if this is a way of elongating this game's presence to bide time for their next project?

Or maybe they just realised they have earned a seriously loyal audience (case in point: how many of us here have Judgment on our shelves off the strength of our experience with Yakuza but have yet to play it?) and want to milk it a bit more  considering just how quickly these games go down in price and what great value they would be even at full price, I wouldn't blame them! 

But it could also just be a weird translation  looking forward to finding out what the deal is, either way! 

[Mandalore]

Season passes usually put me off buying games on day 1. I guess I've still got a PS5 and Yakuza 7 to buy in the meantime.

[Julius]

Launching worldwide on 24th September 2021 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. 

Stream was a good watch, worth checking out in my opinion:

Instantly the best-looking school in a video game? And so, so close to being one of the greats... 

Also, in this interview with IGN, Nagoshi confirms that Yakuza will remain turn-based and Judgment will continue down the action route. 

Quote

The Yakuza series has been transformed into a turn-based RPG. On the other hand, over the year, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has accumulated resources and know-how of making flashy and exhilarating action games that are effortless to enjoy. We decided that we should let our signature action gameplay live on through Lost Judgement.

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

The battle system in Yakuza LaD was fantastic and so I’m happy they are sticking with turn based going forward. I’m also happy to hear that the series will now be getting released at the same time worldwide. 

Fighting high schoolers?

 

[Happenstance]

Sticking with turn based....guess that might be it for me and this series then  

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Yakuza will remain turn-based

[Julius]

Season pass details courtesy of The Tojo Dojo's translation of the Japanese PSN details for the game:

Quote

Detective Life Fun Pack (Planned to be released simultaneously with the main game)
• This DLC pack will help you enjoy the main story and side content to the fullest.
School Stories Fun Pack
• This DLC pack provides additional content so you can thoroughly indulge in all that “School Stories” has to offer.
Additional Story
• Fully packed additional story

Day 1 DLC and substory DLC isn't great, to be honest, though the additional story stuff has me the most intrigued. I had wondered if they might have some substories as part of the DLC, but didn't want to put that out there, and well...I think that part sucks, to be honest. Connecting over substories is such a huge part of the conversation around these games I feel, and locking some behind a season pass fragments a pretty dedicated audience. 

Guess I might end up waiting until a complete edition down the road 

[Mandalore]

The trailer looks great, good to see so many returning characters and a new location. It's a bit weird watching it with English voice actors after playing the original with Japanese voice acting.

[Hero-of-Time]

Opening video has arrived.
 

 

[Julius]

Trailer from State of Play:

Looking real good! 

[Happenstance]

 

[Mandalore]

That explains why the original still isn't on PC. Such a weird disagreement, a shame if  the series gets cancelled.

[Julius]

In case you needed to be more hyped:

 

[Dcubed]

Not sure where else to post this, but...

Looks like Lost Judgment may well be Nagoshi's final game within SEGA!

[Julius]

Booted this up yesterday after a combination of being in a bit of a gaming rut and some personal things have been going on meaning it's absolutely the best time to pull out an RGG game, and this was next up for me. 

Less than two hours in but some fast and loose thoughts:

• RGG actually takes onboard feedback between games, and I LOVE it. After seeing Infinite Wealth had directions and the like attached to certain moves, turns out Judgment revamped the tailing missions: gone are the grating alarm that rings immediately after the target leaves your line of sight when the countdown begins and the set destinations for blending in, and in comes some music that's a bit more frantic and just holding down Triangle to start playing with your phone or inspecting the floor. One of my biggest complaints with the first game pretty much dealt with - the only aspect of which was the number of tailing missions, and I guess I'll see if and how that's been dealt with as the game goes on. 

• Judgment and Lost Judgment easily have two of the darkest openings of RGG games, and LJ takes my pick for top spot. If you're particularly squeamish the inciting incident will leave you feeling a bit faint. Respect them for it. 

• just out of the gates immediately setting the tone that is the balance of humour and tragedy. 

• they've brought it more into other games too but MY GOODNESS the production values are insane. Looks great, there's a part early on where you're seeing security cam footage with blurred faces in a news bulleting, it switches to POV handheld smartphone camera, etc., it's excellent. 

• the inciting incident is right up my alley, as I'm sure it would be for any RGG fan. It's delivered in such a dramatic way just...perfection. 

• Snake Style as the new fighting style is pretty great! It's about flowing in combat and then delivering rapid and deliberate strikes to incite fear into opponents. Very Karate Kid illegal moves sort of thing. 

• the skateboard, I can already tell, is going to be a SUPER welcome addition. 

• I'm very curious to see if the game delivers on its early promise to have an informative take on bullying. It seems like it might go that way based on the early parts of the game and the debrief of what I assume is going to be the main case, with some really interesting facts thrown out. Really hope it continues to go this way, the first game had a surprising focus on a certain illness and bundling a lot of informative detail into it's story about said illness, so would love to see the same for bullying. 

• there's something weird going on with the audio here where skipping a line of dialogue causes an overlap in some cases, when in other RGG games the dialogue would neatly cut off before the next line started. Could see that getting annoying. 

• totally forgot about the anime-style opening for the game  I know it's only a few posts back in the thread but I'm going to post it again anyways because I loved it:

After Judgment I know that these particular games place more emphasis on being soaps starting a detective vs actual detective stories, which suits RGG's sensibilities to a tee, and so I'm really in the mood for this now. 

Can't wait to beat up some school kids 

Edited April 2 by Julius