Gonna start Judgement today. I really liked Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 so I'm excited to walk around Seamless HD Kamurocho again.
Up to chapter 4 now. Admittedly when I'd heard that Judgment was going to retain the old beat-em-up style of the series while RGG7 and onward would be turn-based RPGs, I was a little apprehensive. But having played RGG7 to 100% and now this much of Judgment, I'm pretty pleased with the decision.
I wasn't sure if I would like Yagami, but I think him being more of a gray character than I anticipated eased me up to him. Tanimura was my favorite character in RGG4 and thought it was a huge shame we never saw him again. Yagami feels like a more developed version of Tanimura, but with a bit more bite. Kaito is great too.
The additions to the roaming are nice, all of the detective stuff you have to do as Yagami. It makes the story bits feel a bit more full bodied compared to RGG 6 and Kiwami 2, even if none of them are particularly in-depth.
Admittedly Judgment isn't hooking me super hard and I think this would probably not be the best game to introduce a newcomer to RGG with, but the weakest RGG game is still better than most games out there.
Remember: tiger drop negates any damage.
It is still so satisfying to take down a boss using mostly Tiger Drops.
Also I'm really into the mystery they're telling. They've kept the twists and turns surprising but grounded, nothing has really felt like an ass-pull but they're satisfying twists because they continue to use established puzzle pieces in interesting ways.
As the story goes on I'm really into how they wrote Yagami too. He wears his heart on his sleeve in a realistic way. He's not baring his soul to whoever will listen, but it's clear he's troubled from The Big Mistake he thinks he made. The argument he has with Genda in Chapter 9 over what an attorney is "supposed" to do vs. what they actually do was fantastic.
I finished the main story last night and now all that's left to do is the final substory. If you're familiar with the series you can probably guess what the last substory is.
I was really impressed with the game. I know I mentioned the beginning of the game didn't hook me too hard but by the midpoint I was engrossed. I feel like they handled the introduction of a totally new cast really well, giving you just enough context to piece together how everyone knows each other in a believable way, and then used that to organically develop their relationships throughout the story. A late game reveal that two of the major characters were gay was also a pleasant surprise. Not everyone had especially stunning character growth, like Yagami and Sugiura and Hamura, but enough of them were compelling from the get go, like Kaito and Higashi and Kuroiwa.
The twists that kept coming relating to the case that ruined Yagami's career were so interesting and believable, and the way that one case tied the other cases together was better than any legal drama I've watched on TV. The game also did the RGG series' usual thing on gray morality in a new way. What if you were developing a life-changing Alzheimer's medication that could change the world, ridding it of a degenerative cognitive disease that affects millions? Would the sacrifices be worth it to see it to fruition? Even if you had to kill people and ruin lives? The cast's answers to that question ranged from "No, never", "Yes, unfortunately", and "Yes, and it's justified". This clashed in a great way with the running thematic question of "Is a lawyer's job to find the truth or is a lawyer's job to get the verdict regardless of the truth", especially by the end.
Judgment was really great. I'm glad I waited until I was able to play it myself rather than look up the cutscenes on Youtube like I'd planned when it was a console exclusive.