TL:DR:
I didn't like Judgement, mainly because the main character Yagami is boring as a person and the fighting styles feel slow compared to Kiryus. 4/10.
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The story is best enjoyed whilst blind drunk.
A legendary dragon recommended this game series for me, so i bought it and have learned to love it. This was my 10 Yakuza game so far. The premise of a private investigator is interesting, but it was poorly implemented.
First the things i like in Judgement. I like the new fresh perspective. I liked the extracts, but i felt they didn't really fit Yagami as a character and could have been taken even further. Kamurocho looks always beautiful. Drone racing was interesting. Paradise VR was interesting take on the Coliseum minigame. The fighting styles and wall jumping felt fresh. The story (the ending) and the characters (other than Yagami) felt really interesting. The end boss was good, but kind of one dimensional. I learned and fell in love with Koi-Koi minigame in this Yakuza game entry. I really like the very short moment where you switch character. It really put's the Yakuza games world in another perspective, when you experience it as a woman. Yakuza 5 did it with Haruka, but this feels more more visceral. Heat build up is fast, but there is a serious lack of different heat actions. I do like how meta the game is, in the sense the pause menu is your phone and the map is an app on the phone. Makes the world feel more realistic. Other than that, the graphics are ok? I don't know, i'm having trouble thinking of anything positive for this game.
But then the many negatives. I have been pulled towards all of the Yakuza games, but this one just keeps letting me down for some reason. I really don't care about the detective stuff, the tailing or the investigation. It must be just me, but i have had to resort to guides just to get trough the story bits just to get trough, even when i have cleared all of the Yakuza games from 0 to 7 on legendary. It's not always apparent what you have to do in the main missions. The private investigating either consists of looking around in first person, tailing mini game or chasing mini game. All are used too often. There could have been more deducting or reasoning from the clues you find in the stories.
As a character, Yagami feels incredibly boring. He literally has NO weaknesses. He doesn't feel like a believable human. The only negative aspects i could think of are that he smokes, but so does almost literally every other main character. He quit being a lawyer because he felt quilty. He cares for his friends more than himself, but again, so does Kiryu. Yagami also doesn't really show any other emotion than anger or permanent boredom on his face.
The main story is so slow and all of the filler content gets really tiring after the first couple of chapters. I didn't mind the chase missions in the past Yakuza games, but there are way too many in this game. It feels even worse during the new game plus when you skip majority of cut scenes.
Yagami feels way too weak compared to Kiryu or the other main characters, even when fully upgraded. His fighting style also requires a lot to get used to. I also don't know why they bothered to even give Yagami a second fightins style in crane sense it's so weak compared to tiger. There really isn't a proper reason to even use crane. Kaito on the other hand really feels like a solid character through and through, all the way from his introduction.
There is no karaoke. The long battles feel boring. Keihin gang just sucks. They have no benefit nor do they bring any extra enjoyment to the game. When i finished their story mission, i thought i would be rid of them, but i sh*t you not, Kim calls me just after the cutscene pleading for help yet again. I cannot even get rid of them, sense there are no items to disable agro or enemy spawning. You just have to run around the map or duck into shops or buildings to despawn them.
New game plus on legend difficulty was poorly balanced and it really shows just how much pointless filler is in the game to pad it out. The drops the main plot at multiple points of the game and only gets interesting by the end of it.
On the whole, Judgement was a disappointment compared to what the internet was praising it to be.
Been gaming for +30 years, this is one the best videogame stories ever made.
Yes, the pacing it's kinda over the place (It's a Yakuza game, come on!)
Yes, the tailing missions are the worst.
Yes, it's a slow start (again, Yakuza game!)
But it's so worth it, it's like playing a high budget HBO drama, bonus points if you liked Better Call Saul.
10/10
Easily on par with Y0 as the best Yakuza game.
great story, fine combat, mediocre gameplay mechanics, keihin gang threat level sucks
highly recommend
