Lost judgment substories
I mentioned the bullying and student suicide only in passing before, but it’s actually a core theme at the heart of the narrative. One thing that Ryu Ga Gotoku is really good at is crafting strong and likeable protagonists that you really want to get behind, and Yagami is the emotional anchor that keeps the entire plot in focus, even when some of it gets a touch too silly for its own good.
All the supporting cast in Yagami’s entourage have an integral role to play, and I loved the fact that the game completely eschews any idea of the lone wolf hard-boiled detective trope in favour of a protagonist who relishes the opportunity to collaborate and isn’t too proud to lean on friends and rely on the good people who are drawn to him. Yagami is not alone as he follows the crooked path in a search for truth and justice, joined by his long-time ex-Yakuza friend Kaito and old buddies Sugiura and Tsukumo, who have set up their very own detective agency in Ijincho. The evidence of him getting his grope on, including footage from about eight million security cameras and smartphones, seems pretty ironclad, so how is it he has intimate knowledge of a murder committed at the exact same time as the alleged groping, the sort of knowledge that only the killer would possess? Is he a quantum tunnelling murdering/groping hybrid that can be in two different places at the same time, or is there something more sinister afoot?įrom train groping to school bullying, from student suicide to shadowy conspiracies, Lost Judgment’s story moves at an absolutely wild pace, featuring a plot with more twists and turns than an advanced origami book. Yagami is called on by some old friends from the Genda law firm to investigate the simultaneous involvement of a cop in both a train groping incident (apparently this is a common occurrence?) and the violent murder of a local student teacher. In Lost Judgment you’ll play primarily as Yagami, a lawyer turned detective who runs the Yagami Detective Agency in Kamurocho. Couple this with gameplay that gives you a million and one ways to punch and kick people in every part of their anatomy and you’ve got a recipe for a winner. But if anyone’s going to be bearing torches, you’d definitely want it to be this game, because Lost Judgment is a brilliant title with the same melodramatic bravado we’ve seen in other Yakuza games, but with a serious and thoughtful streak anchored by a thoroughly likeable protagonist.
#Lost judgment substories series
Enter Lost Judgment, a continuation of a spinoff series destined to become the torch bearer for the brawler gameplay the series is traditionally known for, after Ryu Ga Gotoku has declared the mainline Yakuza games are sticking to their new turn-based direction for now. That common thread of well written characters, interesting twisty storylines and endearing weirdness is present in all of the Yakuza-flavoured titles I’ve played, but in my opinion the turn-based stylings of Like a Dragon trump the brawler gameplay I’ve experienced so far by a country mile. As a result, I’m in two minds about the series. After that, I promised myself I’d go back to where the series began, and true to my word I have slowly made my way through Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. My first brush with the Yakuzaverse was Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which quickly became my favourite experience of 2020.