Lost Judgment / YMMV

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Base Game

Adorkable:
- Tsukumo, as always. Particularly when he makes a big deal out of resellers (or rather, scalpers), which one can't help but resonate with given the circumstances of the 8th and 9th console generations.
- Higashi of all people has a particular moment in Chapter 6 after he saves Saori, namely his reaction to seeing her so dolled up.
- Amasawa gets some moments, too, what with her being an Ascended Fangirl of Film Noir that's working with an actual Hardboiled Detective.
Anvilicious: The game frequently goes into how horrible bullying is and how anyone who witnesses it should do their part to prevent it. It also pulls no punches on how the belief of School Bullying Is Harmless is not true as the two characters who outright believed this at first had it proven utterly wrong in the most tragic ways possible and go on to become the main antagonists of the game. These are extremely relevant topics today, especially in the game's home country of Japan where suicides due to bullying is an ongoing endemic issue.
Applicability:
- The game makes the message that bullying anyone, regardless of whether it's in school or at work, is unacceptable. If someone is in a position to intervene and prevent the situation from getting worse, then he or she should do so.
- On a more humorous note, one can't help but feel Tsukumo's pain about having bought a limited edition copy of a game at three times its original price.^note Seems like RGG Studio also doesn't think too highly of scalpers, either. Most especially with how the 9th console generation turned out at launch.
- Changes in government are hard because everyone has their idea of what is good for the country; the old guard is too bound by constraints and maintaining the status quo while they actively roadblock and bully the new guard because they have no constraints and want change.
Award Snub: While Yakuza: Like a Dragon was at least nominated for Best RPG by The Video Game Awards in 2020, this game, comparatively, didn't receive a single nomination for any category. Not even Best Score despite RGG Studio bringing their A-game for this game's soundtrack (which you can check out below in Awesome Music along with the rest of the franchise's soundtrack)!
Awesome Music: Here it is.
Badass Decay:
- Hoshino is an interesting case. Through Character Development in the first game, he goes from a rookie lawyer to someone who can handle an extremely important case on his own in the finale. By the sequel, this is mostly ignored in favor of him being a Butt-Monkey Dogged Nice Guy to Saori. Although, if anything to go by both of their in-game bios in the Help section of the menus, it might be more of a case of Henpecked Husband than anything.
- The Keihin Four. Due to this game's removal of the Mortal Wounds system (and the addition of the Mortal Reversal and the Snake style), they're nowhere near as threatening, frequent, or annoying as they once were, now being as easily dealt with as any standard mook in the game. Of the four, though, Koga gets it the worst. Whereas he was the most formidable and dangerous of the Keihin Four even when you fought him alone, here he's little more than a Flunky Boss who hardly even uses his guns and his AI is comparatively less smart than in the first game. Also counts as an Anti-Climax Boss considering how facing him again is your reward for completing the School Stories, including the Robotics Club and Made In Heaven stories (see That One Sidequest below). Hell, his Leitmotif from the first game doesn't even return, either - only the standard battle theme plays during Yagami's final faceoff with him.
Best Boss Ever:
- Tesso's first boss fight. A beautiful dynamic intro, fun setting with plenty of furniture to wail on him with, a very unique and interesting moveset, and to top it all off, a really cool Quick Time Event that'll catch you off-guard on your first playthrough (especially if you were used to the QTEs of the previous entries). Oh, yeah. And "Liumang's Chant" slaps, too.
- If you thought the Final Boss in the first game was amazing, then you haven't seen anything yet. Yu Kitakata, alias Jin Kuwana, is everything you can ever ask for in an awesome final boss - amazing music (being "Unwavering Belief"), wonderful choreography (especially that Dynamic Intro), Both Sides Have a Point, a real Tearjerker of a circumstance, a challenging final opponent… basically, take everything that worked with Kuroiwa and go all. The. Way.
Best Level Ever:
- Pretty much all of Chapter 7. It starts off with a really fun fight against Akutsu and his boys, and then it quickly devolves into Yagami juggling between getting Kuwana safely out of dodge from RK's wrath as well as Yagami trying to get to Sawa before RK do (all while your ears are treated to the amazing track that is "Fog"). As if that wasn't enough, the chapter is capped off by an epic fight with Akutsu (who almost kills Yagami and fights him with a chainsaw) only to end in a massive gut-punch in the form of Sawa's death.
- The entire goddamn final Long Battle. All of it. It's Yagami Detective Agency/Yokohama 99 up against insurmountable odds as they face a massive army of RK goons hell-bent on stopping them in their tracks and seeing Kuwana dead.
Breather Level: While some of the School Stories are fairly arduous in their length, there are a few that can be relatively easy and quick to beat.
- The Casino School Story might seem like a Luck-Based Mission at first since Yagami needs to beat Hayakawa at Poker, but in reality, this is easily mitigated by heading down to Onodera's Wares in the Commercial District (the same homeless camp that Ichiban starts in during Like a Dragon) and picking up a Royal Joker Card for 30,000 SP. Once you have that, just start the game as normal, then hit Triangle/Y at the beginning to use the said card, and you win. Easy peasy.
- The eSports Club might look like the opposite if you're bad at or have never played a game of Virtua Fighter in your life, but in actuality, the AI for your opponents is very easy to exploit. Pick Vanessa, go into her Offensive Stance (P+K+G) at the start of the round, and spam her Long Barrel Blow (f,f+P). The AI will have zero counters to this and you can just win any fight handily. Jean is also not a bad pick, either, as abusing his Charged Attacks (e.g., P,P,Hold P or P,K,Hold P) also proves to be very effective against the AI, too.
- Girl's Bite not only amounts to just talking to all of the girls and picking the right responses (which you can just pause the game and look at the correct sentence fillers), but you also only need to get two of the three conversations right for each girls' affinity meter to increase. There's also the matter of dealing with a few extra Side Cases and maxing out Yagami's Alcohol Meter so that he can stay longer, but beyond that, this one shouldn't be too much trouble even without a guide. If and when you do max out your drunkenness, one quick street fight mixed with EX Drunken Fist will sober you in 30 seconds, allowing you to dive right back in.
Catharsis Factor:
- After being a pain in the ass to deal with in the first game, Deadly Attacks not only no longer reduce your maximum health as mentioned above, but you can also parry them at the right time, allowing you to both tank a boss' health in a matter of seconds and use their own attack against them!
- If you've been a victim of and/or have experienced bullying firsthand, then boy, oh boy does this game have the right dose of catharsis for you. While it's usually morally wrong for an adult to beat up a teenager, beating up teenagers that do nothing but cause trouble for their peers and to anyone unfortunate enough around them makes this less of an issue and more of a healthy way to let off some steam. Kaito himself says it the best -
  Kaito: Fine, but let me tell you [Chairman Okuda] one thing. Next time I see your students harassing someone, it's gonna be lights out. The kiddie gloves are off.
- In a franchise where characters act stupidly around villains with guns and end up getting shot or killed, seeing Sugiura successfully knock away all the guns aimed at the characters without there being any casualties is a breath of fresh air.
- After years of being forced to dance around enemies with guns and swords as any other Yakuza protagonist (as the only way Kiryu could deal with weapons was through Heat Actions), gleefully laugh and cheer in delight as you disarm any gun-toting enemy of their weapon with the Snake style's grab. Seriously, it's that satisfying and that easy.
- A minor example, with this game addressing the overzealous fan issue in the idol industry, which Yakuza 5 does not. It can be satisfying, then, that after an idol in a side case (who was nearly attacked due to a crazed fan) forgives an obsessed fan, Yagami immediately reads the guy the riot act, telling him to quit his job, stay far away and that he will not get a second chance. He even cuts the fan off when he muses about having family in the countryside to essentially scream in his face that his patience is thin and he needs to leave now.
- While it’s portrayed as villainous, more than a few players probably have some amount of catharsis at Kuwana’s actions after seeing how irredeemable and selfish the bullies he targeted were. Not a single one of them showed any sympathetic traits and their deaths can be satisfying to anyone who lived with bullies who got away with their actions.
- Getting to pulverize Soma's ass at the end of the game, and the diatribe delivered to him by Yagami feels incredible, seeing that he's the cause of Sawa's death.
Continuity Lockout: While The main story doesn't require any prior knowledge that you might need from the first game (aside from maybe Reiko's exposition about the Ministry of Health's current situation), the Side Content is another story. There are tons of callbacks and references to many of the Side Cases in the previous game (the majority of which involving the Keihin Gang), and several of Yagami's friends make a return (such as Tamago/Mr. Try and Hit Me, Suzaki, Tashiro, and even Kim-san). One of Yagami's potential girlfriends from the previous game - Tsukino - also returns here (albeit as DLC).
Crosses the Line Twice:
- The very fact that Yagami and Kaito, two fully grown men,^note That, mind you, are approaching middle age - Yagami especially since he's 38 as of 2021. curb-stomp some high school students is - especially in a Like a Dragon spin-off - inherently this. Even though Yagami came up with the Snake style for less-than-lethal ways of dealing with opponents (and Yagami himself isn't too thrilled about having to beat on some kids out of self-defense), nothing's stopping you from switching over to Tiger or Crane and simply going ham on these brats' asses. Then again, considering what kind of high school students you'll be dealing with, and the fact that Yagami and Kaito are fighting back in an act of self-defense since the bullies are always the ones that attack first, they absolutely deserve it.
  - Even Snake Style's less-than-lethal nature itself gets dubious, especially when it comes to EX Actions that aren't EX Surrender. You still gain access to the usual face stomp EX Action that is available to all 3 styles and also discover its Style-exclusive wall-based EX Action that involves you flipping and pinning the poor sap to a wall and proceed to wail on him like he's an upside-down Wing Chun training dummy, ending off with a solid low kick to the head. You might have avoided using Tiger and Crane, but Snake can still ruin the kids' day just as hard, if not moreso.
  - If you want to laugh your ass off even more as you're beating on some rotten teenagers, you can't go wrong with the Boxer style. Which, unlike most of Yagami's other fighting styles, is a pretty hilarious case of Surprisingly Realistic Outcome on the account of Boxing being one of the more practical and effective martial arts to use for self-defense. Talk about throwing hands.
- Watanabe tossing Yagami into the bay during his boss fight should you fail the involved Quick Time Event. Seeing Yagami die instantly and you have to start the fight all over again? Not funny. Frustrating, in fact. Yagami yelling as he gets tossed into the water as if he tripped on something? A little funny. The fact that he can survive taking a chainsaw to the face from Akutsu earlier but dies instantly against Watanabe because he simply can't get back to him without swimming all the way to the docks? Now it's funny.
- The generic boss battle theme is called Vorarephilia (often shortened to just, ahem, "vore"). Suffice to say, either be wary of how it's typed in a search engine, or just find it here or here.
Designated Villain: The Motorcycle Prevention Committee in the Motorcycle Side Case. The story frames them as the villains even though the gang Yagami is infiltrating are genuine dangers to the people around them and their races include high-speed chases and ramming each other off the road. Especially once Ghost, one of the gang’s main bikers, threatens to attack their children. Their response to this is to trash Ghost’s gang’s bikes, which is hardly unreasonable considering the threat Ghost made. While the story tries to frame them as being radicalized and used as patsies by the Neo-Keihin gang, their actions are still far less heinous than the gang they wish to disband. Not helping in this case is that Seyama is the only Reasonable Authority Figure that simply wants to put a stop to the races peacefully and even kicks Otsuki out of the Prevention Committee once word gets out that he was involved with the Neo Keihin Gang.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Sawa. Being a very gorgeous, beautiful and kind teacher who is very protective of her students and colleagues, and the fact that she actually cares about them and wants to protect them, unlike most modern-day teachers, who just see their students as objects to deliver information to and not much else. And let's not forget that she's only one who cared enough about Mitsuru to visit him every day while he was in a coma, and the only one who actually tried to stop all the bullying before Yagami intervened and the first one to point out that something wrong was happening in her class at Kurokawa, It all does wonders for her.
- Tesso has a surprising following for a supporting antagonist-turned-ally. Not only does he have one of the coolest and most well-choreographed Dynamic Intros in series history (which is especially complimented by the gorgeous visuals and the Battle in the Rain), and one of the coolest weapons in the whole series, but he's also got a surprisingly entertaining and cool attitude, and he's quite funny and even is even connected with fellow EDH Zhao, from Like a Dragon. As a bonus, he's voiced by SungWon Cho.
- Kyoko Amasawa is also highly regarded amongst the students at Seiryo High. Between being dangerously competent that Yagami straight up laments at getting busted by a high school girl, to some of her more Adorkable moments (such as when she and Yagami tail Takanashi), to having a cool pet in Ranpo (which Yagami can use freely at any given time), it's not hard to see why she'd be so popular. Speaking of which, Ranpo himself. An adorable little Shiba Inu (aka, Doge or Cheems) that Yagami can take for walks at any given time (where he can also help find some useful items) and is more than capable of holding his own as a detective on top of having one of the funniest and simultaneously cutest EX Actions in the game? Sure, why not.
- Akutsu, a delightfully over-the-top and Large Ham right-hand man of Soma, is essentially the Judgment series' equivalent to Daisaku Kuze with just how often he pops up (he's fought three times in a single chapter) as well as being a legitimately threatening and dangerous villain who even came close to brutally killing Yagami. His Leitmotif, "K.O.G" being one of the catchiest songs in the game as well as the awesome Dynamic Intro to his final encounter where he takes a page from Tendo and no-sells a flying kick to the chest; not hard to see why he's popular.
Even Better Sequel: Among fans, and the majority of the reviewer press, the game has been massively and universally acclaimed as a fantastic and superior sequel, that improves on every foundation of the original Judgment, like gameplay,^note side-activities,^note exploration ^note story, ^note and more. Some people would even say it's the best RGG Studios game they've ever made, surpassing the original Judgment, and even Yakuza 0 and Like a Dragon!
Evil Is Cool:
- Akutsu might not be the brightest bulb in the shed (especially compared to his boss, Soma), but he more than makes up for that not only for his unique moveset but also coming dangerously close to killing Yagami violently had it not been for Kaito's and Sugiura's timely arrival. Doesn't hurt that he has a really cool theme and his dynamic intro is a neat Call-Back to Tendo's in Like a Dragon.
- Take Michael Myers (or Jason), make him handsome, give him his own crew and an ominous theme in the form of Viper, and you get Soma. One of the most terrifying antagonists in the franchise and is also one of the coolest because of how unique he is compared to other knife users like Majima or Nishitani. Not to mention that he's also the first villain who's ever defeated Yagami in a straight-up fight.
- And of course, we can't forget about Kuwana. Not only does he prove to be a Worthy Opponent to Yagami both in terms of ideology and combat prowess, being a Bully Hunter who is able to viciously Pay Evil unto Evil on the bullies that drove Mitsuru to suicide (as if them not having an ounce of remorse for their actions wasn't enough) does wonders for him as an antagonist. Little wonder why he's a contender for best antagonist in the series alongside the likes of Ryuji or Kuze.
Fan Nickname: Takoyaki Yagami for Sakakiba's very flimsy (but somehow effective) charade as Yagami. Think the Diabetic of Dojima from Yakuza 2.
Fashion-Victim Villain: Akutsu. While he's meant to be a very threatening and psychopathic thug (and he does live up to that pretty well, at least), it's kind of hard to take him seriously when he looks more like he borrowed from The Obataraian's wardrobe, especially with that cheetah-print shirt.
Game-Breaker:
- Each of the three fighting styles' Hidden Arts are effectively this in their own way. And when combined, make Yagami a very dangerous force to be reckoned with. While each of them are worth 45,000 SP apiece (in a sequential cost of 5,000, then 10,000, and finally 20,000 SP, for a whopping 135,000 SP in total), they more than make up for this with their sheer utility. To iterate -
  - The Tiger's Hidden Arts increases Yagami's overall attack power after he lands a Finishing Blow (e.g., Square, Triangle, Triangle). When fully upgraded, this carries over to the other two fighting styles, making Crane and Snake that much more potent.
  - The Crane's Hidden Arts increases Yagami's speed after each successful dodge. Like the above, this also carries over to the other two fighting styles, effectively turning Yagami into a flat-out Lightning Bruiser.
  - And finally, the Snake's Hidden Arts grants Yagami temporary immunity against knockdowns after each successful parry. And seeing as EX Boost makes Yagami all but Immune to Flinching, you can effectively floor any boss encounter with unbridled impunity with all three of these temporary bonuses active.
- Speaking of which, the Snake style's Parry. While it doesn't damage the enemy (at least outside of EX Boost), it greatly makes up for this with its ease of use, since the timing for it is considerably more lenient than the Tiger Drop or Mad Dog Counter of yesteryear (and it also calls to mind Tanimura's parry as well) and it parries virtually every attack in the entire game, even certain attacks that can otherwise floor you like Soma's own Counter-Attack or even Juzo's Ground Pound. The fact that it's mapped directly to the Guard button (L1/LB) also means that even if you fail to time it, you can probably still guard against any incoming attacks either way. And that's without mentioning that you can further upgrade it so that it makes Yagami immune to knockdowns as mentioned above or gives a solid chunk of meter every time it succeeds.
- While Flux Fissure got hit with the Nerf Hammer and lost its One-Hit Kill potential from the first game, the Tiger style is *still* pretty busted by virtue of a teensy little detail - the humble Charged Attack. Not only does Yagami start out with the Charged Finishing Blows by default (as they had to be bought with SP previously), but they also do a royal fuckton of damage on top of always breaking the enemy's guard, including most major story bosses. Even further still, you can also charge the EX Finishing Blows while in EX Boost and the Quickstep Blows as well, meaning you'll probably be holding on to the Triangle/Y button a lot.
- Not to be outdone, there's the DLC Boxing style. While its Hidden Arts aren't all that useful, that's more than made up by its godly dodging abilities, counters, a great juggle starter, and quick attacks that can eat through an enemy's lifebar. Once you unlock the Todoroki Rush ability (for a mere 100 SP after learning it in the boxing minigame), boss fights become a complete joke as going into EX Boost and mashing the Heavy Attack button causes the ability to activate and completely decimates a boss' health bar in seconds. Oh, and by the way - it's given to you pretty much as soon as you reach Yokohama and most of its upgrades are only 100 SP apiece; with the more effective skills like the style's Hidden Arts or increasing the effectiveness of the Mortal Reversal during EX Boost being among the more expensive skills which can still be easy to attain anyway.^note Happy punching!
- With high item drop bonuses from eating food, it's possible to farm endless amounts of the gambling cheat items that were Too Awesome to Use in previous Yakuza titles. You can now become disgustingly rich from several uses of Blackjack Amulet and Bust Amulet, for example.
Goddamned Bats: Formerly Demonic Spiders in the mainline Yakuza series (and especially in the first game), any enemy wielding weapons such as guns, blowtorches, or katanas. Compared to Kiryu, Majima, or even Tanimura, Yagami has a plethora of ways to deal with these pests (most especially the Snake style, which was designed with these kinds of enemies in mind), but even then, they're still that — pests. They can occasionally lead to some cheap deaths or drag fights on by constantly stunning Yagami in place, but you can still body them at the end of the day if you're on top of things.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Kaito tells Yagami what Public Security can do in their line of work. Crispin Freeman has played a Public Security character and he knows how they tick.
- Takuya Kimura was the main star in the 2022 drama series Mirai e no 10 Count, which involves him teaching high school students in boxing classes.
It's the Same, So It Sucks: The other half of the reviewer field is criticizing how the investigation mechanics are near unchanged from the first game. Moreover, some have criticized the game for failing to set itself apart from the mainline Yakuza games in any significant way, with the investigation mechanics feeling tacked-on to the traditional Yakuza gameplay in such a way that they add very little to the overall experience.
Jerkass Woobie: Akihiro Ehara, the train-station groper who's Wham Line at his trial kicks off the plot, spends most of the game as something of a Smug Snake, acting extremely disrespectful with almost everyone he interacts with, mocking the other characters attempts to expose The Conspiracy he's clearly involved in, and is Mikoshiba's murderer, having captured and tortured him with the help of Kuwana and his minions before finally killing him. He was also fully intending on discrediting the legal system by getting convicted for the groping and confessing to the murder upon release. However, that doesn't change how he's a grieving father who had to deal with his son committing suicide, with the one who pushed him to it going unpunished, and feeling partially responsible for shrugging off his attempts to tell him that he was being bullied in middle school, which clearly fills him with guilt when he brings it up.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: One of the Big Bads is a Bully Hunter with a sympathetic backstory and motive while the other, despite being Sawa's murderer, is popular for the Evil Is Cool factor. In contrast, no player would shed any tears for Hiro Mikoshiba or Shinya Kawai who have spent years as Karma Houdinis driving their bullying victims to suicide and showing absolutely no remorse. Is there any wonder why many players end up rooting for the bad guys instead?
Late-Arrival Spoiler: In terms of continuity, this game takes place 2 years after Yakuza: Like a Dragon. So for players who only played the Judgment series or haven't played the Yakuza series up to Like a Dragon, they wouldn't know that there are some references regarding the disbandment of the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance, as well as some cameos in the form of the Bartender/Kashiwagi and Zhao.
Magnificent Bastard: [Jin Kuwana, formerly Yu Kitakata, was a classroom teacher fired after one of his students committed suicide for bullying. As a local handyman, Kuwana contacted his former students and blackmailed them into kidnapping other bullies involved in suicides so that the loved ones of the victims could exact their revenge. Creating an alibi for Ehara as a sex offender so that he could spite the justice system, Kuwana keeps the corpse of one of the bullies hidden as a leverage to blackmail his former students. Kuwana teams up with Takayuki Yagami on several occassions when fighting the criminal organization RK while managing to evade both RK and the police, only feeling remorse over Yoko Sawa's death as collateral damage. Charming and ruthless, Yagami and the others were unsure whether bringing Kuwana into justice was the right thing to do, and eventually let him go due to insufficient evidence in exchange for the rest of the victims' locations.
Memetic Badass:
- Kosuke, the college student that Yagami deals with at the beginning of the game. He hits the gym once a week, he'll definitely mess your shit up now!
- Amusingly enough, Yagami himself. When you're a man who's pushing 40 that's somehow able to get away with beating the shit out of (albeit terrible) high school students — on school grounds, no less — you pretty much become this overnight.
Memetic Mutation: Shared with memes from the first game, here they are.
Narm:
- It could be explained as Gameplay and Story Segregation, but in the prologue, Genda asks Yagami if he ever relaxes, with Yagami replying that work is his hobby. The problem is that the game is still a Wide-Open Sandbox like the last one was, meaning that he gets plenty of free time. But then again, it's not like Yagami hasn't had his fair share of more... out there cases.
- The part in Chapter 1 where Tsukumo explains why kids bully others in a really clinical way like a psychologist can be Anvilicious to some people.
Older Than They Think:
- This is not the first time where a group of high school bullies and delinquents serve as opponents for our protagonist to fight, Yakuza 0 did that first with delinquents acting as an enemy group in Kamurucho and one storyline has Kiryu beating up a group of school bullies when the latter decide to harass the homeless encampment For the Evulz during the former's stay.
- Those multi-input Quick Time Events on Normal difficulty and above? Sonic Unleashed (another flagship Sega title) did them first. And 13 years ago, amusingly enough.^{Note (SPOILERS)}
One-Scene Wonder: For those that have played Yakuza: Like a Dragon before this one, Zhao. He doesn't get any dialogue during the scene that he appears in, but many a player will find themselves smiling to see their favorite Liumang leader make a surprise appearance in a game that is otherwise very distant of the mainline Yakuza series' canon.
Player Punch:
- This game really doesn't pull any punches when it comes to its depictions of bullying and its effects in high school. So if you were a victim or have at any point witnessed bullying in your life (or worse - are going through that yourself at present), well... the Content Warning is there for a reason. Take a break if you need it.
- Sawa's death, big-time. It becomes much more heartbreaking even before you realized that not only is she one of the few teachers at Seiryo that actually cared about her students (Toshiro especially since she took his death hard), but she's also the only one of her classmates who cared enough about Mitsuru to see him often. Even Reiko herself points this out while citing her death as one of the reasons for turning herself in... until Mitsuru woke up, anyway.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- The Crane Style. In the previous game, while it was a very effective means of crowd control, a fully upgraded Tiger Style ends up rendering the Crane Style obsolete, since it can deal with crowds in its own way, (on top of having Charged Attacks and the infamous Flux Fissure), while the Crane Style simply didn't have any upgrades unique to itself. Here, not only does the game have much more skills on offer for each of the three fighting styles, but the Crane Style also possesses a new move called Sky Dancer. When fully upgraded, Sky Dancer allows Yagami to dodge bullets with relative ease and on top of that, Yagami can also throw any incoming projectiles back at enemies. This is on top of minor details like Crane being given its own unique stance and dodging animation as well. Oh, and it also has its own Counter-Attack that lets you juggle the opponent in the air, Tekken style.^note
- Onodera's Wares. Whereas in the first game, he was Awesome, but Impractical because of the very stingy rate at which you got SP, here, Onodera is now officially an outright Game-Breaker since it's very easy to rack up the SP needed for coveted items such as empty extract vials or items that make grinding money (such as a Blackjack Amulet or Royal Joker Card as mentioned above) a breeze.
Rooting for the Empire: A few players, particularly those who suffered from bullying, find themselves siding with Kuwana and his crusade. This applies In-Universe as well with various members of the cast commenting that they think he might be right. It doesn’t help much that Yagami’s main argument is to use Sawa’s death as justification to turn the vigilantes in while his solution to fix the underlying issues is to try and reform a broken system which, as Ehara points out, is unfeasible and would take too long at best.
The Scrappy: Emily Mochizuki is the least popular of the four girlfriends for various reasons. The first is that her play hard-to-get shtick makes her come off as rude to Yagami, and the second is that the other bartenders at Girl's Bite you had to talk to beforehand are considered to have more fleshed-out personalities, resulting in many players wondering why couldn't they be romanceable instead. It also doesn't help that she's the only girlfriend option available in the base game, with the other three (including Tsukino from the first game) being locked behind a paywall. While some have warmed up to her once they finally get to date her and know about her backstory, others feel like it's too little too late.
Scrappy Mechanic:
- Multi-input Quick Time Events. The game throws them onto you without warning at certain points and getting them right is a matter of trial and error. The worst offender would have to be Watanabe's QTE during his fight where failing it will kill you instantly. The game also doesn't bother to tell you that you can use the D-Pad for the directional inputs during the QTEs instead of the analog stick. Of note, this only goes for the QTEs at Hard and above, as they're much easier on Normal or lower with fewer commands and more lenient with a greater time limit than the harder difficulties.
- On a more minor note, the control scheme is displayed on the bottom right corner of the screen. This was likely meant for players that played Like a Dragon before this game to prevent Damn You, Muscle Memory! from kicking in, but there is no option to remove it at any point, so you're stuck with a wall of text covering up a sizeable portion of the screen (not that it's too distracting, but still.)
Sequel Difficulty Drop: Naturally, due to many Anti-Frustration Features mentioned on the main page, this game is much easier and more accessible than its predecessor, trimming off the fat to what was otherwise an excellent first entry in a sub-series to the long-running Yakuza franchise. That's not even getting into how much more robust and damaging Yagami is in this game when fully maxed out compared to the first, especially thanks to the Snake style allowing him to deal with enemies with weapons like no other protagonist (apart from maybe Tanimura) could and at the same time being able to take them out of the fight instantly thanks to EX Surrenders.
Spiritual Adaptation:
- With the addition of a fully explorable high school, the Substories involving the school's extracurricular activities, the main plot being rooted in school bullying, and being able to pick fights with high schoolers, this may as well be the closest we'll ever get to a Bully 2.
- The game takes a lot of inspiration from Great Teacher Onizuka for its side club activities and general tone, to the point of directly homaging it at times.
- The Seiryo Rabbits school story may as well be RGG's answer to the Persona dancing spin-off games. Doubly so when Yagami's actor is an accomplished dancer himself. Made all the more amusing when you remember that this isn't the first time RGG Studio had done something like this, either.
Suspiciously Similar Song:
- The main menu theme, "Lost in the Rain", takes some cues from the main menu theme to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, or perhaps a bit of Vangelis' score from Blade Runner.
- Might be a pretty big coincidence since they're only a few weeks apart, but Akutsu's theme, "K.O.G", sounds pretty similar to DJ Snake's "Run It", which was featured in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Mix of the two songs was eventually made, as can be seen here.
- Soma's Leitmotif, "Viper", sounds somewhat similar to Britney Spears' "Toxic". Kind of fitting since a viper has toxins of its own with its venom.
- The theme for Snake Style, "Green Vibes", has similar beats to Yakuza 0's "One Eyed Assassin", which is a rather unique case since both games share the same developer. There's even a mash-up of the two songs, as can be seen here.
Squick:
- The state of Mikoshiba's corpse, obviously. It doesn't help that it's shown a few times in flashbacks during the investigation in the location of the crime scene. Shinya's body too, for that matter. It helps a little that he's been frozen and therefore not as rotted as Mikoshiba, though.
- A student of Seiryo High is working as a "sugar baby"^Noteconning a former member of the Keihin gang by pretending to date him.
That One Attack: Although they don't deal that much damage, Juzo Amon's second phase has him Beam Spam purple energy blasts that can stun-lock players. This can either result in a Cycle of Hurting where he will continuously knock you down as you try to recover, or worse, use the opportunity to heal himself which can render your previous efforts moot.
That One Boss: Every boss fight against Daimu Akutsu can potentially fall under this, due to him having a significant arsenal of devastating attacks that can take a huge chunk out of Yagami's health, as well as being accompanied by a gradually expanding pack of mooks. His special move in which he grabs and suplexes you is also extremely hard to avoid due to its range. But it is the second fight against Akutsu takes the cake, due to Yagami being unable to use any healing items during this section, as well as Akutsu using a chainsaw for the first portion of the fight.
That One Sidequest:
- The Robotics Club is far and away the most difficult of the School Stories to complete for several very frustrating reasons. The Robot Wars meets Tetris gameplay is surprisingly complex, requiring thought in both strategy and robot builds to consistently win. The main issue is getting better parts for your robots; Many of the best parts are either so expensive to buy you'll quickly find yourself broke, can be obtained as a Random Drop from random encounters, or have to be grinded for by replaying Robotics Clubs missions. Add these factors together, and you'll quickly find yourself putting the Robotics Club on hold until much later than you'd thought. Adding insult to injury is that if you have been holding off on it and have beaten most of the other School Stories, you'll still have to progress a little past the halfway point to unlock the remaining School Stories (the Photography Club and the Casino).
- The Runaways Biker Gang is pretty forgiving in the first half of the story, but by the second half you start racing against mooks that take more than one hit to crash off the road, leaving you wide open for their very damaging kick attacks. On top of that, the final racers require much more skill on the player's part than they needed for the races up to this point, so its understandable if you hit a road block trying to complete this School Story.
- The eSports Club can be this if you're bad at fighting games, as you must complete several rounds of Virtua Fighter in increasing difficulty. Though this is lessened if you at the very least pick the right character and just wail on the AI like no tomorrow; see Breather Level above for that.
- Of the regular side cases, nothing comes even close to "Paradise VR Upgraded" in terms of sheer frustration, requiring you to beat five challengers on Dice & Cube with progressively more difficult stakes. Much like the minigame itself that relies solely on luck, there is no real strategy to complete this and to drive the nail even further is the fact that the RNG seems to prefer giving the player as low faces as possible while favoring higher numbers for the AI. Depending on how lady luck favors you, this one side case can take up to minutes or even hours of one playthrough.
Underused Game Mechanic: Yagami's detective gadgets, and the detective-focused gameplay as a whole. Yagami's detective gadgets, for instance, are tutorialized and then are never used again in the main story, being relegated entirely to side content, such as substories and collectables. The Drone gets it worst, as it's now basically a glorified photo mode. As for other detective-focused stuff, the game has very few instances where they are used. Yagami's climbing and parkour skills, for instance, are only used a handful of times in the main story, Lockpicking almost never gets used in either the main story or the side content, and the mechanic where you take pictures of suspects is used almost exclusively in the Photography Club sidequests and is only used one time in the main story.
Unexpected Character:
- While it would be inevitable to see some of the NPCs featured in Yakuza: Like a Dragon - such as The Bartender (aka, Osamu Kashiwagi) and Tome Kamataki, Tianyou Zhao, one of your main party members from that game, makes a surprise cameo here. Particularly in a later scene where Yagami, Sugiura, Tesso, and Kuwana are all having some of his food. This is especially unexpected as Judgment, though having a few Continuity Nods, is otherwise loosely affiliated with the mainline Yakuza series' canon.
- In the form of unexpected organization, the Nikkyo Consortium (of which Soma was formerly a member) are mentioned for the first time in the main story since Yakuza 0, and since their last appearance in Yakuza Kiwami.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The game's cover art. The hands reaching out towards the viewer don't seem to quite match Yagami's face in terms of detail, lighting and shot composition, as if the foreground and background are from two different images that were stitched together, making the image seem a bit off.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Once again, if you thought the last game looked good, this one takes what already worked in the last one and just runs with it, with the particle effects looking better than ever, a very vibrant (if subdued) color palette, access to 4K HDR at a buttery smooth 60 FPS on ninth-generation consoles, and the added benefit of near-instantaneous load times, alleviating the tedium that comes from getting to where you need to go in Yokohama's gargantuan playground of Ijincho. Even then, the eight-generation version of the game isn't entirely left out, since it's considerably more optimized for lesser hardware than the previous game at the expense of being capped to 30 FPS.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: For a lot of players, Mami Koda and the bullies from Class 2-2; especially Koda. While their character development throughout the story was praised, they're only relegated to appearing in the main story, and among the three bullies, only Matsui's development was actually shown. Some players believe that they could have been included in the School Stories to flesh out their characters some more— particularly the Heel–Face Turn of the bullies, which would have added more weight to them helping Yagami out in the finale. In addition, it would have also shown Koda's journey in getting on better terms with the bullies, which could have added more depth to the four of them working together to stand up for the bullied girl at the very end.
The Woobie: Inevitable given the game's subject matter.
- First and foremost, Koda. Had Yagami not intervened when he did, it's very likely Koda would've been another one of the students that would take her life as a result of being bullied so harshly.
- Then there's Toshiro, Ehara's son. Bad enough that Mikoshiba beat him up for his lunch money, but his father shooing him away by telling him to "toughen up" pretty much sealed his fate. Adding insult to injury, Mikoshiba would get away with this completely scot-free until years later when Ehara avenges his son, kicking off the events of the game.
- Kenya Oshikiri in the Boxing Gym School Story definitely qualifies. He's a victim of a horribly abusive father that mistreated him to the point he trains every day in the event of his eventual return, even taking up the mantle of the Payback Boxer so that he may be ready for whatever happens. And that's not even getting into the fact that his father trained him to be a killer to the point he's likely to kill anyone without even meaning to. Good thing he catches a break by the end, though.
- Sawa. Besides being the only one who cared enough about Mitsuru to report his bullying to Kitakata, she also visited him during his coma often, and when history repeated itself, she feels absolutely horrible about herself at being powerless to prevent Toshiro's death. Just to twist the knife further, the one former student that Kitakata didn't coerce into helping him ends up paying the price for his crusades thanks to RK.
Woobie Family: The Kusumotos. They just can't catch a break.
- Poor Mitsuru. It's bad enough he ended up having no choice to take his life only to be placed in a coma for 13 years, but the fact that his classmates have absolutely zero remorse for beating the shit out of him in the present day just goes to show how cruel life can be at times. Oh, and for added measure, his mom gets put away in the end for her part in Kawai's death and unless he changes his name/moves out of the country he'll have to live with the stigma of being the son of a murderer.
- Reiko herself is also very pitiable. Compared to her predecessor, Ichinose, Reiko is not only considerably more sensible and honest, but she's also had to endure the pain of watching her son in a comatose state for thirteen years, never receiving any justice for Mitsuru until Kuwana stepped in. When he finally wakes up, she's forced to betray Kuwana in order to protect the recently awakened Mitsuru from her own demons until Yagami's efforts force her to relent by turning herself in, leaving her fragile and weak son to fend for himself as she's hauled off to jail for Kawai's murder... even if he did have it coming.

The Kaito Files

Best Boss Ever: Yasutaka Shirakaba, the Final Boss of the DLC. Unlike the previous final bosses in the series, the fight against Shirakaba is entirely a dual of honor between him and Kaito, accompanied with wonderful fight choreography, a gorgeous soundtrack, and the fact that Shirakaba is no slouch in the combat department. These facts have made him one of the most memorable final boss fights in the entire series.
Catharsis Factor: After all of Kyoya Sadamoto's actions throughout the campaign, coupled with his unbearably smug demeanor, getting to beat the crap out of him is a very satisfying experience. And if that didn't satisfy you, Kenmochi finishing the job by way of brutally strangling him to death absolutely will.
Character Rerailment: A minor case in regards to Hoshino. While in the base game, he pretty much loses a lot of confidence he got through Character Development in the last game and becomes the Designated Monkey who everyone treats as a joke, here he gets a sizeable moment to shine in the DLC's prologue; along with Saori, he helps Kaito dupe a "Detective Agency" consisting of former Yakuza by posing as an adulterer and putting on a convincing act of desperately begging the thug to not release footage of him exiting a love hotal with another woman to stage an incriminating recording that can be used against them to help Kaito get back the money (and a little extra) that they conned out of the client. The only real screw-up he does make is when the guy grabs the recording from Hoshino's hand and legs it, but even Kaito seemed caught off-guard by that and doesn't hold it against him.
Complete Monster: Kyoya Sadamoto is the secret leader of the Crimson Lotus, and the man responsible behind the events of the campaign. In an attempt to obtain the Natsume family fortune, Sadamoto marries the eldest daughter, Mikiko, and tricks his right-hand man, Shusuke Kenmochi, into burning the rest of the Natsumes alive, leading Kenmochi to be traumatized for years on end. Attempting to kill Mikiko when she discovers the truth, Sadamoto, when he finds out that she's alive, decides to kill every founding member of the Crimson Lotus to cover up his affiliation with them. Later organizing a reunion party, Sadamoto poisons the drinks in order to kill his last four targets, happily causing the deaths of all the remaining Crimson Lotus members and dozens of party guests. When confronted by Kaito and Mikiko, Sadamoto reveals that he's kidnapped his own son, Jun, and orders Mikiko to kill Kaito, or else he'll kill Jun. Viewing human lives as nothing more than means to an end, even fellow criminals were disgusted by Sadamoto's actions.
Crosses the Line Twice: Kenmochi bragging about kidnapping an old man's beloved pet wouldn't be nearly as funny if he didn't also fool him into thinking he ate dog meat when he gave him a hot dog. ...And the fact that he had the decency to keep the dog alive, of course.
Cry for the Devil: On the surface, Shusuke Kenmochi seems nothing more than a drunken brute who also happens to lead a criminal gang, but when you find out why he turned out the way he did, you can't help but pity him. He gets manipulated into burning down a house with an innocent family trapped which turned him into an alcoholic wreck who drinks and fights to cope with the trauma. And the person who manipulated him? A sociopath who Kenmochi thought was his friend and then proceeded fatally poison him.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- There's a very good reason why Kaito fell for Mikiko - very good looks, can kick plenty of ass, hell, she even taught her son Jun martial arts, has a spunky and sassy but very caring personality, and to top it all off, a very tragic backstory that makes her breakup with Kaito all the more Harsher in Hindsight by the time the DLC's events unfold, and the reunion and rekindle of their romantic relationship all the more sweeter. All of the above reasons certainly make her popular in and out-of-universe on top of being a very good match for someone like Kaito, and because of all that pretty much all of the fanbase have unanimously agreed that they want to see her kick some more ass alongside Kaito and play a bigger role alongside Jun in the third Judgment game, which going by the studio's recent track record with female characters (for example Chitose in Infinite Wealth), and with how previously beloved characters were promoted to higher roles in LJ's main story (for instance; Sugiura and Tsukumo with their Yokohama 99 agency) is pretty much guaranteed to happen.
- Like Akutsu in the base game, Kenmochi is also popular for similar reasons. In addition, however, his tragic past with Mikiko is also heartbreaking to the point one can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Having been used by the man he thought was his friend, it turns out he drowns his sorrows in liquor because he's haunted by his past mistake, not being aware that he killed an entire family and was a pawn in Sadamoto's plans. It also helps that he's ultimately the one to put down Kyoya in the end, by way of a very brutal, but oh-so-satisfying neck snap.
- Shirakaba. A very kind and sincere doctor that proves to be very helpful to Kaito (and also Mikiko) for most of the time he's on-screen and turns out to be the DLC's Final Boss and is surprisingly stacked as hell? Throw in the fact that he happily accepts his loss at the end and gives up Mikiko so she can be with Kaito and you have yourself a worthy Dark Horse in this DLC.
Fashion-Victim Villain: Oh, good lord, Crimson Lotus. The flashy clothes, dyed hair, and tasteful haircuts really don't do them any favors seeing as they're the most recurring threat throughout the story.
Game-Breaker:
- The Tank style. Oh, come on - it's Kiryu's Beast style in all its crowd-clearing and brutal glory. Of course it's gonna be broken. Especially since Kaito - unlike Yagami - can also grab nearby mopeds and wail on any poor sap that dares to get close like Saejima before him.
- The Bruiser style's Hidden Arts, just like the Crane style in the base game, grants Kaito much faster attack speed after a succesful Repel (which is pretty easy to do). Secret of the Bruiser allows this bonus to apply to the Tank style and resets the bonus's duration after switching styles. Yeah, you can definitely see where this is going...
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The story having parallels to the first game, combined with Yong Yea playing a much stronger and muscular character than he appears can be this in light of him getting the role of Kiryu starting with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Especially with Kaito, Higashi, and Sugira making guest appearances.
- Stephen Fu's character turns out to be a murderous money-hungry Corrupt Corporate Executive. Fast forward to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, where he now plays Shun Akiyama, who is practically the exact opposite.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: Though the content itself has been generally very well received, the fact that there's only around 7 hours of it has come under criticism due to the DLC's rather steep price.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Kaito's fighting styles being reskins of Kiryu's Brawler and Beast styles. While some appreciate the return of these beloved fighting styles - which are now more refined and integrated well with Lost Judgment's combat system (notably Kaito being able to use Mortal Reversals as Yagami could in the base game) - others lament the fact that Kaito didn't get anything new apart from some new EX Actions and some minor discrepancies (such as Bruiser's Repels, which work like Yagami's Counters from his Boxing Style) for his gameplay.
Moral Event Horizon: Sadamoto crossed it before the events of the game by orchestrating the death of Mikiko's family just to get their fortune. To make matters worse, he manipulated Kenmochi, who genuinely thought of him as a friend, into doing the deed, traumatizing the man for life.
Narm Charm: The Final Boss. To be specific, you're not fighting some ambitious hotshot (e.g., Shibusawa, Goda, Aizawa), a tragic character (Nishiki, Masato), or even a Complete Monster (Munakata, Iwami, Kuroiwa, even Sadamoto is only the penultimate boss as a result) but rather just a regular - albeit very jacked - doctor that also has feelings for the protagonist's love interest. Under most circumstances, especially since this fight is given the mainline Like a Dragon treatment, it'd be pretty ridiculous, but given that this is the franchise's first unambiguously Happy Ending with the soundtrack reflecting that, it's safe to say that this fight has won the hearts of many a player after finishing the DLC.
Strangled by the Red String: How some are starting to see the romance between Hoshino and Saori. Despite Hoshino's aspirations to marry her, Saori - notably throughout the base game as she only makes a cameo via photo here - is never really shown reciprocating the feeling let alone express any interest in Hoshino to begin with despite the first game's Ship Tease of them and the base game's insistence that they're dating. And for fans of Hoshino, it can be hard to imagine him being with someone who, at least as seen onscreen in the base game, doesn't treat him all that well at all.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Overlapping with Company Cross References, the motif for the DLC's Optional Boss, the Drunken Master, sounds an awful lot like Frog Forest from Sonic Heroes.
That One Level: Tailing Kenmochi. The first word alone should tell you what you're getting into. And in case that wasn't enough, it drags on for quite a bit. Its saving graces are the frequent checkpoints after the scuffles Kaito and Jun get into and the fact that it's the sole tailing mission in the entire DLC.
That One Sidequest: Finding all of the Memory Points. While the Matsugane Crests (and by extension, the cats) are easy enough to find with the right upgrades, the Memory Points on the other hand can be very difficult without a guide. Not helping is the fact that they're hidden in plain sight in the most obtuse locations (i.e., there's one right on the Bantam sign next to the entrance, but it's hard to see because of literally everything else in the immediate vicinity) and there isn't an upgrade to help you find them at all. All of that and the cherry on top goes to them being required to unlock the Optional Boss towards the end of the campaign.
Underused Game Mechanic: While it's nice that Kaito can wear his alternate outfits outside of certain scenarios unlike Yagami in the base game, there is one more caveat to this besides what's already mentioned above in Author's Saving Throw: the skill book needed to unlock said skill? Yeah, you can only get it at the very end of the DLC, right before the Final Boss.

YMMV / Lost Judgment

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