Judge Eyes

Announced at TGS2018, Judge Eyes is a new project by the makers of the Yakuza series. Game is a detective game with arcade like combat. It seems to use the Dragon Engine from Yakuza 6, but the combat looks very interesting so far.

I'm excited for this, but at the same time I'm kind of dissapointed. I was expecting RGG Studios next game to be something wildly different from Yakuza. The game is even set in Kamurocho AGAIN. It just seems strange to me that they've had this in development for 3 years when it seems like they could have started this after Kiwami 2 launched in Japan.

All that aside, the combat FINALLY looks like a real return to form. They have styles back in the game, they have the speed, more creative heat actions, jumping off walls and doing flips etc. it just looks awesome! That was the most exciting part of the trailer for me. Gives me a lot of hope for Shin Yakuza now that the combat looks good.

Aside from the combat, the mini game selection looks pretty fun. I think I'll really like the drone racing assuming the camera doesn't make it too annoying. Shouldn't be too bad though considering I know Kamurocho like the back of my hand lol. Not sure how fun the detective gameplay will be; a lot of it just seemed kind of basic and derivative but we'll see.

As for the story, I just hope they keep it grounded like Y0. Don't spaz and have some overly ridiculous villain again.

Going back to Shin Yakuza for a second, I'm getting super pumped for that game now that they announced this. I hope it doesn't launch until late 2019. I want them to polish the shit out of it. It seems like this game will be the last buffer game for the Dragon Engine before they finally hit it out of the park. It's a shame that 6 and (to a lesser extent) K2 had to suffer to get to this point, but better late than never.

EDIT: A demo will be on the Japanese PSN store later today!

We're basically on the same page. I'm a bit saddened that it is again just 'Yakuza as always', just a different style of minigames and different (perhaps) story style. Combat looks like a dream and return to form really nailing that arcade feel with the Dragon Engine. That said the more Yakuza I play the less I like Kamurocho. I know the town like the back of my hand now which has its upsides, but I'm also finding I tend to like the smaller towns more and more in comparison.

As you note btw, I really hope the plot is better written and the main antagonist isn't some hacky Riddler fight. I still have *NO* idea how Terada's plan in Yakuza 2 would even work, there's just no ryme or reason to it. Absolute insanity.

Really curious for the demo!

Demo

Regarding Kamurocho, the biggest complaint about this game so far is that it's not set in a new place. I've heard a lot of people say this would be cooler if it took place in a more rural setting where people aren't used to murders (like Twin Peaks   ), and I have to agree. This being another Yakuza game wouldn't be a problem if this was in a brand new town. At least Shin Yakuza is supposed to have like, 2 new cities, and hopefully we can explore Kamurocho Hills in that game as well.

While I've played the demo through 3 times now, just check out Prefer_Not_To_Say's impressions:

https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/9es8v9/no_spoilers_some_thoughts_on_judge_eyes_after/

He pretty much talks about everything worth talking about and more.

Things that stand out for me:

-Title screen is awesome

-Story setup seems pretty cool. I like it more than Ichiban's new setup.

-Not holding X to run is awesome. Thank god they finally learned that. As a side note, the Western version of FOTNS also removed holding X to run! You just go at the run speed now by default which is amazing.

-Jumping off the walls is cool, although it's pretty janky. The enemies also have to be pretty close for it to work, and sometimes the enemies just kind of stand back not doing much, even on Hard.

-The loss of momentum when an enemy blocks is still present, but to a lesser degree. Still stupid, especially because whenever the enemy attacks while you're guarding it works just like the old games. Maybe you unlock an ability to mitigate this later.

-Both combat styles are very interesting. Reminiscent of Akiyama's kicks, and Tanimura's holds.

-Most of the heat actions are brand new, aside from most of the weapon attacks which are ripped straight from 6 and Kiwami 2

-The games performance is worse than Kiwami 2, but better than 6 on the base PS4. Noticed quite a few framedrops, even in cutscenes which is annoying. Nothing as bad as 6, but it's pretty frustrating considering how well K2 performs. It's becoming more and more obvious that the Dragon Engine is too much for this gen.

-The detective stuff is unfortunately pretty boring. Find your target in a crowd by pointing a cursor around and examining people, then follow the guy without running; if he turns around then you hide. Once you find the guy again, you have to look around and find things of interest again, then you chase the guy in a Shenmue-esque chase sequence where your only interaction is moving left and right, with the occasional QTE thrown in. After that you have a fight. I don't want to be TOO critical of this, because the demo is literally just the games tutorial. I'm sure in the full game there will be a lot more to these things, like what was shown in the trailer, but as it stands it's pretty meh.


Anyway, if you can, try the demo out and tell me what you think. I wish it was an open demo like 6 and K2 so we could really mess around with the combat for as long as we wanted, but oh well. At least the game comes out soon.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the physics seem toned down a bit. Still a little bit stupid, but a lot less exaggerated compared to 6 and K2.

The character looks kinda odd, like he's too old to be wearing that outfit.

I hadn't heard about the running being regulated, that is great news! I've decided to not play the demo (just like with FotN) and just wait for the game to release. Playing a game for the first time is generally a sacred moment for me and I don't want to ruin it by rushing through a demo, especially a lineair one.

Have to say I was always surprised that Kamurocho Hills was never really explored in the series. The area got such a build-up throughout the series and the best you do is trash the place as Kiryu in a cookycutter Long Battle in Y5.

Glad to hear the heat-actions are back and in full force. K2 and Y6 were very disappointing in that regard for me.

> detective stuff is boring
This worries me. It should be the thing that seperates the series from the rest. But as you said, we'll see!

The guy who is playing the character is some super famous idol/actor/singer in Japan, so IDK maybe they all tend to dress like that and they just incorporated it into his character design. He looks way cooler with slicked back hair and the lawyer suit though. Guess it would be too similar to Kiryu,

Yeah I haven't heard anyone talk about the run cycle either but I noticed it immediately lol I don't understand the people that say they like having to hold or mash a button to run. "It makes it more realistic" they say. Whatever, I can tolerate it as long as it doesn't feel clunky as shit like a Rockstar game. I legit thought my controller was broken when I first played GTAV. Worst controls in the entire series if you ask me.

Well technically you could explore it a little in Dead Souls as well, but it didn't have any stores to enter. I'm assuming a fleshed out Kamurocho Hills will be the way they expand the city in Shin Yakuza.

Yeah but it's lame that they just reused the Heat Actions for all the weapons. Oh well.

The detective stuff just seems like Ass's Creed but at least in those games you can parkour and choose where to hide. This just seems like hand holdy garbage so far. Everything else looks pretty sweet though, so if it does suck I can deal with it.

I'm not hearing much on this game. Was it any good?

I saw some video not long ago with the guy doing all these moves from jumping off walls. Looked decent.

It was excellent, but held back by the engine. Very choppy 30 fps framerate and dull minigames as I've heard, but very fun combat as always with Yakuza titles. It is still on my list of games to play.

I decided to pick this up.
Has anyone played this? I will post impressions/combat details if anyone's interested.

Impressions would be greatly appreciated as I’m still interested in this.

I'm interested. Had my eye on it for a while

I'll throw in some notes as I play, it just started opening up.


You can sprint by tapping X, this lets you hop over enemies and either throw, stun, or heavy attack them.
The throw is great but you are vulnerable. There are heat moves as well.
You can also sprint at a wall and do the same from it. This feels amazing when it works, though the detection is wonky. It is great having these environmental options. Had they expanded on this for 7, it could have truly been next level shit.

The only annoying thing about it is you can no longer dodge without locking on.
Hell most moves, like dodge canceling, don't work unless locked on.
You pretty much have to always hold R1 which I am not a fan of.
Anyone who has played the games knows how jank the lock on is.
Not a deal breaker though, you get used to it.

There are two styles. One for groups, one for single targets which gives some armor.
Each one changes most heat moves, and what you do from wall and enemy jumps as well as your running attack.
For instance, in group style if you hold an enemy up against the wall, you will hit three people with the heat move, instead of one.
The heavy style also has charging for square and triangle, but I haven't unlocked them yet, they mention more armor on hits. Sounds like Saejima.
It mentions releasing the charge at the right moment, hoping for just attacks.
Edit: It is a just attack. You hold square and as long as they don't block it locks them into a timing mini game to do more damage. You are very vulnerable during, but it is so satisfying. It's cool to have a reason to not hit triangle.
There is also a triangle charge, It has a ton of armor.

There is attack canceling with dodges, up to three hit triangle finishers, as well as triple dodging.
All of this is available off the bat. Which is great, there are almost no skill tress, you can just pick what you want.
That being said double/triple dodge are a miss-able in the first disguise mission.
If missed, you have to wait until chapter 5. I ended up reloading a save as I find that crucial.
Tiger Drop is a QR code you can take a picture of and have as soon as you can roam the city.
So great to have that immediately.

One strange thing is this game has the slowest heat generation of the series. The heat bar is segmented into 6 parts, most heat actions take one segment. You could fight 4 random battles before recharging one segment, kind of crazy. That being said, retrying a boss or checkpoint fully refills your heat bar, which is new. Not sure why the went this route. I miss the days of a single bloody binding tiger drop that refilled your entire bar.

Notes aside, how are you liking the game? I'm still interested in the game but haven't had the time to pick it up sadly.

I am enjoying it, but it is not perfect.

The big negatives:
The tailing, drone surveillance, general sleuthing is absolutely brain-dead boring. No fun at all and drags the game out beyond belief. Imagine if every time Kiryu got a lead and went to a yakuza stronghold he had to do some dumb investigation mini game for 15 minutes, before he started busting tojo heads.
I don't even want to do the side missions because I am afraid of having to tail someone.

Not enough fights so far. I am on like chapter 6 and have had 0 long battles, and very few bosses.

Positives:
Story has me intrigued
Combat is fun when the game lets you do it, though it really requires upgrades to get to the fun point.
Best upgrade tree in the series, very little is gated by other upgrades.
I really like the characters. Though Nagoshi games always shine there.

If you have the money, it's good fun.

I suspected this game might have juggling after seeing the way some moves worked, and what do you know, it totally does.
A real first for the series. Imagine if 7 built on the Dragon Engine, and didn't throw it all away...

Pretty damning information coming out regarding the new Judge Eyes game. There's a ton of stuff going to be locked behind a DLC wall:

- supply package (just some items)
- 3 new girlfriends (meh)
- some healing items (just some items)
- 3 costumes for your dog (lol)
- 4 extra minigames to play (what the fuck)
- a unique hoverboard for traversal (but why)
- a skatepark area (god why)
- Super Amon boss (digital deluxe only, otherwise DLC. the fucking nerve)
- AN ENTIRE NEW FIGHTING STYLE FOR THE PROTAGONIST

This is pretty...damning.

>AN ENTIRE NEW FIGHTING STYLE FOR THE PROTAGONIST

Welcome to modern gaming.
One of the few action brawlers that could possibly be really good and they do this shit.
Sad I would buy it no matter the price if I play this. They found the one micro-transaction people like us will buy.

Good thing you have Knack 2 eh Roy.

But yeah this is why I barely touch new games these days. That list is totally mental.

Yakuza 0 (which I love) attracted a lot of new people and these are the results: change to turn-based RPG for the main series, awful monetization ideas, no Kenzan or Ishin for the West, remasters and remakes with bugs and glitches (some are frame-rate related, some can be fixed with mods, etc.).
I was one of those fans who couldn't comprehend why Yakuza 3 wasn't a bigger hit, but I shouldn't have hoped for a great success.
I even heard that Toshihiro Nagoshi could leave Sega...

Very disappointing. Guess I'll be waiting for a "complete edition" (and a deep discount too).

Yeah Nagoshi is apparently getting snagged by Tencent? Heard they might get the director of Y1 and Y2 back.

> hoped series would be more popular
I used to be in the same boat. Then Ninja Gaiden got a 10 minute lease on life with the MC and I regretted it. I was one of the people that got onboard with Yakuza through Zero, which just hooked me in completely. That said, I'm pretty done with the series now.

> Done with the series
I got into the series with Y0 too, since played Kiwami and Kiwami 2 and they're nowhere near the quality of 0 IMO. Y0 was probably one of the most complete games I've ever played - the combination of story, gameplay and music was fantastic. I still intend to play the others but between the two Kiwami titles I can't find the excitement to play them.

Yakuza 3 is my personal favourite due to its high difficultym, which really adds to the flavour of the combat system. Yakuza 4 has the best 'combo' potential while 5 is just absolutely swarming with content. 1 and 2 are, imo, the weakes due to their Kiwami releases being mediocre. Yakuza 2's original release is far superior imo with its moody atmosphere and more grounded combat. Not a fan of the floaty combat in YK2 and Y6.

Does anyone know if the 60 fps upgrade in Judgment remaster (I'm talking about the first game) breaks the physics/AI/dodge? The original release on PS4 had a distinctive visual that was inspired by Japanese dramas, the remaster on PS5 looks worse but it has 60 fps.

This series had several problems with 60 fps in the past (Yakuza 3 Remastered, Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 on PC, etc.).