Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Let’s Talk About the Kaito Files

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Mar 232022
 

Back ahead of Lost Judgment’s launch, we talked a bit about its DLC.

I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of side content being locked behind DLC, especially when that includes side cases as part of the day-one DLC.

But the one piece of DLC I had no problem with was final piece, a story expansion DLC set for spring 2022 called the Kaito Files.

Spring is here, and the Kaito Files has had its release date announced: March 28.

The Kaito Files begins with Kaito watching over the agency alone while Yagami is on a business trip, when he accepts a missing persons case that ends up tying into his own past. Several tweets have shown off new characters, Kaito’s combat, and more. Apparently he can also look, listen, and… sniff for clues.

All of this sounds great, and plenty of screenshots have been shown off as well.

Now, it seems that the Kaito Files will cost $29.99 on its own, in addition to being included in the Season Pass. The Season Pass costs $34.99, though, so it almost seems like it’s not worth getting on its own when you could get all that other extra content for $5 more.

Since I’ve had mixed feelings about the other DLC content from the start, that makes me wonder if it’s a ploy to get more people to buy the Season Pass.

More importantly, at that price, it costs half what the full game did when it first came out. So will the Kaito Files provide half a Lost Judgment’s worth of content? Back when it was first announced, it was said to be 10 hours long. That’s a hefty amount of playtime for DLC, but perhaps not for DLC that costs half as much as the whole game. On the other hand, maybe it’ll have its own side content that expands it further.

By the time I’m ready to even consider playing the Kaito Files, I’m sure I’ll have answers to all these questions. There’s a reason we haven’t talked about Lost Judgment yet despite how hyped I was for it when it was announced, and for once it’s not just that I didn’t get to it yet.

No, it’s because I decided to finish the main Yakuza series first, to avoid spoilers. So I have 3 whole games to go before starting Lost Judgment, let alone its DLC.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on the Kaito Files?

Yakuza 8 Plans, Judgment’s Future, Unannounced Titles Planned

 Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 172021
 

Back in October, an announcement from Ryu Ga Gotoku posted on the official website confirmed both that the company was being restructured and also that the next Yakuza game was in development.

Yakuza 8 (although who knows what they’ll title it in the west, since Yakuza 7 became Yakuza: Like a Dragon) has now been mentioned again in a new interview with director Masayoshi Yokoyama in this week’s Weekly Famitsu, translated by Gematsu.

In it, they first mention that the restructuring is normal for a company like this, and then confirm that Yakuza 8 will follow Ichiban as the main character again. It also will be “set several years after the story of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.”

(Yakuza games often take place in the year they’re released, so that makes sense.)

Since Yakuza 8 was already confirmed, of greater interest to me is the mention of Judgment. He says that Judgment is “very important” and goes on to say that they will “actively challenge [themselves] to create new titles, not only for Judgment, as circumstances permit.”

Now, I read that in an optimistic way. I interpreted “not only for Judgment” to mean a new Judgment title is all but confirmed to happen eventually, which made me happy that the rumors of the series ending were false.

…But most people online, it seems, interpret it in the exact opposite way and are upset that this interview confirms Lost Judgment is the last game in the Judgment series. This seems largely due to VGC reporting that Yokoyama said they would “cherish” the series and then recounting the earlier rumors. In my opinion, the lack of the “not only for Judgment” quote and the repetition of the rumor makes the outlook sound more negative.

Meanwhile, Twinfinite claims Yokoyama said he has high hopes for the Judgment series continuing, but there wasn’t a specific quote.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, you might be asking why I haven’t played my much-anticipated Lost Judgment yet, and that’s because I decided to finish the Yakuza series first due to Lost Judgment including a spoiler for Like a Dragon.

(It’s killing me; I want to play Lost Judgment now.)

One final interesting piece of information from the interview is that “unannounced titles outside of both series are also in the works.”

That could refer to more spin-offs, being outside the mainline Yakuza series, or another licensed spin-off like the Fist of the North Star game, or maybe even a whole new IP. Whatever it is, RGG Studio has proven to me that it’s something I’ll want to keep an eye on.

Here’s hoping we still have a chance of getting Kenzan and Ishin in the west…

How do you feel about the latest updates from RGG Studio?

Lost Judgment DLC Details

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Sep 032021
 

One mystery that has surrounded Lost Judgment ever since it became available for pre-order was that the Digital Deluxe and Digital Ultimate editions included some sort of DLC, but no one knew what.

Well, the DLC has now officially been revealed.

Everything is listed out here by Gematsu. All pre-orders include the Quick-Start Support Pack, basically some bonus items as a preorder bonus.

Then there are three main pieces of DLC: the Detective Essentials Pack, the School Stories Expansion Pack, and the Kaito Files Story Expansion.

The Detective Essentials Pack includes new colors for your dog, four new Master System games, a “Super Shin Amon” fight, and three additional girlfriend options, along with some other items and bonuses. This feels substantial for day-one DLC, and I’m not crazy about extra side content being available at launch as DLC.

(The Japanese website appears to list Tsukino as one of the three extra girlfriends, which makes me hope the twins are returning outside of DLC as well.)

On October 26, the School Stories Expansion Pack will be released with a lot of little extras, like new dance moves and motorcycle parts, and more notably a fourth combat style that lets you use the boxing mini-game’s moves in actual combat.

Making a combat style DLC doesn’t sit well with a lot of fans, and to me it feels strange to release content that would appear throughout the game a month after it comes out.

And finally, the big Kaito Files Story Expansion DLC will be out in Spring 2022, and it’s a side story starring Kaito as a playable character. According to the official details, it will be about 10 hours long.

Since all of these things are described only as being pre-order bonuses with the Digital Deluxe/Digital Ultimate, I got a little concerned that you might not be able to buy them on their own, but RGG Studio confirmed that the Lost Judgment DLC will be available to purchase separately.

I have mixed feelings about the DLC. The story DLC is fine; I’m completely okay with buying DLC for a good side story expansion. And I never care much about cosmetic DLC and minor things like that. But including small pieces of side content, mini-games, and a combat style as DLC feels like a step in the wrong direction.

How do you feel about Lost Judgment’s DLC? Will you be getting it?

 Older Entries  Newer Entries