It's more impressive on a technical level. Soundtrack has more oomph to it than standard ambiance, art is - as others have pointed - very detailed and works to sell the world more, and there's more going on in the writing.... and yet I still think the first one affected me more emotionally.
The new length is probably what harms it for me. The first one was briefer, being a 20-30 minute kinetic-like VN in contrast to this being about an hour+ long with endings that, while containing the same final cutscene, have a different route getting to it, and as such there's a lot more exposition going around. However, it feels like this time around, I'm more so being told me how I should feel instead of shown the vignettes while I sort my feelings and perception out as to why I reacted as such. Now, this could work, especially since the narrative's being more concrete now, but I'm gonna be honest, there were more than a handful of moments where I felt like skipping dialog cause it just, kept, going, I felt some scenarios could've been cut down a smidge and largely delivered the same intent, and I don't exactly intend on doing the same thing only slightly different for a few cutscenes that I could just look up online.
Not to say that the things that made the first one good are all gone, not at all. Some scenarios feel as if they're about as, if not more intriguing, some lines and moments from Milk1 are given much more intensity and purpose here that I won't really spoil, and there are times where the extra attention to detail and expo-dumps sell the going ons a lot more than if it was more simple. I'm also willing to be more forgiving cause I did play this while a little tired, so maybe the sudden jerk into the more dialog-heavy direction just threw me off a bit.
In any case, I can see why people are liking this a lot. I'm surprised people on here are saying this (and Milk1) feel more like they're glorifying and being more harm to the state of people with depression or severe medical and mental problems. Maybe it does get worse with the dialog changes and focus in the other endings, but I never really got that, it largely felt like Nikita was writing a story that they pulled some experiences from and meant well while doing so.
The new length is probably what harms it for me. The first one was briefer, being a 20-30 minute kinetic-like VN in contrast to this being about an hour+ long with endings that, while containing the same final cutscene, have a different route getting to it, and as such there's a lot more exposition going around. However, it feels like this time around, I'm more so being told me how I should feel instead of shown the vignettes while I sort my feelings and perception out as to why I reacted as such. Now, this could work, especially since the narrative's being more concrete now, but I'm gonna be honest, there were more than a handful of moments where I felt like skipping dialog cause it just, kept, going, I felt some scenarios could've been cut down a smidge and largely delivered the same intent, and I don't exactly intend on doing the same thing only slightly different for a few cutscenes that I could just look up online.
Not to say that the things that made the first one good are all gone, not at all. Some scenarios feel as if they're about as, if not more intriguing, some lines and moments from Milk1 are given much more intensity and purpose here that I won't really spoil, and there are times where the extra attention to detail and expo-dumps sell the going ons a lot more than if it was more simple. I'm also willing to be more forgiving cause I did play this while a little tired, so maybe the sudden jerk into the more dialog-heavy direction just threw me off a bit.
In any case, I can see why people are liking this a lot. I'm surprised people on here are saying this (and Milk1) feel more like they're glorifying and being more harm to the state of people with depression or severe medical and mental problems. Maybe it does get worse with the dialog changes and focus in the other endings, but I never really got that, it largely felt like Nikita was writing a story that they pulled some experiences from and meant well while doing so.