This review contains spoilers
There may be light contextual spoilers in this review.
AITSF-NI is a great follow-up to the first game. It does not disappoint. I had a lot of fun playing it and after a certain point I could not put the game down. However, I do have grievances with certain things with the game.
The second game took the gameplay of the first and improved it immensely. In the first game, the game is split into two different gameplay modes: Story/Talk mode and Somniums. In the first game, the story/talk mode left me a little disappointed as a lot of it is just talking and listening (the story carries this so it's not as stale, but the gameplay is typical to visual novel games). In this game, the developers did a great job in adding more variety in both modes. There are new investigation modes to breakup the story better, and the somniums have way more variety in how they function. The somniums in particular each had their own set of rules to work within which varied the gameplay a lot more.
The story is really where this game shines. It has no problem luring you in and keeping you there. I loved the premise of the story and it introduces all the new characters in a way that isn't overwhelming, and allows each character to have their space.
After finishing the game and looking back, the amount of details that this game has for consistent story telling really show the care that the devs have for "this type of story." The twists and turns and the WOW moments are great and made my jaw drop. The small details and "tricks" the devs did in this story really make you go wow. While positive, all this highlights the negative of the next point...
My problems with this game comes from character development (or lack thereof). There are maybe 5 characters out of 23 that actually had a fleshed-out story. I understand with such a large cast now it would be impossible to have a full story for each, but in the first game all characters, even small side characters, felt more 3 dimensional. Ryuki, Komeji, Tama, Amame and Mizuki are the real standouts from the cast. Other characters like Gen, Iris, Shoma, Kizuna and Lien felt very flat and I feel had wasted potential to have a more fleshed-out story their respective routes. It was frustrating that in particular, Gen and Lien had basically the same story tropes (Guy meets girl that changes their life for the better). Gen I feel in particular had really wasted potential with his connection to Naix. Not to say that lack of character development makes the game bad, but this game could have been thaaaat much better if they took more care in the other routes.
The original cast was sidelined completely in this game. This may have been a directorial choice to give the new characters screen time and a chance to develop, but after seeing how little many of the new characters were fleshed out, its disappointing to see your favourite characters from the first game just forgotten about.
2 routes, both in Lien's Somnium, felt rushed and incomplete. It felt like they added more routes for the sake of matching the same number of routes to the first game. The little bits of information obtained in these routes did not feel satisfying to achieve after 2 hours of gameplay.
The ending really drags for no particular reason other than to add more QTE. It diminishes the real impact of the ending. Maybe it didn't help that I was finishing the game at 5 in the morning (I couldn't stop playing, the game is good!), but the ending ruins the "magic" of the end with the drawn out last segnment.
Aside from the negatives, I really enjoyed this game. As a whole, this game is a solid entry with many improvements from the first. However, hardcore fans will be left disappointed with character development and weak story routes.
AITSF-NI is a great follow-up to the first game. It does not disappoint. I had a lot of fun playing it and after a certain point I could not put the game down. However, I do have grievances with certain things with the game.
The second game took the gameplay of the first and improved it immensely. In the first game, the game is split into two different gameplay modes: Story/Talk mode and Somniums. In the first game, the story/talk mode left me a little disappointed as a lot of it is just talking and listening (the story carries this so it's not as stale, but the gameplay is typical to visual novel games). In this game, the developers did a great job in adding more variety in both modes. There are new investigation modes to breakup the story better, and the somniums have way more variety in how they function. The somniums in particular each had their own set of rules to work within which varied the gameplay a lot more.
The story is really where this game shines. It has no problem luring you in and keeping you there. I loved the premise of the story and it introduces all the new characters in a way that isn't overwhelming, and allows each character to have their space.
After finishing the game and looking back, the amount of details that this game has for consistent story telling really show the care that the devs have for "this type of story." The twists and turns and the WOW moments are great and made my jaw drop. The small details and "tricks" the devs did in this story really make you go wow. While positive, all this highlights the negative of the next point...
My problems with this game comes from character development (or lack thereof). There are maybe 5 characters out of 23 that actually had a fleshed-out story. I understand with such a large cast now it would be impossible to have a full story for each, but in the first game all characters, even small side characters, felt more 3 dimensional. Ryuki, Komeji, Tama, Amame and Mizuki are the real standouts from the cast. Other characters like Gen, Iris, Shoma, Kizuna and Lien felt very flat and I feel had wasted potential to have a more fleshed-out story their respective routes. It was frustrating that in particular, Gen and Lien had basically the same story tropes (Guy meets girl that changes their life for the better). Gen I feel in particular had really wasted potential with his connection to Naix. Not to say that lack of character development makes the game bad, but this game could have been thaaaat much better if they took more care in the other routes.
The original cast was sidelined completely in this game. This may have been a directorial choice to give the new characters screen time and a chance to develop, but after seeing how little many of the new characters were fleshed out, its disappointing to see your favourite characters from the first game just forgotten about.
2 routes, both in Lien's Somnium, felt rushed and incomplete. It felt like they added more routes for the sake of matching the same number of routes to the first game. The little bits of information obtained in these routes did not feel satisfying to achieve after 2 hours of gameplay.
The ending really drags for no particular reason other than to add more QTE. It diminishes the real impact of the ending. Maybe it didn't help that I was finishing the game at 5 in the morning (I couldn't stop playing, the game is good!), but the ending ruins the "magic" of the end with the drawn out last segnment.
Aside from the negatives, I really enjoyed this game. As a whole, this game is a solid entry with many improvements from the first. However, hardcore fans will be left disappointed with character development and weak story routes.