s_bishop
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
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Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
3 days
Last played
September 30, 2022
First played
August 11, 2022
Platforms Played
This review contains spoilers
I honestly enjoyed this game as much as 1, despite its faults (which there are many).
Its most obvious faults are character designs that range from great to way too horny to bad (likely due to it being heavily appealed to teenage boys), hit or miss voice acting, a few plot issues as well as some gameplay choices.
Gameplay wise I enjoyed it more than the first despite the gacha mechanic being dumb and bordering on annoying. The titans explored in this entry are a lot more fleshed out with things to find and see as well as generally more involved side quests that, while a few still are here and there for padding, aren't just "go find x number of y" or "go kill x at y", which was a big improvement to me. The combat itself is really engaging once you get the hang of it. (took me 10 or so hours.) I enjoyed setting up blade combos and the customization of blades with aux cores as well as how those tie into chain attacks (which seriously improved from 1 in my opinion). The gacha mechanic really does weigh it down though. Many of the most fun blades to use are locked behind rolls upon rolls of the gacha in hopes you'll get them. It's dumb and doesn't belong in a $60 game.
This game presents itself pretty well across the board with some minor and major hinderances. As stated, the character designs can be slightly egregious to many. I honestly didn't mind Pyra and Mythra's over the top horny design but I can see why people have an issue with it and kills their immersion. Also I don't really like Rex's design until he gets a flashy new suit in the climax of the game. Other than that I generally enjoy the designs of the game, with Malos and Poppi α being personal favourites. The voice acting in this entry is also notoriously hit or miss. Rex especially is a real shame as his voice acting in this ranges from excellent to garbage, its an especially bad look after Adam Howden set such a high bar with Shulk. There's still consistently well voiced characters in this game thankfully, Zeke is great all around and I absolutely adore Malos' voice.
The music is honestly a step beyond the first's to me which is saying a LOT since I love its soundtrack. But they fucking killed it with this one. Its incredibly bombastic and memorable and its more sombre songs are also a highlight. Great battle themes to boot.
As for the story, I loved it. There are a couple things that make me question the writers but overall its characters and worldbuilding are excellently crafted with a climax that blows the first's climax out of the water. I really enjoyed how the party play off eachother's personalities and backgrounds, especially Zeke and Poppi. Poppi's subtle development throughout the game is excellent and is one of if not the best robot characters in anything I've played. Zeke also going from a comedic character to having actual story value and quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in the game by the end really surprised me. The villains in this game are excellent, each of the main three's different reasons for why they're against the main party and how it plays off the other villains is really entertaining. My issues with the story revolve around how they treat Tora, and maybe Morag aswell as Mythra. Tora has an interesting concept to his character, being an artificial driver using an artificial blade he made himself. But the writers make him out to be a complete creep, with implications that he made Poppi as some form of sex robot and that he's a huge pervert. It was fine once or twice, but it really made me hard to like him. However, what really annoys me is how he is shafted during the best part of the game. After chapter 6 or so, he hardly says anything besides "Rex-Rex" and adds nothing to the plot. This also applies to Morag but she's already super cool so I'm not as mad. With Mythra, who is a character I generally enjoyed I mainly have an issue with one moment between her and Poppi in the land of Morytha. This is when they make a "promise" in a friendly manner, however Mythra essentially manipulates Poppi into stopping Rex from saving her from committing her suicide at the end of the game. I'm not sure what the writers were going for with this, as she likely did not plan her suicide as she couldn't have known what was going to happen at Elysium, however it confuses me a lot. (sorry for the rambly section) Also, about the ending, I thought it was pretty great despite how people generally ( i think) feel about it. I think Pneuma sacrificing herself is fitting as she is willing to die in peace and is a sign of her development as a character, but at the same time Pyra and Mythra not being alive to be with Rex would be such a poor ending and defeats the point of their character in my opinion.
Overall, despite this game's issues I think its fantastic and if you liked the first game or just like JRPG's its an absolute must play, or at least worth a try.
Its most obvious faults are character designs that range from great to way too horny to bad (likely due to it being heavily appealed to teenage boys), hit or miss voice acting, a few plot issues as well as some gameplay choices.
Gameplay wise I enjoyed it more than the first despite the gacha mechanic being dumb and bordering on annoying. The titans explored in this entry are a lot more fleshed out with things to find and see as well as generally more involved side quests that, while a few still are here and there for padding, aren't just "go find x number of y" or "go kill x at y", which was a big improvement to me. The combat itself is really engaging once you get the hang of it. (took me 10 or so hours.) I enjoyed setting up blade combos and the customization of blades with aux cores as well as how those tie into chain attacks (which seriously improved from 1 in my opinion). The gacha mechanic really does weigh it down though. Many of the most fun blades to use are locked behind rolls upon rolls of the gacha in hopes you'll get them. It's dumb and doesn't belong in a $60 game.
This game presents itself pretty well across the board with some minor and major hinderances. As stated, the character designs can be slightly egregious to many. I honestly didn't mind Pyra and Mythra's over the top horny design but I can see why people have an issue with it and kills their immersion. Also I don't really like Rex's design until he gets a flashy new suit in the climax of the game. Other than that I generally enjoy the designs of the game, with Malos and Poppi α being personal favourites. The voice acting in this entry is also notoriously hit or miss. Rex especially is a real shame as his voice acting in this ranges from excellent to garbage, its an especially bad look after Adam Howden set such a high bar with Shulk. There's still consistently well voiced characters in this game thankfully, Zeke is great all around and I absolutely adore Malos' voice.
The music is honestly a step beyond the first's to me which is saying a LOT since I love its soundtrack. But they fucking killed it with this one. Its incredibly bombastic and memorable and its more sombre songs are also a highlight. Great battle themes to boot.
As for the story, I loved it. There are a couple things that make me question the writers but overall its characters and worldbuilding are excellently crafted with a climax that blows the first's climax out of the water. I really enjoyed how the party play off eachother's personalities and backgrounds, especially Zeke and Poppi. Poppi's subtle development throughout the game is excellent and is one of if not the best robot characters in anything I've played. Zeke also going from a comedic character to having actual story value and quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in the game by the end really surprised me. The villains in this game are excellent, each of the main three's different reasons for why they're against the main party and how it plays off the other villains is really entertaining. My issues with the story revolve around how they treat Tora, and maybe Morag aswell as Mythra. Tora has an interesting concept to his character, being an artificial driver using an artificial blade he made himself. But the writers make him out to be a complete creep, with implications that he made Poppi as some form of sex robot and that he's a huge pervert. It was fine once or twice, but it really made me hard to like him. However, what really annoys me is how he is shafted during the best part of the game. After chapter 6 or so, he hardly says anything besides "Rex-Rex" and adds nothing to the plot. This also applies to Morag but she's already super cool so I'm not as mad. With Mythra, who is a character I generally enjoyed I mainly have an issue with one moment between her and Poppi in the land of Morytha. This is when they make a "promise" in a friendly manner, however Mythra essentially manipulates Poppi into stopping Rex from saving her from committing her suicide at the end of the game. I'm not sure what the writers were going for with this, as she likely did not plan her suicide as she couldn't have known what was going to happen at Elysium, however it confuses me a lot. (sorry for the rambly section) Also, about the ending, I thought it was pretty great despite how people generally ( i think) feel about it. I think Pneuma sacrificing herself is fitting as she is willing to die in peace and is a sign of her development as a character, but at the same time Pyra and Mythra not being alive to be with Rex would be such a poor ending and defeats the point of their character in my opinion.
Overall, despite this game's issues I think its fantastic and if you liked the first game or just like JRPG's its an absolute must play, or at least worth a try.