the ending is dumb in that its the best thing I have ever seen. its got incel and indeed femcel rep and tales of skrunklies you can actually cheer for instead of caligula 1 where you kinda wanted everyone to shut up
Caligula Effect Overdose was a pretty legendary kusoge with a good story backed up by some of the worst gameplay systems on every level you can imagine. But, even in that game they managed to nail the vibes. When you first leave the classroom in Overdose and Peter Pan Syndrome starts playing, then get into battle and the vocals come in--its perfect.
They smartly leaned even more into that in Caligula 2 while softening all the edges that made that game so unplayable otherwise. In basically every way, this game is just "Caligula Overdose but better", down to the plot taking place in Redo, a literal redo of the first game's premise.
And I really do mean everything. Starting off, the dungeons are no longer awful, just bad. There's nothing like the fucking library or Aztec Temple of the first game, which alone is great. I hope by the third game they actually manage to make a good one.
The combat was always passable in Overdose, but the various aesthetic improvements here really nail the "contructing a music video" vibe of the game, especially the new "x-jack" feature which instantly swaps out the bgm with one sung by your friendly neighborhood good guy vocaloid and buffs your team--its honestly so sick when you're fighting a boss, x-jack and proceed to 100 hit combo all over them while your theme song plays, it just feels so triumphant and powerful. The mechanical improvements help too, of course, I can genuinely say I was Having Fun with the fights the entire way through, if I played through again I'd probably go to the highest difficulty just to see how crazy that is.
Narratively, while this game sacrifices playable musicians and doesn't dwell quite as much really fucked up protagonists--there's no absolute scumbags like Eiji in this game you're forced to play with--it makes up for it by just having a really entertaining party. Your initial two--trendy sneakerhead Gin and airheaded old soul Sarasa are immediately endearing and stayed some of my favorites through the entire game, the local fuckboy Kobato is easily the funniest womanizer I've ever seen in a jrpg--basically every line he says had me dying of laughter, the genki zoomer Nico is similarly hilarious and has one of the most interesting interior lives I've seen in a game, and who can forget our lovely class president Marie who's character basically manages to carry the entirety of act two on her predicament. Even the less-immediately interesting party members all have many moments and exploring their backstories is rewarding all the same. I genuinely love all these weirdos so much.
Even the ost is better, while I would never say Overdose's collection of vocaloid-inspired bangers anything remotely nearing bad, it was a bit too similar sounding--never really trending away from that sort of edgy emo-rock sound(with one or two notable exceptions like Oster Project's wonderful Tokimeki Reverie). Here, the tracks generally trend a bit more towards pop, but there's a significant amount of drift in sound, all for the better, with stuff like the wistful main theme SINGI, the funky spoken word infusion of Miss Conductor, or the immensely groovy Swap Out all being standouts for me. And of course, every time you get to a boss fight and the teddyloid EDM remix happens--its always amazing, even managing to take the more generic songs to incredible heights.
And when you get to the end, and you see what exactly the conflict of the final boss is--you can't help but laugh at it all. The narrative at play here is surprisingly stripped-back for what you're doing, but it works and for how little it actually says it sold itself to me.
If Caligula 2 suffers, its mostly just in the matter of budget--the side content continues to be lacking, if not as bad as the first game. Some of the climaxes fail to really connect just because they didn't really have the budget to sell the moment. The generic ost outside of the vocaloid tracks is penis music.
Altogether, just a really wonderful game--my hope is that this game's (relative) success gives them access to more resources so they can keep sanding off the sharp edges, because I genuinely believe they can produce one of those once-in-a-lifetime masterpieces with just a bit more.
They smartly leaned even more into that in Caligula 2 while softening all the edges that made that game so unplayable otherwise. In basically every way, this game is just "Caligula Overdose but better", down to the plot taking place in Redo, a literal redo of the first game's premise.
And I really do mean everything. Starting off, the dungeons are no longer awful, just bad. There's nothing like the fucking library or Aztec Temple of the first game, which alone is great. I hope by the third game they actually manage to make a good one.
The combat was always passable in Overdose, but the various aesthetic improvements here really nail the "contructing a music video" vibe of the game, especially the new "x-jack" feature which instantly swaps out the bgm with one sung by your friendly neighborhood good guy vocaloid and buffs your team--its honestly so sick when you're fighting a boss, x-jack and proceed to 100 hit combo all over them while your theme song plays, it just feels so triumphant and powerful. The mechanical improvements help too, of course, I can genuinely say I was Having Fun with the fights the entire way through, if I played through again I'd probably go to the highest difficulty just to see how crazy that is.
Narratively, while this game sacrifices playable musicians and doesn't dwell quite as much really fucked up protagonists--there's no absolute scumbags like Eiji in this game you're forced to play with--it makes up for it by just having a really entertaining party. Your initial two--trendy sneakerhead Gin and airheaded old soul Sarasa are immediately endearing and stayed some of my favorites through the entire game, the local fuckboy Kobato is easily the funniest womanizer I've ever seen in a jrpg--basically every line he says had me dying of laughter, the genki zoomer Nico is similarly hilarious and has one of the most interesting interior lives I've seen in a game, and who can forget our lovely class president Marie who's character basically manages to carry the entirety of act two on her predicament. Even the less-immediately interesting party members all have many moments and exploring their backstories is rewarding all the same. I genuinely love all these weirdos so much.
Even the ost is better, while I would never say Overdose's collection of vocaloid-inspired bangers anything remotely nearing bad, it was a bit too similar sounding--never really trending away from that sort of edgy emo-rock sound(with one or two notable exceptions like Oster Project's wonderful Tokimeki Reverie). Here, the tracks generally trend a bit more towards pop, but there's a significant amount of drift in sound, all for the better, with stuff like the wistful main theme SINGI, the funky spoken word infusion of Miss Conductor, or the immensely groovy Swap Out all being standouts for me. And of course, every time you get to a boss fight and the teddyloid EDM remix happens--its always amazing, even managing to take the more generic songs to incredible heights.
And when you get to the end, and you see what exactly the conflict of the final boss is--you can't help but laugh at it all. The narrative at play here is surprisingly stripped-back for what you're doing, but it works and for how little it actually says it sold itself to me.
If Caligula 2 suffers, its mostly just in the matter of budget--the side content continues to be lacking, if not as bad as the first game. Some of the climaxes fail to really connect just because they didn't really have the budget to sell the moment. The generic ost outside of the vocaloid tracks is penis music.
Altogether, just a really wonderful game--my hope is that this game's (relative) success gives them access to more resources so they can keep sanding off the sharp edges, because I genuinely believe they can produce one of those once-in-a-lifetime masterpieces with just a bit more.
Better than Persona 5, fight me in the Denny's parking lot about it.
amazing game with a really cool concept and a banger integration of its themes of identity and the self. does have its flaws in hindsight, but the parts it does well it knocks out of the park.
This is the best game ever made and I love it.
The music is peak.
Also don't play this without the first one, not because it's good but because you miss a lot of references.
Also don't play this without the first one, not because it's good but because you miss a lot of references.
on pace to be one of my favorite games in the weirdly well-populated genre of school life rpgs where you fight god or some reasonably equivalent entity.
Game rules.
Soundtrack? Banger.
Combat? Sick.
Characters? Chill bunch.
Soundtrack? Banger.
Combat? Sick.
Characters? Chill bunch.
A sequel I kind of recommend skipping the first entry for. It continues the general situation of the first game, but with a different cast and so much more sympathy. Plus, a big mystery of the second game will only be a big mystery if you play it first! (On the other hand, that same mystery will be spoiled in game 1 if you play game 2 first.)
In general, the Caligula Effect 2 is a very fun, easy game I gladly sunk 75 hours into. Pleasantly linear and stunningly hopeful for a game so blunt about traumas people face in all ages of life. It features very heartfelt transgender and nonbinary representation, without insisting everyone upset with their gendered treatment in life is trans by default.
Despite being a serial easy mode player, I was able to complete it the first time on the hardest difficulty without DLC aid. Make of that what you will.
Unfortunately, a decent amount of the game is only in Japanese audio, no text given: battle conversations among your party members, or between your party members and the bosses, are wholly untranslated. At least there are fan-translated versions of the party-only battle banter available, but it’s a very frustrating limitation of the official English localization.
Certain group quests take a lot of running around through tedious areas as well (one hospital floor is so poorly laid out for backtracking), and battles can also visually be rough on photosensitive people.
If you can get past those issues, amazing game, worth the time.
In general, the Caligula Effect 2 is a very fun, easy game I gladly sunk 75 hours into. Pleasantly linear and stunningly hopeful for a game so blunt about traumas people face in all ages of life. It features very heartfelt transgender and nonbinary representation, without insisting everyone upset with their gendered treatment in life is trans by default.
Despite being a serial easy mode player, I was able to complete it the first time on the hardest difficulty without DLC aid. Make of that what you will.
Unfortunately, a decent amount of the game is only in Japanese audio, no text given: battle conversations among your party members, or between your party members and the bosses, are wholly untranslated. At least there are fan-translated versions of the party-only battle banter available, but it’s a very frustrating limitation of the official English localization.
Certain group quests take a lot of running around through tedious areas as well (one hospital floor is so poorly laid out for backtracking), and battles can also visually be rough on photosensitive people.
If you can get past those issues, amazing game, worth the time.
one of my favorite video games of all time i think. while it’s not the best graphics and performance wise, there’s clearly so much heart and soul in this game. the writing is fucking ace and while it stumbles in certain places (namely pacing) it’s just. so good
peak desu~
The Caligula Effect 2 é uma evolução em comparação ao primeiro jogo em todos os aspectos e felizmente, pode ser jogado de forma idependente.
Sua história se manteve no mesmo nível, ela é baseada em arcos de personagens e segue a linha de títulos escolares como Blue Reflection, Persona, Tokyo Xanadu e por ai vai. O foco principal está voltado nos indivíduos que nos acompanham durante a aventura e parcialmente nos vilões da narrativa. Assim como no título antecessor, seu sistema social está recheado de plot twists em relação aos personagens, continua sendo do mesmo jeito, episódios de 1 a 9 finalizando com uma recompensa. Para os veteranos que jogaram o jogo anterior, existe um ótimo fan service no bad ending, então fica a dica.
O combate foi melhorado em 300%, agora não temos mais 3 ações pra cada membro da party, excluindo de vez aquela complexidade desnecessária; o game continua sendo tático por turnos, as habilidades individuais ganharam mais destaque, incluindo um novo sistema de power-up graças a X chamado de X-Jacking, concedendo buffs adicionais para os personagens em campo; foi adicionado o uso de itens durante as batalhas e finalmente aquelas visões do futuro estão mais precisas; ele continua sendo satisfatório quando as coisas acontecem como devem, e para minha supresa, existe agora dificuldade, com chefes capazes de te dar hit kill.
A trilha sonora é FANTÁSTICA, simples assim, ela é dinâmica havendo 3 variações pra cada faixa de música, tendo a mesma só no instrumental, vocal COM TROCA DE VOCALISTAS durante o X-Jacking, e por fim remixada quando é boss fight. Mano do céu, SINGI, Miss Conductor, Alter Garden, Swap Out, Eternal Silver; é ost pra ficar guardada no celular.
Sobre a apresentação visual.. ela é ótima, os sprites de personagens são bons e finalmente o gráfico 3D deu uma baita melhorada, quando vi o diálogo pela primeira vez, gritei: "CARALHO, A MENINA ABRE A BOCA PRA FALAR" pra você ter noção de como o primeiro jogo funcionava.
As dungeons melhoraram em 400% nessa sequência, agora existe de fato um senso de progressividade e não uma única sala que deram CTRL C CTRL V com nome de dungeon; dessa vez todas elas são bem distintas umas das outras possuindo pequenos puzzles aqui e ali.
De conteúdo secundário temos o antigo Causality Link de volta, só que com ótimas adições; missões secundárias envolvendo NPCs distintos chamadas de Group Quests é a novidade, com mini histórias relevantes que irão descontrair os jogadores.
Por fim senhores, esse título é só elogios, apesar de existirem alguns problemas na narrativa (como a própria Regret) e algumas mecânicas sem muita relevância como o dinheiro, The Caligula Effect 2 como já citado é uma evolução em todos os aspectos, ele entrega tudo que precisa em um JRPG, ótimos personagens, combate diferentão, uma fantástica trilha sonora e mais, tornando-se um dos melhores jogos do gênero lançados no ano de 2021.
Ps: Marie best girl, saio no soco pra defender minha garota.
Sua história se manteve no mesmo nível, ela é baseada em arcos de personagens e segue a linha de títulos escolares como Blue Reflection, Persona, Tokyo Xanadu e por ai vai. O foco principal está voltado nos indivíduos que nos acompanham durante a aventura e parcialmente nos vilões da narrativa. Assim como no título antecessor, seu sistema social está recheado de plot twists em relação aos personagens, continua sendo do mesmo jeito, episódios de 1 a 9 finalizando com uma recompensa. Para os veteranos que jogaram o jogo anterior, existe um ótimo fan service no bad ending, então fica a dica.
O combate foi melhorado em 300%, agora não temos mais 3 ações pra cada membro da party, excluindo de vez aquela complexidade desnecessária; o game continua sendo tático por turnos, as habilidades individuais ganharam mais destaque, incluindo um novo sistema de power-up graças a X chamado de X-Jacking, concedendo buffs adicionais para os personagens em campo; foi adicionado o uso de itens durante as batalhas e finalmente aquelas visões do futuro estão mais precisas; ele continua sendo satisfatório quando as coisas acontecem como devem, e para minha supresa, existe agora dificuldade, com chefes capazes de te dar hit kill.
A trilha sonora é FANTÁSTICA, simples assim, ela é dinâmica havendo 3 variações pra cada faixa de música, tendo a mesma só no instrumental, vocal COM TROCA DE VOCALISTAS durante o X-Jacking, e por fim remixada quando é boss fight. Mano do céu, SINGI, Miss Conductor, Alter Garden, Swap Out, Eternal Silver; é ost pra ficar guardada no celular.
Sobre a apresentação visual.. ela é ótima, os sprites de personagens são bons e finalmente o gráfico 3D deu uma baita melhorada, quando vi o diálogo pela primeira vez, gritei: "CARALHO, A MENINA ABRE A BOCA PRA FALAR" pra você ter noção de como o primeiro jogo funcionava.
As dungeons melhoraram em 400% nessa sequência, agora existe de fato um senso de progressividade e não uma única sala que deram CTRL C CTRL V com nome de dungeon; dessa vez todas elas são bem distintas umas das outras possuindo pequenos puzzles aqui e ali.
De conteúdo secundário temos o antigo Causality Link de volta, só que com ótimas adições; missões secundárias envolvendo NPCs distintos chamadas de Group Quests é a novidade, com mini histórias relevantes que irão descontrair os jogadores.
Por fim senhores, esse título é só elogios, apesar de existirem alguns problemas na narrativa (como a própria Regret) e algumas mecânicas sem muita relevância como o dinheiro, The Caligula Effect 2 como já citado é uma evolução em todos os aspectos, ele entrega tudo que precisa em um JRPG, ótimos personagens, combate diferentão, uma fantástica trilha sonora e mais, tornando-se um dos melhores jogos do gênero lançados no ano de 2021.
Ps: Marie best girl, saio no soco pra defender minha garota.
The Caligula Effect 2 é um excelente RPG que cumpre a maioria dos elementos que propõe. Embora deixe a desejar na profundidade das filosofias existencialistas apresentadas, o game consegue entregar um gameplay divertido e viciante, que irá agradar os fãs de JRPG, principalmente os por turnos.
Além disso, a trilha sonora incrivelmente bem encaixada e os personagens cativantes, fazem com que The Caligula Effect 2 seja um título que recomendo fortemente para todos que estão em busca de uma jornada fora do padrão, divertida e com uma pitada de questionamento existencialista.
Além disso, a trilha sonora incrivelmente bem encaixada e os personagens cativantes, fazem com que The Caligula Effect 2 seja um título que recomendo fortemente para todos que estão em busca de uma jornada fora do padrão, divertida e com uma pitada de questionamento existencialista.
la ost es epica
What a stellar JRPG. A vocaloid and her handlers have stuffed a bunch of the population into The Matrix, and everyone's a high school student now, regardless of who they were in real life. You run around, meeting folks more nuanced than anything you'd see in a Persona game, and do whatever you can to break this false reality and send everyone home. It's a phenomenal adventure from top to bottom, and it even has a trans character that isn't treated like shit! I loved this one to pieces.
THE GOAT
all of the dungeon/boss themes were composed by vocaloid producers which is all you need to know
lowkey better than at least some of the nusona games
lowkey better than at least some of the nusona games
I REGRET that i didnt play this sooner
Greatest Of All Time
Greatest Of All Time
they call me NPC numero uno, buddy
i called this a AA game the first time i saw it but honestly the visuals are the only thing that are not AAA here. disgusting and wonderful amount of optional dialogue showing a radiant, infectious love for its cast, a soundtrack that lives up to its reputation of "an album that comes with a game", one of the most genuinely interesting and fun combat systems ive tinkered with in a long time (i played on the highest difficulty and i had a blast snapping this thing in half and riding the razors edge of knowing anything kills me in one hit. i cheered whenever i saw an enemy 20+ levels higher than me guarding a chest). it handles some topics i would trust pretty much no big studio to handle well with flying colors in ways that brought me to tears (gin's final few character episodes hit me really hard in particular). and god the seiyuu work in this! i cannot believe this is a cast of mostly unknowns because they all fucking nail it. such a good time. i think about it and already get so many warm memories
HOLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Ignorando el conflicto repetitivo, mediocre e hipocrita de "Prefiero vivir en la cruel realidad que vivir en un mundo ficticio, pero mucho mejor para todos nosotros" que por alguna razón a muchos JRPGs les gusta tocar, el resto es una obra bastante destacable y de lo mejorcito en los JRPGs contemporáneos.
Caligula 2 transcurre unos años después de los sucesos del primero, pero no te preocupes puesto que no es necesario haber jugado al primero para entender este debido a que es una historia independiente con nuevos personajes.
Algo que destacar, aparte del combate que me parece uno de los mejores combates mejor diseñados en un JRPG, no solo es combate por turnos que de por sí ya es un punto a favor, sino que si te obliga a analizar y a pensar cada movimiento, sino que me refiero al diseño elegido para la obra... Detesto los jrpg con ambiente medieval (con algunas excepciones como la saga trails), pero mi debilidad son los que están ambientados en un ambiente urbano contemporáneo y Caligula 2 ofrece una buena inmersión en este sentido, al igual que el diseño de los personajes son excelentes, cada uno con sus detalles unicos y diferenciatorios (joder, en que otro JRPG puedes tener en tu equipo a un fuckboy?)
En cuanto al OST supongo que es evidente, pero tanto Caligula 1 como el 2 destacan en este tema y no es para menos ya que su trama gira en torno a la musica, su significado e importancia. La saga Persona me parece la mejor obra que sabe darle importancia a su OST, pero ahora creo que Caligula 2 lo supera en ese tema, supieron implementar de una manera magistral la musica.
Ya que he tocado el tema de Persona, pues seh... Esta obra no solo la disfrute mas, sino que me parecio mejor que la mayoría de Persona. Algunas de las mecánicas que ofrece esta obra son inspiradas en la saga Persona, pero aquí realmente se sienten más cómodas como lo es el Social Link ya que está mucho mejor implementado que en la saga Persona. También algo que le aplaudo a Caligula es que a diferencia de Persona, Caligula no teme en tratar temas de verdad complicados relacionados con la vida personal de cada Personaje, cosas que Persona aunque los fans de esa saga se jactan de que toca temas maduros, seamos sinceros, jamás se atrevería a tocar...
Lo único negativo que podría mencionar sería su final, que sin ser "malo", si se siente apresurado e inconcluso y eso hace que no le ponga una calificación más alta, pero quitando eso, es una obra que me sorprendió gratamente y tiene su mérito viniendo de una precuela que para lo único que servía era como reproductor MP3. No suelo decir esto mucho, pero me gustaría ver una nueva entrega de la saga.
Caligula 2 transcurre unos años después de los sucesos del primero, pero no te preocupes puesto que no es necesario haber jugado al primero para entender este debido a que es una historia independiente con nuevos personajes.
Algo que destacar, aparte del combate que me parece uno de los mejores combates mejor diseñados en un JRPG, no solo es combate por turnos que de por sí ya es un punto a favor, sino que si te obliga a analizar y a pensar cada movimiento, sino que me refiero al diseño elegido para la obra... Detesto los jrpg con ambiente medieval (con algunas excepciones como la saga trails), pero mi debilidad son los que están ambientados en un ambiente urbano contemporáneo y Caligula 2 ofrece una buena inmersión en este sentido, al igual que el diseño de los personajes son excelentes, cada uno con sus detalles unicos y diferenciatorios (joder, en que otro JRPG puedes tener en tu equipo a un fuckboy?)
En cuanto al OST supongo que es evidente, pero tanto Caligula 1 como el 2 destacan en este tema y no es para menos ya que su trama gira en torno a la musica, su significado e importancia. La saga Persona me parece la mejor obra que sabe darle importancia a su OST, pero ahora creo que Caligula 2 lo supera en ese tema, supieron implementar de una manera magistral la musica.
Ya que he tocado el tema de Persona, pues seh... Esta obra no solo la disfrute mas, sino que me parecio mejor que la mayoría de Persona. Algunas de las mecánicas que ofrece esta obra son inspiradas en la saga Persona, pero aquí realmente se sienten más cómodas como lo es el Social Link ya que está mucho mejor implementado que en la saga Persona. También algo que le aplaudo a Caligula es que a diferencia de Persona, Caligula no teme en tratar temas de verdad complicados relacionados con la vida personal de cada Personaje, cosas que Persona aunque los fans de esa saga se jactan de que toca temas maduros, seamos sinceros, jamás se atrevería a tocar...
Lo único negativo que podría mencionar sería su final, que sin ser "malo", si se siente apresurado e inconcluso y eso hace que no le ponga una calificación más alta, pero quitando eso, es una obra que me sorprendió gratamente y tiene su mérito viniendo de una precuela que para lo único que servía era como reproductor MP3. No suelo decir esto mucho, pero me gustaría ver una nueva entrega de la saga.
The story is just so well written and nothing over the top as such despite being a JRPG makes it so good. The combat is an interesting take but it’s done horribly and it’s not worth being played at any higher level of difficulty. The characters are great but you really feel the budget pushing back the game with its character sprites
For example: the 3D character sprite for the main character is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Regardless of those things, it’s a really good game.
For example: the 3D character sprite for the main character is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Regardless of those things, it’s a really good game.
I have no idea how, after the mess that is the first game, they managed to make such a perfect thing in here
This game is just incredible, it's so heartfelt in the way it deals with its topics and characters and full of love for all kinds of people and their problems
Legit cannot think of many flaws, despite the low budget which in itself isn't nearly as jarring as it was on the first game
Just a wonderful experience, I'm so glad I decided to still give it a shot
If you're interested in playing it you definitely should, because it's almost a guarantee that it has something you will resonate with, it sure as hell did for me several times
This game is just incredible, it's so heartfelt in the way it deals with its topics and characters and full of love for all kinds of people and their problems
Legit cannot think of many flaws, despite the low budget which in itself isn't nearly as jarring as it was on the first game
Just a wonderful experience, I'm so glad I decided to still give it a shot
If you're interested in playing it you definitely should, because it's almost a guarantee that it has something you will resonate with, it sure as hell did for me several times
Camidgula effect
Easily an all-time favourite. The story and cast is phenomenal, and it speaks to me on a level that few other things ever have. The game itself is a significant improvement over the original as well, the battle system has been polished quite well and everything looks and feels much better.
This review contains spoilers
Iori Komamura my beloved, best character of this series, love her sm and she deserves all the happiness in the world
i loved when he said "This was really a The Caligula Effect 2"
Honestly the biggest jump in quality I’ve seen for a sequel in a while. The visuals are far better presented (if still a bit janky), the characters are more endearing, it’s better paced, the combat’s refined and much more enjoyable, and dungeons aren’t nearly as tedious as before
The music is absolutely awesome too. Like the first, the dungeons play instrumentals with vocals coming in during combat, but here pretty much every single song sounds soooo good. Especially when you reach the bosses and the dungeon track turns into an EDM remix by TeddyLoid
My only real gripe has to do with side content. It carries over “causality links” where you can take quests from any NPC you come across, but it still isn’t a system I cared for. But thankfully it can be easily ignored for the story and main character episodes so not a big deal
Also while the story is technically set after Overdose, it’s basically the exact same premise. To the point where this more felt like a do-over than anything which could make it feel a bit formulaic, but I didn’t mind
The music is absolutely awesome too. Like the first, the dungeons play instrumentals with vocals coming in during combat, but here pretty much every single song sounds soooo good. Especially when you reach the bosses and the dungeon track turns into an EDM remix by TeddyLoid
My only real gripe has to do with side content. It carries over “causality links” where you can take quests from any NPC you come across, but it still isn’t a system I cared for. But thankfully it can be easily ignored for the story and main character episodes so not a big deal
Also while the story is technically set after Overdose, it’s basically the exact same premise. To the point where this more felt like a do-over than anything which could make it feel a bit formulaic, but I didn’t mind
*My Review on Reddit with images.
KEY NOTES:
-JRPG with turn based combat
-No random encounters
-JP voiceovers only
-Two endings
-NG+ available
-Silent protagonist. Can choose gender and name.
INTRODUCTION
Developed by Historia, Caligula Effect 2 (CE 2) is the sequel to the 2016 game. Back when the first game was released, it was poorly received. A remake titled Caligula Effect Overdose (CEO) was released shortly after and despite the improved graphics, content and some changes, did not fare much better.
Despite its mediocre reception, CEO did have some unique aspects that stood out which included the battle system, vocal songs, and the exploration of psychological trauma and issues. CE 2 is more of the same, but with streamlining and changing some of the mechanics for a better experience.
STORY
Written by Tadashi Satomi (who was the main writer for the Persona games prior to P3), the story of CE 2 follows the MC who had been enjoying their school life until they suddenly started to have strange dreams. Not long after, they came into contact with χ (Greek letter, not X) and then subsequently get attacked by several classmates that have been transformed into monsters. With the help of χ , the MC awakens to a power that allows them to defeat the monsters.
χ explains that the world they're in, Redo, is a virtual world where thousands of people's minds are currently trapped inside. Their real bodies are still back in the real world in a comatose state. Due to their regrets, they were subconsciously brought to this world where they can undue their regrets without remembering anything about themselves and the real world.
Redo is ruled by Regret, a virtualdoll and her subordinates called the Musicians. Virtualdolls are virtual idols created by a software (Hatsune Miku for example), but mysteriously have been given sentience. Regret controls Redo's order with the help of her Musicians. They compose various songs for her to sing that brainwash its inhabitants. The MC and χ then establish the Go Home Club with the goal of destroying Redo and returning to reality.
The game's premise is interesting with a lot of terminology thrown in right away, but it is not a complex story. Other than the introductory chapter, the story doesn't advance much until about 3/4 of the game. Prior to that, story progression feels formulaic each chapter and serves little but to introduce new party members and reveal a bit of their backstory including the Musician of the chapter. The 3/4 mark of the game is where the story ramps up, but ultimately reaches an anti-climatic ending.
My issue with the story is that it's not that interesting for most of it and when things start to ramp up, I'm already near the end. The fact that it's so similar to CEO's story doesn't help either so it feels like a rehash in some ways. There's only about two plot twists within an otherwise straightforward story.
While the game is a direct sequel to CEO, you don't need to have any knowledge of that game to understand or enjoy CE 2. CEO's ending is vaguely spoiled early on, but no particular important detail is revealed. There is an interesting character development that relates to CEO and would greatly enhance the experience if you at least played it though. Other than that, the game's story is solid as a standalone.
CHARACTERS
Much like CEO, the characters are interesting and written quite well. The exception is the MC of course who is just a typical nice person silent protagonist. For what it's worth, the MC does have a lot of dialogue options.
As a group, the Go Home Club has good chemistry and bounce off each other pretty well. They certainly do feel like they become good friends as the story progresses which makes them more likable. This is in contrast with CEO's Go Home Club that could sometimes be described as volatile at times.
All of the party members here do have solid depth and come with their own set of issues and regrets. Just like real people, you won't know everything about a person just from what you see on the outside. The beauty of the game's premise and the Redo world is that it really messes with your perception on such matters. Like an avatar in an online game, the characters' appearances here does not reflect their true one. Their age could also be different from what you see. How they act may not be how they usually act in the real world either so it can be surprising or even shocking when the secrets are revealed.
The game's theme of regret is what ties most of their backgrounds together. Each party member has their own regrets from the real world that ultimately brought them to Redo. The portrayal of their issues and problems are quite realistic although not always easily relatable. I thought the exploration of their characters was good especially compared to many JRPGs out there, but I still have my issues.
The characters' past and issues are not often explored enough through the main story itself. It does for some characters, but for others, they are briefly mentioned and there's no proper development or closure. Instead, most of it is done through the game's optional bonding mechanic akin to Persona's social links. Called Character Episodes, the MC spends time with one of the party members. Many of the earlier episodes are lighthearted and provides small hints of their issue to you. Once you reach one of the higher episodes, you get to "dive deeper" into their character ultimately revealing their main issue and regret.
These Character Episodes don't really involve other party members either so it's just the specific character, the MC and χ talking things through. This is a missed opportunity when the group dynamic was already great and could've contributed to a better group development and chemistry. The writing in the Character Episodes isn't all that bad at its core, but having the silent MC pick the appropriate responses from the dialogue choices with χ providing some support does lessen the writing impact.
Serving as the other major group of characters and the Go Home Club's anti-thesis, the Musicians are somewhat decently developed. Like the Go Home Club members, the Musicians have their own reasons to be in Redo which stems from their real life circumstances. They have some depth, but I thought they were underdeveloped as a whole. Most of their focus is given when they served as the chapter's Musician, but even then, their development quickly comes and goes. Not enough time to properly flesh them out and their subsequent appearances in the game do them little favors in that regards. You do get an in-depth view of their background at some point in the game. However, you're essentially reading something like a character history page on Wikipedia instead of being properly integrated into the story for that.
What were revealed about the Musicians were interesting, but I found not as interesting as the ones from CEO. This isn't just an issue with the Musicians, but also with the Go Home Club members. The social and psychological themes as a whole were quite lighthearted in comparison to some of the darker and uglier ones that CEO covered which can even get uncomfortable at times. CE 2 does benefit from broader appeal as a result though.
GRAPHICS AND ART DIRECTION
CEO's graphics were one of its weak points and with CE 2, the graphics haven't improved much. Better, but still on the weak side which isn't all too surprising considering the game's low budget. The textures on the environment are simple without a lot of details. The character models saw the biggest improvement overall and does look pleasing to me most of the time, but I would hardly call them great. Character animations are better too especially battle animations. My biggest complaint with the animation are the mouth movements during cutscenes which really sticks out in a bad way.
Along with the better graphics, the dungeon designs have improved too. While it could still use more variety, it doesn't have the issue where one part of a dungeon will look nearly identical throughout. Well, not as bad as CEO at least.
The enemy designs still lack variety, but at least they look a bit more interesting this time around.
Overall, the 2D anime look of CE 2 is decent even if it could be mistakenly assumed that it came out during the early PS3 era. CE2's art direction probably would've benefited more from the same stylish 2D that Persona 5 had.
MUSIC
If there was one aspect that made the Caligula Effect games stood out then it would be its music. Composed by several people including a vocaloid producer, all of the game's battle tracks notably have vocals. Each dungeon has a different song composed by the main Musician in the chapter.
I'm not too familiar with most of the composers, but the music director was Tsukasa Masuko who was also credited with many of the old Shin Megami Tensei games. That said, these vocal tracks don't really remind me of those games. Consisting of pop songs, cutesy songs and some goth songs, there's a good variety of songs much like the first one. I think they are more catchy this time around and better overall even though none are as good as CEO's Peter Pan Syndrome for me. Outside of battles, the instrumental versions of the songs are used as the dungeon music which sounds nice as well.
Although not evident to non-JP speakers, the lyrics are also a reflection of the specific Musician's background and character. It's a nice touch that gives more meaning to the song itself.
Other than the dungeon and battle songs, the remaining soundtrack isn't as special. Instead, I found it to be mostly forgettable and generic unfortunately. The one exception is the main town song which happens to be another vocal track.
Overall, the soundtrack is still quite solid since the dungeon and battle tracks are heard often and makes it stand out among other JRPG soundtracks.
GAMEPLAY
The Caligula Effect games have an number of unique gameplay aspects. One of them includes the Causality Link system which serves as the game's major sidequest mechanic. The game has a very large number of unique NPCs that are connected with a number of other NPCs. A visual representation of the links can be seen in-game and the details are revealed after their friendship level reaches max level 3. This consists of talking to them once to initiate the relationship and revealing their name. A second conversation would start a sidequest request. The friendship level then gets maxed out upon completion of the request.
The quests typically either requires retrieving a specific item, accomplishing battle related conditions like "use an item x amount of times during battle", or just maxing out a friendship level with a specific NPC. While they seem basic overall, I oddly found them engaging and got satisfaction when each friendship reaches the max level. Fortunately, most of these quests are easy to do with the main obstacle being barred by story progression. The reward from maxing out these friendships are items and equipment which are helpful, but probably the best reward is that each of them would permanently increase one of the MC's stat growth. The stat growth starts out at C- for each, but eventually becomes A+ across the board if you complete every sidequest. Do this as early as possible and you can see the MC's stats eventually dwarf over everybody else.
Other than the individual sidequests, there are few group related ones that are of higher quality. Unlike the solo standalone ones, the group ones follow a series of connecting quest lines. Some of them includes the workers of an item store, members of the journalist club and the ones related to the cafeteria. These stories tend to be quite interesting and deeper than the short standalone ones. While progression is mostly just talking to the right people with the right passive ability equipped, the developing story is enough to play through them.
Compared with CEO, I found the sidequest and Causality Link system more interesting this around and well worth trying. It also helps that instead of 500+ individuals to track, CE2 only has about 150. Still a large number, but much nearly as overwhelming and more manageable. Despite having many shared character models between NPCs, there is a degree of uniqueness to them. They all have a short bio blurb and their real life information are revealed once you max out their bond. Even their profile pics are unique.
There's also the Wire mechanic which serves as the in-game messaging app. You can text party members and even the NPCs about various topics. You can also unlock more subjects and topics which made for an interesting mechanic albeit no gameplay benefit whatsoever. Some of the responses are interesting though and it helps make them feel more like real characters. This also existed in CEO as well, but I did found it as interesting for some reason.
EQUIPMENT, SKILLS AND ITEMS
The equipment system is typical for a JRPG, but just has unique names for them. Called Stigmas, they are further divided by attack, defense and amplifications which are basically the accessories in the game. These can be gotten from shops, enemy drops, and quest rewards.
CE2 had overhauled CEO's skill and item mechanics. Instead of using SP to unlock whichever skill you want and upgrade them, skills in CE2 are now level locked which gives a linear progression for them. The old skill upgrade system is removed for the most part and now requires having specific passives equipped which changes and enhances the properties of the skill.
In regards to passive skills, they are now gotten from the Stigmas instead of quest rewards which were a pain to bother with in CEO. The way it works here is similar to Final Fantasy IX. Some Stigmas have passive skills attached to them that are automatically in effect once you equip them. However, you can permanently learn the passive skill by gaining SP from battle while having the Stigma equipped. Each battle rewards a certain amount of SP. Once you master the skill, you can equip it into a passive skill slot where every character has six.
I found the passive skill system rewarding and incentivizes swapping out multiple Stigmas to learn and help create a specific build for your characters.
The item system is quite typical. You buy items in shops, obtain them from enemy drops, breaking objects in dungeons and obtaining them in "treasure chests." It's worth noting that there were no items whatsoever in CEO so this was a nice change.
DUNGEONS
The dungeons in this game are mostly straightforward much like CEO. It's ultimately basic in design and the dungeons don't stand out much compared to other JRPGs that take place in the modern world. There's the school, park and a hospital to name a few. I wasn't too bothered with it for the most part, but this is an area that could still use some work.
Dungeons are however on the long side. Many of them have multiple areas that requires looping around after finding a key or hitting a switch. It wouldn't be quite as long if it weren't for the enemies. Assuming that you fight every enemy on your way, then each dungeon will feel long and even a slog at times.
While not nearly as bad as in CEO, there is an abundant of enemies roaming the dungeons. It can be hard to avoid them at times or even initiate a preemptive strike.
COMBAT
The combat system has seen some changes from CEO, but still retains some of its unique aspects. The Imaginary Chain system is still here which gives you a preview of how certain actions will play out before confirming the action. The one drawback is that the preview assumes every attack will hit so it may not play out exactly as shown. Also like before, you can tweak the action order by delaying it as far out as you want. This is great to not only match the timing with your party members for combos and chains, but to also get the right timing for counters. It can also be used defensively as well such as if an enemy attack would intercept and cancel your attack, then you can simply choose to do a quick guard or move out of the way instead. Those that enjoy extensive planning out and strategizing would enjoy this aspect of the combat system.
Some skills have counter effects built into them such as the MC's High Disturbance skill. This skill has an added effect that will counter ranged skills. A successful counter for this skill will instantly launch the enemy into the air. With the specific passive that upgrades this skill, the MC will do a followup air attack after launching the enemy.
The Risk System returns without any changes from what I've noticed. Every enemy has a Risk gauge that is similar to the Stagger gauge in other games. Once you deal enough damage to their Risk gauge, they enter a temporary stunned state where they'll take extra damage. Unlike other games with a Stagger gauge, some attacks here gets enhanced when attacking an enemy in a Risk break state which is usually some added attacks. There are also some skills that deal more Risk damage so that allows for more unique party combinations and chemistry.
A new change with the combat system is that every character now only gets one action per turn. This is in contrast with CEO that allows you to input up to 3 actions per turn. The new system takes away some of the potential chains and combos you can do, but ultimately I thought it was better because it makes battles flow quicker. This isn't a pure tactical game so I don't want to spend too much time in the menus.
Auto-battle still exists here, but will no longer apply to the character you're controlling. You can adjust A.I. settings on a party scale anytime you want.
Overdose skills makes a return from CEO. These skills are essentially the character's super move which includes support based ones as well. These are only usable when a character's Stress gauge fills up to the max. Attacking and receiving damage will increase the gauge. They aren't as powerful as in CEO where a chain of 4 Overdose skills can defeat most bosses. I don't use them nearly as much either and instead opted for the following major mechanic.
New to CE2 is the χ Jack system. There is a Voltage meter that fills up as you deal attacks, successfully counter, get damaged or by defeating enemies. Once it fills up completely, you have χ sing a song that provides bonuses to the party members. It is essentially a party-wide power up mode. Attack, defense, SP cost, turn action speed and risk damage are all increased during this state. The bonuses are small early on, but can be enhanced significantly as you progress making it a very powerful tool. Even difficult bosses can be quickly burst down once you enter χ Jack.
I found the battles to be pretty fun throughout the game. Especially once I got accessed to more skills and counters. Unfortunately, that also made the game easier as well. Other than the first few hours, the game is quite easy on the Normal difficulty. There are two higher difficulty options that I didn't try, but are nice to have if I wanted a larger challenge.
FINAL REMARKS
Caligula Effect 2 had a lot of improvements over the first game which made it more enjoyable to play through. While I found it lacking in certain areas such as the deeper characters and a re-hashed story in comparison, it still made for a solid sequel. I would recommend this game even to people who didn't enjoy the first game.
KEY NOTES:
-JRPG with turn based combat
-No random encounters
-JP voiceovers only
-Two endings
-NG+ available
-Silent protagonist. Can choose gender and name.
INTRODUCTION
Developed by Historia, Caligula Effect 2 (CE 2) is the sequel to the 2016 game. Back when the first game was released, it was poorly received. A remake titled Caligula Effect Overdose (CEO) was released shortly after and despite the improved graphics, content and some changes, did not fare much better.
Despite its mediocre reception, CEO did have some unique aspects that stood out which included the battle system, vocal songs, and the exploration of psychological trauma and issues. CE 2 is more of the same, but with streamlining and changing some of the mechanics for a better experience.
STORY
Written by Tadashi Satomi (who was the main writer for the Persona games prior to P3), the story of CE 2 follows the MC who had been enjoying their school life until they suddenly started to have strange dreams. Not long after, they came into contact with χ (Greek letter, not X) and then subsequently get attacked by several classmates that have been transformed into monsters. With the help of χ , the MC awakens to a power that allows them to defeat the monsters.
χ explains that the world they're in, Redo, is a virtual world where thousands of people's minds are currently trapped inside. Their real bodies are still back in the real world in a comatose state. Due to their regrets, they were subconsciously brought to this world where they can undue their regrets without remembering anything about themselves and the real world.
Redo is ruled by Regret, a virtualdoll and her subordinates called the Musicians. Virtualdolls are virtual idols created by a software (Hatsune Miku for example), but mysteriously have been given sentience. Regret controls Redo's order with the help of her Musicians. They compose various songs for her to sing that brainwash its inhabitants. The MC and χ then establish the Go Home Club with the goal of destroying Redo and returning to reality.
The game's premise is interesting with a lot of terminology thrown in right away, but it is not a complex story. Other than the introductory chapter, the story doesn't advance much until about 3/4 of the game. Prior to that, story progression feels formulaic each chapter and serves little but to introduce new party members and reveal a bit of their backstory including the Musician of the chapter. The 3/4 mark of the game is where the story ramps up, but ultimately reaches an anti-climatic ending.
My issue with the story is that it's not that interesting for most of it and when things start to ramp up, I'm already near the end. The fact that it's so similar to CEO's story doesn't help either so it feels like a rehash in some ways. There's only about two plot twists within an otherwise straightforward story.
While the game is a direct sequel to CEO, you don't need to have any knowledge of that game to understand or enjoy CE 2. CEO's ending is vaguely spoiled early on, but no particular important detail is revealed. There is an interesting character development that relates to CEO and would greatly enhance the experience if you at least played it though. Other than that, the game's story is solid as a standalone.
CHARACTERS
Much like CEO, the characters are interesting and written quite well. The exception is the MC of course who is just a typical nice person silent protagonist. For what it's worth, the MC does have a lot of dialogue options.
As a group, the Go Home Club has good chemistry and bounce off each other pretty well. They certainly do feel like they become good friends as the story progresses which makes them more likable. This is in contrast with CEO's Go Home Club that could sometimes be described as volatile at times.
All of the party members here do have solid depth and come with their own set of issues and regrets. Just like real people, you won't know everything about a person just from what you see on the outside. The beauty of the game's premise and the Redo world is that it really messes with your perception on such matters. Like an avatar in an online game, the characters' appearances here does not reflect their true one. Their age could also be different from what you see. How they act may not be how they usually act in the real world either so it can be surprising or even shocking when the secrets are revealed.
The game's theme of regret is what ties most of their backgrounds together. Each party member has their own regrets from the real world that ultimately brought them to Redo. The portrayal of their issues and problems are quite realistic although not always easily relatable. I thought the exploration of their characters was good especially compared to many JRPGs out there, but I still have my issues.
The characters' past and issues are not often explored enough through the main story itself. It does for some characters, but for others, they are briefly mentioned and there's no proper development or closure. Instead, most of it is done through the game's optional bonding mechanic akin to Persona's social links. Called Character Episodes, the MC spends time with one of the party members. Many of the earlier episodes are lighthearted and provides small hints of their issue to you. Once you reach one of the higher episodes, you get to "dive deeper" into their character ultimately revealing their main issue and regret.
These Character Episodes don't really involve other party members either so it's just the specific character, the MC and χ talking things through. This is a missed opportunity when the group dynamic was already great and could've contributed to a better group development and chemistry. The writing in the Character Episodes isn't all that bad at its core, but having the silent MC pick the appropriate responses from the dialogue choices with χ providing some support does lessen the writing impact.
Serving as the other major group of characters and the Go Home Club's anti-thesis, the Musicians are somewhat decently developed. Like the Go Home Club members, the Musicians have their own reasons to be in Redo which stems from their real life circumstances. They have some depth, but I thought they were underdeveloped as a whole. Most of their focus is given when they served as the chapter's Musician, but even then, their development quickly comes and goes. Not enough time to properly flesh them out and their subsequent appearances in the game do them little favors in that regards. You do get an in-depth view of their background at some point in the game. However, you're essentially reading something like a character history page on Wikipedia instead of being properly integrated into the story for that.
What were revealed about the Musicians were interesting, but I found not as interesting as the ones from CEO. This isn't just an issue with the Musicians, but also with the Go Home Club members. The social and psychological themes as a whole were quite lighthearted in comparison to some of the darker and uglier ones that CEO covered which can even get uncomfortable at times. CE 2 does benefit from broader appeal as a result though.
GRAPHICS AND ART DIRECTION
CEO's graphics were one of its weak points and with CE 2, the graphics haven't improved much. Better, but still on the weak side which isn't all too surprising considering the game's low budget. The textures on the environment are simple without a lot of details. The character models saw the biggest improvement overall and does look pleasing to me most of the time, but I would hardly call them great. Character animations are better too especially battle animations. My biggest complaint with the animation are the mouth movements during cutscenes which really sticks out in a bad way.
Along with the better graphics, the dungeon designs have improved too. While it could still use more variety, it doesn't have the issue where one part of a dungeon will look nearly identical throughout. Well, not as bad as CEO at least.
The enemy designs still lack variety, but at least they look a bit more interesting this time around.
Overall, the 2D anime look of CE 2 is decent even if it could be mistakenly assumed that it came out during the early PS3 era. CE2's art direction probably would've benefited more from the same stylish 2D that Persona 5 had.
MUSIC
If there was one aspect that made the Caligula Effect games stood out then it would be its music. Composed by several people including a vocaloid producer, all of the game's battle tracks notably have vocals. Each dungeon has a different song composed by the main Musician in the chapter.
I'm not too familiar with most of the composers, but the music director was Tsukasa Masuko who was also credited with many of the old Shin Megami Tensei games. That said, these vocal tracks don't really remind me of those games. Consisting of pop songs, cutesy songs and some goth songs, there's a good variety of songs much like the first one. I think they are more catchy this time around and better overall even though none are as good as CEO's Peter Pan Syndrome for me. Outside of battles, the instrumental versions of the songs are used as the dungeon music which sounds nice as well.
Although not evident to non-JP speakers, the lyrics are also a reflection of the specific Musician's background and character. It's a nice touch that gives more meaning to the song itself.
Other than the dungeon and battle songs, the remaining soundtrack isn't as special. Instead, I found it to be mostly forgettable and generic unfortunately. The one exception is the main town song which happens to be another vocal track.
Overall, the soundtrack is still quite solid since the dungeon and battle tracks are heard often and makes it stand out among other JRPG soundtracks.
GAMEPLAY
The Caligula Effect games have an number of unique gameplay aspects. One of them includes the Causality Link system which serves as the game's major sidequest mechanic. The game has a very large number of unique NPCs that are connected with a number of other NPCs. A visual representation of the links can be seen in-game and the details are revealed after their friendship level reaches max level 3. This consists of talking to them once to initiate the relationship and revealing their name. A second conversation would start a sidequest request. The friendship level then gets maxed out upon completion of the request.
The quests typically either requires retrieving a specific item, accomplishing battle related conditions like "use an item x amount of times during battle", or just maxing out a friendship level with a specific NPC. While they seem basic overall, I oddly found them engaging and got satisfaction when each friendship reaches the max level. Fortunately, most of these quests are easy to do with the main obstacle being barred by story progression. The reward from maxing out these friendships are items and equipment which are helpful, but probably the best reward is that each of them would permanently increase one of the MC's stat growth. The stat growth starts out at C- for each, but eventually becomes A+ across the board if you complete every sidequest. Do this as early as possible and you can see the MC's stats eventually dwarf over everybody else.
Other than the individual sidequests, there are few group related ones that are of higher quality. Unlike the solo standalone ones, the group ones follow a series of connecting quest lines. Some of them includes the workers of an item store, members of the journalist club and the ones related to the cafeteria. These stories tend to be quite interesting and deeper than the short standalone ones. While progression is mostly just talking to the right people with the right passive ability equipped, the developing story is enough to play through them.
Compared with CEO, I found the sidequest and Causality Link system more interesting this around and well worth trying. It also helps that instead of 500+ individuals to track, CE2 only has about 150. Still a large number, but much nearly as overwhelming and more manageable. Despite having many shared character models between NPCs, there is a degree of uniqueness to them. They all have a short bio blurb and their real life information are revealed once you max out their bond. Even their profile pics are unique.
There's also the Wire mechanic which serves as the in-game messaging app. You can text party members and even the NPCs about various topics. You can also unlock more subjects and topics which made for an interesting mechanic albeit no gameplay benefit whatsoever. Some of the responses are interesting though and it helps make them feel more like real characters. This also existed in CEO as well, but I did found it as interesting for some reason.
EQUIPMENT, SKILLS AND ITEMS
The equipment system is typical for a JRPG, but just has unique names for them. Called Stigmas, they are further divided by attack, defense and amplifications which are basically the accessories in the game. These can be gotten from shops, enemy drops, and quest rewards.
CE2 had overhauled CEO's skill and item mechanics. Instead of using SP to unlock whichever skill you want and upgrade them, skills in CE2 are now level locked which gives a linear progression for them. The old skill upgrade system is removed for the most part and now requires having specific passives equipped which changes and enhances the properties of the skill.
In regards to passive skills, they are now gotten from the Stigmas instead of quest rewards which were a pain to bother with in CEO. The way it works here is similar to Final Fantasy IX. Some Stigmas have passive skills attached to them that are automatically in effect once you equip them. However, you can permanently learn the passive skill by gaining SP from battle while having the Stigma equipped. Each battle rewards a certain amount of SP. Once you master the skill, you can equip it into a passive skill slot where every character has six.
I found the passive skill system rewarding and incentivizes swapping out multiple Stigmas to learn and help create a specific build for your characters.
The item system is quite typical. You buy items in shops, obtain them from enemy drops, breaking objects in dungeons and obtaining them in "treasure chests." It's worth noting that there were no items whatsoever in CEO so this was a nice change.
DUNGEONS
The dungeons in this game are mostly straightforward much like CEO. It's ultimately basic in design and the dungeons don't stand out much compared to other JRPGs that take place in the modern world. There's the school, park and a hospital to name a few. I wasn't too bothered with it for the most part, but this is an area that could still use some work.
Dungeons are however on the long side. Many of them have multiple areas that requires looping around after finding a key or hitting a switch. It wouldn't be quite as long if it weren't for the enemies. Assuming that you fight every enemy on your way, then each dungeon will feel long and even a slog at times.
While not nearly as bad as in CEO, there is an abundant of enemies roaming the dungeons. It can be hard to avoid them at times or even initiate a preemptive strike.
COMBAT
The combat system has seen some changes from CEO, but still retains some of its unique aspects. The Imaginary Chain system is still here which gives you a preview of how certain actions will play out before confirming the action. The one drawback is that the preview assumes every attack will hit so it may not play out exactly as shown. Also like before, you can tweak the action order by delaying it as far out as you want. This is great to not only match the timing with your party members for combos and chains, but to also get the right timing for counters. It can also be used defensively as well such as if an enemy attack would intercept and cancel your attack, then you can simply choose to do a quick guard or move out of the way instead. Those that enjoy extensive planning out and strategizing would enjoy this aspect of the combat system.
Some skills have counter effects built into them such as the MC's High Disturbance skill. This skill has an added effect that will counter ranged skills. A successful counter for this skill will instantly launch the enemy into the air. With the specific passive that upgrades this skill, the MC will do a followup air attack after launching the enemy.
The Risk System returns without any changes from what I've noticed. Every enemy has a Risk gauge that is similar to the Stagger gauge in other games. Once you deal enough damage to their Risk gauge, they enter a temporary stunned state where they'll take extra damage. Unlike other games with a Stagger gauge, some attacks here gets enhanced when attacking an enemy in a Risk break state which is usually some added attacks. There are also some skills that deal more Risk damage so that allows for more unique party combinations and chemistry.
A new change with the combat system is that every character now only gets one action per turn. This is in contrast with CEO that allows you to input up to 3 actions per turn. The new system takes away some of the potential chains and combos you can do, but ultimately I thought it was better because it makes battles flow quicker. This isn't a pure tactical game so I don't want to spend too much time in the menus.
Auto-battle still exists here, but will no longer apply to the character you're controlling. You can adjust A.I. settings on a party scale anytime you want.
Overdose skills makes a return from CEO. These skills are essentially the character's super move which includes support based ones as well. These are only usable when a character's Stress gauge fills up to the max. Attacking and receiving damage will increase the gauge. They aren't as powerful as in CEO where a chain of 4 Overdose skills can defeat most bosses. I don't use them nearly as much either and instead opted for the following major mechanic.
New to CE2 is the χ Jack system. There is a Voltage meter that fills up as you deal attacks, successfully counter, get damaged or by defeating enemies. Once it fills up completely, you have χ sing a song that provides bonuses to the party members. It is essentially a party-wide power up mode. Attack, defense, SP cost, turn action speed and risk damage are all increased during this state. The bonuses are small early on, but can be enhanced significantly as you progress making it a very powerful tool. Even difficult bosses can be quickly burst down once you enter χ Jack.
I found the battles to be pretty fun throughout the game. Especially once I got accessed to more skills and counters. Unfortunately, that also made the game easier as well. Other than the first few hours, the game is quite easy on the Normal difficulty. There are two higher difficulty options that I didn't try, but are nice to have if I wanted a larger challenge.
FINAL REMARKS
Caligula Effect 2 had a lot of improvements over the first game which made it more enjoyable to play through. While I found it lacking in certain areas such as the deeper characters and a re-hashed story in comparison, it still made for a solid sequel. I would recommend this game even to people who didn't enjoy the first game.