progression really doesn't feel great, too much "is it worth holding onto these XP items or transmuting them later?" but you don't know if you're getting more of those specific items in the upcoming dungeons, you also don't know where the upcoming dungeons are because everything is trial and error in this. so progression is gated to a grind of running the same dungeons over and over and when the grind isn't a guarantee it's drop chance, man it feels like shit

so what, i just don't grind? then i go into higher level dungeons and i have to use the lower-tier XP items to heal and that gates my progression because i'm minimising the amount of XP im ingesting because i can't transmute to higher tier items because I have to keep healing.

wouldn't be a problem if i could see what was attacking me, but the enemy attacks are so fast, the camera is too zoomed in, and often the projectiles blend into the background so there's no pop, so i can't see attacks at all. i'm sure there's some Zwei gamer, only plays Zwei, reading this thinking "this fartgang fellow is a fucking idiot!" yeah alright you win this one arsehole

One of the weaker modern Falcom titles, but unlike its painfully dull sequel, Zwei: The Arges Adventure is simple enough and charming enough to be potentially worth playing. Especially if you're looking for a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Zwei is aesthetically great for the most part. It has strong background art which feels reminiscent of Legend of Mana’s isometric 2D style in the town and field. It boasts fantastic character designs- especially the main duo who feel straight up inspired by Mint and Rue from Dewprism/Threads of Fate. Pipiro’s big poofy robe with the fluffy cotton balls from head to toe is one of the comfiest and most recognizable character designs of the era imo.

However, the in-dungeon models, animations, and environments are much less impressive- the models in particular which border on uncanny. They’re super bug-eyed and have a creepy waddle when they move. Additionally, calling the attack animation an “animation” is kinda generous to begin with. It’s more like the model just dashes forward for a sec. Think Pokemon SwSh's attack animations but not quite as overtly hilarious. These areas of complaint aren’t anything too deal breaking, but when compared to the stronger aspects of the game’s visuals, it’s definitely kinda jarring.

While the visuals are solid overall, the writing is what grabs your attention from the start. In terms of like… plot? Hell no. The actual narrative itself has very little substance or intrigue to it. It’s purely just to get you moving in the dungeons and guide you towards the end. The dialogue, however, especially from Pipiro, is great at times. I think Falcom (or whoever translated it, xseed i guess? haven’t actually looked into it) knew this game would thrive off comedy and generally not taking itself seriously. The script is very light and oftentimes a straight up meme. Not in a bad way either, the quips consistently landed for me. Well... for a while, at least.

The script kinda lost its luster after the first few hours for me though, ngl. I think it’s because the NPC dialogue and actual plot were way below what I was expecting from a falcom title in this era, having played the Trails in the Sky trilogy beforehand. The script def makes a strong first impression, but you quickly come to realize that everyone’s dialogue other than Pipiro (and the occasional cringe gem from Pokkle) just kind of sucks. It definitely has its moments tho, Pipiro screaming “calm your tits” during Pokkle’s literal biggest character development moment fucking killed me.

Combat is not this game’s strong suit either. It’s clunky, mashy, and overly simplistic. Nothing actively bad, just thoroughly mid. The inventory/menuing is also worth mentioning cuz it was kind of a nightmare to play on controller at times. That is admittedly on me for stubbornly using it even though the game was clearly designed with a mouse/keyboard in mind and minimal gamepad support. But it's worth pointing out for others who share my preference.

Instead, the best aspect of the game in terms of gameplay is without a doubt the food progression system. Basically, experience point gains in this game are tied directly to eating food. You eat something, you get exp. This alone wouldn’t be anything noteworthy, but what IS noteworthy is the way the system is implemented. Experience in Zwei is an inherently risk vs reward proposition. By eating the food items you’ve gathered right away, you can use them as a consumable to get free emergency healing in dungeons. If you save up 10 of a certain food type, however, you can trade them up for a much better item in town- an item that will not only give you a bigger one-use heal, but will provide a bigger exp gain than those 10 items would’ve given you altogether. Eventually, you can even save up 10 of the exchanged dishes for another tier of item above that, which was extremely satisfying to see after finally saving them all up.

Therefore, aggressive and risky gameplay pays huge dividends for the player in Zwei. The longer you go through the dungeons while risking death by not eating, the more you will be rewarded with a relative amount of bonus exp when you’re finally back in the town. It's a really simple but brilliant mechanic that increases tension while in dungeons while simultaneously increasing the satisfaction of completing dungeons with a handicap. The entire gameplay loop revolves around this system of tradeoffs, and I’m thankful it does. Because along with the charming script, it was one of the few aspects of the game that actually compelled me to play it to the end.

Zwei isn’t very good in a lot of ways. But the satisfying gameplay loop and occasionally strong script carry it. I don’t really regret the 15 or 20 hours I ended up spending on it, since it was easy to quickly plow through the endgame once I was feeling ready to move on. But I doubt I’ll ever touch it again unless it’s to play the Typing of Ys minigame. That shit on hard difficulty was one of the most randomly peak and jarringly-brutal minigames I’ve ever played. Doubly so by comparsion, since the main game of Zwei is a cakewalk. I’d recommend the minigame for Ys fans on the merit of that challenge alone, plus some cool references to Ys Books I and II which are among my favs in the series. But... maybe only if you type over 100 WPM. If not, it’s basically impossible.

Otherwise, I’d only be comfortable recommending Zwei to hardcore Falcom fans. Or those who dig short, comfy, and very lighthearted (borderline to a fault) JRPGs without the narrative or mechanical substance to deepen your investment.

Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8

Zwei means Two in German, and that’s pretty much the game in a word. You control two characters: the typical sword-wielding boy, and the typical magic-casting girl. You can switch between them at any time, though it doesn’t really seem to matter except in combat. The combat’s pretty neat, you press the button and the boy zooms along in a straight line for a few feet. There’s also a meter in the corner that fluctuates and determines your critical hits. And the game is SOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUTE! It’s very bright and colorful and cheery, which seems to be a big departure from Falcom’s other games. Hmm, I guess Zwei really defies explanation. At least, it’s an action RPG. That should help you out.

Zwei is definitely one of Falcom's weaker games, but it's super charming and the music is fantastic. It has a lot of cool ideas like switching between different types of elemental magic or controlling two characters at once, but the actual gameplay is only a step above Ys II in terms of complexity since it has an attack button. The dungeons are all just straight corridors with larger rooms for combat without any of the platforming found in games like the Napishtim era Ys games or the puzzle-solving and backtracking of Xanadu Next. The only dungeon that ever actually has you go down a floor is the final one in the game, and puzzles never go beyond just pushing things around. I know there's a bunch of stuff I never touched (the optional level 20 and 30 dungeons, the hidden dungeon in the ruins, and whatever's under the oasis) but I really have no desire to go back and play more of this. I hope Zwei 2 is a little more involved since there's definitely the core of something really cool here, but Falcom really didn't realize the potential this game has.

I had more fun with Typing of Ys.