This was my first replay of this game since the ps2 days. Shocking amount of story that I either didn’t remember, or attributed to the prior game.

Pros:
The story/cinematics are awesome. The music in these portions are really exciting. While XS1 was more about setting up characters and some vaigue intrigue, these are just a total step up in every way.

Dungeons have some legitimately great puzzles.

Mixed:
Combat is different, and while I kind of dig the break system, there is a slowness to it. Feels like it needed one more iteration to have the right balance.

Character movement is cusping on too slow.

Cons:
Character faces, specifically female, are a gross overcorrection from the first game. Felt like FFX NPCs.

City/non dungeon area music just didn’t hit for me. I get the vibe they were going for but the discordant hyper repetitive electronic music made the next con a total slog.

Sidequests: so many fetch quests going all over with really slow movement and cumbersome navigation between areas. Felt like padding and gating attacks and skills behind these felt more like chores than an additive experience. Made me miss the trails quick travel menu.

Overall this game was much better than I remembered and quite hyped to jump into Xenosaga III.