Bit of the case of The Sequels with this one: Much more fleshed out, distinct, and interesting than the first game on one end, more bloated and annoying on the other.
First off, I like that the game moves away from being on a single planet and has you flying around the universe and going on different planets, it works well as a big sequel expansion type of move. Does genuinely make the game feel quite a bit bigger in scope and allows for lots of little smaller levels and challenges to populate the game. And it also makes backtracking less annoying, when it was definitely a bit of a pain in the first game when you had to go back for all the upgrades. (You at least don't have to do that for the good ending here, though there's definitely a fair amount of fetch quests involved.)
Also, considering how much this game relies on SP for weapons and movement, it was a smart decision to introduce the "large falls refill SP" system, which helps keep things moving and allows the level designers to lay things out in such a way where they can be confident that the player will have SP.
That said, my main gripe with this game is that there is quite an increase in really annoying and frustrating bits. The game is generally more difficult than the first one by a good margin, which does make a bit more engaging, but sometimes that crosses over into the game just being a bit too fiddly and annoying. (Fuck that planet that's just jumping across ladders. Or that goddamn planet boss fight just before the endgame that I swear took me half an hour to whittle down its health.) Also I'm not 100% sure on why but I just found Straga to be genuinely exhausting to navigate, somehow moreso than the planet that had instant kills everywhere and required you to literally cross the entire universe just to get to the other side of it.
Also, there's a real disappointing lack of bonus side modes in this game compared to the previous one. No hard mode, no new game plus, no boss rush, no weird-ass multiplayer versus mode...I think a lot of that was added in updates to the original, so I guess that's why, but still, it'd be nice if some of that carried over.
Still, whatever gripes I have with this game, it's not for nothing that I actually had things to say about it this time. After the first game all I could really muster was "well, that was pretty fun." Which I guess shows this is at least a more distinguished game. Even the plot's pretty decent and has some fun, weird little characters. There's even a Vegeta-esq dickhead character. Always a plus.
Oh, uh, also, why is this game so much hornier than the last one now? Eve just grows a giant pair of tits out of nowhere, and there's a character who LITERALLY has melons coming out of her chest. Kinda bizarre considering the first game wasn't like this and there weren't any new artists brought on or anything like with Xenoblade 2. This isn't a criticism or anything, just a bit weird and funny.
First off, I like that the game moves away from being on a single planet and has you flying around the universe and going on different planets, it works well as a big sequel expansion type of move. Does genuinely make the game feel quite a bit bigger in scope and allows for lots of little smaller levels and challenges to populate the game. And it also makes backtracking less annoying, when it was definitely a bit of a pain in the first game when you had to go back for all the upgrades. (You at least don't have to do that for the good ending here, though there's definitely a fair amount of fetch quests involved.)
Also, considering how much this game relies on SP for weapons and movement, it was a smart decision to introduce the "large falls refill SP" system, which helps keep things moving and allows the level designers to lay things out in such a way where they can be confident that the player will have SP.
That said, my main gripe with this game is that there is quite an increase in really annoying and frustrating bits. The game is generally more difficult than the first one by a good margin, which does make a bit more engaging, but sometimes that crosses over into the game just being a bit too fiddly and annoying. (Fuck that planet that's just jumping across ladders. Or that goddamn planet boss fight just before the endgame that I swear took me half an hour to whittle down its health.) Also I'm not 100% sure on why but I just found Straga to be genuinely exhausting to navigate, somehow moreso than the planet that had instant kills everywhere and required you to literally cross the entire universe just to get to the other side of it.
Also, there's a real disappointing lack of bonus side modes in this game compared to the previous one. No hard mode, no new game plus, no boss rush, no weird-ass multiplayer versus mode...I think a lot of that was added in updates to the original, so I guess that's why, but still, it'd be nice if some of that carried over.
Still, whatever gripes I have with this game, it's not for nothing that I actually had things to say about it this time. After the first game all I could really muster was "well, that was pretty fun." Which I guess shows this is at least a more distinguished game. Even the plot's pretty decent and has some fun, weird little characters. There's even a Vegeta-esq dickhead character. Always a plus.
Oh, uh, also, why is this game so much hornier than the last one now? Eve just grows a giant pair of tits out of nowhere, and there's a character who LITERALLY has melons coming out of her chest. Kinda bizarre considering the first game wasn't like this and there weren't any new artists brought on or anything like with Xenoblade 2. This isn't a criticism or anything, just a bit weird and funny.