the central concept behind this, as in a world where rumors start becoming reality is a pretty cool idea for a setting and the game definitely delivers on it, there's a good amount of "oh shit" moments in this and combined with the cast where I genuinely cared about every single member made for an exciting story where I always wanted to see what would happen next, and upon starting this I fully expected the gameplay to be the barrier that stands between me and my enjoyment of the story (and sometimes it was) but surprisingly enough I didn't mind and even liked it at many points, the negotiation system is fun and seeing the relationship of these characters change (a factor which would sometimes even depend on my choices) and bring about different interactions and reactions from various demons was a neat way to tie story progression into gameplay, there were a lot of bosses in this game where I felt genuinely smart for figuring out the way to beat them and found only a few of them to be frustrating, though I won't deny that I skipped my fair share of normal encounters (through running away and some modern conveniences), the frequency of which was undeniably the worst part about the combat, still, the fact that I basically never had to grind and enjoyed most of what the gameplay had to offer is commendable even if I was getting a little tired of it by the end
the rumor system is neat even if it is a simple way to encourage a bit of exploration to get better shop deals, the soundtrack was pretty nice and the fact that I'm still not tired of the normal and boss battle themes by now is insane, and the ending is somewhat strange as it obviously isn't the definitive ending considering eternal punishment exists but I think I can buy the fact that it's not all neatly conclusive sunshine and rainbows considering the overall vibe of the latter part of the game and how much we still don't know even after such a long journey
can't wait to see what the sequel has in store

for a game that was supposed to be all about defying fate...this sequel ended up being rather predictable, the new additions and changes to the combat don't do enough to spice up the formula and actually make it worse in some aspects, most of the new characters feel a lot shallower than almost any boss from the first game and even if I didn't always like the direction some k1 characters took at least there was a clear attempt at depth with the majority of them, while here most of the arena fights are just with dudes who exist only for Tatsuya to beat them up and maybe be mildly funny with their heat moves, which are just kind of huge time-wasters now
Tatsuya's trajectory as a character does make sense in this game, however most of the time the plot wants to focus on the really boring kid characters instead which just makes the story a huge slog to get through and sadly the villains aren't good enough to make up for it, and by the end I got really tired of fighting them too, mashing x to get up was already a problem of the original but the sequel gives you even more states that require mashing and by the end I just couldn't be bothered anymore
of course there's still some moments of excitement both in gameplay and story but I feel like for a game that ends on Born to be Wild it's kind of sinful for it to just end up being "okayish" overall

it gets everything right
the immediately apparent and very convinient improvements in the ui are a quality of life change that was sorely needed in Innocent Sin, this game can be played at a much faster pace if wanted and it feels so much better, it's also overall harder than the previous installment which is appreciated, and even if the amount of tools you get does eventually limit the ways in which the game can truly challenge you it still feels satisfying to master persona switching strategies, even more so than in Innocent Sin
the themes of the story are built on so well I'm still in awe after finishing it, the adult cast of the game not only allows it to go to darker places but also to feel more sincere in its hopeful messaging, Maya's motto "let's think positive!" is not a hollow encouragement to ignore your problems and indulge in ignorance that's coming from a shallow person, it's about finding a way to be optimistic in spite of tragedy and learning to be the master of your own life, while not succumbing to hatred, and the game plays on it excellently
and it definitely helps that the cast are all fantastic and that the game even finds ways to give more meaning to the journey of Innocent Sin, making both games feel like they matter

it's impossible for such a big game to be devoid of imperfections, but for every bruise and wrinkle there's about 10 more things that impress me, engaging tactical boss fights, memorable story moments and characters, choices that really felt my own and so on and so forth
I've already spent so much time with this game and yet...there's still so much more that I missed, and I know that it will receive even more updates and likely a definitive edtion of sorts but even as it is I hardly need any more reasons to go back to it many more times
I may not have anything new to say about it, but my experience with it felt personal and unique enough already