Battle Network 2 is objectively an improvement of the first game in pretty much every way, but at the same time it makes so many obnoxious missteps and ends up being a massive pain to get through.

Chips are better, there's more variety, the web isn't a maze to navigate (well not as much), and there's just a lot more to the game in general. I feel like the story isn't as good, and while the actual scenarios themselves are fun, the writing gets really stupid, even for the Saturday morning cartoon shit they're going for.

I think the real turning point for my opinion of this game was the Freezeman scenario, where you have to go back and forth from one NPC to the next for what felt like hours. The most blatant padding I've seen in a video game ever. Wind Waker's Triforce quest is nothing compared to this. Some of the other themed areas like Knightman's where annoying as hell too, but at least they were paced properly.

Difficulty is also all over the place, where the earlier bosses tend to be harder than the later ones. Quickman and Toadman are annoying, gimmicky mother fuckers, meanwhile Freezeman and Magnetman go down like chumps.

Regardless, the game is fine. An improvement on the first game for the most part, sure, but way too many issues for me to want to return to it.