Regardless of the series or genre, sequels have an obligation to be different and innovate. The differences between CotM2 and CotM1 lead some people to love 2 and lead others into hating it on principle. After my playthrough of episodes 1, 2 and the final episode of CotM2, I've decided I'm somewhere in between these two camps.

There's a lot to like about this game as a sequel. It's way bigger of a game than the first Curse of the Moon, most of the bosses are more interesting and have more going on with their patterns/behaviours, the soundtrack is more memorable to me than the first game's soundtrack overall and the new characters are cool and introduce archetypes that are usually never seen in classicvania style games such as a healer, ranged sniper and a tank character (who is actually a doggo piloting a steam-powered mech, which makes it even cooler). If you're just looking for a good time there's a lot of fun to be had here, and I feel as though CotM2 would be much more appealing than the first game for people who either haven't played other classicvanias or aren't fans of the style.

However; CotM2 has a wildly different approach to level design and difficulty than the first game. I struggled to jive with these differences to the point where I eventually just gave up on try-harding, grabbed a beer, turned the difficulty down to casual and cheesed most levels/bosses with the doggo Hachi's invincibility.

Sure, the first CotM game was a bit too on the easy side, but the thing that made it so engrossing to me is that everything was clearly balanced around Zangetsu's base moveset, making it feel more coherent and legit as a classicvania styled action platformer. In contrast, while technically everything is still doable with solo Zangetsu in CotM2, the game clearly isn't balanced around his moveset. The design priority has shifted to a playstyle of using specific characters/subweapons at certain points, with the game becoming unreasonably difficult and unintuitive if you don't do this. During my first playthrough of CotM1, I did use all of the allies and cheesed many sections with vampire dude's flying ability, but I was genuinely curious how these sections would play out trying to tackle them with solo Zangetsu. Eventually I did this, and had a good time doing it. In CotM2 however, when I cheese through sections with Hachi's invincibility, I have no desire to go back to do them "properly", because it doesn't feel like there even is a "proper" way of doing these sections considering how ridiculously overtuned they can be.

I like to think that I'm not bad at classicvanias given how many of them I've beaten, but a lot of the later challenges in CotM2 did not click with me at all in ways that reminded me of my issues with Elden Ring's meta-driven late game. I think my problem with this style of game difficulty is that it no longer feels like the challenges are based around genre fundamentals and applications of skills the player has learned in not just this game but other games in its style, but it is instead something completely different, and this something is in my opinion something not as good as the original style.

Some other less structured points I want to mention for this review:
.There's a shmup section in this game. Surprisingly it's vertical and not horizontal. Your hitbox is ridiculously big and you move too fast if you collect too many of the speed items, but overall it wasn't bad in terms of quality and difficulty and I would like to see Inti Creates make an actual shmup at some point.

.The stage 6 boss can go fuck itself. I know I praised the boss fights in this game but the stage 6 boss is the exception. Actual clusterfuck and I have no idea how this design concept made it into the actual game.

.It's pretty silly how the Zanmatou sword which is required for the final episode and true ending reverts Zangetsu back to his base moveset. It's hyped up to be some epic upgrade after collecting three secret items and it's actually a downgrade lmao. Well played.

.Dominique's moveset is great. I love having a ducktales pogo attack in a classicvania game.

.Stage 6 had the most interesting stage design for me. The random mishmash of symbolism/imagery from different pagan religions is a pretty cool theme for a demon castle.

.Why beyond why did they change the default button assignment for subweapons from circle to triangle? This makes using subweapons while jumping awkward af. At least you can change it but I still feel like it's worth nitpicking.

Something a friend of mine says fairly frequently is that "style = substance," in an active effort appreciate the craftmanship behind developing a coherent presentational voice. This framework is not only correct, but very applicable when talking about RPGMaker Horror titles, the type of game Little Goody Two Shoes (LGTS) borrows heavily from in its design ethos. While not typically having the most riveting gameplay, games like these tend to excel in making a meaningful narrative out of a little. LGTS is no different, and it some ways it even exceeds many of its predecessors and contemporaries.

It is impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the art. You simply cannot do it-- and why the hell would you? The Shoujo anime aesthetic is unparalleled and stays charming from start to finish. It really does feel like you're playing an animated series, and I love when games manage to capture that vibe. While all of this is worth saying, Little Goody Two Shoes' pastiche is not as shallow as it might sound from these high but relatively blanket praises. The game fully understands how to capture the edgier side of the "shoujo" aesthetic and it continually used its fairy tale motifs in ways that impressed me. They drop the word "phantasmagoria" in this game's advertising (and achievements) and make the use of it count. When Elise shows up to the Ceramic Grove of Wheat halfway through the game, I knew I was playing something special.

The interactive elements of the game are also part of what makes LGTS' presentation so great in a multitude of different ways. Kieferberg truly is sold as this small, German town, and you the poor little peasant living within. There's some real community in the way the village is written... or lack thereof, when they start to fight over the potential mysticism causing them issues like the 1800s period piece LGTS is. Relatedly, I respect the hell out of the suspicion system. It may be far too inconsequential in a gameplay sense, but the very fact that you need to pick and choose what you say turns most conversations with folk into a phony hassle that put you in Elise's headspace. It only ever feels like you're not treated like an inconvenience when talking to your (hilariously gay) love interests.

The gameplay otherwise is decent, but where most of the problems lie. The parts of the daily management I have not mentioned aren't great-- playing minigames for food feels like busywork extremely quickly, and this time the narrative implications are not enough to save it. I get Elise doesn't enjoy it either, but I can only play Bomb Rally from Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland so many times. I have no real issue with the dungeon design though. There's some faux RPGMaker jank in there, and I'm not saying it's even good, but like... it's (mostly) unobtrusive at worst and genuinely solid at best.

Those other problems I have are with the narrative. While very good, LGTS' is the type of story that loves to throw out 14 different plot threads and then resolve like, maybe 2 of them meaningfully. The way so many things are written as indirectly important "lore" to the main plot annoys me because the developers are not good at that type of writing. The last few hours of this game or so feel rushed in general and I found myself incredibly disappointed by how flaccid such an otherwise strong game ends. Multiple "that's it?" reactions were had.

Again, though, Little Goody Two Shoes is a testament to how difficult it is to create a work with standout presentation. Not only is it able to successfully achieve this, it flourishes doing so. A fine addition to the RPGMaker Horror canon, indeed.

The game is pretty cool and I like the presentation a lot (the intro goes bonkers). I think the team choices for these games, while weird, give each of them a very cool dynamic to play with. Having Kyo, Iori and Shingo in the same team remains as one of the most badass formations in any KoF, and the game really brings out some hidden gems to the spotlight with characters from Buriki One and Kizuna encounter making an appearance. We need more freaks in fighting games!

The biggest problem out of the gate is that watching the game in motion is sickening, they did a super poor job in putting the sprites properly into the Atomiswave, and for some reason the camera is very wonky in some places.

The team building and combo aspect in this game is peculiar. Like in 2003, this is a tag fighter instead of team based fighter. I have mixed feelings about this because I think KoF is very unique in the fact of how it's pretty much the only game with multiple characters that aren't in a tag fighter, but I can understand that, by 2003, it was getting a bit old. From the 3 characters, you choose a leader, and from that, your meter management and super options change accordingly, making each formation play in at least 3 different variations that, while minor, adds a cool aspect when character order isn't nearly as decisive like in older games thanks to the tag mechanic. My biggest problem is the Tag save system, I really don't think that KoF is a game where a burst mechanic is warranted, specially when good combos from lights are very rare now. Otherwise, the game's combo game is very unique when compared to the rest of the KoF series, which is cool to see, but some characters' combo game can feel very limiting if you don't have a partner on stock, which is probably intentional, but still a bit sad.

Overall, very cool game, I would like if they mixed up the roster and mechanics more with each new KoF, it seems like Max mode is here to stay now, and while I like it, it can feel too iterative

Ok so kof xiii is regarded as one of the best in franchise and I don’t get it, sure on its own as a fighting game it’s great, but overall it’s such a downgrade from the previous entries. The Tales of Ash story was ruined because they removed just about every important new character and replaced them with safe characters that came back every game, so the story feels really unfinished because so many characters were left behind. Also the move sets are so bad, almost every move set was cut into thirds. It’s just annoying that following up kof XI’s crazy roster and innovative mechanics was a very standard entry in the series covered in godlike graphics (which is probably 90% of this game’s praise to begin with). I’m not gonna talk about kof xii either because that game is just a glorified demo I don’t count it as it’s own game.

After hearing so much of the hype surrounding this game, I honestly expected more. I've owned this game for almost over a year at this point and I've only played it for a total of three hours. It's just not very engaging to me especially compared to most of KOF '94-XI.
Firstly, let's talk about the presentation, because this is what everyone who discusses this game ever will bring up. I honestly just think it looks ok. The sprites are cool I guess but most of them just don't really feel like the characters they're meant to represent, like Ryo, Yuri, and Leona for example. I like a couple of the new sprites, especially Athena and K', those are cool! Also the stages are so boring. I see people give KOF XI shit for having boring stages but these are infinitely worse. Where is all the color? Actually that applies to the sprites too, why is everything so desaturated looking. I might be crazy but it seems that the sprites have some sort of anti aliasing on them, which just makes them look blurry and ugly. I don't think the game looks bad, but I feel it looks lamer than alot of the earlier games, especially '97-'00.
The gameplay is just your average KOF fare. It's very combo focused compared to other entries and that's neat. Even as someone who loves KOF XI I don't really miss the tag feature much, but I feel they should've kept it in this one just to stay consistent with the other two games in the saga. What I don't like about the gameplay is that most character movesets feel kinda gimped which is lame. KOF has always had an issue of adding and removing moves for characters every entry, but it's stripped down a fair margin here which is disappointing.
The bosses in this game are also boring. What is it with the Ash Saga and having bosses that aren't even shitty in an ironically funny way like the original SNK and Eolith era, instead just being giant enemies that spam projectiles and command grabs everywhere? They're just annoying.
I legitimately do not care for the music in this one, none of the tracks I heard during gameplay made me feel enticed to listen to them in my free time unlike many of the other entries. The music isn't bad, but compared to '94-'00 and XI it's not as impactful.
I don't hate this game. I think it's pretty solid, and I understand why so many fans love this game. But for me, this one just is missing something that many earlier entries had. Especially after the super unique and fun KOF XI, this is such a basic return to form that it hurts. After three hours of game time, I feel like I have exhausted almost all entertainment from this game, and that's honestly kinda sad. Hopefully I can pick up KOF XV this christmas and possibly enjoy that one though!

Very miffed about this one. KoF is probably my favorite fighting game franchise (Alhough Plus R is probably still my favourite game) because of how solid the system mechanics are, no matter how unbalanced or stripped down the game may be, the games always feel like a dream to control. Having said that, I never actually played XIII until recently, but I kept experiencing it through osmosis via posts and comments saying how beautiful this game looked, how this was the best KoF, how SNK shouldn't have moved to 3D, etc, etc... With all that, actually playing the game, and knowing the game mechanics we had in the Ash saga until now (even including XII), it feels like SNK was putting all their chips into presentation this time around, when the Ash saga's whole deal until this point is that it carried almost no mechanics from the previous games aside from movement related ones.

XIII instead went back to the usual team 3-on-3 format we all know and love but did some serious changes in how the game is actually played. Max mode makes a comeback but uses a whole different gauge outside of the usual super meter, and it introduces EX moves into the series. While having a third version of a special to play around sounds interesting, specially for fighters that we all know how their movesets are going to look like, but this feels like a compensation for absolutely GUTTING some of the characters' movelist. Terry has no Power Charge, no Fire Kick, no Ground Wave, no Power Dunk, and has only access to the absolute bare essentials. Many characters are like this, to the point that i'd say only Ash and Iori (for lore reasons) had additions to their moveset. There is a lot of animation reusing and even some normals were straight up removed. It feels really weird having the exact same throw for C and D and characters not always having close normal versions.

What characters kept has been heavily focused, and what moves they traded or replaced have, a lot of the time, one direct goal, combos. Aside from probably 2002UM this has to be the most combo centric KoF game. Normal into Command Normal into special will no longer cut it, you are heavily encouraged to make use of the Drive gauge for meterless special cancels. Entering Max mode now gives you an auto run which makes it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to land a combo after any confirm. This has the rammifications of only keeping moves the developers had in mind for building combo routes. Clark's other 5 hundred grabs may be gone as he only keeps one this time around, but now he also has EX Vulcan Punch and a hit confirmable string in Close C > 3A which gives him a combo game that he NEVER had, seriously, Clark's big combo used to literally be a single Close C into his super, but had some of the most frightening vortex and call-outs of any grappler in the game, he feels like an entirely different character. He is not the only example, some characters got things added in place of other things, like Ash losing his command grab but now getting a proper Sans Culotte route from a low thanks to 4B links.

Do I like it? I wouldnt say I dislike it directly, I like it when games in a series keep enough of what's important but spice things up a little, I really enjoyed XI for that reason. Doing combos in XIII feels really nice but it does feel like the developers had to sacrifice a lot of other things in the character moveset so things like this grappler getting easy confirms into huge damage with also a lot of grabs to his name didnt get out of hand quickly. Same thing can be said with a lot of characters, that had most tools regarding more esoteric things in the older games, removed or repourposed for keeping that juggle going. You quickly realize this by looking at how much everyone makes a deal about the trials in this game, the developers really wanted to showcase this game's combo possibilites. This is a hugely subjective topic so a lot of my ramblings may feel like crazy talk for people who think this system is the best in the franchise, and I can see the argument of this game being someone's favorite KoF because of these decisions, but i'll just say that there is a reason why a lot of the XIII playerbase only really likes XIII, and a lot of people that play other KoF titles don't, the game was and still is a very divise product in how it wanted to shift priorities around.

What actually feels more plausible for the removal of moves however was that this game costed SNK tons of money. Yeah we have reached the point where we talk about the presentation. Yeah the sprites look good, we all know it, it's an accepted fact...or is it?

Now, I know this game took a lot of time to animate, like a LOT of time, but the end result looks...strange. Many people have commented just how obsessed this game is to giving steroids to every character. Terry plays basketball, he doesnt benchpress school buses, but why does Ryo have no pupils? Why is Takuma walking forward the scariest shit ever? Why is Yuri noodled-arm but when you beat her you can see her humongous rack? Why is the game so obsessed in making every nationality a caricature in the stages? Why did they think Iori's hair was supposed to be a tupé? Has any of the developers actually seen how a woman's boob actually jiggle or did they design Mai's idle pose looking at water balloons?

The game looks bizarre, I sometimes feel like I am looking at skinwalkers. Beautiful skinwalkers, sure, but some of these characters absolutely do not look like how they are meant to. We can talk all we want about how good this game looks on screenshots but seeing it in motion with these things plus the insane amount of 3D effects that look NOTHING like the rest of the game (looking at you Duo Lon's weird smoke-skull thingies). If there is one thing I dont see talked about is how good this game sounds (not even just the music), the sound effects are dope, I dont think I have been scared more in a fighting game than whenever my friend who plays Clark runs up, turns the world into a black void, I see the words Neo Max pop up, a speeding jet lets me know of my sudden, incoming death, just so I get Piledrived into the earth's core while I hear the ground itself crack open on my headphones GOD this game SOUNDS like a dream! But no, everything always comes back to the graphics, which I dont even think look like what KoF is supposed to look like.

This is a KoF game at the end of the day, I am bound to get my enjoyment out of it, I think this game has the best playable version of Ash crimson so my boy being so much fun gets thumbs up for that, but there's always something in the back of my psyche that my conscience doesnt always interpret right away, telling this and that are wrong and shouldnt be like that, but really, developers are free to do whatever they think will move a series forward (except for the racism and sexism please who the fuck actually designed some of these stages I want their names). We live in a era where most of the games are readily available via Fightcade or modern consoles with solid netcode (aside from this one but I'll bet solid gold Code Mystics wont take too long to add it to XIII) so it's not like people are forced to play one over the other (except for XIII god this netcode is cheeks), so if you disagreed on in this review means we both have different tastes and we both have options to satisfy them, which is cool

Except is you like propaganda-level caricatures as your game's stages if that's the case go fuck yourself.