Played this straight after finishing I Am Setsuna as wanted to complete both titles before they were removed from the PS+ Catalogue. Took 38 hours to platinum. This game is supposed to be the successor to I Am Setsuna so I am making a direct comparison.

I liked the music and felt the combat system was more enjoyable and had better explained mechanics than I Am Setsuna.

The art style was pleasant to look at but I preferred the aesthetic of I Am Setsuna.

I did not warm to the characters and was disappointed with the story. I enjoyed the story up until the first "ending" and if they had concluded the game there, I would have been very happy but instead they chose to drag the story out for many more hours and the plot became increasingly nonsensical....I ended up fast-forwarding through a lot of the cutscenes towards the end just to get the game completed as I was bored.

Huge step up in quality from Setsuna. Everything that made it good is here - the vibes, the soundtrack, the story and themes. But more importantly, the parts the dragged it down have been massively improved. Combat now feels satisfying and the sense of agency is massively improved with the ability to move and aim exactly where you want to attack.
There's too many QoL changes to name, but needless to say their combined effort makes Lost Sphear into what feels like Tokyo RPG Factory really wanted to do with I Am Setuna, but couldn't for one reason or another.

A cozy feeling that continues in its sequel

Honestly this is just an overall good follow up to a very good first title which saw some improvements. The first title really put my mind at ease with its great setting, OST, characters and great dialogue that can sometimes get very thoughtful and deep. I simply couldn’t have asked for much more with the sequel and in every way they simply did what I think more games should do with its sequel. Don’t fix what isn’t broken just simply add onto it and improve and that is what you get with its sequel.

What is different and what is good?

Of course with this being a VN you ask yourself “what in the world can they change” which is a simple answer. The core loop of Coffee Talk EP1 has you creating drinks for your customers as you listen to their story. In EP2 you now have even more ingredients to use for your tasty looking drinks opening up how many possible combinations you can make. In addition there is a new side mechanic in which customers will sometimes forget items or give you items for you to give to someone else. This serves as a way for potential story changes for characters as you have to remember to give specific items to specific people. It's a neat mechanic which however does lead into a small issue I have that I will get more into in my negative portion of the review. What would be a good VN without good dialogue? Luckily I am happy to say this game continues the trend of great storylines with sometimes really thoughtful dialogue that can really hit home for some people if you are in the field of creating. In addition, the new cast of characters were great and all fit in very well to the story quickly making you care very deeply for these pixels. It's funny because I almost felt terrible when I had to go through my bad end run because I genuinely did not want to see these characters fail LOL.

A way to calm

I want to give this a little section on its own because I really want to drive home how comfy this game feels. They really created such a cozy atmosphere that I really adore and wish I could have in real life. The OST is just as great and the setting is once again just as great, really making you feel like you have gone back home. I really recommend this game just for this alone if you want something that will help you put yourself at ease while getting a fix of great stories and world building.

Some negatives

Luckily while I do have some negatives it isn’t anything game breaking that will push anyone away it's just annoyances for a specific group of people. To explain , remember how I mentioned the new item mechanic ? you get items from characters and pick up forgotten items from characters to give to another character or back to the person who lost it. It's a simple yet cool addition that can lead into some VERY frustrating routes if you do not want to guide. On top of having to get drinks right you have to remember to give items to specific people and if you forget anything you will ruin a run. This becomes an issue because this game is insanely confusing when it comes to 100% YOU WILL HAVE TO GUIDE THIS GAME. Going for a 100% playthrough without guiding will make you pull your hair out as it is so damn specific of what is needed from you. In general you will have to go through this game multiple times to see everything and this time around the dialogue skipping button feels slower due to the game pausing every time characters expression changes or anything. This will slow down the process a bit but not to an annoying degree.

In the end

While going for the true ending is annoying I will say I DO recommend it as it is one of the most heartfelt endings that I have seen in a while put into a game in recent times. It really elevated the experience for me and just really showed how close the team who made this game was. What is to come from this series is unknown ( to my knowledge ) but I am VERY happy to have picked up and read both titles.

What does Jonah actually do? I understand he’s a moral touchstone, but what is his purpose on these trips? He just gets captured and chats to people.

Alas, thankfully this game focuses more on puzzles and traversal than its weaker suit of combat. The challenge tombs, just as was the case in the previous game, are the key highlight and they are more than worth finding - even if the use of rope as a solution does become somewhat repetitive. They are also surprisingly difficult at times, a welcome change.

The story is highly convoluted. I wasn’t entirely sure why I was fighting particular foes or where in the timeline we were regularly. The last outing had a more compelling tale with an at least vaguely sensible plot. This follows something along similar lines but jumps right overboard with it. There is an entire section where you are allegedly acting undercover as a local priest/warrior and yet you are speaking cut glass English with the complexion of a European. We all suspend disbelief with videogames but that was truly peculiar.

Lara’s moral purpose seems to waver throughout and not in a way that was intriguing. There was an interesting point where the main adversary asks Croft “and what of all the people you have killed, and why” (paraphrased) to which I can only thoroughly agree. Aren’t you meant to be an archaeological researcher? Why are you slaughtering nomadic people who only have bows and arrows? This kind of chaos makes more sense for haphazard Nathan Drake or when Croft was killing mercenaries in Siberia, but at times it is jarring in this outing as you are in essence intruding on a relatively peaceful land.

For all this, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is truly beautiful and the climbing mechanics are probably just as good as Uncharted at this point. You really do lose yourself in the wonders of the Peruvian landscape and there are some very striking underwater scenes too. Just bear in mind that collecting everything in this game affords you almost nothing extra - by the end Croft is borderline invincible. Buy shotgun shells with your cash, not more weapons that do the same thing.

Time Rift is a game I should have loved in theory, but it just didn't quite land for me. The action-puzzler gameplay is hectic, but low-stakes because of your time manipulation abilities. The story is topical and satirical, while never being in your face or demanding you pay attention to it. I think the chosen style does a good job of making all the gameplay elements visually distinct. Time Rift's puzzles are very easy to read and understand.

I think the problem I had with this game is it's just not difficult enough, even when going for 100% collection most levels do not require any thought at all. And the game's style, while great for visual clarity, doesn't have much charm or unique flair to it.

It just feels like Traveller's Tales games was only interested in including a lot of content rather than simply creating a good story with a lot of care. This game should not have been called Lego Batman, it should of been called Lego Justice League because the game is basically just a justice league game and even though Batman is the main protagonist he only has a bit more screen time than the other league members. The game is not bad but there is nothing added which screams quality like the first two Lego Batman games which is the same way which I feel about the recent Lego games like Lego Star Wars the Skywalker Saga. The look of the game was visually appealing which is great for a comic book project, and most of the suits were comic accurate which was great especially compared to the comic book films which are releasing. The DLC was under whelming, as TT Games thought it was a good idea to have a narrator for each of the DLCs which made the gaming experience unpleasant such as someone trying to do an impression of Michael Caines Alfred which was just cringe-worthy. The only good voice acting performance was Troy Baker as Batman which makes me wish Lego Games went back to the no voice acting and only murmurs. Overall, since I got this game for free by Selling CSGO cases it was an alright game but does not compared to the older Lego games.