The original Chaos;Head is a flawed, but interesting psychological horror VN.

But for the most part, the addition of the individual character routes remove a good amount of those flaws. They answer and clarify so many moments about the story I was iffy on when I played the original.

Play with the Committee of Zero patch though. The official translation is stilted as all hell.

Crimson Sin Review - tldr any kingrecon video

A year has gone since kuro no kiseki released and won both veterans fans that grew wary of Cold steel and others such as myself who wanted to see something fresh but still in line with what the series is about.

Of course, questions were left in the air with certain characters and plot threads which a lot of the fandom grew intrigue and started anticipating for the next game. Anticipation was through the roof and people thought Crimson Sin would answer everything.

Why am I saying this at all? Because I think it's best to talk about how I anticipated kuro 2 compared to my peers or other people in the fandom. Going in with barely any expectations I felt gave me more to enjoy and appreciate. I dodged a lot of the promotional material as I wasn't finished with the first game which may have been a life saver somewhat.

This game wasn't gonna solve everything nor is it even "filler." A lot of the complaints originally felt hollow and just meaningless as majority of the reviews came a day after release with half baked summaries from chinaman stream.

These comments feel as if they detract heavily from what kuro 2 was meant to be about from day 1 and how much it feels like an achievement for Falcom in my eyes atleast. It's the most interesting game to me just from how it's structured and took from the best game in the series with a route structure.

The game focuses on the eight genesis after all, a plot line brought forth by the first game and left a mystery since the ending after collecting the 7th genesis. Development to characters such as quatre, risette, swin, renne, feri and so forth and with some of the best moments in the arc thus far that feel integral to the arc as a whole are brought up. Hajimari is consistently brought up and this game feels like a continuation of a lot of the ideas, character stuff and more.

My vision of what Crimson Sin was going to be felt more in line with what was given to me with way more twists and turns that I had thought. It felt nice to play a trails game without knowing spoilers and twists. Intermission was an example of this, what a fucking chapter.

Was I satisfied? Hell yeah even would go out to say this is in my top 2 games in the series because of how much I think I love from the gimmick of this game, the mystery, antagonist roster, side quests so on and so forth.

Though, my biggest praise to this game is the main gimmick, god that was so much fucking fun. Yeah, there maybe some actual funny usages of it but a lot of the time I really loved it.

As I said earlier, it's character moments are so well done and emotionally hit me in the feels, with it also being the point where I feel the Arkride Solutions group grew on me so much and the overall Calvard cast might be my personal favourite as of right now.

Would I say its perfect? Damn near outside of a bit of act 3 which I feel has may have been given too much flack and has been exaggerated in terms of criticism I feel. Of course, I understand some complaints but people saying it ruins the game for them feels funny to me. I'm not gonna sit here and say "I know its flawed blah blah blah" fuck off. I don't care. I really loved the act after all.

LGC points matter less here because of the emphasis on the main gimmick which I understand but really want them to be used next game as how kuro 1 was.

Theres also the music, which I enjoyed a lot but some may also feel inclined to say it doesn't work well. There's a few used tracks from kuro 1 but this is so normal for falcom so it's become a really whatever comment as I loved that soundtrack. (Yeah Kill me I love singa!!! Woooo singa yeah!!!)

Cutscenes have probably jumped up in quality for me, some of the best usage of them thus far in the arc. One especially went crazy and caught me off guard.

Final boss... yeah that shit probably the best one no doubt. It uses EVERYTHING at it resources and doesn't fail to make you blind sided at moments.

Though I think I haven't been as vocal on how much I love this arc, feeling as my thoughts may feel a bit more regurgitated, this game turned it up a notch. Falcom is trying their hardest to put a lot of new ideas into these games which works so well. I want to see what they do next.

Side note, I can't wait to replay this. Probably more to praise whenever I do get to it.

Update : Some really interesting stuff was shown and left off really nicely,

"To be continued... KURO NO KISEKI FINAL CHAPTER."

This game carried so many many expectations on my end, and well having fully beat it I can say it pretty much met all of them and surpassed most.

I'll try to segment this so it's easier to follow and offer general thoughts on the series and game at the end.

The gameplay is the best in the series, MG is a great addition but gets pretty boring down the line as these dungeons usually do. TRC at least had cooler bosses but more of Kuro II gameplay is never a bad thing.

The music, I prefer not to speak about

The visuals and performance somehow both improved despite this being an updated version of Kuro 1's engine? and I played on a PS4 slim so good job falcom for making the game even more optimized, cinematic and well directed.

The side quests are easily the best in the series, this game focuses on all of the cast as much as it can so it's inevitable. The connect/bond events are among the best for sure, dunno if this was necessarily my favourite set overall but a perfect batch regardless.

The character writing is brilliant, the main cast gets widespread damn near perfect focus and a great inspection into them while adding a lot of meaningful development to most. The side cast is focused on equally well, brilliant stuff everywhere.

Alright arghhhhhhhhhhhh this game is such a fucking blast, it feels like a festival if you're invested in the series/kuro. The stretch from act 1 to intermission is legendary. Not a single dull moment or lackluster scene, everything goes full steam at building up this game's themes and characters. Which is a point I wanted to get to, this game is probably the most centered around its themes after Hajimari/The 3rd in the series, which is really surprising. The narrative is also super character driven, and despite being so big it rarely fails to be great. Also fun to note that this game is equal parts sequel to Hajimari as it is to Kuro in my opinion, so if you love those games, not loving this is impossible. Act 3 is a weird case, while I love the amount of payoff it gives to certain characters, and the side character focus is pretty damn good, it runs for too long for its own good and the narrative developments are a bit icky. Regardless, one of the best parts in the game. The hate is pretty funny, I understand why though I just disagree. The finale is a great chapter, rather short but the connect events and ending are perfect. Wish certain characters showed off more in the finale but it's fine even if they didn't. The DLC update leaves so much in air in a good way.

That said this game offers a lot, there's tons of setup and elaboration on past events. The character work as I said is immaculate. And it's nearly perfectly paced outside Act 3. But the way it drives home the theme of sins, your past and where and who you are in this world, acting like a thematic sequel to Kuro/Hajimari while adding its own new grounds that Kuro 3 will hopefully tread effortlessly. The lore bits are so fucking rewarding, the picture they are painting is something I genuinely cannot wait to see. It gives enough to be satisfied and want more. And generally its tendency to resolve stuff across the series while adding more to it is great. Despite being a game so indulgent in its own happenings.

As a last note, THAT FINAL BOSS IS THE FUCKING BEST A TURN BASED GAME WILL EVER HAVE MECHANICALLY UOHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE YOU KONDO (I still prefer certain other boss fights in the series narratively)

I came a lot when I played this game like I had to get off the game at certain points because it was too much. It was cream city fr

Actual review the game is great in so many ways with the characters and already established ones too. The cutscenes for certain fights look even cleaner my mind was actually blown. The garden mode serves as a nice way to level up and break the game with how strong it gets as well as the new quartz which also made someone like renne use zero ep my whole game. Now story is great and different with how they approached it and I liked it it just felt a little silly in act three when “it” kept happening but I glaze the fuck out the series so idk. Music was cream. Thank you van arkrideeeeeeeee. Although kuro 1>2 but the gap isn’t big

It doesn't advance the overarching story much but outside of that it's nothing but gas. The character writing is still really strong and the returning characters like Swin and Nadia are treated really well and are implemented in a way that doesn't feel like pandering or fanservice.

In terms of gameplay they pretty much fixed my only complaints with Kuro 1, S-Crafts now have cooldown so you can't constantly spam them, the AT bar actually makes sense and you can steal turn order bonuses again and boss fights from my experience aren't completely braindead easy on Nightmare difficulty anymore. Also has what is probably the rawest final boss in the series.

Soul Hackers 2 seems like it’s been the victim of a lot of negative sentiment. People calling it bland, saying it’s missing the heart of something like a Persona game (a criticism also levied against SMT V), and really criticising the hell out of the dungeon design. I can see why people might be dissatisfied with this game, even in those parts specifically, but I certainly don’t get why there’s such vitriol around a game that at worst these people are calling… bland?

For me though, this is anything but bland. It’s not as “loud” as a Persona game in tone or style, but why would it be? Persona games are about 15 year olds. The stories they tell are great and thematically deep, don’t get me wrong, but they’re stories starring children. Soul Hackers 2 stars adults. Adults who’re caught up in something between a gang war and a JRPG plot, who’ve internalized the hate and pain that conflict has brought, and mostly seem built out of coping mechanisms.

For example, you’ve got Arrow, my personal favorite of the main cast. He seems pretty standard for like, a game of this style, an everyman who doesn’t seem off-putting, and I get why that comes across as bland to people, but to me he just seems tired. Tired in a way that he doesn’t complain about, or even acknowledge, because it’s just part of life for him. They’re not drawn, but you can almost feel the bags under his eyes in the way he talks, the words he chooses. And that is infinitely more compelling as a character beat to me than anything from Persona 3-5.

The rest of the cast feels equally mature and understated, even the seemingly loud Saizo, who’s built himself out of noir stereotypes to cover up an unobtainable desire for peace and tranquility, and an idealism to rival any shounen protagonist. Those things don’t fly in the fairly grounded world of Soul Hackers though, lacking the adventuresome nature of Persona and (most of) the philosophical musings of SMT proper. So he builds walls of sarcasm and wittiness to protect himself.

It all feels pretty true to life I think, and the game takes itself rather seriously as well (outside of one joke character in the introduction). There’s a huge focus on not just the philosophical ideal of what it means to “be human”, but on people and the choices they’ve made, the compassion they’ve shown and to whom it was shown to.

Beyond that, I also really loved the dungeon crawling. I don’t think any game since Nocturne has really captured the old school maze-style of classic SMT in full 3D so well, nor has any made it so accessible. The couple of reused themes for dungeons are a little disappointing, but the themes themselves are just as understated-yet-vibey as the rest of the game. If you’ve played Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the dungeon crawling and combat here are heavily based that game, and I think this game is a much more successful use of those mechanics.

That’s pretty much what the whole game is. Just small character moments and dungeon crawling, and if you like the characters and the old-skool-ness of it all, I don’t think you’ll have any issues here at all. Just don’t forget about the side quests if you want the true ending, yeah? Though the non-true ending is really really good regardless, ending on a nice unresolved note (delivered via monologue) like a true noir film would.

I can totally get why this game's divisive for it's budget issues and pretty straight-forward gameplay; it makes it feel more like a modern port of a Vita game than a 2022 release, if anything.

But to me? That's a great thing. Everything else about it - it's cast, worldbuilding, setting and writing - is just so damn good. It takes a little while to really get going, but I had an absolute blast, and I hope people don't let other opinions deter them from trying the game out completely.

It makes up for it's flaws more than well enough - so if you're able to put up with those nearly as well as I am, there's plenty to appreciate here.