Really happy that I ended up enjoying this game much more than I expected. I played like 6 hours of the first game and was not into it at all, so spending $70 on this game was a pretty big risk for me, but for whatever reason, I was quickly invested into DD2 and stayed engaged throughout my entire playthrough. Very different from your traditional open-world game, and I'm glad that Capcom wasn't afraid to take the risk of keeping out some pretty common modern-day QoL features of a typical game like this, and kept true to it's philosophy for the franchise of a more punishing and slower-paced experience, and ultimately I think they were quite succesful.

The world itself is nothing too interesting, with only really 2-3 different areas aesthetically, but it is still quite beautiful and while there are certainly games with better exploration, I did not find myself getting bored in the open-world, except maybe once or twice having to run somewhere near the end of the main story when I ran out of Riftstones. There are some interesting landmarks and worthwhile secrets here and there, quite a bit that I'm sure I missed as well, and overall the experience of going from one destination to another is pretty enjoyable.

I'm making no bold statement by saying combat is the highlight of DD2, but it really is great. The closest comparison I felt throughout was of Monster Hunter, rewarding a mastery of your vocations, patience, and occasional and extremely satisfying opportunities for big damage or awesome plays. The difficulty throughout the game felt pretty fair, with a good sense of exhilarating power fantasy by the end as you rip through boss health bars, and some pretty cool endgame fights as well. I played two different classes mainly: Warrior and Mystic Spearhand. Both of these were quite fun and had a lot to master; Warrior was definitely my favorite, but they both felt great once fully upgraded, with lots of tools. Enemy variety wasn't the best, there's only maybe six or seven different types of bosses (not including the endgame content), although discovering a new one here and there was super exciting. You also end up fighting variants of the same like three or four smaller enemies, which was a little disappointing, but not fully unacceptable.

While the overarching plot of the game is pretty whatever, I actually found a lot of the subplots and side characters quite interesting and well-written. I wasn't blown away by anything in the story but the characters and certain side-quests do make the world feel alive, which was an issue I had with the first game. As I'd expect most players would, I did end up growing pretty attached to my own pawn by the end, and was very happy to have him with me throughout my journey.

I think I could recommend this game to most people, even though it is not your traditional modern-day action RPG, which I think might actually be a selling point to some. The generally reasonable difficulty level also I don't think would bar too many people who might be intimidated by the game's unique approach to open world.

Generously ~8.5/10

Really happy that I ended up enjoying this game much more than I expected. I played like 6 hours of the first game and was not into it at all, so spending $70 on this game was a pretty big risk for me, but for whatever reason, I was quickly invested into DD2 and stayed engaged throughout my entire playthrough. Very different from your traditional open-world game, and I'm glad that Capcom wasn't afraid to take the risk of keeping out some pretty common modern-day QoL features of a typical game like this, and kept true to it's philosophy for the franchise of a more punishing and slower-paced experience, and ultimately I think they were quite succesful.

The world itself is nothing too interesting, with only really 2-3 different areas aesthetically, but it is still quite beautiful and while there are certainly games with better exploration, I did not find myself getting bored in the open-world, except maybe once or twice having to run somewhere near the end of the main story when I ran out of Riftstones. There are some interesting landmarks and worthwhile secrets here and there, quite a bit that I'm sure I missed as well, and overall the experience of going from one destination to another is pretty enjoyable.

I'm making no bold statement by saying combat is the highlight of DD2, but it really is great. The closest comparison I felt throughout was of Monster Hunter, rewarding a mastery of your vocations, patience, and occasional and extremely satisfying opportunities for big damage or awesome plays. The difficulty throughout the game felt pretty fair, with a good sense of exhilarating power fantasy by the end as you rip through boss health bars, and some pretty cool endgame fights as well. I played two different classes mainly: Warrior and Mystic Spearhand. Both of these were quite fun and had a lot to master; Warrior was definitely my favorite, but they both felt great once fully upgraded, with lots of tools. Enemy variety wasn't the best, there's only maybe six or seven different types of bosses (not including the endgame content), although discovering a new one here and there was super exciting. You also end up fighting variants of the same like three or four smaller enemies, which was a little disappointing, but not fully unacceptable.

While the overarching plot of the game is pretty whatever, I actually found a lot of the subplots and side characters quite interesting and well-written. I wasn't blown away by anything in the story but the characters and certain side-quests do make the world feel alive, which was an issue I had with the first game. As I'd expect most players would, I did end up growing pretty attached to my own pawn by the end, and was very happy to have him with me throughout my journey.

I think I could recommend this game to most people, even though it is not your traditional modern-day action RPG, which I think might actually be a selling point to some. The generally reasonable difficulty level also I don't think would bar too many people who might be intimidated by the game's unique approach to open world.

Generously ~8.5/10