in a lot of ways this game is better than the first. the gameplay is much more streamlined - somniums make more sense now! in a lot of ways, this game is also on par with the first. the music is still amazing. for a game that had its dub recorded during covid it's pretty solid aside from the few scenes at the start where boss sounds like she's in a microwave. its new cast is the highlight of the experience - special shoutouts to ryuki and tama, as well as mister minecraft steve - and most of them are integrated into the AITSF relationship ecosystem in a way that is believable enough.
...most of them! This is where my problems start. to name a few:
- the story is a lot weaker than its predecessor. the stakes are absurdly high and i guess this makes sense within the context of them exploring simulation theory a lot but it loses me.
- and what plot points from the first they do reuse are just done so stupidly. like when they spoil one of the first game's biggest twists for ... some reason? after going through the pain not to explain what the cyclops killings were about and who date is? Alright.
- for a game where she's actually playable this game does mizuki so dirty it physically hurts. i don't want to go into spoilers but it sucks shit and i don't know what they were thinking when they messed with her backstory
- what is up with the grown men crushing on / lusting over high school girls i'm SICK OF IT!!!!!!
- a lot of time is spent with the newer characters, which means that older characters like the sagans and pewter are sidelined. that's fine, i guess, even if they're the reason i would WANT to play a sequel, but moma and mama in particular experience something worse than being shafted: character assassination.
- that said, there's a handful of characters whose characters are improved from the first, like the sunfish pocket mermaid shrouded in mystery or one of moma's lackeys, but both of those examples were so minor in the first that they basically weren't characters until aini.
also, much like the previous game, this has multiple endings. the endings are pretty lackluster, though; one of the things i liked about ai1's non-canon endings is that all of them give you different pieces of information that you eventually connect when you get the big reveals in the game's last act.
here they try to go for this as well? kind of? but they end a lot less satisfyingly because they don't change the story meaningfully (unfotunately the most ambitious one with this is the hardest to take seriously) and thus don't give you enough time to let the route-specific info sink in before they reveal it on the main path.
maybe it's because of how they were telling the story across two points in space-time but it means we don't get the slippery slope of annihilation, the "WE FUCKED UP BAD" realization of iris, or the conclusion of mizuki. the one branch in ryuki's side of the story kind of has the heartwarming to retroactive horror ota's route does though i can give it that
amame was really good, though. she's one of the best characters and is my overall fave. the bits of postgame content were also a highlight. i liked the tamagotchis. it's an alright experience overall but it takes a big shit on the reasons why i liked the first game And For What. to make this an entry point to the series? at this rate i don't want uchikoshi to make an AI3.
...most of them! This is where my problems start. to name a few:
- the story is a lot weaker than its predecessor. the stakes are absurdly high and i guess this makes sense within the context of them exploring simulation theory a lot but it loses me.
- and what plot points from the first they do reuse are just done so stupidly. like when they spoil one of the first game's biggest twists for ... some reason? after going through the pain not to explain what the cyclops killings were about and who date is? Alright.
- for a game where she's actually playable this game does mizuki so dirty it physically hurts. i don't want to go into spoilers but it sucks shit and i don't know what they were thinking when they messed with her backstory
- what is up with the grown men crushing on / lusting over high school girls i'm SICK OF IT!!!!!!
- a lot of time is spent with the newer characters, which means that older characters like the sagans and pewter are sidelined. that's fine, i guess, even if they're the reason i would WANT to play a sequel, but moma and mama in particular experience something worse than being shafted: character assassination.
- that said, there's a handful of characters whose characters are improved from the first, like the sunfish pocket mermaid shrouded in mystery or one of moma's lackeys, but both of those examples were so minor in the first that they basically weren't characters until aini.
also, much like the previous game, this has multiple endings. the endings are pretty lackluster, though; one of the things i liked about ai1's non-canon endings is that all of them give you different pieces of information that you eventually connect when you get the big reveals in the game's last act.
here they try to go for this as well? kind of? but they end a lot less satisfyingly because they don't change the story meaningfully (unfotunately the most ambitious one with this is the hardest to take seriously) and thus don't give you enough time to let the route-specific info sink in before they reveal it on the main path.
maybe it's because of how they were telling the story across two points in space-time but it means we don't get the slippery slope of annihilation, the "WE FUCKED UP BAD" realization of iris, or the conclusion of mizuki. the one branch in ryuki's side of the story kind of has the heartwarming to retroactive horror ota's route does though i can give it that
amame was really good, though. she's one of the best characters and is my overall fave. the bits of postgame content were also a highlight. i liked the tamagotchis. it's an alright experience overall but it takes a big shit on the reasons why i liked the first game And For What. to make this an entry point to the series? at this rate i don't want uchikoshi to make an AI3.