Went into this one with more tempered expectations especially because a lot of fans of the first Kuro no Kiseki agreed that this one had REAL issues. And 65 hours later, I can say I am pleasantly surprised with Kuro 2! It's definitely an unfortunate victim of Falcom's annual release schedule and some parts of the game are a little ??? because of it, but for the most part I'd say for what it is it's a great game. The gameplay is definitively the best in the series (even if I miss brave orders) and I could play it for hours. In terms of the story, it's not focused on being a grand follow-up to the first game but rather a sort of "Kuro no Kiseki 1.5", giving even more time to its characters and setting up even more mysteries for the arc's finale in Kai. Act 3 is definitely the weakest part of the game and I think that's where you can really feel the fact that this game didn't have enough time to have a properly paced story, but it's like a 6/10 segment of a game that otherwise has generational peaks. I think Kuro 2 is not that far behind the first game and comfortably top 5 in my series ranking.