DP1 was one of the most surprising games I've played in the sense that I enjoyed it a ton more than I'd expected. It getting a sequel or 2nd game of sorts would be pretty high on my unexpected list as well. After more than 10 years does it capture the same magic that I had with the first? Disappointedly, no.
The game is technically a sequel since it a portion of the game does take place after the first game and it does spoil those events, but the majority of the story here takes place a few years prior. I think the game's handling of the two timelines is messy. I wished they either went all in with a prequel or a sequel instead of trying to link both together.
The story from 2005 starts off as a murder mystery story, but I never found this aspect particularly strong. The mystery is solved rather quickly leaving just some loose ends in the later portion of the game. It was interesting to a certain degree, but it doesn't carry the same intrigue as the first game. I also didn't like how so much of the investigation direction is from oracles given by a supernatural voodoo person. At least with the first game, York relied on more reasonable deductions to determine his next plan of action.
At the beginning of every chapter, the game fast forwards back to 2019 and while these moments are intriguing, the payoff that links with the 2005 events are very underwhelming. At the end, I don't see much reason why this part was necessarily other than the game being decided as a sequel.
Story progression can be annoying too and feel like filler at times. Some objectives are basically fetch quests and add very little to the story itself. Parts of it feel like it's just meant to drag things out. One of the infamous moment is needing a certain food dish to advance, but it's only available on Mondays. Most people who reach that part will be on Wednesday so that means waiting out multiple days before you can actually advance the story. Sure, sleeping through the week is an option, but I shouldn't have to do that if I just wanted to enjoy the story.
DP1 was known for some quirky characters and an interesting supporting cast, but I felt like DP2 really failed in providing nearly the same quality. Almost every townsperson has a major quirk to an annoying degree. Even York's quirkiness can be annoying at times when I felt like his words and actions have become mostly random for the sake of weird. It doesn't feel quite genuine as before.
I do have to say that Patti was overall a good character and a highlight of the game for me. Despite being a pre-teen (I think), she exhibits surprising maturity and has a lot of depth to her character. Ironically, her being the most normal character in the game makes her stand out in a good way. I had to question the idea of her being York's assistant/partner throughout the game because of her age when I first started the game, but the execution was surprisingly good.
Most of the townspeople has no role in the main story and actually feel detached from the community as they just do their own thing without interacting with others.
Graphics-wise, I'm not a fan of this new cel-shaded style. I guess it's more distinctive, but I prefer the standard 3D of the first game.
I'm not a fan of the setting either. It just looks like a generic southern town without anything that makes it stand out as interesting. It didn't carry the same mystique as a remote small forest mountain town. The town is quite condensed towards the center with a lot of buildings and homes, but it feels just as empty as the first game's setting. At least Greenvale had the benefit of actually being a remote town hidden away within large forests. DP2's town is also too big in scale with too few interesting places to see and explore.
Gameplay wasn't really fun for me. You only have one gun in the game (pistol). Even though you can get special bullets with different effects, it's not a proper substitute for more variety in weapons that DP1 had. There aren't any melee weapons either other than York's own fists.
There's a big emphasis on crafting accessory items for various effects. There's a lot of random items scattered across the town you can pick up or dropped from wild animals. On a related note, the town has a ton of wild animals from squirrels, dogs and crocodiles that will attack you. I find it unnerving how this is a thing here.
Sidequests are better organized than the first game, but they are pretty boring to do and don't feel very rewarding.
It's no longer fun stalking people around town because they don't really go anywhere interesting. You can't even track them on a map anymore either or peek into their homes when they are at home.
The otherworld that serves as the dungeons return, but in a different form. Before, they were distorted versions of the actual places in the real world. Now, they just consist of randomly connected hallways and rooms. All of the otherworld sections look identical and play out the same. Which is reach the end and clearing out the enemies on the way. After the first time, it just gets repetitive and boring. The combat isn't particularly interesting to make these segments less of a drag. Bosses are mostly uninteresting until the final segment of the game.
When the game first came out on the Switch, the frame rate was pretty notorious. Having never experienced the game pre-patch, I can't say how bad it really was, but my experience here was not good, but still playable at least.
Indoors, I think the frame rate is about 25-30. Outside in the overworld, it drops to about 15-20. It's not a pretty sight and there's a lot of what appears to be frame skipping in animations. It's not enough to burn my eyes, but yeah, not good to look at.
Overall, I think the game was pretty disappointing. The only highlight for me is Patti surprisingly. I don't regret playing the game, but I don't think "this" sequel was needed. If I had a list of disappointing sequels, this would be pretty high up on it.
The game is technically a sequel since it a portion of the game does take place after the first game and it does spoil those events, but the majority of the story here takes place a few years prior. I think the game's handling of the two timelines is messy. I wished they either went all in with a prequel or a sequel instead of trying to link both together.
The story from 2005 starts off as a murder mystery story, but I never found this aspect particularly strong. The mystery is solved rather quickly leaving just some loose ends in the later portion of the game. It was interesting to a certain degree, but it doesn't carry the same intrigue as the first game. I also didn't like how so much of the investigation direction is from oracles given by a supernatural voodoo person. At least with the first game, York relied on more reasonable deductions to determine his next plan of action.
At the beginning of every chapter, the game fast forwards back to 2019 and while these moments are intriguing, the payoff that links with the 2005 events are very underwhelming. At the end, I don't see much reason why this part was necessarily other than the game being decided as a sequel.
Story progression can be annoying too and feel like filler at times. Some objectives are basically fetch quests and add very little to the story itself. Parts of it feel like it's just meant to drag things out. One of the infamous moment is needing a certain food dish to advance, but it's only available on Mondays. Most people who reach that part will be on Wednesday so that means waiting out multiple days before you can actually advance the story. Sure, sleeping through the week is an option, but I shouldn't have to do that if I just wanted to enjoy the story.
DP1 was known for some quirky characters and an interesting supporting cast, but I felt like DP2 really failed in providing nearly the same quality. Almost every townsperson has a major quirk to an annoying degree. Even York's quirkiness can be annoying at times when I felt like his words and actions have become mostly random for the sake of weird. It doesn't feel quite genuine as before.
I do have to say that Patti was overall a good character and a highlight of the game for me. Despite being a pre-teen (I think), she exhibits surprising maturity and has a lot of depth to her character. Ironically, her being the most normal character in the game makes her stand out in a good way. I had to question the idea of her being York's assistant/partner throughout the game because of her age when I first started the game, but the execution was surprisingly good.
Most of the townspeople has no role in the main story and actually feel detached from the community as they just do their own thing without interacting with others.
Graphics-wise, I'm not a fan of this new cel-shaded style. I guess it's more distinctive, but I prefer the standard 3D of the first game.
I'm not a fan of the setting either. It just looks like a generic southern town without anything that makes it stand out as interesting. It didn't carry the same mystique as a remote small forest mountain town. The town is quite condensed towards the center with a lot of buildings and homes, but it feels just as empty as the first game's setting. At least Greenvale had the benefit of actually being a remote town hidden away within large forests. DP2's town is also too big in scale with too few interesting places to see and explore.
Gameplay wasn't really fun for me. You only have one gun in the game (pistol). Even though you can get special bullets with different effects, it's not a proper substitute for more variety in weapons that DP1 had. There aren't any melee weapons either other than York's own fists.
There's a big emphasis on crafting accessory items for various effects. There's a lot of random items scattered across the town you can pick up or dropped from wild animals. On a related note, the town has a ton of wild animals from squirrels, dogs and crocodiles that will attack you. I find it unnerving how this is a thing here.
Sidequests are better organized than the first game, but they are pretty boring to do and don't feel very rewarding.
It's no longer fun stalking people around town because they don't really go anywhere interesting. You can't even track them on a map anymore either or peek into their homes when they are at home.
The otherworld that serves as the dungeons return, but in a different form. Before, they were distorted versions of the actual places in the real world. Now, they just consist of randomly connected hallways and rooms. All of the otherworld sections look identical and play out the same. Which is reach the end and clearing out the enemies on the way. After the first time, it just gets repetitive and boring. The combat isn't particularly interesting to make these segments less of a drag. Bosses are mostly uninteresting until the final segment of the game.
When the game first came out on the Switch, the frame rate was pretty notorious. Having never experienced the game pre-patch, I can't say how bad it really was, but my experience here was not good, but still playable at least.
Indoors, I think the frame rate is about 25-30. Outside in the overworld, it drops to about 15-20. It's not a pretty sight and there's a lot of what appears to be frame skipping in animations. It's not enough to burn my eyes, but yeah, not good to look at.
Overall, I think the game was pretty disappointing. The only highlight for me is Patti surprisingly. I don't regret playing the game, but I don't think "this" sequel was needed. If I had a list of disappointing sequels, this would be pretty high up on it.