One of many first issues I level out in my critiques of franchise-based video games is whether or not you should know the supply materials to play. With FAIRY TAIL 2, that’ll possible be the case. This JRPG from Gust and KOEI TECMO is unapologetically aimed squarely at followers of the anime and manga…and possibly the sport deserves some credit score for that.
In fact, FAIRY TAIL 2 can also be the sequel to 2020’s FAIRY TAIL, making it much more complicated for these hopping in at this level. That’s to not say newcomers can’t overcome the confusion to have enjoyable with the sport, simply that the builders don’t spend an excessive amount of time up entrance catching you up on issues…and possibly the sport deserves some credit score for that.
FAIRY TAIL 2 facilities across the authentic story’s climax: the Alvarez Empire Arc. This implies a complete collection price of characters are made accessible on the very starting. They get fast introductions, and you’ll all the time communicate to them to be taught a bit extra. The precise plot, nonetheless, is extra fascinated with shoving you into fight. The primary main battles come shortly, forcing you to absorb loads of particular person character skills straight away. It was fairly a while earlier than I felt I used to be actually working with an optimized social gathering.
UI help is hit-or-miss on offering help. Throughout battle, you’re advised whether or not your assignable assaults will hit an enemy’s weak point. Nice. When within the character setup screens, nonetheless, you’re pressured to only know what the assorted ingredient icons imply. Not nice. This will make the gameplay a bit tougher than it must be merely since you haven’t geared up a celebration member to the most effective of his/her skills. I might randomly swap characters into battles simply hoping to see the weak point icon.
Fight itself, nonetheless, is fairly simple to understand. The gimmick is that you just principally use customary and magic assaults to chain collectively combos that may whittle away on the enemies’ break gauge. When you’ve damaged that down, you may exploit their weaknesses or unleash hyperlink assaults for main injury.
It’s fairly easy when preventing only one or two enemies (bosses excluded, after all), however may be difficult when going up towards a half dozen or extra. There’s loads of time between battles, nonetheless, to get well and optimize for the following assault…no random encounters.
You management only one character in fight, with two others being well-handled by AI. You possibly can swap them round at any level, and likewise pull in out of your reserves. This turns into a key strategic ingredient, as some characters are higher at depleting the enemies’ break gauge, some may be referred to as in to heal your fighters, and so forth. Attending to know who’s greatest at what and upgrading their expertise accordingly actually makes FAIRY TAIL 2 extra to play. As a result of the story regularly shuffles who’s accessible to you, nonetheless, you gained’t fall into deciding on only one group.
As you purchase and make the most of extra characters, you’ll get entry to many various expertise. These may be assigned to the X, A, and B buttons, with extra expertise being accessed through the identical buttons whereas holding down R. Extra highly effective expertise require extra Motion Gauge factors to make use of, so you may’t depend on them always. There’s additionally a cooldown after chaining your fight strikes, leaving you susceptible to enemy assaults (Atelier Ryza followers will really feel fairly snug right here). You possibly can guard, however I discovered it fairly tough to inform precisely when to do this through the chaos of battle. The entire system is fairly slick, however I relied extra on simply mashing my approach via fight than on a mastery of well-timed assaults and correct character configuration. If that sounds boring to you, make sure you attempt one of many recreation’s larger problem ranges.
These battles happen throughout a large open panorama that’s slowly opened up as you progress. Boundaries block entry till you’ve gotten the proper character or potential to clear them, partitions are initially too excessive leap, that sort of factor. The sport map does a terrific job of highlighting which areas may be accessed, but it surely’s not available when transferring, and it’s gradual to tug up once you wish to see it.
Talking of gradual, FAIRY TAIL 2 depends closely on the Fairy Tail Diary tales advised round campfires to supply character exposition. These may be sort of lengthy, however usually fairly comical or endearing. I’m undecided in the event that they’re extra suited to followers of the anime or these of us who simply don’t know who’s who, however I discovered them to be a pleasant respite when pushing in direction of a location aim.
And truthfully, I’d somewhat these conversations come through standalone segments than as textual content snippets displayed whereas exploring, making them too simple to only ignore.
Visually, FAIRY TAIL 2 has that fashionable cartoony look we’ve seen in loads of JRPGs as of late. I dig it, because it permits the varied characters to essentially stand out and retains the fight full of life and straightforward to comply with. The general design may be very brilliant and completely happy, which fits the story and the characters. Melodrama? Positive, there’s some, however don’t anticipate something too heavy right here. The story, fight, and visuals are all fairly breezy.
On this specific occasion, that’s a power and a weak point. FAIRY TAIL 2 is straightforward to select up and play. It’s not a protracted recreation as JRPGs go (albeit with loads of DLC to increase the enjoyable…and character wardrobes), and it’s additionally not totally satisfying; I labored via it with out ever actually feeling absolutely concerned. That possible wouldn’t be the case if I knew extra concerning the Kingdom of Fiore earlier than becoming a member of the Guild, so I really feel extra snug recommending this recreation primarily to FAIRY TAIL followers. To anybody else, simply view it as a lark and you should still be cool with it.
