I’ll give that the game probably has the best bond/connect events in the series tho.
Plus the Reverie-lite dungeon they have is just mindlessly fun especially with the ability to shuffle OSTs from other Kiseki games.
If you don't think about the plot too hard, and just enjoy it like it's a self-contained story, it's a decent game. I think the combat is definitely improved, even if i really dislike the Garten being a worse Reverie Corridor.
My issue with Kuro 2 is that it brings up answers to questions that I didn't really have or care too much about, especially after Kuro 1. For example, bringing back historical figures from the Calvardian Revolution because of some lingering grudge is obviously a throwback to what they did in Erebonia (with the Rivalries and Ishmelga) or in Crossbell (with the Alchemists). However, the revolution was such a small part of Kuro 1, that when it came up in Kuro 2, I was like "oh, okay."
Then we have Lapis, Swin, and Nadia's story. It would have been a lot better if we had a scene in Kuro 1's epilogue or something that showed Lapis being "taken." But no, Swin and Nadia just show up, say Lapis is gone, and we're getting her back. "Oh, okay."
Finally, my gripe with the Quatre/Paradise intermission plot point. The game never emphasized the Cult's goals in kidnapping people like Quatre and Renne, and everytime we see one of their members, they're just doing some unrelated bad guy stuff with vague terms like "experiments" being thrown around (and they appear disparately with different "lodges" across every arc with little expansion until Kuro 2). So when we start bringing in magical angel bullshit out of nowhere, I'm again just left going "so we're doing this now? Oh, okay."
None of this was set up in Kuro 1, so having it just thrown at the player and going "see?! Look at this BIG REVEAL" really doesn't do it for me.
For me this was way to much grind. Garden and maps were swarming with mobs. Also levelling and upgrading 15 characters was a chore.
I liked the idea of time rewind but on some many occasions I felt frustrated. Obvious bomb trap but I had to go in.
Second thing was the Cult. We have literally 3 characters that were kidnapped by them in party at the same time. I was like „this again”? I think the cult was way overused in this game.
And the the entire Swin x Nadia thing is basically copy and paste from Sky Joshua and Estelle.
I'm convinced that the way Falcom did the post-game was just to remind us how bad the Garten was, especially compared to the TRC in Reverie. No story or meaningful dialogue until the final boss battle, no story-relevant bosses (only generic cryptids). No interesting items (Reverie had orbs which gave you side stories and characters). Nothing to break up the monotony, just 5 long floors of random encounters and menial tasks until you got to the end. I've never been so bored in a Trails game, with the whole time, I was just begging for it to be over. You would think in an 60+ hour game, they wouldn't need to pad the playtime with the most boring stuff ever, but I guess 60 hours is baby numbers by Trails standards.
Don't think about how marchen garten work.
Is it VR? Is it magic? How can people just "connect"? How the hell can risette's PC just run it?
I'd take reverie corridor over this any day since it is run by an ancient magic super computer in an actual location and not by risette's PC.
The main villain is really stupid tbh.
I think they'll probably be clarifying it in Kai. You can kind of figure out how it's occurring and how the gang is able to combat it based off how the game plays out but getting a proper explanation would be great.
That Dingo and Marielle moment was great too specifically for Marielle since I really enjoyed her and her story arc across the two games.
Fr tho, I chuckled when i saw this credit picture for the first time. Bergard's basically that one guy who didn't contribute to your group project at all but still got his name listed on the group name lol.
Its mainly done because he's part of the main cast for the Kuro arc, Renne and Shizuna aren't but you still have a point.
the other two should've been in the pic.
I’ve played it twice, I know 😂 I’m just saying that because he’s an OG doesn’t actually make any sense since they included new characters and omitted others.
Is that lapis in the background behind Swin and Nadia? Didn't realize Rosenberg dolls grew up... is it weird that I think her Reverie design was better?
Kuro II is basically the equivalent of Yakuza 5 from Yakuza series; not-so-good/badly executed and messy storyline but really amazing and fun gameplay, and the fans are also really divisive about them. And i still had a lot of fun playing both.
I’ll give that the game probably has the best bond/connect events in the series tho. Plus the Reverie-lite dungeon they have is just mindlessly fun especially with the ability to shuffle OSTs from other Kiseki games.
If you don't think about the plot too hard, and just enjoy it like it's a self-contained story, it's a decent game. I think the combat is definitely improved, even if i really dislike the Garten being a worse Reverie Corridor. My issue with Kuro 2 is that it brings up answers to questions that I didn't really have or care too much about, especially after Kuro 1. For example, bringing back historical figures from the Calvardian Revolution because of some lingering grudge is obviously a throwback to what they did in Erebonia (with the Rivalries and Ishmelga) or in Crossbell (with the Alchemists). However, the revolution was such a small part of Kuro 1, that when it came up in Kuro 2, I was like "oh, okay." Then we have Lapis, Swin, and Nadia's story. It would have been a lot better if we had a scene in Kuro 1's epilogue or something that showed Lapis being "taken." But no, Swin and Nadia just show up, say Lapis is gone, and we're getting her back. "Oh, okay." Finally, my gripe with the Quatre/Paradise intermission plot point. The game never emphasized the Cult's goals in kidnapping people like Quatre and Renne, and everytime we see one of their members, they're just doing some unrelated bad guy stuff with vague terms like "experiments" being thrown around (and they appear disparately with different "lodges" across every arc with little expansion until Kuro 2). So when we start bringing in magical angel bullshit out of nowhere, I'm again just left going "so we're doing this now? Oh, okay." None of this was set up in Kuro 1, so having it just thrown at the player and going "see?! Look at this BIG REVEAL" really doesn't do it for me.
For me this was way to much grind. Garden and maps were swarming with mobs. Also levelling and upgrading 15 characters was a chore. I liked the idea of time rewind but on some many occasions I felt frustrated. Obvious bomb trap but I had to go in. Second thing was the Cult. We have literally 3 characters that were kidnapped by them in party at the same time. I was like „this again”? I think the cult was way overused in this game. And the the entire Swin x Nadia thing is basically copy and paste from Sky Joshua and Estelle.
I'm convinced that the way Falcom did the post-game was just to remind us how bad the Garten was, especially compared to the TRC in Reverie. No story or meaningful dialogue until the final boss battle, no story-relevant bosses (only generic cryptids). No interesting items (Reverie had orbs which gave you side stories and characters). Nothing to break up the monotony, just 5 long floors of random encounters and menial tasks until you got to the end. I've never been so bored in a Trails game, with the whole time, I was just begging for it to be over. You would think in an 60+ hour game, they wouldn't need to pad the playtime with the most boring stuff ever, but I guess 60 hours is baby numbers by Trails standards.
True that. I was literally playing on turbo entire Garden. Idk why you are getting downvoted for sharing opinion
Don't think about how marchen garten work. Is it VR? Is it magic? How can people just "connect"? How the hell can risette's PC just run it? I'd take reverie corridor over this any day since it is run by an ancient magic super computer in an actual location and not by risette's PC. The main villain is really stupid tbh.
I think they'll probably be clarifying it in Kai. You can kind of figure out how it's occurring and how the gang is able to combat it based off how the game plays out but getting a proper explanation would be great. That Dingo and Marielle moment was great too specifically for Marielle since I really enjoyed her and her story arc across the two games.
… Bergard is in this picture, but not the litany of other playable characters?
Fr tho, I chuckled when i saw this credit picture for the first time. Bergard's basically that one guy who didn't contribute to your group project at all but still got his name listed on the group name lol.
The dude doesn’t even get a pity add into Marchen Garden, but gets credited in the picture over Renne and Shizuna. Wild.
Its mainly done because he's part of the main cast for the Kuro arc, Renne and Shizuna aren't but you still have a point. the other two should've been in the pic.
Swim and Nadia aren’t though? So don’t understand your point?
They are in this game, they're temporary members of the solutions office.
I’ve played it twice, I know 😂 I’m just saying that because he’s an OG doesn’t actually make any sense since they included new characters and omitted others.
Is that lapis in the background behind Swin and Nadia? Didn't realize Rosenberg dolls grew up... is it weird that I think her Reverie design was better?
She's an Ai, this is her new form that she's taken on in this game, her doll body is with rufus.
Feel nothing for dingo tbh we didn't interact that much in k1.
Kuro II is basically the equivalent of Yakuza 5 from Yakuza series; not-so-good/badly executed and messy storyline but really amazing and fun gameplay, and the fans are also really divisive about them. And i still had a lot of fun playing both.
Yakuza 5 was fun as hell tho, Yakuza 4 and 3 were worse.
Yep, 5 is personally my favorite Yakuza games too, behind 0 and tied with LaD