Bebpo's Kuzunoha Raidou 2 review has me frothing at the mouth

[Himu]

Nice review.

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Background
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Once upon a time there was this guy named Kazuma Kaneko.  He drew some pictures like this:
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and later some pictures like this:
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Eventually after many years of working with Research & Development 1 at Atlus, he decided to try his hand at directing a game.  This game was:
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It was an attempt at taking the Shin Megami Tensei style aka. Megaten and transforming it into a mainstream friendly light-hearted action rpg.  It also attempted to be an adventure game.  It worked ok at both, but not great at either.  The action was too simple, the adventure was a little slow paced.

Now a few years later Kaneko tried again with:
(Image removed from quote.)
Raidou vs. Abaddon (more info on Abaddon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaddon)

This time the game was exactly what Kaneko wanted:  A mainstream action rpg that mixed great action with exciting adventuring all while being heavily seeped in the lore of Megaten.


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The Review
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The Megaten franchise has changed a lot this generation.  Back in the day SMT was about gods and devils and following your own path whether it be LAW, NEUTRAL, or CHAOS, and encountering the consequences of your actions.  During the PS2 generation though, the games have generally strayed away a bit.  SMTIII Nocturne was still philosophical and allowed players to go down the 3 paths and end up at multiple endings...but the difference between the paths was a major system in Nocturne.  Digital Devil Saga had some interesting ideas, but was not this type of game.  P3/P4 were completely different styles of stories, and Raidou 1 was just a lot of fun.  This isn't to say they were bad games, no this has been a generation of amazing R&D1 titles.  It's just that they've strayed away from what Megaten was built on.

Raidou 2 changes that.  Raidou 2 is the closest Megaten game this generation to SMT1/2.  It's all about a world with not only demons living their lives around you, but Gods and Devils and higher beings beyond even perception.  It's about LAW,NEUTRAL, and CHAOS.  It's about Lucifer, it's about questioning morals, and life itself.  It's a well-written tale that makes you think like no other rpg this generation outside of SMT3 Nocturne. 

Raidou 2's story is an interesting tale.  A story that starts with a search for a missing man becomes a multi-layered plot concerning not only the individuals at hand, but larger powers as well.  The cast, though small, is nicely developed and well-written.  The game's primary antagonist Dan may go down as the next well known videogame character if enough people play the game.  He's easily one of the best written characters in any game to date.  He's very complex, likable, and has a nice character design as well  

Fans of the Megaten franchise will be pleased to know that Lucifer is handled EXTREMELY well in this game (and no that is not a spoiler.  If you can't figure out that the person you meet who has the BLOND HAIR and is named LOUIE is Lucifer, this might not be the franchise for you).   Unlike Nocturne where he was handled alright, but maybe not the most satisfyingly (though I played the original SMT3, so I'm not sure how better developed he was in the expanded Maniacs that the US got), in Raidou 2 he is handled with the respect and allure that he deserves.  I was 100% satisfied with his role in the story here.

When it comes to philosophical questions/choices if you thought that Nocturne or DDS had a bunch, you haven't seen anything yet.  Raidou 2 is FILLED with player answers at every turn.  Sometimes the questions will be minor things, sometimes you will have to make HARD decisions where there is no black and white answer.  Unlike a lot of jrpgs, these questions actually mean something here.  Depending whether you are LAW, NEUTRAL, or CHAOS sections of the game will change.  You will encounter different bosses, have different conversations with people, gain different demons, and ultimately reach different conclusions.  It's also great how the game actually cares about what you say.  I was shocked 20 hours later to have a conversation with someone who brought up a response I said to them at the start of the game.  Sure it's easy programming to just tell the game to insert (X) into the _____ in the sentence with X being your answer saved from far earlier.  But it has a strong affect on the player to actually feel like what they choose matters.

The dialogue choices actually mattering goes a long way towards pulling the player into the game and making them really ROLE-PLAY, something you hardly see in jrpgs.  Raidou 2's plot does sooooooooo much to bring the player into the game that I would say this is the most true role playing I've had in a jrpg during the PS2 generation.

What also pulls players into the game besides the fact that the story is good and the player is constantly making choices that matter, is the pacing of the story.  Raidou 1 was a bit slow paced.  You'd walk around the streets and talk to schoolgirls and investigate old houses, etc... etc... for a while.  Raidou 2 ditches that.  Once you get out of the really terrible and long tutorial intro, the main story starts and never stops until you are done.  Outside half of chapter 6 which is a bit fillerish (boo R&D1), Raidou 2 is really an edge of your seat adventure on a grand scale of gods and men and ninja.  It even expands the worldview of the Raidou universe with one of the other 3 Kuzunoha houses being a major part of the story.

Also fwiw, if you know the visual novels/anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Raidou 2 is inspired a decent bit from it I would say.

So all that talk about the story, but what about the shallow battle system of the first?
1)  It's deeper this time around.  You have Devil May Cry 3 style movement of dodges and blocks to avoid enemies, different types of weapons with different combos, 2 demons usable at the same time, and most importantly full control over your demons like a turn baseed game.  Oh and you have the ability to pull your demons next to you and make them invisible/invincible by holding L2.  This means for the defensive side of playing when a boss throws out an attack you can hold L2 and then just concentrate on dodging DMC style with Raidou.  Then on the attack you can just do it turn-based style with assigning commands (you can set a command to repeat infinitely as well).  You hit the enemy weakness which stuns them and then you slash them and green MP balls come out and refill your MP.  Repeat for battles.
2)  It's still easy.  I mean if you are terrible at gaming it could be hard, but if you're smart enough to use the right elements against the right weaknesses and hold L2 and dodge attacks, you're good for the whole game.  Levels mean next to nothing, which is actually a huge plus because it means you can skip random battles (with a lower encounter item) and blow through areas whenever you don't feel like fighting.  The fights are ALWAYS fun, which is important to note.  The battle system is really enjoyable and boss fights are neat like action game bosses. BUT it is very easy and non-stressful outside a couple of bosses, so the hardcore players will still grief about it.

The fun of the gameplay is making demons, negotiating with demons which is back from SMT1-3 and a lot of fun for acquiring demons and items (no more mashing O to acquire demons like Raidou 1), and running through perfectly solid dungeons while beating up enemies with your demon buddies.  Making demons and making new weapons from items demons give you when you level them is addicting as it always is in Megaten games.

The encounter rate is a bit high, but rate-lowering items cut your encounters down to ZERO for a whole moon cycle, so that counters it.

Speaking of MOONS.  Depending on your luck stat, when a new moon roles around you may get a warning that a RIDER is coming.  This means your next encounter you will be pulled down to hell by one of the four horsemen and you can either give them luxury goods to satisfy their lust for your death and escape, or you can fight them.  If you choose to fight them expect very difficult boss fights.  But if you beat one you are safe for the rest of the chapter when new moons role around.  This is also a part of the story and not just a gameplay element.

Speaking of LUCK.  The story is about LUCK and non-surprisingly it means much of the gameplay is based around your LUCK stat.  This is kind of cool as I've never played an rpg where I cared about my luck stat.  But here I was pumping my stats into there and there is a gameplay system where you can catch luck bugs and up your luck stat unless you release them.  Releasing them starts a slot wheel that has nice bonuses like 2x exp or all critical attacks.  Meanwhile you can run into unlucky slot roles in the game which can do...bad things.  This is all part of the plot though and is well integrated.

Finally I want to say that although the gameplay is very fun from start to finish, this is the worst R&D1 final boss.  The boss pulls some cheap bs which really ticked me off last night when I was finishing it.  The boss is very beatable on first try, but if you are unlucky the fight can go for a loooooooong time.  It's just an annoying fight.

Other things:
-You have TONS of sidequests available.  Most of these are like Persona 3 where there is a written request for an item and if you have it you can trade it for the reward.  A dozen are real story sidequests where you go and do stuff.
-Game is about 35 hours without sidequests.
-There's a good amount of locations you get to visit.
-There is a hard mode called KING mode when you beat it and it has some major changes. 
-The game is a direct sequel to the first PS2 Raidou, but the story is separate and you don't need to have played the first one.  There are some goodies for those who've played the first game.

Graphics - Game is a low budget PS2 game and looks like it.  That being said the art design is A++++++.  Going back to a Kaneko game after the two years of Persona shows that even though you thought Persona had great art design, Kaneko's is still leagues better.  Kaneko is one of the best game artists with an impressive imagination and it shows in Raidou 2.  It's also cool that all the demons (like Raidou 1) have been retextured so unlike Persona 3/4 they aren't just copy & pastes from Nocturne/DDS.  A lot of the demons look completely different and it's often a really neat take on them.  It makes you look forward to battles in new areas so you can see what the old-but-new demons look like.  Character designs are top notch.  The new characters, Dan, Akane, Geirin, Nagi are on par with Kaneko's great Raidou, Narumi, Tae designs.

Sound - Pretty good.  Honestly, it's not the most exciting Shoji Meguro soundtrack but it works.  My main problem is that there just aren't a whole lot of tracks.  Adding to that, a half dozen or so of the tracks are just reused from PS2 Raidou 1.  There's some good music for sure, but I'd put it below the Persona 4 soundtrack which he just did recently.


Overall
Story:  9.5 - The best written Megaten this generation (or maybe tied with Nocturne; nocturne has that more epic basic tale of a few individuals whereas Raidou 2 has TONS of dialogue and very developed cast/story like a novel) and one of the most interesting rpg stories that covers human-sized drama and how the greater powers watch and interact as humans face them.  -.5 for having a lot of Japanese style REPETITION lines.  You see this in many Japanese games/anime where they say something like FIVE TIMES @_@.  But the actual lines are excellent and story is. 

Graphics: 8 - Great art direction, terrible tech.  PLEASE COME TO THIS GENERATION R&D1.

Sound: 8 - Good, but not great soundtrack.

Gameplay: 8.5 - Excellent dialogue choices that make you feel like part of the story.  Fun battle system.  Addictive demon obtaining.  But really easy.

Replay value:  8 - Path splits mean you'll need to play again or youtube for the other side.  A handful of meaningful sidequests.  Short but not too short quest at around 30-35 hours.

Overall: 9/10 - When talking up Raidou 2, Kazuma Kaneko said that Raidou 2 would feel like Raidou 3, as in a huge improvement from the first game.  Well, he was right.  While the first PS2 Raidou felt like an experiment to make Megaten work as an accesible action rpg, Raidou 2 is the real deal and a game that truly belongs in the upper echelon of quality that great Megaten titles are placed in.  Hopefully we have not seen the end of Kuzunoha Raidou the 14th, as a Raidou 3 with even further improvements would be very welcome.

Though not perfect and definitely not challenging, the story elements and enjoyable gameplay of Raidou 2 made it the best rpg I've played this year.  Even in a year where Persona 4 & Tales of Vesperia (both great) were released.

Hopefully Atlus USA isn't like,"Welp. 2009 for a ps2 title? lol We're not releasing this."

But one thing's for sure. Time and time again, Atlus shows that if they come up with an interesting concept, they *will* hammer and iron things out in the sequel and truly make the sequel that much better than the game before it. There are few developers who can make a sequel as good as these guys, so while I thought Raidou 1 was pretty fun but okay, I definitely can't wait for the sequel.

ATLUS R&D1

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I hope you like it.  I think there's still going to be a lot of negativity though when it comes out.  It's still an Japanese ADV first, rpg second so like 60% or more of the game is just reading text boxes, and gameplay that is there is easy.  I remember a lot of people having major issues with how easy the original was, and this won't make those people happy.  Fights are like 5 seconds long.  Boss fights are like 1-2 mins max.

[Himu]

Well, the hard mode in the first Raidou made up for the easy difficulty.

Its problem, however, was the lack of replay value since the game was so shallow and got boring after a while. This gave very little incentive to even go through the hard mode.

[Bebpo]

Well, the hard mode in the first Raidou made up for the easy difficulty.

Its problem, however, was the lack of replay value since the game was so shallow and got boring after a while. This gave very little incentive to even go through the hard mode.

Yeah, if they give you the hard mode from the start in the US one it could be great.  The battle system has enough depth that if it was challenging it could be intense and rewarding.

[hyp]

this will probably never see the light of day in the US huh?   

[Bebpo]

this will probably never see the light of day in the US huh?   

So far Atlus has brought out all the JPN Atlus games on PS2/DS/Wii.  Why would this be different?  It's not like they have a PS3/X360/Wii game to bring over in 2009 or anything.

[hyp]

hope so.  i wanna give it a try -- in english.

[Don Flamenco]

Sounds good.  The first one didn't draw me in, but this seems like an improvement.

[Mr. Gundam]

I hope that:

1. Atlus USA brings this over.
2. Atlus decides that they're done with the PS2 development and move onto the PS3/360.

[Joe Molotov]

I still need to play the first one, I have it but I never got more than an hour into it. It looks like a game I'd really like too if I gave it a chance.

[y2kev]

no no, not falling for this one bebpo!

[cool breeze]

I'll buy it if they bring it over here.

That isn't going to happen until Japan moves onto the PS3/360.  Until then, they're better off hanging around the PS2/DS watercooler.

we should be glad they didn't move onto the Wii at this point

we should be pissed they didn't move onto the PSP at this point

[y2kev]

I was really hoping the Fes port to PSP was real. :\

[cool breeze]

Moving to the PSP wouldn't be bad for Japan, only America, and Atlus games probably still sell bad even on PS2 in America.  It's not like their games are graphical beasts either, so the PSP is more than enough to handle most of their PS2 games.  I'd even take a bunch of ports at this point.

[Bebpo]

They were hiring PS3/X360 programmers a while ago.

...it's coming. 

[y2kev]

yeah, SMT4 is PS360 and the engine will be recycled to hell

[recursivelyenumerable]

Why wasn't there a new mainline SMT on PS1 or Saturn?

[tiesto]

I'll buy it if they bring it over here.

That isn't going to happen until Japan moves onto the PS3/360.  Until then, they're better off hanging around the PS2/DS watercooler.

we should be glad they didn't move onto the Wii at this point

we should be pissed they didn't move onto the PSP at this point

They tried the PSP, and honestly I think they did and do a pretty admirable job of supporting it, but moving onto it probably wouldn't be a sound move from a sales standpoint.  The only thing worse would be Wii.

I still don't understand why Atlus hasn't moved to the Wii yet. They could just port the engines over and reuse all the assets with ease.

[y2kev]

Even the cheapasses at atlus don't want to limit themselves!

[drohne]

lol wii

i wanted to play the first kuzunoha raidou. i'm not all that keen on kaneko, but i really like its character designs. maybe i'll see if i can find it cheap

[Bebpo]

I still don't understand why Atlus hasn't moved to the Wii yet. They could just port the engines over and reuse all the assets with ease.

Atlus is one of the many Japanese companies that can do what it wants with it's dedicated fanbase and it's not going to go develop on some shitty system that all developers scoff at just because it's easy to port the engine.  They'll just keep making PS2/DS games until their PS3/X360 engine is done.

Plus Wii has the image of being family friendly, casual friendly, happy and 5-year-old-ish.  Doesn't really jive with Megaten.  It's true that Devil Survivor looks like it'll be kiddy in a TWEWY hip way, but it's sorta iffy on if it's a real Atlus game since it's being directed by the Growlanser guy and even the music isn't Meguro.