God Eater 2 features a new cast of characters alongside some familiar faces from the first game. This new group isn't that intriguing or complex, conforming more or more less to the usual anime tropes. A new "episode system" serves the role of introducing the player to their teammates and as a means of getting to know them better. As shallow as the cast is, the episode system at least does a fairly good job with what it has to work with. Unfortunately, the main story is lacking as well. Plot twists were easy to see coming, dampening the intended punch. Character deaths were equally hollow because the player is never given the opportunity to become emotionally invested in the cookie-cutter cast. Yuno the singer was a huge head-scratcher for me. I have no idea why she was hanging out at a military base, or what the true reason for her inclusion in the story was.
Gameplay is split between the "The Den" and missions. The Den acts as the main hub area where the player can check their mail, change their appearance, resupply, and craft or upgrade weapons. Most of the weapons from the first game return with new skills and combos, alongside four new weapon types: boost hammer, charge spear, variant scythe and shotguns. The bullet crafting system also makes a return with a few tweaks. The biggest new addition is "Blood Arts", which are a sort of equippable attack booster that augments normal attacks in various ways. New Blood Arts are unlocked or improved by going on new missions, and completing them with a higher rank gives more experience points to the equipped Blood Art.
The player's health bar and stamina gauge never increase, and outfits are purely cosmetic. The player will only get better at bringing down the various Aragami through skill and preparation. Each beast has their own set of attacks, behavior, elemental and damage type strengths and weaknesses. To survive the player must learn when to dodge, when to block and when to go in for an attack. Taking advantage of an Aragami's weak points and breaking chunks off of their body is always immensely satisfying. The hit-boxes on some Aragami are worse than others, but the biggest annoyance was the crazy range of their attacks. They had some problems with this in the first God Eater, but it somehow seems to have gotten worse in God Eater 2. Tail sweeps, homing missiles, energy blasts and electric fields can have ranges so wide that they take up a good chunk of the arena or pathway, making it near impossible to dodge. The speed of their attacks can also make it hard to block or dodge in time if your reflexes aren't the sharpest.
Should the player fall in battle, AI teammates can use "Link Aid" to revive fallen team members at a cost to their own health bars. Up to four teammates and a limited number of items can be taken to each fight. Some of your teammates will be pre-selected for certain story missions, which normally wouldn't be a problem, except that Kanon Daiba is back and she is much more prevalent in the story this time around. The infamous "Queen of Friendly Fire" is deliberately programmed to shoot her teammates as one of her personality quirks. I consistently took more damage from her than the Aragami. For some reason God Eater 2 even dedicates an entire character episode to her terrible aim.
The Rage Burst storyline missions introduce a new mechanism called "Blood Rage" that is triggered by killing enough enemies to get the "Evoke Rate" gauge to 100% or higher. Then at least one of several 'pledges' must be selected and fulfilled within a time limit for "Blood Rage" to activate. Blood Rage essentially acts as a 'Super Saiyan' mode, granting various buffs to the player, such as increased melee damage, attack speed, devouring speed, stamina cost reduced to zero, invulnerability and more.
Missions get steadily harder as you progress through the game, but Rage Burst missions can be especially difficult. One multi-part survival mission in particular pits the player and one companion against four bosses alongside several smaller enemies. You cannot restock your items during this mission and if you fail to defeat any of the four bosses, the mission fails. The best part is that the final of the four bosses is an entirely new Aragami - it's attacks, moves, strengths and weaknesses are completely unknown. The whole mission lasts about 2 hours from start to finish (each boss lasts a max 40 min to beat).
First posted to videogamegeek.com
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