Randomly trying games on my phone, I downloaded Infinity Nikki and I’ve been hooked for the past few days.
I like the customization, especially when compared to the more limited one in FFXIV, although I wish it had dyeing (and more jackets). Compared to other gacha games, I like how “the grind” is more focused on crafting clothing instead of just leveling up, although resources (and by that I mean the timed energy) feel a bit too scarce.
I finally finished Trails of Cold Steel II, or more accurately I watched the final story cutscenes because I gave up towards the end of the final dungeon (Which I’m glad I did because it otherwise would have been a waste of time).
The duology was really bad, I don’t think there’s anything positive I can say about it, other than that it’s finally over (hopefully III is actually better as I’ve heard). I’ve already complained about the characters in previous, so I’ll now complain about the rest.
rant + various potential spoilers up to and including CS2
The overall story felt pointless, at best it added nothing to what was already established, at worse it made the civil war feel like a joke. I think it would have been better to just skip to the end as what was mentioned in Azure felt bigger than what actually happened in CS.
The writing is childish and really doesn’t fit the setting it’s trying to build. The supposed war doesn’t feel like an actual conflict.
This was an issue with the previous games too, but this time it feels like it’s done to a ridiculous amount: the bosses either escape because the were “holding back” or a more powerful ally comes in and solves the situation. The game doesn’t want to remove anyone from the story, so everyone just leaves every fight and no one ever dies (I’m pretty sure there are 3 deaths in the whole war, and one of them I’m sure is another fakeout).
I don’t find Ourobororos that interesting of an enemy, their motivations are too vague and I find the current active enforcers boring characters.
Crow feels like a waste of a character. He’s the only one I feel had any potential, but he has barely any screentime (in both games) and the way Class VII is obsessed with him feels really weird and unmotivated.
Overall I think the two games were bad in the worst way possible: they were a boring waste of time.
I’ll probably wait a bit to play III, but I’ve heard it’s alright from people who hate I and II. Although I’ve also heard that IV is not good.
Azure and Zero are definitely the best ones, I really liked FC and SC, although they do have some problems (the first half of SC is pretty bad, and the same problem with ouroboros I mentioned before) and I think 3rd has an interesting story, but bad gameplay and pacing.