[CC AVAILABLE] Apologize for the inconsistent audio quality, please don't put the video player on full volume! /w\ . I forgot to mention in the video that I like how Kuruto means a crazed person in Japanese, at least phonetically. As well as Quartz since Mizuki in kanji means crystal. I started to write this essay the moment I finished the game, that was like 2 months ago. Reading a script is hard, how do people do that??
To give you a theory to think . Just go back in the first game And analysis that Ryuki is literally Dante before the cyclops killing The older brother of kamakuras tells Dates history That is similar of Ryuki during the game the second thing is you need to remember the secret ending That ryuki is told that he is nirvana Initiative In a more simple way . I think ryuki is just a version of the real date that's just did not have his live trow away The name date is fake and Falco is a code name But the name that the game gives you of being his " real " is obviously fake too Dates only connection in the game is boss but in the time they graduating in police academy From their own dates loses believe in justice and becomes a punisher that brings his own justice on criminals Before that is said that his was someone that was full of justice he believes that any type of evil should be punished until he suffers his disillusion The same is similar to ryuki But like it's was adapt to not contradict what already exist in SOMNIUM files Ryuki is nirvana Initiative Not only that but the nirvana game is full virtual something that's is not the case more or less in SOMNIUM If you think too much you can say that ryuki is just a reconstruction of what dates don't want to remember Or way of given him peace To you understand better just noticed that Falco is in the game but no one knows him And the game don't show him In SOMNIUM of rpg of iris He is there but he has no body And is just have F as name Because he is being occult to not break the perfect world that moves around Ryuki ( just putting a note that I did it a lot of words while writing this shit I have a little difficult in English Is just too much think in two languages at same time )
Right? He could have been a really nice addition apart from the characters we already know. If Mizuki isn't one of the protagonist, and his story is more focused and fleshed out like how Date's was in the first game. He could have been so much more, aaaa what a waste. I really hope he gets his own game or a dlc case.
I think if a third game ever comes out it should follow from the secret ending, not the main route we see play out. It'd make the entire simulation foreshadowing worthwhile, and there are so many insane places you can go with this.
Also, if they do decide to make a 3rd game, I hope they don’t get Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney syndrome, where they just refuse to kill any characters that were previously introduced, I mean how cool and shocking would it be if the game kicks off with Mizuki having to solve the murder of Moma? Not only will it give the player a proper reason to solve the case, it could motivate a good number of characters like Date and Mizuki since Moma saved Dates live in the first game and by extension, Iris and Hifumi, idk I just hope they don’t keep introducing strangers as victims, in the first game it’s fine since it’s the first game, you’re not gonna know anyone, but personally I hope they make it more personal to the player
Ryuki is (to me) the best main character Uchikoshi has made, I love his story, his relationship with Tama and Date, him being the straight man that the series desperately needed from Iris's cringe and LITERALLY EVERY MALE HORNINESS!!! I honestly would've loved a game analysing his character more instead of sidelining him and tama, hopefully AI 3 does my boy justice!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely agree, my favourite protagonist that he's done alonge with the 999's Junpei. I like the fact he played as mostly serious as it helped with getting invested with the mystery even though I was slowly losing interest during mizuki playthrough. Loved Date but hate the retcon of the first game as I thought the ending was so sweet when Aiba and Saito reunite. Really puts a downer of my view of the first game.
I think the perfect way to describe this game would be “Confused”. Sense if doesn’t fully know what it wants to do, so instead of sticking with one concept and going with that, it throws as many at the wall as possible to see what sticks. It kinda just jumps between several different plots and ideas without really fully committing to any of them, all while being a sequel without spoiling the first game. (Which is already problematic by itself) So the story structure was kinda all over the place, and it’s handled even worse than in the first game. So in the end while the story has technically reached a conclusion there are still several unanswered questions and unresolved conflicts. I think if the game just committed to one storyline I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more sense there are so many other ways this games issues could’ve been amended easily. (Like giving Mizuki more screen time with Kizuna without Lien or Shoma, or diving into Ryuki’s traumatic past and brother more ect.) But they don’t do that so it comes off more as a first draft, and that’s weird when the production values look pretty high, (like updating the models and improved gameplay mechanics) still it’s not absolutely terrible all this considered. (It’s definitely a step up from Zero Time Dilemma in my opinion)
Ikr?? At least ZTD was entertaining if you don't take it seriously? This game feels like you said the first draft, which it was disappointing since it had so much potential with more iterations and trimming on the writing. Thanks for the comment! :>
I think it does know what it wants to do but jumps everything so randomly and out of order just to make the plot confused and obfuscated for the player while the characters are supposedly in on it which causes plotholes as you've said. Like it uses Ryuki's trauma and Mizuki/Bibi as tools for the plot rather than anything meaningful. Everything is in service for the twist which makes it unsatisfying. So I'd say they did know what they were doing and made the story structure all over the place just to make the timeline twist work. Without sacrificing for the twist, we'd have a more complete game reworked. Also I agree ZTD is more enjoyable than this like she said. I'd say this is better than 999 and both do horror well and had a better ending but 999 had more pacing issues than NI.
In some sense, it's the same problem as with VLR, where Uchikoshi just throws too much stuff into the plot instead of fully committing to one central theme, and at the end, you get such a weird, convoluted mess. 999 and AI:TSF succeed because they have a strong focus. And Mizuki clone is literally the same bullshit as Delta in ZTD, I'm sorry.
22:55 No it isn't. In this game I felt either Gen, Amame or Shoma could have committed the second murders. 23:39 Horrendous take; involving the "twin" brother backstory just to change Uru doesn't help solve the mistery/case, and it would only confuse the people that found the right half of Uru. 24:49 Not all elements need to be used for misdirection; that's one of the strong points of the first game. Some characters gave you true information without it being false information or important. Mama example. 27:27 Mizuki being hinted at having superpowers is literally stated in the first game. What are you on about??
@@lolzu One of Knox's commandments it's not to make the "killer" the obvious twin brother of a character, and be never mentioned (Ryuki's brother isn't even referred by name). What would be a better way of having said twist, is if Uru was actually Ryuki's long lost half sibling that he didn't know was taken in by Aioen and then kidnapped by Tokiko and Chikara. But not that thing about only stealing the right half of his brother face. That is just confusing.
You don't have to agree with my take on Ryuki's twin backstory. I just think the game version's backstory is redundant so by adding his brother into the story might make Ryuki's backstory seem more interesting and it adds more layers and suspicion to the story. Again, I mentioned, it's my brainrot. Like why would Mama be the one to reveal the timeline twist? By that logic, she should be someone important like Tokiko in the story then? But she's not, she's only there to break the 4th wall and tell you the twist, I would rather Tokiko be the one to do that. Mizuki's superpower was supposed to be a gag in the first story, the fight scenes are mostly gag in AITSF and in AINI most of them are serious except for the final fight. Bro, Date (in 89's body) punched Saito and sent him flying in the warehouse in the first game, and he doesn't have superpowers, so what's up with that?? So the writer decides when it's superpower and when it's just a gag? That's quite inconsistent.
I loved the video. I agree with you a lot. When I was plaing the game I seriously thought that Tearer was Ryuki's brother and I would've loved that twist, but for Tearer's identity to be a missing child that is mentioned once or twice when you're investigating in Aioen is kind of sad. Like, in the first game the whole point was to discover the New Cylops Killer's identity and it was linked to the protagonist, but in this game it's just like, "hey, look, it's uru. Why? because you read his diary and stuff". Like, the games just tells you instead of you figuring it out. I remember having a lot of theories about Date in the first game and checking his age in the files to see if it was the same as the cyclops killer and stopping for a few minutes to think about the case and make theories based on the info I had. But in this game, the characters just tell you and the main twist is not of the story, it's of outside the story(?. Like the whole twist is just the timeline thing and that's it. I expected some protag drama like with Date, Saito and Rohan, but the only drama we get is: "wow Mizuki was genetically modified". That was so bad, like I know it's unrealistic for Mizuki to have superhuman abilities but I just thought that it was an anime joke or something, and it didn't need to be explained. And I was SO mad that we didn't see Gen's face, like, I also thought that Gen was related to Tearer or he was Tearer himself and when I saw the trailers I thought that he was a bad guy. But Gen was just a side character so it was kinda disappointing. I was also pretty disappointed that Amame was the killer of Uru and Tokiko, like, girl you're just a side character of the first game why are you suddenly important? I don't know, maybe Ryuki or Bibi or Gen(if his character instead of being a side character he was something like the masked woman was). They would've fit to be the killer, because they were more important to the plot, but Amame? I mean, yes, she was important to the plot but she was a side character in the first game and they just recycled her instead of making another character or something. To sum up, I expected this game to be more story focused instead of "frayer-focused" if you get what I mean.
Yeah, completely agree with you, it was really disappointing. Like it had so much potential, cult case? Hell yeah, I want to know more but then at the end it was just all about Tearer, like sure the secret ending somehow touched upon what the cult was trying to do, making you question whether the world of AITSF was a simulation all along but it just feel like a last ditch effort to make it coherent which it really didn't work? (But going back and enter the code was cool tho) I was so disappointed that Gen's somnium was just a cooking show and his love Amame cause I thought he'd have something to do with Naix. You can delete half of the side characters and it wouldn't really matter. /-\ Anyway, thank you so much for watching and leaving a comment! It was a good read! :>
28:24 Weirdly I have a theory that it might be the other way round. The only majorly unrealistic thing in the first game were Mizuki’s random superhuman abilities and Dates short bursts when seeing a porno mag And while they are both gags (thus not breaking the immersion too much) they are used multiple times time to further the plot. This contradict the games policy? (Idk how to describe it) of going out of they’re way to explain how things works. Like this game gets very scientific at times and is what makes me think the creators wanted both games to be realistic/believable that they went out of there way to explain not only Dates magazine thing but the bigger problem of Mizukis cartoon like abilities. Abilities -> genetically modification -> superior being -> cult (they already had a cult just needed to change some thing to work) -> dna -> time lines twist… I hope that makes sense Overall I have mixed feelings about both games (this game especially) but its nice to see I wasn’t the only one who thought this especially the adoption retcon. I think you did a great job on the video btw
Oh yeah you definitely right on them using it to further the plot, that kinda bothers me when I play the first and the second game actually especially the action scenes. Usually I am okay with this series' tonal shift but I think them wanting to explain those gags when it could have just been a gag just defeats the purpose? Thank you so much D!! I really appreciate this comment :>
30:32 If you are going to complain about this too, at least research it. Dialogues with Pewter, Iris, Date about Date's face, Falco's identity, Manaka being Iris' mother and So's being the father all of that isn't on the Spoiler off route. And it is in the Spoiler on route. I think it's some more hard-working detail that they even went through the effort of doing that. And on top of that; it doesn't substract from your experience of the game, it only helps people that haven't played the first game. Literlly complaining for complaining.
Then why sell the game as a sequel if they are so wary of spoilers? But thanks for letting me know about how the non spoiler route dialogues works, as the time of writing this essay the game just released less than 3 months so there aren't any non spoiler route infos and I am not going through a non spoiler route with how much of a drag the story is. AITSF was a slow burn but the characters carried the pacing, not in this game unfortunately. As for the flavour texts. Was it funny tho? Did the jokes land as they did in the first game? When they write these dialogues do they put "first time players" or "players who had played the first game" in mind? Humour is subjective, someone who plays this without playing the first game might find it funny. People who played the first game might find the jokes are similar to the first one and feel disappointed, since it's the best part of the game. It's a reward/flavour text after pixel hunting around the map, but this one just tasteless (pun). So, sure complaining for complaining, that's what people does. So does you, after coming back 2 days later commenting on this video essay. Thanks for watching.
@@smokedhamu Anyways, kinda passive aggressive response from your part. I only had problems with those few points of your video. 2 days ago I started watching your video, but as I was busy, I had this video in watch later because I wanted to finish watching it. Also the structure of the video was well done and the points exposed are clear to the viewer. I only disagree with you; that doesn't mean I dislike the whole thing. Your take on AITSF may be better; but if your content is good I'll keep watching. Anyways you engaged with a commenter with a negative outlook on your content and answered properly (less the complaining part I had) so that's positive after all. So thanks for answering too; the video was entertaining don't get me wrong! Also, the Ever-17 trivia I left 2 days ago, I even forgot I did; I sometimes forget those things. And if I watched the video through the end, you are clearly doing something right.
@@xyannail4678 Thanks for the feedback, I am glad that you enjoyed the video. Though I'd hope you would include the positive too instead of focusing on the negative as it comes off as if the rest was nothing and tbh you sounded passive aggressive with the research bit, so I got fired up. Since it's all text, it's hard to read each other's tone. I shouldn't have add the 2 days thing, that was quite immature of me LOL (my childish side got the better of me fr) Also, I don't think I'd be doing these kinds of video essay, this was just a spurge of the moment/passion project the moment I finished the game since I love the series and the writer, but felt disappointed by the end result of this sequel because it had the potential but the execution was lackluster. Not sure if it's because of different director. Anyways, thanks. I liked the discussion and disagreement.
My two biggest issues; 1. The "spoiler filter." It pretty much ruined Date's development upon regaining his memories and such while not not serving ots purpose as a filter as the mere presence of a lot of the characters are major spoilers. Just encourge the players to play them in order, stupid. 2. The far fetched identitet nature to EVERYTHING around the two Mizukis down to their bikes, clothes etc. Easy solution. Instead of spending resources on the silly dress up of Tama and Aiba. Give the protags different outfits and hairstyles from day to day. Could even have one Mizuki have the hair up and one the hair down as a subtle hint. And since Ryuki would also change (and maybe some non-Mcs too) then it wouldnt be too sus, just neat.
the spoiler filter especially. designing a game while trying to avoid anything that relies on a predecessor in the same series is idiotic on the level of sakurai not wanting to do stories in smash anymore because some people uploaded the cutscenes. completely brainless and oblivious to how players experience a franchise or game.
@@YARGGG_GG Yeah. In fact, it should have been actively encouraged that you have played the first game, both when buying it and when starting it. Then, sell both games as a set at a discount for those who havent played the first. Because honestly. How many played the second AND then went back to play the first? Only them benefited slightly (but still got tons of spoilers) from the efforts and ruination of character progression.
@@YARGGG_GG agreed a spoiler filter is a stupid thing to have put in a sequel..and my problem with NI is that they caused plot holes that clashed with the first game as well as butcher some characters especially kaname date..his development isn't there in the 2nd game and imo I don't think he should be in saito's body..even though I loved that plot twist and all..he should've stayed in falco's body maybe adjusting to a new body getting used to not looking like how he did before.. There might be some promising stuff in NI stuff that had potential..but It did set itself up to fail as a sequel..
Bought the second game after completing the first. I did the first route and then dropped it, it just never gripped me like the first one and your video describes my feelings about it perfectly.
Plot wise for me, I would say the shock factor of the first game hits more. As for this, this game will only make sense once you finish all the routes, its also a fun plot and a much more darker tone than the original.
you took the words right out of my mouth!!! in so many ways aini is better regarding gameplay/QoL but the writing and characters take a nodedive in quality. i’m writing notes as this video goes along bc none of my close friends have finished aini and these thoughts are just bouncing around my head - i have a similar problem with protag screentime where ryutama were written really well until the mizuki shift set them to the side and since mizuki’s protag screentime is split between her and bibi because of some bullshit it’s like.. what’s the point of advertising her as an ascended mc if she only has half the screentime. - I DIDN’T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE PACING!! i really loved the date and aiba (+passengers like iris and mizuki) car scenes for the banter and also how it was used to set up the golden ending and i realized watching this how much aini was lacking in these - also the mama(? more like the ghost possessing mama) reveal scene was such bullshit. it blew my mind in a good way nonetheless but i hated mama’s whole spirit medium thing in general because it was so contrived like they couldn’t find a better way to make her useful now that there were more characters to dispense info - (which is also a problem i have with moma to a lesser extent because he just gets reduced to his iris fanboy tendencies which were already creepy in the first game but just WAY WORSE here. i’m happy he’s here but i kind of wish he was… more. same with how so sejima shows up for the singular reason of having another bastard child i wanted to kill him) - RYUKI’S LAUGHS OVERLAYED OVER EACHOTHER ARE SO FUCKING CREEPY I DIG IT SO MUCH. MY POOR SAD WET CAT - i kind of like the added web of relationships in some cases like the lien/gen/date trio or lien/bibi/moma trio which are way too underutilized outside of the gen&mame ending which is my least favorite by a long shot - the ryuki twist idea you had is… i quite like it a lot. it’s kind of out there but it fits right at home with the aini twists and at least gives some emotional attachment to it which i really miss from the original aitsf game - THE OTHER ROUTES. I FUCKING HATE THE OTHER ROUTES IN EXECUTION. most of aitsf’s routes worked in a way where they could still continue the story after the route ended because they give you different pieces of info you could use to sleuth (even iris’s route, which is deliberately closed-ended because you ignore the quest to go naix hunting). i quite liked shoma and komeji’s though because ota+mayumi’s was my second fave route and it gave me that nostalgia - OHHHH I FUCKING HATED THE MIZUKI TWIST. imo it stomps on the whole idea that blood family isn’t absolute that was explored through iris and hitomi and date, and DATE AND MIZUKI! DATE’S SOMNIUM IN MIZUKI’S ROUTE LITERALLY HAS YOU REJECT MIZUKI’S PARENTS THRICE NO MATTER HOW MANY NEGATIVE TIMIES YOU GET JUST BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE HIMMM!!!! so making renju and shoko not be mizuki’s blood parents ruins the whole thing. i’ve seen people say that aini should have been set after mizuki’s route (with slight handwaves to bring iris back to life) and i highly agree just because you don’t uncover most of the main plot but still put an end to the cyclops killings - THE PROTOTYPE PSYNC MACHINE MADE ME FUCKING ANGEYYY i’m pretty sure the explanation was that date brought headsets to bypass the eye gouging thing but WHY AVOID SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST GAME BUT SHOW *THIS* MAJOR ELEMENT OF THE NEW CYCLOPS KILLINGS THAT A LOT OF AITSF PLAYERS DONT DISCOVER UNTIL LATE INTO THEIR PLAYTHROUGHS HELPPPP that said. an ai3 would be awesome in theory but i’m kind of terrified at the idea that it would go like ztd in terms of story quality and bullshit plot points. now i want to replay ai1 because i have a lot of problems with that game but it’s much nearer and dearer to my heart than aini. great video
I had so much fun reading this, it made my day so thank you!! They really should have just continue after Mizuki's route or a divergent route from it where Iris was still Iris and Date managed to stop Saito when he's still in Renju's body. Then the second game being spoiler free from the first game would have make sense instead of all these hard to believe contrivances hamfisted in the story. But yes, thank you so much for watching, I am glad you enjoyed it !! :>
im so glad you made this, you voiced my thoughts almost identically. also love how you thought the sequel games would focus on other senses, i also believed that! especially when date said there are 5 other psyncers at ABIS. we could have hearing, speech/taste, touch, smell, and even a sixth sense which could be a cool callback to his zero escape series
Glad that you enjoyed the video, if there's a 3rd game I hope it'd be better than this one (or maybe just come up with a new IP, the man isn't so great with writing sequels tbh)
My main issues are with Date keeping Saito's face and the Mizukis. I can maybe think of a reason they could've made Mizuki and Bibi work. If Bibi was the biological child of Shoko and Renju who ran away from home and ended up at the orphanage and got abducted by Chikara and after she escapes with our Mizuki back to orphanage, Renju and Shoko find clone Mizuki who they mistake as their Mizuki.(i mean they're neglectful enough for them to mistake who their real daughter is) I understand why they used Saito's face fot Date this game, for both spoilers as well people being more used to it, but it doesn’t make sense in regards to people involved in the case. Since i'm pretty sure everyone would be traumatized by what he did to them. Also what happened to Date and Hitomi dating, Date got his memory back and i thought they'd be dating by this game. Plus Aiba just leaves Date cause she's sick of how horny he is.(after she's already put up with it for 5 years, kinda makes her feel out of character there) Plus Date just feels like he's just how he was before dating Hitomi/regaining his memories. I definitely agree the 1st game did a lot of things better. Like giving us time to get to know the characters and giving them time to breathe, while we didn’t really get that in this game. We know the characters but not to the extent of the 1st game. This game's still good but it could've been better.
@@lavenderrose82 Yeah the chemistry between Aiba and Date in this game is just gone, and when they banter in the game it doesn't sound like one, it sounds like Aiba is genuinely sick of his shit, it always feels off for me. I feel like the reason why they keep Saito's face is probably because he's more popular than Yagyu's face, and fans can relate more to him cause they spent 90% of the time in the previous game, for better marketing of this game I think
@smokedhamu I understand why they used Saito's face, I just feel it doesn't make sense with what he put the characters from the first game through. Cause I feel it would be hard for the characters to look at Date and not see the person who caused everything. Hitomi and Iris(losing their friend/mom), Mizuki(getting shot by Saito), etc. For characters that weren't too involved in the case(wouldn't know the truth) it wouldn't effect them, but for people who knew I just feel they'd be heavily effected. Again, I understand for a marketing/player perspective, but for a story perspective it doesn't make sense. That's just my opinion on it though.
@@lavenderrose82 Yeah I agree with your point, that's why the reason as to why he wears a Saito mask was really bullshit from the writer, it sounds cheap.
Tbh using yagyu's face would've been a better option even if saito's face is what us fans even newer ones would associate date's look.. I wouldve handled kaname date's character post AI 1 to kinda be like Ben Reilly aka scarlet spider in a way..in regards for date trying to discover more of himself outside of being in someone's body for 5 years..getting used to his og body which was yagyu but since date has been date for 5 years it'll make an interesting story when it comes to identity.. I agree using saito's face or the Saito mask doesn't make sense because of the characters that were affected by saito who must've traumatized them..and having date be left without looking what he thought he looked like is kinda a win for Saito as an antagonist..plus if they kept date looking like yagyu then they could've made hin grown out his hair..maybe dyed it or style it like when he was in saito's body.. Overall nirvana initiative dropped the ball on date's character and even butchered his dynamic with him and aiba..but yeah I get they wanted new protags in NI but he should still be in a somewhat prominent role..
I guess I gotta re-think my stance on this game, thanks to your wonderful review! I thought I adored it after playing it twice: First in the way the game naturally progressed, then the second time in chronological order. It's definitely a lot of fun to see where the writers' wording choices meant to completely throw you off. Then again, perhaps the quality-of-life features made the game so much more fun and accessible to me that perhaps the plot didn't matter as much. Also, the post game literally being a recreation of 999's first escape room is absolutely brilliant! As a huge fan of Zero Escape, it gave me such joy that Spike Chunsoft is still willing to acknowledge those masterpieces!
I remember feeling frustrated that Ryuki's first instinct as a detective was to go and chat to his friends instead of investigating the crime scene or checking the body. I'd have to play it again to expand on that idea but it was a frustration I encountered a few times.
fr, and the worst is that I couldn't care less about some character's backstory, making the game feel like a drag (even harder for a second playthrough)
Another thing that changes if you select no or fail the question in the opening act is when Ryuki is talking to both boss and date in boss' office. You can ask Date why he still has that face versus his actual face. I believe there are a few other instances but I haven't played it since release and are drawing a blank. The only reason why I remember the boss/Date thing is because I wanted to know and restarted the first game just to do the ending again. I also was one of the people that wanted to know why Mizuki had super strength when no one else did. Also like half the plot is for the Ryuki divergent ending where you break the simulation using whatever that code thing is you get from the ending of the game, going back and creating a paradox that can't be explained except by the frayer/simulation thing. There are also hints that mama knows about their world being a game, if I'm remembering correctly.
I actually dont think I could agree more. Holy shit Date wearing a mask still pisses me off. Also with his story barely being further developed kinda dissapointed me. Why not AT LEAST make it so that he only wears that mask if you say that you did not play the first game, in the beginning. Honestly thought that's the entire reason it's even there. A story should never handycap itself for the sake of avoiding spoilers.
i'm gonna give this to nirvanA Initiative: the murder mystery aspect of it felt a lot more engaging than the first one. i'll admit that the plotlines and characters felt rather scattershot but the actual assembling of clues, trying to figure out where it all led to and the curveballs the game throws at you feel much more thrilling and satisfying to assemble. It kinda feels like nirvanA Initiative had its murder mystery written first with the twist in mind, and had the rest of the game inflexibly built around it, which is a shame.
Glad to know i wasn't the only one that wasn't feeling the sequel. I liked it but i didn't love it like the first game. The jokes didn't even hit as well for me and Tama's innuendos got old quick. I do feel 7/10 was an accurate score for this.
Great video! In my opinion, I feel like all three spike chunsoft VN series have the same issue. They get it right the first game, then the sequels try to do too much and end up feeling more flawed. Danganronpa 1, AI 1, and 999 feel the most consistent in their individual series compared to their sequels.
Exactly! But for me, I think DR2 and VRL are still fine by themselves but when it comes to the third installment ZTD struggled to round up the story while V3 had an ending that was polarizing. For me, Uchikoshi can write an amazing one shot story (999 & AITSF) where everything connects together but he struggles at sequels and has to come up with something to save it or just completely retcon it like the case for Mizuki's backstory.
I finished this game like an hour ago and I have SO many questions about the choices they made. Why did they have Date disguise as Gen? Why did Uru have chitin skin instead of just having Jin’s right half? Why did Tokiko have two separate cathedrals built? What’s the deal with dahlia boat? I feel like the writers just threw a million threads out there and just didn’t follow up on half of them
The way they handled the other AI balls in this game is so weird, Date had an excuse because Saito ripped his left eye out, but Ryuki getting his eye manually removed is so dumb, surely there's alternate options like AR glasses or something?
good video. the timeline twist being bullshit is one thing, but the retcons hurt me the most. i thought the way the characters developed in somnium 1 was heartwarming and they had to undo it because... i don't know. spoilers? it's truly insane to try and consciously make a sequel WITHOUT drawing on plot threads from the original and i don't know why they did it. if they ever make a third one, they'll have to unretcon the retcons.
If they unretcon the retcons for the third game I think I would have check out from the story and just focus on the gameplay instead, cause it shows that they don't have faith in the story to begin with if they suddenly backed out and want to undo the whole thing. Sometimes I want to pretend this game doesn't exist but there were potential in this and I liked Ryuki and Tama, I wanted more of their interaction and backstory but oh well. Thanks for watching! :>
You're spot on with the plot holes. IMO, Ryuki's part has so much bad writing. When Tama revealed that she scanned the entire area with normal vision and X-ray after Ryuki was knocked out in the quiz show area, and then it was revealed that Tearer was hiding between the mannequins, I just lost it. From that point forward, I saw Tama and Ryuki as completely useless and inept at their jobs. Okay Tama, you recorded the entire crime scene with normal vision + xray... how about Thermos? Is one more layer of data really too much to ask for? If she had used Thermos, they would've known Tearer was hiding there IMMEDIATELY. And like you mentioned, it's almost as if Tama isn't in Ryuki's eye most of the time. She doesn't try to shock Ryuki before he shot the civilain, doesn't make use of her vision to correct Ryuki's delusions. She's really useless. I want to blame it on the characters, but the game itself doesn't give them much opportunity to redeem themselves, since they had to do the "Incorrect Timeline" twist so Ryuki wouldn't even get more gameplay time.
I really liked the game but I definitely forgot about it months later. I feel like something that held this game back, was all the advertising from Spike Chunsoft, especially on their channel. The trailer was good, however a lot of the first half of the game was spoiled because they would post clips about the game before it came out, which I didn't understand marketing wise. I didn't see them doing that with other of their releases which I felt was strange, but I played, only Mizuki's route surprised me because they seemed to left her section alone. I hope this isn't just coming off as me saying they shouldn't advertise at all, but I felt like they shouldn't have made clips showing off major parts of the first half, which I hope they don't do next time.
It feels like the marketing was a double edged sword, the trailer definitely made the game story seemed enticing but when I actually finished the game, it left me disappointed. The story feels like the first draft, not sure if the upper up from Spike Chunsoft had something to do with the story but I don't think its best to speculate. I hope the next game would be better, for now I will just pretend this game is from a different timeline LOL
29:00 Sorry to necropost, but there is something about Mizuki and her mom. Ota is actually a counter-example for children having matching hair colors. His mother’s hair was turquoise whereas Ota’s hair is brown.
yesss a review that puts all my complaints into words. i feel like the reveal about mizuki ruins her character. just going to pretend this game didnt happen lmaoo
It feels like the first draft of the story, I don't know why they have to alter Mizuki's character to write this story to be honest. Smoking copium that it was all a simulation and the first time was the true timeline LMAO
I think they should have just abandoned the mizuki twist and went all in on Ryuki as the protagonist. I don’t know, they could have given Ryuki TC Perge in the beginning so that he slowly goes mentally insane, and this insanity causes him to slip up past and present. Hell, this already happens in the current game. Then the timeline shift could be something that Ryuki actually experiences instead of being something only the player experiences. Basically, this would make the plot built around Ryuki and his mental issues, I think this is what the game is lacking. The first game was built around date.
Yeah I agree, it's either that or make Mizuki a protagonist but to be honest I feel like Mizuki is great as a sidekick character (example: the first game) but for some reason she lost some of her charm during this game. I would personally love to see Ryuki as the sole protagonist so we can fully experience his perspective and the craziness happening in his mind. Like yeah, TC perge is causing him experiencing past and present sometimes, that sounds great on paper but they didn't execute it well in this game unfortunately.
@@smokedhamu The problem with mizuki is she already had her character development. You ever play ace attorney? Mizuki reminds me of appolo justice. Appolo has multiple backstories because they kept adding new things to him for whatever reason. Mizuki is even worse, at least appolo’s backstories are coherent. Mizuki now has some genome editing, was adopted even though her adopted mother said she regretted giving birth, and apparently has a clone who’s 6 years older. Dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.
@@RohanDatta-w7f Yeah I've played AA series, one of my favourite game. I don't like how they retcon Mizuki's backstory, I am there with you about the genome editing. All of her character developments back in the first game are thrown away because of it, it's really unfortunate.
I much as I enjoyed this game and was able to appreciate it as it's own thing the fact that it doesn't take full advantage of being a sequel was really disappointing My hype for AINI came from the idea that it could subvert expectations on what is probably my favourite murder mystery , ever And it just doesn't I mean there's the fifth corpse and I love the Amame stuff but that's about it Considering how often Uchikoshi tends to interact with his fans online ,plus the fact that Mizuki became a protagonist because of her popularity I do hope that the criticisms surrounding this game are taken to heart for a potential AI3 as he's not being secretive about those plans
Definitely agreed, I was hoping for a AHA moment but it never came which was really disappointing cause the premise of this game was so good but it turned out to this. Thanks for the comment!
I think I was able to enjoy this game way more because the moment I saw Date in this game I decided it was simply an AU regardless of what the game says or does to try to retcon the first game. Without having any connection to the first game it does feel like a much better story. My biggest problem with the game is they have too many important characters that they want us to get invested in. They either could’ve cut down on new characters, or they could’ve not had as many returning characters. I feel like the only side character that they actually did a great job with in this game was Amame. I also did very much enjoy the twist because I was feeling kind of frustrated by the weird ways the characters were acting, especially when boss was scolding Ryuki, and when Bibi was investigating the scene of Komeji’s death. It made those moments feel more satisfying in retrospect which did improve the quality of the game for me. In the end I settled on giving this game a 7.5/10 rating while I give the first game a 10/10.
The twist would have been great with a better execution, instead of Mama explain it to you, I want to the game to slowly reveal it to you and the player piece it together. Yeah, I agree with the side characters being lackluster in this game than the previous one, thinking this game as an AU might have been better for me personally /w\ Thanks for the comment!!
As someone who loved the timeline twist, I will have to respectfully disagree with you, but I do understand most of the issues you have with it. Personnaly, I liked what the game did as I had already understood Ryuki would be an unreliable narrator due to his condition (which immediatly made me sympathetic of him by the way), so essencially having the game ITSELF being an unreliable narrator was absolutely confusing and mind-blowing in a good way for me. With that being said, I do also have issues with it. The nature of the True Timeline twist forced the game to be very linear in its progression, which I think also caused most of the somnia to not branch out like in the first game. I also only got 1 path locked mid-progression before needing to switch to another path in my playthrough, something that was more frequent in the first game and added to the mystery of everything. I suppose they tried to make up for it with the password locked pathes, but it's just not the same... All of this I find to be a shame. If AI3 happens, I hope they'll go back to a form closer to AiTSF, though I doubt innovating on AiNi's form would even be possible. A formula like AiNi's can only be done once. I do agree Ryuki's backstory was unfortunately a one-note thing. MANY things in the story were one-note and never elaborated upon further afterward in fact ! And I really wish that wasn't the case, especially for Ryuki ! He has become my favorite character and not seeing anything more about his past really saddens me. I'll say, your idea of connecting his brother's death to the case in the way you suggested would have been a heart-wrenching yet amazing addition !
Hey thanks for watching and commenting!! I think having an unreliable narrator being the protagonist can be really amazing and making the story mind-engaging however this game has sooo many fillers for characters that are not even that important that makes the story really boring to go through even in the first playthrough. Especially with Lien and Kizuna, they really shouldn't be in the game tbh. The timeline twist felt a bit cheap to me its because of how it was revealed and having the player play Ryuki's first half then Mizuki the second instead of going back and forth kinda kills the pacing for me. Even though I'm aware that it's for the timeline twist reveal, but still. I agree wholeheartly that if AI3 were to happen, they will go back to AITSF, that game have everything so closely knitting together like a web that makes unravelling the story super satisfying at the end. I'm disappointed that this game didn't have that impact. Ryuki's one of my favourite character too, I hope they could have explore more of his character and backstory. Sadly for now, he feels like a writer's first draft for a character.
the biggest shot in the foot was makin the time skip 6 years. it made it so they ltiterally couldn't show a large chunk of characters in 4 different days
Great video! It really reinforced a lot of my thoughts about this game. Its good game but it could've been so much better. I wish we played as Ryuki and Tama more - I really loved their dynamic, and it could've explained the timeline twist naturally instead of being pulled out of the game for Mama to tell us
Thank you so much for watching!! :> Yeah, this game had potential but it feels like the first draft. Quite unfortunate cause I'd like to see more of Ryuki and Tama's interactions!
@@smokedhamuthe damn TWIST in the game prevented what would have been a more rewarding experience! Coming from AI1, im sure most people wanted to jump right into Mizuki's route. "Hey that's a character I know! Let's go!" Her tied to Aiba, it only seemed natural. But you immediately start fresh with the new and more compelling character and then he gets ditched halfway thru. In hindsight, it was a fumble. What a shame
So how am I supposed to do a second run through of the game for it to be in the right order of events? Do I just follow the red string than follow the blue string? Also I don't get how the mermaid girl committed murders and got black mailed 6 years ago. Even though beat it and am on a second playthrough now it is hard to keep up with when is Ryuki actually in the past and when is the 18 year old mikuki in the present.
I think there's someone who did a video of the correct timeline somewhere, but basically they retell the story in the correct order, highly recommend that video
Yeah, I didn't put as much thought into it as you did but this game did leave me underwhelmed. The game was more satisfying to play with the more gameplay elements in it, but the payoff wasn't as intoxicating. I didn't think about the shallowness of the branching paths comparatively, where the first game split off but still added to the story- while this one really didn't. I liked your idea for the Ryu brother half body twist- that would have been great
I felt like this game just shotgunned random half-baked ideas at you. There were enough ideas here to fill 2 games and a spin-off: Meeting the characters again after a 6-year time skip, Ryuki's backstory and Tama, the Mizuki stuff (I wish we got to see Marco a bit at least) the cult and meta stuff (the order of % I was interesting, I thought the reason for the killings was gonna be beef between two cults but they didn't add anything to the story :( ) The first game's characters were also a lot more interesting... but I still loved this game a lot. It was very entertaining at least. Can't wait what the third game will be like!
I kinda find it funny that if nobody ever played Ever-17 (one of Kotaro's Uchikoshi's first works and masterpiece at it) the 6 years time gap seemed like out of nowhere to everybody. But if you had read that one before, it wasn't anything new from him; so it wasn't as unexpected to me, haha!
This game fell flat for me and is my least favorite across the ZE/AI series. You did a great job summarizing how the plot was convoluted and unsatisfying. The game literally uses psychic readings from crystal balls to advance the plot. Fail
I rank this game only above ZTD. I think Zero Punctuations video of "saving the world getting old" perfectly encompasses why this and ZTD were disappointing. 999/VLR/AI1 all excellent. The scope of the games are perfectly intimate, which warrants greater investment. Utchikoshi can write awesome characters, and his games work better when the plot is about saving those characters vs the faceless world.
The first game was way better. Only parts in the first game that were annoying were the theory parts by Ota and Iris, which you were forced to listen to and boss's somnium, since it's very tough. I like the fact they added a difficulty setting in the second game for that. I still love the characters in the second game, but ruining date with the "mask" as well as to prevent spoilers (why would you play the second game if you haven't played the first one?) It's just weird to me. The weird theory stuff was a bit much in nirvana tbh on top and the videos. The first game had the right balance. The second game just felt inconsistent, complicated and all over the place. Nirvana ruining date's progression with his family reminds me of how apollo justice the game ruined phoenix wright for me. Still, it's not too bad, just very noticeable and bugs you, after the emotional stuff in the first game.
I'm not a fan of Ryuki myself as I thought he was annoying in some parts and he became unlikeable in some parts of the second half in my opinion. I know why he turned out the way he did, which is tragic, but the story really could have benefited from focusing on him more, because maybe he woulda grown on me more. Everything else you said I pretty much agree with, especially the character interrelations which is why I feel like this game's characters don't stick with me as much as the first game. I still enjoyed the story, but the way it was written felt convoluted and took away from the immersion. Also, the second game isn't as funny in my opinion. Aiba's snapbacks toward Date's bs I enjoyed in the first game. I don't quite get that same enjoyment with Ryuki and Tama or Mizuki and Aiba. All in all, it was a good game, but I very much prefer the first one.
my biggest issue with the game was that the main bad guys were already dead by the end. you just had to fight the minions so the final battle just felt really underwhelming. in the first game you beat the bad guy and thats it, happy ending. but this theyre already gone so idk i just didnt like that itd be better if at least one of the 3 main bad guys were still around.
33:43 There are some elements similar to such especially with Buddhism ideologies between body and soul and some of the hindu stuff that you brought up. But overall this video encapsulates a lot of my disappointments with this sequel and it feels like it lost a lot of the sauce the first one had just to make this twist work. (Malaysian?) I will agree on *THAT ENDING* is a masterstroke and left me ruminating on it for a week.
wonderful review, the routes needed to hop back and forth. Waiting half the game to play as mizuki, and then never as ryuki for the rest is frustrating.
I don't know about this game so I can't really give an opinion of what you said. But I give a comment so your video can have more vision. Hope to see you quick in a new video for the Jojo react See you Ham
I wanted to press like multiple times. I thought I was the only one bored af of the Lien and Kizuna romance. And Gen and Amame, what was that? I was so creeped out when he said he thought he loved her as a daughter but then he realized it was more. Ew? Not to mention... everything else. Yes, Ryuki deserved more screen time. Yes, I stopped caring completely about the story and was just pressing Next around the same time you felt the same. Yes, the whole "omg you have a slight secret let us go to ABIS immediately and P S Y N C" was unnatural and just completely absurd regarding some of the characters. And I really did expect Ryukis brother to show up at some point. This game was nice but 7 out of 10 is a fair rating. Overall it disappoints. Even the final dance (and song) of the first game is so much better.
Ironically, I feel that the arg surrounding this game was more interesting than the game itself, also I seriously can’t believe they DOUBLED DOWN on Date’s/Falco’s porn power, also the face mask voice change was the biggest load of horse shit I had seen
Kotaro Uchikoshi is a smart, we-read man, who's great at human drama and asking questions that make interesting mysteries. Where he can fall apart, is in late development and answering those mysteries later on. Dude has fun with plot twists involving the person playing the game, but here, he had a little too much fun with lying to the player and failed to make everything come together in a way that made sense. That's why I think VLR was so good but ZTD was complete garbage.
The problem with these games is that the premise just never really works; murder mystery with sci-fi/supernatural mumbo jumbo. The first game had a compelling setup, but slowly devolved into pure nonsense. Little quirky sci-fi things can elevate and take mystery into an interesting corridor, but this series is just absolute drivel from start to finish. And the puzzle sections, yeah, just absolute dogshit.
![AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative - A Full Chronological Summary [Major Spoilers]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hgPV6PZBVM8/mqdefault.jpg)
![AI: The Somnium Files — nirvanA Initiative - A Full Chronological Summary [Major Spoilers]](/img/tr.png)
[CC AVAILABLE] Apologize for the inconsistent audio quality, please don't put the video player on full volume! /w\
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I forgot to mention in the video that I like how Kuruto means a crazed person in Japanese, at least phonetically. As well as Quartz since Mizuki in kanji means crystal.
I started to write this essay the moment I finished the game, that was like 2 months ago. Reading a script is hard, how do people do that??
To give you a theory to think .
Just go back in the first game
And analysis that Ryuki is literally Dante before the cyclops killing
The older brother of kamakuras tells Dates history
That is similar of Ryuki during the game the second thing is you need to remember the secret ending
That ryuki is told that he is nirvana Initiative
In a more simple way .
I think ryuki is just a version of the real date that's just did not have his live trow away
The name date is fake and Falco is a code name
But the name that the game gives you of being his " real " is obviously fake too
Dates only connection in the game is boss but in the time they graduating in police academy
From their own dates loses believe in justice and becomes a punisher that brings his own justice on criminals
Before that is said that his was someone that was full of justice he believes that any type of evil should be punished until he suffers his disillusion
The same is similar to ryuki
But like it's was adapt to not contradict what already exist in SOMNIUM files
Ryuki is nirvana Initiative
Not only that but the nirvana game is full virtual something that's is not the case more or less in SOMNIUM
If you think too much you can say that ryuki is just a reconstruction of what dates don't want to remember
Or way of given him peace
To you understand better just noticed that Falco is in the game but no one knows him
And the game don't show him
In SOMNIUM of rpg of iris
He is there but he has no body
And is just have F as name
Because he is being occult to not break the perfect world that moves around Ryuki
( just putting a note that I did it a lot of words while writing this shit
I have a little difficult in English
Is just too much think in two languages at same time )
"the first game walked so this game could crawl" banger of an opening
ryuki and tama became my faves so i was so upset when they kinda forgot about them in the end. hope ryuki maybe comes back in the next game
Right? He could have been a really nice addition apart from the characters we already know. If Mizuki isn't one of the protagonist, and his story is more focused and fleshed out like how Date's was in the first game. He could have been so much more, aaaa what a waste. I really hope he gets his own game or a dlc case.
I think if a third game ever comes out it should follow from the secret ending, not the main route we see play out. It'd make the entire simulation foreshadowing worthwhile, and there are so many insane places you can go with this.
Also, if they do decide to make a 3rd game, I hope they don’t get Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney syndrome, where they just refuse to kill any characters that were previously introduced, I mean how cool and shocking would it be if the game kicks off with Mizuki having to solve the murder of Moma? Not only will it give the player a proper reason to solve the case, it could motivate a good number of characters like Date and Mizuki since Moma saved Dates live in the first game and by extension, Iris and Hifumi, idk I just hope they don’t keep introducing strangers as victims, in the first game it’s fine since it’s the first game, you’re not gonna know anyone, but personally I hope they make it more personal to the player
Ryuki is (to me) the best main character Uchikoshi has made, I love his story, his relationship with Tama and Date, him being the straight man that the series desperately needed from Iris's cringe and LITERALLY EVERY MALE HORNINESS!!! I honestly would've loved a game analysing his character more instead of sidelining him and tama, hopefully AI 3 does my boy justice!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely agree, my favourite protagonist that he's done alonge with the 999's Junpei.
I like the fact he played as mostly serious as it helped with getting invested with the mystery even though I was slowly losing interest during mizuki playthrough.
Loved Date but hate the retcon of the first game as I thought the ending was so sweet when Aiba and Saito reunite. Really puts a downer of my view of the first game.
I think the perfect way to describe this game would be “Confused”. Sense if doesn’t fully know what it wants to do, so instead of sticking with one concept and going with that, it throws as many at the wall as possible to see what sticks. It kinda just jumps between several different plots and ideas without really fully committing to any of them, all while being a sequel without spoiling the first game. (Which is already problematic by itself) So the story structure was kinda all over the place, and it’s handled even worse than in the first game. So in the end while the story has technically reached a conclusion there are still several unanswered questions and unresolved conflicts. I think if the game just committed to one storyline I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more sense there are so many other ways this games issues could’ve been amended easily. (Like giving Mizuki more screen time with Kizuna without Lien or Shoma, or diving into Ryuki’s traumatic past and brother more ect.) But they don’t do that so it comes off more as a first draft, and that’s weird when the production values look pretty high, (like updating the models and improved gameplay mechanics) still it’s not absolutely terrible all this considered. (It’s definitely a step up from Zero Time Dilemma in my opinion)
Ikr?? At least ZTD was entertaining if you don't take it seriously? This game feels like you said the first draft, which it was disappointing since it had so much potential with more iterations and trimming on the writing. Thanks for the comment! :>
I think it does know what it wants to do but jumps everything so randomly and out of order just to make the plot confused and obfuscated for the player while the characters are supposedly in on it which causes plotholes as you've said. Like it uses Ryuki's trauma and Mizuki/Bibi as tools for the plot rather than anything meaningful. Everything is in service for the twist which makes it unsatisfying. So I'd say they did know what they were doing and made the story structure all over the place just to make the timeline twist work. Without sacrificing for the twist, we'd have a more complete game reworked.
Also I agree ZTD is more enjoyable than this like she said. I'd say this is better than 999 and both do horror well and had a better ending but 999 had more pacing issues than NI.
In some sense, it's the same problem as with VLR, where Uchikoshi just throws too much stuff into the plot instead of fully committing to one central theme, and at the end, you get such a weird, convoluted mess. 999 and AI:TSF succeed because they have a strong focus.
And Mizuki clone is literally the same bullshit as Delta in ZTD, I'm sorry.
A lot of people seemed to like NI more than original, but I will say I definitely preferred the original more.
That's why I'm watching this video tbh, so that I finally feel like I'm not the only one here.
I would say the first part had the better story, and the second one the better gameplay.
i think the first is better in story, from a gameplay standpoint however? AINI improved upon gameplay VASTLY
20:30 no it makes sense why so sejima isn't out of the country, it technically took place 6 years ago w the other mizuki
22:55 No it isn't. In this game I felt either Gen, Amame or Shoma could have committed the second murders.
23:39 Horrendous take; involving the "twin" brother backstory just to change Uru doesn't help solve the mistery/case, and it would only confuse the people that found the right half of Uru.
24:49 Not all elements need to be used for misdirection; that's one of the strong points of the first game. Some characters gave you true information without it being false information or important. Mama example.
27:27 Mizuki being hinted at having superpowers is literally stated in the first game. What are you on about??
For ur 2nd point, she mentioned that possibility for the plot to be more engaging, not for the mystery to be better or easier to understand
@@lolzu One of Knox's commandments it's not to make the "killer" the obvious twin brother of a character, and be never mentioned (Ryuki's brother isn't even referred by name). What would be a better way of having said twist, is if Uru was actually Ryuki's long lost half sibling that he didn't know was taken in by Aioen and then kidnapped by Tokiko and Chikara. But not that thing about only stealing the right half of his brother face. That is just confusing.
You don't have to agree with my take on Ryuki's twin backstory. I just think the game version's backstory is redundant so by adding his brother into the story might make Ryuki's backstory seem more interesting and it adds more layers and suspicion to the story. Again, I mentioned, it's my brainrot. Like why would Mama be the one to reveal the timeline twist? By that logic, she should be someone important like Tokiko in the story then? But she's not, she's only there to break the 4th wall and tell you the twist, I would rather Tokiko be the one to do that.
Mizuki's superpower was supposed to be a gag in the first story, the fight scenes are mostly gag in AITSF and in AINI most of them are serious except for the final fight.
Bro, Date (in 89's body) punched Saito and sent him flying in the warehouse in the first game, and he doesn't have superpowers, so what's up with that?? So the writer decides when it's superpower and when it's just a gag? That's quite inconsistent.
I loved the video.
I agree with you a lot. When I was plaing the game I seriously thought that Tearer was Ryuki's brother and I would've loved that twist, but for Tearer's identity to be a missing child that is mentioned once or twice when you're investigating in Aioen is kind of sad. Like, in the first game the whole point was to discover the New Cylops Killer's identity and it was linked to the protagonist, but in this game it's just like, "hey, look, it's uru. Why? because you read his diary and stuff". Like, the games just tells you instead of you figuring it out. I remember having a lot of theories about Date in the first game and checking his age in the files to see if it was the same as the cyclops killer and stopping for a few minutes to think about the case and make theories based on the info I had. But in this game, the characters just tell you and the main twist is not of the story, it's of outside the story(?. Like the whole twist is just the timeline thing and that's it. I expected some protag drama like with Date, Saito and Rohan, but the only drama we get is: "wow Mizuki was genetically modified". That was so bad, like I know it's unrealistic for Mizuki to have superhuman abilities but I just thought that it was an anime joke or something, and it didn't need to be explained.
And I was SO mad that we didn't see Gen's face, like, I also thought that Gen was related to Tearer or he was Tearer himself and when I saw the trailers I thought that he was a bad guy. But Gen was just a side character so it was kinda disappointing.
I was also pretty disappointed that Amame was the killer of Uru and Tokiko, like, girl you're just a side character of the first game why are you suddenly important? I don't know, maybe Ryuki or Bibi or Gen(if his character instead of being a side character he was something like the masked woman was). They would've fit to be the killer, because they were more important to the plot, but Amame? I mean, yes, she was important to the plot but she was a side character in the first game and they just recycled her instead of making another character or something.
To sum up, I expected this game to be more story focused instead of "frayer-focused" if you get what I mean.
Yeah, completely agree with you, it was really disappointing. Like it had so much potential, cult case? Hell yeah, I want to know more but then at the end it was just all about Tearer, like sure the secret ending somehow touched upon what the cult was trying to do, making you question whether the world of AITSF was a simulation all along but it just feel like a last ditch effort to make it coherent which it really didn't work? (But going back and enter the code was cool tho)
I was so disappointed that Gen's somnium was just a cooking show and his love Amame cause I thought he'd have something to do with Naix. You can delete half of the side characters and it wouldn't really matter. /-\ Anyway, thank you so much for watching and leaving a comment! It was a good read! :>
28:24 Weirdly I have a theory that it might be the other way round.
The only majorly unrealistic thing in the first game were Mizuki’s random superhuman abilities and Dates short bursts when seeing a porno mag And while they are both gags (thus not breaking the immersion too much) they are used multiple times time to further the plot.
This contradict the games policy? (Idk how to describe it) of going out of they’re way to explain how things works. Like this game gets very scientific at times and is what makes me think the creators wanted both games to be realistic/believable that they went out of there way to explain not only Dates magazine thing but the bigger problem of Mizukis cartoon like abilities. Abilities -> genetically modification -> superior being -> cult (they already had a cult just needed to change some thing to work) -> dna -> time lines twist…
I hope that makes sense
Overall I have mixed feelings about both games (this game especially) but its nice to see I wasn’t the only one who thought this especially the adoption retcon. I think you did a great job on the video btw
Oh yeah you definitely right on them using it to further the plot, that kinda bothers me when I play the first and the second game actually especially the action scenes. Usually I am okay with this series' tonal shift but I think them wanting to explain those gags when it could have just been a gag just defeats the purpose?
Thank you so much D!! I really appreciate this comment :>
30:32 If you are going to complain about this too, at least research it. Dialogues with Pewter, Iris, Date about Date's face, Falco's identity, Manaka being Iris' mother and So's being the father all of that isn't on the Spoiler off route. And it is in the Spoiler on route.
I think it's some more hard-working detail that they even went through the effort of doing that.
And on top of that; it doesn't substract from your experience of the game, it only helps people that haven't played the first game. Literlly complaining for complaining.
Then why sell the game as a sequel if they are so wary of spoilers? But thanks for letting me know about how the non spoiler route dialogues works, as the time of writing this essay the game just released less than 3 months so there aren't any non spoiler route infos and I am not going through a non spoiler route with how much of a drag the story is. AITSF was a slow burn but the characters carried the pacing, not in this game unfortunately.
As for the flavour texts. Was it funny tho? Did the jokes land as they did in the first game? When they write these dialogues do they put "first time players" or "players who had played the first game" in mind? Humour is subjective, someone who plays this without playing the first game might find it funny. People who played the first game might find the jokes are similar to the first one and feel disappointed, since it's the best part of the game. It's a reward/flavour text after pixel hunting around the map, but this one just tasteless (pun). So, sure complaining for complaining, that's what people does. So does you, after coming back 2 days later commenting on this video essay. Thanks for watching.
@@smokedhamu Anyways, kinda passive aggressive response from your part. I only had problems with those few points of your video.
2 days ago I started watching your video, but as I was busy, I had this video in watch later because I wanted to finish watching it.
Also the structure of the video was well done and the points exposed are clear to the viewer. I only disagree with you; that doesn't mean I dislike the whole thing.
Your take on AITSF may be better; but if your content is good I'll keep watching.
Anyways you engaged with a commenter with a negative outlook on your content and answered properly (less the complaining part I had) so that's positive after all.
So thanks for answering too; the video was entertaining don't get me wrong!
Also, the Ever-17 trivia I left 2 days ago, I even forgot I did; I sometimes forget those things. And if I watched the video through the end, you are clearly doing something right.
@@xyannail4678 Thanks for the feedback, I am glad that you enjoyed the video. Though I'd hope you would include the positive too instead of focusing on the negative as it comes off as if the rest was nothing and tbh you sounded passive aggressive with the research bit, so I got fired up.
Since it's all text, it's hard to read each other's tone. I shouldn't have add the 2 days thing, that was quite immature of me LOL (my childish side got the better of me fr)
Also, I don't think I'd be doing these kinds of video essay, this was just a spurge of the moment/passion project the moment I finished the game since I love the series and the writer, but felt disappointed by the end result of this sequel because it had the potential but the execution was lackluster. Not sure if it's because of different director. Anyways, thanks. I liked the discussion and disagreement.
So many characters agree to the sync, despite not being under arrest and also not wanting to talk. But also having no relevant information.
My two biggest issues;
1. The "spoiler filter." It pretty much ruined Date's development upon regaining his memories and such while not not serving ots purpose as a filter as the mere presence of a lot of the characters are major spoilers. Just encourge the players to play them in order, stupid.
2. The far fetched identitet nature to EVERYTHING around the two Mizukis down to their bikes, clothes etc. Easy solution. Instead of spending resources on the silly dress up of Tama and Aiba. Give the protags different outfits and hairstyles from day to day. Could even have one Mizuki have the hair up and one the hair down as a subtle hint. And since Ryuki would also change (and maybe some non-Mcs too) then it wouldnt be too sus, just neat.
the spoiler filter especially. designing a game while trying to avoid anything that relies on a predecessor in the same series is idiotic on the level of sakurai not wanting to do stories in smash anymore because some people uploaded the cutscenes. completely brainless and oblivious to how players experience a franchise or game.
@@YARGGG_GG Yeah. In fact, it should have been actively encouraged that you have played the first game, both when buying it and when starting it. Then, sell both games as a set at a discount for those who havent played the first. Because honestly. How many played the second AND then went back to play the first? Only them benefited slightly (but still got tons of spoilers) from the efforts and ruination of character progression.
@@YARGGG_GG agreed a spoiler filter is a stupid thing to have put in a sequel..and my problem with NI is that they caused plot holes that clashed with the first game as well as butcher some characters especially kaname date..his development isn't there in the 2nd game and imo I don't think he should be in saito's body..even though I loved that plot twist and all..he should've stayed in falco's body maybe adjusting to a new body getting used to not looking like how he did before..
There might be some promising stuff in NI stuff that had potential..but It did set itself up to fail as a sequel..
Bought the second game after completing the first. I did the first route and then dropped it, it just never gripped me like the first one and your video describes my feelings about it perfectly.
I appreciate the amount of detail you put into this review.
Hope to see more video essays!
Thanks bb
Plot wise for me, I would say the shock factor of the first game hits more. As for this, this game will only make sense once you finish all the routes, its also a fun plot and a much more darker tone than the original.
Despite everything, I do like the darker tone of this game.
you took the words right out of my mouth!!! in so many ways aini is better regarding gameplay/QoL but the writing and characters take a nodedive in quality. i’m writing notes as this video goes along bc none of my close friends have finished aini and these thoughts are just bouncing around my head
- i have a similar problem with protag screentime where ryutama were written really well until the mizuki shift set them to the side and since mizuki’s protag screentime is split between her and bibi because of some bullshit it’s like.. what’s the point of advertising her as an ascended mc if she only has half the screentime.
- I DIDN’T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE PACING!! i really loved the date and aiba (+passengers like iris and mizuki) car scenes for the banter and also how it was used to set up the golden ending and i realized watching this how much aini was lacking in these
- also the mama(? more like the ghost possessing mama) reveal scene was such bullshit. it blew my mind in a good way nonetheless but i hated mama’s whole spirit medium thing in general because it was so contrived like they couldn’t find a better way to make her useful now that there were more characters to dispense info
- (which is also a problem i have with moma to a lesser extent because he just gets reduced to his iris fanboy tendencies which were already creepy in the first game but just WAY WORSE here. i’m happy he’s here but i kind of wish he was… more. same with how so sejima shows up for the singular reason of having another bastard child i wanted to kill him)
- RYUKI’S LAUGHS OVERLAYED OVER EACHOTHER ARE SO FUCKING CREEPY I DIG IT SO MUCH. MY POOR SAD WET CAT
- i kind of like the added web of relationships in some cases like the lien/gen/date trio or lien/bibi/moma trio which are way too underutilized outside of the gen&mame ending which is my least favorite by a long shot
- the ryuki twist idea you had is… i quite like it a lot. it’s kind of out there but it fits right at home with the aini twists and at least gives some emotional attachment to it which i really miss from the original aitsf game
- THE OTHER ROUTES. I FUCKING HATE THE OTHER ROUTES IN EXECUTION. most of aitsf’s routes worked in a way where they could still continue the story after the route ended because they give you different pieces of info you could use to sleuth (even iris’s route, which is deliberately closed-ended because you ignore the quest to go naix hunting). i quite liked shoma and komeji’s though because ota+mayumi’s was my second fave route and it gave me that nostalgia
- OHHHH I FUCKING HATED THE MIZUKI TWIST. imo it stomps on the whole idea that blood family isn’t absolute that was explored through iris and hitomi and date, and DATE AND MIZUKI! DATE’S SOMNIUM IN MIZUKI’S ROUTE LITERALLY HAS YOU REJECT MIZUKI’S PARENTS THRICE NO MATTER HOW MANY NEGATIVE TIMIES YOU GET JUST BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE HIMMM!!!! so making renju and shoko not be mizuki’s blood parents ruins the whole thing. i’ve seen people say that aini should have been set after mizuki’s route (with slight handwaves to bring iris back to life) and i highly agree just because you don’t uncover most of the main plot but still put an end to the cyclops killings
- THE PROTOTYPE PSYNC MACHINE MADE ME FUCKING ANGEYYY i’m pretty sure the explanation was that date brought headsets to bypass the eye gouging thing but WHY AVOID SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST GAME BUT SHOW *THIS* MAJOR ELEMENT OF THE NEW CYCLOPS KILLINGS THAT A LOT OF AITSF PLAYERS DONT DISCOVER UNTIL LATE INTO THEIR PLAYTHROUGHS HELPPPP
that said. an ai3 would be awesome in theory but i’m kind of terrified at the idea that it would go like ztd in terms of story quality and bullshit plot points. now i want to replay ai1 because i have a lot of problems with that game but it’s much nearer and dearer to my heart than aini. great video
I had so much fun reading this, it made my day so thank you!! They really should have just continue after Mizuki's route or a divergent route from it where Iris was still Iris and Date managed to stop Saito when he's still in Renju's body. Then the second game being spoiler free from the first game would have make sense instead of all these hard to believe contrivances hamfisted in the story. But yes, thank you so much for watching, I am glad you enjoyed it !! :>
im so glad you made this, you voiced my thoughts almost identically. also love how you thought the sequel games would focus on other senses, i also believed that! especially when date said there are 5 other psyncers at ABIS. we could have hearing, speech/taste, touch, smell, and even a sixth sense which could be a cool callback to his zero escape series
Glad that you enjoyed the video, if there's a 3rd game I hope it'd be better than this one (or maybe just come up with a new IP, the man isn't so great with writing sequels tbh)
mad respect for captioning
also good art at 25:14
Thank you! :> Took me a day to caption it but worth it heh
My main issues are with Date keeping Saito's face and the Mizukis.
I can maybe think of a reason they could've made Mizuki and Bibi work. If Bibi was the biological child of Shoko and Renju who ran away from home and ended up at the orphanage and got abducted by Chikara and after she escapes with our Mizuki back to orphanage, Renju and Shoko find clone Mizuki who they mistake as their Mizuki.(i mean they're neglectful enough for them to mistake who their real daughter is)
I understand why they used Saito's face fot Date this game, for both spoilers as well people being more used to it, but it doesn’t make sense in regards to people involved in the case. Since i'm pretty sure everyone would be traumatized by what he did to them. Also what happened to Date and Hitomi dating, Date got his memory back and i thought they'd be dating by this game. Plus Aiba just leaves Date cause she's sick of how horny he is.(after she's already put up with it for 5 years, kinda makes her feel out of character there)
Plus Date just feels like he's just how he was before dating Hitomi/regaining his memories.
I definitely agree the 1st game did a lot of things better. Like giving us time to get to know the characters and giving them time to breathe, while we didn’t really get that in this game. We know the characters but not to the extent of the 1st game.
This game's still good but it could've been better.
@@lavenderrose82 Yeah the chemistry between Aiba and Date in this game is just gone, and when they banter in the game it doesn't sound like one, it sounds like Aiba is genuinely sick of his shit, it always feels off for me. I feel like the reason why they keep Saito's face is probably because he's more popular than Yagyu's face, and fans can relate more to him cause they spent 90% of the time in the previous game, for better marketing of this game I think
@smokedhamu I understand why they used Saito's face, I just feel it doesn't make sense with what he put the characters from the first game through. Cause I feel it would be hard for the characters to look at Date and not see the person who caused everything.
Hitomi and Iris(losing their friend/mom), Mizuki(getting shot by Saito), etc.
For characters that weren't too involved in the case(wouldn't know the truth) it wouldn't effect them, but for people who knew I just feel they'd be heavily effected.
Again, I understand for a marketing/player perspective, but for a story perspective it doesn't make sense.
That's just my opinion on it though.
@@lavenderrose82 Yeah I agree with your point, that's why the reason as to why he wears a Saito mask was really bullshit from the writer, it sounds cheap.
Tbh using yagyu's face would've been a better option even if saito's face is what us fans even newer ones would associate date's look.. I wouldve handled kaname date's character post AI 1 to kinda be like Ben Reilly aka scarlet spider in a way..in regards for date trying to discover more of himself outside of being in someone's body for 5 years..getting used to his og body which was yagyu but since date has been date for 5 years it'll make an interesting story when it comes to identity..
I agree using saito's face or the Saito mask doesn't make sense because of the characters that were affected by saito who must've traumatized them..and having date be left without looking what he thought he looked like is kinda a win for Saito as an antagonist..plus if they kept date looking like yagyu then they could've made hin grown out his hair..maybe dyed it or style it like when he was in saito's body..
Overall nirvana initiative dropped the ball on date's character and even butchered his dynamic with him and aiba..but yeah I get they wanted new protags in NI but he should still be in a somewhat prominent role..
I guess I gotta re-think my stance on this game, thanks to your wonderful review! I thought I adored it after playing it twice: First in the way the game naturally progressed, then the second time in chronological order. It's definitely a lot of fun to see where the writers' wording choices meant to completely throw you off. Then again, perhaps the quality-of-life features made the game so much more fun and accessible to me that perhaps the plot didn't matter as much.
Also, the post game literally being a recreation of 999's first escape room is absolutely brilliant! As a huge fan of Zero Escape, it gave me such joy that Spike Chunsoft is still willing to acknowledge those masterpieces!
I remember feeling frustrated that Ryuki's first instinct as a detective was to go and chat to his friends instead of investigating the crime scene or checking the body. I'd have to play it again to expand on that idea but it was a frustration I encountered a few times.
fr, and the worst is that I couldn't care less about some character's backstory, making the game feel like a drag (even harder for a second playthrough)
Another thing that changes if you select no or fail the question in the opening act is when Ryuki is talking to both boss and date in boss' office. You can ask Date why he still has that face versus his actual face. I believe there are a few other instances but I haven't played it since release and are drawing a blank. The only reason why I remember the boss/Date thing is because I wanted to know and restarted the first game just to do the ending again.
I also was one of the people that wanted to know why Mizuki had super strength when no one else did.
Also like half the plot is for the Ryuki divergent ending where you break the simulation using whatever that code thing is you get from the ending of the game, going back and creating a paradox that can't be explained except by the frayer/simulation thing. There are also hints that mama knows about their world being a game, if I'm remembering correctly.
I actually dont think I could agree more. Holy shit Date wearing a mask still pisses me off.
Also with his story barely being further developed kinda dissapointed me.
Why not AT LEAST make it so that he only wears that mask if you say that you did not play the first game, in the beginning. Honestly thought that's the entire reason it's even there.
A story should never handycap itself for the sake of avoiding spoilers.
i'm gonna give this to nirvanA Initiative: the murder mystery aspect of it felt a lot more engaging than the first one. i'll admit that the plotlines and characters felt rather scattershot but the actual assembling of clues, trying to figure out where it all led to and the curveballs the game throws at you feel much more thrilling and satisfying to assemble. It kinda feels like nirvanA Initiative had its murder mystery written first with the twist in mind, and had the rest of the game inflexibly built around it, which is a shame.
Glad to know i wasn't the only one that wasn't feeling the sequel. I liked it but i didn't love it like the first game.
The jokes didn't even hit as well for me and Tama's innuendos got old quick. I do feel 7/10 was an accurate score for this.
Great video! In my opinion, I feel like all three spike chunsoft VN series have the same issue. They get it right the first game, then the sequels try to do too much and end up feeling more flawed. Danganronpa 1, AI 1, and 999 feel the most consistent in their individual series compared to their sequels.
Exactly! But for me, I think DR2 and VRL are still fine by themselves but when it comes to the third installment ZTD struggled to round up the story while V3 had an ending that was polarizing. For me, Uchikoshi can write an amazing one shot story (999 & AITSF) where everything connects together but he struggles at sequels and has to come up with something to save it or just completely retcon it like the case for Mizuki's backstory.
I finished this game like an hour ago and I have SO many questions about the choices they made. Why did they have Date disguise as Gen? Why did Uru have chitin skin instead of just having Jin’s right half? Why did Tokiko have two separate cathedrals built? What’s the deal with dahlia boat? I feel like the writers just threw a million threads out there and just didn’t follow up on half of them
EXACTLY, omg the story feels so half baked
The way they handled the other AI balls in this game is so weird, Date had an excuse because Saito ripped his left eye out, but Ryuki getting his eye manually removed is so dumb, surely there's alternate options like AR glasses or something?
Exactly, not to mention that Mizuki ONLY got her right eye damaged, the rest of her face was completely fine tho, no injuries nor scar.
good video.
the timeline twist being bullshit is one thing, but the retcons hurt me the most. i thought the way the characters developed in somnium 1 was heartwarming and they had to undo it because... i don't know. spoilers? it's truly insane to try and consciously make a sequel WITHOUT drawing on plot threads from the original and i don't know why they did it. if they ever make a third one, they'll have to unretcon the retcons.
If they unretcon the retcons for the third game I think I would have check out from the story and just focus on the gameplay instead, cause it shows that they don't have faith in the story to begin with if they suddenly backed out and want to undo the whole thing.
Sometimes I want to pretend this game doesn't exist but there were potential in this and I liked Ryuki and Tama, I wanted more of their interaction and backstory but oh well. Thanks for watching! :>
You're spot on with the plot holes. IMO, Ryuki's part has so much bad writing. When Tama revealed that she scanned the entire area with normal vision and X-ray after Ryuki was knocked out in the quiz show area, and then it was revealed that Tearer was hiding between the mannequins, I just lost it. From that point forward, I saw Tama and Ryuki as completely useless and inept at their jobs. Okay Tama, you recorded the entire crime scene with normal vision + xray... how about Thermos? Is one more layer of data really too much to ask for? If she had used Thermos, they would've known Tearer was hiding there IMMEDIATELY.
And like you mentioned, it's almost as if Tama isn't in Ryuki's eye most of the time. She doesn't try to shock Ryuki before he shot the civilain, doesn't make use of her vision to correct Ryuki's delusions. She's really useless. I want to blame it on the characters, but the game itself doesn't give them much opportunity to redeem themselves, since they had to do the "Incorrect Timeline" twist so Ryuki wouldn't even get more gameplay time.
I really liked the game but I definitely forgot about it months later. I feel like something that held this game back, was all the advertising from Spike Chunsoft, especially on their channel.
The trailer was good, however a lot of the first half of the game was spoiled because they would post clips about the game before it came out, which I didn't understand marketing wise. I didn't see them doing that with other of their releases which I felt was strange, but I played, only Mizuki's route surprised me because they seemed to left her section alone.
I hope this isn't just coming off as me saying they shouldn't advertise at all, but I felt like they shouldn't have made clips showing off major parts of the first half, which I hope they don't do next time.
It feels like the marketing was a double edged sword, the trailer definitely made the game story seemed enticing but when I actually finished the game, it left me disappointed. The story feels like the first draft, not sure if the upper up from Spike Chunsoft had something to do with the story but I don't think its best to speculate. I hope the next game would be better, for now I will just pretend this game is from a different timeline LOL
29:00 Sorry to necropost, but there is something about Mizuki and her mom. Ota is actually a counter-example for children having matching hair colors. His mother’s hair was turquoise whereas Ota’s hair is brown.
Ohh you are right! My point still stands as Iris and Mizuki do share their mother's hair
yesss a review that puts all my complaints into words. i feel like the reveal about mizuki ruins her character. just going to pretend this game didnt happen lmaoo
It feels like the first draft of the story, I don't know why they have to alter Mizuki's character to write this story to be honest. Smoking copium that it was all a simulation and the first time was the true timeline LMAO
I think they should have just abandoned the mizuki twist and went all in on Ryuki as the protagonist.
I don’t know, they could have given Ryuki TC Perge in the beginning so that he slowly goes mentally insane, and this insanity causes him to slip up past and present. Hell, this already happens in the current game. Then the timeline shift could be something that Ryuki actually experiences instead of being something only the player experiences.
Basically, this would make the plot built around Ryuki and his mental issues, I think this is what the game is lacking. The first game was built around date.
Yeah I agree, it's either that or make Mizuki a protagonist but to be honest I feel like Mizuki is great as a sidekick character (example: the first game) but for some reason she lost some of her charm during this game. I would personally love to see Ryuki as the sole protagonist so we can fully experience his perspective and the craziness happening in his mind.
Like yeah, TC perge is causing him experiencing past and present sometimes, that sounds great on paper but they didn't execute it well in this game unfortunately.
@@smokedhamu The problem with mizuki is she already had her character development.
You ever play ace attorney? Mizuki reminds me of appolo justice. Appolo has multiple backstories because they kept adding new things to him for whatever reason. Mizuki is even worse, at least appolo’s backstories are coherent. Mizuki now has some genome editing, was adopted even though her adopted mother said she regretted giving birth, and apparently has a clone who’s 6 years older. Dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.
@@RohanDatta-w7f Yeah I've played AA series, one of my favourite game. I don't like how they retcon Mizuki's backstory, I am there with you about the genome editing. All of her character developments back in the first game are thrown away because of it, it's really unfortunate.
I much as I enjoyed this game and was able to appreciate it as it's own thing the fact that it doesn't take full advantage of being a sequel was really disappointing
My hype for AINI came from the idea that it could subvert expectations on what is probably my favourite murder mystery , ever
And it just doesn't
I mean there's the fifth corpse and I love the Amame stuff but that's about it
Considering how often Uchikoshi tends to interact with his fans online ,plus the fact that Mizuki became a protagonist because of her popularity
I do hope that the criticisms surrounding this game are taken to heart for a potential AI3 as he's not being secretive about those plans
Definitely agreed, I was hoping for a AHA moment but it never came which was really disappointing cause the premise of this game was so good but it turned out to this.
Thanks for the comment!
I think I was able to enjoy this game way more because the moment I saw Date in this game I decided it was simply an AU regardless of what the game says or does to try to retcon the first game. Without having any connection to the first game it does feel like a much better story.
My biggest problem with the game is they have too many important characters that they want us to get invested in. They either could’ve cut down on new characters, or they could’ve not had as many returning characters. I feel like the only side character that they actually did a great job with in this game was Amame.
I also did very much enjoy the twist because I was feeling kind of frustrated by the weird ways the characters were acting, especially when boss was scolding Ryuki, and when Bibi was investigating the scene of Komeji’s death. It made those moments feel more satisfying in retrospect which did improve the quality of the game for me.
In the end I settled on giving this game a 7.5/10 rating while I give the first game a 10/10.
The twist would have been great with a better execution, instead of Mama explain it to you, I want to the game to slowly reveal it to you and the player piece it together. Yeah, I agree with the side characters being lackluster in this game than the previous one, thinking this game as an AU might have been better for me personally /w\ Thanks for the comment!!
As someone who loved the timeline twist, I will have to respectfully disagree with you, but I do understand most of the issues you have with it.
Personnaly, I liked what the game did as I had already understood Ryuki would be an unreliable narrator due to his condition (which immediatly made me sympathetic of him by the way), so essencially having the game ITSELF being an unreliable narrator was absolutely confusing and mind-blowing in a good way for me.
With that being said, I do also have issues with it. The nature of the True Timeline twist forced the game to be very linear in its progression, which I think also caused most of the somnia to not branch out like in the first game. I also only got 1 path locked mid-progression before needing to switch to another path in my playthrough, something that was more frequent in the first game and added to the mystery of everything. I suppose they tried to make up for it with the password locked pathes, but it's just not the same... All of this I find to be a shame.
If AI3 happens, I hope they'll go back to a form closer to AiTSF, though I doubt innovating on AiNi's form would even be possible. A formula like AiNi's can only be done once.
I do agree Ryuki's backstory was unfortunately a one-note thing. MANY things in the story were one-note and never elaborated upon further afterward in fact ! And I really wish that wasn't the case, especially for Ryuki !
He has become my favorite character and not seeing anything more about his past really saddens me.
I'll say, your idea of connecting his brother's death to the case in the way you suggested would have been a heart-wrenching yet amazing addition !
Hey thanks for watching and commenting!! I think having an unreliable narrator being the protagonist can be really amazing and making the story mind-engaging however this game has sooo many fillers for characters that are not even that important that makes the story really boring to go through even in the first playthrough. Especially with Lien and Kizuna, they really shouldn't be in the game tbh. The timeline twist felt a bit cheap to me its because of how it was revealed and having the player play Ryuki's first half then Mizuki the second instead of going back and forth kinda kills the pacing for me. Even though I'm aware that it's for the timeline twist reveal, but still.
I agree wholeheartly that if AI3 were to happen, they will go back to AITSF, that game have everything so closely knitting together like a web that makes unravelling the story super satisfying at the end. I'm disappointed that this game didn't have that impact.
Ryuki's one of my favourite character too, I hope they could have explore more of his character and backstory. Sadly for now, he feels like a writer's first draft for a character.
the biggest shot in the foot was makin the time skip 6 years. it made it so they ltiterally couldn't show a large chunk of characters in 4 different days
Great video! It really reinforced a lot of my thoughts about this game. Its good game but it could've been so much better. I wish we played as Ryuki and Tama more - I really loved their dynamic, and it could've explained the timeline twist naturally instead of being pulled out of the game for Mama to tell us
Thank you so much for watching!! :> Yeah, this game had potential but it feels like the first draft. Quite unfortunate cause I'd like to see more of Ryuki and Tama's interactions!
@@smokedhamuthe damn TWIST in the game prevented what would have been a more rewarding experience!
Coming from AI1, im sure most people wanted to jump right into Mizuki's route. "Hey that's a character I know! Let's go!"
Her tied to Aiba, it only seemed natural. But you immediately start fresh with the new and more compelling character and then he gets ditched halfway thru.
In hindsight, it was a fumble. What a shame
What an amazing review - agree with all you said. This game was a waste of my time, I couldn't bring myself to end it.
Thanks for watching! I really wanted to like it since I love the first game a lot which it's unfortunate :
So how am I supposed to do a second run through of the game for it to be in the right order of events? Do I just follow the red string than follow the blue string? Also I don't get how the mermaid girl committed murders and got black mailed 6 years ago. Even though beat it and am on a second playthrough now it is hard to keep up with when is Ryuki actually in the past and when is the 18 year old mikuki in the present.
I think there's someone who did a video of the correct timeline somewhere, but basically they retell the story in the correct order, highly recommend that video
Yeah, I didn't put as much thought into it as you did but this game did leave me underwhelmed. The game was more satisfying to play with the more gameplay elements in it, but the payoff wasn't as intoxicating.
I didn't think about the shallowness of the branching paths comparatively, where the first game split off but still added to the story- while this one really didn't.
I liked your idea for the Ryu brother half body twist- that would have been great
Sorry for the late reply but thank you!! :>
The game re-plays beats from previous games WAY too often. It reuses too many jokes
I felt like this game just shotgunned random half-baked ideas at you. There were enough ideas here to fill 2 games and a spin-off: Meeting the characters again after a 6-year time skip, Ryuki's backstory and Tama, the Mizuki stuff (I wish we got to see Marco a bit at least) the cult and meta stuff (the order of % I was interesting, I thought the reason for the killings was gonna be beef between two cults but they didn't add anything to the story :( )
The first game's characters were also a lot more interesting... but I still loved this game a lot. It was very entertaining at least. Can't wait what the third game will be like!
I kinda find it funny that if nobody ever played Ever-17 (one of Kotaro's Uchikoshi's first works and masterpiece at it) the 6 years time gap seemed like out of nowhere to everybody. But if you had read that one before, it wasn't anything new from him; so it wasn't as unexpected to me, haha!
This game fell flat for me and is my least favorite across the ZE/AI series. You did a great job summarizing how the plot was convoluted and unsatisfying. The game literally uses psychic readings from crystal balls to advance the plot. Fail
I rank this game only above ZTD.
I think Zero Punctuations video of "saving the world getting old" perfectly encompasses why this and ZTD were disappointing.
999/VLR/AI1 all excellent. The scope of the games are perfectly intimate, which warrants greater investment. Utchikoshi can write awesome characters, and his games work better when the plot is about saving those characters vs the faceless world.
The first game was way better.
Only parts in the first game that were annoying were the theory parts by Ota and Iris, which you were forced to listen to and boss's somnium, since it's very tough.
I like the fact they added a difficulty setting in the second game for that.
I still love the characters in the second game, but ruining date with the "mask" as well as to prevent spoilers (why would you play the second game if you haven't played the first one?) It's just weird to me.
The weird theory stuff was a bit much in nirvana tbh on top and the videos.
The first game had the right balance.
The second game just felt inconsistent, complicated and all over the place.
Nirvana ruining date's progression with his family reminds me of how apollo justice the game ruined phoenix wright for me.
Still, it's not too bad, just very noticeable and bugs you, after the emotional stuff in the first game.
I dont wanna be to be rude. But when do you react to batch 2 of part 6 of jojo's ?
I am going to record it soon, in a different format this time, will get into it don't worry my dude
I'm not a fan of Ryuki myself as I thought he was annoying in some parts and he became unlikeable in some parts of the second half in my opinion. I know why he turned out the way he did, which is tragic, but the story really could have benefited from focusing on him more, because maybe he woulda grown on me more. Everything else you said I pretty much agree with, especially the character interrelations which is why I feel like this game's characters don't stick with me as much as the first game. I still enjoyed the story, but the way it was written felt convoluted and took away from the immersion. Also, the second game isn't as funny in my opinion. Aiba's snapbacks toward Date's bs I enjoyed in the first game. I don't quite get that same enjoyment with Ryuki and Tama or Mizuki and Aiba. All in all, it was a good game, but I very much prefer the first one.
my biggest issue with the game was that the main bad guys were already dead by the end. you just had to fight the minions so the final battle just felt really underwhelming. in the first game you beat the bad guy and thats it, happy ending. but this theyre already gone so idk i just didnt like that itd be better if at least one of the 3 main bad guys were still around.
33:43 There are some elements similar to such especially with Buddhism ideologies between body and soul and some of the hindu stuff that you brought up.
But overall this video encapsulates a lot of my disappointments with this sequel and it feels like it lost a lot of the sauce the first one had just to make this twist work. (Malaysian?)
I will agree on *THAT ENDING* is a masterstroke and left me ruminating on it for a week.
wonderful review, the routes needed to hop back and forth. Waiting half the game to play as mizuki, and then never as ryuki for the rest is frustrating.
Thank you for watching!! :>
lmao @ 10:54 mid rage cut hahahaha
I don't know about this game so I can't really give an opinion of what you said. But I give a comment so your video can have more vision.
Hope to see you quick in a new video for the Jojo react
See you Ham
Bruh, I appreciate but I will get to it, no need to rush lol
@@smokedhamu oh don’t worry I didn’t want to rush you
Take your time I will wait for them and enjoy them ☺️
I wanted to press like multiple times. I thought I was the only one bored af of the Lien and Kizuna romance. And Gen and Amame, what was that? I was so creeped out when he said he thought he loved her as a daughter but then he realized it was more. Ew?
Not to mention... everything else. Yes, Ryuki deserved more screen time. Yes, I stopped caring completely about the story and was just pressing Next around the same time you felt the same. Yes, the whole "omg you have a slight secret let us go to ABIS immediately and P S Y N C" was unnatural and just completely absurd regarding some of the characters. And I really did expect Ryukis brother to show up at some point.
This game was nice but 7 out of 10 is a fair rating. Overall it disappoints. Even the final dance (and song) of the first game is so much better.
Ironically, I feel that the arg surrounding this game was more interesting than the game itself, also I seriously can’t believe they DOUBLED DOWN on Date’s/Falco’s porn power, also the face mask voice change was the biggest load of horse shit I had seen
Yeah I agree, the arg was definitely interesting and very Uchikoshi, while for the other parts um I wish wouldn't have done it
Kotaro Uchikoshi is a smart, we-read man, who's great at human drama and asking questions that make interesting mysteries. Where he can fall apart, is in late development and answering those mysteries later on. Dude has fun with plot twists involving the person playing the game, but here, he had a little too much fun with lying to the player and failed to make everything come together in a way that made sense.
That's why I think VLR was so good but ZTD was complete garbage.
Agreed, but ZTD was quite entertaining & hilarious if you don't take it seriously
10:12 bruh indeed
This is one of the games that I really liked right after finishing it. But after thinking about it for awhile, I started to like it less and less.
Yeahhh, it's the honeymoon period for me in a game but this one unfortunately didn't have that... I wanted to like it but I can't 😭
@@smokedhamu the only saving grace of this game was Tama for me. She's like a more expressive Aiba
first
The problem with these games is that the premise just never really works; murder mystery with sci-fi/supernatural mumbo jumbo.
The first game had a compelling setup, but slowly devolved into pure nonsense. Little quirky sci-fi things can elevate and take mystery into an interesting corridor, but this series is just absolute drivel from start to finish. And the puzzle sections, yeah, just absolute dogshit.