No Fairy Tail Ending
I am not one for playing video game adaptations of any media, for the most part the movies that get made from video games usually do not translate well at all in my mind and this is usually the same for shows or anime that get made into a game, although I am no stranger to playing them. One of my favourite turn based JRPG’s namely One Piece Odyssey was based off the One Piece manga and worked really well to give me enough substance to stay interested throughout.
Fairy Tail 2 is a sequel to the original Fairy Tail game and although I own the original game and did play it, I did enjoy what I did play of it, it was a light hearted turn based JRPG and while I did not understand the concept of the characters overall, I understood the story just enough to know what was going on.
Fairy Tail 2 follows on from the first game so it I can’t judge the game solely on it’s story as myself having not finished the first game I have little to no idea the situation, the story is likely to appeal to long time hardcore fans of the series but anyone jumping into this game for the first time without having any prior knowledge to the previous game or any of the manga will have a hard time understanding what is going on. To narrow it down you are thrust into a war with a very powerful being and who is particularly powerful more so than any of the heroes that you will start off getting to know. You begin by conversing about taking down Zeref who is the bad guy and although wise to his power your allies feel at loss about whether they can actually do it, a bit of pep talk later you band together and set off on your journey.
First impressions are great, graphically the game is great and the characters have that retained manga-esque look which translates well into a fantasy JRPG. The environments are also great but by PS5 standards they are not quite there, the game is still a game that can be played on PS4, other than that the Menu and overall UI of the game is clean and polished. The world and maps are huge and there is plenty to explore, camp fires are where the down time will happen and you will explore your characters personalities and backstories. Gameplaywise especially in combat is where I found myself rather disappointed, while the initial fights felt fun I didn’t enjoy them as much as I thought I did.
During battle you control one of three allies whilst the other two characters are AI controlled although you’re able to pick the character you wish to control but the others will work on their own terms although you can switch out your controlled character with one who is currently in reserve. The simple turn based system of the first game is now replaced with a more ATB focused system which I can appreciate works with the style of what Fair Tail is, an Anime that shows a lot of these heroes fighting rather than waiting around to fight. You can do a basic attack which builds up your SP meter which can then be used to unleash powerful attacks, by breaking enemy defences you can increase your Fairy Rank in battle which allows you to increase your SP meter in that fight allowing you to use your more powerful attacks with less limitation, enemies then become unable to act when this happens. The best part of combat is the team attacks and these are my favourite part of gameplay, they are giant flashy moves that look spectacular and turn the tide of battle even though most normal battles are relatively over within seconds anyway.
The whole focus on battles is the synergies that characters have with each other. To get stronger you get points which can be placed under the Magic Origins menu, rather than levelling up characters you are given an Origin Point every time you accumulate enough experience which can be placed in one of the three trees and unlock new abilities and enhance your characters stats. This system is self explanatory and very simple to the point where you actually think, is that it? I was genuinely surprised by how basic this is for an RPG, even Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid puts it to shame, a game that is well over 20 years old. Now a game can have simple systems and still be good but there really isn’t anything in Fairy Tail 2 to that offsets that balance. This is a game that is created by Gust and they are well known for creating the Atelier series which has constantly evolved over the years for the better with many intricate systems within but here in Fairy Tail 2 there is none of that. While I can understand these are characters who are already powerful beings and most foes will eventually run away as you are over levelled it just lacks that character building and I just expected a little more to work with.
Bosses are certainly the most trickiest parts of the game and in comparison normal enemies are just fodder to deal with up until the big fights happen. It is definitely a case of thinking the game is early on and feeling tricked by it as bosses will destroy you if unprepared. All those healing items you will have accumulated will most likely be used as well as needing to make sure your support characters are there to heal when things get tough.
Overall Fairy Tail 2 is a good game but it is just that, good. I feel as someone spoiled by other games from Gust especially the Atelier series, Fairy Tail 2 fails to keep me engaged and this is due to not understanding the story and being disengaged by the character building, I get that this is for a different and specific audience and fans of the series will most likely have a good time here. Maybe if I was to finish the first game, I could very well come back and have a very different experience.
A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Koei Tecmo Games
