8-Bit Adventures 2 Review (garionarren78)
This game is an amazing sequel to the original. Picking up a couple of years after the first game and starring an NPC you met in the original who's connected to one of the main characters, it pretty much improves on every single aspect of the previous game while remaining true to it.
Much better graphics, better game mechanics, a more detailed story, a bigger world with much more detailed maps where you can interact with more details of the environments, no random encounters that spawn infinitely and just a set amount of enemies per map that you can see on screen and have the option of re-spawning if you so choose, a sprint function, much better cut-scenes and visual design in general, more complex and interesting quests and sidequests, and a wider cast of playable characters in addition to the original three heroes who saved the world from The Dust in the original game.
This is how you do a sequel properly, which makes me assume the devs took the feedback they got on the first one to heart in addition to already having a clear picture of how they wanted to improve upon the previous game. I really liked the first one in a "this reminds me of the old games I played as a kid" way, but this one I really love as a modern game that builds upon its retro roots, much like Chained Echoes and similar games have recently done.
Edit: After having finished the game and unlocked all achievements I have to say I simply loved it. The story was great, paying homage to the classic tropes of the genre without being generic itself, the characters were endearing, and the villain was interesting. I have to struggle to come up with any criticism, so I'll only mention two microscopic nitpicks: I'd have liked a mini-map function for the larger dungeons, and I caught a couple of spelling errors in the dialogue, such as when the theater boss says "without further adieu" instead of "without further ado" or not using punctuation marks consistently.
The guy who wrote a post complaining that puzzles have no place in JRPG's and whining about the musical note puzzles in the frist terminal has got to be as dense as he's clearly an a-hole if he couldn't figure them out, especially given his explanation. GTFOH.
If an 8-Bit Adventure 3 ever comes out, or any other project by the same creators, I'd be stoked to play it.