For the King II Review (Nak)
TLDR: Feels like a direct downgrade. Wait a year and see what happens after. FTK 1 has better content and feels more fun, it's cheaper so go play that instead.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Let's start off with the good.
1. Loadout system is unique and I think it adds some variety to the game.
2. Having a 4th person is great and feels a lot more balanced with two magic and two physical dealers.
3. Having two rows is a nice change and allows for some flexibility that you didn't have in FTK 1. if you were in the middle, you always had to deal with splash damage in FTK 1, it's a more flexible now in FTK 2.
Now let's go with the bad.
1. The Art Direction they went with the game is drastically different from the first game, in FTK 1 the art was very vibrant and full of life. In FTK 2 the game is a lot more dark and gloomy, it doesn't feel as full of life as it did with the previous game.
2. UI and UX is terrible. Trying to figure out certain things like your skills, or pinging on the map just feels terrible overall. It needs to be improved.
3. The chapters feel terrible. Chapter 2 and 3 of FTK 2 has to be some of the worst maps i've ever played in a game. The constant need to travel without a proper direction feels terrible. Vision scrolls become more crucial in these chapters than the rest. In Chapter 3, the powder kegs not having a proper tooltip or explanation on it's usage is a terrible experience. It should say somewhere that you can't be on a landboat while using it.
4. The lore store is super underwhelming. This is supposed to be a sequel but it feels lackluster. In FTK 1, you could unlock weapons and armor that can be found in game. Now you can only unlock weapons and armor for the loadout. It removes some of the excitement of being able to find new gear + items while playing.
5. Class choice feels lackluster + class abilities feel useless for some characters. There's 12 available classes, compared to FTK 1's final roster of 13 it's not that amazing honestly. Shepherd is just a downgraded farmer, friar and alchemist have niche uses. Herbalist and Scholar's chances to pick up their respective ability items are so abysmal that it's easy to forget they even exist in the first place.
6. Mimic Spawn Rates are way too common. Out of 10 chests that I opened 8 of them were mimics. It was getting to the point where it was much safer to just ignore a chest since Mimics ate up your items.
7. Item Variety feels terrible, shops + quests + chests just lack overall item variety. I'll find 20 staffs and books before I find a decent strength + speed weapon. Awareness weapons have been limited to weak bows and polearms that do next to nothing mid game. The damage on whips are so bad that it's useless to carry it on you. Boomerangs are hit or miss, you'll be hard pressed to find a decent one all game.
8. Bring back goblin trader, he used to show up often in FTK 1 and it would allow for some easy selling of items or purchasing last minute godsbeard. I saw him once only in chapter 3, he should have a higher rate of appearance.
9. There should be more options with followers, I failed a roll and received a bad follower. There was no option to let them leave so for the entirety of the chapter we were stuck with them because they healed when I healed and they weren't ever targeted for damage.
10. Character Customization in the lore store is pretty lame and feels far more boring that the first one.
11. There is a lack of locations compared to the first one.
I worry that they're going to just add all the good bits of the game through dlc, currently as a base game this feels like a direct downgrade to the first one and I'd advise anyone to avoid playing this right now. The content is bland, the game feels gloomy, the UI feels terrible, and it's overall just a bad experience. The game used to be fun to explore and play even though it was difficult. Now it's just boring and difficult.