Ever play part 2 of this franchise, runin? (or anyone else?) Does it game style change much?
Yes, I've played through part 2. As with part 1, I have a review typed up for it, but I have to go back and get some screens before I can post to Duomazov. For now, I'll just paste the review here:
The (one) thing that really interested me about this game when I first played it ages ago was the colorful, action-packed combat. While the first Burai's battles were ultra-primitive, the ones here feature large animated enemies, loud and flashy party-demolishing attack spells, cool music, and backdrops that may not be great but certainly represent a step up from black nothingness. Even with all of the animations and effects, the fights proceed fairly quickly, as opposed to other graphical combat "masterpieces" like those in sloggy Monster Maker. And early on, you can avoid overworld fights altogether simply by avoiding the areas where monsters reside (like forests and deserts).
Whether you engage in combat or not, your overworld treks will be more enjoyable than they were in the previous game. There's no more scrunched playfield, thank goodness. And while they don't exactly rank among the PCE's best, Burai II's field graphics annihilate its predecessor's. You'll revisit many locations from the first game, but you might not even recognize some of them at first because they look so much better here.
The cinemas are interesting in that they have more of a "hand drawn" look to them than most of the anime-style stuff in PCE RPGs. They look kind of simplistic at times, but they're neat as a one-time sort of thing, and there are plenty of them, especially towards the end. The conclusion is pretty cool, with sort of an FFX vibe for a bit, haha.
This is a sequel that calls back to its roots in many ways, and usually improves on the way things were. Your old party members return, but they're a much more balanced lot now. They still have to take care of their own business before gradually coming together, but the game is split into episodes that are longer and larger in scope than the mini-quests from last time. You'll still get assaulted by mini-bosses, and there are still numerous secrets to stumble upon. The event scenes feature cinema-style art now as opposed to the abstract drawings in the first Burai, and there's more overt humor this time around, especially involving the furry duo, who engage in such antics as dancing and putting on concerts to raise cash.
Burai II is certainly a successful effort, but there are a few not-so-positive things to note:
-When you've assembled a good seven or eight characters for your party, random battles can take an extremely long time. Aside from time spent selecting actions for those characters and watching their magic-spell light shows, you'll have to take care of enemies who can often withstand lots of hits and deal attacks that do damage to each of your party members, one at a time. Still, I've seen worse, and this problem really plagues only a couple late episodes. In fact, the last area of all is actually packed with easy enemies who go down quickly.
-But while it isn't much of a challenge, the last area can take quite a long time to get through, and it doesn't let you save your game along the way. It's a cool final stretch, with lots of cinemas and bosses, and it provides plenty of healing spots, but there's always that risk of screwing up somewhere, and you'll have to set aside a lot of time to play through it all.
-The game occasionally freezes at the end of battles. Luckily, the old "tapping trick" worked every single time this happened. So just give your system a few taps or tosses and things should get back on track again. It never completely crashed on me like Monster Maker did many times.
