I got this several days ago and I'm already playing it a massive amount. It was this or Smash Bros and I have no regrets! Anyone else playing it?
If you've played the first Theatrhythm game, you'll know what to expect - it's a music game featuring fantastic tunes from the Final Fantasy game, divided into Field Stages, Battle Stages and Event Stages and a whole host of FF characters. This sequel is much the same - same mechanics, same look, same gameplay and it contains almost all of the music from the first game including the DLC tracks. There was a ton of content in the original and on top of all that, this one adds stages from FF X-2, Crisis Core, Tactics, Crystal Chronicles and more and so the track list is massive.
So what's missing? Well the Series mode is gone. I kind of miss it to be honest as it gave a beginning and an ending to a nice selection of tracks and, with so many more tracks, there was room to expand that here. The EMS tracks from the original game have now all been converted to FMS or BMS stages, so no exclusive movie stages from FF1-13. Not a massive loss but I'll admit I already miss them as some of them were great.
But this game more than makes up for what's missing. It adds new EMS stages for the new games and some of those are brilliant, even from games I didn't particularly care for (such as Crisis Core) or games I was barely aware of (Type 0). The main music select mode is better, logging results from other modes and also offering previews of all tracks including the DLC tracks and you can arrange them in many ways to access the tracks you want. There are a ton of new graphical elements added so there is even more variety in the visuals as you play through, while being even more specific to moments in the individual games - that's a great addition and most look excellent although one or two visual stages look a bit poor. There is also a VS mode which I think works online but I haven't tried it yet.
One big addition for me is the Quest Mode which replaces the Chaos Shrine. Chaos Shrine was okay but suffered badly from a lack of tracks. This new Quest Mode seems to integrate all the main game tracks but also wraps it up in a journey. You get a map, get to choose routes and must make your way to the boss picking up keys or items along the way. At harder stages, you run the risk of not making it all the way there so have to start thinking about managing abilities and items. You can also travel further by using airship tickets (there are airship FMS sequences too). So each quest is like a little adventure. Really, it's just wrapping for putting a selection of tracks together but for me it's wrapping that really works. It makes more of the RPG elements and it's fun and has more of a sense of progression than just playing through tracks individually. So I really like this mode.
There are then the usual museum stuff - the music player, card collections (which can be used to enhance your characters in this one), movies.
There are also DLC tracks and characters available already but it has to be said that the amount of content supplied in the game already is insane. One would never have need of the DLC stuff and there is no doubting the content for the price already on the cart but if you like even more or want particular tracks, it's there.
Overall, it's mostly more of the same but improving and adding. If you liked the first one, you'll likely love this.
If you've played the first Theatrhythm game, you'll know what to expect - it's a music game featuring fantastic tunes from the Final Fantasy game, divided into Field Stages, Battle Stages and Event Stages and a whole host of FF characters. This sequel is much the same - same mechanics, same look, same gameplay and it contains almost all of the music from the first game including the DLC tracks. There was a ton of content in the original and on top of all that, this one adds stages from FF X-2, Crisis Core, Tactics, Crystal Chronicles and more and so the track list is massive.
So what's missing? Well the Series mode is gone. I kind of miss it to be honest as it gave a beginning and an ending to a nice selection of tracks and, with so many more tracks, there was room to expand that here. The EMS tracks from the original game have now all been converted to FMS or BMS stages, so no exclusive movie stages from FF1-13. Not a massive loss but I'll admit I already miss them as some of them were great.
But this game more than makes up for what's missing. It adds new EMS stages for the new games and some of those are brilliant, even from games I didn't particularly care for (such as Crisis Core) or games I was barely aware of (Type 0). The main music select mode is better, logging results from other modes and also offering previews of all tracks including the DLC tracks and you can arrange them in many ways to access the tracks you want. There are a ton of new graphical elements added so there is even more variety in the visuals as you play through, while being even more specific to moments in the individual games - that's a great addition and most look excellent although one or two visual stages look a bit poor. There is also a VS mode which I think works online but I haven't tried it yet.
One big addition for me is the Quest Mode which replaces the Chaos Shrine. Chaos Shrine was okay but suffered badly from a lack of tracks. This new Quest Mode seems to integrate all the main game tracks but also wraps it up in a journey. You get a map, get to choose routes and must make your way to the boss picking up keys or items along the way. At harder stages, you run the risk of not making it all the way there so have to start thinking about managing abilities and items. You can also travel further by using airship tickets (there are airship FMS sequences too). So each quest is like a little adventure. Really, it's just wrapping for putting a selection of tracks together but for me it's wrapping that really works. It makes more of the RPG elements and it's fun and has more of a sense of progression than just playing through tracks individually. So I really like this mode.
There are then the usual museum stuff - the music player, card collections (which can be used to enhance your characters in this one), movies.
There are also DLC tracks and characters available already but it has to be said that the amount of content supplied in the game already is insane. One would never have need of the DLC stuff and there is no doubting the content for the price already on the cart but if you like even more or want particular tracks, it's there.
Overall, it's mostly more of the same but improving and adding. If you liked the first one, you'll likely love this.
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