I hoped to start this thread before finishing the game, instead...
Blue Reflection Second Light is the sort-of direct sequel of Blue Reflection, a JPRG made by Gust in 2017. It was a nice game, hampered greatly by its lack of difficulty and somewhat low budget, as back then Gust were probably developing more games at the same time than they should; its great strength was the writing and characters, plus Mel Kishida's character design.
I opened with "sort-of direct sequel" because Second Light has a brand new main character, though the three main heroines of the first game return in a plyable role, and because it also connects to Blue Reflection Ray, an anime series that used basic concepts of the first game but told a completely new story.
Second Light's story is self-contained and all you need to know from the other two sources is explained in various cutscenes, although you will miss a few details here and there.
Second Light takes all the concepts from the first game, improving on weak points and doubling down on what was good, adding a few new things in the process.
The biggest new additions are crafting and base building. Crafting allows you to create restorative and offensive items, with item quality depending on characters used and their skills rather than the items used. Different buildings in the main location bestow different bonuses to the party, and their effect increases if similar buildings are present: for example the candied apple stand, the goldfish scooping stand, and the shooting gallery stand are part of the summer festival set and having all of them active at the same time will increase bonuses given by single buildings.
Base building remains a constant throughout the game, while item creation becomes less and less important as the story progresses, because unfortunately Second Light still isn't the most challenging game ever, at least in normal mode for the first playthough.
The game starts off as midly challenging, with the three initial girls having to rely on restorative items to go through the first two dungeons, and the combat system is well thought and fun to use. However, from the third dungeon onwards simply defeating all the non-respawning enemies (unless you exit and reenter) on a dungeon floor will put the party two-three levels above the recommended for what comes next. You can build a gachapon machine and use coins (which are craftable and are given in large quantities by sidequests) to increase experience gain, and I've reached to level cap of 50 during the first half of the penultimate chapter, completely dulling down all mandatory encounters, with the exception of the final boss.
Reaching the level cap so soon had a very welcome side-effect, though: I spent the last portion of the game dodging enemies and going straight for bosses.
Second Light has two major flaws.
First, at 40 hours for a 100% completion (of what you can achieve in the first playthrough, at least), the game is simply too long: 10 to 15 hours less would have made the game much more enjoyable, especially when you need to complete it twice if you want to see everything. Additions to the second playthrough aren't many, the internet tells me, so stretching the game for so long feels like a missed opportunity.
Second, way too many bosses are repeated in the last two-three dungeons, when you are already too powerful for them and you kinda want the game to end.
The combat system is an evolution of the first: party members and enemies can act when they have enough ether points, which are gained over time; you can wait longer to string more actions together, and some attacks do benefit from multiple instances in a single turn. Buffs and debuffs are time-based, and many attacks can delay actions. Party members or enemies struck enough times will enter a knockdown state and they'll be unable to act for a limited time and take more damage. With the right combination of actions you can enter one-on-one combat with bosses, where you can attack, dodge, counterattack, or use one support action; if you win this confrontation, the boss takes massive damge.
While it's not the most technical of JPRG combats, I was surprised that you can somewhat specialise the party: you can go for glass cannons that quickly gain ether, or pile debuffs onto enemies. Characters in Second Light are not only well defined story-wise, but also for their place in the party.
Sidequests usually involve collecting materials, craft one specific item or buidling, slay one or more enemies, or...stealth. There aren't many stealth sidequest and they aren't terrible, but surely I wised for them not to be there at all, as some of the enemies in the later tasks seem to use random movement patterns, making those quests slightly annoying.
The reward, however, is worth the trouble, as you get to know the whole cast better.
Just like the first game, Second Light's best point is characterisation: there are a ton of dialogues, everyone is likeable, with a good story arc, and evolve according not just to the story but also how many times you complete their requests. For the more practically minded people, completing sidequests give customisation points to enhace characters.
I'd say Second Light goes well above and beyond the first game, as the whole secondary quest and character progression systems feel much more involved and rewarding.
There is a main story, but that doesn't really kick in until halfway through the game, and honestly I wasn't particularly interested in it, I was much more interested in character interactions. I'm pretty sure developers felt the same way, as characters always take precedence even when the story goes on. Depsite that, the main story doesn't feel rushed or badly explained, it's just that it takes a second position to the best thing of the game.
Technically the game isn't far off from the first game: the art style is bright and cheerful, with oversaturated colours and heavy use of depth of field effects...maybe a bit too much. It's a definite step up over the first game, with many different dungeon styles that perfectly accompany their story themes, although the last one is kinda dull compared to the others.
The game holds well on the Switch, most effects are intact although at a lower resolution, with the framerate locked at 30 and no dynamic resolution I can see. It's one of the better conversions for the console, though it takes a hit compared to the PS4 and PC versions. Apparently the PC version runs like crap unless you connect a controller. Sounds strange, but I wouldn't put it past KoeiTecmo and Gust, their PC ports are often lacklustre.
Blue Reflection Second Light does what all sequels should do: improve on both strengths and weaknesses while adding new mechanics that don't feel alien to the rest. It's not perfect, but it's still a very pleasent game to go through when you feel like playing something not too heavy-handed.
Blue Reflection Second Light is the sort-of direct sequel of Blue Reflection, a JPRG made by Gust in 2017. It was a nice game, hampered greatly by its lack of difficulty and somewhat low budget, as back then Gust were probably developing more games at the same time than they should; its great strength was the writing and characters, plus Mel Kishida's character design.
I opened with "sort-of direct sequel" because Second Light has a brand new main character, though the three main heroines of the first game return in a plyable role, and because it also connects to Blue Reflection Ray, an anime series that used basic concepts of the first game but told a completely new story.
Second Light's story is self-contained and all you need to know from the other two sources is explained in various cutscenes, although you will miss a few details here and there.
Second Light takes all the concepts from the first game, improving on weak points and doubling down on what was good, adding a few new things in the process.
The biggest new additions are crafting and base building. Crafting allows you to create restorative and offensive items, with item quality depending on characters used and their skills rather than the items used. Different buildings in the main location bestow different bonuses to the party, and their effect increases if similar buildings are present: for example the candied apple stand, the goldfish scooping stand, and the shooting gallery stand are part of the summer festival set and having all of them active at the same time will increase bonuses given by single buildings.
Base building remains a constant throughout the game, while item creation becomes less and less important as the story progresses, because unfortunately Second Light still isn't the most challenging game ever, at least in normal mode for the first playthough.
The game starts off as midly challenging, with the three initial girls having to rely on restorative items to go through the first two dungeons, and the combat system is well thought and fun to use. However, from the third dungeon onwards simply defeating all the non-respawning enemies (unless you exit and reenter) on a dungeon floor will put the party two-three levels above the recommended for what comes next. You can build a gachapon machine and use coins (which are craftable and are given in large quantities by sidequests) to increase experience gain, and I've reached to level cap of 50 during the first half of the penultimate chapter, completely dulling down all mandatory encounters, with the exception of the final boss.
Reaching the level cap so soon had a very welcome side-effect, though: I spent the last portion of the game dodging enemies and going straight for bosses.
Second Light has two major flaws.
First, at 40 hours for a 100% completion (of what you can achieve in the first playthrough, at least), the game is simply too long: 10 to 15 hours less would have made the game much more enjoyable, especially when you need to complete it twice if you want to see everything. Additions to the second playthrough aren't many, the internet tells me, so stretching the game for so long feels like a missed opportunity.
Second, way too many bosses are repeated in the last two-three dungeons, when you are already too powerful for them and you kinda want the game to end.
The combat system is an evolution of the first: party members and enemies can act when they have enough ether points, which are gained over time; you can wait longer to string more actions together, and some attacks do benefit from multiple instances in a single turn. Buffs and debuffs are time-based, and many attacks can delay actions. Party members or enemies struck enough times will enter a knockdown state and they'll be unable to act for a limited time and take more damage. With the right combination of actions you can enter one-on-one combat with bosses, where you can attack, dodge, counterattack, or use one support action; if you win this confrontation, the boss takes massive damge.
While it's not the most technical of JPRG combats, I was surprised that you can somewhat specialise the party: you can go for glass cannons that quickly gain ether, or pile debuffs onto enemies. Characters in Second Light are not only well defined story-wise, but also for their place in the party.
Sidequests usually involve collecting materials, craft one specific item or buidling, slay one or more enemies, or...stealth. There aren't many stealth sidequest and they aren't terrible, but surely I wised for them not to be there at all, as some of the enemies in the later tasks seem to use random movement patterns, making those quests slightly annoying.
The reward, however, is worth the trouble, as you get to know the whole cast better.
Just like the first game, Second Light's best point is characterisation: there are a ton of dialogues, everyone is likeable, with a good story arc, and evolve according not just to the story but also how many times you complete their requests. For the more practically minded people, completing sidequests give customisation points to enhace characters.
I'd say Second Light goes well above and beyond the first game, as the whole secondary quest and character progression systems feel much more involved and rewarding.
There is a main story, but that doesn't really kick in until halfway through the game, and honestly I wasn't particularly interested in it, I was much more interested in character interactions. I'm pretty sure developers felt the same way, as characters always take precedence even when the story goes on. Depsite that, the main story doesn't feel rushed or badly explained, it's just that it takes a second position to the best thing of the game.
Technically the game isn't far off from the first game: the art style is bright and cheerful, with oversaturated colours and heavy use of depth of field effects...maybe a bit too much. It's a definite step up over the first game, with many different dungeon styles that perfectly accompany their story themes, although the last one is kinda dull compared to the others.
The game holds well on the Switch, most effects are intact although at a lower resolution, with the framerate locked at 30 and no dynamic resolution I can see. It's one of the better conversions for the console, though it takes a hit compared to the PS4 and PC versions. Apparently the PC version runs like crap unless you connect a controller. Sounds strange, but I wouldn't put it past KoeiTecmo and Gust, their PC ports are often lacklustre.
Blue Reflection Second Light does what all sequels should do: improve on both strengths and weaknesses while adding new mechanics that don't feel alien to the rest. It's not perfect, but it's still a very pleasent game to go through when you feel like playing something not too heavy-handed.