Nights of Azure 2 is a really lovely game, and I don’t really play it for the combat anyway. Rooted in various theatrical styles that give it an aesthetic and tone that I find so appealing, it’s not the kind of game that could ever hope to find mainstream acceptance, but that’s not unusual for Gust JRPGs. The things that it does well: the characterisation, the melodramatic - but not in a pejorative sense - storytelling and the general artfulness of it all, are the reasons I played the last one, and this new one doesn't disappoint with any of that.
Nights of azure 3? We need it. Amazing game, had a few flaws but I really did enjoy the characters and the story. Wish we could see more of aluche (one of my fave characters atm) underrated as well.
I loved this game, and its predecessor. I get where people are coming from with the hate, I just genuinely don't share it nor did I find any of the negatives all that damning. My clear data after my 3rd play-through for the platinum trophy was just over 190 hours and while it's not a perfect a game, It's definitely one my favorite games (Dragon Age 2 is also one of my favorite games and people sh╜t all over that). Even after completing the game 3 times, I'm looking forward to going back and playing both games in order again sometime in the future. For all of its flaws, it's still in it's own league and I pray to the Gods there will be more games in the series. It's a very Niche game, and In the end if your looking for reasons to hate it and ruin your experience, you'll find them, but for those whom this game was meant, persevere and you may find rare treasure.
Thankfully, there’s too many good features about Nights of Azure 2 for fans of Gust to not pick it up, while at the same time introducing new players to the developer. As for me, I’m going to hope that they continue to support this awesome action RPG series and its casual yuri story plots.
Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon is quite a streamlined Japanese RPG. The time limit system will keep you constantly moving forward, and while it is a bit shorter than your typical JRPG, it rarely feels repetitive thanks to a quick and satisfying battle system. A beautiful and engaging cast of characters are the icing on the cake.
Nights of Azure 2 is an action-RPG with a good number of content, but despite a great artistic direction, it's technically underdeveloped and with a still too low level of difficulty.
Nights of Azure 2 basically rethreads the same mistakes which dragged the first game down but also make some adjustments to the formula that didn't really work out with us. In the end, Nights of Azure 2 is a disappointing sequel which lost the finesse and subtelty elevating the first game above average.
Compared to the original, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon is an utter disgrace. For me, it took all the good stuff out and amplified the things that didn’t work. Performance is notably worse, and don’t get me started again about how bad the dialogue is in this cookie cutter excuse for a sequel. Even if you like this kind of titillation, this is a remarkably poor example of it. Avoid at all costs.
This is a big improvement over the original game. It has a great story, good characters, and rewarding combat. Excellent music and visuals. A great action RPG overall.
La verdad me gusto mucho
se nota una mejoria grafica comparado con el primer juego de la saga
la historia es un poco mas de lo mismo, no te esperes una gran historia, pero la verdad hay algo que me encanta de este juego, la musica, el diseño de los personajes es tan oooooffff, recomendado para los amantes del Rpg pero no se esperen una obra maestra
Nights of Azure 2 is a sequel to the very **** Nights of Azure, and while I don't think there is as much **** romance going on compared to the first game, Nights of Azure 2 has plenty of fan service. Azure 2 also got a revamped combat and servant system along with a whole new map to **** romance is always quite hard to determine due to Japanese culture, and while a lot of games certainly flirt with the idea, not a lot of them are set in stone quite like the first Azure game. Azure 2 kinda upped the fanfare and sexiness of yuri action, but largely it feels like it's a step back from the romance angle that was seen in the first Azure game. This change in romance and sexual appeal isn't inherently bad, but it certainly feels like Al, the main protag, is more of a self insert compared to Arnice. On top of that, not much romance is going on compared to appreciation. Simply put, Azure 2 is more like a harem anime and Azure 1 is a romantic drama. Due to this, we aren't given enough time with the main protag and the other girls to really appreciate their dynamic and due to a time limit in the main game, we have to choose carefully we go **** combat and servant system is also fairly different, and I don't think it's one for the better. For the most part you use your based sword combos and honestly that's enough to get you through anything this game swings at you. The game also offers you different combat options through servants, but due to also making servants more limited and with added utility, it's never wise to go with two combat servants compared to one's that help you explore more. On top of that, servants level up along side you, and have their own associated level. Due to this, largely you will end up getting rid of any combat servants simply because it requires less backtracking and their levels will fall so far behind they aren't worth taking anymore. In fact, a lot of the game;s problems are pointed solely on the servant level up system. If you take in a weak servant, they die easily and thus you don't have proper back up for a fight, on top of this combat remains stale because you are more likely to have servants that are useful for utility and not combat, and it's just kinda an endless cycle that loops itself.Trust me on this, you don't want to add more play time to this game due to the limited amount of maps there are. While at first it is a rather neat idea to have separate sections compared to the first's connective map, it soon gets apparent that the game uses certain levels way too often or locks things behind servant based powers in order for you to up your run time and make exploration feel more like a chore at the end.I really wish they added more to this games map, but as it is, even the two DLCs you get with the game don't even boost the count past 10. Don't get me wrong here either, it's not about the size of the maps either, they are all fairly big, but the fact that you only visit one a night and you explore the same ones constantly it just ends up draining you of wanting to play **** that I don't want to talk about Azure's 2 good points, as it does introduce a nice cast of characters with some interesting designs, as well as a neat antagonist with their own love story akin to Arnice, but it's honestly such a little part of the game that it feels like your reward at the end of a punishment. Heck, the biggest reason I kept going with this game is because those story moments are genuinely good and I love seeing the cast of characters interact with each other. Nights of Azure has some amazing lore to it, and the fact it's kinda ruled by lesbians only fancies me more, but as it stands I don't think I could recommend this game to others that just don't care about yuri fan service.
Nights of Azure was a surprising game for me: it wasn't amazing as an action game and very poor as an RPG, but it was still a very fun game and after finishing it I was very excited for the sequel!
But the truth is, this game is both a massive and downgrade: it doesn't worsen things enough to say it's downgrade, but it doesn't improve enough to be a better game either.
Let's start from the positives: the game has massively improved on graphics and it shows: characters have better animation and there's a better use of the motion capture, and characters are also better designed and more varied both in looks and physique. Even a small girl.
Areas are less this time, only 7 (plus a free DLC area), but much bigger and more detailed than before and unlike the previous game, you won't get lost while trying to find the next area. And you got a map this time as well!
And last but not least, the story is a lot better and all characters are well written and likable - except the bad "girls". Yes, this game has enormous "yuri" tones and yes the main protagonist loves Liliana - the second protagonist - but unlike games like Neptunia where the yuri is a lot more sensual, in here it's more platonic and closer to friendship rather than actual lesbians. I never cringed while seeing the romantic scenes because I genuinely felt their friendship and I don't dislike this kind of relationships either. But I digress.
Combat has also seen massive improvement: it feels heavier and still a bit clunky but a lot more powerful, as you feel the hit and the slashes more than the previous.
You have only 2 servans slots - down from 4 decks of 4 slots - but this time you have also a companion you can choose among 6 and each one have their special skills, a double chase (a combo) and a Lily Burst (a final skill) that are all unique and some work better for bosses and some for cleaning the areas.
In addition, the leveling system is far better now and you can level up to 50 this time, with 3 level tress you can unlock and better servan leveling up as well - while companions will require quests to unlock their additional skills and everything.
As you might notice the flaws of the original game - clunky combat, poor character details and lack of them, and poor maps etc - seems to be gone and this could be the best sequel ever right? Well, I still haven't touched the cons and believe me when I say, I really had a hard time to swallow it...
First of all, combat might be improved but you'll have one weapon all the time - down from 5 - and while technically you have other weapons available in the game (great shield, mirror, lance, greatsword), they're tied to your servans...this means that you have to carry a servan along that transforms into a weapon and this could be all good if the weapon had a time limit - the servan's mana.
But forget about the weapons because you'll NEVER use them anyway, because there's another gimmick: some servans (specifically Nero, Scharf, Farfalla, and Froid) can open barriers or and pathways to secret rooms and areas, this essentially means you'll ALWAYS have to carry 2 servans that can open pathways or else you might not be able to get a specific servan, which are now recruitable via cocoons you "unlock" through the maps.
This might not be such a terrible idea if it wasn't for another mechanic that has been implemented into the game: day limit. That's right, you have a time limit of days on each chapter, ALONGSIDE a time limit inside the dungeons - initially 10 minutes - and while it can be improved via levelling up at first you will feel suffocated from the very short amount of time given and how long some battles can be at first!
This is not a new feature mind you: NoZ had a time limit too but it was more lenient with its 15 minutes and there was no day limit at all, despite mentioning it all the time.
NoZ2 starts out hardcore with only 10 minutes to spare, a very strict day limit mechanic that essentially forces you to plan your soirèes, and if you die you might as well reload your save file since you lose a day and if it's your last one, it's game over.
I just don't understand these changes because once you finish the game, the NG+ will give you unlimited days and you also gain AP from quests which make learning abilities **** feels like they rushed the game because the game is VERY short, clocking in about 16 hours to reach the end - I took 25 in the original + 7 for the extra ending - and being extremely thinner in terms of content and gameplay features.
This game was a disappointment for me: I had a lot of fun but I couldn't stop saying "I wish I could do this" all the time while fighting or playing. With NG+ the game could become tolerable enough, but what a price to pay just to play at your own pace
Try this game on discount, or give the original game a shot, even if it's flawed.
More cohesive story than the first game, but not worth your time if you didn't like the first game.
The game is basically Nights of Azure version 1.2. Much of the same stuff happens here, but they've made small improvements to the world, story, and characters.
The story is much less nonsensical this time around. That might be bad if you're a fan of stories where amazing stuff happens for no reason. Considering that the first game didn't do so well in Japan, I'm guessing they tried to make the story more believable this time around.
And it is more believable, but still in a kid's cartoon, not-as-good-as-Sailor-Moon, sort of way. Don't expect any mature themes or deep thought here. It is still firmly on the dumb side of the JRPG intelligence spectrum.
To summarize, you're off to save your friend/lover as she's being offered up as a sacrifice to save the world. It would be great if these Final Fantasy X-copied plots would copy more than just this - I mean it's all right there for the taking: the great character drama, growth multi-layered storytelling, and tragedy. But they've decided not to for this game and the results are disappointing. Nothing really happens besides going place to place getting nonsensical things so you can get to the next nonsensical thing.
Oh, and you get to rescue/find a new female friend every now and then, for a total of seven girls who can join you on your quest. The game is definitely more focused on the relationships between you and your girlfriends. But unfortunately those relationships don't progress very far.
The gameplay is relatively horrible. Choppy animations, meaningless skills and moves, and just a general feeling of not having full control over your character. The overall gameplay quality reminds me of the large number of bad MMORPGs that came from Korea and China about 10 years ago - with the lag included.
The combat is third-person (instead of top-down like the first game). You can choose two creatures and one human to go out and fight monsters. The creatures are mostly useless in combat (unlike the first game) and I primarily used them to open shortcuts or open doors to treasure (the treasure and equipment being mostly useless). Your human companion is much more useful, but is primarily there to pull off a move randomly, give you a buff, or participate with you in a combined special move.
There's not much impact to hits, so for some attacks, you'll feel like you're just slashing away at air. Surprisingly, some of the combined special moves have some of the least impact, as if they forgot to add in the sound effects for them. Monster-fighting strategy is also nearly non-existent. Spamming the same attack takes care of everything except certain bosses, where blocking becomes necessary.
"But this is a game about scantily-dressed lesbians" I hear you say. So what about the fanservice aspects? Overall, It's a bit better than the first game, but still not up to par to other horrible fanservice games, such as School Girl Zombie Hunters. This is a breast game, with all character outfits showing off various breast aspects. Unfortunately, low camera angles are not possible, but that's okay since the character rears aren't very nicely done. The characters all have one default costume and one swimsuit, which are all nonsensical and likely not appealing to most people. Though you'll just have to judge for yourself by looking at the character models.
There's somewhat of a dating aspect of the game, where you can fill up hearts with the various girls by taking them out to battle with you. But nothing comes from doing this besides short not-very-good post-credit cut scenes or the "good" ending if you max out the hearts on the right girls. I decided that wasn't worth my time, so only maxed one girl and settled on the bad ending.
Thankfully, the game can be completed within 15 hours, if you skip all of the meaningless side content and affection grinding.
SummaryStandalone sequel to the gothic fairy tale action RPG from developer GUST Studios, Nights of Azure, is now available in Western territories as Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon. Introducing a new and colorful cast featuring; Alushe Anatoria, Liliana Selphin and Ruhenheid Ariarod alongside a first look at the demon-ridden setting w...