Did NIS cut art and music budget for this game?

[COCAINE BEAR]

About halfway through the game (near the end of apartment), it's been a better experience than LoR so far which is saying something because that game is still my favorite DRPG of all time. But I don't understand why the dungeon designs are so samey and monotonous now. Refrain dungeons were incredible in terms of variety. Apse and all the transcepts essentially look the same just with differently tinted walls. Narthex is way too similar to cobalt campanula both in looks and map design. Apartment just looks like three towers of umbra but with funky doors. Even the background music is too samey. It's been a while since I played LoR but I think that game also had more enemy variety? There are far too many recolored enemies. Does it get better in the latter half? Random floors are really cool but maybe NIS blew all their budget implementing it.

[COCAINE BEAR]

To be sure I think the actual floor designs are better, and I have yet to feel bored playing Galleria but this monotony definitely takes away from the game IMO

[Broso]

Yeah I get why it's one big labyrinth this time for story reasons but, from a theme perspective, the areas felt a lot more varied in Refrain for sure.

[glenn3e]

Yea I kinda missed the variance in Refrain. The game is much better in other aspects though

[lordgadigan]

Yeah, unfortunately agreed here. I love the game in general so far, and in most respects it seems to be just as good as its already-excellent predecessor or slightly better (and the bestiary is a big plus), but the dungeons' visual design/character lacking variety (so far, at least) is a disappointing downside compared to the first one.

[a.warringa1]

The variance in Refrain was one of the many things that made it so awesome. There's less in Galleria, and also so far the story doesn't interest me as much as Refrain did.
Despite that - I like the dungeons in Galleria even more than in Refrain. Combined with all the other enhancements they made I'm extremely pleased with this one.

[Broso]

Yeah it's still among the best dungeon crawlers for sure but if they ever make another one, I hope they bring back the more varied dungeon settings.

[a.warringa1]

I agree ofcourse, but it's probably mostly a budget decision. Just put another couple of hours in it and well.. so far I think it's my most favorite dungeon crawler ever. It's SO freaking good.

[Symbol VI: DynastyScans]

The dungeons are definetly not as varied mostly thanks to Galleria's structure having a good chunk of it focused on the Apse floors and its offshoots (it is literally the Labyrinth of Galleria), but there are definetly other areas that stand out after Apse; it's a matter of reaching those areas, which take a while.

[LRB]

Apartment isn't really halfway, it's the first dungeon with procedual generation, and there are more down the line, when your starting team reach lv99 then you know you are about halfway.

[Broso]

Gotta say tough, Appartment gives me somewhat of a Backrooms-y vibe, I like it.

[Leviathan]

In terms of ambiance it's less varied, but the procedurally generated part is a breath of fresh air. You play in an entirely different way, not trying to explore every corner of the same map 20 different times, but just looking for the exit of the floor. I do think being able to play that way makes is a big plus.

[Hentaika]

Originally posted by Leviathan:

In terms of ambiance it's less varied, but the procedurally generated part is a breath of fresh air. You play in an entirely different way, not trying to explore every corner of the same map 20 different times, but just looking for the exit of the floor. I do think being able to play that way makes is a big plus.

IDK, I would say it's a step back to the 90s and it's only fun if there was one such dungeon.

But Galleria essentially packs all fun content into the first story of the game with the rest being literally 3 endless dungeons + 2 more smaller than Apse fixed dungeons.
Oh.. and revisits/backtracking... LOADS of revisits/backtracking.

It kinda sucks even more since it also makes it a grind to actually 'keep exploring' aimlessly for the sake of unlocking core mechanics hidden behind number of tiles explored...
Number of tiles which are HEAVILY bloated and if you skip intentionally grinding those - you will have A LOT of trouble even if you fully explore every single fixed dungeon.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by LRB:

Apartment isn't really halfway, it's the first dungeon with procedual generation, and there are more down the line, when your starting team reach lv99 then you know you are about halfway.

Umm... I'm close to team level 99 at the end of chapter 1. I'm about to do the moon glyphs finally. I guess your estimation of level doesn't really work well as some people will grind more for mana and alchemy than others.

[New Breakfast]

and there's also a bunch of places without any music at all

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by Deed Breakfast:

and there's also a bunch of places without any music at all

Considering that they could have put any generic background music in there, I think it's more likely that rather than budget issues, they're intentionally using silence to set the mood.