The second part is a slog. It's basically a visual novel.

[fastica]

Every time I try to play the second part of this game I end watching skits and cutscenes for hours, and the story is so convoluted and nonsensical that is not interesting anymore. I feel betrayed by this game, as the first part had a great balance of navigation, action and story.

[no1schmo]

Huh. I was frustrated with the first part for not having quite enough story, stuff getting set on the shelf to deal with later in the game. So...different tastes, I guess.

[fastica]

Originally posted by no1schmo:

Huh. I was frustrated with the first part for not having quite enough story, stuff getting set on the shelf to deal with later in the game. So...different tastes, I guess.

Well, at least we agreed in that the game is inconsistent.

[Washing Machine]

The pacing of the last act is oof for sure. Really needed more gameplay between all the cutscenes.

[no1schmo]

I could be wrong but it smells of "rushed production". I mean, rushed for a Japanese company; if it was a rushed western product it'd be much worse and more obvious. But Tales games usually have a big shift part-way through the game, pivoting to a new plot. Sometimes even two. For this game, it's more like near the end, with some post-game tacked on. It makes me think that perhaps there was supposed to be a whole second half of the game that boiled down to a few areas and alot of exposition.

[Eterniter]

I am more disappointed by the turn the game takes at that point introducing aliens and a sentient planet rather than anything else. What felt like a rebellion against a highly advanced civilization of humans that come from another planet, turned into nonsensical anime storyline.

[Washing Machine]

Originally posted by Eterniter:

I am more disappointed by the turn the game takes at that point introducing aliens and a sentient planet rather than anything else. What felt like a rebellion against a highly advanced civilization of humans that come from another planet, turned into nonsensical anime storyline.

Tbf it did solve the issue that was brought up early into the game, as to how is this rebellion worth anything if the other guys have massive armies that are vastly technologically advanced ready to just come shut them down if they succeed. If Rena hadn't been just an empty planet, there would've been no way to solve the problem that they could just show up with a fleet of spaceships and shoot lasers at the cities to destroy everything and subdue the planet again.

[no1schmo]

Originally posted by Eterniter:

I am more disappointed by the turn the game takes at that point introducing aliens and a sentient planet rather than anything else. What felt like a rebellion against a highly advanced civilization of humans that come from another planet, turned into nonsensical anime storyline.

Except it was obvious early on that something like that was happening.