The New Classics #24: The Caligula Effect 2

 

The Backstory: I played the original entry on the Vita and gave up on it quickly — if I remember correctly, I was too lazy to explore the giant high school hub. But had I been in the mood to forge ahead, I would probably have given up later upon discovering the drawn-out battles. The fighting system as described by my fellow gamer Kina sounds absolutely horrendous, and I braced myself for the worst upon booting up the sequel — while still hoping that Aquria fixed things in said sequel. 

 

 

The Game: I quickly discovered that Aquria did fix the fighting system: while the simulation phase still exists, it can now be skipped entirely. Combine this with the Easy mode, and you can just mash buttons without ever having to worry about strategy. Needless to say, I lapped this up; in fact, the whole fighting system and combat atmosphere really clicked with me. Fighting is a swift, stylish and addictive affair that quickly got me hooked and put me in the sweetest trance. 

 

 

Needless to say, this made the very first dungeon — reached quickly after skipping all cutscenes — a delicious piece of crawling and grinding that left me sated and craving for more. I left no foe standing, no item unharvested and no corner unexplored — in a word, I made that dungeon my b*tch, without ever feeling the lassitude mentioned by some reviewers. Sure, that subway rendition was seriously huge; but it was easy to navigate, and there were enough things to do there to keep me busy.

 

 

I was less convinced by the following phase, however: roaming an open area full of NPCs to fulfil Fedex sidequests is not exactly my idea of fun. I’ll be honest: if I cannot find a way to make these phases more palatable (read: skip sidequests entirely), then there is just no future at all for me and CE2.

 

 

The Verdict: I adore CE2’s fighting and dungeon roaming, but the socialization breathers ruin my fun. I should play more to find out if I can ease these tedious phases; however, I already gave the game its two hours to shine (that dungeon was huge indeed). So, here’s my decision: I’ll hold onto CE2, for the sake of crawling & combat. We’ll see in due time if the rest of the game proves a deal-breaker; but for now, I just cannot let go of that delicious dungeon delight !