Board 8 > Axiom Verge 2 Discussion Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anyone else been playing this? I'm about 5 hours in, 46% Map/40% Items. Really did not dig it for the first hour, hour and a half, but it's been getting consistently better since then. I made some mistakes at the start going to the water area first, which felt bad since I had basically no abilities, and I even missed the water ability right at the start of that area, so I got stuck in a bunch of places I had to load my save to get out of. Thankfully, the save and quit functionality in this game is great, so I kept all my progress, but I wish it had been designed so I couldn't screw myself over like that. Anyway, once I started getting more powers, the game got much better. Hack is pretty fun, and it's neat seeing what it does to various enemies, though it's a little annoying that you have to prioritize leveling it up to explore everywhere. Every ability feels pretty good, and the game's great at coming up with fairly unique abilities IMO. Where the game really gets great is when you start getting more drone-related powers. I think some of them were in the first game, but they're so much fun! There was even a boss in drone form! Totally wild stuff.

Other aspects - storywise, I'm not generally as into it so far as I was with the first game. The mysteries aren't as compelling, and it doesn't have impactful lines, like DEMON, ATHETOS SAY, KILL! The art is solid, and I'm kinda glad they took away the character portraits? AV1's protagonist was kinda hideous in the portraits, and AV2 had the same ugly portraits in the first trailer, so it's neat that those got axed. The glitchiness level isn't as high, which is a shame, but the area design is probably a bit better in general. It feels real open ended, like you always have a ton of options where to go. Seeing bosses just hanging out as you go through areas is kind of amazing and feels unlike anything I've seen in any other game I've played, though I'm sure it's been done before.

The last thing I did is the part where (actual spoilers) your main Arm takes over your body and forces you to be a drone. Got up to the power that lets me transform into a human again, but with a badass look now. That section was awesome, and cranked my fondness for the story way up. Scripted segments in Metroidvanias can be fucking incredible, and the way they did that one was super cool. Loved it.
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Maybe one day I'll play past the 1st area of the 1st game

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I'm at the same point, although maybe like 30 minutes past. The only thing disappointing is the combat which is a significant downgrade over the first but I think that's by design to have a more exploration focused game.

Either way I'm enjoying playing it in windowed mode while watching Netflix >.>

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I felt the same way you did early on. Was very much not feeling it, didn't like the combat at all. Since I've gotten a few more abilities the exploration has gotten much more interesting and I ended up just dropping the enemy damage to 50% to mostly be able to ignore combat. Liking it more now, - just got up to the point you have spoiler'd at the end there.

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So I hear this is a prequel to the first. Does that mean it's reasonable to start with it or is the first game first strongly recommended?
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So far it's had very little tie-in to the first game, though there is some. I assume it's made so you could start with either. That said, I think the first is a better game (so far).
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no steam, no buy.

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I finished it last night and liked it quite a bit. I was a little over 11 hours with 77% item collection (and 22 deaths, for the full statz). I think the first game is a masterpiece, so it didn't quite live up to the hype, but it's a very solid 8/10 with tons of cool ideas in its exploration. Some of the last few exploration abilities you get really make you think about the overworld and the Breach world differently and it's pretty damn genius.

I guess my biggest letdown is that I personally don't think it was necessary to sacrifice combat for exploration, especially since the weapons in the first game were all so neat. And the optional bosses is a cool idea, but then...none of the fights are particularly good or challenging. (That one early on in the water section might be the best in the whole game). Making them optional, they could have made them way tougher and just...better.

Nonetheless, great game. I'm sure I'll end up 100%ing it, well, except the items hidden behind password stuff until they're all discovered.

Aecioo posted...

Either way I'm enjoying playing it in windowed mode while watching Netflix >.>

But the soundtrack is sooo good, don't rob yourself of it!

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Finished the game. I'd agree that it's a little worse than AV1, but it's still good. The exploration and world design are the biggest improvements I'd say. All the powers feel great, and every area is fun to explore. The lack of combat/bosses was a bit of a letdown, but it didn't hurt the game too much for me. The story was probably the main disappointing part. It wasn't bad, but the section I mentioned in my first post was the best part by a lot, and otherwise it wasn't nearly as interesting as AV1. There wasn't really anything as cool as the Rusalki.

It's also weird that the dev called it partly a sequel when it's 100% a prequel. <_< I mean, yeah, it gave more information about the world, but that's what prequels do.
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Ughhhhhh I was stuck for like an hour because my dumb ass didn't realize you can hack the pedestals to open the doors.

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Seanchan posted...

Ughhhhhh I was stuck for like an hour because my dumb ass didn't realize you can hack the pedestals to open the doors.

I looked that up because I was also dumb and confused if I was missing an item to open them

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Aecioo posted...

I looked that up because I was also dumb and confused if I was missing an item to open them

I'd passed by at least a dozen of them as I ran around the ENTIRE map that was open to me at least twice.

When you get that power the first thing you use it on is a platform. I don't think they ever make it clear/obvious you can use it on the pedestals.

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I'm at 69% Items and 78% (or so) Map. Been really enjoying the exploration. The drone's gets great maneuverability with the grappling hook and the hovering, and then the powers that ease the switching between worlds (jump back at any time and then the one that can pull the portals to you)...so good.

The combat is meh. The bosses are completely underwhelming, at least of the ones I've run across so far.

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