Current Events > Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative was fantastic.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like it kinda went under the radar a bit, which...isn't shocking since the first game was pretty niche too, but I loved it. I mean, it had some flaws, but all things considered, it was a really fun mystery, and the cast was top notch. I probably loved the characters more in this one than the first, which is kind of impressive since I liked that game's cast a lot.

To get into a bit more detail, with spoilers. Heavy spoilers ahead, don't read it if you plan to play the game and don't want spoilers:
All things considered, the twists landed for me a bit better this time, and even though the game does actively lie to you, the timeline twist was overall a really fun one. I'm usually not fond of twists that only impact the player, but I can excuse this one since it made the mystery was more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

Bringing back a minor, no-name gag character from the first game, giving her a full backstory, and then making her the second killer was a brilliant move. She went from "That random mermaid chick with a she-has-good-bones gag" to one of the standout characters of the second game. Her somnium and the reveal of how much life just screwed her family over and how much she regretted so many choices in her life that led her to murder was one of the highlight moments of either game.

On the negative side, the game really needs to drop the action sequences. The QTEs sucked and the entire last stadium sequence just made me groan. Even for the game's overly-anime style, it's just...too much. They're never fun or interesting and feel fillery. I also felt like some characters like Ryuki & Tama really suffered from the game's structure, since they're largely missing from the last half of the game and felt kind of unresolved.

Anyway, highly recommend if you're a fan of mystery VNs and/or the first game.

Guessing that not many people played it in general. Ah well.

I like the outfits for the waifus

I played the first game and was aggressively confused

The first game was kinda bad so avoided the sequel. Everyone praising the sequel also severely overrate the first game so there's no trustworthy opinions out there about it.

Etna posted...

I like the outfits for the waifus

I'm not into waifus or anything, but the cosmetic options were neat enough.

Irony posted...

I played the first game and was aggressively confused

Is there anything in particular that confused you? It's a little bit out there as a game, but I felt like most of the plot points were explained pretty well in the end.

Raikuro posted...

The first game was kinda bad so avoided the sequel. Everyone praising the sequel also severely overrate the first game so there's no trustworthy opinions out there about it.

I mean, reasonable, if you don't like the first game then you're definitely not going to like the second. I liked both games a lot, personally, though I'm a huge fan of mystery VNs in general.

I also just finished the game yesterday. I absolutely loved that the game actually went through with the whole *MAJOR SPOILERS* nil number/world is a simulation thing.

dotsdfe posted...

Guessing that not many people played it in general. Ah well.

Sorry TC. I'm just too busy hanging out in Atami....

Error1355 posted...

I also just finished the game yesterday. I absolutely loved that the game actually went through with the whole *MAJOR SPOILERS* nil number/world is a simulation thing.

Fun Fact: That number is randomized for each save file. Mine was 552558.

Error1355 posted...

I also just finished the game yesterday. I absolutely loved that the game actually went through with the whole *MAJOR SPOILERS* nil number/world is a simulation thing.

Honestly, I'm really curious about if that's intended to be fully canon or a what-if/ambiguous/alternate universe ending. I think that Uchi has said that all of the timelines in both games are canon and exist in their own universes, so I'm really curious if the entire universe is a simulation, or if it's just something that happens in one timeline but not others.

It's really, really funny to think that, if it's fully canon to everything, then Tokiko & Tearer were basically right about everything and we actually sort of screwed up by stopping both of them. It's already pretty funny that letting Tokiko transcend the universe ends in an ending that's unironically happier for everyone involved.

Smiffwilm posted...

Sorry TC. I'm just too busy hanging out in Atami....

Fun Fact: That number is randomized for each save file. Mine was 552558.

As long as the secretary is happy, I'm okay with it.