Dark Deity 2

Bottom Line up Front: This is a a huge improvement over the first game, which I already quite enjoyed. Here's what I really enjoyed about the game: + Dark Deity 2 fixes the first game's overload of forgettable characters with a smaller cast of characters who all bring a little something special to the table. There are still a handful of duds who arrive with little fanfare, but the core cast have a chemistry akin to the great character relationships that make us love games like Fire Emblem. + I personally liked that they made the "baseline" option no permadeath, but permadeath can be toggled on if you like that sort of thing. I personally find myself playing overly conservative when permadeath is active in a game, and I like being able to play the game quickly without regrets. +Character voiceovers were a nice addition, and writing generally seemed to have matured over the previous game in my opinion. + Skills added a cool tactical layer, and mana felt like a readily available resource while still feeling like you needed to manage it. I think they really nailed the resource balance, which can be tough to do in this genre. +The ability to choose classes were a cool …

I like making my chess pieces kiss

Boring, there is zero tactic and very grinding

If you like turn-based tactics/strategy games the mechanics will immediately feel very familiar and you'll be right at home in no time. I was surprised to see that the whole game is fully voice acted, which was a nice touch that helped make each character's personality shine through. Never played the original Dark Deity, so I was also surprised to find that, based on what you can infer from the story, many of the characters are older versions of the characters from that game or their actual children, so now I'm interested in going back and seeing the older generation during their own adventures. The game feels comparatively quick-paced for this genre, which was also a bit of a surprise. There's a some choices that change the course of the story, which is also cool, and the characters do interact a fair bit in cutscenes or bonding events, which is always welcome. I'll definitely give part 1 and the upcoming sequel a try.

Some pros and cons compared to the first game, as best as I can recall from playing a few years back- Pros: Overall quite good voice acting for a title of this caliber. There's really only one character that I thought has some lame acting, but they're not one with a ton of lines. I like how you can upgrade weapons with runes, and that different weapons have different runes available so you can really swing particular stats you are looking for. I had no bugs at all through my playtime. There was a few times in the first I did, where I had to exit the game to fix a sound issue, or with units icons on the map not being where the game thought they were. Cons: I kind of just don't care about the story here. Never really hooked me. I do feel like some of the scenes early on were pretty long and I sort of zoned out which compounded with me not getting story beat payoffs. The combat animations were uninspiring a lot of the time. The hypest part about GBA Fire Emblems for me was always upgrading a unit and getting to see its attack and crit for the first time and going OHHHH! I only did that one time this whole game (Necromancer IMO). Other than that, meh. Some classes like Frigillin …

I came into this looking for a solid Tactics RPG to play while I waited for the new Fire Emblem. I didn't expect much. But THIS GAME IS AWESOME. The build variety--especially with the sometimes game-warping effects of passives and rings--is a delight. The story builds into something that I really found myself enjoying a lot, which is saying something because I'm a fantasy author for a living. But the biggest, best thing of all is the voice acting. HOLY CRAP. This game has better voice acting than AAA titles. It's amazing. The performances are so nuanced and emotionally done. Moments land really well often BECAUSE the voice acting ensures the beats are perfect. A million shout outs to the whole cast. The sprite work is great, too. Such attention to the detail of how each class attacks. I love this game. Didn't expect to, but I do. And I'm psyched that there's a 3rd one coming that I now get to really look forward to :)