Fairy Tail 2 Improves Upon The First Game Wonderfully - Preview

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There are a couple of upcoming Koei Tecmo games that I am really excited for, and while it wasn't on my radar initially, it definitely is now! I have been seeing more and more about Fairy Tail 2 in recent times, culminating in checking it out at Tokyo Game Show. I can't say I know much about the anime, but I can say that playing the game made me want to dive deep and investigate as my little time with the game made me start to fall in love with the characters and get intrigued by the story.

Recently, I was able to check out Fairy Tail 2 on my own and preview it. This gave me the ability to play a bit more while checking out how it has improved from the first game. While I haven't personally played the first game, I have seen gameplay footage, and it looks like the game went under some heavy changes in both visuals and gameplay mechanics, which I found very welcome.

Koei Tecmo has made a lot of anime games, and over the years, they have gotten better and better at portraying the characters while still keeping their charm. I believe Koei Tecmo and developer Gust have done a great job portraying the characters and world in an appealing way. The models look gorgeous and smooth, and I love the way everything looks when running around.

I did look at screenshots and videos from the previous game, and I feel that the models look better overall when it comes to their faces, animations, and lighting. While some faces look similar, others just look more natural and fit with their models in Fairy Tail 2. The animations also look more fluid, which I noticed when running around the city, and the overall lighting just makes the objects placed around the world and models really stand out. It also makes the world look a little more natural, which I love.

Then, we have the combat, which I think is an incredible improvement over the original. Gust is also the developer of the Atelier series, and it seems like they are bringing over some of the mechanics from there, too. Instead of full turn-based combat like the first game, we have a more blended combat system that feels like a cross between real-time and turn-based. When in combat, you don't move around and are stuck in one spot, and you still have to wait your turn, but when it's your turn, you create combos by using the ABXY buttons in real time. You have normal attacks that increase SP, which you can then use to activate different, more powerful attacks and abilities.

I love this system, and it makes combat feel faster and more engaging. Combat itself just feels faster in general, with combat zones setting up in the world without going to another location and the fighting just being faster. I also like that you can change your character on the fly to utilize enemy weaknesses and use special attacks with your allies when you break down enemy defenses.

I also appreciate the leveling up and skill point system. You do have access to a solid amount of characters under your control, and you can get skill points to unlock new abilities and increase your stats. If you don't want to manage all of the characters, you can have them automatically use their skill points to unlock new abilities so you don't have to manage them. You can still manage it if you prefer, but I like having the option.

I am not familiar with Fairy Tail, so this was my first time getting to see anything about the story and learn about the characters. Usually, I would be a little worried about missing key context, but I was able to get a handle on the world, characters, and significance behind them. The way the game handles what has happened before this game's story, which depicts the Alvarez Empire Arc of the series, is enough to give me all the context I need to enjoy this while also feeding my desire to learn more. It made me want to go back and learn about the series, which I did start to do. I have to give the team props for being able to make me do that since I am quite busy in general and don't have a lot of free time.

All of this has made me extremely excited for the release, and has even got me to start figuring out where I can watch and even possibly playing the first game. There have been some welcome improvements over the original in terms of both visuals and gameplay mechanics and if Steam Deck optimization comes into play, this will be a fantastic experience on the go.

Fairy Tail 2 can be wishlisted on Steam ahead of its December 11th release.

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