#ai2 spoilers

[drainbangle]

matchies

[timeskip]

Bibi will make fun of Ryuki for having a crush but doesn’t particularly care that it’s Date, but Mizuki suffers because that’s her (cringe) dad.

[ecoamerica]

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[lunarsanctuary]

What are your thoughts on Flowers Bloom in Snow from Nirvana Initiative?

the song? not sure, maybe my answer would change if i played through that part again. at the very least i like how amame's voice sounds (prefer eng over jp somewhat) i can't remember what it means within context for the life of me rn haha but i guess, i like how i can see aspects of her perspective on both gen and shota in the lyrics

[plvpwaa]

What exactly do you feel like is wrong with Kizuna’s disability representation? Just curious.

ai2 spoilers under the cut

kizuna's disability is framed entirely as something which a) completely ruined her life and future and b) lien is both able and supposed to somehow "save" her from

post timeskip it really feels like she kind of turns into more of a prop and a caricature of wildly overdone and wildly demeaning ableist tropes about disability than an actual character

it's entirely possible i'm reading the game wrong and it's not as bad as i think it is but the way the game talked about her and completely stripped her of her voice as a character grossed me the fuck out

[beeples]

Screams, i love gay people

[venatelier]

wake up, puppet boy

[somechubbynerd]

[luxraydyne]

im dead bleary rn but just got hit with a shockingly vivid vision of a driving transition scene from the fabled aitsf eitoku gang prequel taken from the perspective of hitomi in the rear seat of a clearly older, decent but low-tech car, renju driving, manaka always sits in front (for maximum flashforward uncanniness) and they poodle around to a 50s/60s smooth jazz style mix of Automobile Interior, do i call up my man apollo or nah

[odysseys-blood]

i just think date doesnt deserve hitomi and i can treat her better yknow?

[vamonkea-art]

AITSF fanart from when i finished the game. I love that fucjking game i love it i love it i love it.

Don’t add spoilers in notes to AI2 prettyplease <3

[yaoiwars]

is prince charming from shrek in a relationship with the spoiler character from ai1 or ai2

from ai1

[drainbangle]

Hmmm anyway au where ryuki's twin is plot relevant and also maybe wearing that neat mask.

[mesaprotector]

Finished AI: The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative - well, sort of. My thoughts under the cut (spoilers for both games).

I finished the main ending, but I'm aware there's another one you get by going back and talking to Tokiko. Well, if there's anything I'm sure about it's that I'll play whatever Uchikoshi releases next. Heck, I still need to go back and figure out World's End Club.

Gameplay:

I honestly preferred AI1 overall for Somniums. I never failed one in AI1, but I failed a few of them here, since even though they're much more linear and give you a ton of hints, the amount of time given feels less generous and you really can't just poke around and have fun without risking failure in some of them. They're also, with a couple of exceptions, not interesting location-wise in the way that most of the AI1 Somniums were. Like, Hitomi's Somnium from AI1 is far from my favorite but it had you wandering around garden paths in the darkness, a whole new environment that appears nowhere else in the game (or probably in reality).

Plot:

It's definitely a more ambitious concept than AI1. That game started and ended with one serial killer, and parodied the idea of a giant conspiracy through Iris being a conspiracy nut. This game actually runs with it and instead of just having body-swapping technology and one hyper-strong preteen girl, practically half the cast now has superpowers. To its credit, the plot still mostly manages to hold together (I credit the presentation of simulation theory - NAIX felt like a cult people might actually buy into), and I was actually slightly more satisified with the ending than I was with AI1's!

Twist:

I guessed some aspects of what was going on. I noticed that Ryuki Side and Mizuki Side didn't always seem to be happening six years apart, and I even theorized it was a single timeline. But given Ryuki's mental problems I guessed hallucinations were responsible and I definitely didn't guess there were two identical-looking Mizukis. I think the twist is fine in itself, but this game already spread itself a little thin in terms of characters, and having everything out of order made what depth and development there was even harder to follow.

Characters:

For example, in AI1, Mizuki was the GOAT. Absolutely no question, she had the best, most complete arc, the best Somniums involved her, and the best ending was Mizuki End to the point that I'm not sure I acknowledge the true ending as canon.

But in AI2, Mizuki is... fine. She's very likeable, but she doesn't have much actual involvement in the story aside from being the POV character who fights good. And that drops her down the list a lot.

In AI2, I don't think I actually dislike any of the new characters - Komeji and Shoma are really good, Tokiko and Chikara work very well as entertaining and scary villains, Lien and Gen are fine, and Riichi and Kizuna have some interesting nuances. It's just that so many of them, as well as the returning characters, suffer from missed potential. I think Gen gets this the worst of the new characters, despite having lots of potential; for example, he's said to be drinking buddies with Lien and Date, but you don't see very much of him except when he's covering for Amame - or in fight scenes. I don't dislike fight scenes, but I might have been willing to drop a couple of them in favor of character scenes.

I didn't mention Ryuki because, well, I really like him, and I think the only problem he had was not appearing even more than he already did.

Aesthetics:

The character designs were great in AI1, and they're great in AI2. There aren't a whole lot of new locations, but at the very least, NAIX HQ (both Tokiko's office and the cathedral) are super cool-looking, and Brahman is a cozy restaurant I'd be happy to eat at. The music is still really good, too, with my two favorites being the OST at Shoma's house (particularly during his route early on, it just fits perfectly) and the one in Lien's Somnium - it's "LOW to HIGH!!!" turned into music form.

Overall:

While it had a lot of flaws and I feel it was slightly worse overall (I definitely won't think about anything from it as much as I do Date's or Mayumi's Somniums from AI1), I do think it was more consistent with no really serious flaws and a better ending. I'm definitely looking forward to searching for the content I'm still missing. Overall: let's say 8/10 (AI1 would've been an 8.5).

[adelle-ein]

I swear if they make a third AI game and they do the same “no spoilers” policy they did for AiNi I am dropping Spike Chunsoft.

Honestly yeah I personally have no interest in an ai3 at all if this is how they treated ai2. tbh I got the vibe that it was just a "wow, AITSF sold pretty well, let's do it again I guess!" game and not anyone's passion project, based on how rushed and unfinished the plot feels and how poorly treated the characters are, but. shrugs. The only sc games I've played are AI and 999 anyway so I can't really speak for the rest

[reaperkaneki]

my copy of ai2 got delayed to fucking august which blows (and i cant order it elsewhere bc i sprung for the collectors ed with eyeball pup) but at least uchikoshi games are relatively unpopular which means i probably wont be spoiled for it. and i can devote the next month to 3hopes which i’m sure will be spoilers galore.

[beeples]

spoilers for AI1 btw

I'm rewatching Ai1 because I'm going insane,, anyways I noticed this and thought it was really interesting (I could just be reading too much into this bare with me) So you guys know how Pewter said Aiba was created to be acustom to Date's likes? Well since Aiba really likes insects and in this line Iris likes insects too it kinda makes me believe that Pewter put that interest in bc of Iris. Before Date was Falco he was pratically like a father to Iris so it's cool to think Pewter put that feature so Date could still have some parts of Iris still with him. I know I'm reading too much into this but I think that could be a neat concept