🟢[3.5/5]︱Fairune 2 Review
Even after talking about this in a separate review of mine, I am pleased to know that the Fairune parts of Skipmore are better scored in my eyes than the other games I've talked about from them previously. Before jumping to the first game, I was afraid that the game would have a similar amount of quality towards the one I've played prior to it but thankfully Fairune isn't just like that. I can understand if this game isn't for everyone cause for those that might've gotten stuck, it's because this game tells you next to nothing, and only the help of the next monster that you have to fight according to the Ancient Codex and the environment can guide you forward. And with the shump twist to the final boss (or rather the only boss in the entire game lol), it concludes with the fairies finally being saved, and that the world can be at peace....
I don't know the exact metrics but at least according to Backloggd, Fairune is the second most played Skipmore game only behind KAMIKO since that game was a Switch launch title and caught wind of the early hype. And of course, considering that a good amount of people enjoyed their experiences with the game, it was only imminent that there would be a sequel, and in 2016, that promise was delivered, as Skipmore would release one for the Nintendo 3DS and that system exclusively until all the way in 2020 for when the Fairune Collection that combines the first two games as well as a remake of Fairune Origins would make the second game playable outside of that system.
If I had to give a numerical score for flash Fairune origins, it would be a 2/5, and the score I gave for Fairune 3DS was a 3.5/5, and now for this game? You'll have to see it as I start covering what this game is like and my final thoughts below. Spoiler alert: Fairune 2 is a worthy successor that makes me 1000% excited for Fragment Isles.
※ Story (4/5)
Something I'll explain furthermore in the gameplay is that the game doesn't make any changes to how cryptic the game is, and as a result, the story for Fairune 2 was extremely hard, for me, to follow. When things gotten real at the Asthen World, that was when I started to lose thought on my whole objective other than the simple goal of restoring Layla's name and whatnot but after a rewatch, focusing mostly on plot points... Fairune 2's story is extremely well baked. I usually thought that Skipmore usually delivers more environmental storytelling rather than telling a cohesive one, but contained within the strenuous gameplay this game provides, comes with a story that just makes me even more excited for Fragment Isles:
So, as with the first game, The Ancient Codex reminds us that Fairune is a world where illusion is reality. (Starting to notice a specific pattern here with a specific series I know about 😉) And that while things have toned down in terms of dangerous things happening, the fairies (presumably the same ones from Fairune Origins) have gone missing and they have to be found again by Liana (formerly Hope Girl/Heroine/Hinome) cause their absence is starting to shake things up.
So after exploring the grasslands and obtaining your sword, you'll eventually come across a stone that leads you to a blue cavern looking area that gives you the Faraway memory that doesn't contain any contents, but as you progress through the game, finding the other blue caverns and putting more words to the memory itself, it states something that I'll get back to later in the story. the green fairy that's been surrounded by monsters but most importantly, been stuck by a storage device. After defeating them, the device deactivates, saving the Fairy, and Liana and the rest travel back to the unopened tower where with the power of the fairy and the ID card that officially gets signed to Liana, the first part of the tower opens. The first important lore point this game gives is how the tower was said by the green fairy to not originally be created within the world of Fairune, and that it may even be more dangerous than the whole world. Upon entering the tower and using your ID Card to open up the contents your surroundings get whited out, and a mysterious voice tells that they've successfully created a new Fairune using something called the "Fairune Seed" but they don't have much time left before something tries rejecting it. The thing that's rejecting it never gets explained, but Liana and le codez explores the first parts of the tower to then be greeted with a mysterious grey haired girl in the Sunset Cage. The moment we step in, the girl notices the storage device that was taken from the enemies and impress Liana to find more of them as they are parts of her, and we now enter the second stage in the game: The Snowy Fields.
Things don't get explained furthermore until after you rescue the red fairy (which takes a long time given the gameplay nature unless you know what you're doing), and after freeing her with the same methods as the last one, she, despite being red, isn't too res enough to handle the environment around her and that to talk to her more, we gotta go inside the temple again.
The red fairy also proved my point on how the storage devices are being used to capture the fairies since they've been deliberately trying to collect them. To access more of the temple, the ID card needs to be upgraded, and after doing that, the world gets bright again and the entity from earlier states that his presence will leave the world of Fairune, and that a Fragment of him will remain. They wonder if it's going to either be explored or forgotten about, and that's it from them until the Blue Temple.
Before even accessing more of the temple, the blue fairy puts Liana in a blue void, explaining even more lore. We've went through three worlds, and those worlds are nothing but memories that came and stayed throughout Fairune created by the Fairies' master, but a fourth one, The Asthen World, was unexpectedly born, and that it's keeping the tower present. A way to deactivate it was asked about by the Ancient Cortex, and the fairy mentions that it's likely something to do at the top of the tower.
Anyways, upgrade ID, become engulfed in whiteness, with the entity telling that the entities that they created were recreated by Fairune, but nobody can hear or stand each other. "A ray of hope, fragments of memories, and a soul to lead their path" is all the entity can give, and it states that time.
It was exactly at this moment where at the Sunset Cage, the Faraway memory is something needed to progress but before I've put it in, the grey haired girl states that even tho she's been trying to collect the storage devices, the fairies (the strange butterfly looking things she's referring to) have been getting in her way. We put all storage devices in there, and even though her hair becomes blue, she still doesn't remember her name, and that the Asthen World draws even closer to impending doom, so heading there is imminent.
We put the Faraway Memory (which the completed version briefly mentions that the name of the girl has been kept in the Land of the Sky) in the device needed to access the Asthen World, and we enter said world. We then need to get the passcode needed to progress, then four Giant Heart pieces to open the gate, and before we can leave, we needed to have the swords that were found along the journey: The Fairune Swords, The Monster Slayer, and the Photon Sword. girl needed her name but she couldn't remember and gets trapped since those who can't remember their name gets deleted.
For the finale of the game, it's like the first game where it features yet another shmup, but this time with an additional phase of the three that came before it. After defeating the gate's owner, we still couldn't get pass without the name, but as we look into the Faraway memory, it shows in our map that the answer to it is in the islands that had words that spelled out "Layla." After figuring that out, Layla then brightens up and disappears. As it turns out, the Layla that we've been interacting with was another one, and the one that was still in the Sunset Cage was the one created by the Fairune Seed. After the robot within the tower that we saved comes in, we end the game by traveling the world together, and the Codex finishes it off with a nod to be beginning where there isn't any conflict happening, except this time, there actually isn't anything happening.
※ Gameplay (3/5)
The thing that made the Fairune games before it annoying to come back to is how cryptic the game is; The main gameplay aspects of Fairune is on how it heavily relies on the player using the game's surroundings to find areas to progress through, with a bit of thinking outside of the box for spaces that you wouldn't expect there to be a secret, but there is. I find this form of gameplay to be a bit of a drag hoping that Fairune 2 balances this out, but too bad I was left with similar gameplay but it's longer. That's the best way I can explain the issues I have with this game: Fairune 2 took what was done with the original game, and extended it to a couple more hours of the same concept of using your surroundings to progress furthermore. While progression is a lot more balanced and straightforward--having four separate areas Liana goes through with each with their own gimmicks tied to them (with items tied to the stage to nullify them making it easier to traverse through), it still struggles with the gameplay the series is known for. The second worst contender would have to be through the Ice Area--the next area in the game. If using a guide for some parts of 3DS Fairune was bad, 75% of Fairune 2 was me pulling up a walkthrough of the game on YouTube just for me to learn that going through some parts of the environment needed to progress further look like they cannot be passed but they can and whatnot. I think one of the main reasons I find this game to be a lot more tedious to go through is because unlike the first game, the separate areas are just as big as the grasslands which can make getting lost extremely easy. For games that usually require a guide to finish them, I don't really like but not all hope is lost.
One of the best quality of life changes that this game improves upon is how leveling works: the predecessor had Liana walking into enemies like a buffoon taking out enemies and giving 1EXP to the player no matter how strong the enemy is (outside of enemies that are too strong that they can't be destroyed and they take the most damage). The only way you'll be able to increase your level is by getting the Leveling Up secret where you're able to increase it by two, but it isn't much significant unless you find it early in the game meanwhile for me, I found it at a time where i'm already almost finished with completely leveling up Liana. However, this is where sequel changes how this works: stronger enemies no longer give you a single EXP, giving you up to three before even stronger enemies work the same--not giving you anything while damaging you the most. The Leveling up secret upgrade in this game feels the most impactful and overpowered change this game has since you can get more than just 1-3 levels per enemy kill. Pair this with the Defensive upgrade, and you're basically getting free EXP form the enemies. Another quality of life feature the coins: They serve no other purpose other than to enhance the following as well as the increasing luck secret, but it makes traversing through the environments a bit more bearable since you don't take as much damage towards the stronger enemies.
The final boss also gotten a massive face list. Compared to the three phases of the predecessor, this new enemy got four, but even through this is a new enemy we're dealing with, not to mention our final enemy, they pose no threat to me cause whereas the last one's third phase had me trying again a few times for me to get it right, I was BLAZING through the phases of this boss. I guess with more range and power as you progress through the phases as well as my knowledge on how to play shmups from the Gradius series, this boss went down quicker than I kid you not, I had not only beaten it on my first try but within 3 minutes. And I wasn't even trying to speedrun it! After that anticlimactic ending due to my rad skills, that's pretty much for the game.
※ Replay Value (1/5)
The way the replay value works is similar to the first game, not having much other than experience on where to go in order to get all achievements in this game, which after completing the main story, that I didn't feel opted to do for a second time.
※ Graphics (4.5/5)
The jump from 2013 to 2016 did make difference in terms of the graphics, however. In fact, the graphics are some of the biggest highlights I have to say for this game. Most of the design aspects I've mentioned from the predecessor were also carried over to this game, but done so on a whole other level of appreciation. The game retains it's classic retro-modern design as the last game, but some of the sprites have a lot more detail going through them, with the title screen and the introduction being the biggest contenders for such.
As for the places you'll explore, they're a bit more on the simpler normal Fairune side of things, but the Tower and the Temple is where it picks up. The background is still boring in the former unfortunately, but the graphics for the tower itself and the Temple are all incredible. The flooded Temple aesthetic as well as the structures you'd find within the chaos is just mesmerizing, and I always imagined someone making fanart of this place to make it look even more incredible.
Speaking of, I don't know if this is really the first game they've showed more art of Liana/Hope Girl, but I noticed whenever looking at this game online, she has gotten a lot more official art of her through mang ways, and I think it's quite nice that she's been getting quite a few touches outside her sprite (which is the same as previously). She looks a lot older, and it's further to be expanded in Fragment Isles, the game where she can finally swing her sword. 🥹
※ Soundtrack (4/5)
Soundtrack wise, the music also sounds like an improved version of the original, but its going lot more... away from the MSX style the game started off with and more onto more NES-like. I still don't understand why, but I'm not complaining about it. Tracks such as the Field, Asthen World, the Temple, and the Blue Temple are absolute bangers as always, and you'll be hearing them a lot. One minor nitpick I do have to mention though: make the songs loops longer than what they are. These songs aren't bad, but according to the ripped files for the second game on the Fairune Collection, NONE but the Tower and the "save the Fairies from the bosses!" theme go above the one minute mark before doing their first loop again, which is a bit of a problem when you don't want for the music to be repetitive.
※ Verdict/Other Thoughts (3.5/5)
Despite Fairune 2 making some improvements to its predecessor, the game still remains to be mostly the same as such but longer, and as such, I honestly have to give this game the same rating as that game. I swear, the cryptic gameplay is the ONLY major drawback that I have with this game. If it was even balanced I would've liked it more, but throughout the entire game I was using guides on where to go and whatnot, and i just don't think that's fun especialy when you accidentally get spoiled by looking at something that you haven't seen in the game just yet. One thing thT I hope for Fragment Isles is that they either balance this out (for a third (technically fourth if counting origins)) so that it can be heavily progression-based, or just remove it entirely since in my opinion, it isn't great gameplay design. Another thing I wished for this series to improve upon is telling you the story more; I fucking love the ecenery this game provides, and the amount of stuff that can be conveyed into this game should story be it's main priority would be absolutely perfect, but in most of Skipmore games, it's just an asthetic or something. Like, why have thr Dramos species still show up in games that aren't even related to Fairune? Or lietrally any other enemy that's been carried over from a past SKipmore game? The lore for this series needs to be expanded so it's more readable; except for games like Klonoa where it kind of makes sense to have things unexplained, Fairune doesn't need that imho, I like it when things are conveyed to the player, that's all :D
Thanks for Reading!