>>1335291
2.0+ was pretty pleasant in terms of its story, especially in how the story integrates with the gameplay.
Storytelling-wise, it's still not up to par with the TV mode, but it's getting there.
I don't like how there is this dilemma of the world becoming functionally empty after you're done with the story, though.
The content is added in bursts, and sometimes you do get new stuff to do, however, on average, it the cycle feels something like this:
1) New story chapter - it's good and exciting;
a) After the story chapter is finished, you get a minor expansion of the current content;
a.1) This content can then be cleared in a couple of hours of play time at most, and there is nothing left to do afterwards;
a.2) You wait for a limited-time event;
a.3) Limited-time event drip-feeds you bits of content, and when it's gone it's gone forever;
a.4) There's nothing to do.
b) The story chapter is finished, you get a large expansion of the content (e.g. Fantasy Resort)
b.1) You actually have a lot of new stuff to do, new stories to discover, new goals to achieve, and it lasts for a while;
b.2) Limited-time events generally integrate with this new content, and help expand on the experience;
b.3) When most of the immediate content is cleared, and all events are over, you're still left with final bits here and there (e.g. achievements, encounters, etc.) so it doesn't feel like an instant drought;
b.4) But the next patch the content in question is mostly forgotten, maybe mentioned occasionally, and now it's mostly just sitting there, not doing much.
The abundance of the option a) genuinely makes me less interested in actually diving into new stories.
I found myself postponing stories and events way more than I ever used to.
I'd spend hours grinding a Deadly Assault boss with a stupid build over going through the story or an event, because if I actually do that now and feel like experiencing more of ZZZ story and lore, there will be absolutely nothing for me left to do.
The big expansion patches of course feel way better, and of course it's unsustainable to have a big expansion every patch.
But I feel that the content is being abandoned way too quickly, as it is being done now.
Big sections of the world the devs spent their time and effort on were mostly left forgotten.
I get that story-wise main characters are effectively stuck in Waifei Peninsula, so it partially excuses underutilization of major locations like Lumina Square.
But Fantasy Resort was just added, it's a big new location, and the amount of stuff we're doing there past its launch feels lacking.
And while I understand that it's a very new area, the reason I'm concerned is that it feels like the pattern repeating itself:
- Brant Street Construction Site
- Reverb Area
- HAND Headquarters
- Ballet Twins Road
- Blazewood
- Starloop
- PubSec Office
- Undeground metro stations
A lot of these locations feel extremely underutilized.
Some had a lot of stuff going on initially, e.g. Blazewood or Starloop, but nowadays they might warrant an occasional visit sometimes, but not much else.
IMO it's a better approach would be to have fewer and less-frequently added locations that remain more relevant to the game.
It's a more efficient and healthier approach for the dev team, it scales better (i.e. if they feel underutilized now, how will they feel in a year or two, when 10+ more new locations are added?), and it also offers more immersion for the player, it helps make those locations actually matter, instead of serving as a background for their daily chores.
I also really don't like how you can't replay any of 2.0 story missions like you could replay 1.0 missions.
It's not a feature I would use often, but I would use it sometimes, and now it's simply not an option.
Especially, given the in-combat dialogue is so easy to accidentally skip over.
Also, there should NEVER be a scenario, where an agent can i-frame an enemy attack with a DASH because PERFECT DODGE doesn't trigger.
If the timing of the DASH was this precise, it means it should've been replaced by a PERFECT DODGE by default.