Fairy Tail 2 review — Going back to the guild

Much like Nastu and the rest of the wizards who call Fairy Tail their home, Hiro Mashima’s light-hearted adventure and I possess an everlasting bond. Fairy Tail was the first anime/manga series I connected with. Like other kids my age, I of course watched clips and episodes of Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon, but at that age, I thought of them as “cartoons” and didn’t like them enough to watch a lot. Years later, I stumbled upon Fairy Tail’s pilot episode, and since then it’s held a special place in my heart. Hearing that 2020’s Fairy Tail game adaptation was receiving a sequel focusing on the climatic Alvarez war arc, I couldn’t help but gear up for the final battle.

Fairy Tail 2’s story begins with Makarov, the beloved Guild Master, meeting with Emperor Spriggan of the Alvarez empire. When his plans to invade the country of Magnolia and negotiations fail, the rag-tag group of wizards luckily rescue their master and return home to prepare their defenses. On the flip side, the emperor and his elite unit of powerful wizards, the “Spriggan 12,” make their own preparations on the offensive side as an all-out war looms.

With both sides established and the stakes set, most of what you think should happen in a “war arc” is precisely what occurs. Fighting, fighting, and lots more fighting. While the team does a great job at adapting the multitude of fights and battles happening between Fairy Tail and the Spriggan 12, this highlights the main problem: pacing. The pace and speed at which you’re moved along feels like a bunny hopping through a meadow, jumping from one point to the next without stopping to take in the beauty of the meadow or the journey itself. Flashback episodes, which I’ll talk about next, feel designed to counter the pace, but the execution leads to a rushed experience.

Fighting for the future and small moments with his friends laughing and smiling. That motivation is what drives Natsu and Fairy Tail to fight and defend against this monstrous invasion. Remembering that throughout is one of the main themes of every major Fairy Tail arc. The flashy and ground-shattering fights work in tandem with emphasizing the importance of those small moments and unfortunately, Fairy Tail 2 simply misses the mark.

The main questlines take you from location to location as battles ensue, but otherwise, there is an underwhelming amount of things to break up the monotony of fight after fight. Flashback episodes can be found at campfires, which serve as rest points in each area. These cute and sometimes humorous cutscenes between characters are enjoyable at first but quickly devolve into repetitious interactions. I was hoping to find more social aspects via side quests and jobs in each area, but was disappointed to find each area barren with things to do. From start to finish, I encountered only a handful of side quests from NPCs which consisted of “Do you have this item? Ok, here is an item reward.” The whole experience feels incomplete, which compounds the pacing issues.

The gameplay for the sequel has been reworked with a faster pace and engagement system. Moving from a turn-based style of combat, players are more active now, with a short cooldown indicating when you can attack again. The gameplay loop is simple and quick to pick up as normal attacks build up your “SP” meter which allows you to execute more powerful attacks that focus on enemies’ shields, health bars, or partially to both. Like its predecessor, the name of the game is chaining attacks with your party members. However this time around when breaking enemy armor completely, an all-out “unison” attack dishes out tremendous amounts of damage. Items that can buff your party or debuff the opponents also return which can be used on a cooldown basis.

The reworked system as a whole functions well enough with normal attacks, magic attacks, and items clearly defined in a simple game loop. While function is decent, the system isn’t without its problems. Mainly, it falls into being formulaic and repetitive as players don’t defend themselves aside from being able to guard, which negates some damage. This leads to a cycle of attacking without having to think at all about the battle. Simply using the strongest three wizards in your party leads to easy and one-dimensional victories. Enemies all perform the same attacks and even storyline bosses and area bosses all play and fight the same. Doubling that with a sprinting pace in the storyline, the experience was mind-numbing more often than not.

Alongside a reworked gameplay system is what feels like a reworked visual style as well. The sequel uses cell shading to boast the bright and lush colors of not only Fairy Tail’s guild members, but also the land of Magnolia itself. Ranging from the stylized character art to the vibrant rush of magic attacks in battle animations, I was consistently impressed at how well done the entire landscape was. Drawing from the anime itself, the soundtrack at times made the game feel like watching the anime, as it uses tracks and battle music directly from the episodes the adapted events occurred in. Hearing the main battle theme right as Natsu is getting fired up was as incredible as ever. Visually and musically, I can’t say enough good things and they were easily the highlight of my playthrough.

Overall, Fairy Tail’s second outing as a video game adaption has bright spots that unfortunately get offset by pacing issues and some design choices that were not my cup of tea. While the story itself shines in epic confrontations that conclude Hiro’s wonderful storyline, the pacing and lack of exploration or things to do besides fight left me wishing for more. The looping gameplay system foundationally has something fun hidden deep down, but it needed more time in the oven to cook.

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