Developer: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
Publisher: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch
Tested on: PS5
Fairy Tail 2 – Review
Fairy Tail 2 will take you onto a fairytale-like adventure through the colorful Kingdom of Fiore. You’ll meet tons of different characters that each use a different type of magic. Natsu Dragneel, the series’ main character, takes you on an adventure together with his many friends and allies. You’ll play as different members of the Fairy Tail guild and together with the guild’s allies you’ll participate in a war against the Alvarez Empire. On your journey, you’ll meet the Spriggan 12, an elite group of twelve powerful mages that act like the main antagonist’s personal guard. Its members, too, each have their own kind of magic.
Fairy Tail 2 is an action JRPG and is the predecessor of 2020’s Fairy Tail. Both are based on the popular anime and manga series. Creating video game adaptations of such popular anime/manga can be tricky as developers need to satisfy both long-term and new fans. Fairy Tail 2 does quite a good job of fulfilling these requirements. The game covers the final parts of the series but tries to do everything in its power to make it understandable and most importantly fun to play for everyone.
Story
Fairy Tail 2’s story is one of war. The Alvarez Empire is preparing a genocidal world invasion and the only ones who stand a chance of winning against the Empire’s Spriggan 12 is – surprise surprise – you. You’ll control the members of Fairy Tail and travel across the land to defeat the Spriggan 12. You won’t have to do it alone though – other guilds and groups will come to your aid.
The main story of Fairy Tail 2 is divided into 12 chapters and covers the final arc of the popular anime/manga. The main story is rather straightforward and the chapters contain only a small number of side quests. Side quests pop up sporadically and are simple and pretty much negligible. The general story may be straightforward but you’ll find some plot twists here and there. During each chapter, you’ll encounter one or more of the Spriggan 12 and you’ll end up fighting them.
Fairy Tail 2 is obviously linked to the first game and to the whole franchise in general. You’ll understand more of the lore if you’ve actually played the first Fairy Tail game or if you’ve watched the anime/read the manga. However, Fairy Tail 2 puts some effort into making the game fun for newbies too. The game features a database in which you can find a lot more information about the story, the world, and its characters. In addition, some unknown terms may pop up during conversations and you can easily look those up by pressing the down button on your controller (PS5). The developers tried to make the game available for everyone but sometimes you might feel like you’re missing out on things if you haven’t discovered the rest of the franchise yet. The more you play, however, the more you’ll get to know the lore and its characters.
Graphics
First of all, Fairy Tail 2’s graphics are bright and colorful which is quite typical for a mainstream JRPG but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. Additionally, you meet many characters and all of them have a unique style and personality. This creates variety which is the charm of JRPGs like this one. The style of the game gives downright anime vibes which shouldn’t come as a surprise but it’s a very nice touch. The Kingdom of Fiore is full of bright colors and has a certain magical feel. Animations are fluid but the cutscenes may disappoint. There are just a LOT of them and they’re one-dimensional making them tedious to watch. During the game, you’ll also unlock additional cutscenes that you can watch at a campfire. Their aim is for you to get to know the characters and their relationships better. You might quickly get tired of watching these and want to continue your journey instead.
Sound
Fairy Tail 2’s tracks are a joy to listen to. The music is upbeat and totally fits the magical vibe of the game. They even give off this medieval tavern feel. The main theme alone deserves a lot of credit as it sounds as epic as the intro looks. The only music that gets repetitive is the track that you’ll hear as danger is approaching. The tunes during combat on the other hand are great. Another feature that is worth mentioning is that the speech during the game is entirely in Japanese as an English dub doesn’t exist yet. Honestly, after getting used to it, it totally adds to the JRPG and anime vibe.
Gameplay
Fairy Tail 2 is an action JRPG with an open-world structure where you have to journey through that world to find and fight members of the Spriggan 12. Your goal is to defeat them and ultimately stop Zeref’s, the main antagonist’s, plan. The charm of this game lies in its combat system. It’s a mix of turn-based and real-time combat that includes field encounters, break gauges, cooldown timers, and many other mechanics that make the combat model enjoyable.
You have up to three members in your party. They can be switched with other characters that are part of your team but not in your main party. This whole mix-and-match system makes the combat quite charming. It gives the opportunity to figure out which team of three works best for you and works best against certain enemies. Switching characters is easy: you push the L2 button (PS5) during combat to switch out a party member.
In battle, you control one of three main party members, but as mentioned above, you can switch any character at any time which allows you to fight as your favorite character and use your favorite abilities. You can deal out combos together with the other two AI controller party members. You’ll be able to use link attacks and powerful Unison Raids whenever you completely break an enemy’s defense. The fighting is fluid and basically a lot of fun.
The only con here is that you’ll be fighting the same enemies over and over again in the open world before you reach your destination. The boss fights are interesting, but the regular fights get repetitive after a while. Fortunately, the game has a feature that lets you quickly KO enemies outside of battle if your level is high enough to do so.
In addition to the combat system, the exploration system is also very smooth. You can search for chests, stronger enemies, and so on. This can get quite tedious though.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Fairy Tail 2 is a bright and colorful action JRPG with a fun combat system that makes you strategically put your team together. The characters are vibrant, the story is fun albeit straightforward and the soundtrack is amazing. The game clearly has its cons but all in all, it’s a fun JRPG for both fans of the franchise and those who are new to it. Ultimately, it also teaches us a valuable lesson: that we need to cherish our friendships and stay connected, because that’s how we’re going to survive.
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