Well, that was a ride...
Before the release I was absolutely terrified that they'd fuck it up.
Toby's games have always straddled the line between emotional and obnoxious and in all of his works there's at least one death defying stunt where he tries to plunge the franchise into darkness.
First impressions were bad when the Ralsei villain theory seemed to be gearing up (all the while plagiarizing the game OFF) and you had lines like (paraphrased) "An evil ruler is taking over the world but I hate politics so I have no opinion on this" slipping in but the game won me over quickly and I was loving it!
The gameplay was as good as ever and Toby seems to have learned from a lot of his mistakes.
First thing he's learned: How to make good annoying characters!
Berdly is the Anti-Alphys. In universe he's an oblivious prick but as a viewer he's fucking hilarious and I was always ready for more.
What's more is that he actively interrupts the shitty scenes and makes everything better.
Secondly: The shitty romance subplot.
It was nice of Toby to directly reference most of the fan ships (and even some fan works directly). It helped break the ice and de-escalate everything.
Even if I knew that SUSIExNOELLE was inevitable I had full faith that he'd treat it sensitively.
I genuinely expected to hate lugging around Noelle but she was actually fine and the puzzles for that segment were pretty clever.
...but then, at the final hour. Something goes horribly wrong.
There's a single moment after the Rouxls battle where the seams rip and the game collapses under it's own hubris.
So, remember how I said that I thought Toby would properly handle the lesbian romance? Did he bollocks!
The hamfisted lesbian subplot is
EVEN WORSE than the first game!
It just keeps going on and on and on! Berdly turns up as usual to break the ice but it's been like five fucking minutes and the damage is already done.
Going on for too long would have been one thing but then Toby starts adding
RETROACTIVE elements to his shitty "love at first sight" plot.
Susie stating that she's liked Noelle ever since she first came to the school and lent her a pencil?
OH FUCK OFF. THAT IS SO CHEAP.
They basically compressed all the usual obnoxious crap into a single scene and I'm not sure if that's better or worse.
The "internet is controlling people" business at the end was also typical Toby awkwardness but at least it wasn't as violently offensive.
Did it ruin the game for me?
Too soon to tell but it was a definite black mark on an otherwise superb experience.
I'm at least glad that my "Ralsei is the villain" fears were quashed at the end. Maybe...
I think this might be time for me to call it quits for this series and leave it on a high(-ish) note.
Once again I have no fucking idea how the story is going to continue and I concur with
@Beef Void when he says that they'll probably add a tranny or something (One of my biggest fears for this game)
E: Also the soundtrack is mostly meh but that's just my personal opinion. Oh look, "lena raine" is on the team. Big surprise!
Later E: Some of the tracks are good but it's more of a slow burn than the first chapter.
