Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 38
  3. Negative: 9 out of 38
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  1. tomvs123
    Jul 14, 2020
    3
    More cohesive story than the first game, but not worth your time if you didn't like the first game.

    The game is basically Nights of Azure version 1.2. Much of the same stuff happens here, but they've made small improvements to the world, story, and characters. The story is much less nonsensical this time around. That might be bad if you're a fan of stories where amazing stuff happens    More cohesive story than the first game, but not worth your time if you didn't like the first game.

    The game is basically Nights of Azure version 1.2. Much of the same stuff happens here, but they've made small improvements to the world, story, and characters.

    The story is much less nonsensical this time around. That might be bad if you're a fan of stories where amazing stuff happens for no reason. Considering that the first game didn't do so well in Japan, I'm guessing they tried to make the story more believable this time around.

    And it is more believable, but still in a kid's cartoon, not-as-good-as-Sailor-Moon, sort of way. Don't expect any mature themes or deep thought here. It is still firmly on the dumb side of the JRPG intelligence spectrum.

    To summarize, you're off to save your friend/lover as she's being offered up as a sacrifice to save the world. It would be great if these Final Fantasy X-copied plots would copy more than just this - I mean it's all right there for the taking: the great character drama, growth multi-layered storytelling, and tragedy. But they've decided not to for this game and the results are disappointing. Nothing really happens besides going place to place getting nonsensical things so you can get to the next nonsensical thing.

    Oh, and you get to rescue/find a new female friend every now and then, for a total of seven girls who can join you on your quest. The game is definitely more focused on the relationships between you and your girlfriends. But unfortunately those relationships don't progress very far.

    The gameplay is relatively horrible. Choppy animations, meaningless skills and moves, and just a general feeling of not having full control over your character. The overall gameplay quality reminds me of the large number of bad MMORPGs that came from Korea and China about 10 years ago - with the lag included.

    The combat is third-person (instead of top-down like the first game). You can choose two creatures and one human to go out and fight monsters. The creatures are mostly useless in combat (unlike the first game) and I primarily used them to open shortcuts or open doors to treasure (the treasure and equipment being mostly useless). Your human companion is much more useful, but is primarily there to pull off a move randomly, give you a buff, or participate with you in a combined special move.

    There's not much impact to hits, so for some attacks, you'll feel like you're just slashing away at air. Surprisingly, some of the combined special moves have some of the least impact, as if they forgot to add in the sound effects for them. Monster-fighting strategy is also nearly non-existent. Spamming the same attack takes care of everything except certain bosses, where blocking becomes necessary.

    "But this is a game about scantily-dressed lesbians" I hear you say. So what about the fanservice aspects? Overall, It's a bit better than the first game, but still not up to par to other horrible fanservice games, such as School Girl Zombie Hunters. This is a breast game, with all character outfits showing off various breast aspects. Unfortunately, low camera angles are not possible, but that's okay since the character rears aren't very nicely done. The characters all have one default costume and one swimsuit, which are all nonsensical and likely not appealing to most people. Though you'll just have to judge for yourself by looking at the character models.

    There's somewhat of a dating aspect of the game, where you can fill up hearts with the various girls by taking them out to battle with you. But nothing comes from doing this besides short not-very-good post-credit cut scenes or the "good" ending if you max out the hearts on the right girls. I decided that wasn't worth my time, so only maxed one girl and settled on the bad ending.

    Thankfully, the game can be completed within 15 hours, if you skip all of the meaningless side content and affection grinding.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

96
#96 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 32
  3. Negative: 3 out of 32
  1. GameCritics
    Feb 14, 2018
    80
    With its solid gameplay, touching story and attractive art design, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon is a fantastic Action-RPG. Clear objectives ensures that players never have trouble moving the story forward, while likable characters pull them into the story. Just as importantly, the game respects the player’s time — coming in at around 25 hours, it tells a complete, affecting story without dragging on. It’s rare that I’ll go back and explore New Game+ modes, but the high quality of the narrative and the fact that I got the sad ending has convinced me that it’s worth a second look.
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  2. Gaming Age
    Jan 2, 2018
    58
    Nights of Azure 2 isn’t all bad. It’s got a distinctive look and feel, which isn’t something that can be said 20+ games into Atelier. Setting aside the ridiculous clothing choices of many of the characters, there’s no denying that this game features some dazzling environments. I wouldn’t say that’s enough to offset the dialogue, bad camera controls, and leering fanservice, though. Nights of Azure 2 may represent a departure from the developer’s norm, but it’s also proof that simply being different isn’t inherently a good thing.
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  3. Cubed3
    Dec 20, 2017
    60
    Initially stepping into Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon, it feels even worse than the first outing. It's retreading the same ground with the story, but doing it with an inferior overall plot and some cringe-worthy writing for the dialogue. The gameplay is highly repetitive, both on exploring the world and on the generic mash-y gameplay, but, despite all the negatives, there's actually some fun to be had here. The large amount of side-quests and the varied mixture of support characters make revisiting areas to find all the little secrets enjoyable.
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