PC Review Code Provided by CyberConnect2
The journey for the heroic children from Fuga: Melodies of Steel continues and this time, it is a little worse than before. CyberConnect2 has launched a sequel game that is simply titled Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 and they are putting the friend group from the Little Bronx Tail series together again. Unfortunately for them, this call to arms isn’t based on an easy-to-hate force and instead takes a more personal strife.
Story
Following the war, the kids all abandoned the Taranis and left it in military hands to allow them to better understand the machine and put it to good use. However, it seems there is an issue during the inspection and so the kids are called up to come help them. When they get there, they learn that the Taranis latch refuses to open and they need help getting inside the machine. Almost like magic, the moment the kids try to open the door, it opens for them.
Sometime during the inspection on the inside, the door slams shut and locks half of the kid’s original crew inside. With communication lost to those inside the Taranis, all mayhem breaks out as the tank powers up and begins blasting its way out of the hanger it’s in! With half the kids stuck on board and no communication being able to reach out, the remaining kids set out on a mission to chase the tank down. Luckily, a nearby tank from the Berman army was being studied as well and under the same issues - unable to be opened and not understood how it functions.
Just as it happened in the first game, somehow the tank reacts positively to the arrival of the children and powers for them. It has a similar structure to the Taranis, so with the use of familiarity and tactics, the kids set out to chase down the tank and save, or stop, their friends! Little did they know that this journey would be much harder than before as an unknown foe would soon reveal themself…
Honestly, I have to say that I like the turn the game took with the story for this sequel title. The tale is much darker and personal in regards to the group of children, making the aspect of the Soul Cannon harder to accept as an option but also something that just might be inevitable to avoid using. It also adds a layer of conflict to the player’s choices because you aren’t just simply stopping an army from hurting people, but choosing where your priorities lie and even coming to accept that no battle won is without loss.
To clarify this, the story picks up right after the events of the first game. You will want to follow the story of Fuga 1 before jumping into the journey of Fuga 2!
Gameplay
A lot of the gameplay from the first game came over to this one but with a few additions and improvements all around. You will still be managing the group of kids and the tank they live in during this journey, so you can expect to see all of the screens we worked with before. Luckily, the tank is built pretty much the same way as the first game, so you will already be familiar with the setup when you get started.
When it comes to the route screen to take the tank forward through the chapter, you have the progress bar up top with all the indicators of what is coming up. Unlike the first game, they added a Turbo option so that the tank moves a lot faster. This is simply to save time for the player and doesn’t put any actual strain on the tank itself. There are also more icons to work with. You have your Health and SP return, your random item collections, and your danger markers again, but they also added an Airship spot which gives you aid in one of three ways - all of which cost in-game currency that you earn and typically spend when in town. If you have enough to afford the airship, then you can reach previously unreachable routes or clear the path ahead of you.
They did bring back expeditions as well, which can be found occasionally. Most of the time, expeditions will be an optional event that you can do during the Intermission sections of the game. I didn’t run into them during the main game route very often, which is nice as the expeditions are my only real gripe with this game.
Speaking of Intermission, this is done the same way as well. When you hit this spot on the map, you will have 20 AP (action points) to work with and do a few things around the tank. This includes having specific characters talk to increase their bond (which is a must as this unlocks Link Attack opportunities), growing food on the farm, going on expeditions, sleeping to heal wounds, and more. There will also be a chart of things the different characters want to do during this Intermission if you aren’t sure what exactly you’d want to do. By doing the things the kids want, you will raise their happiness and when they reach peak happiness in a battle, this will give a special aid in some way. Each special is unique to each kid.
When you go to town, there will be a mix of interactions that range from little conversations to vital choice-making moments to shopping for supplies. This works the same as any game with a shopping section - you sell valuables and what you don’t need, buy supplies you do need, and hold some currency for just in case (like an airship opportunity). However, the choice-making moments are new and bring up the next addition to the game.
They added a Judgment meter. Throughout the journey, the leader of the group - Malt - will be given opportunities to make choices at the moment of an event that will either reflect Empathy or Resolution. These moments happen both in and out of the towns as well. These choices will build your meter and unlock different Leader Skills. Leader Skills are randomly used in battle and can be a saving moment or even just a nice little aid to the current fight. You’ll have to decide which type of skills you prefer - defensive types from Empathy or offensive types from Resolution.
Finally, let’s discuss the combat. Once again, it is turn-based and you have the same setups. You’ll see a small clock-like symbol in either red, yellow, or blue. Hitting an enemy with a kid’s attack that matches that color will cause a delay for that enemy. If you see that the enemy has armor, you will need to either lower that armor to do full damage or use special skills that bypass the armor. The turn order is shown on the top of the screen in combat so you can always see who is next. Granted, there are times when there is an overlap and they kind of bounce the images back and forth for who’s on top, which can be a bit annoying since you would just want to know whose turn it is and have it focus on that instead, but this bar is helpful. You can even see how far back you will go on the meter after your turn. Your own delay is based on which move you go with.
Boss fights are always at the end of a chapter, which can be to your advantage. I strongly suggest building up all the Link Attacks you can and holding them for the final fight. There are a handful of boss fights that I doubt I would have won if I didn’t have five Link Attacks to throw at them back-to-back at the start of the fight. It’s the strongest attack, short of using the Soul Cannon.
If you somehow don’t know, the Soul Cannon is a powerful weapon that will one-shot any enemy - including the majority of bosses. However, it literally cost a Soul which means you will have to sacrifice one of the kids in your party. Hopefully, you are like me and find this to be unacceptable and will do anything to prevent it from happening! This lack of wanting to use a kid as literal ammo for a cannon is kind of a core that drives the intensity of the early parts of the story after all.
Audio and Visual
Much like it was in the first game, the art style isn’t really animated and gives off an almost comic or manga-like style. Each character is well drawn and looks different from the others, but when it comes to NPCs it is often you’ll see some duplicates. The environment is also drawn very well and they make the background actually look like you are passing by it as you proceed on the journey. Overall, it’s a game with a wonderful art style that is easy to enjoy.
The same can be said for the music and sound effects in the game. They have some great tunes to build up the different moments in the game, filling up the atmosphere of each different environment and making battles feel more intense. Plus, the darker tones in the harsher scenes of the game definitely bring a nice change in conception with a change in the overall tone of the story. As for the voice work, they once again to the simplified approach and just had a handful of lines for each character with pretty much all dialogue presented in text boxes.
Replayability
They added more pathways to each section of the game and more options in the player’s journey choices, so with that alone, there is some replayability. The story will remain the same, but every dialogue and scene can be skipped, so players won’t feel bogged down on a second playthrough if they are looking for specific gameplay aspects to enjoy again, or experience for the first time, while not wanting to relive the story segments.
What It Could Have Done Better
I had this same issue with the first game and it honestly feels like there was no change to the exploration parts of the game. As I said in my first review in regards to the Ruins, they felt cheesy and like they were a last-minute add-in to the game. Plus, they are always incredibly short. Obviously, they aren’t actually last-minute add-in content, but I just don’t get why they couldn’t improve them with aspects like hidden areas, real danger, ambush moments, or just anything else that makes it more of a threat. These would be more entertaining if there was a possibility of a risk system - the higher the risk, the better the reward. Once again, I refer to what I said the first time: if the ruins aspect was never added, I wouldn’t have thought it was needed either.
Verdict
Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 is a wonderful continuation of an entertaining tale! I really enjoyed playing through another journey with this group of characters and found the darker story to be more enthralling than the original. Somehow, they really deliver a fun turn-based gameplay system that even players like myself, who typically don’t play turn-based games, can really dive into. The strategy needed in combat, the choices made out of combat, and the actual planning it takes through the entirety of each chapter just meld so well together. Just as I recommended the first title, I strongly recommend checking out this game as well! Honestly, if this series continues, I plan to keep going.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 is available now on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
