Video game sequels tend to have an unusual habit
of not being as good as the first original game. Thankfully Mana Khemia 2 is able
to buck this trend by offering a better overall enjoyment than the first Mana
Khemia. Mana Khemia 2 didn't really introduce anything majorly new to the series
that the first game had. In fact it's pretty much a rehash of the first game but
with a new story and new characters. Still despite it being pretty much the same
game as the first Mana Khemia, this sequel leaves you with a feeling of guilty
pleasure of having a great fun time from an old school rpg game. You just can't
help but get a huge smile from this small rpg game. I consider Mana Khemia 2 to
be an underrated JRPG game for 2009. You don't expect much from it due to the
lack of hype and game expectation but in the end, you just end up loving it. This
is clearly the best rpg game on the Playstation 2 in 2009.
STORY
"Give us your Mana now!"
"You think you can beat me?"
For the last few years the Al-Revis Academy has been in decline with quality teachers and student enrollments. Once known as the greatest alchemy institute for producing the greatest alchemists in the world, the school now faces financial hard times and looking to restructure to find a way to make a profit. To make things worst, Manas around the world have slowly started disappearing resulting in a decrease of mana power and interest in alchemy from students. To help boost up alchemy class enrollments for the year, Principal Zeppel has invited former student, Flay, to be Vice Principal to help boost interest in the school. A new school year is about to begin under a new Vice Principal with new classes to help bring interest back into the Al-Revis Academy. Under this new school year, two new students have decided to enroll with their friends. Raze, a boy servant, who has to enroll because his master, Lily, decided to take up alchemy. And Ulrika, a country girl, who's enrolling in the school in hopes of finding out more about her mana egg that she has been raising for the last 10 years. They both have their own campus life, friends, classes, and adventures. Find out more about their adventures in Mana Khemia 2, Fall of Alchemy.
The first thing you'll notice about the story is that since this is a school rpg story, there's not much of a plot here since the entire story is mainly about students taking classes and trying to graduate at the end of the school year. This isn't your typical rpg storyline about a hero journeying on an adventure to save the world from a big bad villain. The only traveling you'll do is venturing out to gather some stuff for class assignments, so without a saving the world objective, the story plotline kinds of end up being flat to none existent. However the good news is that despite a lack of a plotline, the story is actually very interesting, funny and entertaining. The set up of the rpg story kinds of remind me of the Seinfeld tv show where it's a show about nothing but yet ends up being funny and entertaining as hell. This is due to the interesting characters in the Seinfeld show and their ability to make something funny out of nothing. And this is what the rpg storyline is about. An rpg story about nothing that ends up being totally funny and entertaining all the way to near the end due to the characters. It's the funny odd ball and yet entertaining way that the teachers act toward their students and the odd ball assignments that they hand out to the students to the way the students react to these assignments and to the their teachers that make this story so funny. The interaction between the teachers and students are just hilarious and are the major selling point of this story. Not only that but the odd ball way that classmates and friends act toward one another that makes it funny too. For almost the entire storyline I couldn't stop laughing. I was entertained from beginning to nearly the end of the game even when there's no real objective and story plotline here. You would think a story with no real plot would be bad but it's so good. The colorful characters made this story in this game. The only downside is that the story had to end at one point and since there was no real plotline for most of the story as you're spending all your school year doing class assignments, they sort of just threw in some silly meaningless boss fights at the end of each main character storyline to try and find a way to end the game and story. You can tell that the ending was kind of pointless and meaningless once you finish the game and wonder what the real point of that boss fight is. And the many possible character endings are kind of pointless too with just a small dialogue with an artwork attach to it. They would be better off just leaving out the character ending. But this is a problem when you have a story that doesn't really have a plot and an objective like with most rpg storyline. You need to find some way to try and end it. And the best they could come up with was throwing in a silly meaningless boss fight that really didn't have any real effect to the story at all. That's the only real complaint though about the story is the crappy meaningless ending in each main character scenario. However the good part is that if you finish the Extra Scenario gameplay after winning a pointless extra boss battle, the story comes to a better conclusion with the students graduating from the Academy. The Extra Scenario ending gave a better closure to the entire game and storyline. This is one of those rare rpg story that really made me laugh out loud so many times.
Score 9/10
CHARACTERS
"This picture for the school yearbook?"
The biggest difference between this sequel and the first one is the characters in the game. The characters in the first game were a bit just above average with nothing too special. They were a good group of characters but they didn't leave you with any lasting impression. Things sure are different in this game and all for the better. You have new characters and returning characters in this direct sequel. Since the story takes place a few years after the first game, the returning characters are much older now. There are only 3 returning characters though and they are Zeppel, the principal, Tony, and Flay. Tony and Flay are former students who are now all grown up and being employed by the school as a teacher and vice principal. The returning characters are just supporting characters in this game but they sure are great supporting characters giving you many laughs. As for new characters there are 12 of them. The new characters themselves are broken down into 2 groups evenly base on the 2 main character scenarios and the 2 different workshop groups. The 2 main characters are Raze and Ulrika. Each of the 2 main characters run their own workshop group and have their own story that intertwine together to make one big story. And with each workshop are group of classmates and supporting characters for the main characters. Now this is where the game really shines. Individually none of the characters really stand out alone but together in a group they are one of the best memorable groups around. It's the way they interact with one another that makes them memorable. They insult each other and they do things that make them funny. You may think that a group of characters that are made up of goofballs and misfits wouldn't be great but for some reason there's this special chemistry between everyone that make them gel together very well and likeable. It's their likeability that really makes them special. The story does provide each character with a bit of some background developments through their individual character story quests. The main characters are developed nicely as part the overall story in each scenario. But the huge points in this part of the review aren't the character background developments but their personalities and likeability. Great personalities and likeableness are what makes characters interesting with a lasting impression. The only downside here is individually no one really stands out.
Score: 9/10
GRAPHICS
"Look at the colors on the monsters."
When it comes to graphics there's no change here. It's basically the same graphic engine as the first game. You have 2D drawn environments with short 2D sprites for characters. The sprites are design nicely with the anime influence look. The 2D environments are drawn and design beautifully with the right touch of colors used. In fact this game is very colorful and bright that really make this one of the better looking 2D games on the Playstation 2. So from a stand point this really is a nice looking game if you don't consider 2D graphics as a negative. Even magic spells and skills are pretty impressive to watch for how simple they done. The only minor change is the character artworks. The change is more in the style of the manga artwork due to a different artist drawing these characters. Personally the new style on the character artworks from the new artist isn't as good as the ones drawn in the first game. But that's more of my own personal preference. Some players may like this newer artist for this game than the artist used in the first game. Overall, same graphics as the first game so same score as the first game.
Score: 7/10
MUSIC
"What's everyone listening to?"
The game soundtrack boasts over 60 musical scores that are a mix of original scores from the first game and new musical scores for this game. This is a nice blend of tracks for gamers to listen to and enjoy. With 2 Mana Khemia games now, this is now considered a series and the defining musical track for this series is Ringing Bell of Hope that you hear at the start of the school year in both games. In this sequel, you are slowly starting to be able to identify the music with the game which is a good thing. Every time you are able to identify the music with a game than it means the music is starting to have a lasting effect on you. All of the musical scores are left in their original Japanese version which is really nice. The musical scores are broken into various categories of class assignments, dungeons, locations, alchemy, and battles. You can listen to all 60+ musical scores in the Extra menu. This is a good soundtrack that is enjoyable as you play the game but nothing really outstanding overall. The game is still missing a couple of good theme songs but for the kind of game it is, it's not really needed since this is only a comedy rpg game. The voice acting is good although a bit too familiar since these are the same voice actors used in other NIS rpg games.
Score: 8/10
GAMEPLAY
"Err, by the power of Grayskull?"
"My Finishing Strike is cool?"
Game Information
Genre: Traditional RPG
Publisher: NIS America
Disc: 1 DVD Disc
Memory: 350 KB
Players: 1 Player Mode
Digital Control: Yes
Analog Control: Yes
Vibration Function: Yes
Rating: Teen
Release: August 2009
When looking at the gameplay, the one thing you'll notice is that the game pretty much runs on the same game engine as the first Mana Khemia. They added some new features but they are minor at best and revamped the aclchemy system a bit but overall it's generally the same thing as the first Mana Khemia game. Returning players can jump right in without needing to read the instruction book or anything. You only need to familiar yourself with the revamp alchemy system. For new players you won't have to worry at all as the learning curve of the gameplay is very easy and the in-game tutorial is excellent. At the start of the gameplay, you get to choose which of the 2 main characters you want to play first in normal or hard mode. Both gameplay scenarios are similar in terms of class assignments but the story is a bit different and taking a different path base on the 2 different workshop groups and characters involved. This keeps the gameplay fresh when you replay the game again on the other main character scenario. The gameplay like with the first game is broken up into school terms for a year. Each school term is broken up into class assignments, free time, and event time. Class assignments usually involve combat, alchemy, and gathering up ingredients base on the teachers. They are fairly easy to do and you should pretty much get an A or B grade for each assignment. If you actually get an F from a class assignment then you should just stop playing rpg games altogether. Class assignments are always group together in a school term so once you finish one class you move onto the next class. After you done all your class assignments and get a passing grade, you move to a free time period. Free time periods are also grouped together and they usually range from 2 to 4 weeks and free time always takes place after class assignments. During free time you can embark of mini character side quests with your party member to get to know them a bit better or you can pick up various jobs to do to gain some extra money. Treat free time period as an extra period where the game allows you to take a break to do some extra leveling, alchemy, and money earning. Once you are done with free time you go into event time. Event time always end the school term to progress the story along so consider event time as story gameplay to move the game to its conclusion. This is all familiar stuff from the first game.
Now when it's time to do a class assignment or an event, you'll need to head out and visit various dungeons or areas. The exploration part of the game is fairly easy and done in a 2D environment. The gameplay is done in a 24 hour setting of day and night so you'll see the environment change according to the time of the day. Like with the first game, monsters at night are more aggressive than during the day. And just like with the first game, you can see the monsters roaming around so you can avoid them if you like but if you get in contact with them a battle will ensue. Red monsters indicate monsters that are on par with your level while blue monsters represent weaker monsters. Exploration of dungeons and areas are very simple and the game really helps you out with a map. If you aren't sure of what to do and where to go than all you need to do is open up the map and on the map will be a bunch of markers indicating various helpful thing including a marker on where you need to go. You got to be a total moron if you have problems on not knowing where to go and what to do. It takes an average of 30 minutes or less to fully explore each area. This keeps the game moving at a good pace.
The battle system for this gameplay is identical to what was used in the first game. You are looking at a simple turn base system using attack, skills, and items as main actions in battle. This is a 6 party system with 3 front line party members for fights with 3 back up party members in supporting roles. The main concept for battles is constantly rotating in your back up party members with your front line party members to do supporting attacks and supporting defense. This allows you to build up your Unite gauge that will send battles in Unite mode. Once in Unite mode, your party members will have increase speed and damage for a limited time. You can also activate new types of special attacks in Unite mode to help finish off enemies and bosses. Returning players should be very familiar with the entire battle system.
All you need to know is that the gameplay is broken up into 3 groups, class assignments, free time, and event time. You keep doing them over and over until the school year is over and the game ends. For now we'll take an in-depth look at the features of the game.
First Strike: This is a nice little new feature for this game. Each time you touch a monster in a dungeon or field, a button mark will pop up displaying one of the 4 possible buttons on the controller. If you are able to press that button in time, you will get the first strike or first turn when battle starts. If you encounter the weaker blue monsters than you can just kill the monsters outright without even entering battle. It's a great way to avoid battles with weaker monsters. Gathering: Like with the first game, you can gather various ingredients from dungeons and fields through fishing, mining, and harvesting. The only difference here in this sequel is that fishing, mining, and harvesting are now done in mini-games to keep things interesting and fun. Skills: Each party member has their own unique set of skills and magic. In addition to their own set of unique skills, they can also gain extra new skills by equipping various different accessories. New unique skills can be unlock from the Grow Book for each party members. Grow Book: The Grow Book system is back for each party member for this game. This is probably the most unique feature in this series. Instead of using a leveling system, Mana Khemia uses a Grow Book system to raise the stats of their fighters. There's actually no leveling in this game because of the Grow Book system. Each party member will have a certain set of alchemy weapons, armors, and accessories attach to their Grow Book. As you synthesize these items through alchemy for the first them, you then unlock these items in the Grow Book. Each of these items will have a certain set of stats boost and skills that can be unlock by distributing a certain number of AP to them. By unlocking these stats boost and skills, you are improving the party member overall stats in the same manner as if they were leveling up without actually leveling up. A very unique system that is addictive to do. Titles: Another nice little feature is the introduction of Titles for your characters. Each unique title a character learn and equip will give that character a nice little extra boost in stats. You unlock new titles by unlocking new alchemy items in a character Grow Book. Bulletin Board: Bulletin Board is where you can assign various alchemy job tasks for each party member during free time. You can also access individual story character quests here too during free time. Bazaar: This little new feature is a neat way to get rid of some alchemy ingredients and items by selling them off at the student store. By selling them through bazaar, they will eventually be made available at regular stores for sale later on. It's a great way to make none purchasable alchemy items purchasable in stores. Alchemy: The alchemy system is back and it's still the biggest feature in this game. You literally will be spending over 20 hours on it. It's actually half of the gameplay trying to unlock all the alchemy items and getting their ether level to 100. The system itself is pretty much the same as the first one where you need to first get the recipe and then get the ingredients before you can synthesize an item. Once you are ready to synthesize, you just need to pick a classmate to be your partner to help you synthesize. Each classmate will have their own unique attribute to the alchemy system to help increase the end result of the item. Like before you have a spinning roulette wheel and all you need to do is stop the wheel at the right element for you to adjust the ether effect of the item being made. The only change in the alchemy system is the introduction of a positive and negative ether level for each ingredient. This positive or negative ether level in each ingredient will allow you to further customize what sort of ether level the item will end up with as a final result. It's not really that complicated once you get the hang of it. Unite Mode: Unite Mode is actually the return of Burst Mode from the first game. It's just called Unite in this sequel for some reason. Once the Unite gauge is filled up, Unite Mode is then activated for a limited time during the fight. While Unite mode is on, all attacks will do greater damage and party members speed are increased. In addition to those, you can activate several special moves that are only available in Unite mode. Intimate Strike: Intimate Strike is a special combo move between 2 party members during Unite Mode. It can only be activated when Unite mode is on and there has to be 2 back up supporting party members ready to be switched into the front line. It's actually a combo move between a front line party member and back up supporting party members, hence why it can only be activated when there are 2 back up party members ready to be switched into the front line during attack turns. Intimate Guard: Intimate Guard works in the same way as Intimate Strike but the difference here is that you are switching in back up party members during a defensive support. While Intimate Strike is an offensive co-op combo move, Intimate Guard is a defensive support combo move that provides defensive boost to front line party members. Finishing Strike: This is the finishing special move that each character has in this game. It's the same as the Final Burst move from the first game but they are now calling it Finishing Strike for this sequel. You can only activate Finishing Strike in Unite Mode and the Finishing Strike gauge need to be full at that time. Once activated, Finishing Strike does amazing damage and is very pretty to watch.
The only negative things you can say about the gameplay are that it's a bit too easy even in hard mode, doesn't really offer anything substantially new into the gameplay, and it's a bit of an open ended type of game that may leave some gamers feeling a bit of none accomplishment after finishing the game. Even though I may list the gameplay not offering anything new as a possible negative, it doesn't really necessary mean the overall gameplay is bad because the rehash gameplay is still very fun to play. As the saying goes, "if it's not broken than don't fix it." As for the feelings that some gamers get of none accomplishment after finishing the game, that can be expected from this type of game. This isn't exactly the typical save the world rpg gameplay here. You're not going on a quest or adventure to save the world from destruction or anything of that sort. This is a school rpg type of gameplay and the main goal of the gameplay from beginning to end is just to graduation from school. And graduating from school isn't as exciting as saving the world from an evil villain so the feeling of finally accomplishing something after traveling around the world for over 40 hours of gameplay won't be here for most gamers. Even if this game isn't build around the concept of a long adventure around the world doesn't mean it's not an overall rpg gaming experience. The positives from this gameplay are still greater than the minor negatives from it. You get about 40 hours of rpg gaming from each main character scenario. If you play both character scenarios you will rack up 80+ hours of gameplay. The in-game tutorial is very good and ease you into the game very quickly. Returning players can jump in without missing a beat which is always very good. The game is always there in directing you on where to go and what needs to be done. This is very helpful as it cuts down the need for a walkthrough or you having to go look for help if you are stuck. The alchemy system may be revamped a little but it's still very addictive and a major part of the overall gameplay. Trying to create all the alchemy items and unlocking all the skills from each alchemy item in the Grow Book is just plain fun for some reason. The flow of the game is very good and in a fast pace that keeps you going that you don't lose interest or get too bored with the game. They kept dungeon exploring and class assignments in short spurt that helps speed up the pacing of the game. You may end up with 40 hours of gameplay but it doesn't feel like 40 hours of gameplay which is always good. You don't want gamers to feel exhausted by the end of the game like some rpg games. The battle system maybe base around a simple turn base system but it's a very active fast pace system. Rotating characters in and out of battles and activating Unite Mode and Intimate Strikes makes battles fun and interactive. With great characters and an enjoyable funny storyline complimenting the gameplay, you'll have an overall fun experience playing this game. The gameplay really does provide you with a good rpg adventure without offering you the typical long adventure quest of saving the world. It's not a perfect deep gameplay system but it does what is needed to make a game great and fun.
Score: 8/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
"You want to fight me as an extra boss?"
Game extras come in the form of various jobs that you can take during Free Time events in the game. All jobs comes in 2 types, Bring Me and Help Me. Bring Me are jobs that requires you to make a specific kind of alchemy item for a client. Once you made the item than all you need to do is delivery them to the client for a money reward. Help Me are jobs that requires you to kill sub bosses to receive the money reward. These jobs aren't very hard to do and don't really take a lot of time but there are many of them. Like with any extra feature you can just skip doing them and it won't have any effect on the overall game. Jobs are the only thing in-game extras for Mana Khemia 2.
Now there are 2 reasons to replay the game again after the first play through. The first reason is that once you finish playing one of the main character scenarios, you can restart and play the other main character scenario. Even though it's a replay, it's also a new game because playing the other scenario you actually get a new storyline to go through. You also get access to some dungeons and areas that the other main character didn't have. In fact you won't be able to finish off the entire alchemy chart unless you play through both main character scenarios. The good part about replaying the game again on a different main character is that you get to keep your money, recipes, and alchemy items that you had already unlocked on the first play through. This makes the replay much easier and faster. The second reason to replay the game again is that once you finish both main character storylines, you will unlock an extra scenario to play with. Think of it as a bonus scenario that help end the game story a bit more properly and allow you to finish up your Grow Book charts for all the characters. The game may not have an overall in-depth feeling when it comes to in-game extras but the extra scenario that is available after completing both main characters gameplay is enough to satisfy you with an overall feeling of completeness when it comes to finishing off the game. The game also has an Extra menu where you can view all the game artworks and listen to the game soundtrack.
Score: 9/10
Once there was a time where there were so many rpgs coming out each year for the Playstation 2 that picking and choosing which rpgs to buy was a hard decision since not every buyer has the money to buy all the upcoming rpg games. Well those days seem to be gone now as 2009 barely had any rpg games for the Playstation 2. The Playstation 2 itself is on its last legs as most of the focus has now shifted to the Playstation 3 generation. But for rpg fans that still haven't moved onto the Playstation 3 yet and still want a new rpg game for their Playstation 2 than Mana Khemia 2 is a must buy game. Even if you've never played the first Mana Khemia game, you can still pick up this game and enjoy it without missing a beat despite Mana Khemia 2 being a direct sequel. The game may not "wow" you with its 2D graphics and basic rpg gameplay but it will provide you with a great entertaining time with a good funny story and great characters. In fact Mana Khemia 2 is a perfect example on why having great characters in an rpg game is so important. As a returning player of the first Mana Khemia, I wasn't really too impress with the entire game basically being a rehash of the first game but despite that I had a great time with lots of laughs from this game. The characters made this game great. If you've played the first Mana Khemia game than you definitely want to pick this game up. If you're an rpg fan who like to take a break from the more serious saving the world rpg games and just want to have a good time than this comedy rpg game is for you. And that's what Mana Khemia 2 is, a great comedy rpg game. It won't be a blockbuster video game but it's a nice low budget comedy game that put the "fun" back into video game.
