FAIRY TAIL 2 Review - Screenshot 1 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

A few years ago, Gust Studios—the popular Atelier RPG factory—decided to do something a little different by putting out a licensed RPG adaptation of the Fairy Tail anime and manga. It wasn’t a particularly great game, but it wasn’t too bad either, and it obviously did well enough with its audience that a sequel was greenlit. With Fairy Tail 2, we’re pleased to say that Gust has crafted an overall stronger RPG, although it also makes many of the same mistakes its predecessor did.

Fairy Tail 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first game, and centres mostly on an adaptation of the climactic Alvarez arc. We say 'adaptation' here because the developers took a lot of liberties in changing the story from its original telling—fans may be divided over the tweaks and omissions here, but it overall still feels like a consistent and interesting story, albeit one that will appeal most to longtime fans.

FAIRY TAIL 2 Review - Screenshot 2 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Essentially, this is the final chapter of the Fairy Tail guild’s original journey, and here the guild must rally to repel an invasion from a rival empire comprised of hundreds of guilds of powerful mages hellbent on the “extinction” of the people of Fiore. Once the Alvarez arc is complete, there’s then a completely original arc written just for this release that acts as an epilogue of sorts to the main events.

One notable area where the plot stumbles, however, is in its pacing. This starts right in the middle of a big conflict and it rarely takes its foot off the gas to allow scenes to breathe and to give you a reason to care. Because there’s so much ground to cover in the Alvarez arc, it often feels like Fairy Tail 2 is sprinting from plot point to point, frequently leaning on clumsy, heavy-handed exposition and ‘as you know’ statements where characters recall information they obviously don’t need to be reminded of. There’s certainly no issue with the story being coherent, then, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

However, though not directly related to the plot development, one aspect of the storytelling that feels done especially well is the Fairy Tail Diaries mode. Quite similar to the popular ‘Skits’ from the Tales series, these little fireside vignettes provide brief glimpses into small-scale interactions between team members that range from goofy to sincere, and you unlock new ones all the time. Though they’re largely disconnected from the main plot, we appreciated how these scenes highlight the connection between characters that the main story lacks; if the central storyline were to slow the pace and focus more on exploring relationships and motivations, the big set piece moments it constantly throws at you would have a lot more emotional heft.

Gameplay follows a more wide-linear structure here that reminded us a bit of Dragon Quest XI, wherein you explore sizeable zones littered with enemies, treasure caches, landmarks, and sidequests. Though the maps feel a little more reined in than the epic, open vistas in any of the Xenoblade games, exploration still feels worthwhile and interesting as you scour areas for goodies to help give your team an extra edge. Plus, as you add more members to your team in anticipation of the big final fight, you’ll access more field skills and abilities to overcome barriers, which gives you an incentive to occasionally return to earlier areas and snag everything.

FAIRY TAIL 2 Review - Screenshot 4 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Combat has received an overhaul since the last entry, replacing the rote turn-based battles with a more ATB-esque system, similar to what Gust has used for the last few Atelier games. Each combatant has an action bar that, once filled, allows them to make a move and enemies won’t wait for you to make your choice, which incentivises snap decision-making. Your selected character can always use up to three basic attacks (initially), and you gain some SP for your character each time one connects. This can then be spent on a special attack, and you can either chain together multiple special attacks or repeatedly use a powered-up version of the same one for a gradually rising SP cost.

Repeatedly hitting an enemy with special attacks decreases the enemy’s Break bar, and once that runs out, they’ll become stunned and you’ll have the option to trigger a flashy special with one of your party members on the field. There are other supplementary features—such as supporting guest characters or a powerful ‘Awakening’ limit break state—which grant you even more tools to even the odds and bury your foes.

Though different in many ways, this new combat system is overall an improvement on its predecessor. The real-time elements and the ability to either take control of your two other party members on the field or tag in someone on the bench with the tap of a button lends battles a much more dynamic feel as you carefully consider things like combo timings and elemental weaknesses. We appreciated that there’s a momentum you build, especially in the longer battles, wherein there are always sub-objectives to shoot for that maximise the pain you inflict if you manage your resources wisely. The system is constantly putting pressure on you to move and act, but not in a way that makes you feel too off-balance or overwhelmed.

FAIRY TAIL 2 Review - Screenshot 5 of 5
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

After battles are over, character progression is handled via a relatively simple skill tree system, with points from levelling up to allocate to either new skills or flat stat upgrades and previously unlocked skills. Each character has three skill trees and while we enjoyed the opportunity to have some leeway in how each character develops, this skill tree system is a little too weak and surface-level for its own good. There’s no palpable sense of your characters feeling any stronger after unlocking a few more nodes, and it feels like the skill tree is here more out of obligation than contributing meaningfully to the gameplay loop. Still, there’s a certain base level of satisfaction from the ‘number-go-up’ effect of the game telling you that your party is getting stronger, and sometimes that’s just enough.

As for visuals and performance, Fairy Tail 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. The art style expertly emulates the visuals from the anime and it looks pretty solid—especially in handheld mode—as long as you don’t look too closely. Though the models are expertly drawn and animated, the environments themselves are rife with splotchy shadows and muddy low-res textures, which gives things a much cheaper feeling.

This is then worsened by the performance, with a frame rate that can be all over the place—most obviously when you run too fast in any direction and the engine struggles to keep up. Fairy Tail 2 is certainly far from the most hideous or poorly performing RPG on Switch, but it doesn’t fit terribly well on the hardware.

Conclusion

Though it’s an improvement on its predecessor, Fairy Tail 2 is still the epitome of a middle-of-the-road licensed game. It doesn’t do anything exceptionally great or innovative, nor does it have any issues or shortcomings that significantly drag it down. Despite poor plot pacing, shallow mechanics, and some lacklustre performance, the lively combat system, rewarding exploration, and heartwarming character interactions ultimately make this one worthwhile. We’d recommend Fairy Tail 2 to franchise fans who played the previous RPG, though newcomers should be more wary of jumping straight in. It isn’t a ‘run out and buy it immediately’ release, but you likely won’t be disappointed if or when you do get around to it.

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