Gravity Rush 2 is responsible for it's own lack of success

[psychedelic]

And it pains me to say that. It just isn't a very good game. I was so impressed by the first one that it convinced me to purchase the sequel right away, even though some folks over here warned me about it when I made a thread to generate opinion on it a number of months ago.

I thought to myself, just how bad could it possibly be? It looks and plays the same, after all. I was even willing to accept a lesser version of the first game, thinking that maybe the sequel didn't take too many risks and kept the same formula. That would have been fine too.

Sadly, now I understand why it's such a disappointment. It is severely held back by terrible, barely acceptable, flawed mission design. Unfortunately, over the course of two games, the developers just couldn't figure out the proper mission structure for these games and it hurts the sequel even more due to it's greater ambition. I feel like the tools were always there for two remarkably great superhero games here, but devs never really understood how to utilize the best aspects of the game and translate them properly into story missions. They never found the right brush to paint Gravity Rush.

Instead of being a cool superhero, I'm doing stealth missions where I feel like I'm walking on eggshells due to insta fail mechanics. The game is so insecure about me talking a step in a direction that it doesn't approve of, that it decides to punish me by being needlesdly strict and tight (you have to avoid that one guard the way we want you to avoid him!).

Idk what they were thinking and after trying to comprehend that mission with hackable robots, I have given up on this game.

It's a shame. There are definitely some nice side missions which focus more on the story rather than poor gameplay choices, but it isn't enough.

Did anyone else feel the same way?

 

[Marble]

I only played a few hours last week and I'm not far, but so far I'm having a blast. Gameplay is really fun and shifting never get's old.

 

[IDontBeatGames]

This thread probably won't end well with how many people on ERA advocate for this game.

 

[Moara]

It's a quirky game with some problems, but it's not like Sony promoted it at all. I loved it regardless.

 

[texhnolyze]

I dropped it somewhere in the middle of the first big city, and never had the chance to go back to the game.

 

[Brandon]

It was actually the non-existent marketing.

Gravity Rush 2 is a good game.

 

[Oreiller]

I like the game but I totally agree about its mission design. It's like they have fantastic systems in place but they didn't know what to do with them. It's still a really charming game though.

 

[Deleted member 23158]

I only played the first and I really wanted to like it, as I love the characters and settings. The core mechanic just isn't enough to sustain a full game imo.

 

[Thebeast!]

Gravity rush 2 sucks. I finished the first one and never finished 2. And now most likely dead

 

[Iori Loco]

I felt the same way. For a game all about traversal it is very restrictive and it's a shame because using gravity to "fly" around is the best thing about the game but it doesn't takes advantage of it in any way. Exploration is pointless, unrewarding and never incentivized, the moment you stray off the path they want you to go just a bit you get forced into the correct path; mission design is frustrating, slow and uninventive; combat is tedious, you never feel strong and the enemies are still boring as hell.

The presentation is nice, the music is great, the characters are alright but, to me, it wasn't enough to sustain the insuferable gameplay.

 

[Eolz]

To criticize mission design you need to buy and play the game first.
The issue is the latter, not the former. Sony sent it to die, and killed it completely a year later.

 

[Kapryov]

I still consider the game to be fantastic, as flawed as it is. At least the art and soundtrack are perfect. If only they didn't have that weird kitchen-sink approach to mission design the series would be a little better off. There was so much you could do with the powers they give you, but they make you throw frisbees for dogs or pack luggage or race seagulls, and that's when they're not just outright taking your powers away.

Regarding the awful stealth missions comment, I don't think they are actually real stealth missions at all and really should not have been included. The game doesn't seem to have stealth mechanics, it will not allow you to be creative in how you finish the mission, it expects you to follow the set "safe" path it has designated. That's it. It's best if people that play the game just look up how to finish these just to get through them.

Despite all the frustration though, I still love the game.
I wish that third act wasn't rushed, it really needed to be its own full game. So much work put into areas you barely see. Thinking about this series just makes me sad now.

But oh yeah that soundtrack. Godly.

 

[joshcam19]

Disagree. It's one of the most underrated games of the generation.

 

[mrglcs]

I agree with you. The game felt like a chore to me, yet I still got the platinum since I loved the movement mechanics. I think I had a lot more fun in the first game on Vita.

 

[Dullahan]

Disagree. It's one of the most underrated games of the generation.

Click to shrink...

This

 

[VodkaFX]

I probably sound like a broken tape recorder at this point, but yes this game is bad, if it was on sale it might worth it for some. Unfortunately I paid full price on launch and I am still quite pissed.

The first game was ok, played it on both vita and the remastered version. The second game feels like the team didn't really know how to fully utilize the open world areas. And holy shit the camera is one of the worst I have ever come across in a game.

Spoiler

The enclosed area where you get the Jupiter style power, no fucking idea how it passed playtesting if any, because it induces motion sickness real quick due to how the camera jumps all over the place.

Really wanted to drop the game at that point, had to 'force' through the remaining of the game since I was still kinda interested in the story. Stopped immediately once I finished the game and never touched it since.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

-Bad mission design
-Plot that resolves nothing, and raises more questions than it answers
-Combat is still very poor
-Terrible boss design

My most disappointing game of 2017, and it was the one I was most hyped for. I love the first game (warts and all) but this did not feel like a sequel they spent nearly 5 years on.

 

[Violet1370]

Gravity Rush 2 was really frustrating in many ways so ill probably never replay it... I adored the first game and replayed it many times so it was disappointing to see how the second game turned out.

At least everything else was as good as the first game for the most part.

 

[monmagman]

Other than the stealth missions I'm not sure why if anyone enjoyed the first they wouldn't enjoy 2.It felt like more of the same to me.

 

[danmaku]

I only played the first and I really wanted to like it, as I love the characters and settings. The core mechanic just isn't enough to sustain a full game imo.

Click to shrink...

This. It looks great but the mechanics get old very fast and it doesn't even have a good story to keep things going.

 

[Ferrs]

The ruins/challenge areas are also vastly inferior of GR1 areas, and the new mining stuff doesn't really add much.

Overall I liked the game, but it was a step down from the first game other than combat and graphics.

 

[oni-link]

I loved it, but I can see why some people didn't

It has flaws and some parts are frustrating (the insta fail stealth) etc

It's a really charming game and it's fun to just move around. I loved the world and the characters and how slice of life a lot of the side content was. It was a really fun game to just relax to after work

It's not a 10/10 but it's a good game, and it's a shame we probably won't see a sequel

 

[hikarutilmitt]

I feel like its only true flaw was that movement felt sluggish, even compared to the first game. The mission designs didn't bother me but they could have maybe been more varied in the way you tackle them.

 

[The_Ultima]

To criticize mission design you need to buy and play the game first.
The issue is the latter, not the former. Sony sent it to die, and killed it completely a year later.

Click to shrink...

C´mon, I was about to post the same lol

Yeah, basically this. The mission design is the worst aspect of this decent game. But pretty much nobody talked about these flaws because nobody bought the game. And nobody bought the game because there simply was no interest. There was no interest becuase SONY did not bother to market it properly since they thought it was too niche and not worth it probably, who knows.

 

[Knight in Shining Armani]

Stealth with auto-fail has never and will never be fun.

 

[Mendrox]

Mission design is the worst. GR2 is a bad game. Save Kat from her own series.

 

[Necron]

Only played the first one on the Vita.

 

[Green Mario]

Overall, I enjoyed the game, but the stealth missions and Jupiter Style almost made me drop it a couple of times.

 

[WarpSpeedMolasses]

Sorry to maybe derail but does this game support VR in any capacity? Cause that seems like it'd be incredible.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

I love these games in spite of themselves. Yeah, the mission design is atrocious in both but it was less annoying in 1 due to the smaller scope.
They had so many great ideas, it's a shame. They needed someone like Miyamoto to come in and tell them to get rid of the bullshit.

Not the reason why it failed commercially though.

 

[hersheyfan]

I'm a big fan of the first Gravity Rush, I own it on both Vita and PS4. I bought the limited edition Gravity Rush 2 at launch with the extra blu-ray show on it... and whew. I've hadn't been quite as disappointed with a game in a while - the game literally put me to sleep on several occasions. Very much a case of style over substance, the game looks amazing, and the cast is endearing, but the gameplay is just eugh. I hope to someday muster the motivation to force my way through the rest of the game, but that wont be any time soon.

 

[Lord Azrael]

It's a real shame because the game has some great movement mechanics. I loved the lunar and Jupiter styles they introduced. But everything that actually involves playing the main story is a slog. Although it's always weird to me to see people complain about these things in the second game but excuse the first, because I think these problems were present in both.

 

[rude]

The combat is absolutely unbearable. I like everything else about it though.

 

[Voxels]

Horrible camera controls, poor mission structure, poor convoluted story. It had a rough development cycle. Can't push a game that had soo many flaws. I say this and I love the game...

 

[cowbanana]

I agree, sadly. I loved the first game, played it on Vita and again on PS4. The sequel is visually gorgeous, truly stunningly beautiful, but I can't say that I really enjoyed the gameplay and overall mission structure. There were a few good missions but a lot of them were a complete drag, as was the slow story at times. The visuals, and parts of the story, carried me through to the end, but only because I was stubborn and wanted to see Cat's story through.

 

[Mediking]

psychedelic Agreed. Gravity Rush 2 isn't fun and very disappointing. The side missions are trash.

Gravity Rush 1 is top tier though.

 

[Kapryov]

Is there anything specific you guys found so wrong with the gameplay and movement in GR2 vs GR1?

I replayed all of GR1 remastered before 2, even finishing the last DLC mission right before jumping straight into the sequel. It felt great and combat was much smoother. What am I missing?

 

[Voxels]

Is there anything specific you guys found so wrong with the gameplay and movement in GR2 vs GR1?

I replayed all of GR1 remastered before 2, even finishing the last DLC mission right before jumping straight into the sequel. It felt great and combat was much smoother. What am I missing?

Click to shrink...

The camera and how the missions failed to utilize them.

 

[Intel_89]

- Mission design is flawed on top of the game having bad stealth missions and several forced tutorials
- The soundtrack is overall quite pleasing but for whatever reason if made me feel sleepy most of the time
- The story made no sense and not in a charming way

I still liked GR2 though.

 

[Atolm]

They're really mediocre games with outstanding art design and music, and charming characters. It's sad but that's how it is.

The series flaws aren't too noticeable in 1 because it's a really short game, but man, does 2 drag forever and ever. Fuck the dog-frisbee launching mission.

I bought it at launch and it's one of the very few games I've dropped in the past ten years.

 

[maouvin]

Yeah, the insta-fail stealth missions shouldn't be there. Some guards had 360º vision I swear.

But other than those (and the "Behind the Scenes I" side mission) I found the game really enjoyable. Flawed of course, but still. The little bits of Kat's personality each side mission gave, added to the sillyness of most, was enough for me to get past the shortcomings of their design/gimmicks (speaking only for the side missions, since most of the story missions were fine).

I still go back from time to time just to superman around in lunar style, take pics and just pay attention to the little details in the floating cities (and I still have to Platinum, but I keep fucking around instead). Of course, losing the online activities did cut some of the reasons to revisit.

But since we shall never see another GR game again, please give me some other media to answer all thenew question the game brought please.

Sorry to maybe derail but does this game support VR in any capacity? Cause that seems like it'd be incredible.

Click to shrink...

Nope. Well, you can play it on first person but it's not the same since you wouldn't be able to move the camera with your head.

 

[Mitsurugi]

Gravity Rush 2 is a good game :)

 

[citrusred]

I enjoyed Gravity Rush 2 but its still very flawed despite improving on the original in a lot of ways. The photo sharing missions that got shut down were probably the best part of it to be honest.

 

[AllMight1]

i figured you were gonna mention the stealth part, but you make it sound like u got to that side mission and just stopped playing.
Go do the main missions, they're good.

 

[leng jai]

It's impressively unfun to actually play and that's coming from someone who finished the first game. I gave up at around chapter 11 and never came back. The camera, controls and mission design were all way too tedious.

 

[FelipeMGM]

I think it's a good game that indeed gets botched by the mission design sometimes. The nature (of the awesome) gameplay doesn't match tight corridors and stealth missions at all

 

[sinonobu]

To criticize mission design you need to buy and play the game first.
The issue is the latter, not the former. Sony sent it to die, and killed it completely a year later.

Click to shrink...

Couldn't say any better myself.

The game is not for everyone but not like anyone bought it to begin with.

 

[spartan112g]

Platinumed the first Gravity Rush and was my favorite Vita game. Gravity Rush 2 was my most disappointing game of 2017. That game felt uninspired and boring. Completely agree with the mission structure being terrible. I wouldn't even recommend it to my friends. I just tell them to play the first one.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Both games are rough diamonds.

Spoiler

Still diamonds, though.

 

[Shoozle]

While I did not like the first that much, and disliked the second even more because of the awful story missions, I do remember Sony did not show a trailer at E3, yet put out a trailer 20 minutes after their conference ended. Fuck Sony for doing that, this is the best time to make people aware of this game, but I guess it just wasn't good enough to show a 1:34 long trailer at their conference.

It still pisses me off to this day.