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

[chrominance]

There are definitely missions that I think are terrible, though I don't remember any of the stealth ones. The missions I'm thinking of are the ones where they take away your powers for various reasons: the side mission where you have to escape adoring fans in crowds of people, or the ones where you're the stunt double in a movie and you have to make ridiculous jumps in a very specific way without letting on that you're actually a superhero that could do all that stuff in their sleep.

But sometimes I play games where those kinds of missions are all I can remember and I despise the game for it, and sometimes I play games where I remember the pain but it dims against the brilliance of all the stuff I loved about it. Gravity Rush 2, for me, falls into the latter camp.

 

[Kongroo]

I've said this before but Gravity Rush 2 may the game I want to love the most but don't. The game looks and feels amazing. It's a damn shame that in both Gravity Rush 1 and 2 they never give the player anything meaningful to do. Everything feels like filler (aside from the excellent epilogue in 2)

I platinumed both games to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I really feel like Team Gravity is always on the cusp of making all timer but instead make wonderful worlds that feel like a chore to play through.

 

[Virtua Sanus]

Sony's dreadful marketing is a factor for sure, but oftentimes brilliant games can shine through terrible marketing and grow on their own merits. Valkyria Chronicles is a great example of this.

I absolutely adore every little single thing about both Gravity Rush games, especially the sequel... Except actually playing them. The aesthetics and world are fantastic, the soundtrack is brilliant (as expected from Kohei Tanaka) and some of the movement can be fun, but the mission structure, the absolutely outrageously poor combat, the annoying controls and the severe lack of polish keeps me from being able to enjoy them for even a very short period of time. I loved the online treasure hunts and general online features in 2 but those are all gone now.

I would love to see a Gravity Rush 3 partially developed by Sucker Punch. I think the teams could really help complete one another if they worked together.

 

[Viale]

Nah, second one has its missteps but is notably better than the first one in my opinion. Story is better, the more options helps a lot, and the controls, while still janky at times, worked a lot better than the first one, at least for me they did.

It's also just a gorgeous game. Love its art style.

 

[LossAversion]

Seems like you either love it or you hate it.

Cool people love it though. ;)

 

[Kerozinn]

At some point in GR2 i didnt even bother with any side missions anymore.
The price of GR2 is also a reason why it failed.

 

[mute]

I found it disappointing as well, compared to the first game. I don't think the world lived up to the promise of the art.

I don't really get the stealth mission hate though, that was fine for me.

 

[The Spoony Hou]

I loooooove the game, but it's poopy. I wish it wasn't an exclusive.

 

[Korigama]

It was actually the non-existent marketing.

Gravity Rush 2 is a good game.

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Nah, second one has its missteps but is notably better than the first one in my opinion. Story is better, the more options helps a lot, and the controls, while still janky at times, worked a lot better than the first one, at least for me they did.

It's also just a gorgeous game. Love its art style.

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This is how I see it, even in acknowledging the excessive amount of stealth missions mixed in with everything else.

 

[Oklusion]

I liked both but I think GR 2 suffers of bad mission design and general lack of polish.

My theory is that the director was not very good at handling the larger team that came with the higher budget: Instead of saying no when something didn't work it was just left there, that's why the game has so many ups and downs.

Also IMO the fact that the story was so dependant of the first one hurt it quite a bit. I only played GR 1 remaster and played GR 2 as soon as it came out and I still had problems recalling all the references to the first game.

 

[Courage]

If we can praise Rockstar games in spite of their bad mission design, we can do the same with Gravity Rush 2

 

[Gerwant]

I loooooove the game, but it's poopy. I wish it wasn't an exclusive.

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You wish that a game made by a 1st party Sony Japan Studio (can't get more 1st party than that) wasn't exclusive? Like... what? :D

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Oops forgot about this. Is it still on sale?

 

[Korigama]

Oops forgot about this. Is it still on sale?

Click to shrink...

Not for as low as the last time, but $13.99 right now with an extra 10% off with PS+.

 

[Luckett_X]

Gravity Rush Remastered is a great game with a focus on its gravity defying powers.
Gravity Rush 2 is a bad game with a seemingly complete lack of focus.

Certainly one of my biggest disappointments in a while. It feels like the dev team made a series of tech demos and cobbled them together to make a full game rather than ever planning a cohesive whole. The new powers are just there and never utilised meaningfully, the new spread-out environments never match the originals varied city or even the Navi levels. The missions feel like they were designed by someone back in the PS1 era just coming to terms with 3D games, and the story is all over the shop.

Graphically its great, the music is ace, but any actual game design on this feels like an afterthought.

 

[Deleted member 16365]

Gravity Rush had a terrible camera but I was willing to forgive it because I was playing on the Vita. The PS4 remaster did too, and I was willing to forgive it because it was the same game and I couldn't expect them to fix something so major in an upres.

GR2 having the same camera issues was unforgivable.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Not for as low as the last time, but $13.99 right now with an extra 10% off with PS+.

Click to shrink...

I'll pass for now, then. Backlog is long enough as it is.

 

[Sheepinator]

It's always going to be an uphill struggle for a sequel to succeed on a platform where the previous version isn't available and most people don't own the previous platform.

I can see the issues people cite about GR2, but overall I still enjoyed it and I ended up fully completing both games. The stealth was horrible but thankfully there isn't much of it. The new gravity styles were more novelty than necessary. The combat was still repetitive however at least they beefed up the stasis throw so that combat wasn't only about the gravity kick. The art and music are excellent. It's still a good overall package, especially for the price. It's a lot larger than the first game and it took me about 3 times as long to complete, except it did outstay its welcome for sure and could have done with less padding. For newcomers I'd recommend starting with GRR and then seeing how much they want more after that.

Despite some valid complaints, both games are still unique and memorable and deserved to do better.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

I dunno what to think about GR2.

I LOVED GR1 and it alone made my Vita purchase worth it. But 2, I dunno...it has some good moments but the bad parts are really terrible.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

Gravity rush 2 is a much better game than 2.

 

[Manu]

I loved it, flaws and all.

 

[riverfr0zen]

I agree with OP, with the caveat that everything else about the game is amazing. I loved traversing that world, it's just so freeing. The graphics are beautiful, the characters are interesting, etc. etc.

Sadly, as OP says, the mission design was abysmal. Irritating, badly paced, badly thought out. I wish that they broken out of that "mission/quest" structure and done more gameplay involving world traversal.

 

[Astral]

Nah it was awesome. The last few battles were a blast.

 

[808s & Villainy]

They brought it over from the Vita presumably to take advantage of the larger popularity of the PS4, but still marketed it as if it were a Vita game (so basically they didn't really)

 

[The Spoony Hou]

You wish that a game made by a 1st party Sony Japan Studio (can't get more 1st party than that) wasn't exclusive? Like... what? :D

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I'm just saying it. It's wishful thinking. Of course, years ago the creator could have made the game under a third party, obviously there's nothing to be done now to fix that.

 

[Korigama]

Gravity Rush Remastered is a great game with a focus on its gravity defying powers.
Gravity Rush 2 is a bad game with a seemingly complete lack of focus.

Certainly one of my biggest disappointments in a while. It feels like the dev team made a series of tech demos and cobbled them together to make a full game rather than ever planning a cohesive whole. The new powers are just there and never utilised meaningfully, the new spread-out environments never match the originals varied city or even the Navi levels. The missions feel like they were designed by someone back in the PS1 era just coming to terms with 3D games, and the story is all over the shop.

Graphically its great, the music is ace, but any actual game design on this feels like an afterthought.

Click to shrink...

This is all complete nonsense to me. Cobbled together tech demos, claims of new powers never being utilized meaningfully, the new environments not matching the far less varied city of the original game or its Nevi levels, "PS1 era" 3D design... yeah, no. A preference or even a tolerance for GR1 with complaints like these couldn't be more incomprehensible.

And nothing about the story is "all over the shop". There are multiple story arcs and each one is concluded before moving onto the next, having been more interesting and with a better cast overall than the first game. The worst thing I can say about it is that it assumes you've played GR1 by the second half of the game.

Gravity Rush had a terrible camera but I was willing to forgive it because I was playing on the Vita. The PS4 remaster did too, and I was willing to forgive it because it was the same game and I couldn't expect them to fix something so major in an upres.

GR2 having the same camera issues was unforgivable.

Click to shrink...

This is a far more reasonable complaint.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Nah, Gravity Rush 2 is an amazing game and much better than the first game. The first game really just devolved into gravity kicking over and over, 2 is bigger and better and more varied and interesting in pretty much every way. I mean, it even has the city from the first game - it kind of makes GR1 obsolete in terms of gameplay.

Your assessment seems to come down entirely to some stealth missions which is just a fraction of the game. The stealth missions are definitely flawed but they aren't as bad as people make them out to be. There's a lot of leniency with the guard's detection range. People blow up the stealth missions like they are the worst thing in the world and it's all you do in the game.

Meanwhile, the game has a charming visual style, a open world that is a blast to traverse with the greater variety of gravity abilities you have. Unlike the first game, combat is fun and varied too. Such an underrated gem.

- The soundtrack is overall quite pleasing but for whatever reason if made me feel sleepy most of the time

Click to shrink...

That's weird, the music is so energetic imo.

 

[Strangelove_77]

I like 2 more than 1 actually.

 

[Luckett_X]

This is all complete nonsense to me. Claims of new powers never being utilized meaningfully, the new environments not matching the far less varied city of the original game or its Nevi levels, "PS1 era" 3D design... yeah, no. A preference or even a tolerance for GR1 with complaints like these couldn't be more incomprehensible.

And nothing about the story is "all over the shop". There are multiple story arcs and each one is concluded before moving onto the next, having been more interesting and with a better cast overall than the first game. The worst thing I can say about it is that it assumes you've played GR2 by the second half of the game.

Click to shrink...

The stealth missions and move junk missions would feel at home in bad superhero PS1 titles. All of the meaningful story is crammed into the games final 'visual novel' chapter. The only time the new powers are utilised are in the ugly looking final dungeon bits switching off your other modes and forcing you to use them.

There's nothing that matches Kat's journey to the bottom of the pillar in 1, no interesting side quests like the temporal ghost couple in 1 and the game seemingly knows it was missing something by [Spoilers for an area midway:]

Spoiler

sending you back to the entirety of Auldnoir

The game has such a weird down-note ending for no reason as well. I never went back to play the Raven DLC because I had had such a bad time with the base game that Gravity Rush was just done for me.

 

[Korigama]

The stealth missions and move junk missions would feel at home in bad superhero PS1 titles. All of the meaningful story is crammed into the games final 'visual novel' chapter. The only time the new powers are utilised are in the ugly looking final dungeon bits switching off your other modes and forcing you to use them.

There's nothing that matches Kat's journey to the bottom of the pillar in 1, no interesting side quests like the temporal ghost couple in 1 and the game seemingly knows it was missing something by [Spoilers for an area midway:]

Spoiler

sending you back to the entirety of Auldnoir

The game has such a weird down-note ending for no reason as well. I never went back to play the Raven DLC because I had had such a bad time with the base game that Gravity Rush was just done for me.

Click to shrink...

Except locations throughout the game have you rely upon the new powers, certainly not just "final dungeon bits" which couldn't be further from ugly (which for some reason you seem to believe are all that far removed from the Nevi levels in GR1, which occasionally took your powers too but left you with nothing), and switching styles depending on enemy type makes combat far more manageable. This also completely ignore side quests requiring specific new powers.

And you're still not naming any of these specific PS1 games you say this reminds you of when making that claim (and I certainly don't recall an abundance of superhero games on PS1).

 

[dancingphlower]

I disliked the first game. The second game felt more fun to play, but I dropped it after the servers went down and I haven't been motivated to come back to it.

 

[Kunka Kid]

Agreed. Love the characters, love the visuals, love the music, love the world.

But damn those missions are a complete mess.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

The only time the new powers are utilised are in the ugly looking final dungeon bits switching off your other modes and forcing you to use them.

Click to shrink...

That's not true. There are rift levels specifically designed around the powers as well as side missions that you need to use them for.

Besides, if you're only using the new powers when the game "forces" you to, then you're doing it wrong. In the first game, your only viable option in combat was gravity kicking over and over and your only viable movement option was basically just shifting in a direction. GR2 gives you a multitude of options in how to move around. It makes the game so much more fun and interesting, especially when you utilize the powers to get better times and clear challenges with more ease.

There's nothing that matches Kat's journey to the bottom of the pillar in 1, no interesting side quests like the temporal ghost couple in 1 and the game seemingly knows it was missing something by [Spoilers for an area midway:]

Click to shrink...

The journey to the bottom of the pillar? You mean where you don't have your powers for half of it and just fall until you hit something and then fall again? The ghost couple thing was interesting but it was hardly a defining part of the game, it never leads anywhere or answers anything. GR2 has plenty of interesting side quests that highlight the characters and the world. Going back to Hekeseville is part of the plot, it wouldn't make sense not to go back. It doesn't make sense to say the game somehow is admitting it's bad by bringing it back, especially when Hekeseville is much better to explore in 2 than in 1.

 

[hydro94530]

I had to struggle to finish this. Whoever decided the sequel needed to be a huge 40 hour affair was way wrong. The game got repetitive and boring way before the halfway point.

I did think the final bits of the game were interesting but I barely stayed with it to see that part.

 

[Secretofmateria]

Its a bad game that looks pretty and has some fun mechanics. The missions are fucking horrible. Seriously how are people defending the instafail unskippable stealth missions that dont take advantage of the games mechanics in the slightest?

 

[Karu]

As it is one of the most enjoyable games in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE.... no sure I agree

 

[Korigama]

The journey to the bottom of the pillar? You mean where you don't have your powers for half of it and just fall until you hit something and then fall again? The ghost couple thing was interesting but it was hardly a defining part of the game, it never leads anywhere or answers anything. GR2 has plenty of interesting side quests that highlight the characters and the world. Going back to Hekeseville is part of the plot, it wouldn't make sense not to go back. It doesn't make sense to say the game somehow is admitting it's bad by bringing it back, especially when Hekeseville is much better to explore in 2 than in 1.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, can't see any reason why they wouldn't have gone back there (it had become her home over the course of GR1 and she spends much of GR2 whisked away from it, so never returning to see what she missed wouldn't have made much sense).

 

[Optional Objectives]

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[see5harp]

The game has like one thing it does really well. I feel like that's as far as it got. Having really cool mechanic and the art style and then everything else just seemed okay. Really disliked all of the side stuff and the presentation of the narrative. Glad it exists though.

 

[Y2Kev]

Omg the puke hallway mission. Gravity kick gravity kick gravity kick frame rate dying frame rate dying puuuuke

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Yeah, can't see any reason why they wouldn't have gone back there (it had become her home over the course of GR1 and she spends much of GR2 whisked away from it, so never returning to see what she missed wouldn't have made much sense).

Click to shrink...

Yeah the whole plot was that she was taken away from her home and was trying to find a way back to it. Also considering there were loose ends and unfinished business back in Hekeseville, it would be extremely disappointing if you never got to go back. The two halves of the game allow the devs to finish the story of Hekeseville that the fans wanted to see while also making the sequel fresh with new locations to explore and new things to experience with Jirga Para Lhao.

In a way, it's kind of like Pokemon Gold and Silver letting you go back to Kanto but more fleshed out. We don't say Kanto is there because Johto can't stand on its own. Saying that it's only in the game as a way for the developers to admit that the game is bad and needed the world from the first game is some weird mental gymnastics or confirmation bias.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

For it is own lack of success?

 

[sora87]

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

Click to shrink...

Yup. GR2 is amazing and the only problems i had with it were the few stealth mission sections.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

It's a great game. It has some flaws (as any game does) but overall it is really beautiful and fun to play. It also improves upon the original in many ways, such as the story and adding some much needed gameplay and moveset variety for Kat. There really isn't anything else like it.

 

[Menx64]

Agree. I wish the game was more exploration and reaching weird difficult places instead of the mission format. Game still is good tho, I just wish the gameplay was used for something else.

 

[see5harp]

Oh yea the STEALTH Missions. Probably the worst things in the game. I do think the sequel was better than the first overall though.

 

[Incite]

I bought this game day 1 and then was slammed with the terrible beginning....I had other games to play so I moved on. I've tried going back to the game about 4 times now, got a bit further, and I find it completely un engaging unfortunately. This was something I wanted to like since I enjoy the concept and it looks relatively beautiful. I just found it killed my sense of fun from the start and never re introduced it.

 

[psychedelic]

Interesting comments. I feel like, even if Sony didn't have enough faith in the second game, it was still a dick move not to promote it properly. Like others have said, it's a flawed game, but one with fun traversal and satisfying music. It has that going for it, at the very least.

 

[Unlovedjew]

im kinda blown away by so many people preferring 1 to 2. 1 has incredibly boring combat and mission design. At least I remember some missions and the story of 2 lol

 

[Acquiescence]

I'll agree that when you compare GR2 to the first game, it's very much a case of one step forward, two steps back, but come on, the game is hardly a catastrophe. There's still plenty there to enjoy for anyone who was a fan of GR1. It's just... yeah, there are some real clangers among the main quests and particularly the side quests, not to mention pacing issues that bogged down the story ( the opening is agonisingly slow). I enjoyed GR2 a lot, but it should've been an improvement on 1, or at least on par with it.

Here's hoping Gravity Rush 3 is the best of the bunch.