You really don't think BoF 2 has
- Terrible Translation
- High Encounter Rate
- Grind out the ass
- Confusing Progression ("Where do I go?")
It is no better than BoF 1, it just looks better
And there is zero relation between the two games beyond the main character being Ryu
Oh it absolutely has a terrible translation, but no one's telling him to play it unpatched.
High encounter rate I've already covered as it's the same problem BoF1 has, but again, there are items that reduce it to manageable levels. There's even a little dancing monster icon that tells you if the area you're in will have a high encounter rate or not (yes, it fluctuates).
Very little grinding is actually required in BoF2. At first monsters don't drop nearly enough zenny to be able to afford all the good equipment in towns but fishing and selling your catches can make up the shortfall really quickly, much quicker than if you just grinded random battles all the time. Better equipment makes more of a difference for survival than gaining levels.
BoF2 is no more confusing than any other mid-tier jRPG of the era. Once the world map starts to open up it can be difficult to figure out where to travel first but your party members back at the base usually let you know what your next goal should be when talked to.
It not only looks better, but sounds better too.
Better party members, no one's useless like a certain fishman.
Better fusion system, but only just barely. It's better balanced and less OP but you aren't forced to sacrifice your own team members to fuel it.
And if you really believe Ryu's name is the only link between both games then it stands to reason you weren't really paying attention during your last playthrough. Yes, the world is vastly different with maybe only one kingdom and a few towns from BoF1 still thriving (Winlan/Wyndia, Gant/Guntz, Tunlan) but there's supposed to be a timeskip of several hundred years between games so that's a given. And at one point, a party member from the previous game spiritually appears to meet their BoFII counterpart and bestow a new power.
