Recent reviews by TK Frampt

An improvement on the original release in almost every way. Highest level of character/party customization in the series. Canon of Vengeance does a good job addressing the original story's shortcomings in character development. Excellent soundtrack, too.

Beautifully jank. Engrossingly obtuse. It's good fun to spend a day traveling along the paths with your party of pawns, wandering into trouble and fighting your way out of it with a suite of diverse, interesting vocations. My only major complaint is the lack of enemy variety. Hope there are future content updates or a DLC expansion that can aid that concern.

Worth it

Excellent strategy game + fantastic canvas for RP. Suffers from the same issue of pricy DLC bloat that all Paradox grand strategy games seem to. Be discerning when looking into what add-on content to pick up. Besides that, have fun conquering!

Though it doesn't quite live up to the original's narrative in my mind, that game is one of my favorites ever so its not a particularly reasonable benchmark. What I got out of AiNi is another inventive Uchikoshi mystery where I'm still turning everything over in my mind days after completion. I enjoy it even more the longer I think about it.

A spoiler-free mode exists for those who haven't completed the original, but I would suggest going back and playing the first game before this one, as there is plenty of context for the characters, locations, events, etc. that I can't imagine going without.

It's a fun time!