Finally got around to starting Vol. 2 a few days ago after having it since release. At level 70 atm, just got to the part where Kuhn comes back into the mix.

Good:
+ The start of Vol. 2 was excellent, the best part of the G.U. story so far.
+ Being able to upgrade your bike and take on some challenging bike courses. Was also happy to see the bike speed doubled.
+ Haseo FINALLY getting his 'Terror of Death' 3rd form, allowing to him to use the scythe AND change his weapons using the skill trigger. He didn't look anywhere near as cool before.
+ I like the fact that monsters now don't simply walk around around in circles or stand still.
+ Alkaid being around alone has made the 'filler' sections of Vol. 2 much more enjoyable than those in Vol. 1. If only Kuhn had been around to make a joke about Haseo being better than him at hunting for ladies online...
+ New city, new guild room. Nice changes after getting bored with Mac Anu.
+ Nice to be able to alchemize armour and accessories this time around.
+ Guild shops are much more useful than they were in Vol. 1 as you can buy high level +5 armour for cheap from one, saving you time and money.

Bad:
- Still WAY too easy. I was hoping it would be made much more difficult after Vol. 1, but if anything it's gotten easier with the difficulty level staying the same and Haseo getting more toys to play with. The arena battles are the worst part; the enemies are lower in level than me by miles when I'm refusing to enter areas above that of story missions. You'd think it was a game aimed at people under 10.
- Wasn't happy to see that voices had been removed after getting used to hearing the voices when giving equipment and stuff.
- Lack of new fields/dungeons. We only got one new field, that being a huge and empty one...not good enough for what's meant to be a sequel.
- The 'filler' sections between the start and end of the story are, while expected, a little annoying. I wouldn't have minded so much if they had at least changed the 'level up, fight in arena, level up, fight' filler technique we saw in Vol. 1...it's not fun doing the exact same stuff all over again.
- Crimson VS. Where's the fun in a mini-game that plays itself again?
- Bike parts cost way too little.
- I'm getting annoyed with my Canard e-store only allowing me to have 7 selling slots. I'm trying to keep my characters at story level, so I only just got my guild up to rank 4 at level 70, and rank 4 doesn't give you any more selling slots!!!

This was a great game and for the most part they improved every complaint I had in the first game.

Good:
+ I agree with your point above. The game starts off very good and reminded me of the //sign anime.
+ The bike speed improved. In the first game it was way too slow. I also like that you were able to buy and win new parts for it.
+ Able to change the equipment of your allies freely.
+ The card game. It was pretty fun, until you got all the cards...
+ Alkaid having a bigger role in the game.
+ Interesting story and a nice plot twist near the end.
+ Improving weapons and armors was a great addition.
+ Being able to switch weapons by using a skill trigger.
+ The tournament was back again and story wise it was more interesting this time with Alkaid and Endrance on your side.
+ A good side quest ultimate boss fight. The battle took a while to complete.

Bad.
- The sound effects when doing Rangeki skills sound a bit toned down compared to the first game.
- The Terror of Death outfit. I thought it was cool for a while but then it just started looking silly after a while when running arround towns. I much prefer his Level 2 outfit now. 'm glad it changes to something more discrete in the third game.
- The singing robot needs to have a "skip scene" button...


There are several new dungeons and fields, you just haven't found them yet. And you'll get more slots in your guild shop as well.

That was my first thought when everyone said they couldn't log out, with everyone seemingly being in the same position as .hack//SIGN's Tsukasa. I thought the game was going to be completely different than I predicted with everyone unable to log out for the duration of Vol. 2.

I disagree with you about improving on everything, the developers missed out on improving the most vital area - The difficulty. My main reason for hating the arena story in Vol. 2 (outside of it being a worse copy of what we had in Vol. 1) is down to how the story makes a big deal out of fights that you end in a few hits at the recommended level.



I did notice a different looking area when randomly entering words on the Mac Anu server. Never bothered to enter it.

I'm pissed about the e-store slots because all my other ranks are 5-6, most being 6. I either have to enter higher level areas to find new monsters or wait until the story introduces areas with new monsters in order to get more slots...

Edit: Skimmed through your post and misread the part where you said they fixed every complaint you had. My bad.

Sorry, misread your comment about Vol. 2 fixing every complaint you had with Vol. 1 when skimming through. Always answer without reading through fully and then see the mistake, bad forum habit of mine.

Overall I think this is a great game one of the very few I've given a rating of 10. My only real complaints are that as previously mentioned there is no voice over when you give your teammates a gift, some of the best scenes aren't viewable using the movie viewer since they were done with the in game graphics and not CG, and the game was too short. My main complaint about the G.U. series is that it is only 3 games instead of 4.