ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Ender Magnolia takes some of the best bits of its predecessor, Ender Lilies, and improves upon them greatly. While maintaining its core identity as a melancholic, atmospheric, and beautiful (both visually and musically) Metroidvania, it improves upon the clunky systems, poor enemy balancing, and egregiously obtuse maps and level design from the first game. [h3]On Improvements from Ender Lilies[/h3] Although it's better to not hold other titles in a series as too much of a comparison measuring stick for reviewing games, because I have mostly positive things to say in this regard, I will quickly cover them. Enemy density has been toned down significantly in addition to some key changes that make traversal much smoother. First, the break meter actually works on normal enemies (it basically didn't in the first game, making common enemies too aggressive). Second, enemies don't have contact damage. This is an unusual choice for games in this genre, but I actually think it works really nicely in this game when combined with the intentionality of how your player character moves. The first game had a huge problem where the game felt like it moved too fast for how clunky you controlled. The Spirits equivalent (Homunculi) in this game have also seen a much needed overhaul. Skills no longer have limited uses per rest point but now operate on a cooldown system, which is significantly better for both exploration and longer boss fights. Furthermore, you can now equip up to 4 skills instead of 3, allowing for even more variety in compositions. Leveling skills has also been greatly improved with special leveling materials, which can be found in the overworld or purchased from the shop. Combined with better enemy scaling, there's never a point where getting a new skill is "too weak" because it can't be leveled. Finally, the map is night and day better. Rooms are actually to scale and have proper positional tracking for the player icon. Room connections are now properly shown, making things much easier to navigate. The map automatically marks items and locked doors that require new skills, which makes the markers you can manually place redundant. Arguably I think the map is maybe [i]too[/i] good as it feels like you're constantly getting spoiled on what you can and can't do. [h3]On Systems[/h3] Ender Magnolia has added a new equipment system alongside its returning Relics and Skills system. It's a strange system that I am somewhat neutral on. For the most part, the equipment is changing your parry skill or just increasing stats. They weren't necessarily a bad thing to add, but they felt underwhelming and unnecessary. For a game that should focus on finding cool things and exploring, having the occasional thought to go back to town every few areas to "buy better armor" is such an RPG-esque mechanic that frankly feels out of place. A lot of people complained that there were much less skills/variety (Spirits/Homunculi) in this game, but the system is just set up differently. There are now 3 skills per homunculi and still a ton of them, so it never felt like there were too few skills. I never felt like there were too few options, and I did completely change my loadouts several times in the game to tackle different sorts of areas and bosses. I do wish that skills just leveled more diegetically instead of constantly needing to open the menu at a rest point. Feels weird to "get an upgrade" but actually not be an upgrade until you menu and level stuff. Relics are very much the same as they were in the first game, and I thought they were solid in that game. A somewhat welcome change is that relic slots can now be purchased in the store, making scenarios where "you wish you had 1 more slot" non-existent. It does take away a little bit from the intentionality of picking which relics to equip, but I suppose going back to buy stuff is a choice in and of itself. I will say that there is a huge selection of relics involving status ailments that I frankly didn't touch. This ranges from less likely to be inflicted with status ailments to inflicting more status ailments to dealing more damage when having a status ailment. I think they were going for some kind of "Guts + Status Ailment" type of approach like Pokémon, but because there is no way to guarantee status ailments, it just felt like a weird gimmick. Intentionally trying to get a status ailment from an enemy, boss, or environment is also weird given that status ailments go away with time. The game also adds an in-game difficulty adjustment tool, which is a nice addition, though I never used it because I felt like the game was already quite solid by default. Still, a nice addition to have to better adjust the difficult curve to fit the player better. This would've been a great feature to have in the first game. [h3]On Bosses[/h3] Bosses are so much better in this game as well. Not only do bosses feel much fairer in terms of attacks, balancing, and health, bosses are more memorable as well. There are some really cool boss fights in this game, and I always felt like I could properly challenge the boss without resorting to some cheese strat. Some bosses were challenging and required tinkering with relic and skill loadouts, but these changes always felt like they impacted the bosses, making attacking or handling mechanics differently. I think this kind of "think about what you can do" is exactly what this game hopes to achieve rather than force the player to just "get better" by throwing your head at the wall. [h3]On Improvements[/h3] Of course, there is always room for improvement, and this game is no exception. To recap from the previous sections, some of the systems are a bit unnecessary, such as the equipment system. Building off that, because so many things are done via the shop, the shop felt like it was overly important to the game. Instead of a more diegetic experience of finding cool new toys in the overworld, there's a constant need to go back to town, buy more relic slots or gear, buy or unlock homunculi skills, and so on. Constantly needing to go back to town felt like it detracted a bit from the exploration aspect, though one can argue warping anywhere being instantaneous makes it a non-issue. Still, I think building a more diegetic experience matters too. Basically, this game over-corrected the first game's obtuse leveling system to be extremely convenient to the point where it can almost feel like a menu game rather than an exploration one. Some of the movement abilities feel rather clunky as well, such as the "fast" movement abilities that unlock certain barriers. Much like the first game, these skills have a long charge time and move rather slow for what it feels like it should go. There's also such a thing as being "too bland" as a Metroidvania. Almost every movement ability felt very "safe," and they didn't opt to try anything particularly unique. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but since this game is a sequel, it would've been nice if they tried to get a bit more creative, especially when they have the unique setting that lends itself well to almost any kind of ability. I won't comment too much on the characters, but I think having talkative characters actually added a lot of nice color to the world building. A lonely world actually feels lonelier if you add a few characters to emphasize that. I don't think it took away from the atmosphere of the game as much as people say it does, though I do agree that this world feels significantly less bleak compared to Ender Lilies. Whether or not you consider that a good or bad thing is a matter of your own taste. Overall, Ender Magnolia is a solid game that improves in pretty much every way compared to Ender Lilies. Some systems are a bit clunky while others are overly corrected to be too convenient, but I'd sound pretty silly to complain too much about that. A solid recommendation from me, and I hope they keep making more Ender games.

Jogo muito bonito e fluido. 20h de gameplay pra fazer 100%

还行，比不上一代

继一作打二作， 好玩，这作有一半时间都是在动车上打的（看似十多小时但掌机有二十多小时），这作让我想起了许多丝之歌的东西[spoiler]我是先玩丝之歌的2333[/spoiler]，总体不错，比起前一代装备系统多了好多，难度不大（前提探完图和打法不莽夫），唯一难的就是工厂那大铁块。这作给我的感受是地图小怪比boss难hahaha,美术和音乐不错。

재밌다! 후속작 가져와!!!!!!! 전작의 릴리처럼 귀여운 맛이 없는 건 아쉬움. 캐릭터들이 좀 못생겨졌음. 그리고 전작보다 다크 판타지스러운 요소가 많이 빠진 듯함. 대신 징그러운 건 많이 사라져서 좋았음. 전투는 생각보다 재밌었음. 보스 패턴들 중에 납득 안 되는 패턴도 없었고, 전조도 확실했음. 나는 사슬짐승 반격이랑 그로기 쌓는 플레이로 진행했는데, 가끔 다단 히트라서 첫타를 반격해도 맞는 경우를 제외하면 불쾌한 거 없이 재밌게 플레이했음. 전작보다 애니메이션 부분이 엄청 개선된 게 느껴졌음. 맵도 예쁘고, 지도도 잘 되어 있음. 벽에 머리 비비고 다니는 것도 재밌었음. 플레이타임의 절반을 머리 비비고 다님. 브금 좋음. 스토리는 전작이랑 이어지는 부분이 많음. 같은 세계관을 공유하다 보니, 직간접적으로 아이템이 등장하거나 이야기가 연결되는 부분들이 꽤나 보임. 그래서 전작 스토리를 모르는 사람이라면 좀 애매한 부분이 있을 수 있을 듯? 그리고 한글 번역 찐빠가 꽤나 있음. 아이템 설명 중에 “공중 데미지 증가”라고 되어 있는 게 있는데, 이거 수중 데미지 증가임. 얼탱X 살짝 아쉬움. 일본어를 그대로 직역한 느낌이 좀 있었음. 그래도 이해 안 되는 부분은 없었음.

A more streamlined upgrade to the first game. Solid game. Can make it as easy or as hard as you want it with certain abilities and gameplay options. Thou, because the map Quality of Life is so good, it doesn't feel like a Metroidvania and more like a linear game.

音樂仍然好聽，但沒有前作那種每個場景有對到音樂的感覺；劇情帶入感低，主線太明確了，支線又完全像獨立任務沒有什麼連接；操作和地圖優化很多，但就少了些探索的感覺，地圖上有可以互動的角色和休息時增加對話減少了推圖的孤獨感是不錯，但就又少了那種破敗的淒美感，這部分只能說有一好沒兩好；難度適中且可調整，整體來說雖然比起前作稍顯遜色但仍然是款可以遊玩的佳作，期待第三部吧。