The Caligula Effect 2 Review: JRPG Gem of the Year (Nintendo Switch, PS4 & PC)

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Күн бұрын

#CaligulaEffect #TheCaligulaEffect2 #NISAmerica
Caligula Effect was a game with infinite potential and a bunch of great ideas, but was poorly executed. Today, we are looking at the sequel: The Caligula Effect. This review is for the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
My review copy was provided by Nippon Ichi Software America.
You can also watch my review of The Caligula Effect Overdose HERE: • Caligula Effect Overdo...
or my Monark Demo Impressions HERE:
• Is MONARK the Next BES...
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Пікірлер: 97

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Next in line for NIS America is Monark scheduled for release in 2022. Are you excited for it?

@The_Gnome_Chomskee 2 жыл бұрын

Well. Not excited but I’ll definitely say my interest has been heavily peaked.

@oyoyoyo7624 2 жыл бұрын

I’ma play through my dusty copy of Crystar first. Same director, rite?

@rvfiasco 2 жыл бұрын

It has definite Atlus vibes for me. Definitely going to keep an eye on it.

@Klontruppe 2 жыл бұрын

FuRyu always gets the hype going. Can't wait.

@Afr0Punk 2 жыл бұрын

Good review David. I'm the weird guy who really enjoyed Caligula Effect Overdose for what is was. Sure it had some rough edges but overall I saw a lot of potential in it. I'm glad to hear that the sequel might live up to the hype and can't wait to receive my copy in the mail.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Im curious to hear what you think once you beat it! I think its better in every single aspect!

@neidhardt8093 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for covering this game! Was one of my most anticipated games right next to SMTV. Already pre-ordered the limited edition. 👍

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Nice!! Thank you for watching & I hope it lives up to your expectations!

@The_Gnome_Chomskee 2 жыл бұрын

Wow. This series took a step up, didn’t it? I’ll have to get this physically at some point for the ever-shrinking backlog.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! You love to see it!

@MarianHevein 2 жыл бұрын

In the PS version, the environment seems to have slightly higher textures that really do the job of making it sharper and more engaging than on the Switch. I didn't touch the Causality Link in CE:O because it was really convoluted and not really sketched out. In CE2 I already got some hours behind them - I like that there are really bigger stories behind the different groups of NPCs, and they make equipping different stigmas to proceed really clear this time!

@thomashoward5450 2 жыл бұрын

Second I heard Caligula 2 was coming to the west, I preordered it ASAP. I enjoyed Overdose, especially the Forbidden Musician Route, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Low-key kinda hoped we'd get another Musician route for Caligula 2, but eh. Whatevs.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

The musician route was awesome! Tbh tho, everything that this game does better is more than enough for the lack of mucisian route imo

@MinhLe19303 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs I feel like the musician route was there to explore the backstory of Musicians. But the sequel made up for this by having the Musicians reveal their story to the group rather than just being vague most of main story.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

@@MinhLe19303 Good point!

@adambowser5783 2 жыл бұрын

Very good review David. I never played Caligula 1 but you might have sold me on the 2nd one. I will check it out at some point (maybe not immediately)

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Adam!

@BrandonYUMad 2 жыл бұрын

Honestly, I really enjoyed Caligula Overdose, despite its flaws - the characters were interesting enough to me and I liked the heavier and more risqué themes some of the villains had on the musician route, so I’m really excited for this one. Was able to grab a collectors addition too, but it’s slightly delayed in shipping so I’ll have to wait a couple days to play 🥲 nice review! Glad to see how much nicer the game looks overall, ESPECIALLY the dungeons. Hope the story is just as good if not better than the first, already love the music from what I’ve heard.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Brandon! 😁

@oyoyoyo7624 2 жыл бұрын

I’m glad you reviewed this, David! Can you speak to these questions please: •Takashi Satomi wrote Persona 1 & the P2 duology. Will someone who played those games be able to notice that P1, P2, CE1, and CE2 were all written by the same person-either because of the story’s tone or thematic similarities? • you said the character episodes were way more fun than the unremarkable side quests. In your opinion, how much would skipping all the side quests affect my first playthrough (for example, would I need to do more grinding to compensate for skipping boring side quests? Thanks! P.S.: shoutout to everyone that’s more excited for Caligula2 than Monark :) • I read that the battle themes get old quick? Dyou agree?

@neidhardt8093 2 жыл бұрын

Slight correction, I don't believe Tadashi Satomi did the writing for this one, although he's credited for assisting world building. He was planned to write it again but there was conflict in scheduling so the director handled it this time (This is based on a Japanese interview).

@oyoyoyo7624 2 жыл бұрын

@@neidhardt8093 thanks for clearing that up!

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching! 😁 • I am confused about wether or not hes invovled with the sequel, but if he is...not really imo, its very different and it shows! • No! I didnt have to grind! The most important thing is to focus on passive skills and the right equipment! i skipped most of the side quests! • I couldnt disagree more! the whole soundtrack (battle themes included) are amazing and tbh some of the best video games music of the year for me! 😎

@oyoyoyo7624 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs bool

@H2DK 2 жыл бұрын

🔥 I need to make time to try this series.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Its a solid game for in-between major releases!

@H2DK 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs I'll check it out.

@axellycan5070 Жыл бұрын

Glad people are starting to discover the charms of this series, and noting just how much the improvement has been with hopes that it will get another entry, or more from the creators.

@Inkfy 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the wonderful review! I agree entirely as well regarding this game. The first one was rather mediocre and as a result I didn't keep my expectations too high for the next one. Usually sequels for these types of games tend to be hit or miss. However, this game genuinely surprised me. Not only is it much more fun to play, but the characters, stories, and overall performance is great as well. Sure, some things are rough around the edges (the character models are still a littttlleee off) but it's far less of this compared to what I noticed in Overdose. Honestly, I'd just recommend skipping the first game and playing this one if you're a newcomer. You can jump right in story wise (for the most part) and you'll have a much more satisfying experience. This definitely feels like the game the developers wanted to make years ago for Overdose, but simply couldn't. I'm really glad their efforts paid off because I'd love to see a third game from these devs. If they made this many improvements already, I can see their next entry being stellar.

@eazybuxafew 2 жыл бұрын

Triple F!! Fresh, fitting and fire!

@xenosaga8436 2 жыл бұрын

A couple questions. You mentioned getting passive boosts from mastering skill. Can you equip every passive you get at once or do you only have a certain number of slots? Is this dubbed in English?

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

You have max 6 passive skills at once! & It doesnt an english dub no

@xenosaga8436 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs Thanks for the info. Too bad about the no English dub.

@MinhLe19303 2 жыл бұрын

One thing I noticed is that the localization is different. Instead of "anime sub" translation in Overdose, this game has more Americanized localization with "sub the dub" translation.

@dixiekongfan1 2 жыл бұрын

GOOD VIDEO! THIS GAME LOOKS GOOD

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate!

@kokosan09 2 жыл бұрын

you've convinced me!

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy your time with the game!

@vincelaco6993 2 жыл бұрын

looks good

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

@xeartnexus3020 2 жыл бұрын

Didn't even know there was a part 2, but I liked the 1st one. You could just feel that if they had a bigger budget, it would have been an incredible ip

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

100%! I remember saying those exact words in my review of the first game!

@ChrithBraown 2 жыл бұрын

Just coming back to this video because ive spent a few days playing the game and I was to say that this game is so, so, SO GOOD. Persona and SMT fans: this is like adding a whole other franchise to that tiny niche, and im very grateful that this exists.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Aye im glad your enjoying it! 🙏

@QueenViolet8 2 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to this 😆😊 even though I have devoted myself to Dragon Quest 11😉🤨 I will finish it 😁😆

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Dragon Quest XI is amazing, keep it going! 😁

@JH-vb1wo 2 жыл бұрын

Today I checked Amazon and happy to see they had Caligula effect 2 I guess they reprinted it so I ordered it 33.00 for ps4... I wish they would reprint the first one but not sure if they ever will

@jonf5975 2 жыл бұрын

yeah i think i'll play this at some point. looks so much like persona though lol, it's really obvious.

@thatanonwholurksmoar7386 2 жыл бұрын

I skipped on the first game because frankly, the perfomance was subpar on the Switch and the story sounded boring and this one doesn't seem to any much better. Also you say flawlessly with perfomance but another reviewer said theres some drops in overworld and in some combat. So who to believe here

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

In terms of story, I really don't think you'll like this one since its more or less the same but expanded upon of the first game! I am not one to notice minor frame drops so I suggest watching direct-feed gameplay to get an idea of if the performance is good enough for you! I didn't notice any frame drops during exploration, for combat I did notice some very minor drops near the end-game where theres a bunch of effects (switch version)! But again, very minor, far from what you used to get in every single battle in the first game lol

@jeremyfusenliu3859 2 жыл бұрын

ngl, Caligula 2 is good but i may be the weird one who liked the characters in Overdose more, also the 1st game had mini U and Aria which were so damn adorable, some character episodes were weird to funny, ie getting your ear drums blown up by Shizuna or Mifue going rabid from hunger, its not perfect but those small things is what i liked about the 1st game, also Suicide Prototype

@jonm8164 2 жыл бұрын

I checked the PlayStation store to pre order it buts not there

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Thats strange.. Im not familiar with digital stores so im not sure I can help you there.. It may appear later? It drops next week!

@janusan89 2 жыл бұрын

As someone who played both games (well the PS4 Version, not the vita), I have only few things to say about the sequel: it definitely fixes a lot of issues that the first game had, especially combat and the causality link, and the smaller causality link is also much better and there's tracking for each person. But at the same time, I found the sequel to be extremely forgettable, mostly regarding the story. Let me put this way: in the first game you have a very varied cast of characters of all ages and sizes (literally) and not only you get to know the cast better, but you also get to know the villains more thanks to the ostinato route, allowing you to know the villains and their reasonings. Suddenly the villains don't look so bad and you get to know why they're there, and you really sympathize with them. Not just them though: there are many plot twists that felt really well paced and well done, both with the character episodes and the story and how it uses the concept of fake world to its fullest. The second game however, while it does have some better main characters (CE:O roster wasn't stellar even if they had some good parts), it has some very...VERY weak villains and while i won't spoil it, I feel the ending is just a joke. The bad ending is slightly better but really barely. You have no musician route so you can't even get to know them better, and the only explanation to these villains - THE ONLY ONE - is given after you finish the game by defeating their stronger version...just wow! It's really conflicting for me: I LOVED CE:O because of its story and characters, including the villains, but the gameplay is really bad and the causality link is a pain to use, while CE2 has improved on combat and many otherthings but I legitimately felt that the story was forgettable and really weaker in comparison. It's definitely a good game though, it is at least good and playable and maybe if you're new it's definitely a good purchase, but at the same time I'd really say to give a try to CE:O and try to glance over the flaws in order to enjoy a very interesting story and some great characters and villains. At least in my opinion.

@jakardvalentine3377 Жыл бұрын

The important question is if it has PS5 upgrade or latch for 60 FPS like the first had . No 60 FPS no playble

@coltonturbville3851 2 жыл бұрын

I actually made a fanfic with OCs

@paulman34340 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting! I never liked the first game "Gameplay wise", But the story and character's were good enough to "get through the First Game!" You know it's ironic that this series was made by the guy who did Persona 1 to the 2 Duology! Seems he has a thing with "The first game was contested! But then he learned from the mistakes in the first and made an IMPROVED sequel.....lucky this one is a full game and not a duology not that I hate P2 Duology. What I hate and love about P3-5 is the Calendar system as it bloats the game's length! While I like it for the scheduling, I prefered it better in say Three Houses compared to P5 Royal cause days/time doesn't feel bloated! The old P1 to 2 Duology got you into the RPG quickly as a traditional RPG! This is what's called "learning from your mistakes!".....and not doing what Final Fantasy Legends 3 did in giving up a unique gameplay system of the previous game to put something familiar and bland back in (something made clear when it was remade as proper SaGa 3 on the DS). Caligula Effect's combat was interesting and need polish to reach it's full potential as shown here! Sort of like how P3 combat system became SO MUCH BETTER in P4 and P5 when they dropped the "forcing you to play with A.I. party members without choice (Not that I don't have a love of sometimes replaying P4 and P5 with A.I. always on sometimes for added challenge and nostelgia to P3 LOL)

@drowningin 2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering if it was the same series as SMT & Persona. The trailer had very similar vibes, and I thought the person I saw in golden mask was a demon, and it mentioned souls. But it wasn't released by Atlus so I was like Ohh, then your post mentions a Persona dev. Ima order this and back log it for after SMT V. Know how many hours this & first game are?

@paulman34340 2 жыл бұрын

@@drowningin Can't really say about the first game's hours as it's been awhile (and ALOT of other RPG's in between! I DID play Trails of Cold Steel 3 shortly after). And I've yet to get this one and was keeping my eye out on reviews for if it's gameplay has improved or is still the same! (Happy to see it's improved from the gameplay videos). I don't think I'll be getting it off a sale (as money is tight, and my last full price game of the year will be SMT V funny enough), though that will be more a sale that drops it by 10 or so (not the desperate nine dollars "please buy our game" sales! I only do that to games that are like "Torchlight 3" that have WAY to many negative look at's that make a point, but I still want to give it a try! I mean I did the same with Torchlight 2, yet the former disappointed and makes me WANT that drop in the bucket back. And the former made me regret abit not supporting it on day 1 LOL) But I will warn like Persona 1, it's an "acquired" taste! Meaning don't go in fully expecting a Persona 3 clone like some did when they played Persona 1 PSP back in the day expecting P3/P4 stuff, not realizing like when you head dive into Fire Emblem 1 if your first game is Fates or Three Houses that "It was a different time"....and games are not the same (Especially games that set the "staples" you see in sequels, both actual and spiritual!). And I don't think it was too long (but then RPG! I have moments of leaving the game on, so my "hours" end up longer then what's expected, I think Completists are the best people to go to if you want a better idea of the "hours") But yeah just to remind, this is from the one who did "the original Persona" games from the first and the two games that made up the second games entire story (everything afterwards is by a new team!). It's funny that they mixed story feel from BOTH (it feels like an old Persona game story wise, but with that feel, you get playing Persona 3-5. Especially Five with the better dungeon layout for this sequel). Your better off just playing a beating SMT V. Likely by the time you beat it, this game will be on sale! Unless your buying full price to support NIS! (I long did that with Disagea 5 Complete+ and the NIS Vol.1 during the summer! It's too bad, those games are great, but I have a limit of games I buy in a year AT full price and day 1; And as said, SMT V is the last one of the year for me! Anything else is on a Major Sale as money's tight)

@paulman34340 2 жыл бұрын

@@drowningin Sorry again for ranting, but while inspired, This game is to SMT and Persona; As games like "Phoenix Point" and Torchlight are to "XCOM" & "Diablo" Respectfully! (Being that they were developed by the Old School creators of those series to BE their own version of what they made....with bits of the modern stuff in their series, while harkening back to the ole days! A game for the fans who just don't feel up for the changes they made to those stable series! Not that Diablo 3, XCOM EU/EW & XCOM 2, and Persona 3-5, Five especially are bad! Hell all of those are my major favs! But they do feel like they dropped alot of stuff that didn't need dropping! Basically feeling like "spiritual Spin-Offs" then actual Sequels compared to the games that are "inspired-Basically I'll just do what I created again under a different look and name; but will still have the feel of what was original!)

@raed42 2 жыл бұрын

May be good game but a gem 🧐.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

It is a hidden gem amongst JRPGs I would say! Everyone slept on the first game, and even if this one improved on it in every single aspect, I think it will fly under the radar of many!

@Afr0Punk 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs Lol. Physical copies of the first game are expensive and getting harder to come by. This game will likely be the same.

@Lukja08 7 ай бұрын

Very good series. Hopefully there's a third.

@emilcorotan 2 жыл бұрын

SPOILER QUESTION: I was about to get Caligula 2 on Steam the other day, but started reading wiki's about the first game seeing if there are references or important stuff from Overdose... and 2 revelations came up -- so far from two reviews I've watched they mention that Overdose is not required because as mentioned 2 apparently does a decent enough job catching the player up. So here's the spoiler -- Wicked's and Ki's origins -- how much MORE would I appreciate their storylines in 2 if I had actually played Overdose. Because if its substantial I would rather play Overdose before getting into 2. If there any other valuable references also. But reading up on Wicked's full storyline I feel like playing Overdose would do her ending justice. As far as Ki, I'm not how important Aria and Mu are other than their relationships which is kinda obvious based on character design... I also don't see much recommendation of watching the anime. But if that's also an option?

@louiekroberts 2 жыл бұрын

I picked up Cal Effect 1 this year and honestly I just can't really get into it. Combat is fun but as someone who is a bit of a completionist it just feels like there's so much to see and do, and the story feels like it moves so slowly - I'll probably still finish it but hopefully CE2 can pick up where CE1 failed and I'd love to give it a go!

@hoyhoy852 2 жыл бұрын

Frankly I don't recommend you to do side quests. They're bad in the first game.

@Miyakolover Жыл бұрын

I love CE1 story and characters...but gameplay and visuals are a mixed bag...The second game is actually great though.

@animangaamvs2035 2 жыл бұрын

Wait did 2 get an English release yet?

@animangaamvs2035 2 жыл бұрын

Nvm you mentioned you got a review copy. Keep it up David!

@neidhardt8093 2 жыл бұрын

October 19 is the date

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Yep October 19th! 😁

@animangaamvs2035 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs Oof noice thanks man

@animangaamvs2035 2 жыл бұрын

@@neidhardt8093 thank you too man

@ogopogo1109 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, great review, but there're a few really minor mistakes I can't help but notice, such as the way you continue to call Ki X when it's actually the Greek letter Χ; it is pronounced as Chi or khi. Also, the world is called "Redo" the same way you'd pronounced undo or how you'd pronounce redo in "Redo of Healer", not ray-doh as you've said it a few times in the video. Regardless, thank you for reviewing Caligula 2, it's such an under appreciated series, keep up the good work!

@cheemslord9917 2 жыл бұрын

why model look like robot

@Luis-nj4id 2 жыл бұрын

I wanted to play this on PC but since there is no sign of a PC port I think that I'm going to pick this one up on Switch instead.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Weird for them to skip PC!

@ThomasJeff1898 2 жыл бұрын

About that, wait for June 22nd. It's going to be on Steam.

@Luis-nj4id 2 жыл бұрын

@@ThomasJeff1898 This was 6 months ago dude, not only I bought it on Switch but I already beat the game.

@ChrithBraown 2 жыл бұрын

The game looks fine but the only way the release date could be worse is if it came out literally on the same day as smt v. If theyre able to hand out review copies then they should have already released this. At best, ill fool around with it for a week until smt 5 comes out, at worst I wont even buy it. Really bad timing.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

Good point unfortunately...

@au1179 2 жыл бұрын

MONARK=CALIGULA 3

@pacificcatto5420 2 жыл бұрын

Arias

@burgerkingganyu6961 Жыл бұрын

If this dude is calling her "X" and not "key" I highly doubt he even played the game himself

@Miyakolover Жыл бұрын

You're kinda mispronouncing "X" name...it's not meant to be "Ex"...it's actually spelled like "Ki"...so her name isn't the letter "X" in English, but more like the "Ki" symbol.

@aiharakotokorulesbluerose4170 2 жыл бұрын

terrible graphics and terrible localization but its very good in terms of story and rpg mechanics

@alabenmed4661 Жыл бұрын

What Caligula 1 has a waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better character episodes than Caligula 2 tbh you should've continued the characters episodes and of course Caligula 1 has a better songs

@joshuataylor7443 2 жыл бұрын

To me I don't like the new protagonists design.

@DavidCastJRPGs 2 жыл бұрын

They are very simple, I get where your coming from! Not great, but still an improvement over the first game imo

@joshuataylor7443 2 жыл бұрын

@@DavidCastJRPGs That's fine, but that's different taste for yay people don't all ways agree with completely like I really intranet in that mobile game call Sin Chronicle.

@fivefive9514 2 жыл бұрын

WHAT. C2 Female protagonist design is leagues better and more charismatic than C1's M/F protagonists and C2's male protagonist COMBINED!! of course not perfect, but glad they at least gave her a girly girl hairstyle instead of a short style (there's TOO MUCH OF THAT nowadays in games like Gust's. after Ryza they think protagonist design has to have short hair. Yuck. I'll still get Blue Reflection Second Light but short hair really is inferior to longer hair in beauty and styles (most in the world agree). protagonists should have hairstyles more like BR1's Yuri. Caligula 1's female MC's appearance really is wasted potential having such short hair. if devs think long hair is too much to do right, at least give her a nice ponytail with nice fringe. C2's female MC looks entirely better than P2 EP's Maya and Persona 3 Portable's female MC too. yea sure, her figure is on the rather skinny side, but there's much worse designs out there. C2's female MC female is not bad and its refreshing and better than the tomboyish and masculine designs out there.

@joshuataylor7443 2 жыл бұрын

@@fivefive9514 true about the shot haircut especially in america meta, but I still like the old design more but you know what I said about the test before.

@phoenixxxashez 2 жыл бұрын

FMC for Caligula 2 I love way more than 1. Simply because I'm not a fan of short hair on women. I like both of the Male MC designs though. I usually go for male leads anyway so that's a plus for me.