First off, I love giant robots, sci-fi melodrama, and fast-paced action. Zone of the Enders' HIGH SPEED ROBOT ACTION is pretty much tailored to my tastes, and it was my first retail game I bought for my PS3. But I didn't like either of them 
Going into ZOE1, I knew of its reputation as a shitty prequel/tech demo for ZOE2, and I was still surprised at how bad it was. The plot and dialogue were atrocious, the protagonist was insufferable, and the ending was complete bullshit, but worst of all, it kind of played like crap. Technical deficits in the HD Collection aside, it so shallow that it managed to make a four-hour long game mind-numbingly repetitive. Every fight was approached the same way (homing shot from far, melee dash attack, melee x3-> melee burst), and the subweapons were clumsy and limited by ammo. Beyond that, the hub structure added absolutely nothing to the game.
Then I played ZOE2, all patched up by Hexadrive, expecting all killer, no filler. And it started off well. A cooler, albeit stupidly-named protagonist. More unique mechs designed by Shinkawa da gawd. A more polished, actually worthwhile subweapon system. And my god, it looked so damn awesome. Particle effects out the ass, increased enemy counts, lasers everywhere, camera going crazy during mech-to-mech swordfights.
But it was all still the same thing as ZOE1. I was going through the same motions as I was in the first game, only with some occasional subweapon use or grabbing here and there. And as it got harder, the more it seemed like particle effects were obscuring enemies, lasers were melting me from offscreen (screw Mummyheads), and the camera was too twitchy for its own good. And it just kept on going and going.
I think the designs realized that the core combat wasn't deep enough to sustain a whole game, so they added a bunch of gimmick sections and boss fights, which range from okay to downright awful. The worst was the invisible minefield section, which, while thankfully short, was obnoxious listening to "A little bit to the left. A little bit to the left. A little bit to the right." Other ones I wasn't fond of were the
(I found it a bit awkward), and the
(it got old quick,and you have do it 8 times).
It wasn't just me that felt the repetition - my girlfriend, who was next to me as I played, commented "it looks like you've been doing the same thing for forever now." And I really was. ZOE2 seems to think that if something is worth doing once, it's worth doing at least a few times. The waves of enemies you fight leading up to the fight with the old man really, really wore me down. The battleship section, in which you have to take down five of the damn things, is where I finally stopped, partially because I was tired of dodging offscreen lasers and partially because my brain was turning to mush.
It's weird, but as I played ZOE2, I was comparing it to God Hand. God Hand, which is one of my favorite games, is honestly pretty damn repetitive. It lacks enemy variety and its encounter design isn't much more than waves of enemies in different-looking environments. However, its core systems are so strong that it stays fun to play throughout. ZOE2, on the other hand, has core systems that are simply too weak to carry the game through its runtime.
I'm being very negative about the series, but it's more disappointment than anything else. I love the mechanical designs to death and artwork to death (I'd love to own Jehuty/Anubis models), and I think the games look amazing in motion. I only wish the art and engine were put to use in better games.
Going into ZOE1, I knew of its reputation as a shitty prequel/tech demo for ZOE2, and I was still surprised at how bad it was. The plot and dialogue were atrocious, the protagonist was insufferable, and the ending was complete bullshit, but worst of all, it kind of played like crap. Technical deficits in the HD Collection aside, it so shallow that it managed to make a four-hour long game mind-numbingly repetitive. Every fight was approached the same way (homing shot from far, melee dash attack, melee x3-> melee burst), and the subweapons were clumsy and limited by ammo. Beyond that, the hub structure added absolutely nothing to the game.
Then I played ZOE2, all patched up by Hexadrive, expecting all killer, no filler. And it started off well. A cooler, albeit stupidly-named protagonist. More unique mechs designed by Shinkawa da gawd. A more polished, actually worthwhile subweapon system. And my god, it looked so damn awesome. Particle effects out the ass, increased enemy counts, lasers everywhere, camera going crazy during mech-to-mech swordfights.
But it was all still the same thing as ZOE1. I was going through the same motions as I was in the first game, only with some occasional subweapon use or grabbing here and there. And as it got harder, the more it seemed like particle effects were obscuring enemies, lasers were melting me from offscreen (screw Mummyheads), and the camera was too twitchy for its own good. And it just kept on going and going.
I think the designs realized that the core combat wasn't deep enough to sustain a whole game, so they added a bunch of gimmick sections and boss fights, which range from okay to downright awful. The worst was the invisible minefield section, which, while thankfully short, was obnoxious listening to "A little bit to the left. A little bit to the left. A little bit to the right." Other ones I wasn't fond of were the
grabbing enemies to throw at Nephtis section
lock swords with Ardjet section
It wasn't just me that felt the repetition - my girlfriend, who was next to me as I played, commented "it looks like you've been doing the same thing for forever now." And I really was. ZOE2 seems to think that if something is worth doing once, it's worth doing at least a few times. The waves of enemies you fight leading up to the fight with the old man really, really wore me down. The battleship section, in which you have to take down five of the damn things, is where I finally stopped, partially because I was tired of dodging offscreen lasers and partially because my brain was turning to mush.
It's weird, but as I played ZOE2, I was comparing it to God Hand. God Hand, which is one of my favorite games, is honestly pretty damn repetitive. It lacks enemy variety and its encounter design isn't much more than waves of enemies in different-looking environments. However, its core systems are so strong that it stays fun to play throughout. ZOE2, on the other hand, has core systems that are simply too weak to carry the game through its runtime.
I'm being very negative about the series, but it's more disappointment than anything else. I love the mechanical designs to death and artwork to death (I'd love to own Jehuty/Anubis models), and I think the games look amazing in motion. I only wish the art and engine were put to use in better games.
