Yo-Kai Watch 2 Reviews
Yo-Kai Watch 2 may enamor younger audiences with its charm and simplicity, but its appeal for adults will largely depend on how much patience they have.
After the disappointing original title, I was hopeful for a sequel that would fix some of the major problems and emphasize what the series does well. Instead, I got a sequel which made marginal if any improvements over the original game, only this time with no novelty whatsoever. It's very disheartening and doesn't bode well for the series' popularity in the West.
Yo-kai Watch has a great degree of potential, so it's tragic to see Level-5 squander it over fears of upsetting their massive cash cow. (In Japan, anyway.) This sequel carries the same sense of spooky whimsy as the first game, but unfortunately doesn't lose the underlying tedium. If you're looking for an alternative to Pokemon, you might want to see if the next game fixes Yo-kai Watch's woes—if it gets localized, that is.
Yo-kai Watch 2 does preserve the quirky tone and charming writing that made the first game so engaging, but its lack of iteration is problematic in that there aren't enough fresh ideas to color its monotonous gameplay.
Maybe with Yo-Kai Watch 3 – which is a sure-fire bet at this point – Level-5 can take off the safety gloves and really give us an adventure that moves the series forward. But for now, it just proceeds with caution, and buyers may want to take the same route.
If you’re waiting for a monster-collecting RPG to play this fall, it will likely be best to wait until Pokemon Sun and Moon release next month.
Yo-kai Watch 2 isn’t lacking in soul or spirit, and certainly not in expansions to its well-built world. But what can be said about the original still holds for its sequel: the world can be fun to dive into, but actually playing Yo-kai Watch can shift from tedious to outright boring. For every new story idea or impressive blend of humor and pathos in its writing, Yo-kai Watch 2 fails to breathe life into the act of actually playing it, and until something’s done about all the issues with combat, no amount of delicious doughnuts can cover up its problems.
Yo-kai Watch 2 is a disappointing sequel that introduces more grinding and repetition to the fun premise of the original title.
Instead of evolving, Yo-kai Watch 2 plays it safe by fusing new content – some good, some trivial, and some bad – onto a recycled frame, and the result is what we refer to as a sophomore slump. There's still a lot here to like, but we can't help but feel that this is an entry only diehard Yo-kai fans will be comfortable purchasing at full price. Some players will love it despite its issues, while others will feel cheated by the flagrant and numerous similarities to its predecessor, as well as become frustrated by its traversal-related blunders. Whichever is the case, it's obvious that this sequel could have been so much more. Now we wait and hope that Yo-kai Watch 3, which is already out in Japan and looks to feature drastic changes, gets localized and steers this incredibly promising series back on track.
The arrival of Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits provides fans with a familiar experience that changes very, very little when compared to the first iteration of the series.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 is quite literally a case of more of the same, albeit with a minor sprinkling of new ideas and some brand new annoyances to go with the package. It’s still massively likable and perfect for kids, but it’s not to shy to hide its lack of originality this time around behind a curtain of fetch quests and endearing characters.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 Fleshy Souls is a decent game and the graphics are great but if you’re looking for a single player experience I recommend you get a different game as this game can get very boring and the story isn’t great.
Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits is, at its stronger parts, a fantastic game about being young, curious, and free - a pleasant feeling most either feel or miss from their childhood days. Mixed with this is a huge feeling of impatience, fed by terrible gameplay choices to extend playtime during some of the worst sections of the game, which makes this sometimes feel like it is overstaying its welcome. Overall, it is a good catch 'em all game, but it is rough around the edges.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 doesn’t offer anything extremely different or new to the series, but if you have the patience to sit through it and collect every Yo-Kai medal, then this is the game for you.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 is far from being a bad game: its storyline is pretty entertaining and rather funny if you are fine with comedies made for 10 years old kids. However, the gameplay mechanics are not as good as we are used to with Pokemon games, especially the fighting mechanics, which become quickly boring.
Review in French | Read full review
Yo-Kai Watch 2 builds up on the original game and delivers what is expected of a sequel. It's full of content that is well likely to push the game's lifespan into over one hundred hours of gameplay for the most ambitious players, it includes a very welcome online multiplayer feature and an interesting combat system, even if it's not the most thrilling system ever designed. Its similarities to the original game are many and those already familiar with it will find the first hours rather uninteresting but Yo-Kai Watch 2 is a competent and entertaining sequel worthy of the time of any JRPG fan.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Is Yo-Kai Watch 2 a good game for that kid gamer in your life? Absolutely. I would have personally been crying at how creepy some of these ghostly monsters can look, but (and I hate to bring it up) if we’re going to love Pokemon in all its simplistic, weird monster ways, then there’s no reason that Yo-Kai Watch 2 can’t be considered an excellent gift for a child in your life, or maybe even you if you’re a fan of the show.
A kids RPG that's kind of hard to hate, but the mileage may vary depending on how much said child likes to do as they're told.
While the game does introduce a number of new Yo-Kai and a follow-up story, this second entry feels too deeply rooted in the original to where many of the same faults are still present, with it really feeling like Level-5 played it way too safe in Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits & Fleshy Souls.
Even with its failings, I still love Yo-KaiWatch 2. It may not be as tight of a package or have enough variety in its quests, but the additional multiplayer components and new Yokai make this worth picking up.