Fairy Tail 2 review: Finishing the story, and then some

Manga creator Hiro Mashima has had a heck of a year in video games. Not only has license-holder Kodansha released multiple indie game projects using the Fairy Tail IP, Mashima also provided art for an original new game, Farmagia. A video game adaptation of Edens Zero, another work of Mashima’s, was announced this year as well. Finally, today's subject is Fairy Tail 2, a sequel to RPG studio Gust’s recent RPG adaptation. Considering this series is nearing its 20th anniversary, and previously saw video games as far back as the PSP, that’s a wild run.

The back half, with a bonus

Gust, best known for its flagship crafting adventure series Atelier, seemed to approach 2020’s Fairy Tail as a bit of an experiment. It was a relatively simple, turn-based RPG with some small gimmicks, but nothing as involved as an Atelier game. The production values were a little on the low rent side as well, with limited animations and cutscenes, relying mostly on the voice acting to replicate the drama from Fairy Tail’s anime adaptation. It wasn’t a blockbuster by any means, but fans of the series appreciated the attempt at a grander adventure compared to the usual fighting game treatment.

Fairy Tail 2 continues right where the first game leaves off, heading right up to the original story’s conclusion. The most interesting thing about the first game was where it started. Rather than the beginning, Gust chose to start the game around the series’ halfway point, opting to start at a point in the story most fitting for a video game. In turn, Fairy Tail 2 has an interesting conclusion. A curious bonus includes an original story at the end, a sort of epilogue adventure that lets the sequel’s narrative setup stand out for a different reason. It’s a novel treat for fans, and in a way makes up for the strange starting point of the previous outing.

Bigger bang for your buck

Story aside, there are two major differences between Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail 2. For one, the production values take a huge step up. This still is no Final Fantasy of course, but it’s a much more alive-feeling game, with much more character animations during dialogue, fully-fledged cutscenes, more dynamic combat, and dramatic art CGs during moments that don’t quite warrant cutscenes. Even the vocal track feels recorded with more enthusiasm from the returning anime cast. If the first game threw you off at all with its lower budget feel, the sequel brings things much further in comparison!

Speaking of combat, the whole gameplay structure is entirely different for Fairy Tail 2. Almost nothing has carried over from the first game, with the slight exception of some equippable accessories, called Lacrima. Otherwise, combat is completely revised into a pseudo-real time system, combining elements of classic Final Fantasy’s “ATB” gimmick and something resembling the ideas Gust has been playing with in Atelier (albeit far more simple). While I appreciate Gust trying new things, Fairy Tail 2’s new combat feels more fumbly than thrilling.

A home run swing that doesn't connect

The real time aspect of combat kicks in when it’s time to attack, meaning you don’t control your characters’ movement otherwise. In that way it resembles ATB; when you aren’t fighting you’re waiting for your meter to fill up, and potentially defending against enemy attacks in the meantime with a basic block function. When it’s your turn you can build SP up by mashing out a small basic attack combo, then use the SP by choosing from a growing list of powerful magic attacks. It sounds basic, but you can use SP until you run out, allowing for combos made of increasingly stronger attacks. Magic intensity grows with repeated use, triggering chances for cinematic attacks bringing the whole party together, supports, and other limited-use, powerful techniques all rewarding you for getting your hands dirty and playing aggressive.

There are some cool aspects to this system, but ultimately it feels slow, awkward, and clumsy. Those basic attacks barely do damage and mostly serve to build SP, and there isn’t much impact or style to them. It makes attacking feel like pointless button mashing as an arbitrary barrier to the real attacks meant to add “depth” to combat. In reality it feels like laborious padding trying to trick me into thinking there’s more going on than there actually is. As someone who has no problems with good ol’ turn-based menu-picking, it feels like the game’s so afraid of me being bored it’s jangling keys in front of my face. But all the keys are the same color and made of rubber, so they’re just annoying.

Meanwhile, you can swap active control between your party of three, and the other two do their own thing automatically. But since there are no actual differences in how characters operate, it feels largely pointless to do so unless you need to swap a benched character out for healing or to access a different element. Weaknesses are a major factor in boss fights, especially since you can interrupt big attacks if you’re fast enough, but the loop doesn’t meaningfully change even when a couple other gimmicks kick in. If you look at the last couple of Atelier games in comparison you’ll see similar ideas, but those combat systems are much more active, fast-paced, and simply better at convincing you there’s more happening than button-mashing.

It’s a bummer combat feels like such a swing and a miss, because everything else about Fairy Tail 2 feels like an improvement from the first game. It’s a more full and lively-feeling experience, which is crucial for adapting something like a beloved anime series. The playable roster is larger, and a multi-pronged skill tree system allows for lots of customization for each character’s skills and passive abilities. As it stands, fans of Mashima’s fantasy epic will still probably have a good time seeing this version of the story through (and checking out the new epilogue!), but Fairy Tail 2 doesn’t get any closer to must-play status than the previous game, and oddly enough for different reasons.

Fairy Tail 2 is available on December 11, 2024 for the PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 and 5. A code for the PC version was provided by the publisher for review.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.