AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative Reviews

Honestly, this game sucks; it's just plain boring compared to the first game. In the first game, I was always on edge and everything felt new and interesting, but this game is too afraid to branch out. For some reason, all of the characters in the first game are in this one, for no reason whatsover. Like, they're just there and add nothing to the plot. You often get the option to explore the locations from the first game, but why? There's literally nothing there but a character from the first game maybe making a dumb joke.Like, if the characters were making cameos, it would be cool, but they're just smack in the middle of the story, existing for no reason. Also, the anti-aliasing is absolute garbage. You don't have any control over the graphics besides a VSync and Anisotropic Filtering toggle. The game isn't very graphically demanding, but there are jaggies (jagged edges) on every 3D model and some of the video cutscenes have really low res, probably 720p, so they can't be upscaled. I tried tweaking the anti-aliasing in the Nvidia control panel, but it has no effect. Ultimately, the only way I could reduce the jaggies so that character models had straight edges was to enable Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) at 4.00x (4K resolution) and reduce the DSR smoothness to 0% (but it could probably be increased). On 4K resolution, all the jaggies disappear, so I honestly wonder if the devs only developed it on 4K screens because the character models look awful at any lower resolution. Also, you can't put costumes on Aiba or Tama in game, only in the consultation mini-game thing, which I thought was dumb, and they reused way too many maps and assets from the first game, like the docks, shrine, etc., which feels pretty lazy. I want to experience fresh locations, not just the shrine for the umpteenth time. It kind of feels like they made a total conversion mod of their own game: same assets, different story, which isn't saying much considering every character looks like they were made in Vroid Studio. Legit, I spent most of this game in denial over how boring it is. I came into it expecting to play Mizuki, who was one of my fave characters from the first game, and get forced to play as Ryuki for half the game, whose banter with Tama literally is just non-stop dick jokes. Wish I could get a refund, total waste of time and money.

At first I thought this game was pretty bad. The graphics, and design seemed subpar, and it took a while to get into it. The ending however was spectacular, and worth the wait. What I didn't like: UI felt janky, and worse than the last game. Combat was buggy. To make the story work, they had to basically lie to the person playing. When inspecting certain areas, things like buildings were floating in midair. What I liked: Story delivered just as good, or better than the last game. Some extra things to do when finished the game. Not a carbon copy of the last game, and new characters did well. Music was good, though a lot was borrowed from the last game.

With very few exceptions, Nirvana initiative (NI) is way worse than AI: The somnioum files. The only real upside is, that the gameplay, especially the somnioums, is way better. Other than that, NI disappoints on every point: - The pacing is godawful, it takes forever for something interesting to happen. And even if somethings happens, it is forgotten instantly. Every time, every character is talked to, even if they have nothing to say. At one point, you have to visit 15(!) locations with absolutely no progress or interesting interaction - The promise of a Mizuki main char is delivery upon too late, the first main character Ryuki stays too long. He is not too bad for a main char, but Mizuki is Miuzki - The main plotline is surprisingly boring. The first game had a tight murder case in which the main character had a personal interest. This time its only related slightly to Mizuki and is rather boring - It sacrifices a lot of the good points of the first game (and such, after playing NI I enjoy The somnioun files even less). Mizukis backstory is completely unasked for, and makes no sense in the first game. [spoiler] Her adoption contradicts several plotpoints of the first game. [/spoiler] - The main culprit is very unsatisfaying. The ending is rushed and hold no candle compared to the ending of the first game - The big twist of the game adds nothing to the game. In fact, the game would flow better without it. Instead of creating an interesting aspect to the story, it is just a gimmick. It is not even well woven into the story. At some point [spoiler] you are simply told, whats going on. And that’s supposed to be an interesting take? At that point I really thought about dropping the game. [/spoiler] - [spoiler]The true ending is uninteresting. Nothing to find here either [/spoiler] - Overall, this games does one thing: Waste your time with boring characters, dull plotlines, contrived twists and endless empty dialogues. Positives: Better gameplay. Cool new gameplay elements with the VR stuff. Less annoying anime-esque pervert jokes. More Mizuki, less Ota.

Very fun murder mysterious puzzle. At moments very silly. Definitely worth playing if you like previous one or zero escape

NOT RECOMMEND. This game was TOUGH to get through. For context, I've played AI: The Somnium Files and I thought, whilst it had many flaws, the game was really good and I loved the story/characters. The problem with AI: nirvanA Initative is that I hate the story and some of the characters. The story felt like it went along at a snail's pace, I had lost my patience by Misuki's first ending and was basically speeding through the rest of the game. What doesn't help with this is the overreliance on having to explore multiple areas with basically no information within them, most of the time being met with "HAHA SEX JOKE?!" or some romance side plot. The overreliance on these kinds of jokes throughout just completely removes any amount of tension or care I would have for the game, poor Mama...see what they did to you. The characters? I honestly enjoyed most of them, highlights being Genny. Lien, whilst I loathed him at first, I actually grew to really enjoy his character. And Kizuma, when she wasn't singing and being really annoying (I wish I could skip theseeeee). Unfortunately what ruins it, is that I really disliked Ryuki, the other main character, and his AI ball which is just there for sex appeal. I wish they killed him off multiple times, or had him used in a more interesting way towards the end (Becoming the new bad guy?? ooooh?). Speaking of villains, I enjoyed Tearer but I wish he was more developed as a character, and Chikara was the perfect amount of evil. Music's good ig? Same as the first on that front. ALSO THE ANIMATIONS ARE STILL SO BAD, THEY DIDN'T FIX THEM? WHY IS EVERYTHING SO STILTED IN THE FIGHT SECTIONS?! Overall, just don't bother. If you really want to experience the story, just watch a playthrough or something? Def not worth the price. Go play the first game instead, sure it has bad humour but at least it's not constant and the story is, imo, better. Forgot to mention the story in depth tbf, so I'm adding a quick edit. I really dislike the twist as it undermines a few characters from the original game severely and the other twist (Vague on purpose, look it up if you wanna find out) just confused me. Like, I'm sorta glad the game told me what was up? But also, I would have never figured that out on my own or really noticed and it just served to make me go...whuh? Sure? I guess..? I don't care.

Good visual novel with a twist like the previous one, this time around it feels more wacky, and they added answer as puzzles so you need to remember stuff said maybe a few hours ago, and if you play from time to time it can be hard to remember if you don't write it down, there are also some puzzles that didn't make much sense to me and had to look at the solution and the explanation, but those are just at most 5 puzzles in the entire game. The somnium stages are a bit more logical this time around. I enjoyed my time with it and i would recommend anyone who played the first to play this one too, unless you got annoyed at the humor and some of the characters, because this one gives you a bit more comedy than the first game. Played the full playthrough on my steam deck it ran flawlessly with less than 10w TDP

if you've played and enjoyed the first game, prepare to be so completely disappointed and angered by this one. utter dogshit it's embarrassing

I loved the first AITSF game and loved this one as well ❤️‍🩹 The soundtrack is great (Lien's Somnium one is my favorite!), all the characters are unique and interesting, and the story is super fun and mind-blowing! I wasn't expecting that plot twist at all and quite didn't understand it at first, so I was so upset for about 10-15 min. 😭 Apart from those few minutes, I really enjoyed the whole game, from the beginning until the epilogue. I [b] really [/b] want to mention I find it so funny that Aiba is just a round lil fellow whilst Tama has a defined female body lol My only complaint: [spoiler] they didn't show Marco's human form, not even a concept art!!! [/spoiler]

有趣的剧情，能让人不断地好奇然后呢？然后呢？插入笑话的方式和内容也不会让人感到不适，非常有意思。 人物富有魅力，老角色和新角色的平衡做的很不错。伊达帅的雅痞，其他角色也很棒。 个人比较喜欢法螺鸟梦境和宝*梦梦境，印象深刻。法螺鸟的梦境的解谜key是非常简单粗暴的概念，作为大脑马杀鸡正合适，BBAB的包装也很有趣。宝可梦就是纯粹的有梗，特别是对1代玩家来说（宝*梦F这种东西多来点！） 缺点是隐藏结局过于仓促，不理解想要表达什么，感觉制作的时候没想好具体想让隐藏结局展现什么，只是想搞个酷酷的东西，但是主体的剧情体验还是相当不错的。 “那个被关押在地下的男人”的梦境解谜的设计，第二部分和第三部分玩不明白，只能靠超能力通关了。其他的解谜的难度都让我有种我真聪明的感觉。

Not as good as the first but still fun. The majority of the game is engaging with a compelling mystery to solve, however the ending is deeply unsatisfying.