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Here I have my rather large list of issues and irritants with Magicka 2. After playing it nearly non-stop for the majority of the past four days, testing out nearly every combination the game would allow, and even purchasing the Digital Deluxe version before release, I have an uncontrollable urge to explain every thing I find wrong about this game. Though I do love the Magicka series, extremely so, this game was sadly a big disappointment to myself in many, many ways. So without further ado, here are my problems with this unfortunately devalued game. Note that this list may contain spoilers.
1. Fire and Water no longer combines into Steam. This causes a multitude of problems with spell-casting in general, such as disabling a wide number of formerly-powerful spells from the previous game, such as F-Q-F-Q-S-A-A, the highest damage output spell in the previous game. This results in a lot of repetitive, boring standards. For the majority of the game I was relying on A-R-S-E front cast, as well as the weaponized version for harder enemies.
2. It has a ridiculous difficulty curve in comparison to the original. This is in part due to the aforementioned lack of spell combination methods. This is also due to the outright swarming of enemies in pretty much every area and the absurd level of damage nearly everything does. Even with the Dragon armor pre-order incentive, things kill the character extremely quickly with very few methods of countering. The fact of the matter is sadly there's usually way too much going on and the nature of the game tends to require one to focus on one enemy, or pack of enemies, at a time. The only hope for survival is the chance that they will group up, which usually takes some time, and you can cause enough Death damage to take them all out or there is an explosive element near them to exploit. The problem with that method though is the collateral damage to the player that such actions cause.
3. Lack of returning characters. There is literally only one returning character prominent through the story of the whole game, and that is of course Vlad. This one really, REALLY irked me. There's not even callback items from what I've unlocked and purchased from the Digital Deluxe version, and even then it's just the Headmaster's robe and items. I've seen nothing else remaining from the first game, no familiar faces, no cameos, no references even. It's as if the first game never happened and everyone involved never existed. There was no mention of Grimnir, or Alucart, or the prior wizards, you never see Death himself except on defeat screens, no Fafnir, no Daemons save for a single item guardian mid-way through the game which is entirely optional, not even a slight reference to the prior game, nothing. This severely upset me and kind of killed the spirit of the series for me.
4. The Unlocking System. This really bugged me. There's no indication of what is needed to unlock items or even what is unlock-able in the first place. Even after playing through the game and basically exploring every nook and cranny of each level as I did so, I still only ended up with minimal items, and very rarely were they even worth the effort. On a rare occasion I managed to acquire a new robe, but any staff or weapon needed to be unlocked manually through in-game actions so far.
5. Relics are virtually worthless. Even after acquiring a multitude of relics through game-play and effort, they don't seem to have much function other than minor cosmetic effects or slight stat increases which barely help with the aforementioned difficulty curve. Another notable issue with them is even if you acquire them, you can't actually use them until a new play-through is made. This completely nullifies any potential they may have had to alter the current game.
6. Bosses are absurdly over-the-top in difficulty. It is basically impossible to survive them reliably without constant and nearly-endless trial and error until you manage to figure out what their weaknesses may be, and hope you can hit them faster than they can hit you, with minimal time to heal yourself from the immense damage they do with a single hit. Even Cthulhu, the DLC final boss of the original, maintained some sense of feasibility and actually gave a sense of accomplishment when defeating him. He was an enjoyable challenge. Magicka 2 Bosses are nothing but an exercise in tedium. Bosses now are just repetitive and mind-numbingly methodical to defeat effectively, and most rely on either exploiting their AI routine's flaws or just sheer dumb luck. I've only beaten the Final Boss once, and have never been able to do so again since, and this was only because I won by exploiting a rare glitch that rendered the Golem immobile for the entire fight. Bosses are almost nothing but running for your life and taking quick shots when there's an opening, which makes combining spells or charging impossible, which in turn makes every single boss battle extremely arduous and lengthy.
7. Vlad became stupid. This isn't a game-play issue as much as it is a story issue. Vlad in the original was at least charming and intelligent, and had some sort of functioning role in the overall story. He was an ally, and a boss, and a voice of reason. Magicka 2 completely turns it upside-down. Vlad has become an inept guide into needless situations. The Nostrir arc is almost completely pointless, and has no real sense of accomplishment in completing the related levels. Also the fact Vlad trusts a clearly insane person with the fate of the world in his eyes is demeaning to his character. In the original, Vlad would actually take action and managed to save the player twice in the game. In this game he pretty much causes the entire problem of the story's first arc due to outright stupidity and a severe lack of sane judgment. Also the only callback to the original with Vlad is the fact he is missing a hand in accordance with the end of 'Other Side of the Coin' in the original, and even then it's never spoken of or explained, and serves as nothing but a series of interchangeable hand prop "jokes" every time he appears. Vlad is no longer the admirable and slightly intimidating figure he once was, and this saddens me to see such a defined character become devoid of their own characteristics.
8. Lack of diverse locations. I can count on my hands the total number of unique scenes throughout the game. Features are repeated and rehashed to a minor degree. There's no longer any amazing and awe-inspiring scenery or construction as was featured in the original. World's End in the original was an incredible area to traverse, and was an inspired creation as well as an exciting location to see. There is no such location in Magicka 2. You never visit Niflheim, you never return to World's End, there are no new areas that really inspire awe, the scenery is mostly just boring and samey throughout. My favorite parts of the original were the diverse characters, and the diverse locations. This was all eliminated in this game.
9. The plot was painfully predictable. It's not even worth describing in detail, because it follows a very tired archetype that is featured in many other games. There are no real twists or surprises. It's dull and uninspired, and it left a lot to be desired. The entire first half of the game is essentially just a red herring and pointless filler, and never amounts to anything significant or interesting. The latter half is so predictable it hurts. In the original, it was thought to be predictable, just a standard story of a wronged wizard wanting revenge on those who wronged him, and going mad with rage. Then you discover it's not entirely his doing, and he's being influenced by a daemon from another plane of reality. Grimnir was more of a victim than he was the outright villain, and he's actually somewhat thought to be a sympathetic villain in the end. In Magicka 2, the main villain is just that, the main villain. The only thing that could be thought of as a twist of any kind is based entirely on the aforementioned lack of judgment on Vlad's part. I was expecting so much more from Magicka 2, and I was let down.
10. Lack of distinct humor. The original Magicka had a lot of in-jokes and off-the-wall references such as the "Castle Aaaagh" sign or the Druids who say "Ni" and "Eki" in battle, as well as the appealing overall humor of the character's interactions with each other. There's very little side interactions in Magicka 2, due to the fact that later in the game, literally everything alive is trying to kill you, even the standard NPC's you would expect something interestingly funny from. It's all just "kill everything that moves" and there's nothing else.
11. Combat is the same in every situation. It doesn't matter what you're fighting, you only have a sparse selection of reliable spells that can cause damage to your enemies without killing the player as well. The range of the "Death" spell explosions is appallingly massive and using it on anything coming your way is essentially suicide. However, Death is the only beam spell modifier in the game other than life, which has no purpose other than curing yourself and a few side-battles with item-guarding demons, as there are NO actual undead in the game. Combat is a routine of firing off a simplistic uncharged spell, running away while trying to heal yourself faster than the enemy is hitting you, and trying to make distance for the next spell, then repeating ad infinitum until one of the characters dies, which more often than not is the player. The 100 death achievement is the easiest to acquire, as dying happens so often the defeat screen will be burned into your mind by the end of the level. Shield has become worthless outside of placing mines, and even then the character is usually so slow whatever you place hits you as well when it goes off. The Shield spell is extremely limited and the duration of the shield isn't worth the conjuring time. Wards rarely have any substantial effect outside of ONE specific point in the game near the beginning, and S-A-F-E self--cast no longer works as it did.
12. Everything but the enemies are slow as molasses. Conjuring takes a while, the built-in focus system is time-limited and extremely inconvenient, the character itself is sickeningly sluggish, and ALMOST EVERY enemy is faster than the player. Combined with the combat routine, speed is nonexistent, and even with haste you have very little chance of gaining any significant distance from your enemies. The only upside is the ability to move while casting, even though it's at .5 the rate of the normal walking speed, which is already minimal. There exists the Wuxia robe, which doubles the walking speed, but the drawbacks of incredibly high vulnerability to every element make it pointless to use. Getting anywhere is tedious and a chore, and makes the game longer only due to the fact you can't go any faster. The dragon armor is pretty much an instant death warrant. It's supposed "resistance" to all elements and damage is ideal in theory, but it drastically slows the player even further to the point you cannot escape anything in the slightest. Remember Teleporting? That's out too, and the only spell related is "Emergency Teleport" which teleports you to a random location, usually just a few feet behind where you just were. A safer location perhaps, but since it takes time to cast, you're probably already near-dead when you manage to pull it off in the first place.
13. Water and other detrimental stage elements are everywhere. Sometimes it's barely able to be noticed until you wind up killing yourself with electricity since you're frantically trying to cast without getting completely murdered in less than a second. There are certain robes that offer resistance to these elements, but the only one that truly cancels any element is the robe that protects against water and wetness. That robe offers some minor sense of safety when casting but it's armor effect is minimal as well. The entire game is very water-based and the second area starts it all with making you traverse an ocean strait. Tip of the iceberg, as nearly every area afterwards either has a recurring river or outright cliffs which grant access to instant death.
14. Respawning is broken. More often than not if you die, the fairy will bring you back, but usually right in the middle of the group of enemies that killed you in the first place. Also, respawning is slow as well, and typically this means the enemies have time to center on your location and just kill you again within seconds. Adding to this is the fact that if you respawn too close to another enemy band, you'll activate them early and get swarmed without relief. All in all it becomes frustrating to try and manipulate the situation so you don't just die instantly upon revival.
15. Magicks have a cool-down time. After casting any Magick, you have to wait until the focus meter fills up to cast it again. Magicks are also limited to slots. Haste is a must in this game due to the previously stated slow nature of the player character, however many battles require you to switch out Haste for a different Magick, notably the Final Boss. Magicks are also very volatile in nature, as casting them at the wrong moment will usually end up in them being ineffective, wearing off before you need it, or taking too long to caste and getting you killed before being able to. The Final Boss is the worst caste of this, as the vital spell to the battle takes a long time to charge up, activate, and refocus, as well as having a very brief effect. The Final Boss REQUIRES you to use this Magick to make any progress, and it involves activating the magick in proper timing with the Final Boss casting their own spell to reflect it and cancel it out. What happens if you're slightly off? Instant death. The Boss's spell inflicts 2000 damage if it connects, and instantly kills the player character no matter what armor they have. The Final Boss is also multi-stage with no checkpoints between stages, so one minor slip-up guarantees the player's defeat and having to restart the entire battle from scratch. The Magick required is very short-lived, and when in effect, nullifies the Player's own spells as well. Not helping matters is the fact said Boss constantly spawns helper enemies that can cancel out your Magick focus with a minor attack. Magicks are simply no longer reliable methods of attack.
16. Glitches abound. That's right, there's a lot of issues that can result in being just randomly flung out of the level and instant death. Notably in the Khan fight, if she uses her "Teleport Grab" while you are on fire, a collision error causes you to be sent out of bounds in the blink of an eye and you die immediately, or with a delay. Not helping matters is the fact there's quite often the already-present threat of getting randomly knocked or blown off a cliff.
CONCLUSION
Simply put, this game was extremely disappointing and crushed my spirits involving the series. Everything good about the original game is basically gone, and what's left is just an unending source of frustration and fatigue. I just cannot fathom how this was even possible for such a great series to degenerate so severely. While I still play it, it's only because I want to know it as much as I knew the original. Thus far it's just given me recurring migraines and a lack of sleep. I sincerely hope some redeeming factors are added by way of DLC or patches in the near future. Otherwise, I'm sorely saddened by the state this game is in. I apologize for ranting, but I felt it needed to be done.
1. Fire and Water no longer combines into Steam. This causes a multitude of problems with spell-casting in general, such as disabling a wide number of formerly-powerful spells from the previous game, such as F-Q-F-Q-S-A-A, the highest damage output spell in the previous game. This results in a lot of repetitive, boring standards. For the majority of the game I was relying on A-R-S-E front cast, as well as the weaponized version for harder enemies.
2. It has a ridiculous difficulty curve in comparison to the original. This is in part due to the aforementioned lack of spell combination methods. This is also due to the outright swarming of enemies in pretty much every area and the absurd level of damage nearly everything does. Even with the Dragon armor pre-order incentive, things kill the character extremely quickly with very few methods of countering. The fact of the matter is sadly there's usually way too much going on and the nature of the game tends to require one to focus on one enemy, or pack of enemies, at a time. The only hope for survival is the chance that they will group up, which usually takes some time, and you can cause enough Death damage to take them all out or there is an explosive element near them to exploit. The problem with that method though is the collateral damage to the player that such actions cause.
3. Lack of returning characters. There is literally only one returning character prominent through the story of the whole game, and that is of course Vlad. This one really, REALLY irked me. There's not even callback items from what I've unlocked and purchased from the Digital Deluxe version, and even then it's just the Headmaster's robe and items. I've seen nothing else remaining from the first game, no familiar faces, no cameos, no references even. It's as if the first game never happened and everyone involved never existed. There was no mention of Grimnir, or Alucart, or the prior wizards, you never see Death himself except on defeat screens, no Fafnir, no Daemons save for a single item guardian mid-way through the game which is entirely optional, not even a slight reference to the prior game, nothing. This severely upset me and kind of killed the spirit of the series for me.
4. The Unlocking System. This really bugged me. There's no indication of what is needed to unlock items or even what is unlock-able in the first place. Even after playing through the game and basically exploring every nook and cranny of each level as I did so, I still only ended up with minimal items, and very rarely were they even worth the effort. On a rare occasion I managed to acquire a new robe, but any staff or weapon needed to be unlocked manually through in-game actions so far.
5. Relics are virtually worthless. Even after acquiring a multitude of relics through game-play and effort, they don't seem to have much function other than minor cosmetic effects or slight stat increases which barely help with the aforementioned difficulty curve. Another notable issue with them is even if you acquire them, you can't actually use them until a new play-through is made. This completely nullifies any potential they may have had to alter the current game.
6. Bosses are absurdly over-the-top in difficulty. It is basically impossible to survive them reliably without constant and nearly-endless trial and error until you manage to figure out what their weaknesses may be, and hope you can hit them faster than they can hit you, with minimal time to heal yourself from the immense damage they do with a single hit. Even Cthulhu, the DLC final boss of the original, maintained some sense of feasibility and actually gave a sense of accomplishment when defeating him. He was an enjoyable challenge. Magicka 2 Bosses are nothing but an exercise in tedium. Bosses now are just repetitive and mind-numbingly methodical to defeat effectively, and most rely on either exploiting their AI routine's flaws or just sheer dumb luck. I've only beaten the Final Boss once, and have never been able to do so again since, and this was only because I won by exploiting a rare glitch that rendered the Golem immobile for the entire fight. Bosses are almost nothing but running for your life and taking quick shots when there's an opening, which makes combining spells or charging impossible, which in turn makes every single boss battle extremely arduous and lengthy.
7. Vlad became stupid. This isn't a game-play issue as much as it is a story issue. Vlad in the original was at least charming and intelligent, and had some sort of functioning role in the overall story. He was an ally, and a boss, and a voice of reason. Magicka 2 completely turns it upside-down. Vlad has become an inept guide into needless situations. The Nostrir arc is almost completely pointless, and has no real sense of accomplishment in completing the related levels. Also the fact Vlad trusts a clearly insane person with the fate of the world in his eyes is demeaning to his character. In the original, Vlad would actually take action and managed to save the player twice in the game. In this game he pretty much causes the entire problem of the story's first arc due to outright stupidity and a severe lack of sane judgment. Also the only callback to the original with Vlad is the fact he is missing a hand in accordance with the end of 'Other Side of the Coin' in the original, and even then it's never spoken of or explained, and serves as nothing but a series of interchangeable hand prop "jokes" every time he appears. Vlad is no longer the admirable and slightly intimidating figure he once was, and this saddens me to see such a defined character become devoid of their own characteristics.
8. Lack of diverse locations. I can count on my hands the total number of unique scenes throughout the game. Features are repeated and rehashed to a minor degree. There's no longer any amazing and awe-inspiring scenery or construction as was featured in the original. World's End in the original was an incredible area to traverse, and was an inspired creation as well as an exciting location to see. There is no such location in Magicka 2. You never visit Niflheim, you never return to World's End, there are no new areas that really inspire awe, the scenery is mostly just boring and samey throughout. My favorite parts of the original were the diverse characters, and the diverse locations. This was all eliminated in this game.
9. The plot was painfully predictable. It's not even worth describing in detail, because it follows a very tired archetype that is featured in many other games. There are no real twists or surprises. It's dull and uninspired, and it left a lot to be desired. The entire first half of the game is essentially just a red herring and pointless filler, and never amounts to anything significant or interesting. The latter half is so predictable it hurts. In the original, it was thought to be predictable, just a standard story of a wronged wizard wanting revenge on those who wronged him, and going mad with rage. Then you discover it's not entirely his doing, and he's being influenced by a daemon from another plane of reality. Grimnir was more of a victim than he was the outright villain, and he's actually somewhat thought to be a sympathetic villain in the end. In Magicka 2, the main villain is just that, the main villain. The only thing that could be thought of as a twist of any kind is based entirely on the aforementioned lack of judgment on Vlad's part. I was expecting so much more from Magicka 2, and I was let down.
10. Lack of distinct humor. The original Magicka had a lot of in-jokes and off-the-wall references such as the "Castle Aaaagh" sign or the Druids who say "Ni" and "Eki" in battle, as well as the appealing overall humor of the character's interactions with each other. There's very little side interactions in Magicka 2, due to the fact that later in the game, literally everything alive is trying to kill you, even the standard NPC's you would expect something interestingly funny from. It's all just "kill everything that moves" and there's nothing else.
11. Combat is the same in every situation. It doesn't matter what you're fighting, you only have a sparse selection of reliable spells that can cause damage to your enemies without killing the player as well. The range of the "Death" spell explosions is appallingly massive and using it on anything coming your way is essentially suicide. However, Death is the only beam spell modifier in the game other than life, which has no purpose other than curing yourself and a few side-battles with item-guarding demons, as there are NO actual undead in the game. Combat is a routine of firing off a simplistic uncharged spell, running away while trying to heal yourself faster than the enemy is hitting you, and trying to make distance for the next spell, then repeating ad infinitum until one of the characters dies, which more often than not is the player. The 100 death achievement is the easiest to acquire, as dying happens so often the defeat screen will be burned into your mind by the end of the level. Shield has become worthless outside of placing mines, and even then the character is usually so slow whatever you place hits you as well when it goes off. The Shield spell is extremely limited and the duration of the shield isn't worth the conjuring time. Wards rarely have any substantial effect outside of ONE specific point in the game near the beginning, and S-A-F-E self--cast no longer works as it did.
12. Everything but the enemies are slow as molasses. Conjuring takes a while, the built-in focus system is time-limited and extremely inconvenient, the character itself is sickeningly sluggish, and ALMOST EVERY enemy is faster than the player. Combined with the combat routine, speed is nonexistent, and even with haste you have very little chance of gaining any significant distance from your enemies. The only upside is the ability to move while casting, even though it's at .5 the rate of the normal walking speed, which is already minimal. There exists the Wuxia robe, which doubles the walking speed, but the drawbacks of incredibly high vulnerability to every element make it pointless to use. Getting anywhere is tedious and a chore, and makes the game longer only due to the fact you can't go any faster. The dragon armor is pretty much an instant death warrant. It's supposed "resistance" to all elements and damage is ideal in theory, but it drastically slows the player even further to the point you cannot escape anything in the slightest. Remember Teleporting? That's out too, and the only spell related is "Emergency Teleport" which teleports you to a random location, usually just a few feet behind where you just were. A safer location perhaps, but since it takes time to cast, you're probably already near-dead when you manage to pull it off in the first place.
13. Water and other detrimental stage elements are everywhere. Sometimes it's barely able to be noticed until you wind up killing yourself with electricity since you're frantically trying to cast without getting completely murdered in less than a second. There are certain robes that offer resistance to these elements, but the only one that truly cancels any element is the robe that protects against water and wetness. That robe offers some minor sense of safety when casting but it's armor effect is minimal as well. The entire game is very water-based and the second area starts it all with making you traverse an ocean strait. Tip of the iceberg, as nearly every area afterwards either has a recurring river or outright cliffs which grant access to instant death.
14. Respawning is broken. More often than not if you die, the fairy will bring you back, but usually right in the middle of the group of enemies that killed you in the first place. Also, respawning is slow as well, and typically this means the enemies have time to center on your location and just kill you again within seconds. Adding to this is the fact that if you respawn too close to another enemy band, you'll activate them early and get swarmed without relief. All in all it becomes frustrating to try and manipulate the situation so you don't just die instantly upon revival.
15. Magicks have a cool-down time. After casting any Magick, you have to wait until the focus meter fills up to cast it again. Magicks are also limited to slots. Haste is a must in this game due to the previously stated slow nature of the player character, however many battles require you to switch out Haste for a different Magick, notably the Final Boss. Magicks are also very volatile in nature, as casting them at the wrong moment will usually end up in them being ineffective, wearing off before you need it, or taking too long to caste and getting you killed before being able to. The Final Boss is the worst caste of this, as the vital spell to the battle takes a long time to charge up, activate, and refocus, as well as having a very brief effect. The Final Boss REQUIRES you to use this Magick to make any progress, and it involves activating the magick in proper timing with the Final Boss casting their own spell to reflect it and cancel it out. What happens if you're slightly off? Instant death. The Boss's spell inflicts 2000 damage if it connects, and instantly kills the player character no matter what armor they have. The Final Boss is also multi-stage with no checkpoints between stages, so one minor slip-up guarantees the player's defeat and having to restart the entire battle from scratch. The Magick required is very short-lived, and when in effect, nullifies the Player's own spells as well. Not helping matters is the fact said Boss constantly spawns helper enemies that can cancel out your Magick focus with a minor attack. Magicks are simply no longer reliable methods of attack.
16. Glitches abound. That's right, there's a lot of issues that can result in being just randomly flung out of the level and instant death. Notably in the Khan fight, if she uses her "Teleport Grab" while you are on fire, a collision error causes you to be sent out of bounds in the blink of an eye and you die immediately, or with a delay. Not helping matters is the fact there's quite often the already-present threat of getting randomly knocked or blown off a cliff.
CONCLUSION
Simply put, this game was extremely disappointing and crushed my spirits involving the series. Everything good about the original game is basically gone, and what's left is just an unending source of frustration and fatigue. I just cannot fathom how this was even possible for such a great series to degenerate so severely. While I still play it, it's only because I want to know it as much as I knew the original. Thus far it's just given me recurring migraines and a lack of sleep. I sincerely hope some redeeming factors are added by way of DLC or patches in the near future. Otherwise, I'm sorely saddened by the state this game is in. I apologize for ranting, but I felt it needed to be done.
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