Johnny vs. Freedom Planet 2
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- čas přidán 28. 11. 2022
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In today's episode, oh good, Freedom Planet 2 actually saw the light of day! Let's talk about it for a bit.
Check out my Social Media pages for updates and other...things!
/ somecallmejon
#FreedomPlanet2 #galaxytrail #indiegame - Hry
![Eminem - Houdini [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/22tVWwmTie8/mqdefault.jpg)
Aw heck yiss! One of the writers and the voice of the Magister here, and absolutely chuffed you enjoyed the game's story and dialogue, Johnny! Had a lot of fun writing the characters and glad their personalities shone through!
Magister my favorite
Wow! The voice of the Magister??!!!And a writer??! You really nailed it!! Props to you!!👏👏👏
If you were the one who did Carol's personality, I want to thank you for making me love her even more.
He's also the one who voiced Nazo from Sonic Nazo Unleashed, Fuse from Dust: An Elysian Tail and the Dragon Scientist from the first Freedom Planet game. Just some fun trivia. Omahdon, you did a great job here!
Reply 5
Thank you again for covering our game Johnny! It's surreal to finally see it released after so many years, it was such a constant presence in my life that it still feels weird to me that it's done, haha. I seriously can't thank our team enough for sticking with us all these years, and a special mention to our voice actors and writers who really knocked it out of the park helping us with the story this time.
I totally understand that the soundtrack isn't everyone's cup of tea. Leila and I were once again responsible for most of the soundtrack like in FP1, but I think the lengthy development time meant that our style simply changed over the years, which you can kindof hear with the tracks that were composed in the final year or two compared to 2015-2017. I stand by what we were able to accomplish though, the final soundtrack is massive and has tons of variety, I can't wait to finish working on the official OST release!
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving break with your folks and I'm so glad you enjoyed Freedom Planet 2!
Thank you and the rest of the team for creating both Freedom Planet 1 & 2. I've 100 %ed the game after 56 hours and had a blast in all four play thoughts! The soundtrack grew on me especially those little touches in Gravity Bubble with the whales wailing or the Brevon's theme leitmotif in the Robot Graveyard.
Have a nice day, keep up the good work and see you again in the credits of eventual Freedom Planet 3 :)
This game exceeded my expectations, it's a worthy sequel. If I have to wait half a decade for a game like this then I'll gladly wait. And I thought the music was fine at first but listening through it more and more, it grew on me quickly to the point that I like just as much, if not more than the first game.
Thanks to you and everyone else who worked on these games! They're some of my favourite 2D platformers.
Just wanna let you know that despite not agreeing with a lot of design decisions in the final game, *the soundtrack rocks.*
Can't wait to get it once it's released! :)
Regardless of the change in tune, the OST is still incredible. Music styles change overtime, but that usually means refinement along the way. I thought the majority of tracks were amazing and fit the stages just fine. Even then, the game is super fun to play and well worth the wait!
Holy fuck! I was not expecting to see Johnny back in the first location, but it was such a pleasant surprise. God, has it really been over 10 years?
coming full circle is such a good trope i hope he faces the final boss in that room
Shout out to Tyson Tan for his character design really sprucing up Freedom Planet's look. One of the best things about the game.
Freedom Planet 2 was totally worth the wait
I do think the OST is still great, but I think a good part of why it doesn’t measure up to the first game is because the original had multi-stage themes that made it feel different. It just had more to offer for one stage than a singular track like in FP2. Plus, the first game’s tracks were WAY more high octane than a lot of the more laid back ones here. They’re trying to match the environment more rather than pure adrenaline, which works sometimes but won’t always hit.
Airship Sigwada and the Globe Opera stages are still absolute BANGERS though.
Don't forget Inversion Dynamo, Magma Starscape and Shade Armory.
@@Arko777777 Ancestral Forge too
@@Arko777777 The themes, like the stages, ramp up in intensity with the story.
I think it's fitting that the first stages feel calm, it makes the energetic ones later stand out more.
I also love Inversion dynamo, despite it sounding almost like a metallic madness clone lol
This game hasn’t gotten nearly enough coverage, glad to see you talk about it! You introduced me to the original game all those years ago so it’s nice to see the long wait come full circle 😊
It probably is struggling to get attetnion because they announced it years ago and took forever to release it without a sign of a release date for ages so people likely just got tired of waiting.
I'm not saying the the delay was bad if it helped the final poduct but this is what happens when you keep people waiting too long. They just move on eventually. But if word gets out it might catch people's attention again.
It looks good I might get it
Same here! Johnny introduced me to it when I was just in middle school and I've been following the sequel's development for as long as the first trailer drop.
@@metazoxan2 From what I understand the big Two things is that galaxy trail does not have a big marketing budget and they dropped a Nintendo direct release day with 24 hours notice
If they can get into a direct for the consul release this spring they will be golden
@@metazoxan2 It's not out on consoles yet either
The soundtrack took a while to grow on me, but after a second playthrough a lot of tracks seriously started standing out to me and honestly making me prefer this game’s soundtrack over the first. Lightning Tower, Inversion Dynamo, Airship Sigwada… when the songs hit, they hit DAMN good
Avian Museum is just a better version of Airship Sigwada IMO, but I generally agree. The only thing that bugs me about the soundtrack is the most commonly used boss themes are the weakest ones IMO.
@@100organicfreshmemes5 TRUE. I wish they’d used the boss themes more equally instead of overusing a few. But I really liked the character specific boss themes, especially Aaa’s, Cory’s, and ESPECIALLY Merga’s Phase 3.
Woofle is a fantastic artist and you definitely follow their stuff on Soundcloud
Shenlin park and Global opera 2 are great battle sigwada too
@@100organicfreshmemes5 100% agreed. The Tidal Gate Boss theme was actually pretty good but they almost never use it.
I just binged a whole bunch of review episodes yesterday ending it with Freedom Planet. It was uncanny to wake up and see a review of Freedom Planet 2 and I was like, "damn, its been that long"
Would love to see ya cover the Spark The Electric Jester games, which have similar origin roots but with the guy who made the Sonic Before/After The Sequel fangames.
Seconding this. The Spark games are incredible.
Thirding this because I love those games especially 1 and 3
We’ve been waiting so long for the 2nd entry, so glad it’s finally here after 7 years!
That's how it is with indie devs, man. I never try to rush them
I remerber reading about the game announcement for the Wii U back in the day. Even the dev stating they might cancel the Wii U version if the game came out after the NX (development name for the Switch), kinda funny thinking about it now, but I'm glad the game is out now.
Like Johnny stated I also forgot this game existed even I'm a fan of the original game
So glad you're talking about Freedom Planet 2! Completely took me off guard when the game finally got released, but the smiles I had all the way through were so worth it.
Seeing the OG room is so nostalgic, you have no idea! Really made me smile seeing it again.
Now I want Johnny to review Spark the Electric Jester 3 to complete the action platformer trifecta
Johnny: "Freedom Planet 2 is good"
Johnny's Friends: "Freedom Planet 2 came out?"
Me: "There's a Freedom Planet 2?"
Freedom Planet 2 was one of my most anticipated game of this year and I'm happy it turned out so amazing
It does basically what every good sequel does: take what worked in the first installment and crank it up a notch
I have fully completed Story Mode with Lilac so far but I do intend to go back to it at some point to finish the game with all 4 characters
I completed them all in, like, the first week, and I kinda can see why Johnny didn’t bother, it’s a lot
@@thetreyceratops2242 Completion is pretty hefty considering there's 4 characters this time and there are twice as manly stages as the first game (not counting boss levels). I still loved every minute of it though.
Is it necessary to play the first? Or I could start from this one?
@@morkgin2459 I'd still say play the first one because some dialogue in this game's story directly reference characters and things that happened during first game's plot (and also because the first game is still awesome ^^) but if you just want to get from one level to the next without giving a crap about the story then you don't really need to have played the first one
Reply 5
I can confirm, I've already played the game four times for each character and the approximate play time I have was about 45 hours.
I've been anticipating this game for years and when it finally came out, I bought it instantly on day one. I actually have to thank Johnny for getting me into the series with his first video back in 2014. I still remember typing that heartfelt comment in that video thanking him for introducing this game (now series) to me that I have adored since middle school to now. I was extremely happy to see that he came back to revisit the series and it's the latest entry all these years later.
Please cover Spark the Electric Jester 2 and 3! Those game need way more love and attention.
I was SO motivated to go hard into this game, it might end up being one of my favorite games of all time. I tried playing through every characters story at the same time, which I thought would be repetitive after I realized how long the game was, but after a short while I was always really excited thinking about how the other characters were going to handle the same challenges because of how well designed the characters/stages were. It took...a really long time, but I don't regret the experience at all lol.
Donkey Kong’s looking a bit different these days
Yeah, didn't expect some female version of Spyro would crossover with the series lol
you mean, sonic is looking hotter these days
@@philatio1744 looks more like Blaze the Cat to me.
Donkey Kong transitioned.
Good for her.
the open zone spin-off was really weird for the DK series
This game is a masterpiece, and it is criminally underrated. I didn't even know this game existed until I saw it's release trailer for Nintendo Switch, but remembering my good times with FP1 from the Wii U days and being wow'ed by the trailer, I dived right in and I am so glad I did. But, like, I live under a rock. Why are people savvy to the indie scene sleeping on this game? Why is this, like, the only FP2 video to have over 50K views?
As for my opinion: It really is a beautiful game that anyone who loves Sonic, Mega Man X, or really any 90s era platformer would love. The amount of passion, love, and care that went into it cannot be overstated, and hearing it had a 7 year development time makes sense. All 4 characters are fun to play as, and there are over 30 varied bosses (40 if you want to count sparring) and hours of content. Every stage is fresh and creative...and it actually has a good water level. A REALLY good one.
I love me Sonic Mania, and thought Sonic Superstars was okay, but FP2 really does surpass them in pretty much every regard (still hard to beat Tee Lopes Mania soundtrack, though FP2 does have some great tunes).
Do yourself a favor, support the devs, and pick this up as soon as you can.
As someone who spent 49 hours on this game, playing as all four characters in Adventure Mode, I can safely say that you're fucking WRONG about the soundtrack, I literally couldn't sleep during some nights because I had music from this game stuck in my head. You know the soundtrack is good when even the World Map themes are catchy.
As for the visuals, I genuinely believe this is the best-looking 2D indie game ever made, the Symphony of the Night for 2D indie platformers, their attempts at 3D were even successful because they were reserved for shit that just wouldn't work in 2D, Bakunawa being a 3D model makes it look way more menacing and alien, it also helped the game look more like a Saturn title. Easily my Game of the Year.
I'd like to see Johnny tackle the Spark the Electric Jester trilogy. Find those to be some great Soniclikes and hidden gems.
He did the first game on this channel and sgb. He felt the game overstayed its welcome
@@DirectorOfChaos9292 I forgot about that. That was a long time ago I'm mostly interested in what he would think of 2 and 3.
Yessss FINALLY someone talks about this game! I love DiDuro and the rest of the team, but they are not good at advertising, and it's a shame considering how good the final product is!
The main saving grace is if it gets ported to Switch and airs in an Indie World showcase. FP1 getting onto Wii U was a pretty big deal, so 2 getting on Switch might jog the memories of Nintendo fans who played it back then.
@@ivanquote1807 the first game is also on Switch, I still need to finish it
I think it will pick up eventually as more people realize "Wait, it's OUT?!"
You definitely aren't the only one who had misgivings with the soundtrack - especially the boss themes, they're less immediately-hummable - but I do have to admit the stage tracks still have some real jams in there. Zao Land, Shade Armory, both Globe Operas, Zulon Jungle, Magma Starscape, Gravity Bubble and Inversion Dynamo all come to mind here, although some I didn't appreciate until listening to them after the fact. Thank goodness for that whole vinyl-buying mechanic...
Yeah, the OST for FP2 is definitely a lot more..."low-key" than its predecessor, which IMO is somewhat to its detriment. Still, as you said, there are still a handful of bangers in there; they just don't "pop out" immediately like FP1's did.
The worst offender for me is the music for the boss of Phoenix Highway. That one is simply NOT a boss theme, it's a stage music. It's a very unfitting track, it makes the boss fight feel kind of boring. What were they thinking?
On the other hand, I love Askal's boss theme so much. It's become one of my favorite game tracks. I have been listening and humming it too much lately.
@@firestar4407
Eh. I liked the grooviness of Phoenix Highway Boss. My personal worst offender is a 3-way tie between Vs. Robot A, Vs. Robot B, and Vs. General Serpentine 1. For how dull all 3 are, they show up way too much in the game.
@@firestar4407 It originally was the stage theme, believe it or not. (There were like 7-8 takes on it, none of which will ever see the light of day.) While I composed the music, I didn't always choose what songs went where, so some non-boss themes ended up as boss themes, etc.
@@LeilaRWilson Oh... Well, that explains everything.
By the way, big fan of your work from the first game. Good memories from my teen years. I listened to your music a lot, it was awesome :)
I can't thank you enough for your hard work.
With a new Sonic game, Spark the Electric Jester 3 AND Freedom Planet 2, this year was perfect for fans of Sonic-like games
I love how Johnny is so transparent and open with his viewers about his life and memories. He's such a...real?...guy to watch and I love the personality his "life update" bits add to the videos.
Here's hoping you give the game the signal boost it highly deserves.
That said I honestly adored the music in this game. Airship Sigwada, Merga's theme (especially Merga 3), Carol's theme, Askal's theme, Ancestral Forge, Lunar Cannon... it's a different tone from the first game to be sure but I really dig it.
While I do prefer the original soundtrack there are certainly a few outstanding ones in the sequel. Lunar Cannon is one of my favorite alongside Gravity Bubble and Bakunawa Rush.
Glad you called back to that gag from your first Freedom Planet video - it's always a funny one to return to.
This game is genuinely everything I’d want from a 2D Sonic game based on the comic series, old or new. It is criminal that that material has never been manifested in game form.
A blast from the past, The old home of Johnny's, A sequel Freedom Planet game, And it's another fun ride from start to finish.
I'm so happy that you reviewed this fantastic game, it definitely deserves the coverage. Everything about it is amazing, including the soundtrack which I'm sure will warm up to you
SO GLAD YOU COVERED THIS GEM, NO MATTER HOW YOU FEEL THANKS FOR GIVING IT A SPOTLIGHT!
This miiiight be my game of the year. Only completed the game with Lilac and I'm most of the way through with Carol but man this game is just fun for me every time I sit down with it I love so many of these stages and their gimmicks. Even the ones that are more reminiscent of classic Sonic aesthetics I find to stand on their own pretty well, I love things like the baseballs and the Tower of Power gimmicks in Zao Land.
I will disagree partially on the music...well the stage music. The boss music is lacking I'll admit. There's a lot more boss themes compared to the first game but most of them are WAY too reserved to the point of sounding like a normal stage theme (the track that plays during the first Corazon encounter is very guilty of this). The only boss theme I loved was the one for the Tidal Gate boss. It feels like that should've been the main "normal" boss theme but it only plays for that fight plus a few of the arena fights which is a bummer.
The stage music though, I love most of it. I think I like it more than even the first game's OST. Dragon Valley, Airship Sigwada, Ancestral Forge, Adventure Square, Tidal Gate, Lightning Tower, Bakunawa Chase/Map to name a few are pretty great tracks for me. Phoenix Highway is easily my favorite though and I've been listening to that one pretty frequently, love the horns.
Anyway, game's great, story is solid with funny dialogue. Go play it you nerds.
It 100% raised the bar for indie games at this point. With how long it was in development, even with some clear cut backs with game mechanics and some of the lackluster boss music, it’s really, REALLY fun! And each character is enough of a change that each play through feels unique each time.
My highlight is the stage design. Honestly, with how much experimentation there is for each stage, it really goes all out. Zao Land is extremely good because of it! No stage feels overdone, tedious, or unenjoyable and it really shows how much they’ve improved from the first game.
@@BigSlopPie I love most of the stages. The first half has a ton of fun little gimmicks like Syntax messing with platforms to slow you down in Shade Armory or the waterfall gimmick in Tiger Falls. I also appreciated just how experimental they got with it in the 2nd half. Though that said, there are a couple of low points. I like Ancestral Forge and think it's a good stage that's focused on puzzle solving but it probably needed to be divided into two separate stages since it's just too long on its own, taking 20 minutes to a half hour for most people that I see play it. Frankly I don't think Nalao Lake worked at all to the point that I think it should've been cut. It's ambitious but it tried to be a stage that both accommodated for normal play and a giant robot and it was just clunky in execution. Trying to navigate that stage just isn't fun at all especially the first time, easily the worst part of the game by far for me. The final stage's stealth mechanic could also be tuned a bit with some of those puzzles. It feels almost impossible to clear without having to reset Syntax's alert state with a death.
@@DesignDoc I got that sentiment too. Forge grew on me after playing it with Milla, but I really didn’t like how long it was the first time around. Nalao Lake I thought was okayish, the vines really didn’t need to be there and Rainbow S Ranking it is a pain because of the robot gimmick. I 100% agree with secret level. It’s okay as Lilac since you can mostly ignore it, but annoying as anyone else, especially Neera from what I heard.
That said, glad you enjoyed it! I just hope they do more with the series even if it just fits its own niche currently. It’s such an underrated gem.
I know many of you and also Johnny wont see this, but johnny. you are 100% most definately one of if not the most honest GOATED game reviewers out there on YT. man just knows how to deliver a good script.
Wow, I didn't even realize that this game wasn't already out years ago. I honestly thought it came out like a year after that demo did! Glad I saw this video to let me know the situation, because the first game was awesome and I want the developers to get all the attention they deserve for it.
I loved this game and the first as well. With this, Spark 3 and Sonic Frontiers... Yeah as a Sonic fan I'm definitely eating good this year.
If we also add also fan games like Sonic and the Fallen Star and Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit and not forget about movie and Sonic Prime - this year is so sweet that I've got diabetes from it.
Honorable mention to Panic Porcupine.
@@Gnidel I loved those fan games and I need to watch the second movie.
I dare say both Sparks 3 & Freedom Planet 2 is better than Sonic Frontiers.
Freedom Planet 2's soundtrack is definitely one that takes time to appreciate which is really good if you have 4 story playthroughs and it definitely took my 2nd (Milla) playthrough to start appreciating songs. ALOT of songs share sections from FP1 so that turned into a fun game Magma starscape LITERALLY starting like one of 1's boss themes. 2's soundtrack is so varied instrumental/style wise and just so interestingly composed for a lotta songs. I also think stage themes try harder with matching story tone when its at heavier moments like Gravity Bubble and Ancestrial Forge. But Parusa's Adventure Square MAN OH MAN I CAN NOT STOP SMILING IF THAT SONG IS ON such a feel good beach theme with the GOOFIEST NPCs and housing the location of a Sonic fan's favorite long time joke. Also Milla I think is the funniest character in contrast to maybe the darkest undertone for her personal story out of the 4. Also some of Dawn's screams for Lilac go sooooooo HARD especially apparently the one that goes with a cut wing ability for Lilac where she is BLASTING out a yell dear god. Play this game its like... equal to Mania (to meet a Sonic quota comparison) quality.
I know he was home for Thanksgiving but man would it have been nice to see Elliot, Mark, Matt, and Sabrina cameo in this video while he was back in Philly.
Also super stoked we're heading back to DK Island just wish Johnny didn't skip over Jungle Beat but hey maybe in the future.
Great video as always! Nostalgic to have you back there for the video.
I played both Freedom Planet 1 and 2 just a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to think about anything else by those two games. The games are incredibly fun and the first's soundtrack is the one of the best soundtracks that I've heard. :D
When the first game came out it got so much ‘the true sonic 4?!’ Coverage that, now that mania exists, this hasn’t
Half of that was due to lost world and rise of lyric beinf the latest offerings from the blue boi
Merga is one of the most complex, tragic and all around well written characters in any video I’ve ever played. Lord Brevon was already like the perfection of a one dimensional villain, but that amount of effort if not more going into a complex character results in one HELL of a great Antagonist. Also, the ending of the Merga fight as Lilac is like, one of the saddest and most FEELS hitting scenes in any game like ever, it’s so well done.
It's so crazy and cool to see you back in the old spot. Brings me back really. That being said, I'm glad you reviewed this because I wasn't sure about getting FP2 initially. Not because I didn't know it was out or because I thought it'd be bad, but I just wasn't entirely sold on it and had some other stuff to play anyways. Now though I'll definitely pick it up when I get the chance!
Crazy to see you back in that place. Brings me back to watching you play through Metroid fusion way back when.
This game was absolutely worth the wait for me
Really hoping for Johnny vs. Spark the Electric Jester 3, which is basically Sonic Adventure 2 but better, speaking of Sonic fans eating good this year.
4:20 I don't even have the full context and that still made me erupt with laughter.
This game doesn't get nearly enough praise or recognition. It's an amazing game!
Spark 3 is another game to add on the list of games for Sonic fans that came out this year. I've heard it was pretty good.
This series looks really fun! I've never taken the time to play it so maybe I should move it up my backlog now that the sequel has been released!
Can’t wait for this game to release on consoles next year. I absolutely loved playing the First Freedom Planet on Wii U and Switch.
This is Absolutely one of 2022’s best titles. Buckle up and be sure to follow galaxy trail on social media so you can catch and release date for switch
Love your pfp, that little guy needs love too
Milla actually did have the cube laser in the first game too. As soon as I learned that, I pretty much never threw a cube again.
Ahhh seeing Johnny back on the old couch brings back good memories gotta re-watch some classics
Seeing the OG room is nostalgic. Started watching your vids when you were running the Sonic marathon.
This review reminded me to get Freedom Planet 2 while the game is still on sale, thanks for the timely upload Johnny! Looking forward to checking this video out when I'm done!
"Oh isn't today the last day of the Steam Autumn Sale? Oh good, it's still going. For another hour it seems...wait a minute...no, there's only a minute left?"
I proceed to scramble at the speed of a Dragon Boost on my computer hoping to get that sweet & juicy $2.50 discount.
I managed to make the purchase with a few seconds to spare and now I have spare change to buy a bag of chips haha! You truly are my hero Johnny!
Silly story aside, Freedom Planet truly was one of my most favorite indie games to come out in the past half decade. It will be nice to see what Galaxy Trail has managed to pull off with the experience, feedback and dev time they've got under their belt for this game.
Glad to see some more FP2 coverage out here. Fair enough on first impressions, but I think you're maybe being a bit harsh on the OST. It makes me wonder if some people hearing this will check out the game expecting less, maybe even without having played FP1, and then end up being really surprised.
While I do agree FP1 has the stronger final arc and Boss music overall, when I started writing a personal list of my favorite FP tracks across the series, I found a lot of FP2 music was in my personal Top30. There were only two FP1 boss tracks I liked more than my favorite FP2 boss track too.
FP2's OST is also just really darn thick, with the inclusion of some good hub and overworld tracks that I enjoyed a lot even compared to a bunch of FP1 stage themes when stacked up. Even FP2's "Generic Cutscene" track is a banger, but it might not come to mind right away when you reflect on the game since you were more focused on the dialogue.
Overall, I think FP2 might not have a song that immediately pops out at you as much as FP1's major boss track, or Dreadnought 1, but I think it's almost objectively difficult to treat it as a sleeper soundtrack compared to FP1. This definitely ain't anywhere close to a Streets of Rage 3 situation, or even DKC3!
Since it thanks giving I'd love to have seen a skit with your brothers in it again. I always enjoyed their pops ups.
10:28 Wait... does Johnny *STILL* not know Milla can fire massive laser blasts out of her hands...?
You're not supposed to throw the cube! You're supposed to BLAST it!
I beat this game 5 times (twice with Lilac, once everyone else) and yeah it took me a while to warm up to the music, but there are some real bangers here. Shenlin Park, Ariship Sigwada, Phoenix Highway, Zao Land, Shade Armory, Tidal Gate, Magma Starscape, Nalao Lake. It's all so good.
Man, just watching this review makes me want to go play Phoenix Highway again for the 20th time. I love that stage.
you uploading this video made me realize the game finally came out. no one is talking about it , thank you johnny
Wow! Honestly, Johnny, I almost forgot about Freedom Planet 2 being a thing until I saw your thumbnail. I'm glad it didn't end up dead! This game looks like a "must check it out" for me!
Woah, this game certainly flew over the radar, I had no idea the sequel was out. I was really fond of the character designs back when I first laid eyes on the first one, so this is a treat to see. BTW, just a suggestion, but if you have the time you should really try the Megaman Zero franchise! I've been there for the Megaman X marathons, and you'll be blown away when you see how much the quality of those games ramp up over the course of 4 games! Specially 3 which has quite an epic and serious story, seriously, you won't regret it
And thus... DK has finally completed his transformation. From an ape, to a lombax, to an ape again, to a lombax again, to an ape yet again, to a hedgehog (of all things), to an ape YET again, to a hedgehog again and now a... whatever these creatures are.
Oh wait, there's still DKC Returns and Tropical Freeze.
I really enjoyed this game especially since it came out on my birthday which made things extra special! Amazing vid Johnny 👍🏾
One of the greatest games I've ever played. Happy to see you reviewing it Johnny!
This game took so long to come out, Johnny moved 3 times inbetween. But it’s finally here!
Man as soon as I saw the old wall behind Johnny I just got super nostalgic as always thanks John for years of entertainment and I'll be checking this out for sure looks like a lot of fun !
I never get tired of Johnny using SNDN for his Christmas sponsorships
Freedom Planet 2 is absolutely fantastic, but there was another game that provides a great sense of speed that came out just before this that you might want to see.
If you're not aware of it, check out Spark the Electric Jester 3, the whole franchise if ya can.
It's an excellent 3D platformer with great controls and surprisingly open level design that I cannot recommend enough.
Either way, good vid and FP2 is one of the best games to come out this year, so fun to speed through!
On the one hand I'm so excited that you're reviewing this game!
On the other hand I can't really watch it as I'm 1/3 of the way through Lilac's story and got distracted by everything else that came out the past couple months.
Glad to see you review this game as its thanks to you I discovered this series. Well along with the rest of the Brainscratch crew
I would really love to see you cover more of the Spark the Electric Jester games, which like Freedom Planet are heavily inspired by Sonic. You already covered 1, but not the sequels (which are fully 3d) and even the video for 1 was a long, long time ago.
6:46 ok im buying the game. They improved the place it needed it most.
Glad to see i'm not the only one who took around 12 hours to beat this game with the true final boss. I knew this game was coming out because it released on my birthday but it's like there was no real fanfare for when it did come out which is a shame because This right here is how you do a sequel. GalaxyTrail really went above and beyond with this one and it sucks that I haven't seen enough people talk about it. It is set to get a console release on all platforms sometime next year so maybe there'll be a big enough buzz for it then. Also now that you do bring it up, yeah the OST is a lot more Low Key compared to the first game. I still got a few songs in my playlist, Dragon Valley, Shade Armory, Globe Opera A, Sky Bridge, Lightning Tower, and My favorite track Magma Starscape. Maybe more tracks will grow on me when I get to a 2nd playthrough.
I definitely agree that this game in terms of looks is breathtaking and wonderful! The sprite work and voice-acting are also really good. The fact that they’ve manage to have Christopher Sabat as Askal was a treat I must say, and I can definitely see why you say that the tone of the story is straightforward compared to the first game.
Speaking of the story, personally I think it’s well written and has some legitimately dramatic, adorable, interesting, and halairious dialogue and moments. The characters that gave me the most laughs were Carol, Aaa, Serpentine, and of course, Mayor Zao. Furthermore, the whole concept of a history between the Earth and Water dragons was very interesting to the point where it kind of reminded me of the feud between the humans and fish people from One Piece (although this game was more about the extinction of a tribe vs a long-suffering history of prejudice, seperation and oppression for the fish people in One Piece’s case). The story also gives the player more of Lilac and her place in this world as one of the very few water dragons remaining. Along with that, Carol’s story with her sister, Milla and her origin of where she came from, and Neera’s passion for protecting Avalice and all who inhabit it at all cost were all good and interesting as well. As far as the main villain herself, Merga, I personally find her more interesting than Brevon. An antagonist that although went to the extremes of trying to blow up the moon, did genuinely made me feel rather sad for in the end. My favorite moment with her would have to be when she tried to convince Lilac to go to a new world with her. As far as the three lackeys, Aaa, Cory and Captain Kalaw, I can see why you and others might find Aaa rather annoying, but I actually found him pretty funny. Cory and Captain Kalaw were pretty likable too, I just wish their reasoning for joining Merga was fleshed out more. Also, Serpentine being brought back, mainly to eventually reveal to the player Milla’s origins, wasn’t all that meddling in my opinion. I’m just glad Brevon wasn’t brought back.
As far as gameplay goes, I prefer it more than the first game in regards to the characters, stages and bosses. The stages to me feel much more broader and open for speed and platforming, and although the Sonic 3 & Knuckles’s 2 act-structure is gone, I didn’t mind the giant one act structure that was implemented here. Lengthwise all of the stages for the most part are not exhaustingly long with maybe the exception of Ancestral Forge (especially in my first playthrough). As far as some of the stages’ thematics, I disagree and wouldn’t call them straight plagiarism…. well.. you can probably make that case for Zao Land, but Lava Reef was not in my mind at all while playing in Magma Starscape. Overall to me, some of the portions that clearly pays homage to classic Sonic games are just that, pure homages, not plagiarism. I will say this also; even though I prefer these stages compared to the first game’s, and as someone who’s played and beaten the game with all 4 characters, I do wish there was a bit more variety in matters such as alternate routes or reserved stages for certain characters which this game lacks compared to Freedom Planet 1 (Aqua Tunnel, Trap Hideout, etc.). Moving on to the bosses, in my opinion they are much more creative, interesting and fun to play in (although I think FP1 had the better runner bosses). One of my favorite bosses would have to be the Auditorium when you had to fight a giant mech controlled by Aaa, Captain Kalaw and Cory, in which you play as later in a section in Nalao Lake, which to me was awesome. As for the characters, I had a fun time playing as all four of them, and yes, that includes Neera. Lilac was just as fun to play as here as she was in the first game, not to mention better; a very fun character to traverse through a lot of enemies and speed through stages and thankfully Cyclone doesn’t drain the gauge at all anymore making the dragon boost much more fun to use. Carol was fun as well. I love her combative claw attacks here than in the first game, the motorcycle is enjoyable as usual, and her jump disc is awesome to use as well. I will say though that I kind of miss the red jump pads from the first game, but it’s not a huge loss. As for Milla, like you, I too like her more here than FP1. She’s much more versatile, and is still… just as broken as before, especially in boss fights. Now as far as Neera goes, I had my doubts after the demo, but to my surprise, she’s actually very enjoyable to play as. At first I was skeptical about Neera in regard to her speed throughout the game, but I’ve managed to make her platforming-gameplay relatively as fast as the other girls. In fact I think all 4 characters has the capability of high speed and platforming. I’ll put it like this:
Lilac can go fast with her Dragon Boost
Carol can go fast with her Motorcycle
Milla can go fast by shooting the Super Shield Burst at the opposite direction
And finally Neera can go fast by abusing Cyro Staff.
So yeah, Neera is just as awesome. However my experiences in the bosses were harder than platforming. The guard I think was a much needed mechanic to the gameplay. It’s especially essential if you have the desire to do a flawless S rank run where you complete every stage and boss without getting hit. One last thing I would say about the overall gameplay are the hub worlds. The hub worlds, honestly were actually pretty interesting and intriguing, and I did enjoy the NPCs dialogue and outlook on the world……. while playing as Lilac. Yeah the NPCs in the hub worlds were interesting in Lilac’s story since she was the first character I played as blind, but while doing the other characters, it started to get repetitive and samey.
Now with all due respect, I personally disagree regarding Freedom Planet 2’s soundtrack. I personally LOVE this game’s soundtrack so much! I think it fits the stages perfectly, it’s so darn catchy, and very memorable. Although admittedly, it did take some time to recognize all of the tracks since there so many, but still, I really do love these tunes. If I can name 10 tracks that I absolutely loved from first listen, it’ll be:
Dragon Valley (since the demo)
Avian Museum
Lunar Cannon
Globe Opera 1
Globe Opera 2
Avian Museum Gallery Hub
Shuigang Palace Hub
Nalao Lake
Phoenix Highway
Shenlin Park
In conclusion, overall, I really LOVE this game. It has become one of my favorite 2D platformers of all time, and the fact that the game didn’t get recognized for a while (probably because of marketing reasons), is absolutely criminal to me. Hopefully when the game gets released to multi-platform, it’ll get the recognition it deserves. My recommendation to these wonderful games being Freedom Planet and Freedom Planet 2 is this: If you enjoyed games like Gunstar Heroes, Megaman, and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog, you’ll enjoy Freedom Planet. And if you enjoy Freedom Planet, you’ll enjoy Freedom Planet 2.
6:24 This has like nothing to do with the story or gameplay, but I like that the banners in the Magister's... Imperial Hall? Imperial Building? Throne room?... Have the five elements of traditional Eastern philosophies. (Being, in the banner order, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal (although the character used for that technically reads "Gold") and Water, collectively known as "Wuxing" in Chinese.) And it's no coincidence that those are all 5 shield types in the game as well! (I'm assuming those are all the shield types in 2 specifically, have not watched someone play this game yet.)
Thanks for covering this game Johnny, Sabrina and her team definitely deserve it. I've played through all four campaigns, and as much as I really reaaally liked it, I do believe there are some points that could and should be improved:
1 - Some adjustments to the tone are necessary, as players have suffered some whiplash from sudden drama-to-lighthearted-comedy transitions.
2 - Merga and her minions definitely needed more backstory and exposition. [Spoiler character]'s allegiance to Merga, under the excuse Merga was supposed to rise to defend the underdogs of Avalice felt a bit ??? since at no point in the story this angle was explored and, from the get-go, Merga had declared her plan was to destroy the world, period.
3 - Neera is a great character, but I (and apparently lots of other players) felt that her "power versus agility" tradeoff wasn't very rewarding. I felt Carol was a better meele attacker overall, whereas Milla was a better ranger.
4 - As much as I loved the length of the game and variety of stages, I personally felt a bit bummed when enemies, assets and gimmicks from earlier levels started to be reused in later stages.
5 - Still on the topic of variety, I do believe that the experience could've been better if each of the main characters had truly different campaigns from one another, maybe exploring levels and the map in different order, with some stages, map areas and bosses being character-exclusive. The shared stages could also have areas only accessible for specific characters like, for instance, doors that can only be destroyed with Carol's disk, platforms that are too high for characters other than Milla to reach, etc.
6 - As a segue to the previous topic, the Time Capsules should have been spread across the stages in secret areas rather than locked behind the Battlesphere's challenges. I believe it would've integrated them better into the story.
7 - Back to the topic of characterization, Carol's relationship with her sister and Neera's relationship with [spoiler] would also benefit from further exploration.
8 - As merely a suggestion to the next entry, I think that exploring each main character's 'core element' would be cool, in that sense Spade (fire) and [spoiler] (earth) could be brought to the playable roster. Since Lilac and Neera would overlap, maybe Neera could become a remote support character like the "navigators" of the Persona franchise, through the use of Pangu, with Lilac learning some of Neera's abilities to compensate.
Sorry for the wall of text lol I'm sure the GalaxyTrail team will provide us with an even better experience.
2. Merga didn't declare her plan of destroying the world from the get-go at all (or at least, not to anyone except maybe one character). At first, no one really knew what exactly she was planning to do with Bakunawa and just assumed it couldn't be good. Merga doesn't make her declaration clear and out loud until she's already rising to skies.
5. I want to agree with you here, but the game already took long enough to make as is with many things left on the cutting room floor. I feel like we'd still be waiting if each character got a unique campaign with multiple unique levels.
6. I feel like they chose the Battlesphere to make acquiring them not too annoying or too easy. I like running through the levels and finding alternate routes, but I don't like digging through them looking for collectables. Especially on replays.
@@Teknanam Thanks for replying!
2. Indeed, what I meant was that [spoiler]'s reasons for supporting Merga weren't explained or elaborated upon in a way I find narratively cohesive.
5. Oh yeah, absolutely. I just feel that, with more time and planning, they could've designed some of the already existing levels in a way that better explores each of the characters special abilities. Also, some of the levels we already have in the game could have been character exclusive. For instance, Gravity Bubble makes a lot of sense for Lilac, whereas Magma Starscape and Diamond Point feel more appropriate for Neera (contrast to her abilities + representing her internal feelings of fiery anger + confronting [spoiler]). Maybe not have all characters traverse all 24 levels, but split it in a way that all characters have around 12 levels with overlap with the others' campaigns (Lilac would have more, as the protagonist).
6. A way to circumvent this would be to make said alternate routes less obscure or hidden, or have the characters face special bosses. Even new areas on the map could be perhaps unlocked for that purpose.
8:40
I've played through the whole game as Lilac and this is the first time I've ever seen this, I love it XD.
So happy it's finally here. Gotta check it out
I wonder how a crossover between Freedom Planet and Sonic would go down. Maybe Lord Brevon comes to invade Sonic's world only to be disposed of by Eggman
This game is phenomenal. Glad to see somebody finally talk about it.
I agree, it’s the best game I’ve played all year and I’ve played a lot of games this year!
As another who has been waiting for years for this game to come out, glad to see a Johnny VS on it so soon! Thought it would be overshadowed by all the other big games recently...
As for Neera Li, I think how she gets her speed just didn't click with Johnny. She gets her speed by using her Focus (occurs when you guard with full meter) then doing her double spear stab in mid-air multiple times. Two sets of stabs gets you to the "running" animation.
Personally, I think the gameplay of FP 2 is a huge step up over the first game. The music is pretty alright, too, though I am not sure whether it's nostalgia glasses (weird thinking that for a game from 2014...) or I just genuinely felt that most of the songs weren't quite as memorable. So I definitely agree on that point, ESPECIALLY the boss themes...
Honestly, I was disappointed by the lack of unique stages for characters. Carol "pulling a Carol" mid-way through the game, I was so sure during my initial Lilac playthrough that there would be different stages for me to see. The unique cutscenes for each character are minimal, to be honest, which made me a bit sad.
Also, locking the "true ending" behind the Battlesphere was a questionable decision, in my opinion. It's not terrible to me, but the lore gap between the normal and "true ending" didn't feel that amazing to me.
Overall, though, the songs I did like (Lightning Tower is currently living rent-free in my head) and the gameplay? I am so glad to have another game in my library under the "low enough skill floor to enjoy at any time, high enough skill ceiling to not master the game for a very long time" category. The challenges you can put on yourself for this game are *crazy* and I love it. As negative as I felt about so many things in the game, the gameplay is *so good* that it more than overshadows everything, I feel. Spamming the drop kick as Carol to go super speed through levels was so amazing that I honestly forgot about the bike most of the time, whereas I was always trying to memorize where the gas cans were in the first game...
Man, I was hoping you'd start a "Sonic like indie game" marathon and I was getting really hyped. Jester in particular.
Maybe another day. It's not like there's still hundreds of different kinds of marathons to be had.
Thanks for covering this, I was flabbergasted to see this game fly under the radar. Especially since I think this game is an improvement over the first in almost every way. I want this game and more "sonic-likes" to get more love.
Man, now you're making me want to replay this game again. And this is coming from someone that's already beat it 7 times now. Lol
And wow, I'm actually the complete opposite when it comes to the soundtrack in this one. I absolutely love it way more than the first.
Played the first Freedom Planet years ago and thought it was good but haven’t felt the need to replay. I am interested in the sequel and glad to hear it’s good!
I absolutely love this game. Such a good vibe and felt like a big jump in quality from the first game!
WhOa ThE ReAl SoMeCaLlMeJoHnNy?!?!?!?
one of my favorite games ever tbh, loved every level other than that water one
Yes! I was waiting for this one.
The original Freedom Planet is what brought me to your channel in the first place.
Just finished Lilac's campaign and can wholeheartedly agree that the game is a blast. Just really wish that the classic mode wasn't locked behind finishing the story mode once.
funny you mentioned this game flew under the radar because I literally didn't even know it came out! I remember playing the first one and thinking the sequel would never come out and it just sat in my wishlist since; will be picking this up soon it's so weird how nostalgic this will be lmao
I was actually going through the Versus playlist and I watched the first game's review an hour ago. What timing
This video is the first I've heard of this game even existing
Freedom Planet 2: _Releases_
Me: “It’s been 84 years.”
I'm about to move back in with my parents at the end of the month around Christmas and completely empathize with the chaotic family shenanigans lol
I know this is _completely_ off topic (then again a lot of this review was about music)
But is there a "full version" of your endcard theme, Johnny? I freaking love it.
Between Sonic Frontiers, Freedom Planet 2, and Spark the Electric Jester 3, yeah. This has been a wonderful past few months for Sonic fans.
Is it bad that I didn't think Frontiers was that good and I found Sparks 3 & Freedom Planet 2 better?
Ah the nostalgia of seeing John in his old room. Meeeeemories~ Yeah, I forgot FP2 was a thing as well till Splatoon 3's release and I was like "I'll come back to you after squiding". Eventually came to FP2, had a good time and likewise, music wasn't up to snuff but that's okay. That's what the first is for
It was so weird to see that people were not talking enough about this gem of a game. It has become one of my favorites on the action platformer genre.
The wait was pretty long to finally get the full version, but it was absolutely worth it.