Traditional Disclaimer: I’m not really good at calculating ‘values’ for stuff like this; it’s largely a subjective, not objective, skill for me. The ranking I’ve given this is my best estimate of a score for the commentary I’ve gone with.

Intro:
I've played through Carlsev Saga 1 twice now, once as a Beta Tester and once to update my earlier review. It seemed like the logical thing to do to continue onward and play as much of the second 'book' in the trilogy as I could.

This has actually had a slightly problematic effect on the detail level in this review, which I'm somewhat embarassed to have to admit. The game is good, but it was designed as a true sequel to the original Carlsev Saga. There are only been a few days in-world between the two, after all. Between this, and the short length of the demo, it felt more like I was playing an expansion pack to CS1. This is not a bad thing, but it means that most of what I have to say in here, I've already said in my review of Carlsev Saga 1 - it's not like Deckiller is suddenly taking things off on a wild tangent somewhere.


Graphics:
There are two main points to dealing with graphics in a video game: One, they should be reasonable (as opposed to eye-watering combinations of color and pattern) and two, they should be consistent. That is, graphics of the same type (multiple chipsets, for example) should be in the same style, and sets of graphics, such as character{Charaset, Face, Battler} should have a clear and noticible relation to one another.

General:
Deckiller has mostly worked with the same graphics. I'll try to note the high point differences from CS1.

Map Chips:
We're treated to a few areas with map sets unused in CS1. As noted above, they're not that different, and I can only recall one or two of them other than the warp map. (See Custom Systems below)

Character Graphics:
Again, Deckiller is sticking to the generic RTP style, making use of some of the more common spritesheets for his characters. He is, however, going a bit further off scale in some cases - the first team you have control over includes two figures with wild-colored hair: one has light blue, the other green. It's a bit of a surprise as the hair colors for all sprites in CS1 were 'normal', or real-world natural hair colors. Of course, two-thirds of the sprites in the original were wearing helmets, so...hmm, that's another point I hadn't thought of until writing this review. Deckiller used the sprites to show a sort of 'temporal advancement' in his characters world - few, if any, of the characters you ran across were wearing visible armor. Given that most melee weapons are becoming obsolete, this may have been an intentional choice.

There's also a bit of intentional sprite humor at one point - in one town, there is a minor NPC with the same sprite as a major character in CS1. Nathanson, the PC you are controlling at that point, remarks on it if you speak with this NPC.

Face Graphics:
Eurgh...consistency ratio shifted here. In CS1, Deckiller's face sets were drawn from all over, but they tended to correctly reflect the sprite design for the character. Here, he seems to be drawing them from only two or three sources, but they're no longer completely internally consistent - those blue-haired and green-haired sprites mentioned above? One's blonde, the other's brown-haired in their facesets.

Battler:
Getting drawn from all over, again, although no actual enemy team looked bad. There were still some of the 'over-inflated sprite' enemies, but I'm not sure that wasn't intentional. Deckiller admitted to doing it in CS1 because he didn't have battlers for them, but Edchuy noted that he thought Deckiller had done this to depersonalize them. Deckiller denied it then, but may have intentionally done so this time. We'll have to let him speak as to why this was done.


Sound:
A video game can be well-designed, and the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but without sound, it will seem dull and lifeless. There are two kinds of sound; point-in-time (aka 'sound effects') and constant (aka 'background music').
As before, nothing seemed really out of place, but nothing caught my attention positively either. Maybe it's me?

Map Layout:
Some games don't need map design. Pong, for example. But for most games, especially VRPGS, maps are critical. They don't just show the world, they are the world, and should be treated accordingly.

Map layout for Carlsev Saga 2 continues the pattern for Carlsev Saga 1 - that is, it's generally good. The only thing I've seen so far that feels off is that Deckiller's 'cave' maps sometimes felt a bit busy - it was occasionally difficult to find passageways because I had a bit of trouble telling what was and was not passable.


Story:
What's going on? How much do we see, how much do we learn?

We're given a few flashes to previous events, and the game starts with a repeat of the high points of Carlsev Saga 1. A playable prologue with a trio of previously unknown characters helps to set the scene as things go bad in the nation of Carlsev. After this, the main storyline stays with the character of Nathanson, the PC you controlled at the end of CS1. Other places are shown in cutscenes, giving away additional useful (and intriguing) information.


Characterization:
What are video game characters? Are they simply collections of pixels and statements, or are they people, with real personalities?

Characterization is slipping a bit, I'm afraid. PCs are still getting a similar level (although part of the characterization is non-visible; the consequences of having characters carry over from a different game), but the NPC characters aren't showing as much characterization as they were in CS1. Still, that's a full game, versus a demo for CS2. It's quite possible we'll see things change when the storyline gets further along.

Gameplay:
How well was the game designed? Do things interact nicely, or is the player likely to throw down their keyboard in disgust?

Mostly as before. Due to the Refinement, Warp, and Rendering systems (see Custom Systems), though, the difficulty of item grinding for magic stocks and status-boosting components has dropped dramatically. The only real frustrating moment of gameplay is the last boss of the demo, which apparently got a promotion somewhere - it's much tougher than the enemies leading up to it would suggest, relative to the other enemy/boss setups in the game. This boss is also the first (and in the demo, only) one where you'll probably want to have a specific strategy set before going in, rather than attempting to wing it. That's all I'm going to say for now.


Minigames:
Take a break from the action. Why not try a refreshing minigame while you wait?

As with Carlsev Saga 1, no real minigames exist in Carlsev Saga 2. Somewhat makes sense - CS2 is an extension to CS1, rather than a true sequel; it's carrying the same storyline. And whether intentional on Deckiller's part or not, leaving minigames out of the game increases the natural focus on the storyline. Minigames would detract from the story in at least a couple of ways - they could accidentally become tension-breakers for the game, ruining the storyline's ability to flow into itself, and they could distract the player from what the storyline itself is doing, with similar effects.
It should be noted that, while there are no true minigames or sidequests so far in CS2, the Refine and Augment systems (see Custom Systems) do generate Player-driven 'fetch X number of item Y' style quests. Of course, that was also true of the tonic system back in CS1, so I don't feel that it really counts as much of a sidequest.


Custom Systems:
What kind of custom systems are there? And how well designed are they?

Custom systems got somewhat of an upgrade, and to good purpose.

The magic drawing system from CS1 has returned, although it now only works once per battle. (Sorry, no spamming the Healing Plus draws!)

The 'alchemy' system from CS1 returns as well, and it brought its cousin 'Refinement' along. Alchemy is somewhat different this time around; rather than creating a set number of various tonic items, alchemy tonics are now applied directly to the selected character at the instant they are made, and the limits appear to be based on character stats. (There are a few stat+ tonic items out there, but they're not directly makeable as they were previously.) Refinement is a variant of the alchemy system; some items can be 'refined' into various magic stocks. (Example: 1 bee stinger -> 1 stock of poison.)

Most of the armor categories have been discarded, in favor of 'augments', Essence-infused(aka 'magical') items with similar effects. Some augments boost stats, some resist status conditions. Not really much of a difference between these and normal armor types, except that getting these requires components, a la the alchemy system, rather than purchased upgrades. Weaponry looks to still be upgraded as normal, from what I can tell.

Rather than tedious back and forth trudging between areas on the normal world map, Deckiller has implemented a 'Warp Map' setup activated by red warp crystals. Most areas have one of these, and once one has been activated, it is possible to return to that point from any other active warp crystal. This means you can be in one end of the country grinding for items, then warp to the other end for healing, then to yet a third to get your grind items transformed into useable goods. And then back to the first point to start the cycle over again.

Mining(?) - sometimes you'll see a spot on the ground with a flashing icon on it. Going over to those and pressing enter gets you an item. I'm loosely marking this as 'mining' because the character's reply includes 'maybe I can find something else here later.'

Rendering - I may need to recuse myself from this one. Rendering is an idea I mentioned/pitched to Deckiller back when I was beta testing CS1 and kept whining about how rare enemy drops were. Although the method he used is different, the name and general design are the same as I described. Obviously, therefore, I'm biased in favor of this system, whether Deckiller took the idea from me or not.
Rendering is a way of getting around the '1 item' limit for enemy drops. With the exception of the slime monster, all non-human enemies dropped items labeled ' carcass', which when used triggered an event that gave two or three items that could reasonably be found on the creature in question. (Bee carcasses might yield bee wings and bee stingers, for example.) Given that 'enemy drops' is about the only way to enhance your characters, due to the nature of the tonic system, I'm sure the benefits of this addition will be clear.


Bug Count:
How well fumigated was the game? Are the bugs mostly dead, or are there still plenty of them crawling around to make problems for the player?

Mostly fumigated. There were a few points of glitchy text (mostly cut off words, rather than misspellings), and a couple of glitched events (optional, fortunately) near the very end of the demo, but that's all I can recall offhand.


Replay value:
Is the game worth replaying? Are there places of non-linear decisions that invite a 'what if I did it this way?' mentality?

Trick question here - since the game isn't completed, there's little immediate replay value (little game, after all), but given Deckiller's penchant for changing small things from version to version, since the demo is fairly short it would probably be better to replay from the start rather than risk missing something once the next release comes out. The demo is, however, largely linear, so once the full product is out it probably won't have much replay value unless you're after the story.

Conclusion:
The beginnings of a good, solid game. Marred only by two things: Length (it's a demo, after all, and very short compared to the original CS1), and Confusion factor - even with the in-game synopsis, those who haven't played CS1 may not fully understand what's going on.

Final Score:
The Carlsev Saga 2 Demo scores 8/10. Let's hope Deckiller can keep it to that standard as the game progresses.