BIRDI'S PROFILE

author=Mikaeus345
Personally, I was quite disappointed that the series went from a traditional horror endeavor with little dialogue and great atmosphere to a shonen-esque thriller that tries to ape some JRPGs (and Metal Gear Solid) by piling conspiracy on top of conspiracy. Even the setting was sort of retconned... the kids that could easily have been regular students ended up being involved with a massive class struggle, and the world that seemed somewhat grounded (despite the demonic element) is now an unholy brew of sword and sorcery trash. And that protagonist... damn, he couldn't be more of a self-insert if he tried.

Not that the game is bad, mind you, but it does feel like a downgrade; the extra ambition IS nice, but I'd be happier if the atmosphere and spirit of the original had been kept intact. I'm reminded of Ex Mortis, another "franchise" that started out with a relatively introspective, "intimate" horror title and then went on to become a cargo cult rendition of Devilman.

After finishing this game yesterday from start to finish for the 10th time, getting all the endings including the variation for the second ending by getting all the mysterious stones, i can say you're totally right about the story as it does this thing even in the last parts of the bad and true ends.
I can't confirm that it rips off Meta Gear since i haven't played it, but even the first time around i knew that this story isn't very original.
By the time it reveals the existence of those other demons i sensed a big twist coming and right after that it delivered not one but like 3 or 4 twists in a very short span of time all while the cliches reached a critical level, redefining almost all you knew about the first Purgatory.
The structure of the plot and progression system right after those twists severely limits the posibilities for the role of the next character to be introduced; by that time i knew that the ending will not be any less cliched.
Ebel is an expository character, mostly to tell the player more about what Enri thinks and he certainly feels forced. I wish there was an ending/route where he dies early in the game or a route where Emma is the main character as she is my favorite character, or maybe Lukas after pulling another twist?
Despite all this i really liked this story and i wasn't bothered at all by any of its shortcomings. My favorite ending was the one you get with both Emma and Enri routes as the very last part was truly shocking.

Overall it's a fantastic game and for me it ranks up as being my second favorite of this kind, right behind Pocket Mirror. It's certainly way better than the first one which was pretty generic and forgettable, in fact it's so good i'm going to play it again as i got a strange sudden nostalgia feeling from not playing it every day, this time i'm doing it slowly and not skipping the dialogue.
I can't wait for Purgatory 3.