I finally played this game. I'm happy because I managed to avoid any sort of spoiler before playing this game (since I had exams, I couldn't play it before), so I thoroughly enjoyed it (while for JFO I got spoiled the ending so I couldn't feel very fulfilled with it) .
What can I say about this game? I have no words. I'm speechless.
Let's start with the fact that I loved the first game, I fell in love with Cal, BD1 and the entire Mantis crew. I loved their dynamics, their stories and everything. So I had high hopes for this new game. And they managed to take those expectations and go even beyond them.
To me, it felt more of an interactive movie than a game itself. The graphics were amazing (even if there were few issues with frame rates, although they didn't prevent the overall enjoyment of the game in general).
The story and the characters were so well-written: the final betrayal of Bode, the death of Cere, another appearance of Vader and this time we could fight him (I honestly didn't expect that we would find Vader again), the final battles, the story between Cal and Merrin taken to a new step. I loved it all.
Also all those new skills and stances we could apprehend were amazing; the fact that we started with the abilities already learned from the first game and then developed new ones here was so on point, because it felt like we were growing even more with Cal, discovering new sides of himself and his connection with the Force.
One thing I adored with all my heart was Cal's darkness towards the end of the game, because as we know all Jedi go through a fight within themselves with the dark side. And feeling all those sentiments of hatred and rage with Cal, and embracing the dark side as an actual ability in the game was phenomenal. I low-key wished we could unlock a force choke ability (since towards the end of the game Cal was almost force choking that commander if it wasn't for Merrin). I really hope for the third game we will have something like this, because it would be so freaking cool.
Speaking of third game, the plot points for the next game are very promising. There's this fight within Cal with his dark side, his relationship with Merrin, and then there's the thing with Kata. And there's the Hidden Path too. It'll be interesting to see where they'll go from here, but it all seems very promising and I can't wait for it all.
Exploration was on point as the first game, although the planets to fully explore are just a couple (Koboh and Jedha), with one actually not being that new (Jedha was just another sand planet 🙃). Nonetheless, it was exciting discovering new characters and new boss fights while exploring, it was thrilling.
Also, I loved how in this game they added so many friendly interactions with animals: petting boglings and nekkos has become an obsession of mine 🥲😍
Also, the rumors were nice. It gave you the chance to explore even more places and meet new random characters along the way, and that gives a sort of authenticity to the game in my opinion .
Another things I absolutely loved in this game: the freaking SOUNDTRACK. Guys, seriously, the music had a ton of impact, especially in the final cutscenes: Cere's death with Cal beside her, the final fight with Boss, the trip through the Abyss. Seriously, kudos to the composers, because music is so meaningful to me in a movie, or in this case a game: the right music can do magic, but the wrong music would kill the mood in a second. I have been listening to the soundtrack album a lot, no kidding.
Cameron Monaghan is an incredible actor, that's nothing new (especially if you've watched his roles in Shameless or Gotham, which I LOVED); so I could basically feel what Cal felt, his acting was top tier *chef kiss*.
Having said so, there were more pros than cons while playing this game (the cons being as already said just some small issues with frame rates, nothing really big).
I will definitely be playing this game more and more times, and probably won't ever get tired of it. The new game + with the red lightsaber? YES SIR.
Thanks Respawn for gifting us this beautiful piece of Star Wars story.