lis newfag here, finished 1 recently and now bts. 1 is a very soulful game with plenty of jank, both technical and writing-wise. but you see what the devs were aiming for and forgive it, even when it's very heavy-handed. i'm a chloefag so was hyped to play bts. they did capture a younger chloe well. i liked rachel the bpd demon, even if she didn't live up to her mythic status from 1. their dynamic was fun. the central theme of bitter truths vs sweet lies worked well enough. the tempest is peak. eps 1-2 were damn solid, nailing some of 1's soul. but the quality fucking nosedives in ep 3. felt like square funding got pulled mid-development, with wildly inconsistent writing and budget across scenes. the story was already rushed but after the stabbing everything moves at a breakneck pace. a convoluted amber family subplot hijacks the narrative and doesn't land at all. suddenly relevant antagonists have absolutely retarded motives and methods. no notable characters face consequences, nothing has lasting impact, it's fucking absurd. the already flimsy plot needed 1 more ep or to be spaced out better, otherwise it's a painfully mid finale. i guess i would've loved a more nuanced bcs-tier exploration of chloe's descent into her 1 self. maybe timeskips showing chloe and rachel's evolution, seeing chloe run jobs for frank and damon, doing progressively more morally fucked shit, maybe pulling rachel in, showing cracks in their bond, more supernatural shit, more setup for 1 etc. the whole 3 years are just omitted. such wasted potential. imo the excellent farewell ep captured why chloe is the way she is more effectively than the main game. alternatively they could've made a blank slate rachel a protag, it was literally right there. oh well. don't really care about anthology sequels or spinoffs, so i guess for me the series concludes with the bay ending. it's beautifully directed, fucked up and tragic. perfectly ties up the character arcs i think. cried. was fun. love chloe.