not bad. certainly more coherent than memories off 1 (not a hard task), but nowhere near a masterpiece. i'd give it like a 7/10 at its best and a 4 or 5/10 at its worst. you don't have to play the first game before this one, but if you do, you will notice some fun easter eggs.
the writing is generally quite good, if at times over-indulgent. the main character is a bit of a clown at times, but he is much better than the freak main character from memories off 1, so i'll take it. the other characters are solid for the most part, the girls in particular are generally well developed and interesting in their own ways, similarly, each character's story is unique (in the important ways, at least). as with all visual novels some routes are better than others, but that is always subjective. i think if you are looking for an old school visual novel for practicing japanese, you really cant do much better than this. the vocabulary is at a cool intermediate level and maintains a conversational feel so it never feels unapproachable.
the music is great, and even includes some remixed versions of songs from the first game, which i love. the art is solid too, the characters have a nice array of unique poses, its not just all the simple one left facing pose, one right, etc.. the background art is also quite nice, they use a cool low information feel in the distant areas that works well. the game includes some nice gallery features with old promo art i guess? im not really sure but some of it is really cool. no sprite viewer unfortunately.
if you are interested in what i have to say about each route, read on. i tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible.
hotaru route is solid, probably my favourite story? not sure, since i played it first and really enjoyed it, much more than most of the other routes, but i don't really remember much about it since it was months ago as of the time of writing this. hotaru is probably the best girl? its hard to say, she's up there with takano and tomoe, but her character sort of falls apart in some other routes which is disappointing because she is such a central character. if you are only going to play one route, play hotaru's.
tsubame route is okay. if you were going to play two routes, play tsubame's as well as there is a lot to it, perhaps as much as hotaru's route? not sure, i wasnt the biggest fan in the end. but the chemistry between tsubame and the main character is surprisingly good. the story goes in a weird direction and is ultimately of lame and disappointing in a lot of ways, but some of the stuff that happens along the way is two thumbs up. tsubame is a pretty unique character and she sees things in a very interesting way. i just wish the main character wasnt so annoying...
takano route is another one of my favourite routes. she is uniquely cute and feels like a real person. i think she is best girl, but it may go to a coin flip with her and tomoe. her story is simple but i think it works well enough, the big moments are handled better in takano's route than they are in some other routes, if that makes sense. she is so cool man..
tomoe route is the last of my favourites. tomoe herself is exceptionally cute and her route does a good job of pacing itself (most of the time) through the beats it needs to hit. its a delicate story that can get repetitive at times, but tomoe is so cute i dont even mind. she is amazing, truly, and the payoff seeing her story through to the end is quite sweet. probably my favourite ending, and it isn't even all that special. its just good.
megumi route is a bit of an outlier because of how different it is from the others, but i think it works well. it might be the most interesting story as the others are more down to earth, but megumi herself is a bit bland for my tastes. solid route, glad they included it.
shizuru route is by far the worst route. it feels like it was written last, almost as an afterthought. shizuru is not properly developed, she feels slapped together, and her route is the worst this game has to offer on all fronts. very disappointing. the only thing i like about her route is shizuru's theme.
