History YMMV / AITheSomniumFilesNirvanaInitiative

* BestLevelEver: Nemesis Identified, [[spoiler: Iris' new Somnium]] has been near universally loved for the sheer fun factor. It's a throwback NostalgiaLevel where you go around recruiting major and supporting characters from the original game in order to fight past [[spoiler: So and Tearer]] in actual TurnBasedCombat, who are both portrayed as comically exaggerated supervillains. The atmosphere is whimsical and vibrant, the objective is simple and straightforward, and [[spoiler: Tearer turns into [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] for some reason.]] What's not to like?

** Particular kudos goes to Creator/CorinaBoettger, who perfectly sells the similar yet different voices and mannerisms of Mizuki when she is 12 vs 18. [[spoiler:As well as Mizuki "Bibi" Kuranushi when she is 18 and 24.]]

** Chinpei Wagai, or "Yakuza A" from the first AI, is teased a bigger amount of importance in the first leg of the game, having left the Kumakura Family on good terms with his ex-boss and landed a new job as a TV studio director. He's ultimately PutOnABus after a turn of events, though, and [[TheBusCameBack comes back just in time for the epilogue]].

* {{Narm}}:
** As with any game that allows customizing your character's wardrobe, a lot of the tension from the game's more intense Somniums can be undone by dressing Aiba and Tama up in ridiculous outfits that don't match the atmosphere at all.
** Turning on notifications for when your Aiba-ie has a new question can also ruin the mood of the game's more dramatic moments, as the notification appears as soon as you're given back control over your character if the timer passes during a cutscene or QTE sequence, leading to situations such as [[spoiler:Ryuki putting off investigating Komeji's freshly deceased body in favor of telling his Amame-ie how he likes his jellyfish prepared.]]

* RomanticPlotTumor: While it only really got massive focus in ONE route, some players did not like the Kizuna/Lien plot line because of Lien’s StalkerWithACrush tendencies going too far at times and Kizuna feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing. [[spoiler: Until they eventually DO hook up in they’re route in what some felt was forced, feeling Kizuna had no real reason to hook up with him.]]

** Particular kudos goes to Creator/CorinaBoettger, who perfectly sells the similar yet different voices and mannerisms of 12-year-old Mizuki and 18-year-old Mizuki. [[spoiler:And 24-year-old Mizuki "Bibi" Kuranushi.]]

** It's revealed that [[spoiler:Bibi was issued a third AI Ball named Marco. However, Marco's avatar never appears and he has no voiced lines. Bibi explains this away as Marco being shy and introverted, but he may as well be TheGhost.]]

* AntiClimaxBoss: Much like the last game, [[spoiler: the very last somnium in the game is more narrative focused than gameplay focused. However, ''unlike'' the last game, Amame's second somnium is practically impossible to fail after you beat a few mental locks, a stark contrast from Saito's, who had the first time puzzle that absolutely required time management instead of simply picking the right option. As such, the reveal that she has eight mental locks isn't as significant as it would seem, that said, players don't mind this, as the emotional weight the somnium carries is considered better than it being difficult.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Lien as while there are many people who dislike him as they [[NeverLiveItDown just couldn't live down his]] StalkerWithACrush tendecies pre-timeskip, he does has his fans for being generally supportive for Kizuna after she's unable to walk during the post-timeskip. [[TakeAThirdOption There is a third camp]] that while they have a hard time letting go of his StalkerWithACrush tendecies pre-timeskip, they do admit that Lien did provide good moments in the game (in particular, Lien becoming Kizuna's "legs" for her to dance with in the their own route together), and believe his love for Kizuna is nowhere near as creepy as Ota's love for Iris.

* BrokenBase: The main twist of this game [[spoiler:where the initial timeline of the game given to players is actually false.]] While there are folks who like it as they feel as if it provided a very huge and excellent [[ShockingMoments Shocking Moment]] with a large amount of FridgeBrilliance to it, there are others who dislike it mostly due to how it is a twist [[spoiler:for the players that didn't affect the characters a whole lot]] in addition to the large amount of {{Contrived Coincidence}}s that was needed for the twist to work.

** For fans looking to write Gen and Amame's dynamic, it is a widespread practice to ignore [[spoiler:the Wink Psync with Gen in their shared ending, where he internally admits to having had romantic feelings for her before he dies. [[Squick Amame was aged down from 20 to 18 for this game, and Gen's age is unknown but has to be older than 23, Ryuki's age, due to a few dialogue lines mentioning their age difference.]] Add to that the fact that Amame views Gen as a father figure and it is easy to understand why retconning these feelings (and adopting the family angle instead) is so common.]]

** For fans looking to write Gen and Amame's dynamic, it is a widespread practice to ignore [[spoiler:the Wink Psync with Gen in their shared ending, where he internally admits to having had romantic feelings for her before he dies. Amame was aged down from 20 to 18 for this game, and Gen's age is unknown but has to be older than 23, Ryuki's age, due to a few dialogue lines mentioning their age difference. Add to that the fact that Amame views Gen as a father figure and [[Squick it is easy to understand why retconning these feelings (and adopting the family angle instead) is so common.]]

** For fans looking to write Gen and Amame's dynamic, it is a widespread practice to ignore [[spoiler:the Wink Psync with Gen in their shared ending, where he internally admits to having had romantic feelings for her before he dies. Amame was aged down from 20 to 18 for this game, and Gen's age is unknown but has to be older than 23, Ryuki's age, due to a few dialogue lines mentioning their age difference. Add to that the fact that Amame views Gen as a father figure and [[Squick it is easy to understand why retconning these feelings (and adopting the family angle instead) is so common.]]]]

** For fans looking to write Gen and Amame's dynamic, it is a widespread practice to ignore [[spoiler:the Wink Psync with Gen in their shared ending, where he internally admits to having had romantic feelings for her before he dies. Amame was aged down from 20 to 18 for this game, and Gen's age is unknown but has to be older than 23, Ryuki's age, due to a few dialogue lines mentioning their age difference. Add to that the fact that Amame views Gen as a father figure and it is easy to understand why retconning these feelings (and adopting the family angle instead) is so common.]]

* CryForTheDevil: One may be able to find some sympathy with [[spoiler:the Tearer. Kidnapped as a young boy solely to serve as a donor for organs to replace another child's cancerous organs. Trapped in an underground cell for decades. And the only solace he's given is from a woman that teaches him that nothing in his world is real, that everything is a simulation. Makes sense that he'd end up crazy.]]

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Some of ''nirvanA Initiative'''s issues do stem from the first game, such as the {{Railroading}} and the somewhat repetitive story telling required to get to the true ending. However, while the first game's railroading was more accepted because it was done either near the beginning or more than half way towards the end of the route. In addition, some routes provided much needed information to understand later twists, and the repetition was to better contextualize the situation. In ''nirvanA'' however, the game immediately stops you from taking the alternate route, forcing you to play through half the game with some routes providing very little additional information (such as Lien/Kizuna's route, which only reveals that [[spoiler: the Masked woman looks exactly like Mizuki and Lien worked with her]]) before going back to near the beginning of the game to rediscover certain pieces of info, making it a bit more troublesome to go through.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Lien as while there are many people who dislike him as they just [[NeverLiveItDown just couldn't live down his]] StalkerWithACrush tendecies pre-timeskip, he does has his fans for being generally supportive for Kizuna after she's unable to walk during the post-timeskip. [[TakeAThirdOption There is a third camp]] that while they have a hard time letting go of his StalkerWithACrush tendecies pre-timeskip, they do admit that Lien did provide good moments in the game (in particular, Lien becoming Kizuna's "legs" for her to dance with in the their own route together), and believe his love for Kizuna is nowhere near as creepy as Ota's love for Iris.