History YMMV / AITheSomniumFilesNirvanaInitiative

* ThatOneLevel: Inevitability, aka [[spoiler:the Masked Woman]]'s Somnium. For the first time, instant failure conditions are introduced; during certain segments, if you pick the wrong choice, you automatically lose and have to restart from a checkpoint (or start from the beginning if you run out of retries). To make it worse, at the end you have two 50/50 quick decisions you have to make, and choosing the wrong choice also ends in an instant game over. ''And'' the entire Somnium is done in real time from the half way mark onwards, denying players the ability to slow down and think over possible solutions.

* ContrivedCoincidence: One large criticism of the game is how heavily relies on this trope to justify [[spoiler:the true timeline of events.]]
** [[spoiler: One of the most blatant parts is the reveal that the Mizuki who was investigating the events that actually occurred six years in the past is an older, near identical clone of Mizuki who happens to dress exactly like the present Mizuki and is also named Mizuki, at no point being called her InSeriesNickname of Bibi.]]
** [[spoiler: Tearer's plan would have completely fallen apart if even ''one'' of the thousands of people who cracked the code in the QR video actually publicized their findings, which would lead people to figure out why people who've seen the video tend to go missing.]]

** [[spoiler: One of the most blatant parts is the reveal that the Mizuki who was investigating the events that actually occurred six years in the past is an older, near identical clone of Mizuki who happens to dress exactly like the present Mizuki and is also named Mizuki.]]

** [[spoiler: One of the most blatant parts is the reveal that the Mizuki who was investigating the events that actually occurred six years in the past is in fact Bibi, an older, near identical clone of Mizuki who happens to dress exactly like the present Mizuki. Everybody six years ago refers to Bibi as Mizuki, and everybody who actually knew about Bibi either kept quiet or lost their memories.]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: One large criticism of the game is how heavily relies on this trope to justify [[spoiler:the true timeline of events. One of the most blatant parts is the reveal that the Mizuki who was investigating the events that actually occurred six years in the past is in fact Bibi, an older, near identical clone of Mizuki who happens to dress exactly like the present Mizuki. Everybody six years ago refers to Bibi as Mizuki, and everybody who actually knew about Bibi either kept quiet or lost their memories.]]

** [[spoiler:Bibi (a.k.a. the Masked Woman) was subjected to cruel experiments by Chikara when she was a kid, and if she doesn't comply to those experiments, then she would know that Chikara would experiment on her "sister" Mazuki when she was a baby.]]
* UncannyValley: The [[https://youtu.be/vRySgdA4VBM "Fray to Free!"]] video is already bizarre as it is, but some of the facial expressions on the people shown are off. It feels unnatural and inhuman.

* HarsherInHindsight: In the first game, Mazuki's superhuman ablities was largely PlayedForLaughs. However, once you find out that [[spoiler:Mazuki got those powers from being experimented on and going through near-death scenarios ''all while she was a baby'', it can make these scenes harder to laugh from.]]

** Kizuna gets confined into a wheelchair after the end of the past segments (thus, making her unable to dance), feels as if Lien doesn't love back, and when it seems like her and Lien can finally be happy together, her father makes them break-up. Fortunately, the main ending has her father changing her mind.

* ThatOneLevel: Inevitability, aka [[spoiler:the Masked Woman]]'s Somnium. For the first time, instant failure conditions are introduced; during certain segments, if you pick the wrong choice, you automatically lose and have to restart from a checkpoint (or start from the beginning if you run out of retries). To make it worse, at the end you have two 50/50 quick decisions you have to make, and choosing the wrong choice also ends in an instant game over.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: One commonly criticized aspect of the first games were that the Somnium segments relied on [[MoonLogicPuzzle Moon Logic Puzzles]] too much. While it thematically made sense, since they were people's dreams and dreams don't conform to reality exactly, it made for a gameplay experience that's often trial and error. The sequel toned back on this by giving Somnium segments much more logic to how they need to be completed while still retaining the dreamlike tone. And on top of that, the game gives you an AntiFrustrationFeature with the "keys" which give you hints to the logic that will lead you to the solution for whatever step you are on.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: One commonly criticized aspect of the first games were that the Somnium segments relied on MoonLogicPuzzles too much. While it thematically made sense, since they were people's dreams and dreams don't conform to reality exactly, it made for a gameplay experience that's often trial and error. The sequel toned back on this by giving Somnium segments much more logic to how they need to be completed while still retaining the dreamlike tone. And on top of that, the game gives you an AntiFrustrationFeature with the "keys" which give you hints to the logic that will lead you to the solution for whatever step you are on.

** With the game taking place in different time periods (three months in Side Ryuki and six years in Side Mizuki), some are wondering what happened to the cast of the first game. The gameplay trailer already confirmed that Pewter returned to ABIS, Boss is still around (and so is Kagami) and Iris is still in school, plus a short video confirming that Ota is
now managing Matsushita Diner, but there's still no confirmation on Hitomi, Mama, Mayumi or even Moma.

* ThatOneLevel: Inevitability, aka [[spoiler:the Masked Woman's Somnium]]. For the first time, instant failure conditions are introduced; during certain segments, if you pick the wrong choice, you automatically lose and have to restart from a checkpoint (or start from the beginning if you run out of retries). To make it worse, at the end you have two 50/50 quick decisions you have to make, and choosing the wrong choice also ends in an instant game over.

** With the game taking place in different time periods (three months in Side Ryuki and six years in Side Mizuki), some are wondering what happened to the cast of the first game. The gameplay trailer already confirmed that Pewter returned to ABIS, Boss is still around (and so is Kagami) and Iris is still in school, plus a short video confirming that Ota is now managing Matsushita Diner, but there's still no confirmation on Hitomi, Mama, Mayumi or even Moma.

** What is Date's role in the game? Is that still Date or Saito acting on his own? However, there's some speculation that those scenes are set during Date's first year in ABIS, due to the fact he has an eyepatch and it is known he acted alone for a year before he received Aiba.

** What is Date's role in the game? Is that still Date or Saito acting on his own? However, there's some speculation that those scenes are set during Date's first year in ABIS, as he acted alone for a year before he received Aiba.

** First off, the game's placement in the timeline. Many are speculating that the sequel is set after Mizuki's route in the first game, but the trailer already shows some discrepancies, such as Mizuki, Iris and a brief glimpse of Moma in the television studio around the time Jin's right half was found, which is something that didn't happen in the left side of the flowchart, as Moma never befriended Mizuki or Iris personally. That, and there's the fact that Iris died in Renju's body, while So Sejima's mind was transferred over Iris' body. Others are theorizing this takes place in a separate timeline that doesn't follow none of the routes of its predecessor, especially with Date still inhabiting Saito's body. And speaking of Date...

** With the game taking place in different time periods (three months in Side Ryuki and six years in Side Mizuki), some are wondering what happened to the cast of the first game. The gameplay trailer already confirmed that Pewter returned to ABIS, Boss is still around (and so is Kagami) and Iris is still in school, plus a short video confirming that Ota is now managing Matsushida Diner, but there's still no confirmation on Hitomi, Mama, Mayumi or even Moma.

** What is Date's role in the game? Is that still Date or Saito acting on his own. However, there's some speculation that those scenes are set during Date's first year in ABIS, as he acted alone for a year before he received Aiba.

* FunnyMoments: One of the downloadable costumes for Aiba and Tama is a stupid looking hot-dog costume. [[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynme7Y0lPa2Pb3GMji4zn9BPC3JO6AqpZfNb2tPqSC6aK-Ci-sMQFT6Js0QuPsFue8DyKZjbuFBaIuaTDluhFbwCqsay-FSo-GRk0XGSPrll5bXN7SF9UYYxCKIE5h1c-i2_kxQ0ZZjdvo6sVXlw3rW1HfYUkLmIeOs5crByehRw_hAtjyuGNdxhgiw/s1920/AI%20The%20Somnium%20Files%20Nirvana%20Initiative%20DLC.png No, really.]]

* CrowningMomentOfFunny:
** One of the downloadable costumes for Aiba and Tama is a stupid looking hot-dog costume. [[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynme7Y0lPa2Pb3GMji4zn9BPC3JO6AqpZfNb2tPqSC6aK-Ci-sMQFT6Js0QuPsFue8DyKZjbuFBaIuaTDluhFbwCqsay-FSo-GRk0XGSPrll5bXN7SF9UYYxCKIE5h1c-i2_kxQ0ZZjdvo6sVXlw3rW1HfYUkLmIeOs5crByehRw_hAtjyuGNdxhgiw/s1920/AI%20The%20Somnium%20Files%20Nirvana%20Initiative%20DLC.png No, really.]]

** With the game taking place in different time periods (three months in Side Ryuki and six years in Side Mizuki), some are wondering what happened to the cast of the first game. The gameplay trailer already confirmed that Pewter returned to ABIS, Boss is still around (and so is Kagami) and Iris is still in school, plus a short video confirming that Ota is now managing Matsushida Diner, but there's still no confirmation on Hitomi, Mama, Mayumi or even Moma.