YMMV / Natsuki Chronicles

• Awesome Music: Once again, Yosuke Yasui returns to compose the music.
• Even Better Sequel: This game basically refines the trademark elements of Ginga Force (focus on individual missions, ship customization, and the multi-weapon system) while ironing out the flaws that made it unpalatable to some players (such as the weapon decay mechanic, wild camera angles, and lack of an arcade-style play mode).
• Goddamned Boss: Alex and Margaret in Stage 7. You have to fight them in a large and extremely clumsy-to-control heavy assault ship, the same one that you fight in Ginga Force, and you pretty much get pelted with their attacks the whole time as a result. This would be That One Boss if not for the fact that Natsuki will lose the fight regardless thanks to canon and you have a lot of health with which to survive until the fight ends on its own, but you still have to inflict as much capture damage on them and reduce damage to yourself as much as possible to get a good grade on the stage. Thankfully you're not expected to no-damage it since you can take a few dozen hits and still get an S+++, and this stage is excluded from Arcade Mode.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • Despite being an option to help new and inexperienced players, the bullet trajectory option does the total opposite, as it would clutter the screen with red lines, causing the player to be hit in the middle of combat, especially if the screen is filled with bullets. Then again, the option was made to be used on Easy, and can be turned off by the player at any time.
  • While the inclusion of Arcade Mode is seen by many as an Author's Saving Throw after Ginga Force had no such mode, one complaint is how weapon power is tied to remaining shields, meaning that players who struggle end up in an Unstable Equilibrium death spiral as their ship is whittled down to peashooters and no barriers to defend itself with.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Natsuki Chronicles is the closest to a modern day Thunder Force release.
• That One Level: Stage 4 sends you through some very tight tunnels with enemies striking at awkward angles. Expect to take a lot of damage assuming you don't just die entirely, and to basically lose all your EX Shields in Arcade Mode.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The game builds up to the duel of Natsuki vs. Alex and Margaret by having flashback sequences to Natsuki's training, where she is shown being good friends with Margaret, and then Stage 7 is the duel where Natsuki and Margaret both express distress over having to fight one another, with Natsuki completing her Heel–Face Turn afterwards. If you were expecting them to have a joyful reunion and reconcile later, forget it, because that fight is the last time you see both of them together, and the ending has Natsuki crash-landed on the other side of the planet wondering about her friend among other things.