While I won't deny the game is more complex than Fuga 1, I don't think it's harder for the reasons stated.
First of all, a number of self buffing skills have been removed. (Hot Blood, Bravery, Chit-Chat, Encourage.) In exchange, there are now skills that increase resistances to status ailment and outright cure them. (Big Smile, Determination, Soothing Song.) Some of them now target support allies as well unlike before where they only affected the kids manning the guns.
Secondly, while Chick definitely fell from grace, losing nearly every status ailment inflicting skill save for Risky Grenade, the monopoly grenadiers had on status ailments is now gone thanks to the ammo items. Unlike in Fuga 1, they hit all enemies, have high accuracy independent of their user, (Their power isn't tho.) and have higher chances of landing. The only thing the skills have over them is their duration and even then they only last an extra two turns.
The enemy is craftier to be sure, like the infested variant of the reinforcement drones. They can now parasitize enemies which not only restores their health to full, they also prevent any EXP from being gained. They're also tougher than the usual drone.
That being said, most enemies with deadly effects require a turn to charge it up, giving the player an ample amount of time to either kill them, or stun them. (The most deadly enemies end up being the ones who don't beat around the bush and just hit you.) Most, if not all generic goons are vulnerable to status ailments. Some of them are extra weak to them, perhaps as a way to compensate for their more tankier defenses.
The enemies that can upgrade themselves to boost their armor do so slowly, take more damage to make up for the fact they can't be delayed conventionally, and unlike in Fuga 1, there are more ways to ignore armor. Fuga 1, you only had Sharp Arrow and Dreizack, both of them exclusive to the machine gunners.
Fuga 2 gives you Heart Shot, (Wappa-Grenadier) Arrogance Shot, (Vanilla-Cannoneer. Who can use Rage to self buff herself to give her an attack + crit boost quickly with an accuracy downside that can be mitigated by Britz's Eagle Eye being cast after she uses Rage.) and Ballista that attacks all enemies whilst ignoring their armor. Special mention goes to Sharp Bolt, a skill that only gets stronger the more armor an unit has.
The Soul Cannon mechanic can be mitigated to being outright ignored by expending AP to praying to it in the pre-boss Intermission.
With the amount of offensive options Fuga 2 gives you, (Sheena's Distortion can reduce any non-boss enemy's HP by half. At max rank it's accuracy is 70% aka the usual rate for a Stun Grenade against a Bad Luck inflicted enemy in Fuga 1. Vanilla in general.) the game can be easier than Fuga 1. If the S rank in speed threshold for the final boss of Fuga 2 is anything to go off of, the devs seem to have high expectations for the player's offensive capabilities. (17 turns to beat the final boss for Fuga 1 is a S. Fuga 2? 18 turns nets you a **B**. This isn't the only boss where the speed threshold is unusually strict.)
The support effects have also gotten a lot better, such as Kyle (Aerial) and Jin (Ground) offering a 50% boost to attack at max rank. Socks gives status ailment attacks a +50% chance of landing, Mei boosts the speed of ALL attacks, not just normal ones, and Hack increases the amount of delay an attack does.
The game's meta seems to have shifted away from stunlocking the enemy then removing their armor before moving onto slowly whittling away their health to a more fast paced offensive meta. There are more ways to counteract armor (Either outright ignoring it or slapping a piercing bomb on that'll remove four armor once two turns have passed.) and single target damage have drastically improved. (Overload hits 7 times in a row. First Strike deals +50% damage as long as the enemy's HP is above 50%. Coup De Grace does the same but only for when the enemy has less than 50% HP. Furious Burst hits three times with a +40% chance to crit.) Oh and you can actually make enemies easier to hit with Ballast Shot, a skill that reduces an enemy's evasion.
The defensive options that carried one through 90% of Fuga 1 still exist in Fuga 2 and even better in some cases. (Bad Luck now has an universal 100% chance of landing.) I argue the game is harder not because it takes away defensive options, but rather by giving the enemy more complex tactics that aren't just "Shoot. Heal. Defend. Charge for stronger attack." For example, those mortar tanks can now counterattack immediately if you attack but fail to kill them as they prepare to use Spear Rain. Unlike before in Fuga 1 where that was just a free turn to hit them.
Some of the turtle tanks now dispense a fear gas that damages you when they shift into Assault Mode. The gas carrying enemies can now not only heal their teammates, but cure them of status ailments. It also heals them too.
This isn't even getting into the Judgement system. At rank one Empathy, you have a chance of making any attack miss. Rank 3 Empathy can boost any Link Attack gauge above 50% to 100% immediately. Rank 4 gives you a guaranteed 1-Up per battle. (Die, return back to life with 20% HP.)
Meanwhile Resolve at rank one can forgive bad positioning (e.g: Three cannoneers.) by pushing them all ahead of the enemy anyways. Rank 3 can instakill normal enemies with less than 50% HP with a regular attack. Rank 4 gives anyone the chance to immediately go again. (Unless they used Defend or Stand By.)
Fuga 2 is harder to cheese than Fuga 1 thanks to the removal of Chit-Chat and Bang Bang! and the nerfing of Boron's Link Attack. Which not only has been given to Hack, but his version of it only delays the enemy by half of the amount that Boron did. Link Attacks in general cause more delay than Fuga 1. No longer can you stunlock a boss with a combination of Boron's Link Attack and Stun. Nor do you really need to given how quickly you can kill things.
All in all, while there are slightly less defensive options, you get a lot more offensive options to compensate. Support effects have been adjusted so that they're useful most of the time rather than being gimmicky/borderline useless. Items are way more helpful. The enemy gives you more than enough time to stop whatever BS they're trying to pull. Judgement can tip the scales in your favor. Hax can be mitigated by healing and praying to the Soul Cannon to outright ignore the mechanic. Bosses being an exception, status ailments are as busted as ever.
Re: Sequel Difficulty Spike
While I won't deny the game is more complex than Fuga 1, I don't think it's harder for the reasons stated.
First of all, a number of self buffing skills have been removed. (Hot Blood, Bravery, Chit-Chat, Encourage.) In exchange, there are now skills that increase resistances to status ailment and outright cure them. (Big Smile, Determination, Soothing Song.) Some of them now target support allies as well unlike before where they only affected the kids manning the guns.
Secondly, while Chick definitely fell from grace, losing nearly every status ailment inflicting skill save for Risky Grenade, the monopoly grenadiers had on status ailments is now gone thanks to the ammo items. Unlike in Fuga 1, they hit all enemies, have high accuracy independent of their user, (Their power isn't tho.) and have higher chances of landing. The only thing the skills have over them is their duration and even then they only last an extra two turns.
The enemy is craftier to be sure, like the infested variant of the reinforcement drones. They can now parasitize enemies which not only restores their health to full, they also prevent any EXP from being gained. They're also tougher than the usual drone.
That being said, most enemies with deadly effects require a turn to charge it up, giving the player an ample amount of time to either kill them, or stun them. (The most deadly enemies end up being the ones who don't beat around the bush and just hit you.) Most, if not all generic goons are vulnerable to status ailments. Some of them are extra weak to them, perhaps as a way to compensate for their more tankier defenses.
The enemies that can upgrade themselves to boost their armor do so slowly, take more damage to make up for the fact they can't be delayed conventionally, and unlike in Fuga 1, there are more ways to ignore armor. Fuga 1, you only had Sharp Arrow and Dreizack, both of them exclusive to the machine gunners.
Fuga 2 gives you Heart Shot, (Wappa-Grenadier) Arrogance Shot, (Vanilla-Cannoneer. Who can use Rage to self buff herself to give her an attack + crit boost quickly with an accuracy downside that can be mitigated by Britz's Eagle Eye being cast after she uses Rage.) and Ballista that attacks all enemies whilst ignoring their armor. Special mention goes to Sharp Bolt, a skill that only gets stronger the more armor an unit has.
The Soul Cannon mechanic can be mitigated to being outright ignored by expending AP to praying to it in the pre-boss Intermission.
With the amount of offensive options Fuga 2 gives you, (Sheena's Distortion can reduce any non-boss enemy's HP by half. At max rank it's accuracy is 70% aka the usual rate for a Stun Grenade against a Bad Luck inflicted enemy in Fuga 1. Vanilla in general.) the game can be easier than Fuga 1. If the S rank in speed threshold for the final boss of Fuga 2 is anything to go off of, the devs seem to have high expectations for the player's offensive capabilities. (17 turns to beat the final boss for Fuga 1 is a S. Fuga 2? 18 turns nets you a **B**. This isn't the only boss where the speed threshold is unusually strict.)
The support effects have also gotten a lot better, such as Kyle (Aerial) and Jin (Ground) offering a 50% boost to attack at max rank. Socks gives status ailment attacks a +50% chance of landing, Mei boosts the speed of ALL attacks, not just normal ones, and Hack increases the amount of delay an attack does.
The game's meta seems to have shifted away from stunlocking the enemy then removing their armor before moving onto slowly whittling away their health to a more fast paced offensive meta. There are more ways to counteract armor (Either outright ignoring it or slapping a piercing bomb on that'll remove four armor once two turns have passed.) and single target damage have drastically improved. (Overload hits 7 times in a row. First Strike deals +50% damage as long as the enemy's HP is above 50%. Coup De Grace does the same but only for when the enemy has less than 50% HP. Furious Burst hits three times with a +40% chance to crit.) Oh and you can actually make enemies easier to hit with Ballast Shot, a skill that reduces an enemy's evasion.
The defensive options that carried one through 90% of Fuga 1 still exist in Fuga 2 and even better in some cases. (Bad Luck now has an universal 100% chance of landing.) I argue the game is harder not because it takes away defensive options, but rather by giving the enemy more complex tactics that aren't just "Shoot. Heal. Defend. Charge for stronger attack." For example, those mortar tanks can now counterattack immediately if you attack but fail to kill them as they prepare to use Spear Rain. Unlike before in Fuga 1 where that was just a free turn to hit them.
Some of the turtle tanks now dispense a fear gas that damages you when they shift into Assault Mode. The gas carrying enemies can now not only heal their teammates, but cure them of status ailments. It also heals them too.
This isn't even getting into the Judgement system. At rank one Empathy, you have a chance of making any attack miss. Rank 3 Empathy can boost any Link Attack gauge above 50% to 100% immediately. Rank 4 gives you a guaranteed 1-Up per battle. (Die, return back to life with 20% HP.)
Meanwhile Resolve at rank one can forgive bad positioning (e.g: Three cannoneers.) by pushing them all ahead of the enemy anyways. Rank 3 can instakill normal enemies with less than 50% HP with a regular attack. Rank 4 gives anyone the chance to immediately go again. (Unless they used Defend or Stand By.)
Fuga 2 is harder to cheese than Fuga 1 thanks to the removal of Chit-Chat and Bang Bang! and the nerfing of Boron's Link Attack. Which not only has been given to Hack, but his version of it only delays the enemy by half of the amount that Boron did. Link Attacks in general cause more delay than Fuga 1. No longer can you stunlock a boss with a combination of Boron's Link Attack and Stun. Nor do you really need to given how quickly you can kill things.
All in all, while there are slightly less defensive options, you get a lot more offensive options to compensate. Support effects have been adjusted so that they're useful most of the time rather than being gimmicky/borderline useless. Items are way more helpful. The enemy gives you more than enough time to stop whatever BS they're trying to pull. Judgement can tip the scales in your favor. Hax can be mitigated by healing and praying to the Soul Cannon to outright ignore the mechanic. Bosses being an exception, status ailments are as busted as ever.
Edited by BlazingGuns