in terms of content overall - about half of what we saw in Episode 1 but the introduction of your home base in Castle Warrengard is gonna add a huge amount of playtime in that wonderful world of farming
however in terms of plot progression, it is about the same amount as the previous Episode
general summary of what happens from the point Episode 1 left off:
- we go back to the Mayor's office only to find him gone because he is waiting for our party at Whitehaven
- so we go to the harbor and the Mayor gives us our documents representing him at the High Lord Gathering, then he leaves
- we then set sail on the ship, en route its conversation time where you learn more about each of the female cast, then you go to below deck to meet up with the Black Dame again
- after you talk to the Black Dame, you go back to the deck to talk to the captain to land in Port Ronod where you are in "disguise" mode and are able to traverse past the guards at the Guard Bridge to visit the Imperial Manor again
- enter the Imperial Manor to watch several more cutscenes where you officially meet Layla, then Opala (cg scene), and then with the 4 high lords
- basically Devon's little talk with the high lords is him pretty much saying Crayden is a sh*tbag usurper and that they should all back the late Emperor's daughter, if they knew what was good for them
- while the high lords may not think everything Devon just told them was 100% fact, it was enough to spook them into leaving this gathering as they were already suspicious enough with Crayden running late - like why would you be late to your own "coronation"?
- after breakup the gathering, you get a little cutscene with Opala, and then it is a night time raid on the Imperial Manor to find this Moo Moo character (shout outs to Ra'Tiki)
- you literally sneak onto the manor's 2nd floor to find Mhu'Tiki and you have to be really stupid here not to trigger her scene, with her afterwards loving the D so much that she joins your company but does not become a party member
- now with both goals accomplished its time to leave only to find Crayden and Laquadia being fashionably late to the party, but the siblings decide to pull a Lannister thus giving you enough time to leave the Imperial Manor
(note you can get a Bad Ending during this whole night raid sequence by just simply running into a guard)
- your party makes a clean getaway... psych, no you don't as Beatrix shows up like the ballbuster she is but then Black Dame one ups her by creating a smokescreen (literally) so your party can escape
- little cutscene happens where your party tries to figure out what to do next, with all the characters leaving the screen but Devon who is again accosted by Beatrix and her own magihound (those 2 are banging btw)
- Devon is basically like "stop being a bitch, bitch!", Beatrix is like "okay, since we're like old friends and all" (/sarcasm) Beatrix is a doll enough to cover your escape
- we pick back up with going back to the Mayor and coming up with the new plan of making sure the Emperor's daughter is safe and secured from Crayden, however no one knows where she is except for maybe one person who is in the city of Kahr (its in the southern desert area)
- your party head there but soon run into a problem that the Desert Checkpoint guards give us the "you shall not pass" treatment so we must find an alternate route
- just so happens the people who control this alternate route are the very same people who are troubling this part of the countryside - the Ironard Bandits, time to kick some bandit asses
- you start taking down names when you enter Arlon where all the villagers think you are the bandits (the nerve!), with Devon eventually finding their resistance hideout cleverly hidden behind an outhouse of all things
- basically the resistance tells you of an underground route into their base of operations, Castle Warrengard, and this is where you get access to dynamite to make your own door
- you use the dynamite to open a hole into this route, eventually stumble across this tree boss, then get into the basement level of Castle Warrengard
- then its a simple matter of taking down the bandits from the inside, rescue a few prisoners, prevent the Steel Demoness from turning a villager into a sissy boy, then clown Baron Ironard and take his castle for your new digs
- afterwards Black Dame conveniently shows up after you did all the heavy lifting saying "hey, yo, this is a nice house, I'm gonna stay here for a bit"
- then the party heads back to Arlon where they sing your praises, freeing you to go to the Smuggler's Route where the Ironard bandits guarding it step aside in awe of the new honcho
- once through the Smuggler's Route, you are safely on the desert side of the checkpoint where you go enter the city of Kahr
- you find the Mayor of Kahr who tells you of the excavation that is happening in some old temple to the Divines, your person of interest (Mistress Gloria) is funding this particular expedition and the project's manager is Zweibelle
- then it is just a simple matter of joining this excavation to get close to Gloria but she gives you the cold shoulder putting you in the bad spot to actually do this stupid excavation just so she will give you face time
- of course, everything goes wrong because what you find after all that searching through the dark is... Nabonaga!!!, queue Zweibelle who appears and explains Devon just found one of the Dragons of the Nine... yeah it turns out there are 9 Nabonagas and basically they are world killers and it turns out that dick of a dragon we met in the previous game was actually the nicest of the bunch
- Zweibelle then pricks you with a sleep drug revealing she was aware of Devon's identity the whole time, you pass out and wake up strapped up, butt naked in her lab where you become her newest "specimen", then a story scene happens where Zweibelle gives you a handjob wanting your collect your semen while some creature (I have no idea wtf it is) is raping Adult Farah in an adjacent room (and apparently Adult Farah has been there for some time)
(some things definitely occurred off screen but the gaps are filled in later)
- ok so when Zweibelle leaves, the masked chick (its obviously Beatrix in disguise) you meet prior to the excavation comes in to free you, you conveniently get all your gear back in a chest within that room and go save Adult Farah, funny thing is Adult Farah does not want the two of you to kill the creature because she liked "being raped" so thoroughly
- so you spare the creature and head on out of Zweibelle's lab, getting some of her notes, and realize it is in Hollow Gorge
(you learn here that the Mayor of Brightstone was arrested, forcing Opala and Adult Farah to flee the city. Opala and her panther escape into the forest where Adult Farah buys time for their escape getting captured in the process.)
- afterwards, you leave Hollow Gorge and head back to your base in Castle Warrengard where Black Dame tells you of the Iron Spire and how it is being used to power a WMD in the form of a railgun - basically from what I understood, it hurls chunks of condensed magic power like cannonballs, only the size of the explosions are like atomic bombs
- Black Dame continues saying it is going to be used to hurl those chucks against the An'Terra currently overrunning the Namaria continent, however the devastation will also level the continent
(note - you learn beforehand that Zweibelle is working for Naluna and is purposely helping Crayden & company with this railgun as a means to awaken the Dragons of the Nine so they will in turn will awaken and wipe out humanity in the world. The Dragons of the Nine are a bit like lawnmowers but instead of cutting grass and trimming weeds, they kill people.)
- so this becomes top priority as your party heads off to the Iron Spire to try and sabotage the railgun before its first shot is fired, here you encounter Farsyne deep in the Spire's core system which then becomes a boss battle although it is pretty easy compared to the ones previously
- you defeat Farsyne (but not dead) and your party rigs the Iron Spire to blow up, cutscene ensues where Farsyne tries to stab Devon in the back and Kythe kamikazes himself and wartface into a magic pool, forcing everyone to leave him behind as the Iron Spire is moments from exploding
- however it has hardly the end but a new beginning as Farsyne emerges from the pool as some twisted Giga creature and Kythe emerges as a wolf-girl (yeah I am not joking here)
- you head back to Castle Warrengard where Black Dame commends everyone for their victory but states that there are 2 more Iron Spires to deal with, the next one is past the western checkpoint that you still cannot pass
- the beta ends with Kythe (now Kythie) recuperating in bed being looked over by Adult Farah, so no more wolf dog in party as of now which sucks because he was one of my main 3
- there is also a little plot progression where you can go visit Osira in Fellhorn Ruins (doors will open now) where you get a little unofficial side quest where you give a "present" to Laquadia and learn a bit more about why Crayden and Laquadia were in the Land of Savages
I am not sure though when the above becomes active
I also went into the Crimson Forest to see if that was the location Opala fled to but no sight of her in the Neifu village and got the same "you shall not pass" treatment from the Howling Moon Clan
and I have not found anything else to progress in 1.13 so I just restarted another playthrough