tsubasahome

I beat Kuzunoha Raidou today. Took me 51 hours, which is a new record for me--the shortest time that I ever took to finish a Megaten game. Innocent Sin used to be the old record-holder at 83 hours....yes, I really do take my time with these games! I quite enjoyed it--wasn't quite up to Nocturne's level, but it certainly was better than the 8 7 8 7 score it got from Famitsu. I liked Soul Hackers and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment more, but I would place it above Innocent Sin. I haven't gotten around to playing Avatar Tuner 2, but having watched Lauren play the first Avatar Tuner, my observation is that Raidou is better. Better pacing, better aesthetic sense, more fun(well, it's not as dark)--you really shouldn't have to power level in a 40-50 hour game. That's what Lauren said turned her off about Avatar Tuner--from what I see, Raidou does a much better job handling its relatively short length--you can progress through the game and do all the extra events and sidequests at a fairly brisk place without feeling like you're wasting your time bogged down doing impossible sidequests in a game that's only half the length of a "normal" Megaten game. It does have its problems, though--the encounter rate is through the roof, money is scarce all the way through the end of the game, and there are only about 2/3 the amount of demons as there are in Nocturne Also, you have to watch Raidou's HP like a hawk. Granted, there are things to compensate for these problems, since the dungeons are very short, there are plenty of items that you find just to sell, and the controls are responsive enough for you be able to heal yourself split seconds before an enemy finishes you off.

Now, with all that aside, here's my dilemma with the ending of the game...

( Spoilers away! )

So...tired...I couldn't sleep at all last night because of the humidity and I kept having nightmares about tornadoes, so I was kind of in a daze all day. Didn't even finish my dinner(though I did manage to prepare it without falling face-first into the pan of bacon-onion-hot pepper-tomato sauce. Gotta love those 10 minute Italian pasta dishes) Of course, true to me fashion, I regained my appetite about 10 minutes later and retrieved the remains of my dinner from the refrigerator. I shared it with Lauren, because it's nicer that way(I suppose not everybody will understand this, but we always split everything we eat outside of meals. It feels lonely otherwise.) It was threatening thunder for a while(but never actually happened) so I didn't get to play my brand-new copy of Kuzunoha Raidou. I've been playing the game for about 6 hours, and I can't understand why Famitsu gave it a score of 8/7/8/7. I could understand ranking it lower than Nocturne, but it seems better than a lot of the other Megaten games. Certainly deserved better than the original Persona, and probably also better than Avatar Tuner.Maybe they were confused by the fact that even though the game has an active battle system, a lot of the rules from the Press-Turn system still apply? I could understand why they might give the game straight 8s, but 30/40 just seems incredibly biased. Hell, for some reason you can find a Famitsu reviewer giving a game a 10, pointing out several flaws in the game, and then review a less-hyped game, point out the same kind of flaws, and give the game a 7. The AI for your nakama is certainly less stupid than the AI in a lot of the games I've played with active battle systems--but you(as the in gamer) can't be stupid enough to bring a nakama who's weak against fire into a battle with enemies that use fire spells, unless you're prepared to shoot anybody who comes near your nakama. It was the same way in Nocturne! Your nakama will use attack spells that the enemy is weak against(provided that they have them), and the nakama with healing spells typically spam Dia like crazy any time you or they get attacked. The only problems I have with the game is that you burn through money like crazy, and Raidou is constantly running out of bullets for his gun. ^^;;;

Somebody on a Japanese review site said that as far as the battle system goes, the people who complain that the battle system is disappointing must be thinking of the Press-Turn system(which was only used in THREE games in the entire franchise), because anybody who thinks that the battle system that came before that was better must be out of their mind.

( Spoilerish impressions? )