Airk

I really disagree with the graphical assessment - I find the game looks good in motion, is pleasantly colorful, and if it's a little bit blocky, so what? Yeah, it's not as gorgeous as Vesperia, but that's sortof to be expected, since this was originally developed for the Wii.

That said, I'm enjoying the heck out of this, but I do feel a little overloaded with all the systems - crafting seems both a little arbitrary and also rather complicated (still don't really know what qualities do), I have way more titles than I can possible keep track of (which I guess is nice), but combat itself is pleasantly deep.

So far, I like this game better than Vesperia, since I haven't run into a single character I -don't- like, whereas Vesperia had...Karol. So. Much. Karol.

@R Planteer This exactly. Seeing these characters in closeup is seriously freaky for me now. We've wandered too far from a stylized look and now they just look disturbing.

Doesn't mean it's a good or well founded opinion, sir. You really should've just left that bit out.

@FuzzyPierce As someone who has played this game through like 3 times, I officially have no idea what you are talking about.

Maybe you are misunderstanding what is going on?

@kikock Uh, actually, they also released it for the PS3/360, which is what has most people crabby - they basically have forced everyone to update again if they want the latest balance changes/want to stay current with the game. It happens to COINCIDE with the Vita release, but it's not as if any of this stuff is SPECIFIC to the Vita release.

It's a good buy on the Vita. It's a good buy if you've never played a BB game before. It's a terrible deal if you already own CS and the DLC characters, but you're stuck with it anyway if you want to play with other people, because people only play the "latest" version.

@Lordd G

Well, that's sortof stuff you should be able to figure out from reading the marketing material, but here's the breakdown of differences/new stuff.

- Character rebalance. Overall balance a little better, but still roughly the same number of "outlier" characters as CS2.
- CT story mode included
- All former DLC characters included (Makoto Nanaya, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, Platinum the Trinity)
- Mu-12 unlocked from the start
- New character, Relius Clover
- Story mode for Mu/Makoto/Valkenhayn/Platinum/Relius
- A couple of other mini-story modes
- Abyss Mode
- "Unlimited Mars" mode.
- 2v2 and 3v3 online modes

I can't help but feel that whenever I read these threads, that most of the people in them don't even really know what they're talking about when they talk about JRPG mechanics.

Let's examine the latest entries in a few JRPG series, shall we?
Final Fantasy: Weird arsed semi-realtime paradigm based battle mechanics and nonlinear, choice-based character advancement. Similarity to the "Final Fantasy Template"? Basically zero.
Tales of Xillia: 100% realtime battle system with more depth and real gameplay value than most WRPGs. Resemblance to the "Final Fantasy Template"? Zero.
Atelier Series: Okay, now we finally have something that resembles the stereotypical JRPG turn-based battles, but 75% of the point of the game is actually the item crafting system. Resemblance to the "Final Fantasy Template"? Superficial.

I guess I could go off on Resonance of Fate, or Star Ocean 4, or Valkyria Chronicles or whatever, but what's the point? People are convinced there's some cohesive mechanical style in JRPGs, and there really isn't. There's probably less standardization than there is WRPGs, and there's not even that much THERE.

Now it is time for me to make a shameless plug for Ultima V: Lazarus (http://www.u5lazarus.com/) and the Ultima VI Project (http://u6project.com/) which are magnificent "remakes" (for lack of a better term) of U5 and U6 respectively, using a heavily modified Dungeon Siege engine. You need a copy of the original Dungeon Siege, but if you have one kicking around (or want to drop like $10 for it on Ebay or something) these offerings are a magnificent way to experience everything that is good about U5 and U6, with a somewhat more modern coat of paint on them.

I strongly recommend them to any fan of the series.

Wait, are we complaining about the new grind (Mounted combat stuff) or celebrating the new grind (Level cap increase)? I'm confused, because the former sounds a heck of a lot more interesting than the latter.

@skbkoy65

Protect Me Knight is FREAKING AWESOME.

So is Miner Dig Deep.