Holy crap, Code of Princess!

[Stark]

It's a real slap in the face of their consumers

Can we please stop overusing the phrase "slap in the face". Everything that annoys someone on the internet is a "slap in the face".

Seriously, it's an affront to common sense.

[sbk]

Well I have been enjoying the game a lot. I really like the RPG elements.

[Flake]

As someone who got a 3ds last Xmas, the existence of the XL less than a year later makes me angry. Nintendo always double and triple dips like this with their hand helds. Takes like four iterations before you finally get the version you should have gotten in the first place. It's a real slap in the face of their consumers

Gameboy
Gameboy Pocket
Gameboy Light
Gameboy Color

Gameboy Advance
Gameboy Advance SP
Gameboy Advance SP with brighter screen
Gameboy Micro

Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS lite
Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi XL

...Yep, there was no way to see the 3DS XL coming.

In other news, man I am psyched about this game if only because of how similar it looks to Guardian Heroes. One more day.

[BoneSnapDeez]

3.5 hours in. I can finally buy items now.

The "defend the villagers!" sidequests are annoying as hell.

[Gamerforlife]

Gamefly just shipped it to me. I'll probably end up paying to keep it if it's that good. Being a 3ds game, sending it back would mean losing all that save data.

Can't wait to play it!

[Flake]

The "defend the villagers!" sidequests are annoying as hell.

That's funny. In Guardian Heroes I think I did more to endanger villagers than I ever did to protect them.

[Gamerforlife]

This is really solid. It does feel like Guardian Heroes, but more balanced. I love that you can replay stages and story sequences, and also play bonus stages. It feels more replayable than Guardian Heroes by design, and leveling is something you have more control over. It feels more rpg-ish than Guardian Heroes (you can even use equipment)with lots of story, voice work and anime scenes. The combat mechanics are nice. It's similar to Guardian Heroes, but a bit simpler and more intuitive. The 3D effect is excellent, maybe the best I've seen on the 3ds so far.

A few nitpicks:

The dub is a little annoying, but I guess it fits the silliness of the game. I would have preferred a Japanese voice option. I'm lukewarm on the story so far. There are some funny bits, but just mild chuckle worthy, not nearly as funny as games like Double Dragon Neon or Lollipop Chainsaw. The battle voice clips for Solange are annoying. "Sorry about that! It's up to me! Sorry about that! It's up to me!" Always the mark of Japanese video games, characters who can never shut the hell up

Also, the game kind of throws you into things without teaching you moves or controls. The game looks really, really, REALLY cramped on the default 3ds too. I wish I had an XL to let all those onscreen enemies and action have some room to breathe.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The Sorry about that!'s are driving my wife insane.

I think I'm pretty far into the game. I'm at the point where the main quests now have a five-star difficulty rating.

The sidequests are getting harder too and I can only complete 50% of the new ones at this point. Oh, and for some reason there are gaps in my list of sidequests - like I didn't properly "unlock" a few or something... who the hell knows.

I keep playing until the battery dies. I'll play again tomorrow and hopefully get closer to the end (maybe beat it? I have no idea how long the game is and I don't want to look up spoilers).

[Gamerforlife]

Starting to lose interest in this one, the game gets ridiculously cheap the further you get into it. I'm starting to feel like I HAVE to grind for stats and levels just to survive all the cheap shit they're throwing at me. The bosses are so unbelievably overpowered and you have to hit them like a billion times to whittle down their health.

This is starting to feel more like an rpg than a beat 'em up

[Gamerforlife]

and as previously mentioned, the escort missions are bullshit. Escort missions in video games should be obsolete in 2012

And where the hell is my undead knight? Sure could use him in some of these bullshit boss battles