I’ve been speeding through this game, still trying to get 100% but the Ryu books have gotten tiresome. I still want to complete everything though. As of right now, I am at the arena finals (about to fight Kuhn) and my ‘arena’ team is all at Level 50 (almost 24 hours into the game).

Plot wise, there is no progression. Tri -Edge is still hanging around and he’ll show up eventually, he promises. Also Ovan maybe has like 25 minutes of camera time in this 20 hour plus game. The pacing is reminiscent of a show like the X-Files. You have the main plot that’s maybe 5 episodes of the entire season and then there’s these monsters of the week that take up the remaining. We have this throw-away Arena storyline that does eventually tie in to the main story but it is such a slog. Haseo’s random bursts of rage don’t make it any better either.

The Bordeaux battle was pretty amusing because I was about 3 levels over and the movies still showed Haseo getting his butt kicked by her. I never liked her character, even when she joins the team.

I briefly forgot about the introduction to Skeith and the AIDA battles. I always enjoyed those battles because they reminded me of ‘Zone of the Enders’ (I recommend you play it). During the fight with Pi I totally forgot that the bosses could Data Drain you so it was quite a surprise when I had to rapidly mash ALL OF THE BUTTONS. The most stressful moments of the battles is the data drain finale, it feels like I’m powering up to unleash a Kamehameha, screaming/shouting included.

Visiting the guilds was fun (Kestrel and Moon Tree). I forgot that they had their own special area. The Moon Tree storyline is interesting, I’m eager to see where the plot leads. I barely remember Zelkova during my first play-through. I also seem to recall a future AIDA fight with Sakaki in the later games, but then again (spoilers) doesn’t everyone eventually become infected with AIDA in some way during the course of these three games?

The fight with Matsu was simple and it was nice to get his sword, I won’t use it though. Regarding the job extension, I hate the swords. All of the ones I acquired were the release and hold (press X and then hold to do some crappy power attack). So I quickly went back to the twin blades. I want the job extension where he has the scythe, or I could deal with those chainsaw swords.

I finally was reintroduced to Alkaid, and I still think she’s a terrible/irritating character, though she has a right to hate Haseo, he is technically a cheater. The arena fight with her crew lasted quickly, though from the games perspective, once again, we were getting beat (we weren’t). I thought it was lame that Haseo depended on the power of Skeith to finish off the battle.

It was at that time when I decided to work on the sidequests. The Bikman quest is a slog, so is the item collection. I like the PKer bounty hunter side quest and it is the main reason why I jumped up to level 50 (Greedy Cervantes kept defeating me).

I’m getting close to beating the game. I’m about to fight Kuhn (who desperately wants to end Haseo), then Endrance, and then the final boss with that weird Atoli scene.

I’m looking forward to the fight with Endrance and the AIDA Mia fight. Anyways, thanks for reading. Depending on how I feel after I beat this game, I either might continue with Vol 2 or jump to another game (either Chrono Trigger or Yakuza 0).