That's nice, but irrelevant to the points I was making.

Every single game feels like a rehash of DMC1 to you? There are significant differences within the sub-genre. Lumping DMC1-4 with the new DmC? You might as well call God of War, Darksiders, Uncharted, or even Ninja Gaiden 3 part of the genre as well then. Platinum Games is the only developer left making these kinds of games, as it seems like the NG and DmC franchises are headed in a different direction.

Analyzing a game and figuring out effective strategies is part of playing any game. Analysis and strategy above a level that you find fun does not mean the game mechanics are being "cheesed" or that the game is imbalanced. Competitive fighting games like SSF4 are very well balanced so that you need both high level knowledge of the mechanics and a lot of different gaming skills.

Action games like DMC or shoot em ups like Touhou can be analyzed and played competitively as well, so high level players complaints about hitboxes and frames are completely valid, despite your hating on people who say 'YO DAWG DANTE'S ACTION FRAMES ARE ALL FUCKED UP IN THE NEW GAME AND THE HITBOXES ARE WAY OFF'.

You know Platinum always includes an easy mode for you guys, right? Bayo and Vanquish both had one. Or recent Capcom fighters with beginner control mode. Technically competent action games are not synonymous with high difficulty or skill cap, it's not either or. DmC could be a more technically competent game with a higher skill cap and you could still enjoy it.

It's not like improving those technical aspects of a game would ruin your casual experience if there's easy modes and such for you, so why hate on others opinions? Skilled gamers have a stronger case for why dumbing down games is bad, because while you can play a high skill cap and technically competent game at a casual level (provided there is an easy mode or whatever), you can't play a low skill cap and technically incompetent game at a high level.

Oh and "just another hard action game"? I don't think you realize how vanishingly rare such games are.

UX looks interesting.. I might get a JP 3DS to play it. I love puzzle robo and the animation quality looks fine to me. Only problem is they still cost $229 at play-asia.

I'm doing a video playthrough of 2nd OG Ex-hard mode. Check the playlist here. Animations are occasionally turned on.

There's no easy way to break SO3 or SO4's hardest difficulty modes/boss fights besides insane amounts of grinding/crafting. Not sure where the imbalanced comments are coming from. I dunno about the first two SO games.

I might give another Star Ocean a go, but it's going to be hard to top Tales of Graces F's combat.

I've got a playthrough log up on gamefaqs. It's a pretty easy SRW/tactics game overall, although it's difficult to fully grasp the game mechanics without Japanese/SRW knowledge. I really doubt it will see an English release.

After the first 16 filler stages, things heat up a bit, but it doesn't get going until halfway through. Too many filler stages imo. The animations are amazing though.

I'm on scenario 16 and almost every scenario has been easy, boring filler. Move forward, slap around some grunts, then kick an easy bosses ass. I dunno what they're doing with the plot but the gameplay isn't up to par. I'm hoping the game heats up soon because 16 scenarios of grunt filler is not cool. The animations are amazing but can't carry the game on their own.

On the ability slot system, I've kept it simple and stuck with 3 of the same on one pilot or robot. I haven't bothered trying to mix and match as it doesn't seem like there's much benefit so far, and as you noted it can get complicated. I'm not too hot on the system.. overall it's pretty ignorable so far.

I haven't managed to pull off a "maximum break", partly because the scenarios so far end too quickly, partly because I haven't had the need to set one up yet. Fleeing bosses retreat at very low (7-8k) HP values so it's rarely a struggle to do enough damage.

I say go for it. There will be plenty of info available at the Akurasu Wiki. You can go there right now and get familiar with some of the skills and seishins that will likely return. If you need help ask here or gamefaqs.. plenty of people will be playing it that can help.

I liked the 2nd gameplay trailer more than the first. There was more going on (reinforcements, enemy counts, terrain).

But I think it does show that 2nd OG will likely be an easy/casual game like Z2-2 was. Oh well.. I'll still have fun with it.

The initial reaction probably spurred the devs to improve their game, but they could have done without the dev bashing, insults, and premature denouncements. It's more God of War than DMC, but that's going to be fine for the majority of players.

It's somewhere between DMC and God of War. You have a good amount of options but it still feels somewhat mashy. Good platforming and level design. Most gamers will enjoy/love it. It's miles ahead of their past action gaming efforts.

I'll buy it on PC for the 60 FPS.

I'm also looking forward to Metal Gear Rising. Once again Platinum Games will show em how it's done.

Many opinions will be shared when the demo is released.

Looking forward to it.

Yeah, for sure. Not to say that God of War style combat isn't fun and entertaining, but it doesn't have longevity or much room for creativity or displays of skill.

Will prob get the PC version if it turns out to be a decent game.

At best this is going to play like a God of War style button masher. I seriously doubt that the combat will have the skill cap or depth of DMC3 or even 4.