The thing that made me drop Nocturne in the end (besides the punishing difficulty) is that you walk way too much and have just a tiny bit of story. In a way I understand since the protagonist is alone most of the time, still for me it feels like hours of dungeon, some tiny bit of story and then again.

In DDS1, even though I'm still in yhe beginning it feels like it has better pacing and an easier difficulry curve.

Sad thing, for me, is that I like the premise of Nocturne (and Stange Journey) so far better than Digital Devil Saga, it's just I find myself in a love/hate relationship with those game and some thing really put me away from them in the end.

I think one day I'll just write in my blog a bit about how I love and hate these two games at the same time, at least I'll put as much as I feel like saying without bothering anyone to death and whenever anyone wants an insight from someone else, it'll be there.

I also find the story in P2 good but oh my god, the dungeons. Actually, the problem may not be the dungeons but the high encounter rate of battles. Some dungeons just drag for far too long. At least in this PSP version (as opposed to the original, I assume) there is an easy mode which as the name says, it's pretty easy, so at least you won't get one shot death like it may happen in P1 where before you know half your party is confused (which even stacked, so you had to cure maybe 2 or 3 confuse).

Aside from that, it is good. I have not yet finished P2 but I went pretty far into it, more than half game and I recommend it, just keep it mind your mood when you play the game and the beginning is a little slow.

I beat the game about 30 minutes ago and to make it simple, it's amazing!
I think I'll write a review for it for my blog but just in advance, there were some moments I was so engaged into it I found myself screaming along with Lara and reaching my arms to grab that ledge.
For some reason I decided to play this game using my high end headphones I acquired recently  and the sound is amazing. It's so life like, it really makes you feel you're in that island.

If anyone here is on the fence about getting this game, please, do yourself a favor and get the game, this year just started and I think I already have a candidate for GOTY.

I gotta say this was my one gripe with DeSu 2. In the first it seemed they were always in danger and it made it feel much more believable. In the 2nd it seemed they had too much free time.
Story wise I think the first is a lot better but I still liked the second.

I've beaten DS2 in January and even though it's recent I'm kind of happy for this port we all new was coming (especially after the anime announcement).

This has been the first non persona SMT that I feel I didn't get beaten to a pulp.
On the other hand I still doubt I would my magic build mentallity in favor of a stengh based one. So in some way, unless the new character appear soon, I would be playing it mostly the same way save for the route I would choose at the end.

To make it even better all that is left is to announce it to summer!

If Bravely Default and SMTIV both get here this year I think we won't need to complain for any other game taking to long for a long time!

 Boy, I'm so jelaous. My game has been shipped, even a few days before release, but I still have no idea how long it should take to arrive here. So, as I wait I'm still playing tthe demo.

So, you guys with the full game, would you think it is better to grind for some money (in the demo) or there is sometning else I should be doing that would be more productive once my game arrives?

I read some page son gamefaqs about the pookas but I just can't seem to understand how they move, how to throw food at them or anything. All I know is they drop an item that increases your stats.

As for party, my main is Landsknecht/fortress/nightseeker in front and sniper/healer in the back.
It is doing fine in the dungeon but I feel like the nightseeker isn't being all that usefull to me, at least to my playstyle. I'll probably use two Landsknecht or add in a Dancer.

I think it could even go further as people play games in different manners.
I, for example, try to immerse myself as much as possible in the game and disregard things I would do differently  as it's just part of the "role" I'm playing, like in a tabletop RPG. So open world games like the Elder Scrolls series are great for this, even though I still love (even more) a more linear story.

For example, I convinced a friend of mine who has been a long time without playing any game to play The Walking Dead. While I choose option according to what I would do, he decides to be a more "tough" guy.
In the end, I think most "professional" reviewers when playing a JRPG like Neptunia played with a mindset that doesn't benefit the game. (Not that there is a certain mindset for a game, but I do believe some might give you more enjoyment of a game).

Also, I bet most of the didn't even want to play the game in the first place, unlike the day they have to play the next Triple A First Person Shooter, Neptunia is their boring day of work.
In the end I don't blame them, playing something they probably don't want to play, from a genre that does not appeal to them and even if they do, it is still a very niché title. Neptunia mk2 here at RPGFan got a 60%. I don't see it as bad, but it shows that even people here that are more open minded to a broad range of RPGs would not enjoy it as much as other niché titles.

Was this game badly received in Japan? Because from the looks alone it does seem pretty nice but I admit I haven't seen much besides some videos where most of them were an anime cutscene and very little gameplay.

I see... Thanks a lot for the description. There are a lot of things I think I might like but also some that I don't.

I, for better or worse, can enjoy these anime moe nonsensical jokes pretty well but I think I'll take your advice and wait for the next. Just to wrap it up, would you (so far) put these games in the same veins of the last 3 Atelier games (Rorona, Totori and Meruru) in which each one vastly improves on the predecessor ?

I'll keep looking for info for MK2 until the end of the week.

I just stumbled upon Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 on Play-Asia for a great price this week. For those who have played, is this game worth it ?

I'm thinking of giving it a go but since I still have quite a number of J RPGs to play through and even some I might wanna replay (Okami HD) I'm really on the fence here.

How is the story like? Does it even have one or is it more like Disgaea, where even if it has a story it feels like it's a bunch of jokes thrown in? Also, if the story is not worth it, does the gameplay make up for it ?

I'm also on the FFT crowd. While I did like the first two Disgaea's quite a lot for me it doesn't even come close to Tactics.
In the end I think it comes down to what Fadedsun said, Disgaea is a grindfest, while in Tactics I feel like my overall strategy and skills acquired make much more difference than tons and tons of levels.

In all my playthroughs of Tactics the only thing close to grinding I ever needed to do was to teach auto-potion to a few of my characters every now and then. In Disgaea I feel like if I'm not grind I'm always at a disadvantage.

Still, I do enjoy Disgaea, too bad something with 3 didn't click with me.

The image is great! I just got the first party member in the game and I'm beginning to see why people are complaining the AI uses all their mana in a flash.
I think I'll stay with Oliver throughout most of the game so at least one character has some MP to go by.

My thoughts exactly! I even dare say I had more fun with FFXII. Xenoblade is a good game but it just didn't click with me.
The exploration is nice and the battle even if automated is engaging but still, I think I didn't like a single character so far (haven't beaten it) but at least they are just okay, nothing in the realms of Star Ocean 4.

When they have some similarities, for me it comes down to the rest, story, music, etc. While in XII it's a convoluted mess, I did enjoy the music and the settings a lot. On the other hand in Xenoblade, the plot is understandable, so far I don't like it much (about 15 hours in).

The thing is XII for me started very good, only later it got worse. Xenoblade from the start didn't click with me.

I gotta give it to Atlus this time I tried the demo today just for the sake of trying and I can't believe how surprised I was!
I did have some experience with EOIII and while I liked some of it, I did have my gripes with other things like the learning curve, difficulty, XP rate, etc.

This one, however, I'm liking way more than the other. There are some measures of the strengh of FOEs on the map, also the possibility to know which creature you'll face. The casual mode is also very welcome as I hated that the game was already super hard and a little too much meant complete waste.

Now the star of the show here, for me, is the soundtrack. I had no idea it was going to be this good. I did hear people on GameFaqs talk about, and when I entered the game, nothing special, until you go to the dungeon, I was just mesmerized. I literally went to get my high end headphones just to experience the music!

Soundtracks like this, Dragon Quest VIII, Ni no Kuni, are what can make me smile even when I have to grind for hours. What in most games would be a bore, in these, I can't get mad listening to these spectacular songs!