Of Devils and Angels

I've been playing Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor (Another Story of the Goddess: Devil Survivor) for the last month, and while the game itself is really fun, the bosses are punishingly difficult. This is largely because of the fact that they're at levels that are a lot higher than what you'd be able to achieve because of the low EXP yield of the only enemies you're allowed to fight instead of engaging them on the spot. Basically, instead of grinding until you're powerful enough to win, you're supposed to come up with a strategy to help your weaker characters prevail.

There are several ending paths to take, all of which are determined by your interactions with the characters in the game. Things like responses to questions and being around to witness certain events factor heavily in. In the end, I was given a choice between helping the possessed girl Amane establish absolute law under God; or taking the advice of Yuzu, who acts as a real person would in the game's demon-infested, locked-down and completely forsaken city and try to run the hell away. From what I've heard, doing the latter nets you an extremely depressing ending, which I'd rather not go for on my first playthrough, so I went for the former.

I'm a little disappointed that I'm not getting the chance to help the depressed musician Haru banish the demons from the city, since she's the character I sympathize most with, but oh well.
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Back during Christmas week, Aroduc (who has some very interesting views on anime) released an English-language patch for Galaxy Angel, a combination romance-sim/strategy game that's piqued my interest since I'd been enjoying the antics of the core cast of five's (largely exaggerated) animated selves. Yesterday, a good friend surprised me by hooking-me up with both the game and the English patch, and I've been playing for the better part of today.

The graphics (especially during the 3-D strategy battle sequences) aren't the best (especially for a game released in 2002), but they suffice. The real star, so to speak, is the wonderful characterization. Each of the five heroines has her own distinct personality, and they're all very endearing (my personal favorite, by the way, is the clever, rabbit-eared telepath Mint). Unlike Devil Survivor, it's not a very difficult game, instead being great for relaxing with due to how fun the interactions with the characters are.
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In other ramblings, the Borders bookstore in a not-so-local mall that I frequent due to the fact that other, unique shops that I like are in the same place is closing up shop soon, which means a going-out-of-business sale. While that's not exactly a good thing, me being able to get half-off on manga certainly is. I managed to pick up around $140 worth of such comics, including the first collection of Ishinomori Shotarou's Cyborg 009, as well as volumes of Lucky Star, Yotsuba&!, D.Gray-man, Fate/stay-night, Rosario + Vampire, and Pandora Hearts. Sufficed to say, I won't have any shortage of reading material for the next month.

- Azure out.