Actually I have all but ditched Aria of Sorrow entirely to focus on Real Rode Portable. I started Castlevania, ran around a bit, killed the first boss, but then I felt like I was missing something. The game lacked a certain feminine touch. The last three or four games I’ve played have all featured female protagonists, but none of them were the least bit ‘girly’. I wanted that ‘girly’ factor for a change, which is why I had to put Aria of Sorrow away for a bit. I’ll be back later.
That said, Real Rode Portable isn’t that girly either. It’s an otome game all right, with more bishies than I can shake a stick at, but it’s also a full-fledged RPG. Enemies, dungeons, equipment, levels, the works. As with other otome RPGs (Arabians Lost, Harukanaru series, Neo Angelique) the enemies are complete pushovers and the game is super newbie-friendly (except equipment costs a head and a torso). I took some screenshots meaning to explain the system today, but now I’m feeling too lazy to do so… not tomorrow. Maybe the day after.
It’s just occurred to me that I keep saying I’ll play game X and then I end up playing game Y instead. Here’s the latest-latest schedule of affairs. Real Rode –> Castlevania –> Princess Maker 3 –> very likely Summon Night 4 because I haven’t played an SRPG in a while, unless I can get my PS2 to work again, in which case I’ll play Dragon Shadow Spell. After that we’ll see.
Aria of Sorrow picks up soon after the first boss, get back to it sometime. Its a bit dull with the first couple of souls and boring enemies but gets more exciting as you get more stuff and more interesting enemies. Manticore is one of the most boring bosses in the game, probably the most boring
Okay, I’m looking forward to it. As long as it doesn’t get too hard or confusing.