Got further. Game still rocks. The pacing is just spot on outside the the encounter rate (low encounter rate items ftw).
The game feels like a really good adventure game (not JPN ADV where you read text boxes for 30 hours, but western ADVish) with a fun battle system included as well. Having 2 demons really adds a lot to the battles and the ally management being up to par with modern rpgs helps quite a bit too. I usually have one demon looping weakpoint magic while another is physically attacking and getting my MP back so I can do cool attacks myself.
The music adds so much to the game. A decent amount is re-used from Raidou 1, so if you've played that you know what to expect. New tunes are good though.
I think the haters will still hate Raidou 2. The battle system is not Ninja Gaiden or DMC or Shinobi. It's more like Rygar PS2 or something. It's not a super deep tight timing action with ultra difficulty, but rather like a fun action game that is
mainstream. IMO Raidou 2 is exactly what Kaneko wanted Raidou 1 to be: It's a mainstream friendly quality R&D1 game that everyone can enjoy and maybe would appeal to some new players. The gameplay's fun, the story and writing is great megaten stuff with light humor as well, and the pacing is fantastic.
I liked Raidou 1 for many of the same things, but the battle system was very shallow and the pacing was kinda whack with a lot of "oh boy, now I need to find some item for someone to move on". This fixes those two issues and is a much better game because of it.
Only two real negatives are:
1) Encounter rate is the highest of any rpg in decades(?). Seriously you don't get 5 feet a lot of the time. Thankfully since it's an adventure game more than an rpg you spend most of your time NOT in dungeons and in dungeons can use encounter rate lowering items.
2) Still doing dark world version of towns with green barriers and warps for dungeons. I know why they do it (cheap and fits with the story) but it feels laaaaazy.
