[ckdamascus]

I actually liked being forced to use the Vikings. They didn't seem that bad to me. Also, if I still retained most of the Vikings, they would be arguably borderline overpowered for me (Viking/Warrior class) due to the damage buffs they get.

I like the "easier" play. I tend to play more for fun/fast builds and there is a lot more room to do so in this game. I used to have to pre-scan lots of Armored Princess games just to find the right items to do my insane combos in Impossible.

Here, I am still using my first game and didn't have to scan and I'm still getting a lot of great items/combos.

It is funny how people are semi-complaining about the maps/islands. That was the biggest problem with Armored Princess. In some cases, you were literally stuck and the ONLY way to progress was to kite a very very very hard to kite enemy, fight a nearly impossible to no-loss fight, or just redo your game. And you had to do the islands in a somewhat specific order.

You now have the option to go to "hard" mode (skip the 'trainer' mid-islands), or take it easy and have a smoother progression.

Seems like you have more options now. If you want it hard, go for it. If you want it easy, go for it.

Since it is so easy to "cheat" or mod the game (I never did though), it isn't like there is some standard of difficulty that is getting muddied. So, anything that allows more options for mid-progression seem good to me.

Armored Princess had such a finite number of enemies and items that if you didn't do it in the right order, you could end up never getting some items 'freed' (50 fights) and you had to max EVERY battle to round 10 to make use of some Medal 3 rewards. It was good and bad... probably bad for new comers who weren't as hardcore.

I haven't beaten the game yet (level 42ish or so, just found the Kordar areas).