Scouting so far has proven to be just like other games in the franchise: sporadic and unreliable. One response got me a free Soma Drop from a Lham Dearg on one occasion and when I tried to use the same response on another Lham Dearg, he ended up hitting me. I remember both Nocturne and Strange Journey giving me the same crap so I guess this is pretty par for the SMT course. Some demons take a freaking boatload of stuff during negotiations too! So far I've only had one demon ditch me after asking for a Life Stone so I got off lucky there, but that'll change in due time I'm sure. The second Raidou Kuzunoha game pulls the "thanks for giving me stuff bye" card during negotiations too.

I just finished the Orthrus mini-boss early on in the game in two turns. Yay for knowing what Orthrus is weak against from other games I guess? But the lack of defense really makes familiar battles still dangerous. Messing up scouting a relatively-lower level demon can end badly. And it's stupid. And I hate it already. I'm sure it's going to be like SMT1 all over again when a pack of Jack Frosts can ruin anyone's day just by spamming Mabufu until the sun implodes on itself.

Edit: How bizarre. Myrmecolion attacked me three times after failed scouting negotiation, and then after a fourth consecutive scouting attempt, not only did it heal me, it also joined me after asking for usual negotiation items. Not used to retrying a demon negotiation in the same battle, let alone retrying four times. Is there a limit to retries?

My 3DS went through some mishaps with the hinge, which means I can't play anything on it for a while. Instead I've been primarily playing iPad games.

I've kind of lost interest in music games and STGs tbh; I've been more preferential to long-form "career" games like Monster Hunter, which I'm realizing the hard way. And since I'm short on cash I can't even get Freedom Unite on iOS, which I've heard is a surprisingly good port.

I have an iPhone with DoDonPachi Maximum, as well as a Game Center account. I don't know if it's because of something I did or if someone else beat me to the punch but "Raydere" was already taken, so please add "ReiType" instead.

It's good. Platforming isn't that tough (yet?) and the combat is fluid. A well designed game in general, though I've played like an hour so far. Looks like a pretty big game too.

I bought my copy from the Humble Store because I wanted to give to charity.
If you're not 100% sold on a product it never hurts to 1) wait for a discount, 2) watch some videos, or 3) both 1 and 2

With Rune Factory 4 in possession, Kid Icarus: Uprising may be my next and last major game purchase of 2014.