Radiant Historia (NDS): Walls of Text

I haven't actually put much time into this game since I decided to breath life into this blog.  Maybe an hour or so of play time.  The main reason for this is the amount of text in this game.  I'm not saying it is bad for a game to have a lot of text and story, just usually I tend to reach for my DS when I want a shorter gaming session or I don't have time for a longer gaming session.  That is the advantage of hand held systems, is that in theory they support short sessions well. But the amount of text in Radiant Historia makes a short session hard.

I have been finding that a cut scene/ plot exposition point can take from 10 to 20 minutes (probably exaggerating, but they do feel this long) to click through if I read the text at a conversation pace, making the appropriate pauses and all.  Which makes sense since the story is revealed through dialogue.  How ever, because the cut scenes take a significant amount of time to go through, a short session is hard to do.  It wouldn't be as noticeable if these scenes were in frequent, but they are not.  In my last hour of play, I went through three cut scenes which amounted to about half the play session.  All this means, to make progress, I need to be able to devote at least an hour to every session with the game, and with the cramped controls on the NDS, an hour is about as long as I can go without my hands feeling cramped.

Sure I could use the stylus to control a lot of the action, but the d-pad and buttons feel more natural for this type of game.  I don't mean to rag on the game.  It is very fun.  I just wish it could be played in shorter bursts, if needed.  As it stands, this game would have been better suited for a console where long sessions are easier.  And its not like jRPGs can not be done well and support short sessions.  The ports of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 4 did this well, as did Nostalgia.

Rant over.  I would still recommend this game for any jRPG fan.  I have stated I am not a huge fan of the genre, yet I find this game very fun.  And in essence I wouldn't change the dialogue either.  It makes for a good story in this case.  I just wish shorter sessions were easier with this game than they are.