Tip: If anything about the story doesn't make sense to you, go into the "Brave Story" section of the menu. The main options here to consider are "Records" and "Person" (occasionally "Treasure" will be relevant but not as much). Personally I find the "Person" option more helpful, since there are a lot of characters in the story, and it just helps to see the name with a face and a backstory. The blurb for each person updates as the story progresses, too, so for example their age will increase, it will explain what they've most recently been up to, you can see if anybody has died, etc. The "Records" section is good if you went through any cutscenes too quickly or need a refresher; it will give a short text summary of every cutscene in the game, as well as giving you the option to replay the scene itself. Like I said, I like "Person" better most of the time, but both can be helpful if you're trying to figure out what's happening in the game. I'm doing a first-time playthrough right now myself, and I'm actually enjoying the story. Quality is subjective, of course, but also the translation isn't great, so it might take a little effort on the player's part to re-read stuff and see what's going on. If you're that unhappy with the plot, though, the whole "Brave Story" section might seem like a waste of time, so it's up to you.
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bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001
Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH