Siliconera was being Siliconera, basically.
I BELIEVE.
The 3rd is actually really, really fun. SC has the story and all, but The 3rd has all this extra content (story in the form of side stories and gameplay-wise, with the much larger playable cast and the support characters) that made me really enjoy it.
[spoiler=The 3rd spoilers]A playable Renne, for one. Tita's crafts were really interesting, too. The mini games were hit or miss, but the arena fights were fantastic. And the music. The music is so, so good. I like Rise, too. She's pretty good. She and Kevin are just broken, lol.
Really looking forward to The 3rd Evolution. While I like SC better, The 3rd is just more fun to play.