Blacklightning
Insane Idealist
If only just to play the Devil's Advocate on this one, I actually found the "grind" to be one of the better parts of Chao raising. Mainly because unlike games you'd typically associate with grinding in the traditional sense (MMOs mostly), it actively encourages you to replay levels and improve on your rankings in the midst of collecting Chao resources - something I've rarely felt tempted to do in any other Sonic game (sans Unleashed, but that was more for mandatory reasons than anything else - fucking medals). So it's a minigame that actually compliments the main game and vice versa, something I've rarely if ever seen done well in any other game. Hell, I'm willing to bet it wouldn't even be a problem if Chao competitions weren't a requirement for 100% completion and simply stayed in its own leauge.Grinding was a horrible chore which felt like it was there just to cheaply extend the game's playtime.
Oh hey, on another random note, I've just realized how awesome a Chao prop for x360 Avatars would be.
You don't seriously believe that's related to the lack of Chao Garden, do you? Yeah, obviously the retarded Homing Attack glitches, blatant character cloning and forcing you to replay the exact same levels four times over don't have anything to do with it.Yes, yes I am. When did the quality of the console game start to decline?
Sonic Heroes.
When did the Chao Garden leave?
Sonic Heroes.
COINCIDENCE?
Classic scapegoating, right there.