thank you! Nocturne, for whatever reason, seems to be one of the games that prompts me to do the most fiddling around with the game details. I actually pulled out my strat guide to make sure that Kikuri-hime was at an appropriate level to be part of Naoki's party at this point in the game (and yay that she was, because she's so pretty). ^^;
If you have the patience for a game that is 95% dungeon crawl, then I recommend it highly! The starkness of the setting and the degree to which it's all about moral choice is just awesome.