Yeah, I beat this game twice. It's really a great game, and I absolutely LOVE the battle system. The Judgement Ring is so awesome. You don't need to play the first one in order to follow up on the story, but I like the first one too. Yuri kicks so much ass..

Oh, and I'm pretty sure the first one is about $20-25 in most stores. Last time I went to a video game story it was $25.