Watcha Playin' 15: Pre-Holiday Gaming Madness Edition

[Fencedude]

~2 months and 1000 posts later, time for a new edition of this thread.

The holiday gaming rush is almost upon us, and I'm sure that like me, most people's backlog isn't getting any smaller.

No new games for me until Assassin's Creed 2 comes out, but that doesn't mean I don't have a bunch of stuff to play!

[broodwars]

A Boy & His Blob - I picked this one up today and played through the entire first world, all its Challenge stages, and a few stages from the second world. So far, I really like this game. Definitely the best way to describe the game is "charming" in its simplicity, but this is also one of the most "retro" games I've played of late. The game is extremely minimalistic: if you want a couple-sentence backstory and an explanation on controls, that's apparently what the manual's for.

The levels have been very straightforward so far: navigate the boy around a series of rudimentary puzzles using a set handful of jellybean types (which change from level to level). When you grab the golden jellybean at the end of the stage, you clear the level and move on to the next level and if you grabbed the 3 treasure chests (which the blob ingests when he's near them) along the way you open up a "Challenge" stage. I've seen some clever puzzles so far in both stage types, but the game's very slow to ramp up the puzzle difficulty and it has an annoying habit of telling you exactly what you need to do via these signs with pictures of the blob in a transformation. There's also no text whatsoever in the game once you're past the title screen, and to say the game has a plot is giving it too much credit.

Perplexingly, there seem to be a handful of completely useless controls mapped to the D-pad: you can point menacingly at the blob to make him stay in one spot, but I haven't seen any reason why you'd do that. There's also a jellybean that turns the blob into a balloon that follows you, but there's no reason for it since you can just call the blob 3 times to make him do that automatically. There's also a "hug" button, which does exactly what you'd think it'd do. Amusing, but there's no gameplay purpose to it.

So far, the game's been very enjoyable but it's obvious that this is a very short game. Most stages I've played have been about 5 minutes long at the longest, though it looks like that's going to ramp up very soon. The art style of the main character kind of bugs me, evoking that "generic" look I come to expect when I see a human in a Studio Gibli production. Everything is very nicely animated, though, and the backgrounds (which seem to be painted in watercolor) and music are very good.

[Fencedude]

There are hotsprings.

hotsprings!

This explains the preponderance of them in Muramasa fanart and doujins.

[broodwars]

There are hotsprings.

hotsprings!

This explains the preponderance of them in Muramasa fanart and doujins.

And yet there's never anything of interest in the Hotsprings, thanks to the ever-presence of towels. ^_-

I'm actually surprised that they don't have the two characters talk more in the hotsprings than they do. Just a couple sentences here and there, and they never build up any relationship whatsoever.

[Fencedude]

There are hotsprings.

hotsprings!

This explains the preponderance of them in Muramasa fanart and doujins.

And yet there's never anything of interest in the Hotsprings, thanks to the ever-presence of towels. ^_-

I'm actually surprised that they don't have the two characters talk more in the hotsprings than they do. Just a couple sentences here and there, and they never build up any relationship whatsoever.

Was reading a Muramasa Doujin, and I think that the game would be far more entertaining if these character profiles (http://www.fencedude.com/Images2/MuramasaCharacterProfiles.jpg) were real.

(image is safe, even though the doujin as a whole is definitely not)

[LordGeo]

A Boy & His Blob - Perplexingly, there seem to be a handful of completely useless controls mapped to the D-pad: you can point menacingly at the blob to make him stay in one spot, but I haven't seen any reason why you'd do that. There's also a jellybean that turns the blob into a balloon that follows you, but there's no reason for it since you can just call the blob 3 times to make him do that automatically. There's also a "hug" button, which does exactly what you'd think it'd do. Amusing, but there's no gameplay purpose to it.

The whole scolding and hugging ability was originally part of an emotion system that the blob would have where you would have to keep it happy to continue through the stages, but WayForward decided that it overcomplicated the game... But the hug was so cute that they decided to keep it in for the hell of it while the scolding keeps the blob where it is, which is useful in rare moments.

The balloon jellybean was obviously going to be the only way to get the blob to get to you if it can't on its own, but apparently the developers found moments where the jellybean couldn't get to the blob, so they added the three-call method as an emergency. I personally still use the jellybean more often than the whistle unless necessary.

And yes, this game is fun.

[Suwako Moriya]

The holiday gaming rush is almost upon us, and I'm sure that like me, most people's backlog isn't getting any smaller.

I think the only thing keeping my backlog from growing too much is the fact I've slowed down my game buying. On the other hand, the fact I've had trouble deciding what to play lately aside from replays has kept it from shrinking. Does that count as a stalemate?

Seriously, the very last thing I did before this post was load up SaGa 3 and kill the final boss of that just for the heck of it. Nothing like being able to have all the time in the world to raise your attack power using fast. Well, provided you have the MP for it. Although I suppose there's a point where fast no longer raises your damage.

[Nork22]

The JP PSN Store has a demo of the 1st Lunar game remake for the PSP up. 215MB in size, and plays for a good 20-30 minutes (5 if you breeze thru everything and not fight a single battle).

The anime segments hasn't change, and I still get this fond memory of the PS1 era as the intro movie plays. The entire game though has a face lift. Even the battle system (from what I remember anyway) is changed slightly and with placement on the battlefield being as important as well. The only bad thing about this game (and this harks back to the RPGs of that era) is that running should be permanent. I don't want to hold down the R button just to run! Maybe it's in the options, but it should be on as default.

Looking forward to Xseed bringing this out in English.

[DiGiKerot]

The holiday gaming rush is almost upon us, and I'm sure that like me, most people's backlog isn't getting any smaller.


I've not been doing too badly as of late, actually - I've managed to polish off Brutal Legend and both the Uncharted games as well as clearing the final stretch of Mana Khemia 2 in the last few days. Go me!

[HitokiriShadow]

The holiday gaming rush is almost upon us, and I'm sure that like me, most people's backlog isn't getting any smaller.


The holiday rush will have no impact on my backlog. I don't think I'll be getting anything for the rest of the year after this month, unless Atelier Annie just doesn't arrive until November. I had Sakura Wars and Lunar PSP in November and December, but those have been delayed. I'm pushing off the import games I wanted until sometime next year since I'm spending a lot of money on other imports.

[Jumbo]

I'm actually surprised that they don't have the two characters talk more in the hotsprings than they do. Just a couple sentences here and there, and they never build up any relationship whatsoever.

This was something I also thought was a lost opportunity. Considering the caliber of the voice cast, they really should have had more than 1 (if at all) encounter during each phase/objective of the game. Only having one appearance (that I came across anyways) of Kongiku and Yuzuruha was a real shame.

[ADC]

Still playing through the PSP game, and I've chosen to finish it with Pammy this time. (I did Philomel's ending on the PS2 game.) I'm on the last week of Chapter 11, with everybody over 90 percent on their grow books. In a related development, I still hate Flay, and I hate that fucking Defender of Justice even more.

[Citizen Klaus]

Machinarium (http://machinarium.net/demo/). PC owners, get it. It's the best adventure title in years.

Aside from boasting a magnificently compelling aesthetic (http://machinarium.net/wallpapers/alley_1280x800.jpg), the game is both more coherent and more entertaining than anything that, say, Telltale has ever put out -- and I actually liked the new Sam & Max. Machinarium is also one of the best examples I've ever seen of how to tell a story with essentially zero lines of dialogue. Sheer brilliance.

Is it just me, or are we in the midst of a genuine indie-game golden age? So many of the best titles released over the last year and a half have come from relatively unknown developers. Many were produced on relatively shoestring budgets, and have been distributed only through digital channels. I hope this trend continues.

[broodwars]

A Boy & His Blob - Currently working my way through the 3rd world. That second boss was incredibly annoying, as there is a set way you're supposed to beat him but the game doesn't make it clear at all what steps those are. The blob is incredibly slow to keep up with you, so every time the game forced me to leave my Hamster Ball to run across the screen I'd often die just because the blob didn't catch up to me before the boss did. The transformations are getting much more imaginative (I can't wait to get mecha-blob, where the blob turns into a giant frickin' robot that the boy controls), and the levels much more elaborate. By the way, don't listen to the reviews complaining about the lack of D-Pad control. I've found that the analog stick works just fine.

EDIT: Ok, apparently the game's decided that the gloves are now off. Working through World 4, and there have been some absolutely brutal Challenge maps in these last two worlds. Hell, the normal maps in World 4 are pretty nasty now, even with checkpoints. We're talking pin-point aiming with Cannon Blob...or you die. -_-' I'm kind of curious if there's a point to my saving these caged blobs in World 4. So far they haven't seemed to do anything, not even show up in the hideout.

[Suwako Moriya]

Last thing I did was play a bit of Kirby's Adventure. Mostly to test it out since I had just gotten it for the virtual console of the Wii. It was the "free" game chosen due to the internet browser becoming free. It seemed like the best choice. I do have the NES cart, but since the NES is dead.:sweat:

[gnikdrazil]

Twisted Metal: Head On - An old high school buddy visited me, and we played TM:HO for the PS2. We use to play Twisted Metal 2 a lot. We played the Head On campaign twice in split screen co-op. I chose Outlaw, and he chose Grasshopper. It was a bad combination. We had difficulty on a number of stages because our specials required us to be near the enemy. I was thinking about Outlaw from the TM2 days where the special could hit multiple targets and lift them into the air. Outlaw's special has been neutered. It just hits enemies with electricity when they are near. Grasshopper was been improved since the game displays a giant bulls eye and will automatically hit the selected target. I found myself hardly using my machine guns since they constantly overheated. Just saved them for when enemies had a little life left. The weapon pickups pretty much felt the same except napalm. It was fun using it with a giant bulls eye on the ground and dropping it on the target. I hit myself a lot with it too. We had to restart a couple of stages like Tokyo. We just couldn’t find where health respawned and took us awhile to get our bearings on the maps. The battles were bumpy, but we hit a giant cliff when we faced off against the final boss, Tower Tooth. We battled him 5 times, and the best we could do was get him down to red before he would kill one of us to start the whole thing over again. We kept up hit and run tactics, but Tower Tooth would just go grab some health to get back to yellow. I just gave up, entered the mega weapons cheat code and took him out with one missile. We played it again with me being Specter and him as Warthog. The game was a lot less frustrating with our specials being projectiles. My friend was really scary. He killed enough enemies to fully upgrade Warthog. There was two times in the later levels where he killed off all of the challengers. I may have helped whittled down their life, but he kept delivering the fatal blows. He took on Tower Tooth single handily. Warthog would sit there firing all of his missiles while Tooth would damage him. I still had to do hit and run with Specter because of his weak armor. I could barely survive a Tooth encounter when I was fully upgraded.

Finally, we tried out the Lost Levels campaign. It only contained 3 unlocked levels, but they were pretty good. Makes me want to go buy Twisted Metal Black and give it a try. It was fun evening.

[Consignia]

After my initial misgivings I'm really enjoying IdolM@ster DS. I've just finished Ai's story mode, and it was actually really fun in the end. The only problem was Iori doesn't appear at all in Ai's story, massive disappointment there.

The game is really easy though, I sailed through the story without any problems, and never failed an audition. I guess it is a bit more visual novel than management sim this time.

Just starting on Ryo's story now, and it's got to be the silliest yet.

A few things I didn't notice until playing through:
Ai and Eri = Nagi and Zange from Kannagi
Boy crossdressing as a girl Ryo = Hajime from Natsu no Arashi whose friend is a Girl crossdressing as boy

[gnikdrazil]

Completed memory block 4. Finished off the leader who really liked executions. Nothing spectacular. Accidentally ran into a crazy guy in the crowd and the guards and target were on me. Thankfully, the execution sight was near the assassins headquarters.

[Fencedude]

Completed memory block 4. Finished off the leader who really liked executions. Nothing spectacular. Accidentally ran into a crazy guy in the crowd and the guards and target were on me. Thankfully, the execution sight was near the assassins headquarters.

I really hated how the crazy dudes would alert the guards to you. Same with the beggar ladies.

I frequently knifed them (both the crazy guys and the beggars) if they got in my way too much. That was actually less likely to alert the guards unless you were really unlucky.

[Mateo_home]

It was the "free" game chosen due to the internet browser becoming free.

Freeeeeeeeeeee, did you saaaaayyyyyyyy? How did I miss wind of this? Anyway I went for Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi. Conveniently came out this week too. I only played the first map as that's as far as I intend to go. Pretty easy or I just got lucky. Graphicly, the game looks horrible. No backgrounds for battle animations. There's also no percentage numbers to determan how much damage and hit rates. Instead a green bar is displayed in place. White squares for HP. There's also no "MISS" text. Just an odd sound effect. And the what I think are bandits look like escaped convict skeleton warriors. And to top it all off, before a battle you have no idea how well you'll do against an enemy until the battle starts. Sure you can see their remaining HP, but you better know your weapon triangle. Did quite well with Marth, Sheeda, and Gord. Even used Jeigan to get weaken some. Gets a good amount of exp. too. Another downside is apparently you can't trade items here. I bought a Teyari with one character and wanted to give it to Sheeda as she only has a Tetsunotsurugi. <- I play Fire Emblem too much in Japanese. Oh, and the battle music sucks.

Hmm. On my American Wii I don't seem to have a choice for a "free" NES game. As I have gotten the Internet channel sometime back. Ah well, nothing on the NES I don't have anyway. And as I've downloaded Super Mario RPG yesterday, thank goodness that game is on the Super NES.:P

[Zeether]

I played some Killing Floor. Okay, but some maps are really dark and I suck immensely at the game.

[ADC]

Hmm. On my American Wii I don't seem to have a choice for a "free" NES game. As I have gotten the Internet channel sometime back. Ah well, nothing on the NES I don't have anyway. And as I've downloaded Super Mario RPG yesterday, thank goodness that game is on the Super NES.:P
I believe it's only for those who paid for the Internet channel. If you, like I, got it for free or never got it at all, you already saved 500 Wii points and have no claim on the free NES game. Besides, if you really did pay to use the Internet on your Wii, the 500 Wii points can't make up for all the common sense you spent.

[Mateo_home]

I believe it's only for those who paid for the Internet channel. If you, like I, got it for free or never got it at all, you already saved 500 Wii points and have no claim on the free NES game. Besides, if you really did pay to use the Internet on your Wii, the 500 Wii points can't make up for all the common sense you spent.

I was looking at my purchase history, and it did show up as 0 points. I thought they changed it to update how much it is now. I downloaded it on the Japanese Wii because it was required to get another channel. And hey, free Fire Emblem. And it's only a matter of time until Fire Emblem Gaiden shows up. Looks like Nintendo ran out of classic games.

[broodwars]

A Boy & His Blob - Well, I beat the main game, meaning I cleared all the main stages and defeated the final boss. The boss of World 4 was a royal pain in the ass, but the final boss was quite fun even if he did pretty much require you dying multiple times just to see what he'd do in every phase so you'd know what jellybeans to have ready. I still have a couple treasure chests to find in World 4 and most of the challenge maps to clear in that world, but right now I'm not altogether sure if it's worth the trouble. The World 4 Challenge Maps are brutal, on par with some of the worst parts of the Donkey Kong Country games (except with instant-death). Overall, though, an awesome game...but it should have been sold at $20-$30 (which is what I paid for it) rather than $40. This game is unabashedly a kid's game, but it reminds me of the kid's games I played growing up (Lion King, Aladdin, Duck Tales, etc.) back when actual effort went into those games. And there's still plenty here for all ages.

Oh, and Mecha-Blob=awesome.

[Isuzu Inugami]

Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. Pulled out of the backlog, since I finally got a PSP and :Lenneth among the games to go with it; but :Silmeria is technically a prequel, so I ought to play it first (and PSP :L has some :S references worked into it too, right? Though I bet none of this actually matters.) Anyway, this is kind of tricky. Or tough. Or tough and tricky. Every time I move to a new area, I feel severely underleveled. Alicia's got her heal spell now, though, so things are looking up. Should I be hanging on to people, or letting them go as soon as they've reached their minimum level?

Star Ocean 1. (PSP) Short and easier than I remember SO2 for the Playstation being. It's... kind of relentlessly average, actually, but the catgirl's comments when she levels up amuse me ("Powurrr UP!" "Am I any sexier now?) I need to replay and recruit Welch next time.

Assassin's Creed. I'm trying to finish this up since the sequel is on the way. Currently doing the harbor mission, and jeez, you'd think they'd teach swimming in assassin school.

[Fencedude]

Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. Pulled out of the backlog, since I finally got a PSP and :Lenneth among the games to go with it; but :Silmeria is technically a prequel, so I ought to play it first (and PSP :L has some :S references worked into it too, right? Though I bet none of this actually matters.) Anyway, this is kind of tricky. Or tough. Or tough and tricky. Every time I move to a new area, I feel severely underleveled. Alicia's got her heal spell now, though, so things are looking up. Should I be hanging on to people, or letting them go as soon as they've reached their minimum level?



There's really no reason to release the Einherjer (in Silmeria, Lenneth is a different story), you get some stat boost items depending on the stats they have when released, but its based on the stats of the EQUIPMENT they are wearing. If you are interested in Min/Maxing, hold on to them till you reach the bonus dungeon, where you can grind the best armor and weapons, then release them, and turn one or two of the story characters into powerhouses.

Do make sure you keep a few around, regardless.

[broodwars]

Cleared out all but 2 of the Challenge levels in A Boy & His Blob, both in World 4 and both heavily-reliant on pinpoint accuracy with the Cannon. Yeah, I'm probably not going to bother with those.

Also downloaded a few demos:

Critter Crunch - A decent enough puzzle game, where you play as a hamster-like critter who sucks in lower lifeforms and spits them at larger lifeforms to make them explode for points as they all descend upon you Tetris-style. Oh, and when you get an 8-hit combo you get the opportunity to feed your "son" by puking rainbows into his mouth until he's "full". Umm..yeah. A decent enough game, but it's not the kind of thing I'd buy.

Rachet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and R&C F: A Crack in Time - Before now I've never played a Rachet & Clank game, and honestly both these Future games feel like they're made for people who already know the series well. For someone new to the franchise, well...they're polished and amusing-enough platformers that remind me strongly of Jet Force Gemini on the N64 mixed with Lego Star Wars. I could probably get into these games, if it were possible to enjoy these titles without having played the previous PS2 Rachet & Clank trilogy. Same problem I'd have with Jak & Daxter as well.

Damn, the problem with being a heavy gamer without much of a backlog now is that as soon as I finish one new game I suddenly find myself bored. That's not good...usually that means money's about to go get spent, and Borderlands looks interesting...

[Citizen Klaus]

Brütal Legend - :devil:

[Ty]

If I learned anything from Shadow Dragon on DS, it's that the older Fire Emblem games are nothing special. I find it kind of ironic how all these classic games that people were hoping would come for years are finally showing up now and they are consistently underwhelming.

[ADC]

If I learned anything from Shadow Dragon on DS, it's that the older Fire Emblem games are nothing special. I find it kind of ironic how all these classic games that people were hoping would come for years are finally showing up now and they are consistently underwhelming.
Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)

[Fencedude]

If I learned anything from Shadow Dragon on DS, it's that the older Fire Emblem games are nothing special. I find it kind of ironic how all these classic games that people were hoping would come for years are finally showing up now and they are consistently underwhelming.
Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)

I believe I posted my opinion of Shadow Dragon in the previous thread. It literally put my two main objectives for an FE game in direct conflict, and I completely froze up and was unable to play it.

[broodwars]

Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)

Or Final Fantasies I, II, VIII, XI, or XII? Probably happier people. Seriously, people need to get used to the idea that (for the most part) we simply make better games now than we did 15-20 years ago. It's like Yahtzee said once: "They're not good. They're just old!"

[Suwako Moriya]

I find it kind of ironic how all these classic games that people were hoping would come for years are finally showing up now and they are consistently underwhelming.

If you think of classic games as "practice" then it's easy to see where the problem comes in. I mean the most prime example is how we've gone from characters that *****ing die over everything to characters that are actually capable of defending themselves. The other prime example would be with battle systems. They often get polished, updated, fine-tuned, etc in later revisions.

Heck, the easiest glaring example would actually be with remakes. Just taking note of the improvements the remake made to the original version can go a long way to prove that the original could use improvement. Someone at the SaGa 2 DS board at Gamefaqs said the following.

"In FFL2 when only the last thing you used in battle could raise your stats it was much worse. Now you can use a Punch, a Psycho Knife and then finish everyone off with Excalibur and potentially get a stat raise in all three categories. This makes leveling much faster."

Now then, I personally never knew that it was the last action that mattered and that previous actions were pointless. Now that I do it does make certain strategies pointless in the original version for obvious reasons.

At the same time, this can give an idea as to how less tedious leveling up would be in the new version. I mean sure there's a chance that not a single stat may raise in battle, but having multiple chances helps a lot.

[Suwako Moriya]

Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)Or Final Fantasies I, II, VIII, XI, or XII? Probably happier people.

Well, saving aside the fact I can't bring myself to complete 12 and won't even try 11 for obvious reasons, this I can't really agree with. Mainly on the basis that since opinions tend to vary that means by default no games is loved or hated by everyone.

That and sometimes the only way to find out if we like or hate a game is to actually try it. Speaking of which, trying and playing games is ultimately in the long run an option, but it's only an option if the game comes out here.

Yes, I know about importing games. However for people with limited budgets and the lack of ability to understand Japanese, it's not a realistic option. As for those, sometimes people want to own legit versions.

Thus I'd prefer the chance to be disappointed in a game I was looking forward to vs never having a chance to enjoy a game that I've been wanting to try. If that makes any sense.

That being said, sometimes the one doing the prevention is myself. Since I'm like "Sure I could be spending money to get that game, but I'm going to buy something else instead".

[Mateo_home]

Seriously, people need to get used to the idea that (for the most part) we simply make better games now than we did 15-20 years ago. It's like Yahtzee said once: "They're not good. They're just old!"

Try telling that to ign who rate the original Nintendo the "greatest console of all time". Granted it's memorable, inspired what gaming is now and has a lot of classics. But 1)most of these games can now be purchased on the VC and 2) if it really is the greatest console of all time, most of them would still work today.

[Fencedude]

Seriously, people need to get used to the idea that (for the most part) we simply make better games now than we did 15-20 years ago. It's like Yahtzee said once: "They're not good. They're just old!"

Try telling that to ign who rate the original Nintendo the "greatest console of all time". Granted it's memorable, inspired what gaming is now and has a lot of classics. But 1)most of these games can now be purchased on the VC and 2) if it really is the greatest console of all time, most of them would still work today.

The "Greatest Console of All Time" is either the SNES or the PS2.

Claiming that the NES has any right to the label is laughable.

[Mateo_home]

The "Greatest Console of All Time" is either the SNES or the PS2.

Claiming that the NES has any right to the label is laughable.

For me, the "Greatest console of all time" doesn't exist. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I like old games, but retro gamers just piss me off. Preferably ScrewAttack.

[Suwako Moriya]

The "Greatest Console of All Time" is either the SNES or the PS2.

I kind of miss playing the SNES sometimes. Too bad the system had to perish on me. As for the PS2, it's probably the most heavily played of my console systems.

Claiming that the NES has any right to the label is laughable.

I can't say that the NES is the greatest of all time, that would be stretching things. However it does have the distinction of being the system that taught me that playing video games is a good idea.

Although to be fair it was the system I started with if I remember right. So I might be influenced because of that. Who knows what it would be like if I had started gaming earlier or later?

[ADC]

So I was fighting the last battle and I had Vayne use his variable attack and — The PSP locked up and shut off.

Let us hope that this was a one-time issue.

[Fencedude]

The "Greatest Console of All Time" is either the SNES or the PS2.

Claiming that the NES has any right to the label is laughable.

For me, the "Greatest console of all time" doesn't exist. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I like old games, but retro gamers just piss me off. Preferably ScrewAttack.

That reminds me, I haven't watched AVGN in a while.

I have to kill some time, so I guess I'll do that.

[ADC]

So I was fighting the last battle and I had Vayne use his variable attack and — The PSP locked up and shut off.
Let us hope that this was a one-time issue.
It may or may not have been a one-time issue, but it doesn't matter anymore. I finished it and saw Pammy in a white dress with spaghetti straps. I believe it's the profuse :nosebleed: that caused my PSP to die this time. ;) (She really does have that killer smile. "Drink the poison, ADC, it'll be all right.")

[ADC]

I got spoilt by the PSP game having widescreen graphics. It really is a shame that so few developers pushed the graphics capabilities of the PS2 when it clearly can handle 1.78x1 framing without any problems. Anyway, there's one thing I really do like about MK2, which is that you always get a chance to get the drop on the monsters, even when they get the drop on you. Switching from the somewhat inaccurate "slash the monster" mechanic to a simple press of the right button was a big upgrade.

Ulrika might be the stupidest hero in the history of video games. This, of course, is part of her charm. I'm still on week 1, but it's good stuff. It does appear that I haven't gotten all the alchemy out of my system with 60 hours of the first game.

[Ty]

Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)

I did, in fact, buy that. I also have not finished it. Note the lack of surprise. Much as I love the job system I'd rather play FFT again to get my fill of that than endure any more of that boring, almost story-less game.

[Ty]

Now then, I personally never knew that it was the last action that mattered and that previous actions were pointless. Now that I do it does make certain strategies pointless in the original version for obvious reasons.

I learned something today. There must be more to it though, since even when using the same type of item consistently some characters would never experience the growth I wanted from them. It's a royal PITA to raise Mana in that game. After a certain point it seems like nothing works anymore.

[Fencedude]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

I never really go to Gametrailers, but since I was there, I started checking out Assassin's Creed II videos. I can't fucking wait now.

[ADC]

Aw, come on. We Americans are entitled to the lousy games just as much as the great ones. Where would we be without Final Fantasy III? ;)
I did, in fact, buy that. I also have not finished it. Note the lack of surprise. Much as I love the job system I'd rather play FFT again to get my fill of that than endure any more of that boring, almost story-less game.
I finished it more because I was trying to give every FF a fair shake than because it was a worthy game. I think the fact that I finished FF3 but haven't bothered to get back to FF8 speaks volumes against the latter game but very little on behalf of the former. But we've discussed this before. More importantly, I do feel enough affinity for the older games that I'm still looking forward to the first US release of Dragon Quest VI. And if they ever bring out the FF7 remaster, I'll be there.

That said, the only Virtual Console game I made any real progress in was Super Metroid. Note that I haven't finished that game, but I did make progress. I think I've mentioned that I still think Fusion is the best game in that series. I do hold out some hope for Another M.

[Ty]

But we've discussed this before.

Actually we've only gone around over FFVI as I recall. I'm pretty indifferent to VIII, neither liked it nor hated it. Truth be told I've never given DQ a fair shot. It obviously has many many fans, but for some reason my gut told me it wasn't my kind of RPG so I've never bothered to find out. If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?

Also, I think a FFVI or FFVII remake is about the only game related news in the world that could still induce a fanboy moment in me at this point in my life, which pretty much sums up my feelings about where my heart still lies in the world of RPGs.

[broodwars]

But we've discussed this before.

Actually we've only gone around over FFVI as I recall. I'm pretty indifferent to VIII, neither liked it nor hated it. Truth be told I've never given DQ a fair shot. It obviously has many many fans, but for some reason my gut told me it wasn't my kind of RPG so I've never bothered to find out. If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?

Probably DQ VIII on the PS2 or DQ IX on the DS. I've made no secret of my absolute disdain for the DQ franchise, but DQ VIII is probably the least archaic of the DQ games and the easiest to get into (it certainly helps that the localization team dumped the 8-bit music and replaced it with full orchestrations). DQ IX is supposed to be quite good as well, if you're into that sort of thing.

[Fencedude]

I should go back and beat DQVIII one of these days.

[Consignia]

If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?


I've only played Dragon Quest VIII (or Dragon Quest as it's known in this country, yes it's the only one that's been released), but it was pretty ace cakes. It generally feels a lot slower than a Final Fantasy, but it fits with the overall style more. It's certainly worth giving a whack, you can probably find it for buttons these days.

[Fencedude]

If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?


I've only played Dragon Quest VIII (or Dragon Quest as it's known in this country, yes it's the only one that's been released), but it was pretty ace cakes. It generally feels a lot slower than a Final Fantasy, but it fits with the overall style more. It's certainly worth giving a whack, you can probably find it for buttons these days.

And you can put Jessica in a bunny suit.

[Betenoire]

If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?


I've only played Dragon Quest VIII (or Dragon Quest as it's known in this country, yes it's the only one that's been released), but it was pretty ace cakes. It generally feels a lot slower than a Final Fantasy, but it fits with the overall style more. It's certainly worth giving a whack, you can probably find it for buttons these days.

And you can put Jessica in a bunny suit.

And her weapon is a whip.:nosebleed:

[Consignia]

And you can put Jessica in a bunny suit.

Or pretty much just a négligée. I'm pretty sure her last couple of outfits were a few bits of string.

[Zeether]

If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?


I've only played Dragon Quest VIII (or Dragon Quest as it's known in this country, yes it's the only one that's been released), but it was pretty ace cakes. It generally feels a lot slower than a Final Fantasy, but it fits with the overall style more. It's certainly worth giving a whack, you can probably find it for buttons these days.

And you can put Jessica in a bunny suit.

And her weapon is a whip.:nosebleed:
I'm sold on this game now. (My friend has it and likes it)

[ADC]

If a guy had to pick only ONE DQ game to play and has never touched one before, which would you suggest?
I can think of one good reason to start with DQ4 on the DS: It's a relatively short game, checking in at about 30 hours. That should give you plenty of time to figure out whether you dig it, while not completely draining you with sheer length like DQs 7 and 8 could do.

[gnikdrazil]

The demo was a disappointment since I only got to play as Clank. He is a lot more enjoyable to play compared to Tools of Destruction. No annoying Zoni to control; just a big staff. It starts off with too much tutorial for my taste, but introduces the new concept of time clones. They were put to good use for some good puzzles late in the demo. Once you get that down, you get the tutorial for the staff. It is used for both combat and puzzles. It was to nice use in combat since it slows enemies down and a great help for the end demo boss. Overall, a good presentation. I'll definitely be picking up this game.

[broodwars]

The demo was a disappointment since I only got to play as Clank. He is a lot more enjoyable to play compared to Tools of Destruction. No annoying Zoni to control; just a big staff. It starts off with too much tutorial for my taste, but introduces the new concept of time clones. They were put to good use for some good puzzles late in the demo. Once you get that down, you get the tutorial for the staff. It is used for both combat and puzzles. It was to nice use in combat since it slows enemies down and a great help for the end demo boss. Overall, a good presentation. I'll definitely be picking up this game.

Since you seem rather familiar with the R&C games, can you tell me if it is possible to play the PS3 R&C games without having played the PS2/PSP ones for context? Is there some kind of arching narrative that's important to know? I'd like to get into Tools of Destruction/Crack in Time, but from the looks of the ToD demo Insomniac made these games for longtime fans and not newcomers.

Incidentally, while I was out today I picked up Borderlands. Yeah, I have no self-restraint when I'm bored like this, and I figure that I'll replay FF X when we're closer to the US release of XIII.

[Westlo]

Been playing Forza 3 the last few days, need a fix while waiting for GT5. It's my first Forza title and I'm impressed, has a better sense of speed with the starter cars than GT iirc. Been meaning to get into Borderlands but I haven't had the chance.

[gnikdrazil]

Memory block 5 complete. Defeated the book burning scholar target. The game finally added a new twist to the assissination by having 7 targets appear on the screen. I had to figure out which one was the real one, and I was lucky to find him as the second target that I searched. Snuck down, assinated him, and the guards showed up. The target who hung out at the port was annoying. Not him; just getting to him by jumping from boat to boat. I drowned a couple of times before I found a decent path. Once I confronted the target, he ran off until he was surrounded by a bunch of guards. Killed the target and ran away from the guards. Rinse and repeat.

[gnikdrazil]

Since you seem rather familiar with the R&C games, can you tell me if it is possible to play the PS3 R&C games without having played the PS2/PSP ones for context? Is there some kind of arching narrative that's important to know? I'd like to get into Tools of Destruction/Crack in Time, but from the looks of the ToD demo Insomniac made these games for longtime fans and not newcomers.
.

I've only played 3 games of the series: Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, and Tools of Destruction. Each game pretty much has a stand alone story by introducing a new villain, but they might be changing the narrative with a Crack in Time. The main villain from UYA (Doctor Nefarious) seems to be the main baddie in CIT. Plus, the developers are making some type of narrative with the PS3 titles. TOD ended on a small cliffhanger. Quest for Booty (PSN only game) is a direct sequel. Hopefully, it is concluded with CIT.

Who cares. Ratchet & Clank games have always been weapons first, platforming second, comedy third, and a shoe string plot to tie it all together. They aren't trying to come up with an epic narrative; just something that people will enjoy. If there is any missing information, they might include the giant museum that was missing in the last game.

[Suwako Moriya]

There must be more to it though, since even when using the same type of item consistently some characters would never experience the growth I wanted from them. It's a royal PITA to raise Mana in that game. After a certain point it seems like nothing works anymore.


Actually, my Mana was raising just fine in SaGa 2. This is especially true for the Esper. It might have raised faster if I hadn't spent time trying to get the defense and agility raised too. I think the only stat that ended up being crappy was the strength stat for the Esper. Then again I barely focused on Strength for the Esper.

[ADC]

There must be more to it though, since even when using the same type of item consistently some characters would never experience the growth I wanted from them. It's a royal PITA to raise Mana in that game. After a certain point it seems like nothing works anymore.
Actually, my Mana was raising just fine in SaGa 2. This is especially true for the Esper. It might have raised faster if I hadn't spent time trying to get the defense and agility raised too. I think the only stat that ended up being crappy was the strength stat for the Esper. Then again I barely focused on Strength for the Esper.
I never bothered with trying to upgrade mana in FFL2. Or strength, either. I always saw strength attacks missing because the mooks had too much evasion. So I focused on upgrading agility so that I could use Punches. All the way through the game. Punches. And I kept a few almost depleted Punches for the final boss. You think that is launching the smasher? Check this out.

[broodwars]

Who cares. Ratchet & Clank games have always been weapons first, platforming second, comedy third, and a shoe string plot to tie it all together. They aren't trying to come up with an epic narrative; just something that people will enjoy. If there is any missing information, they might include the giant museum that was missing in the last game.

Well, I only asked because I found that the Sly Cooper games on the PS2 were fairly narrative-based so you really needed to play them in order. Given that Jak and Daxter is also supposedly very narrative-based, I was just wondering if the same was true for Rachet & Clank. Since it seems they're not, perhaps I only need to play Up Your Arsenal before Tools of Destruction.

[ADC]

Pepperoncino.… What the fuck? This guy makes Muppy look normal. Look, I'm not saying anything about anything here, but I'm just glad there's more after I finish both people's storylines. I would totally rather have Et than this fairy. On the other hand, having an alchemy partner who actually makes a difference to Ether levels is kind of nice. I have no clue what I'm supposed to have Chloe do; I just know that she's not very good at it.

[Fencedude]

Pepperoncino.… What the fuck? This guy makes Muppy look normal. Look, I'm not saying anything about anything here, but I'm just glad there's more after I finish both people's storylines. I would totally rather have Et than this fairy. On the other hand, having an alchemy partner who actually makes a difference to Ether levels is kind of nice. I have no clue what I'm supposed to have Chloe do; I just know that she's not very good at it.

Chloe gets some interesting alchemy related skills later, but Pepperoni is probably the most generally useful alchemy partner in Ulrika's side.

[Ty]

And I kept a few almost depleted Punches for the final boss.

That was one of the most hilarious and awesome things about that game.

So, IV or VIII for DQ is the consensus. Something to consider.

[Suwako Moriya]

And I kept a few almost depleted Punches for the final boss.That was one of the most hilarious and awesome things about that game.

Got to love the trick with martial arts becoming stronger as the number of uses get lower and lower. It's actually kind of sneaky because I could see someone using it one or two times and going "This does crap for damage, I'm selling it".

Actually I think the main reason I even found out the damage increased was due to an attitude of "Well, it's doing crap for damage, but I'm sure it will raise some sort of stat. Also, I'm sure my other members can take care of killing the enemy". Which eventually lead to figuring out 2+2 or would that be 90-X?

I should for the heck of it see how much damage the highest level form of martial arts that can be purchased would do with whichever of the two has the highest agility.

[Advent_Nebula]

Back to playing Persona PSP. I have very mixed opnion on this game. I loved 2-4, but this one is one that is fun, yet at the same time not pulling me in like the other ones.

[Zeether]

I survived the farm level in Killing Floor, which just happens to be the level I hate the most because it's not well lit enough. :sd:

[ADC]

Tony says I didn't raise my stats enough. I say, what the fuck, Tony? I've done every derivation I can, but I can't find some of the materials I need. It's not my fault you're not sending me where I need to go during my assignments! (Vayne shouldn't have been such a nice guy with this clown.)

[Fencedude]

Tony says I didn't raise my stats enough. I say, what the fuck, Tony? I've done every derivation I can, but I can't find some of the materials I need. It's not my fault you're not sending me where I need to go during my assignments! (Vayne shouldn't have been such a nice guy with this clown.)

Its next to impossible for Ulrika to get an A on that assignment on a first runthrough, so don't worry about it.

The game is going to force you to take 3 classes this term anyway, so even if you got an A on this, you'd be forced to get a B on the next assignment regardless.

[Draneor]

Back to Mana Khemia II. So I'm in the third week of the fall term of my first play through of Ulrika's path and I managed to get 100 in every item except for about a half dozen or so. Pepperoni may be an annoying character, but his third support skill is absolutely a god-send.

I guess it's about time to end the alchemy. For now. Being flat broke may or may not have something to do with it. Not really looking forward to Gouto's character quest. :(

[broodwars]

Borderlands - Well, I've put some significant time into the game, having cleared the way to New Haven and done all the quests up to it with my Level 11 Siren (named "Miriya", in case you're curious). The game has a wonderful visual style, especially when it comes to the characters, and the gunplay is quite satisfying and responsive in ways that Fallout 3 just never managed. You're also constantly getting loot and cash, and quest rewards tend more often than not to be well worth the effort. The game has also been pretty flawless on the technical side, something greatly appreciated after recently playing Fallout 3. The characters themselves, especially the robot Claptraps, also display a great deal of personality. I also love the "Second Wind" aspect of combat, where when you're on the verge of dying you can save your ass by quickly killing an enemy before you die for full health and shields.

On the downside, this game is fracking monotonous. Like Fallout 3, the world of Borderlands is pretty much desert, caves, desert, junkyards, desert, and more desert. Still, I don't get the feeling with Borderlands that this is a world that people actually live in. In my first 5 or so hours into the game I've run into a grand total of 4 characters, and they all talk entirely through bulletin boards. They do have dialog, but it only appears when a quest is given and when a quest is completed. Combine this with a storyline that makes A Boy & His Blob look like a Final Fantasy game, and this tends to make the quests feel much more like busywork than they would otherwise, a means to an end (the end being experience and cash). And then there's the cash, where the game has a Zelda problem: after doing a fair amount of critter slaying and questing, I have a boatload of cash and nothing to spend it on. The vending machines haven't updated with useful gear in ages, and I can't buy a lot of upgrades until I use various weapons enough times to level-up my affinity with them. Your carrying capacity is also pitiful right at the start, which you can boost by finding Claptrap robots and fixing them (supposedly) but I haven't run into any yet. And the less said about the music, the better.

And whoever decided to map Run onto L3 needs to be shot. It wouldn't be so bad if it were an analog click to just enable or disable it, but you have to hold the stick in to keep running. And when you're trying to run from a level 10 hellspawn with glowing eyes while trying to navigate an environment and fire back, it's incredibly hard to keep doing.

A fun game, but a deeply flawed one.

[Fencedude]

In my ever progressing quest to waste my time in the least productive ways imaginable, I've been replaying Assassin's Creed, when I'm not beating my head against my desk trying to solve Complex Analysis problems. I figure that Assassin's Creed II is going to be one of those games that makes it impossible to ever play the original again, so I'm probably getting the last enjoyment out of the original that I ever will.

Also, when pissed off, stabbing random civilians makes for a good way to relieve stress.

Anyway, in the third memory block right now, finished the Acre mission and am now in the Jerusalem mission.

[gnikdrazil]

Done. I will never play this game again. The graphics were fine, and the music was alright when used. I liked how they mapped the actions as low or high profile. The game play was just too repetitive for me though never got too frustrating. The fighting never changed. Block, counter, hope for a kill. Attack, attack, hope for an opening, kill. It just got more boring as the enemies just swarm you and attack you one at a time. The missions brought no sense of fun. Pick pocketing and beating up people for information were jokes. The intel gathered was a waste since I never used it. The X number of assassinations in X amount of time or capture X amount of flag in X amount of time were fine. I got tired of exploring the cities. I only gathered flags or killed templars if they were nearby. I think Infamous spoiled me with building climbing. Altaïr just felt like a snail scaling them. The main assassination missions did not stand out at all. There was only one that provided a variation to the formula. I just wish they would have died faster. I just didn't care what they were talking about. The plot was uninteresting with a see-this-coming twist near the end and talk about unresolved ending. Overall, I'd give it 2 / 5

I don't know if I'll pick up Assassin's Creed II. I'll have to wait and read some reviews. Next up, Prototype.

[bluesilo]

Demon's Souls

So I finally got my Deluxe edition the other day from Amazon. Its beautiful, but if you watch the Deluxe edition unboxing video you'd know that already. The game starts in a tutorial world. Me, not knowing this, played the world like the game had already started. Its a great looking game and makes me long for a SotC port to PS3. The game is difficult, but I don't believe its beyond playable. The way you'll die is by not knowing the game, but because it is cheap. At no time have I died unfairly (given I haven't rolled off a cliff yet, *knock on wood*) I won't ruin any of the bosses, but from what I've seen of the first two, they're huge. When you first encounter this bosses you'll think how the hell am I supposed to defeat that. The game also Auto Saves all the time so don't think about turning it off if you die, take it like a man (or woman). All in all, its a great PS3 exclusive and I'd recommend it for anyone who is looking for a good challenge. I know the group I'm talking with and the time to beat this game isn't too long for any of you.

[Suwako Moriya]

Last thing I did was play a bit of Kirby's Adventure.

Which I now completed. Well, as in getting the final boss defeated. Don't really care about getting 100%. What I find depressing is how more often than not it was better just to use Kirby's normal ability as opposed to any of the special moves when it came to bosses.

It's actually only by playing this after playing Super Star Ultra that I've come to realize that there's a definite improvement in terms of the abilities you can copy as it were.

[broodwars]

Borderlands - God I'm sick of kiling Skags. They've literally made up probably 7/10 of all the enemies I've killed thus far in the game, and once you run into a Skeg den you're going to be there for at least 5 minutes. This is because Gearbox made absolutely no attempt to balance the game for singleplayer. I was just in a cave on a quest to gather some electric crystals to get my first Class Upgrade, and there was a section where I was literally shooting 2 Alpha Skegs for 15 minutes just running around in circles. Every time I'd kill one, another would spawn and those things don't go down easy (even against my awesome Combat Rifle). That's not the first time I've run into that, and although exciting it gets really tedious really quickly (especially when you're trying to do inventory management so you can grab items in nearby chests). I honestly don't know if I'd be this far without the Siren's Phasewalk, which is not only useful for running away but also gives you some added offense entering and leaving it.

Anyway, I've gone through (what I can only assume is) the main story up to retrieving the key to the Mines.

On the plus side, the game has a pretty good tracking system that lets you know exactly how far along you are to completing various Challenges (which sometimes have trophies associated with them). Very cool.

[porkchopexpress]

Borderlands - God I'm sick of kiling Skags.

I love the word "skag" for some reason.

[Jumbo]

With my NES having been "fixed" for a while now I dug out the old CRT and hooked things up for a romp down memory lane.

Ducktales - This game is still quite a bit of fun for me. I hadn't gone back through it in over 10 years or so now too... Forgot how hard it was until you find the special life extending treasures in Transylvania and the Himalayas. Makes me want to hunt down Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck, as I have fond memories of those being quite good as well.

Battletoads - Still for the life of me can't beat this game without the 5 life code and using the warps. (The snake pit can kiss my ass...) Managed to get all the way to the clinger wingers with my friend I used to play the game with back when it was new. For some reason 2 player clinger wingers was as far as we could make it this time. (Though we usually run into most of our troubles there.) Went back and did a solo run to put the Dark Queen in her place. For all the trouble I'm still willing to give this the title of "most disappointing video game ending ever." God the princess and Pimple are both ugly... Hard to tell them apart.

Megaman 2 - I'm kinda bummed I missed the Megaman 2 stuff in the last thread... Went through on difficult and saved Metalman for last. (Started with Quickman, as the quick boomerang is a handy weapon) As opposed to beating the Quickman stage without the flash stopper, I still peg trying to beat those stupid orbs in Dr. Wily's castle as one of the more difficult feats to pull off, without screwing up and wasting you E tanks and/or crash bombs (and forcing you to die) by hitting the wrong walls. (Especially if you don't cheat with the pause button trick. Those things are brutal.)

Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 and 3 - Hesitate and you are lost. That's the rule for the first one. The 2nd and 3rd are cakewalks after playing though the first. I've always been a big fan of the NES Advantage joystick (even though it doesn't use arcade quality parts) but I just can't play the first Ninja Gaiden with it to save my life. Can't get the wall jump/crawl to work unless I'm playing with the classic D pad.

[MadL]

The demo was a disappointment since I only got to play as Clank. He is a lot more enjoyable to play compared to Tools of Destruction. No annoying Zoni to control; just a big staff. It starts off with too much tutorial for my taste, but introduces the new concept of time clones. They were put to good use for some good puzzles late in the demo. Once you get that down, you get the tutorial for the staff. It is used for both combat and puzzles. It was to nice use in combat since it slows enemies down and a great help for the end demo boss. Overall, a good presentation. I'll definitely be picking up this game.

Since you seem rather familiar with the R&C games, can you tell me if it is possible to play the PS3 R&C games without having played the PS2/PSP ones for context? Is there some kind of arching narrative that's important to know? I'd like to get into Tools of Destruction/Crack in Time, but from the looks of the ToD demo Insomniac made these games for longtime fans and not newcomers.


IGN's review (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/103/1036656p1.html) says that the install cutscene for Crack in Time is an interview with Captain Qwark that will catch you up on the backstory in case you haven't played the previous games/forgot what happened (which should be entertaining; if you've never played a R&C game before, think of Qwark as the series's Zapp Brannigan). Playing Up Your Arsenal and Tools of Destruction will help you become more familiar with some of the characters in Crack in Time, but it doesn't sound as if it will be necessary to know what's going on. Although I recommend the R&C games on general principles - it's probably one of my favorite game series, and I place a pre-order almost as soon as I could on amazon (of course, I had to cancel that and place a new one to work in the $5 off coupon Sony sent out last week).

As someone mentioned earlier, the Crack in Time demo is one of Clank's stages; I wasn't a big fan of the Zoni puzzles from Tools of Destruction, either, and I think the time clone puzzles are an improvement - I also liked that there seems to be an option to skip a puzzle (for a price, natch) if you just can't for the life of you figure out how to solve it. Hoping I won't have to use it, but nice to know it's there if I need it. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I'd be buying this game, but it's good to know that it seems we've got another solid addition to the series.

I've been playing Half-Minute Hero on the PSP quite a bit lately, and really enjoying it. Each stage is pretty short, but I still end up playing the game into the wee hours of the morning. I've been focusing on the mini-RPG part so far, but there's also a mini-RTS game, a mini-shooter game, and later on a mini-escort game that you can unlock. The mini-RPG and the mini-shooter games have just been a blast. Very happy with this one; the game's got a nice sense of humor, too (no voice acting, though - all text; though that fits in with the game's intentional 8-bit style).

I've also been playing Fate/Unlimited Codes. I've completed a little under half the Missions, and I think I've unlocked everybody's EX missions except for Bazett's, Gilgamesh's, and Zero Lancer's - I think Caster's EX mission is probably my favorite; it's a pretty good game in its own right. It seems as if I've just about hit the upper limits of my abilities; completing any more of the missions mostly requires faster fingers on the buttons and the controller than I'm capable of. Although there is one mission type that irritates me - the kind that depends on the enemy character doing something first - like "Hit enemy with special attack after he deflects it twice". Which wouldn't be so bad if the enemy ever bothered to deflect it. As it is, though, I'm stuck repeatedly having to start the mission over because the enemy just sits there taking the attack until time runs out. Oh, well, it's a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things - I've had a lot of fun playing Fate/Unlimited Codes. With fighter games, I tend to get frustrated because I have trouble consistently pulling off the special attacks I need in order to win; Fate/UC's simplified scheme has greatly reduced that problem, so I've gotten a lot more fun playtime out of it than with other fighters.

[Mateo_home]

Which I now completed. Well, as in getting the final boss defeated. Don't really care about getting 100%.

Ah, but how could the final boss be defeated without getting 100%? Even though it's more convenient to use the inhale/spit strategy for bosses, for Dedede I enjoyed using the Burning ability. Attack with style.

[Mateo_home]

Been playing Super Mario RPG. It's been ages since I last played this game, but everything I forgot about this game is rushing back. It's shorter than I remember though. My party is only level 14 and I already got five star pieces. What's positive about this game is that I don't have to go around grinding. Though I may have to for the upcoming optional Culex boss fight. And Yardovich had to of been the toughest boss so far. Money on the other hand I've been pretty tight on. For my party allies I've been using Bowser and Peach. Shame this game got released one year before her name became international and her she's Toadstool. So now I'll call her "The Princess formally known as Toadstool". Right now I'm on my way to Monstero and now I've switched my allies to Geno and "The Princess formally known as Toadstool". Oh yes Geno, OMG! GENO IS SO AWESOME! HE CAN USE MAGIC LIKE GENO BLAST! HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO AWESOME! THE FACT THAT HE CAN USE MAGIC AND IS CREATED BY SQUARE-ENIX MAKES HIM THE BEST MARIO CHARACTAR EVAAAAARRRRRRR! IN FACT, HE SHOULD *SHOT*. Geno is now dead. Therefore, he cannot be in Smash Bros. 4.

Okay, I don't hate Geno. He's just overrated.

[Suwako Moriya]

Which I now completed. Well, as in getting the final boss defeated. Don't really care about getting 100%.Ah, but how could the final boss be defeated without getting 100%?

Well, in games like this, it usually boils down to not finding secret areas, skipping alternate routes, etc.

Even though it's more convenient to use the inhale/spit strategy for bosses, for Dedede I enjoyed using the Burning ability. Attack with style.

I used the laser against him just for the heck of it.

[gnikdrazil]

So the big debate was Infamous vs Prototype when both games were being release within 2 weeks of each other. I chose Infamous and was not disappointed. I found it to be so entertaining that I played it as Good and Evil. I usually give a game a couple of months before playing it a second time through.

Now, I am trying the other white meat. I have to say the basic powers out of the hospital are a lot of fun. The sprint action is fantastic. A lot more fun running down the streets that it ever was swinging along them in Spider-man: Web of Shadows. Heck, Spider-man can take lessons from Alex on how to scale buildings. A very good impression for just a 30 minute romp.

[Draneor]

Winter Break.

I ended up getting an F in the marathon the first time (so what if I was fishing and ended up arriving at five AM), but I managed to get an A on my second time through. Ulrika is my favorite lead character ever, even if I can't really describe her personality well. Raze is still an idiot. I'm really glad I'm not playing his path. Tony makes a much better teacher than he did a rival. As for Lily, after what she did to the chairwoman, I wouldn't want to have her for an enemy. I assume it's given the final boss is going to be Uryu, but I hope I'm wrong.

I'm still flat broke. but now I', short on AP points. I hope a new area is unlocked soon. ;_;

[broodwars]

Borderlands - Gearbox really dropped the ball on game design when it comes to the singleplayer experience. I've made it to New Haven (Finally! A location in the game that it actually looks like people live in!), having had to endure one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in gaming lately outside of Uncharted. Apparently, Gearbox thought it would be cool to have a boss battle that you fight vehicle-on-vehicle in an arena battle. Alright, good so far but there's just one little problem: if you're playing on your own, you can only choose to drive or shoot if you want to be able to aim in any way. If you try to drive while shooting you just shoot straight ahead, which would be fine except that the AI enemies can turn on a dime and you can't so they easily circle around you and blow you up. Your only way to deal with them effectively is to switch to Turret mode so you're completely stationary, which of course makes you completely vulnerable and you die within seconds. Oh, and you don't get a second car, of course. I died so many times during that fight and lost so much cash that I eventually resorted to just hanging outside the arena pit taking pot-shots at the boss car with my normal guns until he finally died. I have no doubt that with 2 players that fight would have been easy because one player could drive and the other shoot, but it is impossible to beat that boss the way the game wants you to with only 1 player.

On the quest side, I'm starting to find some really cool stuff and my character's getting some really useful additions to her Phasewalk (including now healing while Phased and elemental blasts upon entering and leaving the state, which really helps).

[Fencedude]

Finished memory block 3, Talal's trap is nothing major, and killing him is just a matter of sprinting and tackling him as he runs.

Afterwards I nicked Vidic's Digipen (which I didn't do the first time through, and is the reason I'm actually replaying a fresh game) and am about to start into the gruelingly long Memory Block 4. At least I don't have to deal with traveling through the Kingdom now.

[boogiecat]

Now I'm starting to play Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion (http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-4jgc-71-dh-77-4-49-en-15-tekken+6-84-j-70-3lje.html) on the Xbox 360..Though the PS3 version came out already,still I'm gonna play this one for a couple of weeks..At last!!

[ADC]

I got through the first term all right and am now lazing my days away on summer vacation. Actually, that's totally untrue. I've been synthing like a mad dog and have actually made too much new stuff — none of my people have enough AP to get all the stats upgrades! It's a total reverse from the first game, in which I nearly always had enough AP but not enough Cole to afford materials. Here, I have scads of money but no AP. I've even taken to deliberately pressing the wrong button against blue monsters just so I can harvest AP from them.

I do like the change in the synthesis mechanic of making everything at my workshop instead of having to run around the corner to the Achenar room. Sirrusly. Dunni make some of the strangest jokes?

[Fencedude]

I got through the first term all right and am now lazing my days away on summer vacation. Actually, that's totally untrue. I've been synthing like a mad dog and have actually made too much new stuff — none of my people have enough AP to get all the stats upgrades! It's a total reverse from the first game, in which I nearly always had enough AP but not enough Cole to afford materials. Here, I have scads of money but no AP. I've even taken to deliberately pressing the wrong button against blue monsters just so I can harvest AP from them.

I do like the change in the synthesis mechanic of making everything at my workshop instead of having to run around the corner to the Achenar room. Sirrusly. Dunni make some of the strangest jokes?

I fucking hate the Athanor. Such a waste of time. And general synthesis is so much more of a pain in the first one.

I should finish the last dungeon in MK2 sometime soon.

Don't worry too much about the AP, once you get to the later dungeons in each path you will get more than enough AP. It was easy enough to get to about ~90% growbook on everyone by the end of a given path.

[Suwako Moriya]

I should for the heck of it see how much damage the highest level form of martial arts that can be purchased would do with whichever of the two has the highest agility.

Ah, so the final use of Jyudo did like 1600 damage to some enemy. Of course it does under 400 to Arsenal of SaGa 2.:sweat: If I had known that would have been the result, I would have wasted my time. Not like it matters since I'm strong enough anyway.

[Draneor]

Such a waste of time. And general synthesis is so much more of a pain in the first one.

What makes it even worse is that your items do not transfer over to new game+. That said, Atelier Iris 3 had the worst deficit (Ar Tonelico I would have been just as bad, except for the infinite money exploit).


Don't worry too much about the AP, once you get to the later dungeons in each path you will get more than enough AP.

I could definitely use it. I'm short on both. Probably because of the bazaar.

[pathos]

Back to playing this game. In fact, I spent pretty much all weekend doing nothing but playing this game.

Started at around the 6 hour mark, right at the spot where you choose between Luca and Cloche, and now have around 27 hours in the game. I currently have all 3 revytails in the party, although Cocona is still in bed sick.

Jacqli is almost better than I imagined she would be. She's almost a shoe in for choosing her ending.

I did get over some of the dislike I felt for Luca and Cloche early on. Both are pretty decent characters now. Heck, it almost feels like the game wants me to choose Jacqli, because at least the other 2 girls with still have each other this way :P. what with all the infelsphere stuff.

Probably the biggest problem I have with the game is the jerkiness. During combat, when you go into defense mode, it gets rather hard to time properly when the camera angle abruptly changes, and is forcibly jerked from one place to the next (or gives a slight pause when a nasty spell effect goes off).

I'm wondering though, if it does that for everyone, or if my ps2 is about to die. I did get some red lines across the screen once, for about 3 seconds. I'm thinking perhaps its time to buy a secondary ps2, for when this one dies.

[Mateo_home]

Super Mario RPG-Beat the Axem Rangers and whaddya know, the yellow one is the fat one. I also got up to 34 Super Jumps and got myself an Attack Scarf (fuck 100). I'm level 20 and I made it to the factory. I think I'm going to grind a couple of levels and then take on Culex. Before I forgot to mention a few things. First is that everyone uses the same FP. I guess they couldn't afford their own magic, so they had to share. Another is that while some of Bowser's attacks are cool. Such as throwing a chomp or Mario, and magic like a giant Mecha Koopa and and anime style Boo, which makes me wish they made a Mario TV anime series, but then looking at how mediocre Hoshi no Kirby and Valkyria Chronicles turned out to be, I immediately say "no thank you." But out of all of them, Bowser doesn't use fire in this game? Are you high? That's his signature move. How could've Square missed that? I also noticed when magic is used, each character has their own card suit (like blue spades). Though perhaps I'm looking into this one too much, each character in this game has their alter ego:
"The Princess formally known as Toadstool" is Amulet Heart
Mario is Amulet Spade
Mallow is Amulet Clover
Bowser is Amulet Dia
Geno is...I dunno, I guess he's Amulet Fortune.

[Nork22]

Since I took a 3 day break from work, I had plenty of time to catch up on my gaming.

Jeanne D'arc
Finally beaten Henry, but should have realise that there is a 3rd and final battle where the game doesn't allow you to save in between. And since I'm not sure what to prepare myself with and what strategy to use, eventually it turn out to be a battle of attrition as one by one, my characters get slaughtered left right and center from the Death Pillars, demons and Givaroth himself. Fuck it.... I'm not going to bother with this game anymore. :angry::angry::angry:

Critter Crunch
Tried out the demo first and was hooked. So much fun and while the challenge so far hasn't made me pop a vein, it's challenging while being rather smart about it. And how can you hate the Bigg? It's adorable!

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Played a bit more and managed to reached the final chapter. I'm totally screwed now since I'm out of healing items and the game is throwing every boss battles at me. I'm now at the point where I'm fighting the Tengus for the 3rd time (4th if you count the fight with Momiji) and while the battle should be cake walk, I just didn't have the patience to fight smart so I died and took a break from there.

Warriors Orochi Z
Finally cleared all the story mode for Orochi 1 and now making my way thru story mode for Orochi 2. Also manage to unlock a silver trophy (survive 30 opponents in Survival mode) which also netted some experience points for upgrading purposes. :) I love how I don't really need to start all over again as the stats and weapons pretty much carry over from part one to part two. And unlocking some of the characters is so much more easier. Now I got Orochi and Da Ji at my disposal after completing all the story mode in Orochi 1.

Also a proud moment for me was getting 30k and hearing Miku say Great as I played Koisuru Vocaloid in Project Diva. :sdsmiley:

I got another couple of days off work as well and I should get back to Mana Khemia 2. Really want to get on to Ulrika's route.

[HakureiReimu]

Though perhaps I'm looking into this one too much, each character in this game has their alter ego:
"The Princess formally known as Toadstool" is Amulet Heart
Mario is Amulet Spade
Mallow is Amulet Clover
Bowser is Amulet Dia
Geno is...I dunno, I guess he's Amulet Fortune.

Since I only partially played the game and didn't bother completing it, I'll take your word for it. Still when it comes to series that use suits, I'm reminded of the one where the person with Spade was able to eventually go "Absorb Queen, Evolution King".

Speaking of the Princess, I definitely find the Peach name to be cuter. Although sometimes I pretend that Toadstool is her family name regardless of whether or not that's accurate.

[Jumbo]

Got back to finishing up the other endings and wiping out the final cursed trees (That white one in Izu was quite crazy, especially when playing on Shura difficulty) in Muramasa. All in all it was a really fun game, though hampered by a couple of problems.

The random baddies you end up fighting got waaaay to repetitive. I almost wish they would have gotten rid of one of the main characters and put more effort into a more vast variety of things to fight as you are running around Japan. This would have also left less recycled bosses as well and while they were generally all quite awesome, fighting them again during the cursed tree battles was enough for me.

Among other little nitpicky things though, outside of Megaman 9 I think this is probably the most fun I've had on the Wii thus far and I've got to give Vanillaware credit for once again assembling a wonderful cast to act out the characters. Also for making the battle system quite fun considering how simplistic it really seemed. I really would love to see their next work ending up in full HD.

[Mateo_home]

Since I only partially played the game and didn't bother completing it, I'll take your word for it. Still when it comes to series that use suits, I'm reminded of the one where the person with Spade was able to eventually go "Absorb Queen, Evolution King".

I just happen to watch too much Shugo Chara. But it's still possible. Like this weird fanart of Peach (http://th01.deviantart.net/fs38/300W/f/2008/318/2/8/Amulet_Peach_by_4200LittleBunny2.jpg). And Mario does wear blue pants. Though Bowser character transforming with Dia is a bit awkward. Perhaps a character transformation with X-Dia would be more accurate for him.

Speaking of the Princess, I definitely find the Peach name to be cuter. Although sometimes I pretend that Toadstool is her family name regardless of whether or not that's accurate.Indeed. Toadstool makes her sound like she's addicted to shrooms. Ah well, Peaches are healthier and cuter.

[aku.chan]

Working on some new games.

Final Fantasy Tactics I didn't think it was humanly possible to suck as much as I do at this game. I've only got to the third town so far, and my lost battle tally has already hit double figures. Plus most of my party have been eaten by Chocobos.
I think I'll have to take a look at a guide, just to work out where I'm going wrong.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance Doing better with this one. The AI for the computer controlled members of the team is pretty useless, but I don't really need them outside of boss battles, and its actually more fun to go solo anyways.

[Fencedude]

Finished block 4. Man, I can't wait to have the ability to grab guards from below and throw them off of ledges. Tossing guards off of buildings is one of my favorite past times, and thats just going to make it even more fun.

[Betenoire]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance Doing better with this one. The AI for the computer controlled members of the team is pretty useless, but I don't really need them outside of boss battles, and its actually more fun to go solo anyways.

Oh goodness yes. There were times I just wanted to strangle the developer of the team members AI. I'd be in the midst of a fight and see one of the characters had gone missing off the screen or something. And one stage in particular to get the good ending you really need to be super fast or get *a little* help from the AI...which means I had to reattempt the stage a number of times to get it right. :anger200:

[broodwars]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance Doing better with this one. The AI for the computer controlled members of the team is pretty useless, but I don't really need them outside of boss battles, and its actually more fun to go solo anyways.

Oh goodness yes. There were times I just wanted to strangle the developer of the team members AI. I'd be in the midst of a fight and see one of the characters had gone missing off the screen or something. And one stage in particular to get the good ending you really need to be super fast or get *a little* help from the AI...which means I had to reattempt the stage a number of times to get it right. :anger200:

Unfortunately, that's a design flaw that this particular developer has had ever since X-Men Legends and I don't see it getting fixed anytime soon.

*grimaces at the memory of how many AI teammates he's had to revive in the X-Men Legends games because they all ran off into pits.*

[Mateo_home]

Okay, finished Super Mario RPG again after so long. Culex was the toughest boss in the game (Smithy's a joke). I lost the first time, but I got lucky the second time. And I'm under the impression Culex is from Final Fantasy. Because when you beat him you get the FF victory theme. The fight was great, but the reward was not. In the end this is a very inspirational game and not alot of negative things about it, but I think people praise this game too much becuase it's from Square-Penis. The RPG Gawds.:bowsmiley: It's still basic. Overall, I still find Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door the best Mario RPG.

But I'd love to see the impossible happen. Nippon Ichi or GUST and Nintendo co-develop a Mario RPG. Could have the ol' alchemy system and make something mixing mushrooms, fire flowers, and starmen together.

Speaking of which, I still have to finish up New Super Mario Bros. for a second time. And all that's left for the year is pick up Atelier Annie and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Wow, this Christmas season of games stinks.

[ColoradoJim]

Anyone get Nostalgia for the DS now that it is out? I bought my copy today and will be posting my impressions of the gameplay soon within the next couple of days. Hopefully it hits a lot of the same new worlds feelings as Skies of Arcadia. Online reviews of this are generally positive with some people moaning about the turn based battle system but I certainly didn't have a problem with that in Skies of Arcadia.

[ADC]

Anyone get Nostalgia for the DS now that it is out? I bought my copy today and will be posting my impressions of the gameplay soon within the next couple of days. Hopefully it hits a lot of the same new worlds feelings as Skies of Arcadia. Online reviews of this are generally positive with some people moaning about the turn based battle system but I certainly didn't have a problem with that in Skies of Arcadia.
You'll have to really impress me. As soon as I looked at the wiki and saw it had 3D graphics by Matrix Soft, I :puke:d in my mouth a little bit.

[HitokiriShadow]

Anyone get Nostalgia for the DS now that it is out?
You'll have to really impress me. As soon as I looked at the wiki and saw it had 3D graphics by Matrix Soft, I :puke:d in my mouth a little bit.

I was ignoring it for a while for the same reason, as I too dislike Matrix's DS graphics (though clearly not quite as much as you), but it looks like it could be a decent plot-lite RPG otherwise. Matrix's visuals need some work (or rather, they need to stop bothering with 3D on the DS and try again on the next generation Nintendo handheld system, which we're probably due for in the next few years) but the other aspects of their games tend to be solid.

I'll probably be picking it up in a few days but I have no idea when I'll actually get around to playing it. The game store I used to go to is closing down and the only non-Game Stop left in the area is in an inconvenient location, so I'm going to use up the $15 store credit I have on Nostalgia and then finally switch to just ordering all my games online, which I had been gradually moving to over the past year or so anyway.

[Consignia]

Awesome, a beach episode in Ryo's storyline. My favourite bit; where Ai thinks Ryo's breast pads are frisbees, and steals them to play with them. I don't know how Ryo gets away with a bikini though, surely his bits are inconcealable there.

Also, Yumeko is so tsundere, she's going to end up in tears before the end of the story.

[ADC]

So Tony told me that I can start selling my stuff at the bazaar. And it seems like a good way to get the hard-to-find synths available without having to go spelunking for resources. Problem is, I have no black powder, no black steel, and no black liquid. So I need to get the reagents for black powder, black steel, and black liquid in order to make these items in order to sell them.

Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?

[Draneor]

I don't know how Ryo gets away with a bikini though, surely his bits are inconcealable there.

You're asking a question that should never be asked. Ever.

[Fencedude]

So Tony told me that I can start selling my stuff at the bazaar. And it seems like a good way to get the hard-to-find synths available without having to go spelunking for resources. Problem is, I have no black powder, no black steel, and no black liquid. So I need to get the reagents for black powder, black steel, and black liquid in order to make these items in order to sell them.

Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?

Keep in mind, there are only 6 times you can use the Bazaar and still get all of the character quests. So don't use the Bazaar unless you do not have any character quests to go through.

[Fencedude]

I don't know how Ryo gets away with a bikini though, surely his bits are inconcealable there.

You're asking a question that should never be asked. Ever.

I wonder if anyone expected Ryo to completely dominate Eri and Ai in terms of popularity.

Running across some pre-reveal (http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/468301/) fanart makes me cry for what could have been though.

Edit: Possibly NSFW, etc etc

[broodwars]

Borderlands - Well, I beat the game and completed all the quests and...what a lame non-ending and especially lame final boss. What originality: a tentacle alien monster with glowing weak points and a big eye that you have to shoot to kill him. And absolutely nothing about the Vault or the Guardian Angel gets explained. What were the odds? The framerate went to hell throughout the last few areas as well.

In general, Borderlands is a good game, but only a good game. It's a glorified MMO, and as such playing it on your own is just lacking. It scratches a particular itch, so I'll probably plug away at it some more to get the rest of the trophies knocked out (though I'll need a PS3 teammate to get most of the rest).

[Nork22]

And so I finish Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on Acolyte. It really got hairy as I was running out of health items when I got past the 2 Tengus. Fighting Genshin again for the 3rd time was annoying. I purposely let myself get kill if I see myself not making much progress in depleting his lifebar. Got really better on my 5th try, and no surprise after fighting him, it was round 2 against Elizebet. I don't know if it's me, but I found her less annoying this time round compare to the first time I fought her.

In the end, I didn't really need to worry about my health item as after finishing Elizebet, I was able to restock all my health items to go into the last round of boss fights. Fighting the High priest was annoying as heck since he throws you about 4 demons into the arena at the same time.

And the fight against the Archfiend? What a joke. Compare to some of the other bosses, I had no trouble at all taking him out (both his first form and second form). So in the end, finish the game on Acolyte level, and unlock Chapter Mode. Wheeee! I can replay Momiji and Ayane again!

Final impressions on this, it was actually a lot of fun. Sure there were moments where the camera fails on me or that the enemies are relentless, but really it was well worth the wait for NGS2 to come out on the PS3. I also felt I enjoyed the boss battles a lot more than I expected, which in saying I wish there was a boss mode for this game so I can replay the battles again rather than replaying an entire chapter again to fight a boss.

Now, moving on to my next game, which is Riviera on my PSP.

[ADC]

Pepperoncino's synthesis support abilities are out of this world. He's the reason I'm getting quite a fair few E-level 100 items, between his passive +7 to all Earth items and his active double on one Earth item. If only he weren't the lamest character in the game in terms of pure existence. (By the way, how did the NISA clowns get from "Pepperoncino", which is an honest-to-God pepper, to "Pepperoni", a spicy salami? Now, if they wanted to shorten the name and still have it be correct, "Peperone" is correct and a proper transliteration of ペペロン. I'm so glad that NISA cares about proper translations.) Anyway, it's the second half of second term and I can't wait to see the chairwoman get what's coming to her. Stupid old trout.

[Consignia]

I wonder if anyone expected Ryo to completely dominate Eri and Ai in terms of popularity.


Didn't the fact he was male significantly increase the number of preorders? I'm not whether I'd put him above Ai myself, as obnoxious as she is, she's got lead girl power. Easily above dullness incarnate Eri, though.

Regardless, I think the comedy value completely justifies a male character, especially with the greater focus on story. It's somewhere they needed to go.

[Consignia]

I don't know how Ryo gets away with a bikini though, surely his bits are inconcealable there.

You're asking a question that should never be asked. Ever.

I think this picture is relevant (http://outnow.ch/Movies/1994/NakedGun33.3/Bilder/dvd-film.ws/11)

[Classical]

I've actually been playing Nocturne even though I haven't posted much about it lately, mostly because I'm doing boring stuff in the game. I'm trying to fill out the compendium though right now I'm focusing on evolving the demons I have yet to do so with rather than fusing for the ones I don't have. As it stands, the compendium is up to 69% complete, so I still have a ways to go before filling it out completely. In other news, my main is all the way to level 90, and I got a pretty awesome Trumpeter. Though he chugs MP like it was Kool-Aid. MP has gotten pretty easy to recover at this point though so I'm less concerned about conserving MP in general.

[Memphis]

I've been replaying Chrono Trigger ever since I've gotten my hands on a new ps2 controller. I'm pretty much just trying to see a new ending. I normally don't do these things since I'm not much of a completionist, but I'm curious about it.

Chrono - 71
Marle - 70
Ayla - 70
Lucca - 67
Robo - 67
Frog - 67

Haven't gotten to the point where I get Magus yet. As a matter of fact I'm just now getting to the Epoch.

I'm probably going to start my first run at Final Fantasy IX soon. I hear a lot of mixed opinions about it, and at the same time I pushed it aside since I'm not a fan of the chibi-ish look. (Lesson learned after playing FF7)

I also have a sudden urge to play Tekken even though I'm not really a fan of the series anymore. Tekken 5 kind of turned me away from the series with the unexpected difficulty boost and cheap boss. (I do want to give that one another chance now that I know what to expect.) I suppose this urge came from seeing some nice looking Tekken 6 vids (even though I don't like how Namco has the ground collapsing...)

[ADC]

I'm probably going to start my first run at Final Fantasy IX soon. I hear a lot of mixed opinions about it, and at the same time I pushed it aside since I'm not a fan of the chibi-ish look. (Lesson learned after playing FF7)
I, who actually enjoyed FF9 more than many of the more lauded games in the series (6, 8, 10, 12 — it's not to say that FF6 is a bad game [it's a great game], but it sure does appear that even-numbered FFs are more likely to suck), hope you can get past the chibi-ish look and really groove on that game. Zidane's a better male lead than any other in the series except Cecil, Garnet's HAWT, Vivi's story is possibly the best character story in the whole damn series … and if you name the rusty knight dude "America," all the soldiers will call him Captain America. Now how can you go wrong with that? (You could also call him Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway [if you're in a bad mood], Ahab, Bligh, Ramius …)

[Fencedude]

And done! Again.

Once I get the new TV I may go in again and fart around finding some flags and Templars in DELICIOUS HIGH DEFINITION, but since I got Vidic's pen this time, I could read the stuff on the other two computers. Interesting information...

Now I just need to decide what to do next. I really should hurry up and finish Mana Khemia 2, since I'm so close to the end anyway.

[Classical]

I'm probably going to start my first run at Final Fantasy IX soon. I hear a lot of mixed opinions about it, and at the same time I pushed it aside since I'm not a fan of the chibi-ish look. (Lesson learned after playing FF7)
I, who actually enjoyed FF9 more than many of the more lauded games in the series (6, 8, 10, 12 — it's not to say that FF6 is a bad game [it's a great game], but it sure does appear that even-numbered FFs are more likely to suck), hope you can get past the chibi-ish look and really groove on that game. Zidane's a better male lead than any other in the series except Cecil, Garnet's HAWT, Vivi's story is possibly the best character story in the whole damn series … and if you name the rusty knight dude "America," all the soldiers will call him Captain America. Now how can you go wrong with that? (You could also call him Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway [if you're in a bad mood], Ahab, Bligh, Ramius …)

I would have to agree with pretty much everything ADC has said. Yeah, most of the designs look pretty weird, but I think I've grown to like them. They really fit the game, and well, Garnet is hawt (probably the hottest FF girl in my opinion). Not mention she's the inspiration for the line "Ooh, soft..." More seriously though, Final Fantasy IX has the most enjoyable story and thematic content out of any main FF game I've played to date, and Zidane is awesome. So, uh, yeah, give the game a shot as I think it would be worth it.

If I ever replay FFIX again, I might be tempted enough to name Rusty Knight Dude "America." :sweat:

[broodwars]

I'm certainly not the world's biggest FF IX fan (of all the Final Fantasy games, it's near the top of my list of games that should get a remake, just because it is ugly on the PS1 with lousy sound quality), but it is a good game and you should certainly play it. I'd probably put Yuna, Rinoa, Lightning, and Celes higher on my list of "attractive" Final Fantasy women than Dagger, though. As for "personality", that's a different story.

With my main playthrough of Borderlands complete, I've just been doing a bit of trophy grinding. I started new playthroughs with the 3 other Classes: Hunter - Kurtz; Soldier - Souseke; and Berserker - Orson, and played each long enough to get each character's Action Skill (and then use them to kill 15 enemies for the associated trophy). I then popped into Split-Screen multiplayer and killed myself enough times to get most of the Duel and Arena-related trophies.

Unfortunately, that seems to be as far as I can go on multiplayer without a real PS3 companion. I have to complete 15 missions and kill one of the major story bosses in Co-op for my final 2 Co-op trophies, as well as find someone with the "And They'll Tell 2 Friends" trophy. After that, it's just a matter of getting my Siren Miriya up to level 50 for Platinum #9. It's a pleasant enough way to kill time, so I'll probably be at that for a while.

Oh, and the graphics are total shit in split-screen, so I don't recommend it. The game looks like it has a pencil sketch filter over everything, it's so lowly-rendered.

[ADC]

I'd probably put Yuna, Rinoa, Lightning, and Celes higher on my list of "attractive" Final Fantasy women than Dagger, though. As for "personality", that's a different story.
Yuna's cute. Celes doesn't wear pants. But Rinoa? Really? Ugh. I mean, if we're talking about FF8 party members and you're not including Edea (the game's been out 10 years, so if you're spoilt on this plot point, you have only yourself to blame) as the sexy one, you're so deaf, dumb, and blind that you need to run out to the nearest arcade with pinball machines. And I can't comment on Lightning until I see her in action. All I know right now is that she needs to find a better conditioner because her hair looks terrible.

By the way, what would you (general) say is the statute of limitations on spoilers? I say if a game's been out long enough that two generations of consoles have followed it, there's no reason to use the spoiler tag.

[Ty]

By the way, what would you (general) say is the statute of limitations on spoilers? I say if a game's been out long enough that two generations of consoles have followed it, there's no reason to use the spoiler tag.

Opinions will no doubt run the full gamut, from indifference to paranoia. Consider this possibility though: there are younger folks out there who participate on the boards just now beginning to seek out and experience these older games that were "before their time." So the risk of spoilers to them is still real. Afterall they can't help the fact that they were too young to play these games when they were current. Just a thought.

[HitokiriShadow]

Chrono - 71
Marle - 70
Ayla - 70
Lucca - 67
Robo - 67
Frog - 67

Haven't gotten to the point where I get Magus yet. As a matter of fact I'm just now getting to the Epoch.


Holy crap, you're at those levels and you're just now getting the Epoch? You are so, incredibly over-leveled. By the time I finished all of the side-quests, including the new DS dungeons, and beat the new final boss, I was still only in the low 60s.

[Classical]

And I can't comment on Lightning until I see her in action. All I know right now is that she needs to find a better conditioner because her hair looks terrible.
I'm teetering between "Lightning's hot" and "she's not." I just don't know.


By the way, what would you (general) say is the statute of limitations on spoilers? I say if a game's been out long enough that two generations of consoles have followed it, there's no reason to use the spoiler tag.

Opinions will no doubt run the full gamut, from indifference to paranoia. Consider this possibility though: there are younger folks out there who participate on the boards just now beginning to seek out and experience these older games that were "before their time." So the risk of spoilers to them is still real. Afterall they can't help the fact that they were too young to play these games when they were current. Just a thought.

It's basically for that reason that I'll still use spoiler tags in my posts when I'm talking about story elements within a game. Yeah, some of the games I'm just playing are pretty old, but there's always the possibility that others haven't played them, whether it's because they're young, or they just haven't played them. I myself get interested from time to time in older games I may have missed back then.

[broodwars]

I'd probably put Yuna, Rinoa, Lightning, and Celes higher on my list of "attractive" Final Fantasy women than Dagger, though. As for "personality", that's a different story.
Yuna's cute. Celes doesn't wear pants. But Rinoa? Really? Ugh. I mean, if we're talking about FF8 party members and you're not including Edea (the game's been out 10 years, so if you're spoilt on this plot point, you have only yourself to blame) as the sexy one, you're so deaf, dumb, and blind that you need to run out to the nearest arcade with pinball machines.

Different strokes, different folks. I find that character to be rather unattractive, largely due to the clothing she wears throughout the game and just her hair in general. That's just Square-Enix doing their damnest to make someone look ugly. Same reason I don't find Bayonetta attractive, for that matter.

And yes, it's always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to spoilers. Granted, if I think that a spoiler might prevent someone from playing FF8, it might just be worth it.

[Fencedude]

And done!

Quite possibly the least epic Epic RPG ever, but quite a fun game all around.

The last few boss fights in the bonus dungeon were actually pretty challenging, and I came very close to getting wiped out a few times, but always managed to pull through.

Final time was 94:47, Growbooks all above 90%. Maybe I'll go back and fill them up at some point, but not now.

[MadL]

In Half-Minute Hero. I've finished Hero 30 (mini-RPG), Evil Lord 30 (mini-RTS), and Princess 30 (mini-side-scrolling shooter) - all of them great fun. Good sense of humor, and each stage packs a lot of fun into a couple of minutes. Each part really is like the distilled essence of their genre.

Finishing the first three unlocks Knight 30 (note: this is mentioned in the instruction manual, so I'm not considering this a spoiler); unfortunately, the designers decided to make this part of the game a series of mini-escort missions. They do a decent enough job and keep the great sense of humor, but they still can't overcome that general gaming rule of thumb: escort missions are a PITA. Still, great game overall.

[Draneor]

Personally, I find Rydia, Celes, Tina, Lenna, Rikku, Phoebe, Eiko, Yuna, and Rinoa the cutest (in that order). But Marle was my first (video game character) crush, so I love her more than any FF character.

I mean, if we're talking about FF8 party members and you're not including Edea (the game's been out 10 years, so if you're spoilt on this plot point, you have only yourself to blame) as the sexy one, you're so deaf, dumb, and blind that you need to run out to the nearest arcade with pinball machines.

I'm sorry some of us don't like grandmothers? ;)

By the way, what would you (general) say is the statute of limitations on spoilers? I say if a game's been out long enough that two generations of consoles have followed it, there's no reason to use the spoiler tag.

Regardless of how the long a game has been out, there are certain events in games that are just common knowledge, if you've been on the internet.

[Fencedude]

Now that I'm done with Mana Khemia 2, I need to start/continue another console RPG.

Here are the ones I'm considering (I'll either be starting for the first time, or restarting because its been so long)

Persona 3 FES
Atelier Iris 3
Disgaea 2
Folklore
TORASTII BERU
Baten Kaitos Origins

Thoughts, opinions, insults?

[Draneor]

Atelier Iris 3

Iris and Pamela are love. Nell's OK. Otherwise, entirely forgettable with a very annoying field system.

Disgaea 2

Rozalin is moe. Oh, and she's voiced by Tamura Yukari. Definitely a time suck (speaking of, I never got anywhere close to 100%).

[broodwars]

Now that I'm done with Mana Khemia 2, I need to start/continue another console RPG.

Here are the ones I'm considering (I'll either be starting for the first time, or restarting because its been so long)

Persona 3 FES
Atelier Iris 3
Disgaea 2
Folklore
TORASTII BERU
Baten Kaitos Origins

Thoughts, opinions, insults?

Baten Kaitos Origins, just because it's a game that only I have given a lot of discussion on. The others have gotten a fair amount of exposure, and Origins is an excellent game anyway. After that, maybe Persona 3 FES (but only if you don't plan on buying the PSP version) and then Eternal Sonata.

[Fencedude]

Baten Kaitos Origins, just because it's a game that only I have given a lot of discussion on. The others have gotten a fair amount of exposure, and Origins is an excellent game anyway. After that, maybe Persona 3 FES (but only if you don't plan on buying the PSP version) and then Eternal Sonata.

I'm of two minds about P3/P3P. On the one hand, I'll definitely get P3P, but I kinda want to finish FES so I can do the second story, since I doubt its going to be included in P3P.

[Memphis]

I'm probably going to start my first run at Final Fantasy IX soon. I hear a lot of mixed opinions about it, and at the same time I pushed it aside since I'm not a fan of the chibi-ish look. (Lesson learned after playing FF7)
I, who actually enjoyed FF9 more than many of the more lauded games in the series (6, 8, 10, 12 — it's not to say that FF6 is a bad game [it's a great game], but it sure does appear that even-numbered FFs are more likely to suck), hope you can get past the chibi-ish look and really groove on that game. Zidane's a better male lead than any other in the series except Cecil, Garnet's HAWT, Vivi's story is possibly the best character story in the whole damn series … and if you name the rusty knight dude "America," all the soldiers will call him Captain America. Now how can you go wrong with that? (You could also call him Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway [if you're in a bad mood], Ahab, Bligh, Ramius …)

Actually, it's because of FF7 that I'm actually looking past the chibi-styled characters because, when I first tried out FF7 I couldn't stand the look and put it off for at least 2 years. Eventually got back to it because I was curious and wanted to see the limit breaks. While FF7's not my favorite I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I still have FF8 as my favorite... I like the junction system lol and I just don't play these games for story.. (I'm slow in the head to actually catch on, haha)

Holy crap, you're at those levels and you're just now getting the Epoch? You are so, incredibly over-leveled. By the time I finished all of the side-quests, including the new DS dungeons, and beat the new final boss, I was still only in the low 60s.

I neglected to mention that I'm playing this through FF Chronicles. I've beaten the game once before, but I still might've been a tad bit over-leveled my first playthrough. (Forgot to mention New Game + too :)) I spent a lot of time in that one area where you fight some rubble thingy that gives 1000 exp (I think).

[Ty]

I still have FF8 as my favorite... I like the junction system lol and I just don't play these games for story.. (I'm slow in the head to actually catch on, haha)

You played FF8 specifically for the junction and draw system?

Mind = Blown.

[Fencedude]

I still have FF8 as my favorite... I like the junction system lol and I just don't play these games for story.. (I'm slow in the head to actually catch on, haha)

You played FF8 specifically for the junction and draw system?

Mind = Blown.

I like the junction/draw system as well.

Its not the best system ever, but I actually like it more than Materia at least.

Also its amazing what you can do with an area with low level enemies, 3 dimes and some electrical tape.

[Betenoire]

I still have FF8 as my favorite... I like the junction system lol and I just don't play these games for story.. (I'm slow in the head to actually catch on, haha)

You played FF8 specifically for the junction and draw system?

Mind = Blown.

I like the junction/draw system as well.

Its not the best system ever, but I actually like it more than Materia at least.

Also its amazing what you can do with an area with low level enemies, 3 dimes and some electrical tape.

I didn't love the junction/draw system, but the damn card game is where I stopped playing. Just could not get rid of the STD-like (CTD?) random rule.

[HitokiriShadow]

Holy crap, you're at those levels and you're just now getting the Epoch? You are so, incredibly over-leveled. By the time I finished all of the side-quests, including the new DS dungeons, and beat the new final boss, I was still only in the low 60s.

I neglected to mention that I'm playing this through FF Chronicles. I've beaten the game once before, but I still might've been a tad bit over-leveled my first playthrough. (Forgot to mention New Game + too :)) I spent a lot of time in that one area where you fight some rubble thingy that gives 1000 exp (I think).

I figured you were playing the Playstation version since you mentioned a PS2 controller. I just mentioned the DS content for comparison purposes and because that's the version I most recently played. But it being your second playthrough does put things in a different perspective. One would expect to be over-leveled after the first playthrough.

[broodwars]

Baten Kaitos Origins, just because it's a game that only I have given a lot of discussion on. The others have gotten a fair amount of exposure, and Origins is an excellent game anyway. After that, maybe Persona 3 FES (but only if you don't plan on buying the PSP version) and then Eternal Sonata.

I'm of two minds about P3/P3P. On the one hand, I'll definitely get P3P, but I kinda want to finish FES so I can do the second story, since I doubt its going to be included in P3P.

You could always just play the PSP version of Persona 3, and then go into FES and play the Answer. Nothing carries over from the Journey into the Answer, anyway.

[Fencedude]

Baten Kaitos Origins, just because it's a game that only I have given a lot of discussion on. The others have gotten a fair amount of exposure, and Origins is an excellent game anyway. After that, maybe Persona 3 FES (but only if you don't plan on buying the PSP version) and then Eternal Sonata.

I'm of two minds about P3/P3P. On the one hand, I'll definitely get P3P, but I kinda want to finish FES so I can do the second story, since I doubt its going to be included in P3P.

You could always just play the PSP version of Persona 3, and then go into FES and play the Answer. Nothing carries over from the Journey into the Answer, anyway.

True, I may just do that.

[Memphis]

I still have FF8 as my favorite... I like the junction system lol and I just don't play these games for story.. (I'm slow in the head to actually catch on, haha)

You played FF8 specifically for the junction and draw system?

Mind = Blown.

Sure, it's a long tedious process, but I didn't mind it especially once I got the hang of everything.

I tend to be real selfish with materia too, and give all the good stuff to Cloud. So that's another reason why I didn't mind the junction system.

But for the most part, you can say I played it for the battle system, and to look at some of the flashy attacks.

I didn't love the junction/draw system, but the damn card game is where I stopped playing. Just could not get rid of the STD-like (CTD?) random rule.
I hated that card game yet found it real addicting. Plus and Random always tore a hole in me. And then I could never understand how Seifer could flip Quistis (especially when the cpu would place Seifer on top). Same with Ifrit, Zell and a few other cards.

[HitokiriShadow]

I like the junction/draw system as well.

Its not the best system ever, but I actually like it more than Materia at least.


It could have used some improvements, but I liked the system as well. I had some pretty major issues with FF8's story, but I liked the gameplay and battle system related stuff for the most part. It didn't have any major issues that were detrimental to the experience but there are some things I wish they would have changed. Like tying ALL of the skills and abilities to the GFs rather than the characters themselves. Even the fricken Item command. I also didn't care for tying enemy levels to your parties the way they did, and making it so easy to level up (only 1000 exp needed for every level; you could max out Squall's level in a few hours before you even entered the first dungeon). I had absolutely no problem with Drawing/Junctioning though and actually liked that aspect.


Also, I prefer the Materia system, even though it has some of the same problems as the Junction/GF system (making the characters blank slates other than their Limit Breaks).

[Suwako Moriya]

Like tying ALL of the skills and abilities to the GFs rather than the characters themselves. Even the fricken Item command.

It makes you wonder if they had a GF for breathing and maybe a GF for washing dishes. Seriously, the Junction system was decent once I got used to it and learned to use it properly. However that aspect of it annoyed. My favorite type of system is one where you have customization with restriction and each character has to earn his/her own power.

[Draneor]

I had some pretty major issues with FF8's story, but I liked the gameplay and battle system related stuff for the most part.

I kind of found the story romantic myself. Sure, much (almost all) of it didn't make sense at all, but Laguna/Raine and Squall/Riona had touching stories. Ah, and the card game was fun too. My main issue was that the limit breaks made everything, including summoning, basically useless, apart from the stat boosts. A battle system is seriously broken when keeping a character in yellow is the most effective way to win.

All in all, I think I liked FFIV and FFV's job system the most.

[Memphis]

Item command[/I].

It makes you wonder if they had a GF for breathing and maybe a GF for washing dishes. Seriously, the Junction system was decent once I got used to it and learned to use it properly. However that aspect of it annoyed. My favorite type of system is one where you have customization with restriction and each character has to earn his/her own power.

I think that's why I like Dragon Quest 8 over all the other rpg's I've played so far. (Tales of the Abyss and Vesperia was nice too)

[MadL]

Now that I'm done with Mana Khemia 2, I need to start/continue another console RPG.

Here are the ones I'm considering (I'll either be starting for the first time, or restarting because its been so long)

Persona 3 FES
Atelier Iris 3
Disgaea 2
Folklore
TORASTII BERU
Baten Kaitos Origins

Thoughts, opinions, insults?

I'd go with Disgaea 2. Storywise, I think it's the weakest of the three Disgaea games (Rosalyn's great, true, but most of the other new characters are various shades of annoying), but the gameplay's great, an improvement over the first. A huge timesuck, indeed - but a fun one. :)

I'd put P3FES next on the list. As others have said, if you're planning on playing P3P when it comes out, you could always save The Answer for later. I liked the way the story in The Answer tied up some loose ends from The Journey, but the gameplay is basically just hour after hour of dungeon crawling; no Social Link stuff.

[ADC]

I'd put P3FES next on the list. As others have said, if you're planning on playing P3P when it comes out, you could always save The Answer for later. I liked the way the story in The Answer tied up some loose ends from The Journey, but the gameplay is basically just hour after hour of dungeon crawling; no Social Link stuff.
I have to put P3F at the top of the "to-play" list, even though I'm practically drooling over P3P when it hasn't even been announced for Stateside release. It's the best game on the list. Of course, Trusty Bell is so gorgeous that it'll give your eyes orgasms, so there's that.

[Nork22]

Persona 3 FES

Fucking hell, finish it already. But since your plan now is to go play the Portable one then I would say finish up ETERNAL SONATA first because that game is easy to complete without getting too tedious.

[Nork22]

I kind of found the story romantic myself. Sure, much (almost all) of it didn't make sense at all, but Laguna/Raine and Squall/Riona had touching stories. Ah, and the card game was fun too. My main issue was that the limit breaks made everything, including summoning, basically useless, apart from the stat boosts. A battle system is seriously broken when keeping a character in yellow is the most effective way to win.

Heh... this is why I can't figured out why I bothered levelling up to 99 to take on Ultimate Weapon when you can easily beat him at level 5 with proper junctioning.

Oh yes, can't forget the endless amount of hours playing Triple Triad. Curse you Random Rule!

All in all, I think I liked FFIV and FFV's job system the most.

In that regard, I love the job system in X-2. Ahhh.... don't get why people are so up in arms about dressing up your characters. The thing itself is a homage to V, except you can't combine jobs/skills.

[Nork22]

I have now earn my Gold Trophy in Warriors Orochi Z by surviving 50 rounds in Survival mode. I feel good. :)

Now unlock Lu Bu...

[ADC]

In that regard, I love the job system in X-2. Ahhh.... don't get why people are so up in arms about dressing up your characters. The thing itself is a homage to V, except you can't combine jobs/skills.
But being able to instantly switch from job to job kind of helps in that regard. And that's even before taking into account that the class change includes non-specific nudity. I wouldn't call X-2 the best of the series, but I do think it's the most pure fun to play.

[broodwars]

Borderlands - Well, I found someone to play with online, so I've knocked out all but 1 of the Co-op Trophies (that being the one that requires you to beat a major story boss in Co-op). I should be able to knock that last one out tomorrow, so once my character reaches Level 50 that'll be Platinum #9 and I"ll have to find something old to play.

Oh, and just to be spiteful I'd like to add that the way Borderlands handles online Co-op is inane. Maybe it's just a problem with PS3 and the PSN, but there's no way to just accept a game request from a friend and jump into their game. I spent probably an hour sending PSN messages trying to figure out how to get my PSN teammate into my game so we could knock out those Co-op missions. It turns out that you have to enter a game with your character and then go into the menus and tell your game that the people on your friends list (which by the way only updates if you exit out of the game and re-enter) are invited to your game. Then your friends have to leave their games, return to the main menu, and then select to join your game. And unless you're sending them PSN messages or whatnot they won't know they've been invited. Also, if you decide to leave the option open for random strangers to join your game, you can't just flip a switch in-game to do that. You have to back out to the main menu, and select to start a new Public Online game. Fucking unintuitive.

[Fencedude]

In that regard, I love the job system in X-2. Ahhh.... don't get why people are so up in arms about dressing up your characters. The thing itself is a homage to V, except you can't combine jobs/skills.
But being able to instantly switch from job to job kind of helps in that regard. And that's even before taking into account that the class change includes non-specific nudity. I wouldn't call X-2 the best of the series, but I do think it's the most pure fun to play.

FFX-2, Fastest battle speed, no waits.

Who says RPGs don't require reflexes!?

[broodwars]

In that regard, I love the job system in X-2. Ahhh.... don't get why people are so up in arms about dressing up your characters. The thing itself is a homage to V, except you can't combine jobs/skills.
But being able to instantly switch from job to job kind of helps in that regard. And that's even before taking into account that the class change includes non-specific nudity. I wouldn't call X-2 the best of the series, but I do think it's the most pure fun to play.

FFX-2, Fastest battle speed, no waits.

Who says RPGs don't require reflexes!?

Sorry, but if I want to play a reflex-intensive RPG I'll throw in a Tales game, which usually do it better anyway. The middle-ground that FF XIII seems to be in looks interesting, though.

[pathos]

Now up to about 43 hours played. Have the tower up, and up to the hot spot. Finished Jacqli's cosmosphere. As much as I loved Misha and Shurelia from the first game, Jacqli easily rivals them. Sadly, Cloche and Luca easily rival Aurica for their Meh ness.

Still have quite a few I.P.D.'s to gather up though, so I'll probably walk back out of the tower and do that tonight.

Current level - revytails - 76, rest of party 56. Just seems so messed up :P

[TalonG4]

Disgaea 2


Thoughts, opinions, insults?

I plugged in my PS2 and booted this up and re-started my save game long enough to know I had no idea where I was in the game and that I'd probably have to start over. That's kind of annoying.

[Fencedude]

So I decided to start Disgaea 2.

And then I was at GameStop to pre-order ACII Master Assassin Edition and...they had Ar Tonelico 2 used, so I bought it.

It even has the artbook and the soundtrack.

Also its probably a good thing that this game didn't have AT3's "stripping" feature, since these girls already look pretty stripped.

lol @ Jacqli's outfit.

[pathos]

So I decided to start Disgaea 2.
Also its probably a good thing that this game didn't have AT3's "stripping" feature, since these girls already look pretty stripped.

lol @ Jacqli's outfit.

Apparently she likes running around without much on :P

Which reminds me, Cross Edge, one of the downloadable outfits for Shurelia, was Jacli's default outfit. I was rolling.

[gnikdrazil]

I am very addicted to this game. I keep taking my time with the main missions. The last one I finished involved me destroying patrols who were escorting mobile virus detectors. I just drove around in tanks to finish off the patrols and steal a new one if mine got too damaged. Out of the 4 attacking powers, I prefer the claws and muscle. I like throwing objects an enemies and bases; especially bases. I keep attacking hives and military bases to get some decent experience to spend on powers. I've bought the majority of unlocked powers, but there are still some that cost about 1 and 2 million that I haven't gotten yet. I've been trying out all of the events. I suck at the racing ones. If I get silver in them, then I am satisfied. My favorite seems to be me leading the infected in battles against the military.

[Fencedude]

Egads this game's battle system is weird.

Also Cloche's got a major stick up her ass.

Cocona's cute though.

As for the Reyvateils, not only do you have to keep them happy in battle (while doing fifty other things) you have to play therapist in their subconscious.

Sheesh.

[Fencedude]

Group baths between girls, involving various crystals, salts and uhh..."toys", are an important gameplay mechanic.

Somehow the stripping system of the third game is seeming less and less outrageous.

[Fencedude]

Huh...I got another male party member. What the heck is up with that? Croix by himself is almost one too many.

Also I can just tell the box art is going to end up being a horrible tease. WHY YOU DO THIS JAPAN!? ;_;

Edit: and right after that I get a new female character. And conveniently she instantly becomes BFF with Luca, which means I can now use Amarie-Luca and Cocona-Cloche pairs. Yay!

[Draneor]

Also I can just tell the box art is going to end up being a horrible tease. WHY YOU DO THIS JAPAN!? ;_;

If you want to talk about teases (http://moe.imouto.org/post/show/34671/ar_tonelico-ar_tonelico_2-chroche_latel_pastalie-l) (NSFW). There was a similar official artwork of Aurica/Misha (http://moe.imouto.org/post/show/34667/ar_tonelico-aurica_nestmile-misha_arsellec_lune-na) (NSFW) too.

But looking for yuri in a dating sim/RPG is a lost cause. Male side characters in Gust RPGs are annoying though. I can't think of one I've liked.

[ADC]

But looking for yuri in a dating sim/RPG is a lost cause. Male side characters in Gust RPGs are annoying though. I can't think of one I've liked.
Goto (MK2). Fucking hilarious. Otherwise, this is true.

[Draneor]

Goto (MK2). Fucking hilarious.

You're kidding me? I mean, each to his or her own, but I personally liked Pepperoni more than Goto (and I can't stand fairy boy). In fact, the only (Gust) character I hated more was Muppy.

[pathos]

But looking for yuri in a dating sim/RPG is a lost cause.

I suppose you could pretend Luca and Skycat are more than friends.

Actually, considering how Skycat acts, it might not be just pretend, although Luca doesn't seem up for it :P

Of course, thats all side story stuff anyway.

[martod]

Also its probably a good thing that this game didn't have AT3's "stripping" feature, since these girls already look pretty stripped.

lol @ Jacqli's outfit.

Wait until you see her swimsuit...

Jacqli actually has a reverse "stripping" thing going--she starts the battle naked and then her clothes materialize on her when the fighting starts.

[Fencedude]

Also I can just tell the box art is going to end up being a horrible tease. WHY YOU DO THIS JAPAN!? ;_;

If you want to talk about teases (http://moe.imouto.org/post/show/34671/ar_tonelico-ar_tonelico_2-chroche_latel_pastalie-l) (NSFW). There was a similar official artwork of Aurica/Misha (http://moe.imouto.org/post/show/34667/ar_tonelico-aurica_nestmile-misha_arsellec_lune-na) (NSFW) too.

But looking for yuri in a dating sim/RPG is a lost cause. Male side characters in Gust RPGs are annoying though. I can't think of one I've liked.

I know, but when you put the two female leads on the cover of the box, holding each other in a LOVING FUCKING EMBRACE, its just rubbing it in.

Also the amount of different ways you can "enter" a Reyvateil is getting pretty ridiculous. WE GET THE METAPHOR GUST, YOU CAN STOP BEATING US OVER THE HEAD WITH IT.

Also, where exactly is the "Installation Port" anyway?

[Draneor]

Also the amount of different ways you can "enter" a Reyvateil is getting pretty ridiculous. WE GET THE METAPHOR GUST, YOU CAN STOP BEATING US OVER THE HEAD WITH IT.

They really should just make it an eroge. But then, I guess, it wouldn't be as funny. NISA plays it up a little bit more than it is in Japanese.

Also, where exactly is the "Installation Port" anyway?

I haven't played Ar Tonelico II, but in one it depended on the Reyvateil. I can't remember who had it where, but one character's was on their lower back, one was in their upper chest, and so forth. You can kind of see where (the main character) is putting it in in the avatars.

[ADC]

Goto (MK2). Fucking hilarious.
You're kidding me? I mean, each to his or her own, but I personally liked Pepperoni more than Goto (and I can't stand fairy boy). In fact, the only (Gust) character I hated more was Muppy.
See, I didn't really have a problem with Muppy. Of course, when compared with Flay (MK1 edition), nobody should have a problem with Muppy.

[Draneor]

See, I didn't really have a problem with Muppy. Of course, when compared with Flay (MK1 edition), nobody should have a problem with Muppy.

The only characters I used were Jessica, Anna, Pamela, and Nicole (ranked according to who I liked the best) . Vayne and Flay got to join my team only because I ran out of females.

[ADC]

The only characters I used were Jessica, Anna, Pamela, and Nicole (ranked according to who I liked the best) . Vayne and Flay got to join my team only because I ran out of females.
I preferred Roxis because of his speed and magic power, and because Flay is the douchebag heard 'round the world.

[Draneor]

I preferred Roxis because of his speed and magic power

When selecting party members, I ignore usefulness and go with the ones I like the best. Stats don't really matter much to me. If anything, I would appreciate the extra challenge.

[HitokiriShadow]

But looking for yuri in a dating sim/RPG is a lost cause. Male side characters in Gust RPGs are annoying though. I can't think of one I've liked.
Goto (MK2). Fucking hilarious. Otherwise, this is true.

Goto has his moments here and there, but I find him slightly above tolerable on the whole. Muppy, on the other hand, I found hilarious.

[HitokiriShadow]

The only characters I used were Jessica, Anna, Pamela, and Nicole (ranked according to who I liked the best) . Vayne and Flay got to join my team only because I ran out of females.
I preferred Roxis because of his speed and magic power, and because Flay is the douchebag heard 'round the world.

I liked Roxis because of his time card attacks and he was the one character in the first game that could eliminate and enemy's time card, which made him a godsend in some of the later battles.

[ADC]

When selecting party members, I ignore usefulness and go with the ones I like the best. Stats don't really matter much to me. If anything, I would appreciate the extra challenge.
Challenge? In a Gust game? I've seen no evidence of that.

[broodwars]

Borderlands - This game mocks me. It knows, oh yes it knows I'm planning on trading it in tomorrow to pick up R & C: Tools of Destruction after I reach level 50 and get my well-earned Platinum, so it's deliberately dragging this out as long as it goddamn can. I've been playing this all day, running through the story mode again in New Game + and even after about 12 hours playtime I've only moved from Levels 42 to 47. Damn, this is tedious, made only bearable by the mountain of Lost episodes I'm using for background (currently at the end of Season 3 and working my way up, FYI). Well, no one can accuse Gearbox of not putting plenty of playtime in this game, as it looks like it's going to take most of this second playthrough just to climb 14 levels (I ended my first playthrough at level 36).

[Ty]

Also its amazing what you can do with an area with low level enemies, 3 dimes and some electrical tape.

If you don't want to actually play it yourself then that's a sign of a crappy system IMO. Just like RPGs that have an auto-battle option, if the battle system is so boring that you need an escape option then maybe the developer should try to make the game interesting enough to actually play. I didn't hate the FF8 system, it was just clunky and monotonous. Plus, the lack of balance made it rather unsatisfying too.

[pathos]

All I did last night was grind IPD's, cloche's fan club, and those bath crystals.

End result, 65 hours playtime, 71 girls in the fan club, 6 more girl power revy's not in the fanclub (who I'm not sure will make it in by the end of the game), and my revytails up to level 90. Rest of the party is still 57 or so.

Oh, and I do have one ipd not cured, because I still haven't made whatever item she wants to start curing her.

Guess its time to start back up the tower once again.

[Senku]

I know, but when you put the two female leads on the cover of the box, holding each other in a LOVING FUCKING EMBRACE, its just rubbing it in.

Yeah, it's teasing; but at least in AT2 the "embrace" cover actually has some meaning - which the game's plot will reveal later on.

[Fencedude]

This isn't an RPG, its a psychotherapy simulator.

Also, now that I can cure this, CAN I HAS COCONA BACK NOW PLZ?

[Fencedude]

So why does Cloche carry a sword around if she can't actually use it?

Also I have a feeling I'm going to have to make a choice between Luca and Cloche at some point, but I'm not really feeling either of them. Though Cloche's tsundere is annoying me less than Luca's general whining.

Also Cloche is voiced by the BEST SEIYUU EVER.

[pathos]

Also I have a feeling I'm going to have to make a choice between Luca and Cloche at some point, but I'm not really feeling either of them. Though Cloche's tsundere is annoying me less than Luca's general whining.


I had the same exact problem. I just flipped a coin really :P

[broodwars]

So why does Cloche carry a sword around if she can't actually use it?

Also I have a feeling I'm going to have to make a choice between Luca and Cloche at some point, but I'm not really feeling either of them. Though Cloche's tsundere is annoying me less than Luca's general whining.

Also Cloche is voiced by the BEST SEIYUU EVER.

Unfortunately, both women are equally psychotic and deserve to get thrown off a cliff.

Finally got my 9th Platinum and got rid of Borderlands to pick up [B]Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction/B] based on the recommendations here. I was going to pick up Up Your Arsenal as well to get familiar with the universe and characters that will be important in Crack in Time, but Sony's lousy PS2 emulation has problems with that game so I'll just have to make due with ToD.

[Fencedude]

Unfortunately, both women are equally psychotic and deserve to get thrown off a cliff.

Its really hard to buy that Luca's a therapist, considering how screwed up she is.

Hopefully the third Reyvateil will be better.

Or at least screwed up in a more interesting way.

[ADC]

So why does Cloche carry a sword around if she can't actually use it?
Also I have a feeling I'm going to have to make a choice between Luca and Cloche at some point, but I'm not really feeling either of them. Though Cloche's tsundere is annoying me less than Luca's general whining.
Also Cloche is voiced by the BEST SEIYUU EVER.
Unfortunately, both women are equally psychotic and deserve to get thrown off a cliff.
And the opportunity for upskirtage (downskirtage?) could be prodigious. If the cliff's high enough, maybe there'll be time for a tender moment between the two before they hit the ground. "Ah!" Cloche says. "I can't believe it's taken me so long to realize that I don't need these lousy male Gust heroes! Kiss me one time before … before …" She breaks off into tears, which, owing to terminal velocity of a Reyvateil being rather higher than that of water, seem to cascade up away from the pair as they embrace. Splat.

What? Mana Khemia 2, you say? Yeah, I'm on winter break. Hanging out at the bazaar all week because I'm totally caught up on character stories. Still woefully behind on AP and rich beyond the dreams of avarice. It'd be nice if I could just have 10,000 Cole changed into 10,000 AP for the purpose of upgrading my people.

[broodwars]

Unfortunately, both women are equally psychotic and deserve to get thrown off a cliff.

Its really hard to buy that Luca's a therapist, considering how screwed up she is.

Given that the "therapy" of diving is utter B.S., I didn't find it hard at all to believe she's a "therapist". After all, she doesn't actually help people, just solve the completely random virtual problems of their virtual personas. I just love how helping a virtual persona fulfill her dream of being a magical girl somehow brings two real people closer together. The whole game is littered with nonsense like that, and it's one of the reasons I gave up on that game.

[Fencedude]

Given that the "therapy" of diving is utter B.S., I didn't find it hard at all to believe she's a "therapist". After all, she doesn't actually help people, just solve the completely random virtual problems of their virtual personas. I just love how helping a virtual persona fulfill her dream of being a magical girl somehow brings two real people closer together. The whole game is littered with nonsense like that, and it's one of the reasons I gave up on that game.

And she's too much of a wuss to use it as usefully as some of the "other" therapists...

[MadL]

Unfortunately, both women are equally psychotic and deserve to get thrown off a cliff.

Finally got my 9th Platinum and got rid of Borderlands to pick up Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction based on the recommendations here. I was going to pick up Up Your Arsenal as well to get familiar with the universe and characters that will be important in Crack in Time, but Sony's lousy PS2 emulation has problems with that game so I'll just have to make due with ToD.

Since the Qwark interview in the install cutscene doesn't really go into detail about Dr. Nefarious, here's the Reader's Digest summary of his Up Your Arsenal history (I'd still recommend UYA if you get the chance; great game):
Dr. Nefarious was the evil genius who Captain Qwark made his name by beating - of course, as the game progresses, it's revealed that Qwark beat Nefarious almost entirely by accident (not that a little detail like that would stop Qwark from milking all the glory he can from that). Nefarious returns with another plan to conquer the galaxy, this time by turning all living beings into robots. Qwark's called upon to defeat Nefarious again, but naturally Ratchet and Clank get roped in as well and end up doing most of the actual work in defeating Nefarious. Up Your Arsenal's story ends with Nefarious and his butler Lawrence (Edit: don't know why I thought he was named Sebastian...) blown to a distant planet in a distant part of the galaxy...

Started R&C Future: A Crack in Time last night, and I'm really enjoying it so far, though as usual I'm enjoying the Ratchet stages just a bit more.

[broodwars]

Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood - Well, another month another Tales of Monkey Island adventure. I rather liked this one, even if it meant having to go back to the tedious Flotsam Islands from the first episode. The humor's pretty solid (following that ever-nutty adventure game logic, including a running gag about Guybrush being his own lawyer) and the puzzles surprisingly abstract in the game's second half (including a particularly devious map puzzle). As for the story, there's a definite emphasis on storytelling this time around and the game is better for it. My only real complaint about the story is that the "twist" is completely obvious (and has been telegraphed for quite a few episodes now) and the ending is...well...given away by the title. I love the last few lines of dialogue, though, and I'm really looking forward to the finale (which will hopefully arrive in November, as Telltale hasn't missed their monthly schedule yet).

Now for Tools of Destruction...

[Fencedude]

YAY I GOT COCONA BACK

I can finally use my all-girl party!

(and I find it hilarious that Cocona has a good sync with Cloche, while Croix only has normal)

So far, Cocona going IPD Positive and being taken away was the only event that actually moved me to any great extent. Sure it was forshadowed heavily, and obviously you'd get her back, but dammit, she was the only girl I really liked!

I don't really have much of an issue with Amarie, past her not being all that interesting. <3 dark skin and light hair though.

Edit: Or maybe I won't. Jesus, why does this game keep splitting the party up right when I have 4 female characters!?

Also, Luca? You're a copper plated bitch. Croix? Stick with the hot loli.

[superdry]

I finally was able to complete Hatsune Miku: Project Diva a week ago. I got 100% songs, costumes and room items. It only took my 90 hours to do so...ugh. I love the game and I adore Miku, but I'm happy that I can finally put that game down.

I've also resumed my Tales of Symphonia: DotNW game. I'm currently in the middle of Chapter 5. Nothing too amazing happening...currently just completing some side-quests. The skits are still fun to listen to. Monster catching is still hit or miss (I hate spending the extra time aligning the elemental grid hoping to catch a monster). Marta is still my fav character in the game as she is just too cute (kudos to Laura Bailey doing an awesome job).

I also started playing A Witch's Tale as that is one of NIS titles I've been waiting to play since it was announced, what, last year? Pretty fun so far, but it's more old-school. I'm only in the first world, and, so far, save points are scattered, but not rare, which is nice, but I hate the fact that there is no quicksave option (what portable RPG these days have no quicksave? errr....). I love the fact that the battles are turned base, and, yet again, another game that plays around with elemental weaknesses (which is fun, but time consuming figuring out and remembering which monsters are weak to which spells). Another annoying, but old-school, is the amount of EXP you gain after each battle. So, far in the beginning of the game, most battles net you single digit EXP. Luckily, you don't need too, too much to gain a level and your HP and MP refill after leveling up.

[Fencedude]

I flipped a coin (well, I flipped a virtual coin on Random.org) and ended up going with Luca. And, whowouldaknown, the Sacred Army is just as much lying jerks as Grand Bell.

Hopefully our protagonists can hurry up and form the required third faction, because both existing power bases in this game are incredibly irritating.

[Nork22]

Despite the fact that I wanted to go back to playing Mana Khemia 2, stupid Riviera has now hook me in. I've read that this game has multiple ending with the girls you recruit and I'm aiming for a Fia ending at the moment, only because she is the youngest of the lot, but mature beyond her years (and voiced by Wendee Lee). The gameplay mechanic is very different as all your actions are based what items you take into battle and you are only limited to 4 out of the 16 items you get. You also level up by the items you use as well, so it's good to take every item out to level your characters up faster.

At the same time you need to go into battles to earn TP which means you can explore the dungeons or look for treasures. This means with your battle you have to be smart in your battles to earn more TP which in turns nabs you more items for you to use.

I'm up to chapter 3 of the game where our group is off to some ruins in the forest. Nothing major about the story so far as it's typical RPG fare.

[pathos]

Edit: Or maybe I won't. Jesus, why does this game keep splitting the party up right when I have 4 female characters!?


Alot of rpg's like to split your party up endlessly. And, as much as I love the AR games, they seem to be the worst culprits about making you use people you don't wanna by repeatedly making someone run off to do their own thing.

Eventually you'll get everyone back to stay. It will be awhile before its permanent though.

edit - Oh yeah, I played more too. Found alot of ipd's to cure. Got some in the fan club. Up to like 79 I think. I'm in the second area past the hot spot, but I'll be damned if I remember the name of it.

I really thought I'd be able to synth some more recipe's. But, i got 2 out of the way. One happened to be whats probably croix's best weapon though. Team that up with an ipd with a good chance at instant death, and its been awhile since I had anything but boss/ipd fights that last longer than half a turn.

Team that up with Jacqli's My Slaves and Those memories songs, and I'm feeling mighty tough. I suppose there is about to be a nasty boss fight to teach me some humility right around the corner.

Of course, if so, it would be a first for this game. The only thing thats been hard about it so far is the technical glitches adding artificial difficulty to defending, especially jerkiness and slowdowns.

[ADC]

It's not to say that Nobuo Uematsu never attempted to insert his guitar godhood into his game music, but at least he reigned it in most of the time. The clowns who made the fight music for the MK games need to learn from his example. Playing the guitar as fast as you can does not make for good music. I'm still in week 1 of third term, by the way, as I have been for the past four game hours, as I'm trying to track down all the ingredients I need to get all this synthesizing done. Not, of course, that I have enough AP for it to make a difference.

[Fencedude]

FFFFFFF the Jacqli Robo fight kicked my ass. I ended up turning it to Easy because the guarding pisses me off.

Anyway, well past that now. Luca is mostly dead (but slightly alive) and right now I'm making my way through the elevators to Grand Bell. Having four Vanguards and one Reyvateil was exceptionally obnoxious, and then they go and take Cocona and Amerie out of the party, for no reason other than Leglius' pathological paranoia. *sigh*

Finally really getting the hang of the battle system, after checking a FAQ. They really didn't explain it very well in the game.

And the localization is definitely sub-par, I feel like I"m playing a game from the early Playstation era. I'm glad someone took it in the neck over this, and hopefully AT3 won't be affected.

(srsly guys, Ishikawa Jean is obviously female. Did the stripping at the end of the attack animation not clue you in? *sigh*)

Edit: Oh yeah, and I've got legions of complaints about the story, the gameplay, the characters, the translation...but god damn I love this game. There must be something wrong with me.

[Fencedude]

It's not to say that Nobuo Uematsu never attempted to insert his guitar godhood into his game music, but at least he reigned it in most of the time. The clowns who made the fight music for the MK games need to learn from his example. Playing the guitar as fast as you can does not make for good music. I'm still in week 1 of third term, by the way, as I have been for the past four game hours, as I'm trying to track down all the ingredients I need to get all this synthesizing done. Not, of course, that I have enough AP for it to make a difference.

What, you don't like shredding guitar solos?

[ADC]

It's not to say that Nobuo Uematsu never attempted to insert his guitar godhood into his game music, but at least he reigned it in most of the time. The clowns who made the fight music for the MK games need to learn from his example. Playing the guitar as fast as you can does not make for good music. I'm still in week 1 of third term, by the way, as I have been for the past four game hours, as I'm trying to track down all the ingredients I need to get all this synthesizing done. Not, of course, that I have enough AP for it to make a difference.
What, you don't like shredding guitar solos?
No, not really. I always thought Van Halen songs were better when, before recording, someone in the band said, "Now, Eddie, this is the take, we're recording the song, so stop fucking around with your guitar and play the song." And in this case, it just doesn't make any sense to play the guitar that way. It doesn't serve the song, it doesn't serve the game. It just sounds like some dude made an audition tape to get into a rock band and then slapped that down and said, "Does this sound like a knock-down drag-out fight to you?"

[Consignia]

My god, I cannot believe this game made it into production. The load times are criminal in game that is installed on the HD, Sceanario mode is one massive tedious clusterfuck, and I hear that the netcode is terrible.

Still, the core fighting is still fun to me, and outside of having to fighting that cheating final boss, it's a solid game underneath all the shit. I just wish put a bit of effort into the presentation. The prices on the costume customisations are extortiate though, I'm gonna have to grind the hell out of it to get Asuka back to the one I made in Tekken 5, which looked awesome.

[pathos]

Well, Jacqli's route complete, game over. I probably could have finished the game 15 hours or so quicker, I imagine. I spent alot of time farming there near the end though. Sadly, even with all that farming, I still had quite a few synthesis recipe's I couldn't ever complete.

Revy's stayed level 90 until the end. The level for everyone else was somewhere around 70 there at the end, I think. I contained 94 ipd's, I think. 88 made it into the fanclub. All were cured except for 1, that wanted an item i couldn't make.

Strangely enough, I got every single conversation topic in Jacqli's chart. I didn't even come close to that with Misha or Shurelia in the first game. Kind of makes me want to go back and play the first game again, especially since it is really superior to the second game, in most facets.

I have a save on Cloches path, just before I chose between her and Jacqli. If I wanted to, I could probably crank it up and get her ending relatively quickly. Well, much quicker than I finished up the first time, since I spent so much time grinding. But, if I ever did come back and play a second time, i could see me starting up from scratch and going Luca's route, just to see the different path there near the beginning.

Besides making Luca and Cloche barely likeable early on in the game, the only real complaint I have is mostly aimed at NIS, not Gust. Please do a better job with your localizations, please.

Speaking of which, I didn't have the crashing problem in the final battle. Sailed through it just fine.

And I do mean sailed. The part one of the final battle ended when I did somewhere in the neighborhood of 760k damage firing off Jacqli's song My Memories, on its fourth stage (which gets some help from the girls in the first game).

Part 2 ended up when I fired off the same spell, but only from level 3 that time, and did something like 550k damage that time.

A hard game it is not. I wonder, did this thing have a harder setting? Normally I don't go over normal for difficulty with any game. If I play this one again, I might have to crank it up though.

[pathos]

My god, I cannot believe this game made it into production. The load times are criminal in game that is installed on the HD, Sceanario mode is one massive tedious clusterfuck, and I hear that the netcode is terrible.

Still, the core fighting is still fun to me, and outside of having to fighting that cheating final boss, it's a solid game underneath all the shit. I just wish put a bit of effort into the presentation.

Just started playing it myself too. Probably play it till Dragon Age Origins comes out next week, at least. Enjoying it so far, although the load times do suck, seriously.

I've read alot of complaints about how the graphics suck for Tekken 6. I don't think they look particularly amazing or anything, mostly just competent. But, it does make me think about about how many people brag about how good Street Fighter 4 looks.

.....

Does it really look that good? I've never really understood that at all. Yeah, compared to like street fighter 2, it looks pretty amazing. But, compared to anything recent, 4 doesn't look like anything special. What exactly am I missing here? The decision on what is good graphics and what is bad graphics seems pretty damn arbitrary to me.

Oh, back to Tekken 6 I guess.

The prices on the costume customisations are extortiate though, I'm gonna have to grind the hell out of it to get Asuka back to the one I made in Tekken 5, which looked awesome.

I was really thinking about how much of a time sink the customization was going to be, until I started playing the scenario. Since customization items drop randomly during the scenario missions, usually 1-3 each mission, and you can keep redoing the same mission if you want, I figure I'll just go that route. And the drops tie in to who you are controlling at the time, so unlock who you like, then just use them.

Of course, going that direction, you have to take what they give you, and that might not be exactly what you'd like....

[Fencedude]

Man, this game's plot just gets weirder and weirder.

After spending some time fighting IPDs (have 31 right now) and getting Diathinode Crystals, I made my way up to Gaea, and am dealing with Infelsphere weirdness. If this deepening the bond between Luca and Cloche doesn't lead to hot lesbian sex I"m gonna be pissed.

Got fake Luca back in the party, so thats good, finally started to do some dive therapy so I can use more GIRL POWER skills and eventually Replakia.

I think I'm going to go for Jacqli's ending. If I ever replay I'll go for the others. I left a save right before the first decision point, so that'll speed things up a bit, since it seems there's no NG+.

[EmperorBrandon]

Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. Pulled out of the backlog, since I finally got a PSP and :Lenneth among the games to go with it; but :Silmeria is technically a prequel, so I ought to play it first (and PSP :L has some :S references worked into it too, right? Though I bet none of this actually matters.)

As far as story is concerned, I would say it's better to play Lenneth first actually. I would think some things later on in Silmeria might be more confusing if you played it first.

[Fencedude]

As far as story is concerned, I would say it's better to play Lenneth first actually. I would think some things later on in Silmeria might be more confusing if you played it first.

Nothing will make Silmeria's plot not horrendously confusing.

[Senku]

I think I'm going to go for Jacqli's ending. If I ever replay I'll go for the others. I left a save right before the first decision point, so that'll speed things up a bit, since it seems there's no NG+.

If I ever replay this game, Jacqli would be the only reason; and I kinda wish I went with her on my first playthrough. Definitely use some kind of guide, as I heard her cosmosphere can get tricky.

[Consignia]

Also, Yumeko is so tsundere, she's going to end up in tears before the end of the story.

Yup, I was right.

Just finished Ryo's story, I think it was slightly better overall than Ai's, which gets a tedious towards the end, with her mum and all. I was sort of hoping for a twist with Yumeko that she'd be a male as well, and Ryo's coming out would inspire her(him) to as well, but given the fact she is one of the most femine looking members of the cast, and the fact she has the biggest breasts, I guessed it wasn't going to happen. Hopefully she'll be a playable idol in a future game.

On to Eri's story, now.

[broodwars]

Finally got a chance to sit down and play some Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Hey, a mascot platformer! They still make those! I'm about halfway through the game (I just arrived at the Dinosaur Planet Sargasso and acquired the Decrypter) and so far the game's been quite fun. It's clear that this is more a 3rd person shooter than a platformer by this point, but the platforming itself isn't half bad and the shooting really only suffers from a somewhat dodgy camera at times.

So far I only have two real complaints: first, the Clank sections with the little Pikmin-esque Zonis are kind of lame. Second, because this is a Sony-produced PS3 game from 2007, that naturally means that there's Sixaxis motion control shoved in here where it doesn't belong. Given that the only motion control worse than the Wiimote's is Sony's Sixaxis, that's never a good sign. While the motion control here is probably the best I've seen on the system, the bar's so low that doesn't mean much. The sections where you steer Ratchet around for orbital landings; fly with Clank's wings(though the Sixaxis doesn't like any motion control greater than "very subtle", so if you try to say...jerk the controller in a given direction to try to steer away from an oncoming wall, the game will completely ignore you); and rip through walls with the Gyro laser turned out alright. Unfortunately, Insomniac decided to get cute and put in these stupid door-cracking sections where you have to play a version of Labyrinth, and they completely suck.

Also played the demo for Fat Princess and the Ratchet demo for Crack in Time, neither of which I cared much for (Fat Princess because it's a chaotic party game, and the Ratchet demo because it's just a 5-minute version of the game I'm already playing). I really want to download Trine from the PSN store, but $20 is more than I think I'm willing to pay for a download-only game. It does look sweet, though.

[MadL]

Finally got a chance to sit down and play some Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Hey, a mascot platformer! They still make those! I'm about halfway through the game (I just arrived at the Dinosaur Planet Sargasso and acquired the Decrypter) and so far the game's been quite fun. It's clear that this is more a 3rd person shooter than a platformer by this point, but the platforming itself isn't half bad and the shooting really only suffers from a somewhat dodgy camera at times.

So far I only have two real complaints: first, the Clank sections with the little Pikmin-esque Zonis are kind of lame. Second, because this is a Sony-produced PS3 game from 2007, that naturally means that there's Sixaxis motion control shoved in here where it doesn't belong. Given that the only motion control worse than the Wiimote's is Sony's Sixaxis, that's never a good sign. While the motion control here is probably the best I've seen on the system, the bar's so low that doesn't mean much. The sections where you steer Ratchet around for orbital landings; fly with Clank's wings(though the Sixaxis doesn't like any motion control greater than "very subtle", so if you try to say...jerk the controller in a given direction to try to steer away from an oncoming wall, the game will completely ignore you); and rip through walls with the Gyro laser turned out alright. Unfortunately, Insomniac decided to get cute and put in these stupid door-cracking sections where you have to play a version of Labyrinth, and they completely suck.

Oh, yeah - I remember those @#?$%! SixAxis parts of the game. I think I hated those even more than you. With the door-cracking ones, I was so bad that the game eventually stopped and asked if I wanted to replace the SixAxis control with normal joystick control - though oddly I never could get it to accept "Yes, please!" as an answer.

Wasn't a big fan of the Zoni puzzles in Tools of Destruction - they've replaced them in Crack in Time's Clank stages with something better, IMO. Still challenging, but more emphasis on thinking the puzzle through than on being able to push the jump button in time.

[gnikdrazil]

So far I only have two real complaints: first, the Clank sections with the little Pikmin-esque Zonis are kind of lame. Second, because this is a Sony-produced PS3 game from 2007, that naturally means that there's Sixaxis motion control shoved in here where it doesn't belong. Given that the only motion control worse than the Wiimote's is Sony's Sixaxis, that's never a good sign. While the motion control here is probably the best I've seen on the system, the bar's so low that doesn't mean much. The sections where you steer Ratchet around for orbital landings; fly with Clank's wings(though the Sixaxis doesn't like any motion control greater than "very subtle", so if you try to say...jerk the controller in a given direction to try to steer away from an oncoming wall, the game will completely ignore you); and rip through walls with the Gyro laser turned out alright. Unfortunately, Insomniac decided to get cute and put in these stupid door-cracking sections where you have to play a version of Labyrinth, and they completely suck.


Do not worry because the developers allow you to turn off the motion control. I can't remember where it is in the options, but if you fail a bunch of times at the hacking game, it will prompt you if you want to turn off motion control. Afterward, I think it only stays on for the Tornado Launcher. Once it is turned off, the mini-games aren't as annoying.

[broodwars]

So far I only have two real complaints: first, the Clank sections with the little Pikmin-esque Zonis are kind of lame. Second, because this is a Sony-produced PS3 game from 2007, that naturally means that there's Sixaxis motion control shoved in here where it doesn't belong. Given that the only motion control worse than the Wiimote's is Sony's Sixaxis, that's never a good sign. While the motion control here is probably the best I've seen on the system, the bar's so low that doesn't mean much. The sections where you steer Ratchet around for orbital landings; fly with Clank's wings(though the Sixaxis doesn't like any motion control greater than "very subtle", so if you try to say...jerk the controller in a given direction to try to steer away from an oncoming wall, the game will completely ignore you); and rip through walls with the Gyro laser turned out alright. Unfortunately, Insomniac decided to get cute and put in these stupid door-cracking sections where you have to play a version of Labyrinth, and they completely suck.


Do not worry because the developers allow you to turn off the motion control. I can't remember where it is in the options, but if you fail a bunch of times at the hacking game, it will prompt you if you want to turn off motion control. Afterward, I think it only stays on for the Tornado Launcher. Once it is turned off, the mini-games aren't as annoying.

Yeah, I saw that in the Options menu while I was looking for the "Invert Camera" option. I left it alone, because the game warned that if I turned off the motion control, I wouldn't be able to perform various necessary functions in the game (like controlling the stupid Tornado gun). I'll probably turn them off now the next time I jump into the game and see if I do any better. Unfortunately, though, with the Sony Magic Wand coming we'll probably have to deal with this all again all too soon.

Which reminds me: Insomniac, you were kind enough to have an "Invert Y-Axis" control for the camera...but you weren't kind enough to put an "Invert Y-Axis" control for movement in the Star Fox sections? Boo! That said, this is probably the best Star Fox game I've played in ages.

EDIT: Ok, yeah. Turning off the motion control makes the door-hacking and flight sequences about infinitely more enjoyable, not to mention playable.

[pathos]

If I ever replay this game, Jacqli would be the only reason; and I kinda wish I went with her on my first playthrough. Definitely use some kind of guide, as I heard her cosmosphere can get tricky.

Not really. It seems that way, but I don't think it was possible to screw it up. You might get kicked out, but then you'd just go in and try again.

Hrm, I don't ever remember if it was possible to get kicked in Jacqli's to be honest. It was possible to get kicked in the 4th cosmo you could go into. I remember that clearly, since it happehend to me. I think Jacqli's just forced you into taking the correct choice after some dialogue.

[Nork22]

The demo....

It's now up at the JP PSN store and weighs up a mere 86MB.

Much like the first game's demo there are 2 levels offered.

The first level is basically a tutorial stage where you go thru some of the controls and the basic gameplay mechanics of the game. For returning Valkyria Chronicle players, while the controls are tweaked slightly, it feels as though nothing has changed (which is a good thing). Hitting square pulls up the aim reticle and it also serves a second purpose of cycling thru you inventory/actions. Left and Right shoulder buttons now controls the X-axis camera while triangle and X controls the Y-axis camera as well as the Zoom if you are using a sniper. The D-pad serves as "walk" while the thumb nub is your "run". Took me a bit to get used to the way the game plays again, and I was running up the map to earn an S ranking on it.

The second level shows off how the multiple maps work. You need to capture the spawn point of the first map which then gives you access to the second part of the map. With this sort of implementation, I definitely can see a lot of potential in the full game. Also, the gameplay seems faster as well. And I'm happy to see that they got rid of the silly rag doll physics from the first game.

After playing the demo (twice), I'm pretty impressed about it. Although I was initially disappointed to learn that the sequel was heading tothe PSP, I never doubted the developers in delivering a quality product. The game certainly translated well into a handheld game, and I can't wait to play the full game when it comes out.

[Consignia]

The demo....

It's now up at the JP PSN store and weighs up a mere 86MB.

Yup, I've had a whizz on this myself. Pretty nifty stuff. The multi-tiered maps will definitely help recreate the scale.

It still feels a bit wing-clipped compared to the original, as it's constrained by the platform. I'm definitely getting the full game, but it doesn't fully capture the magic of the original. It's certainly a lot better than I expected.

[Mateo_home]

Playing Atelier Annie and already up to December of the second year. Fitz is adorable and Liese is hot, as they're my partner characters. Right now I dunno what to think of this game. I have to find a certain monster for Amelie to gain info to defeat another monster for the assignment. Battles in this game are that the enemies are either too weak or too strong. Not a lot of strategy involved since this is considered a SRPG. You don't get a lot of money from them either. That comes from guild jobs, but sadly for later items you have to create them or go to further destinations. Time certainly flies here. I mean, why can't time freeze when you create items like Mana Khemia? In fact, at this rate I should have gotten the Ocarina of Time and learned Song of Time by now so I could go back to the beginning of the first year. Because if I don't complete the resort project and marry the prince by the end of the third year, a skull kid wearing a strange mask is going to summon the moon with an ugly face to crash and destroy the island.

I pray Atelier Rorona isn't going to be too much like this. Having gathering spots on one screen and short time. Not with it's AMAZING PLAYSTATION THREE TECHNOLOGEEEEEEE!!!

[broodwars]

Played a bit more of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destuction (for the sake of brevity, I'm going to abbreviate this as R&C:ToD from now on) and got up to the Ice level. The sequence you have to do to open Pirate doors is pretty hilarious, as is the Groovatron for that matter.

What I'd really like to talk about is that game I didn't think I'd pick up for $20. Well, I did so I'll talk about...

Trine - I'm nearly halfway through and this game is incredible, and yes I do think it is worth that Braid-level of highway robbery it costs up on PSN. Hell, the soundtrack alone is worth the $20. Anyway, for those that don't know Trine is similar to an old 2D sidescroller like Castlevania III: you play as 3 characters at once, switching between them as necessary to traverse a gothic 2.5D environment full of skeletons, skeletons, skeletons, and occasionally bats or a boss.

The wizard can conjure up boxes or ramps to your drawn-in specifications as well as move objects, and although pretty useless in combat is very much necessary to get around the environments and find secrets. The warrior is...well...a stupid guy with a sword and shield and you pretty much use him for fighting when you get mobbed or to block an incoming attack or debris. The thief is by far the most useful character in the game, being able to kill enemies from afar with her bow & arrows; light torches; and (most importantly) use her grappling hook to attach to any wooden surface and swing across chasms or up onto ledges. This means most of the secrets in the game are only accessible by her, and she'll be the one that dies the most.

My only real complaint so far is that it's pretty damn hard to get the grappling hook where you want it (you can't see the grappling hook when you fire it out until it hits a surface you can swing on), and in that curious tradition of 2D games with grappling hooks you can't swing to gain momentum once you've stopped moving on a grapple. It's also pretty hard to tell in the environment what is a wooden surface and what isn't. The game also could have used quite a bit more enemy variety.

This is a game about secrets, though, and man there are a lot of them. Scattered throughout each rather lengthy level are "Experience bottles". Get 50 of those and your characters level up and can gain new skills. Getting all of them within a given level is quite hard and requires pretty good reflexes and a willingness to experiment. Thankfully, the game seems designed for there to often be multiple solutions to getting many of the bottles. And I can't say enough good things about the music, which is fully orchestrated with a new song every level; is well-composed; and has a very "full" sound to it that's hard to find in games these days. The voice acting is also quite good, especially the British narrator (the British seem to be born to be fantasy narrators) and the game itself is gorgeous. I can't fathom how they squeezed this game down to only 355 MB.

[Norenia]

Holy crap, I can't believe Heavenly Sword has been out this long and I haven't rented it until now.

Despite the lack of jumping controls (there is aerial movement, but only through specific combo types), the style combat system is pulled off well. Auto-blocking (when not attacking) allows for excellent counter opportunities, and switching styles mid-combo is a great way to catch enemies (well, the small-fry anyway) off guard. The Glyph system and the points you get through combat are somewhat strange at first, but then you find yourself in an unbroken attack combo and gaining Glyph points like mad, completing the glyph bonus for the subsection before you're even halfway done with it.

The characters... holy crap, the characters.
Andy Serkis. Enough said? An acting masterpiece; if I were to recommend a reason to buy the game, it would be for that alone.

[Talyn]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - This has been very enjoyable so far, never played the first one which is in my backlog. I made the mistake of watching a friend play anti-reg so I went with pro-reg and I'm enjoying the story even more. I feel like I'm one of the bad guys to a degree and ofcourse dead pool is my captain with iron man,ice man, and gambit (interchanged with wolverine) is a solid team.

Ratchet and Clank Future : A Crack in Time - Haven't opened it yet, but it is up next. I finally finished Quest for Booty though. So I'm ready storyline wise.

[gnikdrazil]

I just completed all of the missions to get back my sister. I had to kill some leader hunters, escort a super tank, and take on the second boss, supreme hunter. The supreme would have been a challenge had I continually took him head on. I kept jumping around the entire arena until I found a high enough space that the supreme couldn't reach him. He would jump up that high but try to throw an object at me. It would hit the ledge, and I would hit him with my sniper spike. That leaves less than 10 to go.

[broodwars]

Trine - I've completed the game on Medium Difficulty with all Experience and all Secret Items acquired. That last level was just annoying, bringing back a 2D gameplay type I hated back in the day and I hasn't gotten much better since: racing up a vertical obstacle course while lava races up after you, with this ghostly asshole creating boxes and spiked balls in front of you to keep you from progressing. Thankfully, the respawn with your remaining characters when you fall into the lava is pretty generous but it's still a pretty hard stage and it took me a while to figure out that the enemies at the top would infinitely respawn if I just kept fighting them.

With that dealt with, I've been working on the trophies. For the most part, the trophies are fairly standard like gathering all the experience and Secret Items. Others are tricky but fun, such as building a tower of 12 Wizard objects and getting him up to stand on top of it all; grappling 5 times in a row without stopping or changing direction with the Thief; or killing 50 enemies on a stage with the Knight's Charge ability. There are some, though, that are just ridiculous. For instance, I'm working on one now where you have to create 500 Wizard objects in a single stage. That's 500 times you have to "draw" boxes and planks, and it's just as fun as you'd think it would be. There's also this ludicrously hard one that involves hitting 3 enemies with one salvo of arrows, which is a lot harder than you'd think it would be and it's a damn Bronze! Oh, and let's not forget completing the final level on Very Hard without a single character death.

Overall, Trine is an excellent game and people who love 2D sidescrolling platformers should love it.

[ADC]

The unwinnable story battle. Is there any greater bane in RPGs? Sadly, yes, there is. There's the inexplicably unwinnable story battle in which all characters have plenty of HP and MP and the enemy is nearly dead. Even worse? There's the second inexplicably unwinnable story battle in which all characters have plenty of HP and MP and the same enemy is nearly dead. Worse than that? The third battle is winnable despite the enemy being just as strong as it was in the first two battles, with the same tactics, and with no new story/plot information that makes the third battle winnable.

I mean, if you're going to make a game which requires some battles to be unwinnable, at least make it plausible. When Beatrix dumps a Stock Break on all the FF9ers and takes them all down to 1 HP or less, that's plausible. It sucks, but it's plausible. But if the battle is clearly being won by the player and nothing happens in the battle to make the enemy turn the tables on the player's party, it stretches credulity to the breaking point.

I still hate Flay.

[MadL]

Finished the main story in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time last night, and beat the bonus boss tonight. Bosses were tough - Ratchet had to just about empty his arsenal - but fair (though I might've been saying otherwise in the heat of battle ;)). Overall, I'd say R&CF:CiT is a fun game - a solid addition to the franchise. I'd probably put it bit ahead of Tools of Destruction. The great humor's still there, right down to the throwaway comments made by characters during gameplay. The preview ads for each weapon were great; they had that retro-'50's feel to them a la Ren & Stimpy.

Overall, compared to R&CF:ToD, R&CF:CiT is more of an incremental improvement rather than a huge leap forward. Insomniac fixed problems from ToD - no more @#$#%&*! SixAxis-controlled mini-games, thank goodness (although one of Ratchet's weapons is still controlled by the SixAxis; I didn't end up using that one much). Some favorite weapons from ToD make a return, like the Groovitron and Mr. Zurkon. They've added a bunch of new mini-games; thinking about it, it's kind of amazing how they were able to come up with so many different ones. Some are variations on old themes, and sadly there's nothing as fun as the pirate door-opening game in ToD, but overall they've got a good selection all around; there weren't any mini-games that made me go, "Urrgh, not this again", as sometimes happened in the past.

No real new innovations; for the most part, they're giving Ratchet & Clank fans more of what they want, and that's not a bad thing. Lots of fun - after finishing the main story, I ended up staying up much later last night than I'd planned trying to unlock bonus content before I went to bed, which is usually a good sign for a game, IMO. Definitely worth it for Ratchet & Clank fans, and worth at least trying the demos if you're not sure.

[pathos]

My copy finally came in yesterday. Got it installed, but only had an hour and a half to play it last night before bed.

So far, it's been as great as I'd hoped. I've only been waiting on this game for what, 10 years now? :P

Can't really decide what I want to play though. Saw a bit of the beginning story for a Dhaelish elf warrior, Human Noble rogue, and Elf mage. I'll probably try out city elf (any class) before I make a final decision. Kind of leaning towards a rogue class though.

[mike.motaku]

Finished the main story in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
No real new innovations; for the most part, they're giving Ratchet & Clank fans more of what they want, and that's not a bad thing. Lots of fun - after finishing the main story, I ended up staying up much later last night than I'd planned trying to unlock bonus content before I went to bed, which is usually a good sign for a game, IMO. Definitely worth it for Ratchet & Clank fans, and worth at least trying the demos if you're not sure.

The only problems I have with this franchise is that there are no natural stopping points so I end up playing it for way more hours than I originally intended. Unless of course they throw in a racing game level and I totally suck at those.

[broodwars]

Trine - Wow, my hand hurts after spending about 1 1/2 hours working on getting my final trophy in Trine: "Better than Developers!" That involves getting through the final level on Very Hard without losing any characters, something that's rather hard when you have the computer conjuring platforms in front of you in the middle of jumps while you're trying to out-race a rising pool of lava. It took a lot of memorization, but I finally did it to get Platinum #10. I can put this game to rest now and get back to Ratchet.

That does remind me, though: while we're talking about video game cliches, how about that rising pool of lava that magically rises faster the better you're doing at out-racing it? There were sections of that last level where I was just using the grapple hook to gain vast amounts of ground on the stuff, yet 2 seconds later it's right there a few feet under me again. Really, if you're badass enough at a game to be able to do that well, the game shouldn't rubber-band you just because it can. Come to think of it, that's a lesson Nintendo has yet to learn with the Mario Kart series.

[ADC]

Come to think of it, that's a lesson Nintendo has yet to learn with the Mario Kart series.
I remember back in the day, I double-lapped the field on SMK's Bowser's Castle 2. Yes, double-lapped. As in, I finished lap 5 before any of them finished lap 3. I was using Luigi on 100cc. Maybe the rubber band effect isn't so bad.

Meanwhile, it appears that I've walked straight into an F in Mana Khemia 2, as there's only one Beginning Seed available in either of the two main characters' paths and I didn't use it to make an Elixir. Oops! And I'm not sure if my alternate save is from early enough that I can fix the error.

[broodwars]

Come to think of it, that's a lesson Nintendo has yet to learn with the Mario Kart series.
I remember back in the day, I double-lapped the field on SMK's Bowser's Castle 2. Yes, double-lapped. As in, I finished lap 5 before any of them finished lap 3. I was using Luigi on 100cc. Maybe the rubber band effect isn't so bad.

The rubber-banding wasn't instituted in the Mario Kart series till the N64 version, and it's been there ever since along with everyone's other favorite addition to the franchise: the Blue Shell.

[Fencedude]

Come to think of it, that's a lesson Nintendo has yet to learn with the Mario Kart series.
I remember back in the day, I double-lapped the field on SMK's Bowser's Castle 2. Yes, double-lapped. As in, I finished lap 5 before any of them finished lap 3. I was using Luigi on 100cc. Maybe the rubber band effect isn't so bad.

Meanwhile, it appears that I've walked straight into an F in Mana Khemia 2, as there's only one Beginning Seed available in either of the two main characters' paths and I didn't use it to make an Elixir. Oops! And I'm not sure if my alternate save is from early enough that I can fix the error.

Oh, Ulrika has more Beginning Seeds...but not until her final dungeon.

So if you don't have a save from before you took the Elixer assignment you're screwed.

[Mateo_home]

Fire Emblem Gaiden showed up on the Japanese VC, so I of course got it. People say this is the black sheep of the franchise. And you know what? I only got up to the fifth battle and I like this game. One of the best parts is that there's no limit to weapon usage. I didn't see any limits. Compared to the first game, the graphics are an improvement as the enemy bandits actually walk rather than limp their way over. The music is alot more tolerable to listen to. Has classic 8-bit nostalgia. There's also parts int the game where you can walk around freely. Like in an RPG. Not much to do other than recruit, promote, or find items. I accidently promoted Grey into a Knight. As I was hoping for an animation sequence, but all you get is informing text (he was level 6). Though like FE8, the game quite easy. As I haven't really ran into any obstacles yet (Alm is awesome though). And my party is lacking girls. I did recruit Silk. Sisters are different in this game as well. To heal an ally, it costs 1 HP, and they gain no EXP points from it. On the plus side, they can attack. With Resire (I forgot what the English name is) and gain some of the enemy's HP. I call it Giga Drain. If anything Nintelligent should remake this game for the DS. Along with lighter color and cuter character designs.

Oh, I thought New Super Mario Bros. Wii would be the last game I purchase this year. I was wrong. There's still Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks next month. How could I forget about that game?

[Ty]

If anything Nintelligent should remake this game for the DS. Along with lighter color and cuter character designs.

I can appreciate the sentiment, but I'd rather they make new games instead of re-hashing old ones. Making the classic titles available to play seems like enough for those curious to know what they were like. I especially hope they bring back the character designer from the Wii and GBA games for the next FE game, even if it is a remake of an old title.

It seems to me like we're due for a new FE game, or at least an announcement that one is in development. Radiant Dawn has been around for a while now and we could use a new console installment in the series.

[ADC]

I especially hope they bring back the character designer from the Wii and GBA games for the next FE game, even if it is a remake of an old title.
Mmm, generic animé-style designs. My Wiimote's getting stiff. (In other words, that's exactly what I don't want to see in a new FE. But if that's what we get for character portraits, I'd live with it so long as the guy who designed the 3D graphics was escorted out of the building.)

[Mateo_home]

It seems to me like we're due for a new FE game, or at least an announcement that one is in development. Radiant Dawn has been around for a while now and we could use a new console installment in the series.

Same here. Though if it's a remake of an old game, I'd prefer it on the DS. For a new game, put it on the Wii. In fact we're due for a new Fire Emblem game as a whole. Radiant Dawn was a sequel to Path of Radiance. And the DS game was remake. Yeah we need a new game along with a new Lord and setting. And I'd like it to be a girl and surpass Micaiah. And stay the main character. I love Ike and all, but he shouldn't have taken over as the lead as he already had his game. It's just as silly if Touma were to take over as the lead in To Aru Kageru no Railgun. And she has to qualify to be playable in Smash Bros. 4. Yeah yeah, Brawl is a year old. But I'm still pissed off at Sakurai for no having any of the girls of that series playable characters.

Also on the subject of overdue games, and I'm aware no one on this forum cares, but we need another Pokemon Stadium style game on the Wii. Those Wiiware titles don't count. The graphics suck. Though there is that Pikachu spin-off game coming out.

[Mateo_home]

Mmm, generic animé-style designs. My Wiimote's getting stiff. (In other words, that's exactly what I don't want to see in a new FE. But if that's what we get for character portraits, I'd live with it so long as the guy who designed the 3D graphics was escorted out of the building.)

Aww...but Fire Emblem is the only Nintendo game to have generic anime style designs. Pretty much everything else they make the characters are drawn by people who are only capable of drawing stick figures. I'm referring to those Mii games.

[Ty]

Mmm, generic animé-style designs.

I don't think they're generic. Besides, by that logic pretty much anything besides the ultra-detailed original artist illustrations could be called generic in the world of anime. Maybe it depends upon where you started with the franchise, but to me the character designs from PoR/RD are a major reason why I even like FE. To each his own I guess, but who wants realistic character styles in a fantasy style game?

I mostly just don't want to see more of what's in Shadow Dragon. That style is fugly, remake or not. It's like some blind and cross-eyed artist's interpretation of Leiji Matsumoto.

[broodwars]

I'm all for another console Fire Emblem...so long as Nintendo stops treating it like their incarnation of Dragon Quest and doing only incremental gameplay upgrades every 5 years or so. For all the OCD problems I had with Radiant Dawn, I really liked it...but since then I've played Valkyria Chronicles and I really don't know if I can go back to the same ol' "minimum effort, maximum profit" (Nintendo's motto of late) Fire Emblem shit. To me, Valkyria Chronicles was the ultimate expression of what Fire Emblem should be like, so I don't want another Fire Emblem until Nintendo's willing to take that next step and bring the series into the next-generation.

But hey, it's Nintendo. They'll probably add 5 polygons to the models, add one incremental useless feature like multiplayer (oh wait...), and then call it a day. And I'll probably buy it anyway since games of that type are so rare on Nintendo systems. -_-'

[Draneor]

My copy arrived yesterday via Royal Post. I only managed to put in a couple hours last night, but here are my initial thoughts.

The extras in the LE version were pretty nice. Five post cards, a 40+ page artbook, and a poster. There is also a paper box.

Agarest's opening song was kind of bland and the computer generated animation wasn't really wasn't doing it for me. The drawn artwork, both character portraits and CGs, are fairly well done. The constant shrinking of certain characters' portraits is annoying. Unless they're trying to indicate perspective, I cannot fathom why they are doing this. In addition, the backgrounds could have used a bit more attention.

Combat is turn-based and fairly complex. Hard mode is actually a bit challenging, and I almost died on the second battle. I don't find the battles particularly fun. More like tedious and repetitive. Movement on the world map is restricted. All in all, it feels like Cross Edge.

As for the story, the game opens with some long-winded narrative about gods, light and darkness, and the destruction of the world. I wasn't really paying attention because I bought this game for one reason and one reason alone. Sadly, it then goes into a long discourse between the main character and another about the justice of a certain war. There is some combat. And finally, a girl appears.

Ellis is cute. But she's a loli elf so that was a given.

[Mateo_home]

To me, Valkyria Chronicles was the ultimate expression of what Fire Emblem should be like,

I hear that. I'd love to see Fire Emblem borrow some of the mechanics from Valkyria Chronicles. Particularly ditch the grid system and have your unit run around freely. And have the game fully voiced. Though I doubt that'll ever happen as Nintendo has some sort of grudge against voice acting.

[pathos]

Well, I had half decided to play a dps warrior type, and played for a couple hours last night. Got through the opening story, and the initiation + battle. Fairly happy with my choice, although I probably hosed up my skill points selection.

But, then I made the mistake of taking a peek at the possible party members, their classes, and which ones I would want to carry around with me. Now, I'd rather be playing a tanking warrior instead (believe me, and dps warrior does not do a good job of tanking at all).

So, it's very possible I will restart once again tonight when I get home :sweat:

I must say, some of the battles have been brutal. I actually had to turn the difficulty down to easy to get through a battle with an ogre. It's been awhile since i last played Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, Icewind Dale, or Planescape Torment, so my feeling for tactics in this kind of game are coming back very slowly.

[Senku]

The constant shrinking of certain characters' portraits is annoying. Unless they're trying to indicate perspective, I cannot fathom why they are doing this. In addition, the backgrounds could have used a bit more attention.

It seems that the shrinking/growing portrait parts only happen when they're also showing sprites. It doesn't bother me too much. I'm also indifferent to the backgrounds. As long as looks fine and doing it's job, I don't really care.

Combat is turn-based and fairly complex. Hard mode is actually a bit challenging, and I almost died on the second battle. I don't find the battles particularly fun. More like tedious and repetitive. Movement on the world map is restricted. All in all, it feels like Cross Edge.

Yeah, I didn't go for hard mode, playing on normal. Even then, I couldn't put Ellis in any line of fire, she would die easily and I had to restart.

But I like this battle system more then Cross Edge. It's not "twitch finger" combos, you can plan out every aspect of your turn. Being able to plan your movements, and have characters in certain extended areas to bait the enemy, then using them to 1) Kill an enemy that's nowhere near them and 2) Avoid damage from the enemies they baited. And I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface in terms of strategy using the Extended system. Plus I like that the character/enemy with the fastest AGI does NOT necessarily go first every time, AP is taken into account as well. Sure, it's not Disgaea; but I've played games with worse combat systems.

As for the world map, I prefer a point-to-point movement system IF movement otherwise would seem pointless (which it does a bit in Cross Edge)



As for the story, the game opens with some long-winded narrative about... gods, light and darkness, and the destruction of the world. I wasn't really paying attention because I bought this game for one reason and one reason alone. Sadly, it then goes into a long discourse between the main character and another about the justice of a certain war. There is some combat. And finally, a girl appears.

Yep, tuned out most of it myself also. But I feel that I should applaud their effort in naming EVERY god in the game; instead of just using the generic "King/God of Darkness". And I figured a cute girl would make the first main character turn his back on whatever they're fighting about.

Ellis is cute. But she's a loli elf so that was a given.

Thanks to the awesome artbook, I think I've "mapped out" my first playthrough for each generation :catgirl:

EDIT - Forgot to mention the options. The only voice option for the game seems to be JP, which is perfectly fine by me. But the BGM was really loud for me, I had to turn it all the way down to 1 tick to be tolerable. Something I do find a bit annoying though, during the action phase of your turn; one of the selections is the "settings" menu. It's an extra selection I have to bypass every time; when it should be relegated to just the camp screen.

The translation seems good to me so far. But I can't be a precise judge of that.

[Draneor]

Thanks to the awesome artbook, I think I've "mapped out" my first playthrough for each generation :catgirl:

I can't decide. I've also heard that some choices may be unplayable, depending on your father's choice. Basically, you can't marry your cousin/sister/what-not.

But the BGM was really loud for me, I had to turn it all the way down to 1 tick to be tolerable.

I ended up increasing the voice volume to compensate.

Something I do find a bit annoying though, during the action phase of your turn; one of the selections is the "settings" menu.

Yeah. That doesn't make sense. I also wish they wouldn't have made auto-battle the select button--I keep pressing it by accident.

[Senku]

Yeah. That doesn't make sense. I also wish they wouldn't have made auto-battle the select button--I keep pressing it by accident.

Heh, I did that too during the first tutorial battle. I was just pressing buttons to see what they do, somehow I missed the "Auto" on the upper left of the screen - so when whatever thing I was reading was over, the whole battle played out by itself :sweat: Once I noticed that the auto was on, I restarted my game.

I do like the Auto, Stop, and Skip for the talking scenes; just wish there was a way to skip whole scenes, and not just fast forward.

[ADC]

Done, but not done. The final battle on Ulrika's path wasn't hard, exactly, but it was FUN!! I guess that means it's time to tackle Lily's path.… What? It's some douchebag guy's path? In a Gust game? Guys? You're fucking with my head.

[Suwako Moriya]

Heh, earlier I made an attempt to play Guardian Heroes. Yay, the game is actually working. Too bad, the Saturn controller decide it didn't want to work anymore. As in it became unresponsive. Bleh.... You know I wonder what it would be like to play that on the PS2 or so.

[Draneor]

Valkyria Chronicles came yesterday and I put about six hours into it. The game is pretty fun, but I suck at it (mostly rank C and D, with one B). Certain aspects of the plot seem illogical to me but I'll roll with it.

[Fencedude]

Since I'm avoiding 4:3 content for the time being, the Reyvateil Psychoanalysis Simulation is on hold so...I'm playing Assassin's Creed again.

And this time I'm getting all the flags and Templars!

Actually, using these maps (http://assassinscreed-maps.com/index.htm), its pretty easy since I do it district by district as I progress through the game. I also already have all the flags from the Kingdom.

I'd never really spent any time exploring the Kingdom before, but there's some interesting stuff there if you take the time to stop and look.

Right now I'm halfway through block four, having completed the Damascus mission and about to do the Jerusalem assassination. Saving the Acre assassination for last since its the most fun of the group.

[Consignia]

Valkyria Chronicles came yesterday and I put about six hours into it. The game is pretty fun, but I suck at it (mostly rank C and D, with one B). Certain aspects of the plot seem illogical to me but I'll roll with it.

It's pretty much impossible to get A-ranks, on the early missions at least, on the first run through. It's only when you've got all your classes leveled up high enough that will allow you to finish the missions quick enough.

[Isuzu Inugami]

Valkyria Chronicles came yesterday and I put about six hours into it. The game is pretty fun, but I suck at it (mostly rank C and D, with one B). Certain aspects of the plot seem illogical to me but I'll roll with it.

It's pretty much impossible to get A-ranks, on the early missions at least, on the first run through. It's only when you've got all your classes leveled up high enough that will allow you to finish the missions quick enough.

Yeah, don't even worry about the rankings. They're based purely on how quickly you finish rather than how smartly you play, and if you do skirmishes and Ellet reports you won't be underleveled even with just C and D ranks.

[Draneor]

I've annoyingly noticed that Sega was extremely "loose" with the translation, to put it nicely. And once again, they replaced the original opening song with some idiotic "sweeping orchestral score."

Yeah, don't even worry about the rankings. They're based purely on how quickly you finish rather than how smartly you play, and if you do skirmishes and Ellet reports you won't be underleveled even with just C and D ranks.

Ah. That's good to know. I was afraid I'd miss out on something like a secret character or weapon. So far I've only had one casualty--sadly not Rosie or Largo--due sending a scout too far ahead, but a medic quickly fixed that. For now, at least, I tend to favor scouts and shocktroopers. I haven't yet figured out how to use snipers efficiently.