Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Meeplelard]

ToV: Tested this out, played about an hour, WOULD have played longer if my little sister wasn't being a pest, and didn't feel like getting into a fight with an 8 year old over something trivial.

My first impressions can be summed up like this:

-Load times...there are no load times...SWEET GLORIOUS POLISH HOW I LOVE THEE!
-Skits are 70% more interesting when there's voice acting involved
-I apparently had no fucking clue what Yuri looked like cause I thought he as someone completely different <_<

[AAA]

Did you think he was Floyd?

L4D-Played Versus tonight, actually got a kickass team for once and totally stomped all oppostion. I also got the tank every time but once, and incapped all the survivors every time but once. I am pro as fuck.

Assassin's Creed-For some reason I thought I had bought Dead Rising instead of this, but oh well. Just killed the Slave trader in Jersusalem. My initial impression is positive. The free running is simple but fun, the countryside is total eye candy, and there's so much shit to do it's almost overwelming. Combat is pretty basic though. Getting raped by guards was a problem until I got the counter move, which is just plain evil.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Did you think he was Floyd?

Flynn?

[Grefter]

I highly reccomend playing with Laggy.  He seemed pretty decent player from what I could tell through the lag fog when I played with him (can't play with you Scar, lag saps the fun from the game).

On that front.

L4D - Man is it just me or did the new patch make Advanced a bit more Advanced?  Not that I am complaining, it is still reasonable and fucking fun.  It just means the gap between Expert and myself got bigger I am afraid.  That said, watched a bit of my brother playing through Expert last night.  No Mercy in the Subway bit... just before the sewers.  Like at the DOOR just before they turn into the sewers I think it is.  Hunter jumps through the door smashing it to pieces, Boomer right behind him and then I saw a tongue fly out over the top of the Boomers corpse (twitch gamers here, good at shooters, you know they kind that can play Expert).  This is all in the period of about 3 seconds.  Left 4 Dead is fucking AWESOME.

[Excal]

Star Ocean 3 - Yeesh am I ever getting reminded of why I stopped playing.  Granted, they stopped with the annoying backtrack all over the freaking place quests for a bit, but this ended with the Moonbase and Peppita.  That said, Maria was decidedly awesome in all of the Peppita scenes, right up to the disgusted look she shot Fayt when he wussed out and let Peppita tag along for the dungeon.  Currently running the Sphere corp, which is showing that the designers are smart enough to realize that you deal with melee attackers with rapid response miniguns on all four sides as well as autofire.  So why does everyone but Maria insist on the need to try and run up to these guys in order to be effective?

The other real question is, why is the McGuffin suddenly in charge?  Aside from being the main character, that is.  I mean, usually when you have there outsider takes over plots, it's because they brought the controlling votes, or the old leader just screwed up/died or simply isn't desireable as a face for some reason, or it's Suikoden 4.  But here people just decided to start listening to him, and it's never explained why.  Heck, even personality wise, Cliff and Maria both do more leading than him.

[Clear Tranquil]

Oh yeah I forgot to say I also tortured Super with SO3 exposure when he was over here ;) L35 Cliff/Maria, L50 Peppita (she was higher levelled because I'd previously been using a Albel/Peppita/Adray team), Scatter Beams was still only L3 - Fists of Fury + Maria + Power Dance > Faerie Friend vs Dark Eye = mass ownage/the broke characters are extremely broke with even the defeat within thirty seconds + defeat within twenty seconds trophy triggering on my battle trophy test file along with the general no damage/time limit trophy for that fight.

Also Super asked me how much IC I held against Luther. I said none because I wasn't using any >_>

I don't think Maria was *that* awesome in those scenes at all. You can be strong willed and assertive/self confident without being a biatch (Peppita/Nel/Mirage (ME : D) - and they are not as whiney/emo as Albel and Maria despite going through similar tragedies - Nel also has Maria's leader qualities w/o being overtly harsh. Empathy can be a good thing ) Also Maria has no right to call to use the word slow on anyone with her movement speed
 
**

So why does everyone but Maria insist on the need to try and run up to these guys in order to be effective?

Because she has ranged basic physical attacks. Sophia and Adray can be similarly effective at range. Nel/Peppita too to an extent - they don't have ranged attacks but Peppita will usually start up her dances on Long O at range and Nel will generally stick to range with a Flying Guillotine combo started for her + Max Fury.

Edit: Upon talking to Excal in chat - Fayt/Nel/Maria is a solid team too. No Albel (no Cliff either but meh) Nel/Fayt really need WW/Mirror Slice + Air Raid though otherwise Maria is pretty much pulling all the weight there.

XBox 360. No SO4. No ToV. Think I'll take all the current rage out by getting Resident Evil 5 = D

[Grefter]

If you want some RPGs for it CT, Enchanted Arms should be dirt cheap and has extreme Yaoi man in it if that is a draw factor.  Otherwise it is fairly alright RPG with some interesting things to toy with.  Blue Dragon kind of hype goes here as well.  If you liked DQ8 for more than just localisation (which uh considering you are in England I imagine the whole HOLY AWESOME BRIT ACCENTS! factor wasn't a huge huge deal >_>) then it is worth a look.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Damn, I've been messing around with a lot of games recently...

Took a break from Soul Nomad stat topiccing and played SO4 in Japanese.

Fun game, and not understanding half of the story probably helped it as the parts that I -did- understand seemed really cool. Reimi was especially enjoyable with the exception of the "Pervert->Slap!" anime girl trope thing. They load the emo wankering on pretty thick in this game, but honestly, Edge has a pretty decent reason to be blaming himself... though I agree it didn't need to go on as long as it did.

Also, Roak was fuckin' awesome. Just a gorgeous place and I enjoyed seeing it again.

Welch scenes were generally hilarious. I especially enjoyed the scene where she convinces Phase that Edge will 'molt' into a hideous monster. Also, watching Baccus get all hot and bothered by Welch's anime trope displays was kind of amusing.

Phase and Lym I was constantly going back and forth on... half the time, those two seemed dynamic and interesting... and other times I just wanted the scenes to stop 5 minutes sooner. In the end, it made for some good scenes, though a bit predictable.

Star Ocean The Last Hope and I made a deal - If the game wouldn't refer to "Hope" as some kind of tangible power in and of itself at any point in time, then I wouldn't scream at it. Luckily, we managed to keep this deal, and I was able to tolerate the cheesy dialogue that kept skirting around saying this taboo phrase.

Gameplay... I don't feel I mastered it. I basically just got lazy and power-levelled through the game instead of ever taking the time to properly translate the menu well enough to learn all the ins and outs of battle. I know that Rush Combos and Blindsides exist... but I don't really know how to do them properly... Final team was Baccus, Alumat, Lym, Mewria... or however it's properly romanized.


Seiken Densetsu 3 - More Action RPGs! I basically tried this out as I'd never really looked at it before. Started with Kevin, which was kinda sad as the first thing that happens is animal abuse (and English language abuse! *drum riff*). It looks promising actually... WAAAY more than SoM, I don't really see the anti-hype it gets from some.

Wild Arms XF - Still slowly going through Ch1. The game is everything I'd ever wanted in an SRPG. I'd always thought to myself that if I ever made an SRPG, it would be a hexagonal system with lots of unique job classes - nothing typical. And that it would have a small collection of story characters with unique abilities, but that could also use the generic jobs... and that there would be multiple MP types... and there would be a white dog (I'm not joking) who was playable... It's both awesome and kind of unfulfilling to be handed this game without any effort on my part...

Tales of Vesperia - Now that the SN stat topic is close enough to done, I can finally concentrate on this. It is everything a Tales fanboy wants - all the Tales goodness with only half the fat. Well-polished Tales. It's the stuff dreams are made of. I could be less effusive about this and try to objectively judge this game, but I don't want to. I'm happy and I see no reason to spoil the fun with 'objectivity'.

Dragon Quest 8 - I tried to play it again. It's such a well-polished game, and has Level 5 RPG goodness... But Tales of Vesperia's siren call has lured me away. I hope I'll come back to it when I finish ToV.

Lufia 3 - The emulator fits in the corner of my work computer's screen and no one notices as it flashes like an internet banner ad... It's pretty much the only emulator game I can do this with at work where the text is bulky enough to read it at such a condensed size (other GBC/GBo games would probably work, but I've played most of the good ones already... this means I'm stuck with Lufia 3.) The game is crap so far, but I like the large party size! The characters are also all surprisingly snarky, which is kind of charming. Fruely.

-Djinn

[Clear Tranquil]

... *eyes Djinn*

Hax.

Thanks Gref. Yeah I saw Enhanted Arms. Thanks for the low down on it. If it's alright that's good enough for me. I've already been advised to stay away from fail like ID/LR/LO >_>

[Grefter]

EA is better than Eternal Sonata at least.  It is meh alright anyway.  If you end up hating, well fuck it, only buy it for a little bit and you won't be burned to bad.

[Grefter]

EA is better than Eternal Sonata at least.  It is meh alright anyway.  If you end up hating, well fuck it, only buy it for a little bit and you won't be burned to bad.

[Shale]

KH: Woo, End of the World. Had pretty good luck with drops - got three Orichalcums and four Gales before the first save point - so I'll probably do some item farming for synthesis ridiculousness.

Also tried the superboss in Agrabah, that didn't go so well. I managed to summon Tinkerbell before it sealed magic, and knocked its life down to half without much trouble (took forever, though), but then it did its Frisbee imitation and sort of massacred me. I think I'll leave that for later.

[DjinnAndTonic]

... *eyes Djinn*

Hax.

Hax? Is this SO4 envy?


I heard LO was decent, though. Eternal Sonata is also decent if you skip every cutscene that isn't literally a history lesson.

-Djinn

[Talaysen]

I heard LO was decent, though. Eternal Sonata is also decent if you skip every cutscene that isn't literally a history lesson.

LO is "decent" in the way that "this game doesn't really do anything wrong but is horribly bland and boring" is "decent".

Eternal Sonata gameplay can go rot in a fire.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Blindsiding and Rush Combos? Super-easy to do, really (at least, until the end of the game, when blindsiding gets hard because most enemies get huge aoes). Start charging your rush gauge when someone targets you, and then when they start their swing, go left. Until the end of the game this is all you have to do.

Rush combos are always easy. Hit your rush meter, hit a special move.

By the way? Just saw the secret ending with Crowe in it. So awesome.

[NotMiki]

LO is "decent" in the way that "this game doesn't really do anything wrong but is horribly bland and boring" is "decent".

So mostly just in the sense that everyone keeps their clothes on?

[Shale]

It's from Japan. That's not an assumption I'm willing to make.

[NotMiki]

Yeah, because people never get nekked in America.  we're far too prudish for people to show skin on TV.  We have magazine covers for that.

[Shale]

When Americans come up with a TV show about a giant robot that's powered by lesbian sex, then we'll talk.

[AAA]

L4D-Played a random game of Versus (lost horribly), then played through Death Toll ( and legitly cleared the Finale!) with some random people and then Dead Air with Eph, who got What Are You Trying To Prove out of it. I believe the only Expert campaign I haven't beaten without resorting to a gitch would be No Mercy.

Assassin's Creed-Assassinated some more people, mapped out the Kingdom and most of Jersusalem, Damascus, and Acre. A lot of complaints about this game are that it's too repetitive, and that's really starting to show. Is there really any reason to have a dozen View Points and Save the Civilian areas in each section of the city? It gets old fast.

I think my favorite thing to do right now is to jump off a high building right on top of a beggar. Fuck you, beggars.

[Grefter]

Assassin's Creed is more Parkour simulator than game.  The sooner you realise that the sooner it starts to be fun.  If the parkour gets boring then just turn it off until you feel like doing it again.  Grinding through all of them to get to the Assassination bits just isn't worth the effort.

[TranceHime]

7th Dragon:

DS run (IPD) - Grinding for Deadblack.

KAIZO!!! run with the RPGDL -
The gang so far!

Yours truly [ みつなり, Samurai ]
Tallychu [ Tal, Princess ]
Nitori [ にとり, Princess ]
Tonfa [ トンファ, Knight ]
Dune [ Ko, Fighter ]
Taishyr [ Tai, Rogue ]
Jo'ou Ranbu [ Snow, Mage ]
Xeroma [ Xeroma, Samurai ]

Still have space for 8 more.

[Niu]

SO4- This game hates completionist. Also, Crow's end is fucking hard to get. They really should stop making the affinity rating being invisible. But oh well, I guess now Crow's swords are the same two beam sabers you got in SO1. Oh, I believe Puffy is a 4D being too now, I mean, why would she want to have her revenge on the player before the events that pissed her off occurred? It'll take 40 more years after SO4 for her to drank that poison.

BTW Djinn. Don't use Meuria and Lym. Their spells boost enemy rush gauge waaay to fast and lack the healing prowess that Sarah has at the same time. Well no, you can get around it with Lym, but Meuria is definitely no. Especially if you want to do the after game. Also, Reimi is a must. Turn on Concentrate+Berserk+Critical and go spam Ibarane+Yumihari+Aratsubame, and you see things just explode and dies. Oh, Yumihari destroys things in Rush Combo too. And don't get fooled by Benishigure and Mitsutsuki, despite good damage, those boost enemy Rush Gauge by too fast. Fine, Mitsutsuki is still usable due to how it ties up the enemy and make good start for Link Combo.

Sacred Blaze- For the sake of my time, I using cheat codes through this. Looks good so far though, with cute customizing options.

SRWK- Cheats codes on, again, I don't have time

Also Super asked me how much IC I held against Luther. I said none because I wasn't using any >_>

Would you support me on my claim that Lucy is a hopeless middle even without IC?

Nel will generally stick to range with a Flying Guillotine combo started for her + Max Fury.

On this note, you might want to pick up the original Jp. SO3 (the English port is the Director's Cut) and see the original Flying Guillotine. And you'll see why they nerf that thing....

[Clear Tranquil]

Reimi is one of the only two characters that can learn both Berserk *and* Focus I believe (Meracle being the other) w/th Critical Hit. Pity Meracle doesn't have Reimi's Critical % modifiers though.

Luther for Middle? - Hmmm ... sure why not. He can be blitzed pretty effectively even without IC. Peppita has Power Dance hax, Maria, Adray and Sophia all have Power Up. He can be soloed well by most of the cast as well.

I'd play the original SO3 for original FG hax, the original Dragon Roar and Star Fall. I think they lowered the damage modifiers for either Faerie Arts or Dream Arts for the English/Director's cut versions too, can't remember which I read about before.

Also yeah Djinn that is hax, more that my eyes were popping out at the amount of gaming you've been apparently steaming through lately though ;)

LoD- Meru solo vs Melbu. Dear god. That was one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen. Meru's speed hax + Therapy Ring + Melbu damage = bawww Melbu. He did catch me out with a petrify attack which I don't remember ever seeing before on my first attempt though so that's something to watch out for in a duel. He uses confusion in his final form but Meru's speed for healing w/th Therapy Ring easily deals with that. Mostly used Perky Steps for damage but sometimes dragoon additions, Freezing Rings or for the MT targets Diamond Dust or MT attack items. Going to solo Melbu with Haschel next I think. Therapy Ring hax should work with him too.

[Strago]

7th Dragon:

DS run (IPD) - Grinding for Deadblack.

KAIZO!!! run with the RPGDL -
The gang so far!

Yours truly [ みつなり, Samurai ]
Tallychu [ Tal, Princess ]
Nitori [ にとり, Princess ]
Tonfa [ トンファ, Knight ]
Dune [ Ko, Fighter ]
Taishyr [ Tai, Rogue ]
Jo'ou Ranbu [ Snow, Mage ]
Xeroma [ Xeroma, Samurai ]

Still have space for 8 more.

I don't know anything about 7th Dragon, but if there's anything like a [Spoony] Bard class, you ought to name it Strago. ^_^