Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Niu]

Wait, what?  You think I care about how effective they are in combat in order to get a spot on my team?  I mean, you may have noticed that I'm using a freaking greatswordsman here, and they're kinda lame.

True, but by the 5th or 6th cycle, the circumstances probably well force you to think otherwise. Though, certainly go ahead and do as you please from the 7th cycle and on, it really doesn't matter much who you use after that.

[AndrewRogue]

Monster Rancher 2-

Day X, Month Y

Since the death of Aiel (*sniffle*), Ashley has helped me move on with Dune~. Unlike Aiel, Dune~ is well tempered, obedient and, being a giant blob, not very prone to injury.

Things have gone very well with Dune~'s training. Although he hits less hard than I'd think, and, like Aiel, doesn't have too much in the Int category, he's certainly quite survivable thanks to his ridiculously high HP. His lack of a real moneyshot attack was causing problems for us, but, now that he has Long Punch, he's got a very solid attack set.

Learning from my earlier mistakes, I've opted to take Dune~'s advancement in combat a bit faster, not pushing him past C until he was definitely ready for it. More time training and more time out in the wilds with Ashley has made him quite formidable. I must admit, the pain of the loss of Aiel has been greatly soothed by Dune~.

That, and seeing myself as one of Dune~'s likes certainly beats one of Aiel's dislikes. *sniffle*

Hopefully he succeeds in B rank as well.

[Hunter Sopko]

Suikoden 5- Started this, stopped before heading into the underground passage. Lots of good stuff and little minor bad stuff. The visuals are nice. Costume designs are pretty awesome too. The body language in the cutscenes is very good, and the characters are excellent. Miakis in particular. Kinda reminds me of Kohaku, sort of. The Prince's facial expressions though... sometimes make him look autistic. The Barows family is hilarious.  Sialeeds though talks with her eyes closed a lot, which kinda makes me want to punch her. Kinda like how I wanted to punch Souji in P4 for having his collar flipped up. Nice to be back in the old Suikoden battle system though.

The bad... the inventory system is a complete throwback. Sort helps but... man it's bad.

GoC: Aedis Eclipse- Started Greckland real quick. Initial impressions... the menus are differently organized... not as well but at least there's no bad/misleading abbreviations. The sprites are definately more crisp and detailed, and battles move more fluidly. Gon has a sweet weapon. Nothing like a giant, rocket-powered axe. Add some monkey piloting in there any you'd have the perfect weapon.

[Yoshiken]

Andy, I lol'd at those MR updates. Epic. XD

As for me...
BoFV: ARGHLEFUCK. So, I've been struggling through fight after fight of being underlevelled and having got this far through D-Diving boss fights... Levelled up a ton, beat Cupid! Went on, picked up a load more items and... Vexacion fight?! Wtf?! So, struggled to survive without D-Diving, then he OHKO-ed Nina & Ryu. Ah crap. Tell me, where was the damn Telecorder between the boss fights?! ARGH!

Edit: So, I got pissed off and decided to SOL: Restart. Maybe this time I can stop myself from overusing D-Dive. ¬_¬

[Anthony Edward Stark]

So I started Arcanum over. I forgot that I didn't have the Unofficial Patch since I reinstalled, so sadly the adventures of Freakzilla the Half-Orc battlemage and gigolo will have to wait. For now, I embark on a new quest... the adventure of Gnomoerotic, the Gnomish thief and gigolo.

[Talaysen]

Yoshiken: Use more items.  Items are completely broken in BoF5 and you should be using them constantly.  You pretty much have to to beat the bosses without D-Dive.

[Yoshiken]

Yoshiken: Use more items.  Items are completely broken in BoF5 and you should be using them constantly.  You pretty much have to to beat the bosses without D-Dive.

That was exactly the problem - I'd not been using items much up until Deamoned. I managed to beat him with only minimal D-Dive (used it once to finish off, only gained about 3-4%). 'Course, I used most of my items to beat Cupid and then... died on Vexacion. Having beaten all the enemies in the area beforehand, my only hope was to SOL: Restore and... there go my items. Can't beat Cupid. Restart.

[Talaysen]

Items in storage carry over through SOL Restore, IIRC.  That and you should have some cash from beating the enemies and can buy some more items?  Well, something to keep in mind for next time, I guess.

[Pyro]

Just remember: If you bust out Wyrm on a boss make sure you are D-Charge -> OHKOing with Twister (should only take 1-3 D-Charges). Worth noting that D-Charge lasts for the entire turn. So if you screw up and don't OHKO you can whack em again without building up D-Charge. I suppose there is some way to use this to shave off 1-2% of the gauge needed to kill certain bosses but I never bothered thinking about it.

[Yoshiken]

Think I've learnt from my mistakes first playthrough. I've done the mandatory Wyrm fight, and ended it with 5% as opposed to the 8-10% I had last time. Now, I have 30 Aid Kits, 10 Heal Kits and 15 Tonics. Items are going to be my saviour this time, and if I manage to die with this preparation, I think I need to give up gaming for life.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

VP2 - humdedum hrist deals 20k per swing of her gungnir humdedum gonna get me some freya soon.

[Fudozukushi]

P4: You're positive we'll be pretty...?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

VP2 - Okay, so the room with the unreachable everything wasn't that hard! The reward is... an attack for Silmeria. Oh great. I'll just FAQ what the hell the Ether Greaves give. If they don't boost magic, I'm not bothering.

[Sierra]

Snow: Is that the room with the Rust Wrath (or something like that) sealstone? The room with the sealstone sitting on a dais that can only be reached with Powerless Cap slowing your descent? If so, I've also never figured out how to reach the chest in the upper right corner of that room. One of the two chests in the SG that I completely gave up on. (The other being the chest in the middle of that long vertical shaft at the bottom of the dungeon. I see how to get it, just can't. Failure at platforming and argh VP2 why do you only let me do three consecutive jumps in mid-air.)

[Meeplelard]

MK: Roxis Mana get.  I seem to haev just figured out what all those symbols on Synthing means, so I've actually been able to make a lot of Branched Synthes or whatever they're called now that I know the game actually tells you that something like that is available now <_<

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Snow: Is that the room with the Rust Wrath (or something like that) sealstone? The room with the sealstone sitting on a dais that can only be reached with Powerless Cap slowing your descent? If so, I've also never figured out how to reach the chest in the upper right corner of that room.

That one, I got. The one I didn't get is in the two-globe room. I know how to get that, but it's just easy to screw up and I'm lazy. By the way, the one one you never figured? To get it, you need to switch positions with the flying enemy just below the tiny shaft, then fall on the crystallized enemy, then switch with the walking enemy. Then, you get the godly extra attack for SILMERIA AW YEAH. So, um, yeah, getting that chest is kinda nuts. I just lucked out and got it in like my second try. >_>

[AndrewRogue]

Monster Rancher 2

Month X, Day Y

Things have been busy since I got Dune~! I must admit, he has certainly made the transition from losing. Ashley's instincts were right on the money this time. Dune~ may not be the smartest beast, but he's quick, tough and strong. And, unlike my last monster, he actually likes me! Yay!

He's been raising pretty quickly through the ranks and, as a result, Ashley and I are getting a lot more popular as trainers which means the ranch will be busier than ever. It is good, but it certainly doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else! Here's hoping we can go all the way this time!

Month X, Day Y

We managed to get into the intercontinental matches this year. Even though we lost, we got permission to raise four new kinds of monsters. Although the prospect is exciting, I'm quite happy with Dune and don't intend to get a new monster for a long time.

In related news, I've been having nightmares about Aiel coming back as a zombie naga to eat my brains and whip me into doing... things.

Month X, Day Y

Dune made it to A Rank, but he's not looking so hot. It hurts me to say so, but I think its time to retire him and let him rest. Ash and I will start looking for new monsters soon.

In related news, the dreams have been happening a little more often. I'm not sleeping so much anymore.

Month X, Day Y

Can't sleep. Aiel will kill me. Can't sleep. Aiel will kill me. Can't sleep. Aiel will kill me.

Month X, Day Y

Posting from the Luxor in Las Vegas. At Ash's suggestion, we decided to renovate before getting a new monster. Upgrade the house, the barn and, perhaps most importantly for my state of my mind, the memorial where Aiel rests. Haven't had any nightmares since we started the project! Things are looking up!

Month X, Day Y

Good news and bad news.

Good: New monster! A Skipper (Hopper/ Tiger) that Ash thought was adorable. He looked pretty keen with numbers, so we named him ElfBoy. He's weak as sin, but I'm sure it'll pay off with some training.

Bad: Gambling is not good for you. After the renovations and the weekend (man they build fast) in Vegas, I'm a liiiiittle short. I hope Ash doesn't mind ramen for a while ^_^;;

Month X, Day Y

EYE OF THE TIGER DO DO DA DI, DA DA DAAH DAAAH DAAH DA DA!

Month X, Day Y

Although he's been something of a late bloomer, ElfBoy is really starting to excel! I've been restricting his battles a lot more which, although leaving us a little on the broke end (I promise Ash, we'll evolve past ramen one day), is giving him quite the bit of time to perfect his abilities. Admittedly... he doesn't seem to have a lot of them, but hey. Quality over quantity right? E and D are down, with C and B undoubtedly following.

Month X, Day Y

Currently Listening To: Adventure by Be Your Own Pet
Mood: DON'T GO DOWN THAT EMPTY PATH AGAIN YOU FURRY LITTLE TWIT BLARGHLE ARGHLE HATE STRANGLE MURDER DEATH KILL GET ITEMS DAMN YOUR EYES.

Month X, Day Y

All is forgiven! ElfBoy dug us up a hotspring to celebrate his climb to B rank! Not only did we find a tablet that I'm sure does something cool but... man. Hotspring <3 Hotspring in own yard, which makes bathing suits optional!

[Clear Tranquil]

*CT eyes Andrew*

Blue Dragon- Undersea area! I'm finding this game kind of slow but slow in a measured, piece by piece appetizing way, I hope I won't have too many pace issues later though. I really enjoy the music in this game which is a plus and the characters/cutscenes are still keeping me amused. Cool dungeon concepts as well, the ancient hospital ruins were pretty eerie as you could imagine one of our modern day hospitals being like that in the future.
Now that a new character has joined I've switched Jiro back to White Mage (I'd been swinging him as a monk that could use white magic), I don't want two Monks. Double Item/Enhanced Item effect is win. Shu is currently a Guardian and I just switched Kluke to the Barrier class. Both Shu and Kluke are decently built up in Sword Magic and Black Magic as well though.

[Pyro]

Barrier Magic/Black Mage is a win-win combination. Good.

[Scar]

Suikoden DS

Different, but  at least this MC's voice doesn't piss me off.

Yet...

~

He reminds me of an old school type MC, like Justin!

[Hunter Sopko]

S5- Back in Lordlake! Lots of PLOT happening. Good thing the game telegraphed it to me beforehand. Kinda sad I'm reduced to a party of DoReMi elves. Logg and Lun though, best Suikoden comic relief ever? They have my vote.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

VP2 - freya got aw yeah

[Sierra]

Soppy: I suspect you've been warned already, but you ARE following a FAQ for recruitment, no?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Soppy: I suspect you've been warned already, but you ARE following a FAQ for recruitment, no?

THIS. If you're going to bother with 108 Stars -at all-, have a recruitment FAQ on you handy at -all times-. Period. Suikoden 5 is close to the stupidest thing ever regarding recruitment.

[superaielman]

Play RS and try repeating that statement, Snow.