Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Grefter]

http://www.dailymotion.com/Tasian/video/6137321  -  This one has the explanation for it, right around the second verse. (Vista)

It's actually not that bad on Insane mode.

So, not the stupidest thing ever, but still stupid.  Yay forcing you to memorize things even more.  Because the game really needed that.

While I don't think this makes for a fantastic game, remember this is a music game and that is a big part of music.  There is a rhythm and a beat and so on.

[Fudozukushi]

Mana Kehmia: Upgraded Supports gotten.  Enemies relentlessly mocked.

[DjinnAndTonic]

WAXF: Yay, I finally finished Chapter 1!

Chapter 2-1 is a bitch and I hate it. Not only are all the enemy units improved classes that I don't have access to yet, but they are 3-4 levels higher than me, defensive, and have twice as many reinforcements as I have available characters.

I'm not sure it'll be possible to beat this without grinding and that bugs me.

-Djinn

[Dark Holy Elf]

You never, ever need to grind in XF - you can get what you need by changing classes at worst. As for 2-1, I dunno how much specific advice I can offer, because I beat that battle on the first try in both playthroughs (and I'm not saying this to boast, because plenty of XF battles kicked my ass). Make sure the Kappa is working for you, not against you, though.

XF - Just beat 2-4. That map is nasty. The Sentinels and Elementalists have a lot of damage considering the loss condition.

[AAA]

DMC4-Mission 19, looks like I'm almost done.

Playing as Dante has been a blast. It's even easier than Nero's run, but that makes sense I guess since Dante is badass incarnate at this point in the timeline and he should effortlessly be wiping out enemies. Took me one try to take out Echidna and the ice frog, Belial took me two for some reason, then back to one against Agnus.  The Savior is a really obnoxious fight because you really can't do much besides chip away all the time and it's boring and long. The fact that he can spam those fucking chop moves, which is almost a gauranteed hit, makes it even worse.

I guess we're switching back to Nero now? Whatever.

I have no words for the cutscenes preceding and following the Agnus boss fight.

edit-By the way, what's Gilgamesh good against? I've been trying it on and off and it just seems too low, the only good thing is the AoE attack you get from Swordmaster.

[Shale]

I also beat 2-1 on my first try, although I was down to two people when I did it. I just brought two Sacred Slayers for healing and had everybody who could contribute wade into the front lines. Lock-On is vital against enemies whose DEF has been buffed to the stratosphere.

[Meeplelard]

edit-By the way, what's Gilgamesh good against? I've been trying it on and off and it just seems too low, the only good thing is the AoE attack you get from Swordmaster.

Gilgamesh?  Raw power.  The damage that thing can dish out is quite obscene, especially with DT.  Try using Kick 13 in DT against Agnus, for example; the amount of damage it does is quite ludicrous.

Also, its hit boxes are more forgiving than you'd think, so its not quite as low range.  It does lack Ifrit and Beowulf's projectiles admittedly, but its pretty much the best weapon for one on one combat, at least close range. 

Contrast to Rebellion which is more about versatility and flexibility, much like the usual DMC Sword is.  Lucifer is the spiritual successor of Nevan; yeah, the weapon is good and all...once you learn how to use it...which isn't the easiest of the things...which is to say, I often just overlook the weapon cause I can never get a feel for it (it seems like its really good at crowd control, and can rip apart some bosses.  I seem to recall it doing disgusting damage to Dagon, for example.)

ANYWAY...

ToS2: Temple of Earth time!  I don't know how many times I got hit by lightning.  No, I don't mean "I got so many I lost count!" I mean I just sort of forgot to count.  I hear being hit by 7 has an effect on the ending or something, and I think I'm somewhere around that value.

[Hunter Sopko]

GoC:Aedis Eclipse- gg GoC5. It hands you Valz and Lululala damn near the beginning. The rest is going to be a cakewalk. There aren't as many ways to cheese as there are in GoC4, which makes the game much less interesting as it comes down to simple numbers and stats. The only interesting change is being able to customize your troops. At least the battles have absolutely no lag...

Story is alright, characters range from decent (Mary, Hank) to barely acceptable. Some funny dialogues here and there, but mostly standard stuff. Breaking it all up into many small maps instead of one big map is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. Booooooring.

[Ultradude]

P4.

Heaven.

I refuse to equip any accessory but the Bead Ring for this level.

In other news, Chie dropped for Naoto - at least temporarily. Heaven doesn't like ID elements and has few other weaknesses.

[Magetastic]

P4 - Onto the 10th floor of the next dungeon, and the last two nights left (I assume. Game's being more vague about the time limit, this time) Can't see a good reason for replacing anybody with Kanji, seeing as how Main can't leave, Yukiko is just so damn helpful for the support/healing (and I worked hard to get her to S.Rank Social Link, so there's no WAY I'm kicking her out), Yosuke is solid all around, and Chie is... well, she's slightly less fighter-ish than him, but she has Social Link ranks, doesn't come with basic gear, and has more than 4 freakin' skills. All of which Main can do easily, thanks to versatility. Also, Chie doesn't act as an elemental replacement for Main's first persona. I AM liking all of the character aside from Teddie better, though, now that Kanji's in the group. He's definitely redeemed himself thanks to the outing, and Chie is... less annoying. Yosuke and Yukiko are still wonderfully hilarious in all aspects, and just plain wonderful in battle. Raising Social Links is much more fun than I thought it would be, too. Same as doing work and raising 'characteristics.' Lots of overlap making it less of a struggle is enjoyable as well. Gear and items are expensive, though, and I find that the game still enjoys punishing you for not taking advantage of weaknesses. Don't really enjoy that the amount of time I'm generally able to spend exploring is based on my current SP, though, and the only way to restore that is expensive as a continent.

[Niu]

ToS2: Temple of Earth time!  I don't know how many times I got hit by lightning.  No, I don't mean "I got so many I lost count!" I mean I just sort of forgot to count.  I hear being hit by 7 has an effect on the ending or something, and I think I'm somewhere around that value.

I am surprised that you haven't get pissed at Marta yet... or at least feel sorry for Ratatosk.

[Sierra]

WAXF: Yay, I finally finished Chapter 1!

Chapter 2-1 is a bitch and I hate it. Not only are all the enemy units improved classes that I don't have access to yet, but they are 3-4 levels higher than me, defensive, and have twice as many reinforcements as I have available characters.

I'm not sure it'll be possible to beat this without grinding and that bugs me.

-Djinn

I had a lot of trouble with this battle precisely because the enemies just refused to cooperate with the whole "Please stand in the water when you attack me" plan. Finding just the right place to make my stand was problematic. I mean, the peninsula by the kappa was the obvious option, but it seemed like at least one of my units needed to set foot on the lower landmass to get the enemies' attention and I could never get them to kite properly; I wouldn't get just the one or two units I was aiming for following me, instead usually having the whole enemy mass crash down on me.

That said, main problem was just that the enemy classes and units that you fight there are just brutal. Most un-fun battle in the game.

~

VC: *Finally* have all the recruits. Will knock out the last four plot battles and then, I guess, do the skirmishes on Hard, which is about the only thing left at this point.

[DomaDragoon]

Magic: Cleared single and doubles campaign, now unlocking cards for all decks.

Pokemon Diamond: Cleared sixth gym. Now have Roserade and Lucario, so I think my full party is set.

[Meeplelard]

ToS2: And Presea finally appears!  I think that's the entire ToS1 cast whose made an appearance, barring Kratos, who I know doesn't appear in this game (probably a good thing; be inconsistent with his character from ToS1, and leads to a potential train wreck.)

Despite not being much of a fan of her in ToS1, I must say, the scene with the Iron Maiden was just hilarious.

[Idun]

I don't want to, but I actually have 23 hours in Suiko V already. I'm pretty sure a lot of that is from idling and I have no idea whether Ceras Lake is a good distance achieved within those probably deceiftul hours I have logged. I don't want to start a new file, but I will just.. start one. I will. Right now. RIGHT NOW. I was opting for DQ8 actually, since it'd be much newness to me and my past history of loathing/barely giving DQ/DW games a chance because they made my brain tiny, but I hear good things about this game which must mean something. Done with SH3. Onto S5. I need to buy S4 by the way, what the flup.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

EF - Endless Trainwreck: The Stat Topicking. I'm over halfway done, more or less. Four characters have already been fully documented, now only Kaguya, Haken and Aschen left, as soon as they gain a level. This has been -a lot- easier than I thought it'd be.

[superaielman]

L4D- Fan hacks are finally out. We extensively played three and tried a fourth.


Dam- Awesome design, well balanced, tons of fun to explore. Only problem is the complete lack of safe rooms. Yuck to that.
Morgue- Had a glitch between the first and second safe room. Not bad otherwise, just more surreal with the design. Finale was pretty easy. (Did it even spawn a horde after we killed that last tank?)
Zelda hack- LoZ hack for left 4 dead. Design was wonderful and it was pretty. Not hard outside of one gimmick room.

blood hospital- Awful. Everything bad you could want in a fan hack. Hidden horde events! Double/triple length horde events! No light! Super narrow hallways! Incredibly long! We gave up when the game threw a horde and two tanks at the same time.   Oh yes, triggering the finale and escaping is apparently a puzzle. Good level design there!

[TranceHime]

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 2:

Picked this up again because Snow. And also Tallychu by extension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKnd-G9kgIY <-- Yeah, I did this. Because. I can.

And also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOxALHJpX8w

[Pyro]

RSMS: Beat Theodore's Madness. The red dragon needed a healthy helping of Id Break and the Martial Arts move that decreases Int to prevent Bird of Flame from being ARGH MT OVERKILL. Other than that I was firmly in control. Claudia tore the crap out of Ifrit quite nicely just by herself there.

Then I went and challenged the Jewel Beast and won. No cheesing strategies from me, just tanking. Summoning Elementals when I got scared, keeping Phantom Warrior up (with Phoenix Arrow off Claudia for extra longevity). Took a while, but I found that I could recover from Jewel Blaster well enough as long as I played enough people in defense mode each turn.

Cross Edge:
Started, got to where I unlocked Costumes. Suddenly the Reyvateils are my tankiest characters! Twinked out Misha to be the resident goddess of death because I got a good crystal and Aurica is stuck on healer duty.

I have to say I'm sorely disappointed. The gameplay is neat enough (feels very NI styled breaking but with less grinding involved), but the lack of character interaction/whoring in a crossover game? Come on Cross Edge, you're missing the entire point. The Tales crossovers seem to understand that part well enough. Pity.

[Luther Lansfeld]

MMX8- GOT BLACK ARMOR ZERO!!!!! AND WHITE ARMOR AXL!!

Man, Ultimate Armor is so freaking hax. Infinite time to recover? Holy crap awesome. Now I have to get the Navigators after making 120k in cash~~

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

EF - Stat topic's first edition is neeeeeeearly done. Once I'm done with Kaguya's damage figures and attack skills, it's comments/average calculations, then the thing's basically ready to go. Afterwards, I sorta feel like ranting on the game.

[AndrewRogue]

Cross Edge: Through the battle with UOM. After extensive twinking, planning and effort, I managed to actually beat him.

Marie is currently a death machine thanks to a synthing accident which provided me a weapon that is significantly better than anything I expect to see for quite a while. She has more AP and hits about twice as hard as anyone else in the party. It is glorious. General PC thoughts at the moment.

York: Odd range, but fairly solid. Survivability combined with hitting like a truck is always a good thing. Wishes he had accuracy.
Miko: Has really petered off at the moment, possibly due to underdeveloped skills. Mediocre in all regards.
Morrigan: Fairly high damage and Burst/Down/Guard damage, but is shockingly fragile. Got access to her Swimsuit early though, which is highly obnoxious, despite tanking her HP.
Marie: Kinda so-so. Her costume made her shockingly durable for the time you get it, but her attacks aren't fantastic? The only reason I'm hyping her right now is a death weapon. Not bad, though.
Lyner: Super tank. Okay damage. Stands in the front and gets punched really well.
Aurica: Heal bitch. Moving on.
Misha: Magic attacker. Better than Marie when equally equipped, I'd say?
Shurelia: See Misha. Has a problem with AP costs at the moment.
Ayatane: Haven't found his niche yet. Elemental physicals, I guess? Weirdly high Magic stat that doesn't seem to do anything? Might be a Magic tank thanks to his Int?
Felicia: Shockingly solid without my interference. Less durable than the tanks and gunners, but more durable than the other second rows, fast, and has damage. Also, early swimsuit hype.
Etna: Haven't really worked out her niche except for making me hate spears.
Prinny: Haven't really worked out his niche.\
Meu: Fun times. Still working on her Niche a bit, but she falls between Raze and Lyner in terms of damage and survival. Wants a weapon that gives her slots, though.
Zelos: York, but with less solid attacks, I want to say. Higher damage potential, possibly, due to a cracked out Str stat.
Raze: Second-liner who might be able to swing the front line. I want to say he does less damage than Felicia, but is a little more durable?
Lily: See Misha. Saddled with one magic type unfortunately, but gets some minor props for parasitic healing. Gets another slop for Boost Rouge being kinda... lame.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

ToS2: And Presea finally appears!  I think that's the entire ToS1 cast whose made an appearance, barring Kratos, who I know doesn't appear in this game (probably a good thing; be inconsistent with his character from ToS1, and leads to a potential train wreck.)

Despite not being much of a fan of her in ToS1, I must say, the scene with the Iron Maiden was just hilarious.

Oh, he's in it. I believe he's actually quite pervasive, not that I particularly care for the guy.

[Meeplelard]

ToS2:  So Lloyd joins and...holy shit, his equipment is actually up to date with what Emil and Marta has!

...then I noticed Zelos is equipped with "Last Fencer" and...yeah, slowly realize they finally updated everyone's equipment.

I appreciate the action, but question why they didn't just do that with the other points in the game.  I mean, they went through the trouble of constantly upping their levels at plot points, giving them new skills and artes, even going as far as to change their titles...but kept their equipment the same until this very moment?  Weird...

Ah well, getting close to end game now!

[Captain K.]

Back from the Pokemon US Nationals in St. Louis.  Unfortunately, my team sucked ass and I went 1-4 in the Swiss rounds.

Sir Alex the Shuckle:
Toxic
Wrap
Rest
Sleep Talk

Dusknoir:
Shadow Sneak
Earthquake
Will-O-Wisp
Pain Split

Cresselia:
Calm Mind
Ice Beam
Rest
Sleep Talk

Lapras:
Horn Drill
Sheer Cold
Rest
Sleep Talk

Round 1:  This was my most lopsided loss.  Shadow Sneak did about 55% to his Gengar, which is just WTF NO.  Got slaughtered badly.  In retrospect, his pokes were probably hacked to have that much defense and offense.  I should have called for a hack check, but I was too flustered at the time.

Round 2:  This was against one of the top four guys from Seattle.  My team worked perfectly this time, and you can see the video here if you have Platinum:  24-20775-06464

Round 3:  Argh.  This was the battle I should have won but didn't.  He led with Subpunching Poliwrath which is LOL against my team, and Spikes/Stealth Rock Forretress, which is a bad idea in general in this format.  I have plenty of time to set up on him, so I'm cruising along nicely.  Then his Gengar gets a critical on Cresselia and OHKOs it.  His last Pokemon is Porygon Z, who is apparently Choice Spec'd, beause it's doing 40% to Shuckle with Dark Pulse.  Damn. It. To. Hell.

Round 4:  I'm mathematically eliminated at this point, but I still have to salvage my ego.  So I get a pretty easy match against a guy who's not very good.  And then the hax starts.  He gets three critical hits in a row, and I fail 4 out of 4 confusion checks.  SIGH.

Round 5:  He had Gengar and I think Swords Dance Drapion.  Which I manage to kill, but he still ekes out a win against me.  4th Gengar of the day, 4th loss.

Afterwards, I had a rematch with the 3rd/4th place guy that I eliminated in Dallas.  He wanted revenge, but I won again.  Apparently I can only beat former finalists with this team.

The Shuckle and Lapras did their jobs well.  Dusknoir kept getting into pissing matches with the enemy Gengars, which left him too weak to do anything else after Gengar was gone.  Cresselia was epic fail.  Never did anything useful.  Psychic is just a horrible defensive type, regardless of 120/120/130 defensive stats and Levitate.

Anyway, I'm disappointed that I did so poorly after all the work I put into this.  But at the same time I'm relieved that it's over and can get on to playing some other games.

In the words of a famous man, "NO MORE POKEMON."