Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Captain K.]

Grandia II:  Tonguey was a pretty decent fight, especially when !Elena went berserk and started bitchslapping Ryudo around.  Ameno-Sagiri was a joke since I have strong multi-target spells and healing.

Enjoying the game so far, especially the writing.  Skill system is so broken though, since you can choose whatever skills you want to level.  Unlike GX, where you actually had to use the crappy skills before you could get the good ones.

PWI:  Had a nice Turf War with Legendary, we lasted 10 minutes against them.  Blademaster's level 72, and cleric's level 65.

[Idun]

Made a Thief's Key. I'm moving insanely slow. I need to get a move on it.

[Sierra]

Hacking through a new game+ of P3 in an attempt to actually max out all links this time (and, I suspect, to kill brain cells, but I digress). Damned story keeps getting in the way. It is most inconsiderate. Go away, P3 plot! You sucked enough the first time! July is particularly annoying: plot stuff happens, then exams shut down most of the links, then vacation shuts down all of them. Argh. At least the beach scene is still fun. And at least level 90+ MC cuts out so much of the gameplay time that the game is basically half as long.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll still find a way to screw things up again, but it'll be good enough if I at least finish all the ones I didn't last time. Scheduling the girls so that they don't get in each others' way is a hassle (and I only finished one of them last time.)

[Twilkitri]

Etrian Odyssey - Floor 27

I did not expect them to go for a floor that rivalled 26 in mapmaking time so soon, but they have and they have tremendously outdone themselves. 27 is verging on rage-enducing and is going to take forever to finish. It does not help matters that the only shortcut through Floor 26 that I'm aware of is 'knowing the correct path' so you have to deal with that again every time you leave and come back.

I was also dismayed to find out elsewhere that there is a cap on the number of icons that can be placed on a map. I am concerned that it may come into play here.


Rogue Galaxy -

Finished escaping from prison, had another meeting with MIO which was almost as unpleasant as the previous one, now venturing through the other building which was prominently extant and inaccessible when we arrived. Was saddened to discover that a rare prison enemy I had devoted a number of hours to acquiring the bounty of had become a mere uncommon enemy in at least part of the factory, but not overly much as people were suffering from wholly inadequate equipment for most of the prison anyway the most of which are mastered out now. Except now Simon has scarpered off and left us with Steve who is still back on his initial weaponry. Tsk.

Surpassed Hunter Rank 50. The prize was not very worthwhile. Hopefully they will improve.

[kokushishin]

Mulling over on what to get back to; probably DQ and Crono Trigger endings.


As far as Castlevania:

Item Crash and Back flip > 8-way whip.   Although I put some of that on the swinging parts in IV.

[Scar]

Fire Emblem Wii: Endgame

So, here I am.....the endgame....and Miciah has yet to reach her third promotion.

Not like it matters, but good lord speed is not her strong suit.

Ok, so not only did the game give you incredibly strong units to start out with, but they also threw in a third tier promotion for units who were already godly.

Notable units who post promotion have just become stupidly broken.

Shinon - provoke + amazing defense and evasion.
Haar - stun + no more arrow weakness? HA!
Ike - Given Ragnell early! He can now use Axes, and his story axe is better then Ragnell! (minus the 1 range thing.)
Zihark - what is it...astra and adept?
Nephenee - Gave her Daunt, she pretty much walks next to shinon and wittles.
Elincia - Broken, only needs arrows guards.

The royal laguz are broken too, but we knew that from the last game. Nasela loses a ranged attack, but I doubt it matters. Formshift owns.

Everyone else is decent enough. Most the mages are good, but get no speed.

I still think that Ike can solo this game....on normal at least, have yet to play on hard.

and no dark mages means what exactly? I guess I get someone in the last chapters who can use these tomes?

Well, I plan to decimate this game next oppurtunity.

Good game though!

[Random Consonant]

CotP - C3, C Route

Not much to say, really.  Second replay and such, after all.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I still think that Ike can solo this game....on normal at least, have yet to play on hard.

The game is completely unsoloable because endgame bosses are too hax (by FE boss standards anyway).

Beyond that, it is an FE, it can be soloed by almost anyone really if you aren't concerned with efficiency.

[hinode]

I still think that Ike can solo this game....on normal at least, have yet to play on hard.

The game is completely unsoloable because endgame bosses are too hax (by FE boss standards anyway).

Beyond that, it is an FE, it can be soloed by almost anyone really if you aren't concerned with efficiency.

Still depends on the exact FE game, I think. I suspect a large portion of the FE6 cast would be unable to solo the game without inhuman RNG luck.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

That's because FE6 is designed to be unwinnable your first time through. Unless you can see the future and know when those reinforcements that get to act on the first turn show up.

It's probably the shittiest mechanic in a Fire Emblem I've played, and that's REALLY saying something.

[Pyro]

TWEWY:

Beaten. Best game I've played in some time, etc... It's just FUN in so many ways. Very refreshing.

The ability to set up your deck to your liking is sort of like creating your own game, so great is the effect on the way the game plays. The game's challenge can be tailored to whatever you want pretty much anytime, and the dual-screen action keeps things stimulating pretty much always. I wasn't very good at watching two screens at once, but it was a heck of a lot of fun trying. Experimenting with pins never got old and the constant inflow of fun new pins to toy with kept everything fresh right up to the endgame. Just fantastic gameplay. Gave me a hell of a hand cramp though. But that's my own fault for using scratching pins and whatnot. I could have used tapping pins and it wouldn't have bothered me.

The game was a lot more accessible than I had thought. They explain every mechanic fairly well and give you a chance to try out things whenever you want. Encounters being fully under player control was a definite plus. I went into it thinking it would be such a crazy hodgepodge that it wouldn't be fun. While I was right about the crazy hodgepodge, I was glad to be proven wrong about it being not fun.

Plot is fun but not great by any means. Character work is decent and enjoyable. Generally got exactly what I could have hoped for in this respect.

Music/visuals work for the game. Not the best looking game ever, but very competent for a DS game and the sounds augment the style so damn well it hurts.

Anyways. If you have a DS get this game.

[Hunter Sopko]

P3- The Journey is finished. Some good and bad in the last stretch there. Plot failed, of course. I liked the final boss fight though. Mirrored Coat was annoying, but it was still at least a more interesting fight than P4's end bosses. Music was cool too. I liked the final scene where they're all remembering during Mitsuru's speech too. Some of the S-Link epilogues were great. Hermit's especially (best S-link ever).

I still really liked the PC cast, Ken excepted. They just all worked well off one another and were unfortunately caught in a bad game. It should be interesting to see how it works in The Answer, which seems promising at least. I just started that and stopped at the first opportunity.

The S-Links actually seemed like social links this time around, rather than afterschool specials. Hermit, Strength, and Devil were easily the best. Magician and Justice were terrible, though I honestly think Magician is the most telling of Minato's real personality. Through ranks 1-5 the narration is constantly saying "you don't even know why you are listening to him rant". What a putz. Sun was meh, but for some reason the epilogue for it was very touching.

Overall, the game falls to probably a 5/10. Maybe a 6/10. Depends on how I feel about it tomorrow. Will probably rank Journey and Answer seperately.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

VPDS - C Route beaten. Man, I thought B Route Wyl couldn't get any more pathetic. I was so wrong. I so wish this goddamn game had actual writing.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I still think that Ike can solo this game....on normal at least, have yet to play on hard.

The game is completely unsoloable because endgame bosses are too hax (by FE boss standards anyway).

Beyond that, it is an FE, it can be soloed by almost anyone really if you aren't concerned with efficiency.

Still depends on the exact FE game, I think. I suspect a large portion of the FE6 cast would be unable to solo the game without inhuman RNG luck.

Yeah, true. I forgot, the same applies to FE7 because of the final chapter, particularly the Dragon (though nothing before then, really). Not sure what in FE6 would be a comparable wall, though. Zephiel's throne room?


Dracula X - Found and cleared all the alternate route stages. The hydra was by far the toughest boss in the game, so it seemed like you were supposed to do these after beating the game once. There's still stuff to do (I'm only at 56%, in particular) but I suspect I'm done, at least for the time being. Not really in the mood to hunt secrets, even if at least one leads to a boss fight (given that there's one boss who hasn't shown up in the library yet... I'm assuming it's Shaft's ghost who the game told me about when I beat it). Besides, I have SotN unlocked.


VPDS - Beat the A ending. Final boss is nasty except that she can't kill anyone who stays outside her range, so... yeah. Three PCs go in, attack, get revived, rinse and repeat. Still the toughest VP final boss ever? Possibly! Outside from the "you can't plume ever" restriction, A route was even easier than B route because you fight mostly monsters, and all monsters but harpies completely suck. In general they lack attacks and lack range, compared to humans who have archers and mages. Supposedly the Rosea fight can be tough but you know the story there.

Seraphic Gate is next, whatever @ C route. Story sounds pretty similar to B's anyway, only Wyl gets owned harder.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

The S-Links actually seemed like social links this time around, rather than afterschool specials. Hermit, Strength, and Devil were easily the best. Magician and Justice were terrible, though I honestly think Magician is the most telling of Minato's real personality. Through ranks 1-5 the narration is constantly saying "you don't even know why you are listening to him rant". What a putz. Sun was meh, but for some reason the epilogue for it was very touching.

I liked Magician. It was the story of a dude who wanted to rail his fine-ass teacher.

[Hunter Sopko]

The S-Links actually seemed like social links this time around, rather than afterschool specials. Hermit, Strength, and Devil were easily the best. Magician and Justice were terrible, though I honestly think Magician is the most telling of Minato's real personality. Through ranks 1-5 the narration is constantly saying "you don't even know why you are listening to him rant". What a putz. Sun was meh, but for some reason the epilogue for it was very touching.

I liked Magician. It was the story of a dude who wanted to rail his fine-ass teacher.

It'd be better if he wasn't a massive tool.

[Twilkitri]

Etrian Odyssey - Floor 27

DIE FLOOR 27

I rested my protector and gave it 10 ranks in Flee so that I could at least get back up there instead of having to traipse through thorns/overly long non-thorn path only to find that it NEVER WORKS

RAGE



Rogue Galaxy - Just got access to the Factory.

The overall concept of the Factory is pretty cool. But the interface is verging on horrible, and they just throw you in there with little mention of what you're actually supposed to be doing and leave you with having to read the manual, which in itself doesn't make things that clear. Still I managed to figure it out so I suppose it can't be as bad as it seems.

[Fudozukushi]

WoW: My self-loathing is only matched by the joy at being defensive cannoneer.

[Sierra]

P3- The Journey is finished. Some good and bad in the last stretch there. Plot failed, of course. I liked the final boss fight though. Mirrored Coat was annoying, but it was still at least a more interesting fight than P4's end bosses. Music was cool too. I liked the final scene where they're all remembering during Mitsuru's speech too. Some of the S-Link epilogues were great. Hermit's especially (best S-link ever).

I still really liked the PC cast, Ken excepted. They just all worked well off one another and were unfortunately caught in a bad game. It should be interesting to see how it works in The Answer, which seems promising at least. I just started that and stopped at the first opportunity.

The S-Links actually seemed like social links this time around, rather than afterschool specials. Hermit, Strength, and Devil were easily the best. Magician and Justice were terrible, though I honestly think Magician is the most telling of Minato's real personality. Through ranks 1-5 the narration is constantly saying "you don't even know why you are listening to him rant". What a putz. Sun was meh, but for some reason the epilogue for it was very touching.

Overall, the game falls to probably a 5/10. Maybe a 6/10. Depends on how I feel about it tomorrow. Will probably rank Journey and Answer seperately.

Hermit's probably the best of the links, yes, though I'm also partial to Hanged Man (Maiko = proto-Nanako?) and I seem to be the only person here who didn't hate Justice. Yuko hype, of course, is always warranted.

Agreed on the final battle. P3 has the most stylish final battle I've seen (pity that the fight itself is obnoxious and the plot surrounding it is trash, but this doesn't affect the aesthetics). I thought the epilogue was silly nonsense, though.

Oh yeah, Minato hit level 99 while I was playing yesterday. That's...one heckuva bonus you get for doing that (HP and SP both go to 999; this is something like an 80% increase for HP and over 200% for SP). Atlus is all like, "Oh, hey, you're not raping the game hard enough, here's a spiked dildo to help you out with that."

[Scar]

Of the three Herons, which is considered the best?

I took Reyson, because...I don't have a good reason actually. I think Leanne could Vigor 4 people un-transformed...so...yeah

I brought along with me:

Haar, Shinon, Nephenee, Boyd, the four Laguz Royals, Elincia, and Soren.

Haar, Shinon, and Nephenee are all at max levels.

Just beat the Black Knight. Thank goodness for Nihil!

Will prolly wrap this playthrough up after work.

edit: Also, is it me or does Ike reminds anyone of Guts from Berserk?

[Meeplelard]

Reyson's the best, if you're using a Laguz Gem.  Flight + 4 Way Galdr transformed.  His downside is he's the worst untransformed, but Laguz Gems take care of that.

Leanne is always 2, Rafiel is always 4, however, Rafiel doesn't fly (though lacks an Arrow weakness I think?), which hurts in a few obvious ways.

[Hunter Sopko]

edit: Also, is it me or does Ike reminds anyone of Guts from Berserk?

God no. Comparing almost any character to Guts is a huge stretch.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Rafiel doesn't fly (though lacks an Arrow weakness I think?)

I like how you imply that Rafiel isn't one-rounded by every archer ever anyway.

EDIT: Though yeah, I think only Leanne and Reyson are weak to arrows, and only when transformed.

[Pyro]

Etrian Odyssey 2:

This game has a serious problem. That problem is called FOE.

Not enjoying this very much. Getting slaughtered effortlessly by things I have troubles running away from is not fun. And now the dinosaur on the first floor has woken up and is aggressive. How exactly am I supposed to deal with THAT anyway? I suppose I could make a troubadour and put it to sleep or something, but that is excessive and silly. I also dislike the fact that the game is more or less going to lock me into 5 PCs without really being able to explore the other classes. Silliness.

[Meeplelard]

Rafiel doesn't fly (though lacks an Arrow weakness I think?)

I like how you imply that Rafiel isn't one-rounded by every archer ever anyway.

EDIT: Though yeah, I think only Leanne and Reyson are weak to arrows, and only when transformed.

He'd live through an Archer if he's not doubled!
...yes, I'm aware how unlikely it is, but its almost...worth...nothing?

...or you know, not.  Herons don't take hits at all, etc.