Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Sierra]

MK2 - Still at C7! Lily CQ4 is legendarily unbalanced.

Et4 is worse, in my opinion. Lily voluntarily turning into a blob is one thing. But...look, people, Et's asking for advice on how to patch things up with her brother. She's not looking for a date. Why are you giving her advice on how to be more attractive? Why are you assuming the fact that Enna likes talking to Puniyo means that he wants to shag six-year-old girls? What the fuck backwards redneck town did all you people come from?

[Yoshiken]

Got a working N64 controller, finally! Been playing Jet Force Gemini (so might go back to avataring Lupus at some point) and realised why I like this game so much. The shooting controls are -simple-. There's no "if you've played a billion shooters then you'll be able to play it; if not, good luck" - the controls are simple and intuitive.
The platforming, in fact, is my biggest complaint so far. I wish there was some way to turn around without moving or having to go first-person. Facing backwards should not require moving in a little circle first.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK2 - Still at C7! Lily CQ4 is legendarily unbalanced.

Et4 is worse, in my opinion. Lily voluntarily turning into a blob is one thing. But...look, people, Et's asking for advice on how to patch things up with her brother. She's not looking for a date. Why are you giving her advice on how to be more attractive? Why are you assuming the fact that Enna likes talking to Puniyo means that he wants to shag six-year-old girls? What the fuck backwards redneck town did all you people come from?

That was even funnier, yes (it's really wrong, but it's Gust characters. If they're not trainwrecking in -some- way, they're doing something wrong). The entire cast's common sense is in the negatives. It's impressive how Lily gave the best advice there out of -pure spite-, to boot.

EDIT: Not to mention that Et's so DENSE that she couldn't even begin to wade through the flurry of insanity, let alone connect the dots to go "wait a minute why is everybody being crazy". I keep getting impressed at how utterly deranged Puniyo actually is, too. I thought she'd be one of the boring characters in Raze cast. >_>

[Idun]

Gotta find a magnet. But, I promised myself I'm not FAQing as FAQing KH is kinda stupid anyway. So. I'm done with PoTC's Port Royale and I think I'm going to go to Arabia first.

[Twilkitri]

VPCOTP-

Up to Chapter 4. Partway through the opening sidemissions. Doing the C path. Cheripha did not go out of her way to endear herself to me and made this easy, although the other character I was generally noncommittal towards. Plumed Cheripha first due to the plot related to her that had most recently happened for maximum awesomery, although this wasn't strictly very much. Also she has a much better skill than the other has, which has seen use in around a third of the maps so far, whereas the others's has seen use in one. I am currently intending to use the last plume use as late as possible in order to minimize retreading, under the assumption that I will eventually plume everyone and the assumption that I am not misunderstanding how skill carrying over works. Technically the chart I am looking at says that using one in chapter 3 would still have allowed me to use another in chapter 4, but I was wary of it.

Sidemissions in general seem to be a rather sorry lot. Unsure whether I should be considering this a good thing or a bad thing. Mandatory maps have a much better track record, although there have been some flagrantly easy ones amongst them as well.

I am not particularly good at the battle system w/regards to timing. So what else is new. I am enjoying the storyline so far and looking forward to the other paths.

The heck do they have these big ol' buttons onscreen displaying what face buttons to press to do things but they don't allow them to be touch-screened especially when they know my L and R buttons are broken with their telegnostic powers


Final Fantasy X-

About to enter Djose.

In-engine cutscenes in this game have been having a tendency to FAIL AT LIFE with regards to pacing and lipsynching. I thought it was supposed to be better than this.

Rogue Galaxy has spoiled me a great deal with having full camera control, and to a lesser extent with having jumping. I keep trying to do both. It would help if the game would stop failing at camera control itself so much as I would consequently stop trying to do so myself by default. Can't really hold jumping against it.

Sphere Grid seems pretty awesome in concept, but it's somewhat overwhelming in scope. I like what they're doing with it but it's too convoluted. We need a game to cross the Sphere Grid with RG's Revelation Flow. I have a handle on everyone for the moment except for Kimahri; I have him following Wakka as I have no idea as to where he is 'supposed' to be going. As status attacks seem reasonably dandy at the moment this is working out fine enough anyway.

I like the battle system. Swapping people out is something I don't normally ever do when it's available, but the way it has been set up and encouraged here is nice and I have been tending to use everyone at least once in every battle. The only real flaw are the autoabilities; if weapons/armour had been set up in a streamlined manner akin to the characters themselves things would have been somewhat better.

Played through a season of Blitzball. I started off doing absolutely atrociously but managed to improve enough by the end to take 3rd & top scorer (although the top scorer prize was thrown out for having no-one that could use it. Nice.). I like how the Al Bhed team are implied to be the scrubbiest non-Auroch team in plot but per my experience they are easily the best team at the moment. The Techcopy system FAILS AT LIFE. That is all that needs to be said about that. Blitzball mechanics in and of themselves are passable, but are far too randomised. What were they thinking.

Story seems decent enough so far, although I wonder what I would be thinking of it if I wasn't already so spoiled with regards to it.

[Yoshiken]

Techcopy does fail, yeah. As far as I remember, the game never actually tells you that you have to hit X when it's flashing white and even then, there's only a %chance of learning the tech depending on the levels of both players. ;o

And yeah, the Luca tournament also shows the Goers to be amazing, and they then turn out to be.. about average. (I think the Fangs are probably the worst, followed by the Kilika Beasts, then the Goers? Then Glories and Psyches at the top.) 'Course, the more seasons you play, the more that'll average out, because teams start to get rid of their original crappy players and will bring in the free transfers (including, 99% of the time, the Aurochs that you get rid of. >.>)

As for the story, I think it's decent in its own right. Being spoiled on it, though, doesn't really change -anything- as every major spoiler is given to you in-game about 3 hours before you actually see it. (And -that- is my major complaint with FFX, personally.)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Spoilerkeeping is an overrated storytelling device anyway. Execution is king, and FFX delivers that fine - heck, it probably would work more poorly if they made more of a point of hiding the spoilers that I can think of.

MK2 - Flay is so badass he can make students breathe underwater. I swear Raze path is a very prolonged excuse to drive home the fact that Flay is Batman if Batman went batshit insane and became a teacher.

[Yoshiken]

Ehh, I honestly don't like the execution of it at all. The one that always stands out to me is Auron's revelation post-Yunalesca, which leads to the first part of the ending.. but I really don't see any reason to tell you after the Yunalesca fight. I mean, it's damn obvious anyways, but that doesn't mean they have to fucking spoonfeed you the aspects of the plot. I think people'd figure out what happened.
But, each to their own. I, personally, can't stand FFX in comparison to others in the series - I'd probably rate it as the 4th worst, only beating FF2, FF3 & FF12. And that's including X-2 as well (but not 11).

Jet Force Gemini - Lupus' first boss fight is evil. Two giant mantis things with ridiculous timing, attacks that home in and the only barrier you have from the homing attacks... get destroyed after two bursts on each. I need to be quicker and more accurate in shooting games. -.-

[Scar]

Secret of Evermore:

or what I have dubbed it, Maze-quest. Holy shipwreck does this game throw but one maze rigtht after the other at you!

~

Not saying I care, but i didn't remember there being so many gawd damn mazes!

Anyways, been playing this game with a friend because he was a huge SoM nut, yet he missed this little gem. Shame the game never had mutliplayer options. I would love to be the dog!

Just finished world 3 pretty much and got my means of transportation. So now I gotta remember where all those pieces to the space ship are lying around so we can move the story further.

I also love how the boy is everones bitch boy/errand boy. He does the most bizzare of task without as much think twice on them. I would have to assume, that since he is a movie nut rolling around, talking to his pooch, sporting a trendy sweather vest that he has to be boderline retarded. It works for the game!

[Bardiche]

Anyways, been playing this game with a friend because he was a huge SoM nut, yet he missed this little gem. Shame the game never had mutliplayer options. I would love to be the dog!

If you play emulated, there's a way to do that.

[Hunter Sopko]

FF1- Went with the traditionally lame Fighter/Monk/WW/BW team. Up to Elfheim, finished equipping up there.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Techcopy does fail, yeah. As far as I remember, the game never actually tells you that you have to hit X when it's flashing white and even then, there's only a %chance of learning the tech depending on the levels of both players. ;o

And yeah, the Luca tournament also shows the Goers to be amazing, and they then turn out to be.. about average. (I think the Fangs are probably the worst, followed by the Kilika Beasts, then the Goers? Then Glories and Psyches at the top.) 'Course, the more seasons you play, the more that'll average out, because teams start to get rid of their original crappy players and will bring in the free transfers (including, 99% of the time, the Aurochs that you get rid of. >.>)

As for the story, I think it's decent in its own right. Being spoiled on it, though, doesn't really change -anything- as every major spoiler is given to you in-game about 3 hours before you actually see it. (And -that- is my major complaint with FFX, personally.)

For the record, they do tell you to press X during techcopy. However, the blitzball tutorial isn't really the clearest thing overall, so I can see missing it.

The reason the Goers get plot hype is because at Level 1, Abus and Bickson have stupidly high offence stats and will usually score on you if they get an unblocked shot at your end. A few levels in goalie stats pick up enough to avoid this being so reliable, not to mention the scorers on other teams catch up. Still, the Goers are bitchy to beat in that first match. Psyches are always the best though, good at every position but especially goal. It's really silly. However, it makes sense that Spiran society wouldn't acknowledge the Al Behd team as the best. That felt deliberate.

[Scar]

Yeah, I know about the emulater patch.

But we don't even have one controller for computers let alone two.

What I hope is that nintendo released the game on the Vc and makes it multiplayer.

Yeah.

[Dunefar]

The reason the Goers get plot hype is because at Level 1, Abus and Bickson have stupidly high offence stats and will usually score on you if they get an unblocked shot at your end. A few levels in goalie stats pick up enough to avoid this being so reliable, not to mention the scorers on other teams catch up. Still, the Goers are bitchy to beat in that first match. Psyches are always the best though, good at every position but especially goal. It's really silly. However, it makes sense that Spiran society wouldn't acknowledge the Al Behd team as the best. That felt deliberate.

Gee, making the socially discriminated race the best at sports? Stunning social commentary, Square.

[Shale]

SF4: Okay, I've unlocked Akuma and beat the game with no continues, four perfects and three ultra finishes. Where's my Gouken?

[Bardiche]

Yggdra Union:
Fighting in the desert against the rivaling religious faction. (can't remember names, lol)

My team is mostly:
Yggdra - forced to use. Not... too bad, just that this map has a lot that she's weak against. Notably, knights.
Milanor - Maxed all stats. Fucking MVP. Trying to use him less so others get afterBattle bonuses, too. Wrecks everything.
Russell - Yggdra Heavy. Deals with most everything well. Hates Necromancers.
Elena - Assassin. Almost always Criticals the enemy leader out when on the offense, weeps when on defense. Generally solid, but could use some stat bonuses.

Game's not bad, just sometimes makes me go "urgh what" at the times I have to reset and the limited ways in which to recover Morale.

Ending will probably be Milanor badarsing teh entire map but we'll see...

[Dark Holy Elf]

Gee, making the socially discriminated race the best at sports? Stunning social commentary, Square.

I'm confused. Are you insulted that they did this? It's not meant to be stunning social commentary, but it's a subtle way to reinforce that the racism is occurring.

(Also the Al Bhed should be the best at blitzball, given how much of their lives they spend swimming.)

[Dunefar]

Gee, making the socially discriminated race the best at sports? Stunning social commentary, Square.

I'm confused. Are you insulted that they did this? It's not meant to be stunning social commentary, but it's a subtle way to reinforce that the racism is occurring.

(Also the Al Bhed should be the best at blitzball, given how much of their lives they spend swimming.)

Nah, just run of the mill sarcasm. If you don't get it, never mind.

[Grefter]

Funny joke, missed a bit on execution though, slightly off target.  Needed a bigger cock joke in it.  (That is how you do it Dune)

Blitzball sucks.  FFX plot gives you the puzzle pieces before it shows you the characters reacting so that the player knows what is going on and is as informed as the rest of the world (or the narrator who is in the future for most of the game) which makes a lot of the scenes feel a lot less like stupid arse pulls first time through.  Auron's plot doesn't have to be shown after Yunalesca just to show you the party (or Tidus at least) finding out about it at the end of the game, but it makes that point more powerful because you aren't spending half the scene going ?!?!??!?!?? or feeling like you got ripped off of your awesome character.  So on with many other scenes in the game after the plot catches up to where the opening sequence of the game is.  It ultimately all ties back into the way FFX isn't really about Tidus and you don't experience through Tidus perspective (Tidus is just the narrator of the story).  They don't handle it perfectly, but they were definitely going for something and did it that way for a reason.

[Cotigo]

FF4 DS:  Got the sand pearl.  Going is slow because someone else is playing it.

DQ4DS:  About to enter the Birdsong tower*.

I want to find whoever thought it was a good idea to give every region a quirky accent and kick them in the balls repeatedly.  It's not so bad in Santeem*, because at least here the only problem is that everyone speaks in passive voice (which... is a big problem, actually!) and punctuates their sentences with Dobov! and Oyo! and other things that are supposed to sound Russian but I'm pretty sure are actually just offensive.  Now, Scotland. Er, Burland.  Burlaaaaaaaand.  THAT WAS FUCKING HORRIBLE.  EVERY CHARACTER IN THAT AREA DID NOT NEED TO SPEAK WITH A BLOODY SCOTTISH ACCENT.

That's, just, storytelling 101: Don't do anything that will annoy your reader and make them want to stop reading.  Haven't any of these assholes tried to READ stories that are told entirely with the characters talking in accent?  It's bloody annoying, is what it is.  Honestly, the only story that can get away with that is Huck Finn, and only because it's actually trying to reproduce the region's dialects which gives it a bloody excuse.  This?  There is no excuse for this.

Fortunately, DQ story.  So... hey.  Not... too bad.  How 'bout that gameplay?

I think I like it more than DQ4NES, though it's not revamped to the extent FF4 is.  On the one hand, it's a lot easier to get by without weapons, because the enemies are on the whole much easier.  Because of this, it means that weapons and armor being hella expensive isn't a problem at all.  The game feels like it's a lot more about resource management than grinding, which should prove interesting.

Anyway, the game's definitely got enough nostalgia for me to beat all the way through, but I get the distinct feeling I'd much prefer playing it in Japanese while translating it myself.  Frameskip + No Accents + Helping me learn Japanese >>>>>>> This version, probably.

*Or whatever pseudo-Russian name they gave it.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Gee, making the socially discriminated race the best at sports? Stunning social commentary, Square.

I'm confused. Are you insulted that they did this? It's not meant to be stunning social commentary, but it's a subtle way to reinforce that the racism is occurring.

(Also the Al Bhed should be the best at blitzball, given how much of their lives they spend swimming.)

Nah, just run of the mill sarcasm. If you don't get it, never mind.

Besides, it's Japan. Given their track record we're lucky the Al Bhed didn't look like Mr. Popo.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Enemies are easier? I thought with a few exceptions, they were the same. (Bosses of course are better.) Certainly I never grinded (ground?) in either version and the only enemy who seems like he punishes you for it is Master Kung or whatever he was called in the NES version (first boss in Alena's chapter).

[AAA]

DMC4-Beaten on Son of Sparda.

The Dante sections are as awesome as always. Nero's not a bad character, but Dante is just a lot more fun as far as I'm concerned. The crazy versatility, the weapons are all cool and fun to use, Nero's just plain one-dimensional by comparison.

Bosses didn't really put up much of a fight. I don't think any of them took more than a couple tries.

Unfortunately Dante ends on a very low note, with the boss battle of the Savior. It's a boring, tedious grind that's length depends entirely on how often the statue actually lets you get in range for anything besides plinking away with E&I. Easily the worst mission in my opinion. And the boss gauntlet isn't much better, but I hate the stupid dice roll thing anyway (And Dante just cuts the fucker in half. Have I mentioned that Dante is awesome?).

Sanctus Diabolus was a piece of cake, I never came close to losing.

Anyway, game's fun and etc, otherwise why would I replay it.

[Sierra]

MK2 - Flay is so badass he can make students breathe underwater.

I was actually rather annoyed at this part. You have to press circle constantly to keep up your momentum underwater; hitting an enemy while doing this means you're likely to press the wrong button and thus miss initiative (and dubious 3D means it's possible to hit them by accident), which you want because you need to kill all the enemies before they run in order to get an A on the class; you need to get an A on the class in order to have time to finish all the character quests. All this would just be a nuisance if they hadn't removed the save point from that dungeon solely for the duration of that class. That was a dick move.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK2 - Flay is so badass he can make students breathe underwater.

I was actually rather annoyed at this part. You have to press circle constantly to keep up your momentum underwater; hitting an enemy while doing this means you're likely to press the wrong button and thus miss initiative (and dubious 3D means it's possible to hit them by accident), which you want because you need to kill all the enemies before they run in order to get an A on the class; you need to get an A on the class in order to have time to finish all the character quests. All this would just be a nuisance if they hadn't removed the save point from that dungeon solely for the duration of that class. That was a dick move.

I actually didn't have a problem with that part. I figured out that enemies actually go after you, and the depth isn't hard to get either. I get your frustration there, though, since I lost initiative on there once on the run I A'd, and I -did- get a reset there regardless. On the other hand, the only thing you lose is A CHARACTER QUEST if you don't A the class, and what do you have to gain from them by that point?