Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Bardiche]

Wobbuffet is amazing in team battles as well. In Gymleader fights, it's almost a free ticket to the next round. Its massive HP score lets it pull off a first turn Destiny Bond. Then you just spam it four times in a row; there's very few Gymleader fights where my Wobbuffet lasts that long.

Of course, my favourite strategy involve Counter and Mirror Coat. I'm actually surprised at how well Wobbuffet took down Lunatone and Soltone, given that I usually have a LOT of trouble with those two. (this is partially due to my team, now consisting of Tentacruel, Gardevoir, Lairon, Castform, Wobbuffet and either one of Zigzagoon, Wingull and Swalot)

Man, I almost wish there was a tourney in which Wobbuffet features... Counter/Mirror Coat hype?

[Sierra]

Arkham Asylum: Just got the gate decoder thingy, and am hunting down Harley. From what I can tell the game's a fair bit shorter than I'd hoped, but it makes up for that by being as much fun as advertised. My only complaint is that unarmed mooks are complete cannon fodder - it makes sense that Batman can just jump into the middle of ten thugs and beat the shit out of them with no effort, sure, but it doesn't make for challenging gameplay. Give the fistfighters Titan or something to let them catch up to the gunners (who you do need to use stealth against or die).

Oh, you'll find a few of the Titan mooks mixed in with groups later. (This only lets you ruin the normal goons' shit even harder, for reasons you'll see.)

[Magetastic]

MF6: I have now been upgraded to wine-fetching. Sadly, Taloon is a jerk who won't let me grab his wine, and as far as I can tell, there is no way to intercept him and steal the damn wine.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

FF4-2: Well, I suppose I can't criticize the final dungeon. It's like a billion floors and some of the fights are genuinely difficult. It does make me kind of sad that out of all my options, only three are worth using over the original five from FFIV (Golbez, Yang and Porom). I've got literally fifteen people who I can't possibly fathom a reason to bring with me back on the Big Whale (YES I WILL STILL CALL IT THAT).

As far as changes go... Cecil is just not as good, by comparison. Edge is now more durable, Kain isn't worthless anymore, and Yang is better at covering allies (because he has Cover-Counter, and not just regular Cover). That's what sticks out the most to me. Also that Golbez is Jeigan.

[Meeplelard]

MF6: I have now been upgraded to wine-fetching. Sadly, Taloon is a jerk who won't let me grab his wine, and as far as I can tell, there is no way to intercept him and steal the damn wine.

Did you try punching Taloon once as Yuri?

[Captain K.]

Wobbuffet was a complete non-factor in the videogame nationals this past summer.  First of all, in a 2vs2 environment, you can just ignore it.  Wobb can't do anything to the opposing team except Encore and Charm.  Also if you use Taunt on Wobb, it kills itself - it has no "attack" moves.

[superaielman]

DQ5- Gen 1 completed. Fun game so far. The dungeon's are just tough enough to keep you on your toes and not long enough to really grate on the player.  The plot scenes have had a few good moments so far. I'm really surprised by the tone of the game, that big spoilers scene at the end of gen 1 was much better than I expected.

[Scar]

I need to get me those DS DQ games. Which one would you suggest I start out with first?

[superaielman]

DQ4. Simple, short, and good pacing. Plus ranked. DQ5 looks very good too.

[Meeplelard]

Gen 1's ending is probably the highlight of the game's exposition.  Gen 2's should be a lot more powerful than it is, but DQs general underplay things style, combined the fact that in the end, nothing really THAT tragic happens, as everything sort of works out in the end, kind of ruins the moments.  Purposely being vague to avoid spoilers of course.

[Sierra]

KOTOR: I've been such a goody-two-shoes that my MC generates her own goddamn beam of light in her status portrait. Finished with Korriban, guess I have to head for endgameness now. There are some odds and ends left unfinished, but eh, enough sidequesting.

That Rodian at Yavin has so much awesome gear and I can only afford like two or three items. I can't persuade or mind-control him into just giving me stuff, either. It makes me sad.

[Cotigo]

Warning:  DQ4DS still plays like DQ.  Just... don't expect anything other than a mildly annoying new translation, shiny graphixx and the stuff they tossed onto the PSX version that this is basically a port of. 

I had fun with it but you know irrationality.

[DjinnAndTonic]

DQ4DS: The 'accents' are rather hilarious if you read them aloud to the children in your kindergarten class. Mind, I don't know if they help the game any if you don't teach kindergarten.

[Cotigo]

In fact, I can imagine that it really hurts the game as an instructional tool for English teaching, but I'm pretty sure that's not the point.

[Cmdr_King]

I've made a habit of trying to render my own slight accent into type so I... kinda appreciate the effort.  That said, it must be said at all opportunity that accents are an infinitely better idea in voice than in print.

Mana Khemia 2- Finished Raze path.  Ended up klutzing my way into the Et ending, but really I think I like Et the most anyway, so it saved me agonizing on the "character I like or infinite trainwreck" decision.

Plot?  What plot.  It's just the tale of Flay and his alchemic bootcamp.  Until the ending which has 0% Flay and is terrible (not really.  Villain is funny in his dementedness)

Raze- Sometimes I wonder if they didn't have two different script writers.  One for CQ Raze, where he aways came across as in-the-know and not sure if he should laugh openly at the madness around him or keep silent and let the train wreck some more.  The other, for the 'plot', was perpetually annoyed and hated his life.  CQ Raze is so much better.
Anyway, everything falls into place with Fallen Leaves.  After that, it's... kinda your main offense.  Really, other offense starts to feel wasted because you're too busy scraping healing from the team that sucks at it.  I may, however, be biasing towards the endgame memory-wise.

Lily- Living trainwreck.  To say more is to say too much.
Whim- Simultaneously awesome and woobie.  Needed better VA.
Nice cost efficent mage.  The trouble is, I swear that half the goddamned randoms resist Ice, diminishing her a notch.  Admittedly, I only occasionally changed up my accessories so her CS options were less than stellar, but even then the cost difference is pretty notable and cuts into her big advantage over the other mage.

Et- Adorable.  Her freakish strength factor was used... pretty wisely, always in places where it wouldn't derail the story or get tiresome.
Feels diminished from Nikki/Anna, whose niche she's filling.  This is pretty much entirely a damage-per-SP issue.  On the flip side, Blinking/Twinkle Moon are actually respectable as damage, so even if you don't want to use her card moves as 'finishers' (because you don't want them displacing Freezing Lance/Falling Leaves) she does well at "pile damage and swap the hell out".

Yun- Kinda boring.  Doesn't work as the straight man as well, although he seems to be there to be the straight man when Raze is too emo.  His 'daughter' though is fun enough, kinda reminicent of Muppy.  Better than nothing.
Very much a filler character.  For the most part he just was there to relieve injured mages or SP-spent Et.  That said, his durability/speed combo makes him the best overall item-boy, helpful due to aforementioned "Team Raze doesn't heal so well".

Puniyo- Better in other people's CQs/the 'plot' than in her own.  Super Puni Bros. also work well.  Works when someone needs to say something tactless or otherwise blunt, in particular.
Takes a long time to really come into her own.  CS's are useful but SP can get problematic, although all her healing spells picking up the ability to revive keeps her useful for that.  The Puni Ball attacks are quite good but I really didn't use them enough to say so unfortunately.  EVENTUALLY, and I think I in fact missed it for a long time, I got Taro's Strictness and she was the glass cannon, although I still favored time card offense over immediate damage as a rule.

Hm.  Kinda a borderline 7-8.  I dunno... what it is exactly, but it just lacks some of the spark from Mana Khemia despite the refinements to the system (ALL THE SYNTHESIS IN ONE PLACE.  NO "YOU MISSED THIS ITEM HAHA LOSER" PATHBLOCKING.  ETHER LEVELS MEAN SOMETHING AND ARE HELPFUL AND MAKE SENSE.)  I'm at a loss as to why, honestly.   The party being cut in half leaving you with less utility?  Or... maybe it's just that the MK1 crew felt more like a team, whereas MK2 just kinda... is everyone being tormented together.  I dunno.  Whenever, in the semi-distant future, I get Ulrika done, maybe it'll make more sense then.

[DjinnAndTonic]

In fact, I can imagine that it really hurts the game as an instructional tool for English teaching, but I'm pretty sure that's not the point.

For Japanese kindergarteners? No, not the point at all.

[Cmdr_King]

... come to think of it, that is what DRAGON QUEST PLOT is.  It's a fairytale, a children's bedtime story.  The lengthy tale of many nights, stretching over months or years, as a parent spins tales of heroism and epic battles and exploring the world for their sleepy, content little children.

... or figuring out Chrono Cross plot broke my brain.  Maybe I should go play Tales now.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Well, that's arguably -any- Savior Quest plot, though DQ Plot does do it by the book, so it's pretty iconic for it.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Well, I've been reinstalling a bunch of shit to my PC. To my frustration, apparently there is something wrong with one of the files on my Oblivion disc or something? Kind of frustrates me.

But more importantly, I've installed the KotOR2 Content Restoration Patch so that Aaron Rodgers, Jedi Knight, can have adventures in space where he calls Atton "Greg" much to Atton's confusion. Just finished Peragus. Glad to be gone, cause FUCK THAT PLACE.

[Meeplelard]

... come to think of it, that is what DRAGON QUEST PLOT is.  It's a fairytale, a children's bedtime story.  The lengthy tale of many nights, stretching over months or years, as a parent spins tales of heroism and epic battles and exploring the world for their sleepy, content little children.

... or figuring out Chrono Cross plot broke my brain.  Maybe I should go play Tales now.

This may explain the plot hype.  Some people haven't evolved beyond a children mentality when it comes to stories, so Fairy Tales are still a crowning achievement for writing and anything more is too complicated to try and understand.  It explains why a lot of simple minded people say "I was intrigued by the plot!" and...yeah...

[Fudozukushi]

Well, I've been reinstalling a bunch of shit to my PC. To my frustration, apparently there is something wrong with one of the files on my Oblivion disc or something? Kind of frustrates me.

But more importantly, I've installed the KotOR2 Content Restoration Patch so that Aaron Rodgers, Jedi Knight, can have adventures in space where he calls Atton "Greg" much to Atton's confusion. Just finished Peragus. Glad to be gone, cause FUCK THAT PLACE.

Did they finally finish that thing?

[Bardiche]

... come to think of it, that is what DRAGON QUEST PLOT is.  It's a fairytale, a children's bedtime story.  The lengthy tale of many nights, stretching over months or years, as a parent spins tales of heroism and epic battles and exploring the world for their sleepy, content little children.

... or figuring out Chrono Cross plot broke my brain.  Maybe I should go play Tales now.

This may explain the plot hype.  Some people haven't evolved beyond a children mentality when it comes to stories, so Fairy Tales are still a crowning achievement for writing and anything more is too complicated to try and understand.  It explains why a lot of simple minded people say "I was intrigued by the plot!" and...yeah...

You're talking as if enjoying the simple things in life is bad.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

There's a not so subtle difference between "simple" and "bland".

[Cmdr_King]

I think it's a sad thing that people can so utterly lose their ability to keep a little childish innocence and enjoyment of the simple.  But, if you're someone who does hold on to that, you do need to acknowledge it for what it is.  You don't want to be so fixated on the simple that you are overwhelmed and dismissive of the complex.
Now, granted, part of the strength of fairy tales is that their bluntness and simplicity also gives them a sort of timelessness.  Does DQ achieve on that level?  Maybe some of them?  I dunno, hard to say.

Put another way, it's good to be able to trim the fat and enjoy something simple and maybe a little childish, but you don't want to consider such things the height of storytelling either, and it's good if you can also ask yourself what the story might be like in a grand, fleshed out style as well.

[kokushishin]

Complicated and deep are not synonyms.

On the other hand, if I were playing a legitimate playthrough instead of my roommate's NG+, I would be less interested in the game.  I'm having a fairly easy time running through it, but I also have duplicates of all the useful augments.  2 attackers with Darkness/Focus, the mages with FastTalker/Omnicast/MP+50%, would both have Doublecast if my roommate had gotten that on his first file... Hell, the bosses still tear me apart without proper planning.  I'd hate to try and do this on the first playthrough.  Did they just stop balancing the game by this point, or did they intend for it to still be difficult on multiple playthroughs?  There's a fine line and I'm not sure if the game's crossed it.  I may have to play this legitimately just to see.  On the other hand... eh.

The moon has always been a significant jump in enemy strength.  While a couple boss fights are genuniely more challenging, most of their changes come off as more cute than effective and pale compared to what the PCs got.  


~~~~~


Went back to Star Ocean:2nd evolution to finish off Rena's story.  I'm thinking on the PSX version I either screwed up horribly on the item creation or only fought Gabriel without his limiter as I absolutely destroyed him here.  I don't have much patience for the CoT, but there's still some stuff like like getting Opera's other skill from item creation and whatnot to do.


Dissidia: Completionist fever has hit me big time. The game seems to have picked up on this and has suddenly become very generous in giving me Lufenian gear I already have and stuff for exclusive weapons other than the one I am trying to finish.