Let's Play Some Motherf*$&ing Games: 2010!!!!!!

[Meeplelard]

MMX6: 12 lives lost this time, 22 lost total.  I got some to miraculously drop in the stage.  Spike wall only ate two lives this time, but the bloody lava somehow managed to take two away as well.  The remaining 8?  All on the Nightmare Mother, the bitch.

So...how is your cholesterol holding up?

Pretty sure that scene has been done many, many times before in movies as well.

You'd be correct as well.  There's a whole freaking TROPE on it, the "Bolivian Army" I believe.  I think they noted that Crisis Core was a SLIGHT divergence in that they actually show the (tragic) outcome, instead of ending dramatically with "Heroes vs. Impossible Odds" where failure is kind of assumed.  But generally, yeah, its not exactly new. 

There is of course nothing wrong with reusing old material, provided you use it appropriately (or alternatively, try to put at least a slightly original spin on things), its just using Old Material and pretending its New...yeah, that's what's annoying.  Sounds like Halo Reach fans are exactly that.

[Shale]

Yeah, the wrinkle CC threw in is to actually show the hero kicking an unholy amount of ass, but not quite enough to survive. I can't think of anything else that uses that specific ending, but I'd be more surprised if it was totally original than if I just hadn't seen the earlier examples.

[Grefter]

It is called the Bolivian Army Ending yeah, classic television example of it is Blake's Seven if you are into late 70s/early 80s Brittish Sci Fi (Tom Baker era Doctor Who, a true golden age).

Deus Ex has it part way through the game.  It is an entire game mode in some FPS games/mods.

Edit - Kind of indecisive if you can classify most Lufia series first encounters with Gades as that, they are certainly intended to be unbeatable normally anyway, but there is no escalation.  Hmmmm it would certainly be very damning if you could throw it in their faces though.

[Sierra]

Bolivian Army Ending, yes. Trope namer: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Watch Butch and Sundance, you lamers.

[Meeplelard]

Yeah, the wrinkle CC threw in is to actually show the hero kicking an unholy amount of ass, but not quite enough to survive. I can't think of anything else that uses that specific ending, but I'd be more surprised if it was totally original than if I just hadn't seen the earlier examples.

And in fairness, its not the whole Bolivian Army ending that makes CC's ending great.  Its the integration of Gameplay elements as a means to DRIVE the ending, in addition to the emotional impact it has DESPITE knowing full well the outcome, that it deserves hype.  The whole "Zack doesn't win, but he puts up a ridiculously good fight!" thing was cool, but its only one aspect of the ending as a whole.

Dunno anything about Halo Reach's version, of course, to say that CC's ending is great just cause "Zack vs. Army, ZACK ALMOST WINS!" is kind of underselling it.

(I know you didn't say that, Shale, just feel like going off on a tangent <_<)

[Pyro]

Valkyria Chronicles 2: Complete

I enjoyed this game, I really did. But I can't say it is a *good* game for several reasons.

First the good. Valkyria Chronciles 2 is at times a blast to play. Thinking up new strategies to deal with enemy formations and the need to grab camps vs. killing specific enemies means you are constantly thinking of a strategy to implement and trying new things. The game's balance between classes is quite satisfying, with a use for every possible class. The implementation of the deployment system, where you could quickly put a unit in your reserves in any camp you own and instantly take a turn, made for a much faster and balanced experience than VC1. The game certainly puts the "Strategy" in SRPG. But all of this is kind of tainted by how easy the game can be. I perhaps shouldn't say much because I utilized two rather powerful combos (Sniper tank and Double Movement Fencer Elite) towards endgame, but the early and midgame are, with the exception of boss fights, too easy.

The game's class system is pretty fantastically balanced (with the exception that Ravagers seem kind of pointless due to not OHKOing many of the things you would want them to), but the PROMOTION system is not nearly as good. It requires you to get specific 'credit's for each unit in order to promote. There are four types of credits and there are four levels within each type. The end result is that if you want to promote a unit to tier 2, you can do so, although a little bit later than you might like unless you grind. If you want to promote most of your used units to tier 3... well, have fun hunting those things because it will take a while. It is a most frustrating implementation.

The game's plot is bad. There really isn't any skirting around this issue. It tries to combine the seriousness of war with a light-hearted high school feel. This *DOES NOT WORK*. It was a bad idea to start with and it wasn't implemented particularly well. VC1 had a good story until it fell apart near the end due to a lack of compelling villains. VC2 doesn't make it far enough to fall apart. It was a no-starter for me, and likely for anyone else. This isn't to say I despise all the characters or some such. While Avan and Cosette are sort of insufferable, Zeri at least manages a kind of neutral stoicism that I liked. 2/3rds of the main cast being bad isn't a good showing, but the supporting cast is generally likable enough, albeit too childish for the setting. For example the little scenes that are scattered around to show off the personality of the squad tend to be enjoyable little slice-of-life affairs, but typically they would feel more suited in a traditional adventure RPG, or else a school sim ala P3/4 or something. This is supposed to be a military academy and it feels like an ordinary high school. I will throw in and say that I liked Aliasse. She mostly had an excuse to act childish and was generally fun.

So it's a fun game and a great SRPG experience, but as a whole it isn't what I would consider well put together.

Class analysis:

Scouts: Used for when you want to get to a base on the other side of a larger map and take it in the minimum number of turns, and you can afford to do so with something that doesn't have much durability. As Snipers they wind up being less usable than I had hoped. Although they make good boss-killers that isn't exactly a commonly called upon use (maybe 4 times the entire game?). I may be underselling snipers a bit if as Sniper Elites with a buff they can OHKO V2's that still have the aura up.

Shocktroopers: The best class for base defense and a good choice to send into the field to take enemy camps. Position a gatling user in a good location and you can also take out hordes of enemies on THEIR turn, which is just icing. Their ability to pretty much kill anything in their range is a major plus, and they can take a hit unlike Scouts/Engineers.

Lancers: Kills tanks and other armored things. This function is valuable but they suffer a little for a reason I will mention below. In general a good idea to have them lying around though. Killing Supply Vehicles to take down the invincibility aura on enemy V2's is important, and being able to do so from across the map is a godsend.

Engineers: I didn't use Engineers much, I have to say. They WOULD be kind of like lesser Scouts for taking bases, but they have no grenades and hence no way of forcing a crouched enemy to stand. This is absolutely devastating for their use, since it means they can't kill crouched enemies at a base to take it. As healers they work all right although it is rare that you want to heal a single unit. Once promoted to tier 3 they can get Revival, which IS useful. And their other route features some very nice buffing options for when you want to make a unit (or units) uber before sending them out to kick ass. Generally less useful early and picks up some use late.

Armored Techs: Hoo boy. These are the guys you call upon when you need to get past an enemy gatling or horde. Armored units just tink shots that would kill other units, so they are ideal for waltzing through a heavily fortified area to an enemy base. While their offense as techs leaves something to be desired, once they promote to Fencers and Fencer Elites they suddenly can OHKO just about anything. Some of them getting Double Movement to compensate for their one weakness of low movement is just lovely. Unfortunately, while they are good at HOLDING bases due to awesome durability, their inability to use interception fire means that you generally don't want them on the field when it is the enemy's turn. This isn't too bad however, since it just means that you use them, deposit them, and then bring in someone else. Works pretty well.

Tank: Remember how in VC1 you could make a unit uber via Orders? You can't do that in VC2. What you CAN do is set up a 1 CP cost tank that has a turret with the accuracy of a sniper rifle, twice the power of a lancer, and 2-3 times the personnel killing power of an actual sniper rifle. This baby is your uber unit. The downside to the tank is that using it means other units that you could have used don't get Credits for promotion, and the tank itself cannot capture enemy bases. But really, you send this thing in, move it past enemy lines without fear of damage, and then just pick what you wnt to kill. The innate Double Attack skill just adds insult to injury. Used to be tanks got 1 action for 2 CP. This tank can get 2 actions for 1 CP. It's awesome and it shows. Oh and it is your best option for killing enemies with interception fire. There are a few missions where you are forced to use a transport vehicle instead of the tank, and the loss is keen indeed.

Standout moments include the boss fights, which tend to be cool, one mission late where you have to go through a valley of very powerful V2 enemies without taking down their auras, and anytime you make a new awesome weapon, which is often.

[Niu]

MMX6: 12 lives lost this time, 22 lost total.  I got some to miraculously drop in the stage.  Spike wall only ate two lives this time, but the bloody lava somehow managed to take two away as well.  The remaining 8?  All on the Nightmare Mother, the bitch.

I didn't know you love MMX this much to still trying.

[Twilkitri]

Bioshock -

Decent.

Plasmids didn't seem to be worthwhile enough considering the emphasis put on them. Ended up just having Electro/Winter/Incinerate/Telekinesis most of the game and never ended up buying the 5th or 6th slot as nothing else seemed particularly useful, and I probably used them more often environmentally than in battle outside of the earlygame. Maybe they hold up better than the weapons do in harder difficulties, but I have no desire currently to look into that.

I am somewhat annoyed by the solutions to each area goal being within the area in question (Need medicine drastically? Information on which medicine you need and the medicine in question is right here in the two areas you currently have access to! A door has been sealed off and you need to disguise yourself to trick someone into opening it? Everything you need is right here! etc.). Despite the fact that this is how things tend to work in these kinds of games. I was originally thinking that it's different here because normally you have keys and locked doors which is perfectly sensible and not absurdly stunningly convenient, but then I realised that no, that's stupid and keys shouldn't be anywhere near the doors they lock, let alone on the outside (at least in the sense of finding them lying around which I am most familiar with) . Can only assume that I have been indoctrinated over the years here.

I think that Rapture would actually lend itself better to a Metroid Prime/Hexen-style world than the generally disconnected linear world it is, but that would potentially run contrary to one of the things they were doing with it. Shame.

Some of the backstory timeline doesn't seem to make sense to me. The audio diaries really needed to be dated. If Suchong died a year or so back, why are the Big Daddy boots still in the library and not in the facility? If he died very recently instead, where was the time for the Big Daddy system as it currently stands to be set up?

I also don't understand how using the key in the override allows the takeover. It doesn't seem like the override was in any position to be tampered with ahead of time, and unlikely to have been built that way. Assuming that the override was hacked remotely at that point, considering that there were things remotely hacked before, seems unlikely because there were surely any number of other things that the key was for which could have been targetted by this.



PW3 Wii -

Did the first case so far.

On the one hand, pause-saving doesn't kick you back to the title screen, which is an improvement in some respects. As I have yet to need to reload any pause-saves though I don't know whether they still allow unrestricted loading or if they get deleted on gameover or anything or what.

Game was not really adapted to the system as well as they might have done. When you do a point-out-the-problem-area bit, it zooms out so you have both screens vertically in the central column of the television with useless space to the left and right. Presumably so you can have the question onscreen as well as the image, but surely they could have thought of a better way of doing this considering that the image you're scanning for problems is now about 1/6th the size it is normally. Bigger than the size it is on the DS, but you're probably nowhere near as close to the TV as you are the DS. Presumably the GBA versions of the games had a way of going about these situations that they could have cribbed instead.

Game also doesn't seem to offer pointer control to emulate the touch control for god-knows-whatever reason, falling back completely on button controls (plus some optional gestures for 'dramatic' actions a la the voice controls). To be honest I personally probably prefer using button controls to using pointer controls, but that's potentially because I haven't used the Wii in forever, and it would be nice to have the option.

[NotMiki]

ToV - beat.  fun game, already said pretty much all that needs to be said, except that I don't think the main bad guy is as illogical as I believe other people have said.  He just has a fundamental misunderstanding of ecology: that things have a natural state to return to.  Our heroes evidently WERE paying attention to the teacher that one class in earth science, so they get things right.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

ToV - beat.  fun game, already said pretty much all that needs to be said, except that I don't think the main bad guy is as illogical as I believe other people have said.  He just has a fundamental misunderstanding of ecology: that things have a natural state to return to. 

The way you put it makes him sound even stupider. <_<

[NotMiki]

I guess, but it's a pretty common fallacy to think that an ecosystem has a natural state that, if the conditions were right, would maintain itself without changing, and that humans can't help but be destructive to that state.  I mean, there are other RPGs that make that point fairly explicitly.  So I don't think the bad guy is all that stupid for thinking like that.

(The other reason he opposes the good guys, lack of faith that humankind can cooperate toward a common goal?  Well, humankind had a pretty bad track record, so I'll give him a pass on that one too.)

[Dark Holy Elf]

LFT - Beat this. File was focused on special characters, I used generics until the end of C3 but otherwise used every main storyline plot PC except Meliadoul, since I used her in the WA4 file aftergame. Didn't do any sidequests. Final levels were about 31-38, with Agrias as the lone 38 and everyone else in the 31-34 area (Ramza was 33, I believe). I'm not really sure how she got that far ahead of everyone else, she was probably the best PC offensively but the gap didn't feel that wide.

Ended up with one reset on each of Dorter Slums, Wiegraf 1, Dorter 2, Izlude, North Wall, Zalera, Balk 2. Two resets on Kletian, once again the hardest fight in LFT to me!

After I got Orlandu I started using six PCs instead of 5, rotating them. I guess this means everyone suffered a bit for exp/JP or whatever, but not very much.

Lategame highlights...

-Adramelk only ever used Night Sword (999 draining) or Hold Tight (GT petrify/don't move), only using the latter if he could nail multiple people with it. This was bad enough that I made him use Night Sword instead. My party wasn't great at blitzing so it took a while for me to set up a Solution'd Malak lucky chain of attacks.
-Kletian... well, I did some setup mucking of course, but the main reason I won (and easily at that) the last attempt was that the two charging Time Mages and one Ninja were all nice enough to line up and get killed by Holy Explosion.
-Balk featured the misadventures of Malak trying to be the hero. Both battles with him came down to him needing to do something key to win the battle. In the first, he needed to land two hits on a hydra with only two panels to target. Of course he fails, and I lose. Second time, I give up on saving my other PCs and only Malak is left alive, and he needs to land a whole bunch of shots on Balk, first poisoning him with SPACE STORAGE, then managing to land a needed four shots aimed at five panels on the last turn. Malak is so silly. Orlandu died in this battle, but that's what I had six PCs for, I guess~
-Altima... found form 1 fairly easy this time, but 2 kicked my ass, had luck landing Faith with Grand Cross and carving people up with Return 2 or All-Ultima. Never mind that Rafa and Malak were both overkilled by one of these even before Faith. Rafa eventually crystallised, but no big. I sorta hung on in this battle, and was convinced I was about to lose when Altima launched a final All-Ultima at my team, killing absolutely -everyone-. Except Malak. But including herself. I'd have lost horribly if that hadn't killed her, but hey. Not sure Altima really needs to do 450 damage to herself with All-Ultima, but the fight is tough enough I'm not going to complain.

PC notes:

-Ramza: Not much to say here, I mainly explored Punch Art rather than Ramza's capabilities in particular. Scream does compliment this well, at least.

-Agrias: Already mentioned that innate Geomancer helps a LOT. Geomancer is pretty terrific class now (pretty much all my PCs spent some time there), but for Agrias it's particularly special, since she can get massive PA to swordskill things with, and picks up her best support skill too. Attack Up > Magic Attack Up in LFT, for reals. Anyway, Attack Up makes Holy Knight less painful, and then she picks up the rest of the set, back to kicking ass in Geomancer, before finally settling in as a Knight with Excalibur or whatever's available. Too bad about Holy Knight sucking, with the improvements to Knight it only looks worse. Still, she brings instant ITE slightly-GT damage to the table which is quite handy and fairly unique (Draw Out's there, but a bit different) so is probably the best special PC in a straight playthrough now.

-Mustadio: Snipe + Item, he makes a good healer of course. Eventually I got impatient with Snipe's weakness as a skillset and had him build up Mediator stuff instead, so he finished mostly as a Mediator with Throw Item. Worked well enough. He does have a speed edge on normal PCs, which is good for an item user, at least, so he's okay. Also, while you can certainly build a better PC than him before he joins, it's worth pointing out that most battles before he joins you can only use four PCs, so he's easy to slide in as a fifth. Granted, same's true of Agrias. But yeah, he's okay.

-Rafa: Truth is lame and always will be, although the improvements are nice. Tacking range 8 revival onto the set helps, although it's quite a mediocre skill due to the notable charge time (charge times are always far worse on revival than on anything else) and the HP recovery which doesn't make up for it (people revived with even Raise can take hits, Scorpio's Blessing less so). I don't really like the extra hits much, because it gets kinda annoying to watch 10 hits. I'd rather see a fixed number of hits (5-6?) a la Dark Whisper, but no idea if that's practical. Anyway, making Truth miss allies and Space Storage's reduced vertical (it's probably the best skill in the set, now) help out the skillset a bunch, at least, and it is ITE at least. Still a clear step back from Summon Magic in basically every way, but I no longer feel like shooting myself when I use it. It's quite middling at first but once Rafa learns the key stuff and can go Wizard/Geomancer (Heaven Knight sucks), things get better.

-Malak: EXPLODING FROG! Okay, Malak. He's really not very good now. He's much better than before, got the same upgrades as Rafa, but now he doesn't even have Brave (which is fine plotwise, but yeah). And he generally seemed to have about half of Rafa's damage output even though I lowered his Faith, which isn't always practical. Hell Knight is a little less terrible than Heaven Knight (4 move) but still bad. Exploding Frog... just didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, the charge time on something that doesn't lock on (was this intentional?) and the low vertical is sad times, though it was quite good on some maps, and does work as an emergency reraise buff if you block frog. Still the weakest overall plot character, but hey.

-Orlandu: Is Cid. He's a bit behind a well-built Agrias in the maingame (though obviously surpasses her in the aftergame, perfume arguments aside), but not much! Mostly because unlike most specials he actually gets a worthwhile base class as a carrier. And the Dark sword skills aren't bad options, for all that I barely used them. So yeah, pretty good times.

Thinking on it, improved Squire makes me extra bitter about Holy/Heaven/Hell Knight/etc. being bad. Now that there's a class with FFT Geomancer-like stats, and everything I could want from a class except shields on equipment, getting saddled with something far worse (admittedly, with a better primary skillset) is sad days. This is probably decently balanced (Agrias in particular doesn't objectively need more improvement), but it's allowed to bug me a bit.

Good times, would replay again, etc.


New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Ended up having to FAQ the second star coin in 3-4, felt pretty stupid when I learned where it was. Finished world 9, it was pretty good times, with special bonus points for the 6-10 dead ringer with the defrostable ice blocks. That made for some amazing bits. Saving the Toads in world 9 is brutally challenging, only managed two of them. Fun little game, it's Mario, not much to say. Singleplayer ended up very enjoyable even though it took some time to get rolling. Not sure I like it quite as much as the original New or some of the oldschool games, but definitely a solid entry in the series.

[jsh357]

Finished Emerald Flying Monotype.  Wallace was a whore, and so was most of the Elite Four.  I thought about writing a log but really it wasn't as fascinating as you might expect.  To be honest, I caved in and used items in battle against Wallace (hadn't done that throughout the entire game).  I didn't realize that he would have a ten-level jump over the previous four matches, and I'm not about to spend any more hours grinding for this, haters to the left.

I suppose that instead I'll share my thoughts on all the Flying types I managed to find in regards to the challenge.  If I missed some, well, I'd be surprised.

"Justice" (The Night, Batman)
Zubat/Golbat/Crobat - I used him throughout the entire game.  Rocks early on because he's immune to Poison, and stays good thanks to Confuse Ray/Bite hax and generally good speed blitzing stats, as well as decent HP.  Honestly, he's pretty much essential to getting through the game in this challenge.
Final Set: Bite / Confuse Ray / Shadow Ball / Wing Attack

"DERP"
Doduo/Dodrio - As soon as I got Doduo I replaced Swellow.  You trade off some defense, which does hurt a bit at late game but not enough to make up for the huge Attack upgrade, not to mention Tri Attack and Drill Peck.  Helpful for killing stuff dead. 
Final Set: Drill Peck / Tri-Attack / Steel Wing / Pursuit

"NeedsBliss"
Skarmory - This guy ended up being rotated in and out of my team throughout the game.  Obviously, he's a fine physical wall and resists Accuracy-lowering attacks, which is great.  He also learns Swift and I taught him Aerial Ace, so he ended up being my Accuracy specialist.  Spikes made him essential against the E4.  Nowhere near as useful as in competitive play, but generally a good addition to the team.
Final Set: Spikes / Aerial Ace / Swift / Steel Wing

"Asok"
Wingull/Pelipper - MVP, and I'm not kidding.  He made a great HM Slave, rocked hardcore as my only special attacker early on, and provided the Toxistall action later on.  Skarmory wouldn't have been bad for this either, but it already had a role. Pelipper also ended up being my Dragon slayer, and came in quite handy against Drake.
Final Set: Ice Beam / Shock Wave / Toxic / Protect

"HM Slave"
Tropius - While he was useful as an HM Slave, I actually ended up using him in my main team over Gyarados.  My team was too weak to Electric, and his half-resistance helped a ton.  Gets some handy moves like Body Slam, Magical Leaf and Stomp.  Tropius was particularly good againt Drake's Kingdra, who I paralyzed with Body Slam so that Salamence could maul it.
Final Set: Fly / Magical Leaf / Body Slam / Protect

"Uberlawl"
Salamence - It's freakin' Salamence.  Terrible monster design, but pretty damn useful.  I just taught him random attacks and wrecked things basically.  If you're wondering why he doesn't have Earthquake, that's because I had taught it to Gyarados like an idiot before eventually cutting him out.  You get Salamence late, but he's a welcome addition to the team, and tears stuff up.
Final Set: Dragon Claw / Crunch / Fire Blast / Brick Break

People who I ended up cutting out of my team

"The Giz"
Gyarados - He's great because he can take a hit.  Movepool totally sucks in RSE, sadly, and he can't rely on Waterfall like in D/P/P/HG/SS.  I never got his level high enough for Dragon Dance.  Essential for beating bulky types early on, especially Magnemite/ton.  I eventually phased him out of my team because his offense was no longer cutting it and used Pelipper instead.

Natu/Xatu - I don't even remember what I named this.  I used it briefly because it resisted Psychic for the seventh gym.  It learns Psychic too late and comes too late to be of much help.

"FF4"
Beautifly - This thing sucks and GameFreak should feel bad.  I used it for Absorb against the first gym, and I think it had some purpose against Wattson, but after that it was curtains.  Terrible stats and movepool.

"Hawk"
Taillow/Swellow - I used it until Dodrio was available.  Once it evolves it can take a hit or two.  Its offense is above average until you get something better.  Great for early game.

Masquerain - I think I was able to get this and didn't.  Why the hell would you bother, really?

Ninjask - I suppose passing might have been helpful, in retrospect.  I found myself needing extra Speed in several cases.  Didn't feel like grinding him up, though.

"SageAcrin"
Swablu/Altaria - It's useful for Sing and the Ground resistance, but not much else early on.  It evolved just before the 8th gym, and then I got Bagon.  I suppose easier Dragon Dance access is a plus, and might provide a case for Altaria.  YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

"Khan"
Rayquaza - I decided not to use Ubers.  (Salamence wasn't Uber as of RSE)  He probably wouldn't have added much to the team, tbh.  Ice weakness was an issue that plagued me like crazy in the last couple of fights, and Rayquaza wouldn't have helped in that regard.

I would also like to express that Gligar only being available post-game is a slap in the face for this challenge.  :/

Overall, I'd say this is a doable but very frustrating challenge.  Wattson, Glacia and Wallace are a pain in the ass.  I didn't even bother to go after Steven, that last battle got me so disillusioned.  I'm sure it's quite possible to beat him.  One of the toughest things about this challenge is that your TM movepool absolutely BLOWS, and birds don't get the greatest level-up moves either.  Hardly any of the Flying types can learn useful attacks when you actually need them.  Also, Flying is weak to three elements that seem to be a constant factor throughout the game.  I remember one trainer that had two Manectrics almost totally wiping me out and I had levels in the 40s.   

It's probably karma.  As soon as I rolled Flying, I thought I had this in the bag.  It proved to be rougher than expected.  Fair enough!  Now I know how Faulkner feels.

[AndrewRogue]

Starcraft II: Up to Char. Sided with Horner and Nova at the respective junctures, because Raynor strikes me as a ladies man. Only defeat was on Supernova due to some serious misuse of my Banshees.

[OblivionKnight]

You mean Haven's Fall instead of Safe Haven?

Have you used all your research upgrades yet?

[BaconForTheSoul]

There should really be no debate between siding with the hot blond over the crazy guy from Jamaica.

[DomaDragoon]

Posting from Wii, bear with me.

DQ9: Am storming empire's castle. Can't be final dungeon unless Sage is postgame, since I don't have that class yet.

Party is Hero (dabbled in Glad and Mage for a bit, now L42 Warrior with Swords), Rei (Mastered Thief abilities, now L12 Paladin with a club), Ayla (pure Martial with Claws, L41), and Butz (little of everything, mastered Wands, currently L21 Mage).

About the Inn and guests, does that give me anything I can't get anywhere else? I can't find anyone.

[jsh357]

Posting from Wii, bear with me.

DQ9: Am storming empire's castle. Can't be final dungeon unless Sage is postgame, since I don't have that class yet.

Party is Hero (dabbled in Glad and Mage for a bit, now L42 Warrior with Swords), Rei (Mastered Thief abilities, now L12 Paladin with a club), Ayla (pure Martial with Claws, L41), and Butz (little of everything, mastered Wands, currently L21 Mage).

About the Inn and guests, does that give me anything I can't get anywhere else? I can't find anyone.

You get the guests from Wifi events.  Not sure if those are still going or not. 

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Starcraft II: Up to Char. Sided with Horner and Nova at the respective junctures, because Raynor strikes me as a ladies man. Only defeat was on Supernova due to some serious misuse of my Banshees.

Yeah, about that first one... you might want to go back after you beat the game and play the mission you didn't choose, because shit dude.

[Sierra]

Plasmids didn't seem to be worthwhile enough considering the emphasis put on them. Ended up just having Electro/Winter/Incinerate/Telekinesis most of the game and never ended up buying the 5th or 6th slot as nothing else seemed particularly useful, and I probably used them more often environmentally than in battle outside of the earlygame. Maybe they hold up better than the weapons do in harder difficulties, but I have no desire currently to look into that.

Those plasmids (minus Winter Blast) are really the only ones you need even on harder difficulties. Everything else is novelty. Plasmids are never great for offense (hurling exploding canisters with TK can be nice, but you don't always have those handy). They facilitate asskicking rather than constitute such in themselves. I'm told Decoy is broken for what it does to enemy AI, but have never messed with it much. Personally only really needed electro for stunning and fire for breaking up enemy mobs.

I haven't played the highest difficulty setting, but I ran on Hard and the broken weapons on Normal were still pretty fucking broken there.

Try a dedicated wrench build if you ever replay it. This is actually amazingly unfair and you will pretty quickly stop bothering with firearms against anything but Big Daddies.

[Idun]

O M G,


I think I'm about to turn on Dragon Quest VIII. ~

[NotMiki]

I think I'm about to turn on Dragon Quest VIII. ~

ah, English.  I read that and the first thing I think is that you're preparing to stab Yangus and co. in the back.

[DjinnAndTonic]

What treachery is this, Idun?! Yangus never did anything to you.

[DomaDragoon]

I think I'm about to turn on Dragon Quest VIII. ~

ah, English.  I read that and the first thing I think is that you're preparing to stab Yangus and co. in the back.

Really? My first thought was "puff-puff".

...Please don't hurt me.

[Captain K.]

Mine as well, but Captain K. being dirty is pretty much a given.

@Doma, the guests are inside the inn, to the northwest of Patty (where the waiter guy is) - just go up the elevator.  If you've connected to DQVC there should be several there now.  Their equipment is pretty decent by endgame standards but nothing remarkable in the long run.