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

[Meeplelard]

-1.3: In Which We Learn That Class Changes Are Not Optional, And When They Want You To Change Class, They Don't Mean Just One Character Unless You Want To Spend Fifteen Minutes On Just One Level As Your Slowest Person Is The Only One Who Can Break Barrels (But I'm Not Bitter).

Yeah, get used to that. It's what XF uses in place of things like level design, challenge and fun.

The game stops that nonsense mid Chap 2, actually, instead making a few gimmick puzzle maps spread throughout (or alternatively, a few gimmick boss fights, but they're more "Learn the gimmick, don't get screwed by it" for the most part, rather than "Use Class/Skill OR DIE" as most a variety of ways to approach the fight.), and gives you a lot more straight forward areas, with attempting to be creative at Map designs (in some cases, they succeed; in others, its just annoying cause it does nothing but turn what should be a 5 minute fight into 15, but that's to be expected in a scenario like this; more a statement about SRPGs in general than XF specifically, mind.)

I won't deny that the game hurls a huge amount of gimmick maps early on and really gives you very little opportunities to just battle things straight out.  I understand it was meant to replace a tutorial, but it really overstayed its welcome.

[Luther Lansfeld]

That Chapter 2 fight is pretty trivial though. Most of the gimmick fights are in early Chapter 1; I guess it's a way of introducing the different classes. I think it's pretty neat but your mileage may vary.

[DomaDragoon]

That Chapter 2 fight is pretty trivial though. Most of the gimmick fights are in early Chapter 1; I guess it's a way of introducing the different classes. I think it's pretty neat but your mileage may vary.

I don't mind that I had to change classes to do the battle, it's just that it seemed to be necessary to have everyone as the class to avoid having to continually wait and wait and wait.

*EDIT* Oh, and thank you to everyone for your help. That's why I'm usually one of the last ones to start a board-driven playthrough, so that people can help me without me needing to cheat (much). Also thank you to Meeple, haven't read the spoiler yet but I'll probably do so shortly.

Disgaea DS: Playing through with Prinny Commentary. While there have been a few funny lines, for the most part I am very disappointed. Up to Chapter 7.

[Luther Lansfeld]

I dig. There is one battle very soon that made me tear all my hair out and then spontaneously combust as a warning.

[Random Consonant]

Sands of Destruction - Apparently we're supposed to cause a massive flood because papers raining from the skies said so.  Also the game's sense of character/gameplay balance seems to be off a bit.

[superaielman]

XF- Restarted, speeding through C1.

[Meeplelard]

Okami: Current goal is to run around Japan Nippon searching for DOG WARRIORS that are clearly NOT a Sentai team!

FFTA2: Started this, did the first two maps.  If you think I have any first impressions YOU'RE DEAD WRONG MWAHAHAHA!
(IOWs, too early to tell anything)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

SRWK - Man, Shizuru is a cool pilot. The mech needed to be a Real, though. Also, Jeeg is a badass.

[Niu]

Sands of Destruction - Apparently we're supposed to cause a massive flood because papers raining from the skies said so.  Also the game's sense of character/gameplay balance seems to be off a bit.

Good, we need more people to say this game is crap.

KH BbS- The yaoi is high, the fanservice is readied just one minute into the game. Niu is very very pleased. And the monopoly is addicting, I kinda have forgotten about advancing the plot.

[Twilkitri]

SDGGGW-

Finished the SEED Destiny maps. Only 00, and then the Extra Generation, to go. Although since you get access to one new option part each map completed and I still need around 90 of them, there may be a ludicrous amount of the game in existance which is currently hiding.

Conveniently the SEED Destiny maps end right after ZAFT take over the Requiem. I was also perturbed during the Dardanelles map where I went to have Athrun finish off Kira only to have the game take over and cancel the attack then have Kira one-hit Athrun. It was a sad time. Frost Brothers did get up to some wacky hijinks throughout the Destiny maps which was a nice change from how the final phases usually went.

The Extra 3 map does take place at Messiah so I am currently optimistic that I will be able to fulfill my Shinn-smiting appetites there.

In other news, the commander of the Axis Zeon fleet in the SEED final was great. It's a shame that you can't get them for your own team.

With a decently accurate character, missile packs are broken. Except against Transphase armour and its ilk. But still. Accurate people in units with 6/8 missile packs = overpowered.

Current Team-
Albion/Zenon (GG) et al [Devil Gundam/Amuro '79, Destiny Gundam/Mark (GG) [Gogg/Lanalowe (GG), Nobusshi/Eris (GG), Gadlav/Aina], Strike Noir/Kou [Tornado Gundam/Char '79, Palace Athene/Usso, Contio/Shirou]]
Ra Cailum/Bright '87 et al [Xi Gundam/Camille, Nu Gundam/Amuro '93 [Gundam Maxter/Billy (GG), Tallgeese/Luke (GG), V2 Gundam/Alfreda], Shining Gundam/Judou [Tomliat/Eterna (GG), Gundam F90/Ivan (GG), Mahiroo/Sibbuk]]

[Sierra]

TO: Beat the 26F boss by virtue of her simply not using her limit attack for some reason. Uh...okay, works for me! 21F recruit is still absolutely horrifying and the 25F recruit is by now perfectly manageable right up until the point she obliterates the team with a limit that not even max-buffed Tenshi with 600 mystic resist can survive. I guess I can work on floor 27 now, but dammit, I want a full PC roster before moving on.

[Fudozukushi]

WoW: I've seen 4 world epics drop in a week.  Goddamn.

[Talaysen]

Good, we need more people to say this game is crap.

Sands of Destruction - Killed a pig because he's a jerk.  Actually a pretty tough fight because I'm underlevelled.  Good thing Morte tanks like a champ.

Game is pretty decent so far.  Pretty uncraplike.

[DomaDragoon]

WA:XF - I hate prisons. Very much. Very very very much. Now, I'm assuming that the gimmick of the battle(s) is: Gadgeteers! Fast moving, item throwing, yay! Oh, and here's how you use items. Only one problem, those stupid townspeople get 2HKOed by boss lady + ranged fighter, and that causes a reset. Any advice beyond what I'm currently doing (i.e. Killing bats for money for a full set of equipment and then gems)?

[superaielman]

Prison? Levin uses his delay buster move on the boss to lock her down. Clarissa can go over and help with rob turn while your other PC's support the prisoners and help them escape.

[Grefter]

Infamous - Up to the second island.  Getting around is a lot slower than Prototype, but the city has more character to it than Manhattan does in Prototype.  Playing as a douche because just letting you know, still a douche.

Took fucking long enough for the price to drop down enough to stop kicking myself for not buying it when I was shopping with Sopko.

[Luther Lansfeld]

XF- Did a little bit of grinding for Emulator abilities and now I am fighting spoilers and the undead.

[Scar]

DQ4

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now. Randoms on the world map are all cheese-tastic. I'm still in the high 20s wandering, searching castles for any treasure chest I may have passed in my adventures. I have to make some king laugh or something, but i have no idea where the guys that they want em to find is at.

Oh, I found this liquid metal sword or something. Ryan now rapes everything.

[superaielman]

DQ4

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now. Randoms on the world map are all cheese-tastic. I'm still in the high 20s wandering, searching castles for any treasure chest I may have passed in my adventures. I have to make some king laugh or something, but i have no idea where the guys that they want em to find is at.

Oh, I found this liquid metal sword or something. Ryan now rapes everything.

Go back to the first town in chapter 4 and recruit the jester there. He can make the king laugh and you get the Zenthian Helmet for that.

[Bardiche]

Sands of Destruction.

Just saved Agan. Current team is pretty whoah.

Morte's got a bunch of MT attack spells, Fire, Wind and Ice elementals I think. I don't think it's wrong to say she's a sort of mage: her attack strings aren't particularly good due to the low amount of hits, and her battle strength tapers off now. Awesome durability, though. Quips aren't that stellar, although THERE'S ENOUGH ANNIHILATION is clearly broken.

Kyrie's pretty good for regular attacking. Has three curative spells (one heals Burn, one heals Poison, one for Regen) that are all MT, but his shine is in combo attacks. 2->4->6 string, usually has a crit in them and his morale is, overall, pretty good that you get to triple-act. Pretty good defenses post-IT'S PROBABLY, but otherwise just decent defense that usually gets broken by enemy attacks.

Taupy: wtf is this guy on. Awful morale in that he usually only gets to act once, but when he attacks twice in one round, he easily outpowers Morte/Kyrie regardless of their attack strings. Insane evasion and accuracy (53 Agi whereas the rest has 22/23...) so that most bosses just waste their attacks on him, and he even has MT healing that doubles as revival. The only thing keeping NINJA PIRATE TEDDY BEAR in check is that low morale.

Haven't used Agan so can't say much of him. Pretty funny game. Not stellar, nor thrilling, but it's pretty nice.

[Magetastic]

WA:XF - I hate prisons. Very much. Very very very much. Now, I'm assuming that the gimmick of the battle(s) is: Gadgeteers! Fast moving, item throwing, yay! Oh, and here's how you use items. Only one problem, those stupid townspeople get 2HKOed by boss lady + ranged fighter, and that causes a reset. Any advice beyond what I'm currently doing (i.e. Killing bats for money for a full set of equipment and then gems)?

That's basically the first battle where you're actually supposed to just kill things dead. The only real "gimmick" there is to learn how to control battlefields. Learn how to do that. Learn how to do that in your freaking sleep. There will be a harder battle with the same "gimmick" later on.

[Hunter Sopko]

Infamous - Up to the second island.  Getting around is a lot slower than Prototype, but the city has more character to it than Manhattan does in Prototype.  Playing as a douche because just letting you know, still a douche.

Took fucking long enough for the price to drop down enough to stop kicking myself for not buying it when I was shopping with Sopko.

Heh. I picked it up for Christmas. I should get around to starting it too...

[Pyro]

Dragon Age Origins:

Beaten. I took the ending with 100% more sex because Cid told me to.

The endgame was kind of balls-out in terms of what they did to you. OGRE SWARMS where Ogres have this one move where they grab you in their fist and keep squeezing until you die (wel, my Arcane Warrior could survive it but yeah). The final boss quickly killed my two non-tanks and then got to face down two tanks with lots and lots of healing that just grinded him away. The fight took much longer than it should have thanks to the stupid constant knockdown. That sucked. Other than that I just kept using Heroic Offense on my main and plowing away with a Spellsword until the thing was dead (Heroic Offense is so very effective for Arcane Warriors thanks because they have accuracy problems to start with). The thing didn't have much in the way of actually killing my tanks but boy was it durable. Hax resistances too.

Plot fell apart at the end in execution. I mean, it had some neat ideas but they obviously either didn't know what to do with it really or made the scenario too general to encompass all the possible endings to the Landsmeet.

The only thing I can say about this game in the DL is GO DOG GO. And I guess Alistair has 40% Magic evade. Everyone has some form of status whether it is freezing things or stunning them or KNOCKING THEM DOWN (which actually lets you get in a good 2-3 swipes before they get up again). Guess I'll have to see what Andy says when he finishes with the auto-levelling. My understanding is that there are slight starting skill/spell differences for some of the characters between versions, but I don't think it will matter in the end. Endgame level was around 20, so the fighters should get all their 'school' talents and their class stuff.

[Bardiche]

Sands of Destruction just took a turn for the worst. Kyrie's my highest damage dealer. OHKOs everything. What the hell game, why are you so easy to break.

[Grefter]

Infamous - Up to the second island.  Getting around is a lot slower than Prototype, but the city has more character to it than Manhattan does in Prototype.  Playing as a douche because just letting you know, still a douche.

Took fucking long enough for the price to drop down enough to stop kicking myself for not buying it when I was shopping with Sopko.

Heh. I picked it up for Christmas. I should get around to starting it too...

If you haven't started it yet at least pop it in and do the first 15 minutes.  Seriously one of the best start screens ever made.