Playin' any games today, Flying Nun? (WGAYP - 2011 Edition)

[DjinnAndTonic]

Lazy today, so just commenting at Djinn.

Zubat's only really good in-game because you can evolve it so early.  Crobat at level 23 I believe it is destroys worlds.

2-4 was probably my least favorite XF map.  Game gets considerably better once it's behind you.

Disgaea 3 > 2 in plot?  Details!  This sounds interesting.

Ah, okay, I'll stick with Zubat a little longer then. I'm nearing that level mark. No word from the pokegurus on Pikachu locations? I guess I'll have to actually look something up. *sigh*

I'm only like 4 maps into Dis3, so I can't comment on the plot. I just like the writing/humor/characters in 3 universally more than the relatively bland set from Dis2. Adell is just such a lackluster protagonist. And Tink/Yukimaru are... less-than-funny. Sure, Laharl and Mao are terrible people, but that's what makes it fun to watch them on-screen. (In Dis2's favor, Rozalyn is probably the most well-developed serious heroine character, but that's not why I like N1 games. If N1 wants to be serious, it would make another Soul Nomad.)

Apart from Mao, the heroine and the punching-bag character are also better than Dis2's. In a sense. Raspberyl is more amusing than Rozy was, though I suspect she'll have a less developed serious plot (and I'm okay with this!). Beryl's basic schtick is to take the Smug Rich Girl/Overachiever school-trope and flip it around such that everyone reacts to her as if she's a part of some Street Gang. The dissonance from this clash of tropes is a little jarring, but the game isn't taking itself seriously for this to be anything but amusing.

Almaz, the blue-haired hero-punching-bag fills in the role that Flonne and Tink pulled in the last two games, to give the snarkers someone to shoot down. This is probably my favorite part of the Disgaea dynamic. As often as you hear the kind of lines that Flonne and Almaz shout used in other JRPGs, it's nice to have characters smack them back to reality. Especially fun since I just finished Legaia 2~. Almaz's redux of the Flonne role is that he's literally being gradually turned into a demon while he's hanging around Mao, so instead of Flonne's perpetual innocence, you have Almaz catching himself thinking 'evil thoughts'. The English VA for him also works perfectly.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Mass Effect: Man just flying around scanning planets for collectables gets boring, so I landed on Noveria and murdered hired goons with my fem-Adept-Shepard powers, then saved after I got in the car.

I probably shouldn't have picked Adept but oh well

In ME1 you get stupid powerful with them late because there's no GCD. They are way shitty in ME2 though.

Then again, I play Vanguard, which isn't the best either.

[Cmdr_King]

Keep in mind that Golbat is a normal evo but Crobat is happiness, so it's not holy crap overpowered fora  while after evolving the first time unless you want to run about in circles for a while maxing happiness.  (Mind, I've done that before and it's shiny.)

[Dark Holy Elf]

If you've used it since the first opportunity to get it, it should definitely evolve one level after reaching Golbat. If you've just picked it up recently and proceed to powerlevel it, you'll probably have to wait a bit longer.

[Sierra]

Disgaea 3 > 2 in plot?  Details!  This sounds interesting.

Personally have to disagree with this part. I found everything plot/character related to be too obvious a rehash of Disgaea 1.

[Grefter]

HoMaM5 - 4 maps into the second campaign and I am done with this.  The camera is painful and annoying and individual things on the map are just not visible enough.  It is not fun to play.  The plot isn't even interesting enough to make me even trudge through it cheating like it had been for some of the other games or their expansions.

[Talaysen]

Demon's Souls: Ach, I'm really bad at this.

Yeahhh, I think flailing pathetically at the first dungeon for an hour is enough to tell me this one's not really for me.

The trick is to take things slowly and pay close attention to everything around you.

Not really a big fan of the Homeroom system and how limited it makes your party size compared to other N1 SRPGs, though.

Homeroom expands later, it's just kind of small early on.

While they're definitely moving in the right direction by making skills purchasable/upgradable with Mana, it's a little annoying that they can't be unlocked through classic grinding at this stage.  I think a combination of the two systems would streamline things a bit more (perhaps make the cost of skills decrease as weaponlevel/skilllevel are increased through grinding?). Well, Dis4 comes out in a month, so we'll see if they've improved!

Can't you just grind for mana?  Later on mana potions become storebought too.

Speaking of, how long does DLC stay available for download? I wanted to play the DLC for this game, but I won't be back in the states to setup a proper account until later this year. Does that kind of stuff ever just get taken down for good?

Generally DLC stays up "forever".  It's only taken down if it needs to be or if the servers just go down that would probably cause an issue too.

---

Etrian Odyssey 3 - In B20F now.  Been busy lately so I haven't made much progress in the last few days.

[Meeplelard]

Edgeworth: Just beat the 3rd case.  That case overstayed its welcome and really didn't need that last segment, given how Edgeworth basically had the full scenario figured out to a point where he had the guy cornered, it felt like they just stretched it out as long as possible so you could see the FULL DEED IN ACTION!!!

It'd have made sense to go on that long if, you know, his initial expectations were in fact wrong, but they weren't...and even then, it was too long for a Non-Final Case.

[Idun]

I just started Persona 3. I've dumped DQ7 to the side; recruited enough humans in RS where I don't necessarily feel like beating again anymore.

What I've wanted to mention is that the Scan in Persona 3 I do like. I do not like, however, wasting a turn to figure out the weakness of an enemy. P3 at least allows you to fundamentally experiment while waiting on the results to show. Scanning in other games I've played has never been a necessity. I was warned that it's an MT game, which is understandable from my play through of DDS (blegh), and I realize weaknesses play a vital role in turning the tide of battle. This is fine. The scan in this game, is fine. Postchat follow-up.

[Crystalgate]

Demon's Souls: Ach, I'm really bad at this.

Yeahhh, I think flailing pathetically at the first dungeon for an hour is enough to tell me this one's not really for me.

For whatever it's worth, what you're doing seems to be the standard procedure when playing that game.

Paper Mario: Started it and freed the first star spirit. I've gotten three levels up so far and I choose Flower, Badge and Badge. One Badge upgrade is used to equip HP Plus though, and will probably remain so until I max out on Badge points.

I've placed a condition to not use any skill that can potentially deal infinite damage. I'm OK with the button timing mechanics, but Multi-bounce and Multi-bonk takes that aspect a little to far.

[Grefter]

Regardless, if it isn't fun then stop playing it.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Played more.  I am just blindly following the walkthrough at this point.  I am honestly not sure how the fuck you are meant to know where to go between these towns.  They don't mention each other or give directions.  The walkthrough tells me to go there and the plot keeps flowing.

[Pyro]

Also playing Mass Effect.

The game is an interesting FPS/RPG hybrid, but it doesn't quite nail the system well enough to be buckets of fun. The characters are neat and fleshed out but not as enjoyable and well-written as the Dragon Age folks were. It's still a fun game and is devouring my time away, as is true for most Bioware games.

I used the default Male Shepard and have reached a very very high level due to doing buckets of sidequests before taking on the main story. I put the game on Hard so that it will at least scale enemies to my level to a degree. Using Sniper Rifles/Assault Rifles and generally cleaning the freaking house courtesy of being an unkillable monstrosity-unto-god once Immunity gets used. Seriously. 20 seconds of invincibility with a ~22 second recharge time. I'm sorry, were you enemies trying to kill me with these normally-OHKOing rocket attacks spamming into my face? Rejected. Silly awesome ability is silly awesome.

I like Tali the most out of characters? Nothing special by any means but her voice is cool.

[SageAcrin]

Demon's Souls: Ach, I'm really bad at this.

Yeahhh, I think flailing pathetically at the first dungeon for an hour is enough to tell me this one's not really for me.

For whatever it's worth, what you're doing seems to be the standard procedure when playing that game.

Paper Mario: Started it and freed the first star spirit. I've gotten three levels up so far and I choose Flower, Badge and Badge. One Badge upgrade is used to equip HP Plus though, and will probably remain so until I max out on Badge points.

I've placed a condition to not use any skill that can potentially deal infinite damage. I'm OK with the button timing mechanics, but Multi-bounce and Multi-bonk takes that aspect a little to far.

They have a limit as to how long you can 1-damage smack bosses IIRC. Five hits?

At least I'm sure they did in PM1. I didn't mess with them as much in 2, so that may be different if you play that.

[Random Consonant]

Baldur's Gate 2 - Replaying (for realz) for the first time in what is the better part of a decade.  Game is so much more enjoyable when you're not puttering around like a clueless idiot.  Up to Chapter 5, cleared out a beholder lair and an illithid lair because they were there.

[VySaika]

Regardless, if it isn't fun then stop playing it.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Played more. 

Why do you hand people setups like this, Gref?

[Luther Lansfeld]

Regardless, if it isn't fun then stop playing it.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Played more.

Why do you hand people setups like this, Gref?

I lol'ed.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Also playing Mass Effect.

The game is an interesting FPS/RPG hybrid, but it doesn't quite nail the system well enough to be buckets of fun. The characters are neat and fleshed out but not as enjoyable and well-written as the Dragon Age folks were. It's still a fun game and is devouring my time away, as is true for most Bioware games.

I used the default Male Shepard and have reached a very very high level due to doing buckets of sidequests before taking on the main story. I put the game on Hard so that it will at least scale enemies to my level to a degree. Using Sniper Rifles/Assault Rifles and generally cleaning the freaking house courtesy of being an unkillable monstrosity-unto-god once Immunity gets used. Seriously. 20 seconds of invincibility with a ~22 second recharge time. I'm sorry, were you enemies trying to kill me with these normally-OHKOing rocket attacks spamming into my face? Rejected. Silly awesome ability is silly awesome.

I like Tali the most out of characters? Nothing special by any means but her voice is cool.

Ah, shock trooper. Hardest to kill, most boring to play.

[Nitori]

Mass Effect: I beat an ice planet, killed a giant roach, and got a GARRUS sidequest so I know I have to do that one

[DjinnAndTonic]

Regardless, if it isn't fun then stop playing it.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Played more.

Why do you hand people setups like this, Gref?

I lol'ed.

I think this is why I like Grefter's rants. For all his rage, he truly loves games and just wants them to mature.

[Grefter]

Regardless, if it isn't fun then stop playing it.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Played more.

Why do you hand people setups like this, Gref?

Because I like humor and I enjoy being suprised when people don't pick up on my jokes.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Alternatively, Grefter just hates fun too.

[jsh357]

I've been playing Ghost Trick.  Missile has the greatest character/portrait combo of all time.  This game is fantastic and takes no shame in being a spiritual successor to Phoenix Wright, pun intended.

[Captain K.]

Halo3ODST:  Beat Campaign on Heroic.  Spent some time looking for audio files, but I somehow missed one despite using a map.

[Meeplelard]

Bionic Commando Rearmed: Completed.  Fun game, if the Albatross was kind of frustrating cause it was the kind of platforming sections I despise, that being the "Did you fail?  If so, repeat this long sequence, involving moving platforms and what not!"  Feels like a waste of time, the "moving platforms" is important cause it means you can't do it at your own pace but what the game allows you.

THAT ASIDE, my thoughts generally haven't changed since I last spoke.   Good remake to a classic game I haven't really played ever (though I did see OTHERS play!)  Also, I like how the Machine Gun in this game actually lives up to its hype.  That thing was cruel, but fun!  And nothing like finishing a game by hitting Hitler in the face with a bazooka, and watching his head explode...IN HD!!!

Disappointed they just called the "The Leader" instead of "Master D" though.

[Tide]

7th Saga:

I blame this on Super and OK. We fought Monmo. I was dealing 7 damage with Wilme, 1 damage with Esuna. The boss has 750 HP, 1600 defense and 99 Resistance to all elements except Fire. Unfortunately, I only have 1 B Fire and it only deals 30 damage. He has immune to defense debuffing. Yakkity Sax plays as we all watch the failure. The plot twist is also a kick to the balls. I do believe this game has gone to the point of "unreedemable" in terms of quality.