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

[Grefter]

So anyway.  This whole thing was in reference to http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/dragon-quest-ix-2/ this article.  Not urban myth.  Article.  With images and external links providing evidence.  There was a distinctly visible phenomenon surrounding Dragon Quest 9 in Japan. 

Radiant Historia - How to Make Friends and influence people.  Need to convince a friend?  Time Travel to an alternate history and convince them in the alternate reality, that way they will have no choice but to follow your demands in this one.

[Clear Tranquil]

Dissidia Duodecim- Main scenario 12 completed. Tifa's chapter was fun as expected, rolling, kicking, punching, glorious fiery/icy fun. Interesting choice of elements for her, fire and ice =) Didn't do anything with her feints though. Nonetheless didn't have too much trouble with her fights expect for one Yuna manikin I ran into when Tifa was on L11. The manikin was also on L11 and I had to defeat it within a time limit to get KP. She used a summon on me that kept decreasing my bravery =( Eventually after much trying I managed to get her and obtain the KP. Moving on I blitzed through Chapter 8 to the finale with Yuna as my main. Party order was Yuna, Tifa, Lightning, Laguna, Vaan but I mostly just stuck with Yuna and fought tournament style (apart from one round robin where I also used Tifa) until the final fights where I was forced to use everyone. Vaan's fight was ok despite me not having used him for ages, Tifa's was quite a breeze really and Yuna's was a complete and utter breeze, joke of a fight where I built up BRV to 9999 and severely punished and overkilled that irredeemably evil fiend of a villain. I had way too much fun with that. The game decided to mock me afterwards though because Laguna's fight was hell. Many retries and much frustration later I eventually resorted to spamming Ragnarok Buster beams to the face in the hope this would eventually pay off and not long after it did.

With that out of the way I thought I was home free because of having more experience of playing Lightning than Laguna but no the game decides to throw a L39 opponent at me when Light's only L24. So it ended up being another poke fight with Razor Gale spamming. Thankfully this foe was easier for me to predict than Laguna's and it didn't take as long to win despite the level difference. I still made a couple of mistakes but in the winning fight it was epic because I'd managed to whittle down his HP to 300~ when I slipped up and he managed to launch an assault. Since this had always resulted in painful death before I was expecting the same ... and then after a blink I suddenly realized Lightning was somehow not dead so I made her jump like crazy and managed to pull of Lightning Strike for a win, breaking BRV in the process for an overkill. Thinking on it I think Light only had something like two digit HP left >_>

Also did the Prologue for scenario 13 and unlocked report 8. Did Shantotto's event to unlock and buy Prishe in the PP Catalogue~

[Fenrir]

Yeah, Nintendo games seem  to be games that sell over time while everybody buys DQ day 1.
Nintendo prices never seem to go down.

Lowest prices on amazon for new copies:
NSMBWii (2009): 36 dollars.
NSMB  (2006): 24 dollars
DQ9 (2010): 25 dollars
DQ8 (2006): 8 dollars
Pokemon Diamond (2007): 21 dollars
Pokemon Emerald (2005): 180 dollars (The fuck?)
I guess you should check amazon.jp instead, but yeah.

Edit: Actually, costs are similar in Japan, except DQ8 which costs a lot but can be bought for a very low price used. (unlike Nintendo games)


Anyway, I liked Tales of the Abyss' gameplay well enough but couldn't stomach the game because of the plot and characters. I started skipping all of it later on but it felt like I spent 80% of my time skipping story and travelling between places and 20% actually fighting, exploring dungeons, etc.
Is Tales of Vesperia more of the same in that regard?


Costume Quest: Awesome. Gameplay is nothing great and the game is extremely easy though. The game gives Earthbound vibes, but it's less edgy and more childish. I finished both the game and the DLC in two days. Watch some youtube video and you'll know if the game's for you, I guess.
Might rant more about it later.

[Meeplelard]

Pokemon Racist Edition: Just beat the 2nd Gym Leader, now I'm hunting Plasma Beam cronies in a forest.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: I just beat 18 MODOKs in a row.  While its definitely something that FITS Capcom, I'm still vaguely shocked they made this an actual, genuine event.

[Pyro]

Anyway, I liked Tales of the Abyss' gameplay well enough but couldn't stomach the game because of the plot and characters. I started skipping all of it later on but it felt like I spent 80% of my time skipping story and travelling between places and 20% actually fighting, exploring dungeons, etc.
Is Tales of Vesperia more of the same in that regard?

ToV tends to be better about that. Lack of sceneskip in the 360 version is unfortunate, but it has a pseudo-sceneskip in that you can hold down some button combo and rapid-dash through text. But the plot and characters are actually pretty decent so I wouldn't suggest doing that. There is a reason that Yuri (at the least) is pretty universally liked and respected as a main character.

Also the combat system is far superior to TotA. An ACCESSIBLE and diverse skill system that relies on equipment teaching skills ala FF9. Also the Dog is a godlike so play it.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together:
Sometimes I feel that fighting in this game is kind of like chipping away at a stone wall... just tedious. But the strategy aspect of it is in play due to a variety of difficult battles and the plot is competent enough. Also I am about to recruit a fourth sister and have a complete set. And then comes the Fivesome ohhhhhh yeaaahhh.

In seriousness, I have to dink the game over it's crafting system. Buy 99 of Item A, which is used to make item 12 of item B and 12 of item C. Then you use the Item B to make 4 of item D, and fuse 12 of item C to get 4 of item E, and then you use 3 of item Z to make an item X. All so you can improve a single bow by a (admittedly RATHER significant) attack value. Oh and all of those IC's? You have to do them one at a time. And the final product may have a 33% chance of failing so you BETTER save before going through with it (why even have a failure chance if you can just save&reload to get around it?) Yeah. TO Item crafting is retarded.

[Meeplelard]

I wouldn't say ToV's plot is actually very good.  This is somewhat hidden behind the main character cast being likable and well written, as well skits being actually AMUSING again (its now back to ToS standards of about 50% are there for humor, 50% are there for adding a little something extra to characters, instead of being 10% humor, and 90% of the latter, and the latter this time are less "reiterate the last plot scene over again just for shits to remind you what you're doing".  They also have voice acting, which you'd be surprised how much that makes skits more enjoyable)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

To Pyro: TOPSP item crafting was built with its sole balancing measure being hoping it drives the player to tedium enough to not bother. It's uh not very good design.

[DjinnAndTonic]

ToV's main villains are bad, though some of the earlier villains (Yeager at least) are interesting. The fun part about ToV is seeing Yuri and Flynn's differing perspectives on solving the (admittedly-poorly-planned) machinations of the main villains. Rita and Estelle round out a really good cast, and even the less-amazing PCs bring -something- to the dynamic.

I would also argue that TotA at least has a good set of mains in Luke and Tear, and hopefully Fenrir at least got far enough into the plot to see how they were developing before skipping everything... >.>;;

re: Dragon Quest:
Clearly everyone in Japan buys DQ on the first day so that they can finish it before the DQ PLOT SPOILERS are all over the web.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Luke and Tear are good leads! Problem is basically the rest of the cast across the board outside of Ion and Dist. >_>

[Dark Holy Elf]

To Pyro: TOPSP item crafting was built with its sole balancing measure being hoping it drives the player to tedium enough to not bother.

So like all item creation ever then.


I've started TO too but I'm really too early to say much about it. Otherwise I just finished another MMX8 replay.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

To Pyro: TOPSP item crafting was built with its sole balancing measure being hoping it drives the player to tedium enough to not bother.

So like all item creation ever then.

TOPSP's IC takes that to its logical extreme. Fortunately, it's also 100% ignorable, as even bothering with it at all snaps the game like a twig. It was balanced with IC not being used at all.

[Meeplelard]

ToV's main villains are bad, though some of the earlier villains (Yeager at least) are interesting. The fun part about ToV is seeing Yuri and Flynn's differing perspectives on solving the (admittedly-poorly-planned) machinations of the main villains. Rita and Estelle round out a really good cast, and even the less-amazing PCs bring -something- to the dynamic.

Yeah, there are some half-decent villains in ToV, but the primary faces are awful.  in Yeager's case, though, he's pretty bland until his very last scene which puts him all his motives into a whole different perspective.  Its a neat touch, and well done, just of course the issue is if you don't get to that scene, it is really hard to understand the hype (well, ok, he's got a unique accent at least), as he comes off as a generic scum-bag otherwise.

I would also argue that TotA at least has a good set of mains in Luke and Tear, and hopefully Fenrir at least got far enough into the plot to see how they were developing before skipping everything... >.>;;

Yeah, I think most people, even the TotA haters, agree that, at very least, Luke and Tear are well done.  Just TotA has an issue of having far more questionable characters in its cast.  I mean, of the primary PCs, the worst ToV PC is...Judith, I guess?  And that's more a "by default" thing of the other characters being better, rather than her actually being bad.
Flipside, as has been shown in the past, Anise is...less than popular...to say the least.  TotA does have the Fun Master admittedly whose pretty cool, but ToV's not without its good NPCs (Flynn comes to mind) so yeah.

...and I just realized that Flynn and Ion are pretty much each game's respective counterparts.  They both basically serve the role as being a foil for the main character, and they're both actually pretty good at their job too (Flynn I find especially impressive, cause DESPITE having a majority of CLICHE SHONEN RIVAL traits...he manages to subvert the trope rather well by sidestepping some of the major plotholes these types, regardless of where they started, fall into.  I think the best example is how they handled in the inevitable duel later in the game)

[Niu]

Dissidia 012- Can't decide who to use for Assist anymore. Aerith, Jecht, and Cecile all works well with Ulty..... Now.... should I go on and grind the Labyrinth or go back to grind Disgaea4....

[Tide]

TOPSP: Up to Chapter 3. Just recruited Ravness.

[Excal]

Dissidia 12.  Just picked this up, only played Lightning so far, and she seems fairly intuitive.  Haven't played enough to really get a feel for the changes yet, though I do like the assist system.  Am currently hoping there's a way to get that Prologus character without having to purchase something else.

[Lord Ephraim]

By far the best new character in Dissidia 12 is Lightning.  Medic forces the extremely passive AI to actually start attacking, instead of reading button inputs and counter -> punish.  I tried some Ad-hoc party multiplayer but it was too laggy to be playable.  I did encounter one (bad) Kain player who just hit the [] button the whole time (Jump).  Otherwise the game is overall much better improvment since the AI has a less equipment/accessory advantage over you and battlegen handled so much better that I don't need to spend over 100 hours getting level 100 equipment.

Fallout New Vegas: Completed with the NCR ending.  Generally felt, while still the asshole government that they are, that they are the wasteland's best chance of civilized recovery. Plus, most of the NCR NPCs were voiced by Liam O'brian, superior to the Legion voiced by Yuri Lowethal.  Even playing WRPGs you can't escape the two most overused voice actors ever.

I found Fallout 3 to be a better "fuck around" game, which higher spawns and more stuff to kill while roaming the wasteland but New Vegas just had more content, better character builds (I went with a heavy armored shotgun wielder first time), and a higher exp cap which is still easy to hit level 30 when you have about 20% of the game to go.

Of course, the big problem is still crashing. I was lucky to get the game going for 2 hours straight without once crash. I didn't even run any major mods.  Speaking of mods, any major overhaul mods like FWE for New Vegas yet? I might try that on my next game when I go melee/unarmed for the independent kill everyone ending.

[Fudozukushi]

Yeah, I think most people, even the TotA haters, agree that, at very least, Luke and Tear are well done.

Tear's only done well if they meant to make her a super-bitch hypocrite.  If they did, well, good job to them!

Demon's Souls: Finished.  Final thoughts when it's not possible to count the hours to until the sun rises on a one-fingered hand.

[Sierra]

TotA discussion needs more Jade hype. Really though, surprised Fenrir didn't find someone in the cast worth paying attention to. Anise aside, the central cast seemed to be what most people liked about the game.

[Fenrir]

Thanks! I might get it sometimes... Definitely not right now though. Strange that the one series that needs sceneskip (just not for people like me, but for NG+ too since there's a big focus on it) is the one that still doesn't have it.

I think I did see most of Luke's development but not Tear's. I was something like 60% through the game? The game's a blur no. To be honest, I had never really cared about Tales characters/plot before, so I just couldn't stand them in such high doses.
I didn't really like Jade mostly because his main character trait right when I stopped playing seemed to be not being able to shut up about phonons.

[Pyro]

ToV for the PS3 has sceneskip (as well as oodles of bonuses and such) but was never translated into english. I think Tales of Graces has sceneskip too but I'm not sure.

[Excal]

And now I'm on to Vaan.  The reports system is interesting, though the fact that it just chucks you straight into chaining bosses, even if they're Lv1 chaining bosses, who have summons and supports at a time when you have no summons, and are plot blocked from supports is annoying.  I suppose it would be less so if I had ever played as the character I'm forced to use.  Ah well, an issue for the future.

Just find it neat that they kinda brought back the FF2 keyword thing for that.

[superaielman]

FF4PSP- Cleared the lunar ruins, beat the superboss for the hero shield.  Would've been an easier fight if the game coughed up the dragon claw earlier *MUTTER*. Oh well.

[Meeplelard]

By far the best new character in Dissidia 12 is Lightning.  Medic forces the extremely passive AI to actually start attacking, instead of reading button inputs and counter -> punish.  I tried some Ad-hoc party multiplayer but it was too laggy to be playable.  I did encounter one (bad) Kain player who just hit the [] button the whole time (Jump).  Otherwise the game is overall much better improvment since the AI has a less equipment/accessory advantage over you and battlegen handled so much better that I don't need to spend over 100 hours getting level 100 equipment.

Wait, you found Lightning's Medic USEFUL?  Funny cause that's the form I use the least against the AI.  So much more efficient to just attack and blitz the crap out of them.  Lightning is a strong Rush Down character, and if you want to force them to attack you, just use Waterga.

And Battlegen was NOT what made Equipment Grinding in Dissidia hard; don't kid yourself.   If anything, you tend to get casually enough of what you need to get something, and it was generally easy to get whatever you needed unless it was "EX-burst this guy" for any of the Orbs (Crystals weren't too bad cause they had much higher rates), and it was really easy to raise your Battlegen Drop Rates (Sunrises and Moonrises never break), but generally, the Orbs were "Break opponent" which easy if you got any Level 100 gear (Ultima Weapon is actually a very easy to nab thing, and everyone can use it.  Hence why its recommended when you want to grind for level 100 stuff.  Fighting level 100 opponents, you can get the hardest rates up to 25%, and you can do the requirements multiple times per fight.

Now what WAS hard was getting the OTHER specific items since that required lots of Duel Colosseum fighting.  This includes the lesser weapons.

And the AI rarely has an equipment advantage over you in the main game in the first game.  Heck, often the AI will be a level whatever opponent using really shitty gear in story mode.  Distant glories and Inward Chaos were the exception; but Distant Glory enemies were like level 70s tops?  Which being lvel 100 more than completely offsets, and Inward Chaos was MEANT to be tested after you did a lot of grinding, so yeah. 


...yeah, sorry Eph, but really everything you said just doesn't really make any sense here <_<

[Nephrite]

ITT people with different opinions are wrong.

[Meeplelard]

As someone who actually got 100% inventory in the first game, I think I can safely say that no, Battlegens were NOT the issue when it came to making high end weapons.  He's right in that getting high end stuff is a pain (especially if you don't know how to get Ultima Weapon), but its all the other stuff involved in making weapons (The Non-Battlegen Material, and the equip needed, cause an equip is ALWAYS needed <_<).  Its less an opinion at this point and more of a casual remark from someone who very obviously didn't get much of this stuff and is making random assumptions.

Generally, when Battlegens were what held me back, it would require a few fights (from Quick Battle no less) and then I was ready.  Contrast this to missing one Opal or something, which could garner at least 15 minutes in the Duel Colosseum just get enough of whatever Elixir or be lucky the item appears outright.