What Games ya Playin' 2012 - Suplex a Train Edition

[Meeplelard]

FF13-2: ...whoever felt it was necessary to require Wild Artefacts, and make enough ways to use them BEFORE hand such that you'd have to actually look for the obscure areas to find them needs to die.  I've been doing nothing but running around areas looking for wild Artefacts, and yes, I did use the Serendipty one already.

I mean, the game is nice enough to say how many Gates are in an area AND if they're activated, as well as how many Fragments...couldn't there be a Wild Artefact indicator?  At least then I'd know what time lines to run around aimlessly in.

[Laggy]

Kai Leng was so terrible I thought his cheesiness was kind of the point. I mean that level of badness has to be deliberate right? Right??????

I went like 85% paragon 15% renegade and I still was given access to all the paragon dialogue choices in the game's final conversation so I dunno Grefter. I actually wonder what happens there if do not do full paragon/renegade choices, from all implications there couldn't be a fight ala Saren. I am guessing you get an interrupt?

Final fight was yeah shit. It's sad because I kind of liked the final mission runthrough before then (though it doesn't even hold a candle to Suicide Mission, ME2 did a far better job of wrapping things up into a climax) and then LOL BANSHEES (literally only threatening enemy in ME3) AND INSTAKILL LASER. I got through it by spamming cloak and hiding behind a tank while the laser killed everything. Friendly fire mechanics working in my favor woo. This was on Hardcore.

[Luther Lansfeld]

FF1 Origins - Beat the Kraken, but not before he vanquished my Red Wizard in one hit with Invis2 up. You lucky bastard.

[Grefter]

If you don't do the Charm/Intimidate at least at the point I did it was me telling him he is pathetic and then shooting him.  Think it was a renegade interrupt but I forget.

So sounds like it is Infiltrator on Insanity again if I bother.

Also we don't do it justice for the shittiness.  Instagib Laser one shots your squad who do nothing to dodge it.  So on top of dodging three Banshees and the laser you have to manually control allies pathfinding.  Fuck all of that.

[Laggy]

Oh squadmates you mean you care about them living in that sequence hahahahahhaha

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Yeah, I would lure enemies near them and use medi-gel to revive them for an instant crossfire. IT WORKS OKAY

[Captain K.]

Perfect World:  Up to level 99 now.  Made my 99 accessories, so I'm up 2.22 aps.  Finished my Endless Universe armor set, now I just need another level to use it.

[Fudozukushi]

Tales of Graces f: Yay I have me five people!  Suck on exclusion Cheria kyahahahahahaha!

Ahem.  So, I think I left off at the start of adult-hood?  Anyway, things keep going and precious things return and confusingly go forward.  And then I go under some cave with water where I fight a bunch of slimes that poison.  And holy hell is poison beastly!  Good thing if you get Poisoned enough you actually get a title that blocks it!  This made the big bad boss pretty much effortless.  On some sort of combat note, if Asbel gets hit too many times when he's using B-Artes he gets stunned BADLY.  The upside?  If he switches back to A-Artes after B-Artes he heals himself roughly based on how much damage he does.  During normal combat it's only about 80 HP to his thousand, but once Eleth Burst goes off he can get over a thousand easy.

So uh, going forward, and Hubert eventually makes his return!  For one battle with hilariously dangerous mooks!  And then he jackasses out with an unwinnable boss fight against him.

So, Asbel, having nowhere to go returns to Knight School.  Or not as we meet up with Richard and Team Friendship is formed again!  Also Team Destiny.  Also all Richard is missing from straight being Leon's moveset is Pow Hammer which.... no one has...?  Well, continuing on, fighting against more military mooks and I realize something.  See, all along the roads between towns are monsters and NPCs, and I wonder why the NPCs aren't bothering.  And it's because monsters are just pissant weak compared to actual humans!  Seriously!

So, going on and on and we meet our fourth party member, Pascal!  Who feels the burning need to touch Sophie all over.  Clearly she's in good company.  After another dungeon I can already feel the Abyss call to return far later in the game I go and piss away a couple hours accidently grinding because I was trying to get one-freaking-drop from one enemy.  On the upside I boosted the difficulty up to Hard and realize how unlocking most titles is going to go.  mainly using an arte a lot unlocks a title!  And using certain people with others!  Like Sophie and Richard!  They'll actually learn variants on each others artes!

So, continuing on to an eventual Brutal Boss battle.  My trials in Abyss served me well as I actually wasn't afraid to use Life Bottles when needed.  And then eventually another boss after Cheria rejoins with her pathetic number of titles that she didn't get SP for when she wasn't in the party unlike Richard who did and actually mastered a bunch of them that way.  Also the Boss used a Mystic Arte, but I already have.... huh, yeah I have them for each character.  Neat.

[Excal]

Just reached the Quarians. They are too dumb to live. Fortunately for them, I need their fleet.  Interactions with ME2 cast is nice, though fairly dissapointing that it looks like none of them are playable.  (Garrus and Tali do not count)  That said, Mordin's Paragon plot arc?  Beautiful.  Just excellent from start to finish, and I'll be surprised if any other character in the game can outshine him.  Wrex had a chance, but failed to get there before the two of them bowed out of the spotlight.

May need to get XBox Live, annoyed that the single player is, even slightly, beholden to online multiplayer.

[Grefter]

I just wanted some bait for the fucking trash mobs or someone to clean up as I run like a bitch to try and regen shields.  Adrenaline Rush is great and all, especially when you pack light, but fuck there is only so much I can do solo.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Just reached the Quarians. They are too dumb to live. Fortunately for them, I need their fleet.  Interactions with ME2 cast is nice, though fairly dissapointing that it looks like none of them are playable.  (Garrus and Tali do not count)  That said, Mordin's Paragon plot arc?  Beautiful.  Just excellent from start to finish, and I'll be surprised if any other character in the game can outshine him.  Wrex had a chance, but failed to get there before the two of them bowed out of the spotlight.

May need to get XBox Live, annoyed that the single player is, even slightly, beholden to online multiplayer.

First, multiplayer is extremely fun. I would say you're missing out, especially now in the window where people haven't maxed out every weapon in their arsenal. Seriously, we'll team up. I got lucky a while back. Have a Widow.

Second, you can get all three endings without it. You miss out on like a five second clip that adds ADDITIONAL PLOT HOLES but oh well.

[Grefter]

Maxing it gives you like the post credits scene of megaeyeroll?

[Clear Tranquil]

FF13-2- Fragments 122/160 get. Taking a short break from the game before I attempt the rest. Most of them have been fun to get so far through the sidequests, etc with the CP rewards for doing the sidequests nice to have as well though there has been the odd obnoxious one like the Slots Fragment. I've also been saving other potentially obnoxious Fragments for getting at the end though I still have a few potentially fun ones left to get as well like I still have some Paradox versions of bosses left to fight =) On sidequests I have particularly enjoyed the Blitz Squadron/Vile Peaks arc and the Bresha Ruins paradoxes =) Travelling between the time lines to solve anomalies is quite neat, I like this feature of the game.

I finally found the last Wild Artefact though I have yet to use it. I also finished the Yaschaf and Academia maps and finally found the Map Lady in Academia 400. Having to go from one side to the other in that place looking for a tiny side path that is easy to keep missing to take you back to the section where the Map Lady is ... yeah. The encounter rate there is as obnoxious as ever too >_> At least I had the data for eight 100% maps to give her so I was rewarded for my efforts by getting a bunch of new fragments all at once.

I recently picked up the Chocobo Music, Eyes of the Goddess and Rolling in CP Fragment Skills. The latter is especially shiny. I also have shinies such as Monster Collector and Encounter Master for boosting monster crystal drops and controlling random encounter rates. I have a Blue Chocobo. I have a Silver Chocobo (it has over 2900~ HP at L1!) I have a Serah fully maxxed out in all six roles for the Crystarium. I've fought all the Steppes boss fights including Yomi. I finally have a L45 Sazh after farming the Hedgefrogs, etc on the Steppes for Potent Essences and also maxxing out on Potent Crystals from the frequently spawning Microchu fights in the process. I finally has a Mewmao which will be a nice companion for Cait Sith. I will eventually get a Feral Cat/Schrodinger to round this trio out because cutest monsters in the game. Kitties~ I have new adornments. My L45 Sazh has a Rum and Raisin ice cream scoop on his head. It's huge. I has a Twilight Odin which I'm planning on building as my go to COM for farming randoms. I obtained the Giant's Fist achievement/trophy for Serah's Ruins doing 99'999 to a downed and staggered Long Gui. I have the Chaos weapon Odin Bolt for Serah. I also have the ATB and Chain Bonus boost weapons from the Steppe bosses for both Serah and Noel. I've mostly been using the Seraphic Wing DLC weapon for Serah though since it's apparently supposed to be broken hax with the right set up.  I've fought Paradox Atlas and Paradox Royal Ripeness and saw two more Paradox Endings (I've seen three total so far) I've fought Lightning, Amador, Omega and Jihl at the battle arena though I have yet to obtain any of their crystals so I can use them as allies in my team. Jihl was tough. A Study in Elegant Death - indeed~

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Maxing it gives you like the post credits scene of megaeyeroll?

Yeah, introduces a whole new plot hole with it.

[Scar]

D3 - Beaten? I don't know if I mentioned that or not. I am very tempted to keep playing this game as I love the Disgaea battle engine for some reason. Why use any weapon other then fist though?

Big Bang kicks all sorts of ass and all of my other party members are starting to fall behind the guys who use the fists to do the talking.

My highest lv guy is a 2700ish Brawler named Scar followed by Axel who does not have Big Bang, but came with just as good of a skill initially, and then Mr Champloo leads the rest of the pack. I have started to train my Male and female Ninja as well after giving them both the BB as well as my hero unit too.

I want to get a mage with enough mana to have a 9x9 spell grid, but...well I should just put her in that one class that steals mana from people...lazy.

Mao is around level 800. While he was my strongest unit during the main game, he has become an afterthought.

I've also been trying to collect enough tickets to get access to the LoC, but that journey has taken longer than expected. Every now and then I get the urge to power level my way through some

~

Star Ocean 4 - Just picked this up for the PS3 for cheap. I love you Amazon! I just left earth and now my party is six people deep. Item creation is fun, but I haven't put too much points  into anyones craft skill yet. I've focused on battle skills for the moment.

Battle trophies are fun to collect. There also seems to be some sort of bonus, but I haven;t achieved it yet. Speaking of bonus, the battle bonus gauage is awesome. I fill it with the aqua points for extra exp...because...who cares about the other thing?

Lots of fan service in this game! Reimi has been naked twice already and of course the up skirts after victories for all the fans out there. I am happy that robocop has joined my team. I'm not sure if that joke has been mentioned before here, but I can guess it has. He is awesome nonetheless AND a miner!

My gf is playing this on her own too. Which makes this her first RPG (not counting the Kingdom Hearts series) she has attempted to play. She did not like D3 at all! She has been trying to rush past me in the game, but my skills of playing while she sleeps at night can't be beat!

The PS3 Tales game just came out, but I imagine me and my gf will tackle that one together after we are finished with SO3...so not really rushing to play it yet. I do here it is awesome though!

[Anthony Edward Stark]

You're playing SO4, not SO3. You can tell the difference because SO3 isn't terrible.

[Random Consonant]

WA3 - So we get roped into looking for a missing barmaid because why the hell not.  We find the barmaid and lazy bum is obviously smitten and we get roped into looking for an artifact because why the hell not.  Then we find the artifact and OH WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS A TRAP and oh no the barmaid was possessed by a creepy woman okay that's different.  Creepy woman goes on to say that SHE IS THE PRETTIEST but the party babysitter is all like bitch please and creepy woman goes WHAT DO YOU MEAN I AM NOT PRETTY I AM PRETTY OH SO PRETTY PRETTY AND WITTY AND BRIGHT OH HOHOHOHO~ and then rar boss fight which is pathetic because lolmdef buff + heal berry.  Then creepy woman decides to hijack the barmaid again because we messed up her hair.  Then train robber shows up again, he is now the demons and gleefully tells us about his new phallus and his ability to cause the party pain and discomfort by masturbating but he is still the same scrubby train robber and his ass is put down shortly and we leave.

So then we go to a ruin to look for things because why not.  There we meet a creepy man who is leeching from Sailor Moon so we fight him to save Sailor Moon.  He is very vague and so we make him less vague and he is an amazing boss fight with his complete inability to inflict damage whatsoever.  He flees and we chase him and he pulls out a demoted superboss and gets away oh no.  Then at the evil lair of villain Grahf Ikari bitches out the train robber for being a useless pussy who didn't help of Mr. Vague McCreepyman.  Meanwhile our heroes piece together what the baddies are doing and go to an underground tunnel.  Then archaic tin cans with lightsabres are repeatedly fought because why not.  Then we get introduced to the creepy robed people proper and find out that they are crazy and trying to turn the planet into the demons through EVOLUTIONZ.  That is not how evolution works, this is stupid, these people are stupid, this game is full of stupid.

Then we fight the train robber again but it's a superlame plotfight.  Then we go to Arkansas and find another ruin because why not.  The ruin is completely devoid of creepy robed people presence but that doesn't stop us from having to fight a LoZ boss twice, because why not.  Then I decide to grow carrots.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Finish Disgaea 3, Scar. And get on to Disgaea 4. Better balance and more customization. Also, prettier graphics and funnier endgame.

ClearTranquil: Holy crap, you are milking FF13-2 for everything its worth, aren't you? To be fair, Serah is probably the best CT-bait character I've seen in a long time.

Lost Odyssey: ^_^ This game is so much fun. Jansen basically carries the whole cast on his own, but the others are decent enough and the story has its moments. I guess I just like seeing a "standard RPG" done in such a high-budget way. The Immortal/Mortal character growth systems continue to be fun to play around with, so I might be grinding more than I should.

[Cmdr_King]

why do I suddenly want to expose CT to copious amounts of Tales plot...

[Fudozukushi]

Tales of Graces f: The f stands for FRIENDSHIP!

I've put nearly 24 hours into the game within three days.  This actually would be more if I actually played it for an applicable amount on Tuesday.

So, where I was last I had put the difficulty to Hard, or was going to... but I know I beat a boss!  And then I fight yet another boss right after.  Who despite this literally being his first appearance has a Mystic Arte.  Not nearly as threatening as the previous boss, but he still managed at least one KO.  And then I beat him and get 800 SP for the win and another 2500 SP for the Bonus.  Wowza!  Afterwards we get glorious anime cutscene and Richard's smugest grin.  And then Malik joins yayyyyyy!  With barely any titles!  Booooo!  So few that I actually have to put points towards MASTER!  And the same with Cheria but eh.  With Richard gone and Team Friendship RUINED my main team becomes Asbel-Sophie-Malik with Pascal and Cheria switching out as needed.  Like immediately because Cheria has no empty titles either.  Unfortunately all the high-end enemies are now gone, so there's only crap that runs from me on the road and I putz around for two hours before continuing the story.

The story which leads to an epic DBZ clash and a boss battle with Asbel-Sophie and Hubert.  Another fun enough Boss Battle.  And then stuff happens and more stuff happens and I fill in some missing parts of the Discovery book.  Also I get the watermelon attachment which immediately goes on Pascal and Cheria's heads haha!  So, after Hubert worms his way out of joining again(seriously, his Titles are gonna be whack...) we head over to the desert.  Well, after awkward shoehorned teenage romance of course!  YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  Ah Pascal, your mockery of it is what makes it tolerable.

Now over at the desert officially!  Where I waste so much goddamn time fulfilling the requests for the area that I get the Soul Spheres for half the enemies(Soul Spheres are what you get when you kill one specific enemy a bunch of times whoooooooooo!).  Pascal gets her second Mystic Arte(she's the summoner and she got the Water summon where half the enemies are weak to Freeze, fun!  If she ever used it.)

After a bit more traveling to the acid falls of butt peril, I get into another boss battle.  Who hilariously kicks my ass seven ways from Sunday.  First Game Over go!  Well, it was mostly because I had unlocked EVIL difficulty and was playing on that.  Dammit game, stop making combat fun or it'll take me over a hundred hours to beat you!

[Scar]

You're playing SO4, not SO3. You can tell the difference because SO3 isn't terrible.

Ha, Right! You can tell my subconscious tries to forget SO3 ever happened.

Def enjoying this more than the last one...

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Def enjoying this more than the last one...

I haven't a clue how you could do that.

[Captain K.]

I liked SO4 more than 3, but thought they were both excellent overall.  But 4 needs moar Adray.

[Luther Lansfeld]

I really like SO3 but haven't played 4. (:

FF6 Eviltype Mild - Started the PC collection process. Got a SrBehemoth Rage and now Gau can crush things under his boot, casting Fire 3 and X-Zone.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

4 stripped out all the things I liked about Star Ocean games. Customizable parties, abusable IC, multiple endings... Nope. Doesn't help the cast is bland at best, and at worst, blatantly pandering to pedos. Plus, it's a prequel, which means you've got an uphill road to begin with, since they're harder to do well.

It's especially bothersome because SO was one of the JRPG franchises I actually still enjoyed before SO4.