What Games ya Playin' 2012 - Suplex a Train Edition

[Fudozukushi]

Dark Souls: So apparently I chose exactly the wrong kind of character to run through the expansion. Holy shit what is wrong with Manus. What really bugs me about the fight is that the summon sign for *spoilers* is so difficult to see, but it's definitely not helping matters that the dude OHKOs me with area attacks and at least halves magic damage. It actually seems like all the bosses in the DLC do the latter (I guess they figured they'd make up for nothing resisting it in the base game).

Either that or they nerfed sorcery with the patch. Homing Soul Mass, at the very least, is proving utterly worthless against these bosses because it no longer multihits. I'm not sure what's going on with that, because it pretty clearly still multihits random mooks for about the expected damage, but bosses? Uh-uh. Struggles to break 200 damage. And this is with 50 INT/Dusk's Crown/Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. What the fuck.

Anyway. This seems like a logistical impossibility right now barring maybe clearing the Duke's Archives to come back with Logan's spells and catalyst, and ffff Duke's Archives (I'm sick of the place, and doubly so for the Crystal Cave). I guess I will try with one of the (many, entirely too many) other PCs I've got sitting around.

DLC bosses just have insane defense in general.  Lightning weapons only do middling double-digit damage.  The other ran through the DLC just fine with a high-end sorcery stuff.  Or at least the first two bosses.  The fact that Dark Souls is sitting in its case should be telling of something.

[Just Another Day]

Logging back in after god, I dunno, a year? Two? 'cause I wanna gush about XCOM. Unf. I've been stuck in FPS/over the shoulder-shooter hell for what feels like forever (with a brief foray into Rainbow Moon, an indie PS3 FFT clone that I thought was pretty good), nice to be playing a real game again.

Thanks for forcing it on the NEB and Ciato, Gref. My life is improved the more people I have to babble about it to. I ran into Ty (whazzee, Excal?) downtown yesterday and he was looking for a copy as well, having played a mission or two on their copy, so if your plan was to convert the DL Vancouver contingent, I think it's working.

I'm happier with the game than I have been with anything since at least FE10. Challenging, deep gameplay, mostly strong interface, lots of replay value. I finished a Normal game a few days ago, struggling through Classic right now. Strategy/base design in the harder modes is super unforgiving at first (half the funds, no officer training school to start, and it feels like the abductions come quicker).

I've got some complaints about the AI, it feels like the game could benefit from more active enemies, or more of a time limit in-mission. It feels like a super slow, overwatch reliant advance carries no real consequences -- enemies won't circle around to flank you because they don't activate until you find them, with the cutesy little double-take/run for cover routines they do (despite you rocketing in on a jet plane a maximum of, like, 200 meters away from where they are, often after having shot them down out of the sky), so you unless you fuck up and overreach in your advance you have a persistent massive tactical advantage, in that you're always already arrayed effectively in cover, etc.

Classic and Impossible apparently have slightly sharper and more aggressive AI, though I haven't seen much evidence of this yet, but I don't think it solves the initial problem of enemies not moving until you find them. Feels wrong, since the whole fog of war/Alien Activity paradigm sort of implies to me that there could be a Sectoid crouched behind any wall, waiting to take a pot-shot at you as you pass, or a whole troop of them moving through the city trying to flank you. And it feels like there should be more  of a sense of urgency in getting in and taking control of the situation.

Terror missions are the obvious exception: the aliens are out there killing civilians, and you've gotta rush in to save as many as you can. Definitely the hardest and most rewarding (thrill of success-wise), I found, especially once you've got a posse of high ranked, well equipped badasses and most normal enemy deployments aren't much of a threat anymore.

Class balance feels pretty good -- I've come around on the Heavies, they're obviously the worst in a bunch of ways (slow, inaccurate, and the whole issue with explosives losing you resources), but early in the game it's nice to have a get out of jail free card -- pinned down by 4 Thin Men, no actions left but the Heavy? No problem, their corpses are now scattered across three city blocks. And paradoxically they get even better once rockets aren't an instant kill anymore, since you can use them to soften up whole squads of Mutons (reduced to 2 HP and no more cover) at once without losing the bodies and weapon fragments. Good way to level up squaddies too. And towards the end game they're definitely the best way to take down Sectopods. Still probably the class I go without most often (there's something delicious about 3 assault, 1 healbot support and 2 snipers), but I feel like they've got an important niche that they fill well.

Heard a bunch of complaints about character design, and I see the point -- it'd be nice to have at least a few different body-types for each gender, and there's a certain sameness to the features. Having the armour colour expansion helps; were it me I'd happily spend the $5 to get it (came free with launch but it's DLC afterwards), but I can understand that some people will be less happy about paying for what feels like a pretty basic function. Limited though it is, I really like the female character design. It's realistic without being unattractive, and the range of hair (though it feels limited) is actually about right for military. My army brat girlfriend was impressed, generally there's a range of options that no military in the world would ever let you get away with. And I guess it's not to everybody's taste, but for beefcake factor its hard to argue with a male soldier in Psy Armour. Sploosh. Seriously don't see complaints about lack of attractive men, type-preference caveats aside. And if you like your boys skinny and pretty an army simulator probably isn't the game to go looking for eye candy anyhow.

Stylistically, can I add that I really appreciate that the game doesn't skimp about how awful and creepy a lot of what XCOM does is? As overtly evil as the aliens are, I still end up feeling kinda gross and uncomfortable through the interrogation scenes. That's a win, in my book. I like games with conflicted moral messages, and I'm impressed that one as skimpy on the story content as this one manages it. And in a subject area that's prone to one dimensional jingoism at that.

Gush over, relurking.

[Meeplelard]

RE6: Chris' campaign completed!

The good?  Well, mainly the controls.  No tank controls, melee is it's own separate button is a lot smoother, no real hiccups here and there.  Also, the plot keeps itself relatively sane by the series standards. In short?  Chris failed mission a little while ago, suffers Post Tramatic Amnesia, Piers, aka a Red Shirt with a Name, tries to smack sense into him to become the LEGENDARY CHRIS REDFIELD again, and the two go to bust some terrorist Not!Zombies, and hopefully save the world from BOWs.

...I said it was sane by the series standards, didn't say it was actually GOOD.  It just keeps things simple enough that it doesn't become it's own contradictory mess of "wait, why the fuck would Umbrella do this?" nonsense.

Also, if your partner is AI controlled, they are unkill-able near as I can tell, so unlike in RE5, dying is in fact primarily your fault (i say "primarily" because your partner could fail to resuscitate you)...they also seem to have limitless ammo.   Downside is it seems you can't give them items but I think it's a winning trade off, since you only have to manage one inventory that's more forgiving than RE5's.

And you end up getting a decent variety of guns.  At first, it seems like only Handgun + Machine Gun.  Then they hand you a SHotgun, Rifle, and Grenade Launcher, which is enough to work with.

The bad?  The emphasis on the gameplay in this campaign.  It's a combination of dark areas with way too many enemies, a lot of snipers, to the point where you rarely get a chance to breathe.  There's infinite spawning enemy points, and then the "enemies can mutate into STRONGER ENEMIES upon death" nonsense, and when you have limited ammo and the game is promoting "KILL EVERYTHING'...you get the idea.  Also, cover shooter nonsense.  THIS IS NOT FUN STOP MAKING ME DO IT

The ugly?  The game pretending Chris Redfield has a personality.  Don't really have to say much else!


Also started Jake's campaign! ...except I decided to play as Sherry Birkin because Hatbot said so (see, unlike Chris' campaign where it's "Guy who punches boulders" vs. "Red shirt with a name", here it's Troy Baker vs. Former 8 Year Old Girl Plot Device Turned Bad Ass Agent.  It's actually a decision worth caring about!)  Already can tell this is better as it's doing more than just SHOOT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!  Notably, one moment involves being able to sneak up on enemies and literally kick them off a bridge.  Also hands you a magnum during the first boss fight.

[Grefter]

Hey!  Cool, I am glad it got some bites up there.  All I was really hoping to get out of it was some sanity checks on my own fanboyish response, so at least I have that.  Well that and for them not to hate it so much as to hate me I guess.

Not really shocked that Tylor is down for it, he is always down for crazy shit I love.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

XCOM Enemy Unknown

So my Classic Ironman run taught me a couple of things.

First, Classic is a lot harder than Normal.

Second, Classic is a lot harder than Normal in ways that I'm not sure are especially fun.

Raising the enemy health (and possibly their accuracy, I'm not sure about that but it almost doesn't matter) has a kind of odd effect on battles, especially coupled with the more aggressive AI. Because the aliens can tank multiple shots and you can't, and because they have the advantage of numbers, they tend to be willing to risk flanking if they can get your squaddies. In order to prevent casualties you have to either try to engage at extreme long range, or kill the active aliens in one turn. As a result, if a high chance to hit shot you were relying on misses, it means someone is almost certainly going to die.

Now, that wouldn't be a problem in a multiplayer game or one like Civilization where the strategic layer is symmetrical. Indeed, it makes for a very smooth multiplayer experience. (It's a shame that the tactical engine is the only thing smooth about XCOM multiplayer, which boasts a woefully inadequate backend and network compared to the fan-made UFO 2000 it took inspiration from.)

In campaign play, however, every loss you take can snowball into a lost mission due to small squad sizes and panic. Losing an entire squad because of two missed 80% shots is not much fun, especially when the number of times that situation arises mean it will either happen eventually, or you'll get crazy lucky. It's lost some of that feel of "When my troops die it's because I screwed up."

I'm now playing Classic non-Iron Man, but I suspect I'd enjoy Normal Iron Man more. Better still would be Normal HP (and accuracy if that's changed) for the aliens, but Classic/Impossible AI. I imagine that if there is not yet A Mod For That, there shortly will be.

The advanced armors seem to change the look of the male characters more than it does the females (who do have a nice design from the outset). I agree that they have a very reasonable build in Psi Armor (although even then they're definitely more on the beefcake end of the good looking dudes scale than, say, Nathan Drake). Not sure what it is about the basic design that makes them look so Gears of Warhammer. Maybe just the contrast with the original, where X-Com squaddies male and female had basically the same build.

League of Legends

Apparently unlike the majority of players, I liked Twisted Treeline a lot. Hopefully I'll like the rework as well, but I don't understand why they didn't introduce it as a new 3v3 map rather than replacing the existing Treeline.

I've finally seen someone do well with Kha'zix! Still have yet to see Syndra or Rengar meaningfully contribute.

[Grefter]

See and here I was thinking the alternate choice of armour looks like Metal Armour from Fallout  more than Gear or Warhammer.

I guess it is just the big shoulders on some of the suits either way.

[Sierra]

Dark Souls: Rescued Dusk wearing Dusk's outfit. Yes, this may have been part of the difficulty in the first place, and yes I'm one of those stubborn idiots who will only ever wear complete sets of armor and mainly the ones that look pretty, but you know I had to do it this way (it's also almost the only thing light enough for this character to wear without slowing down). Coming back with Crystal Soul Spear and Logan's catalyst did the trick. That and a +15 shield (Baldur's Shield, you are my new best friend), 4-5 levels in vitality, and Silver Pendant spam. Still took a couple tries. Dude is pretty clearly meant to be fought after goddamn everything else in the game. I'd like to say *spoilers* helped too, but he really didn't--Manus completely ignored him. I appreciate the moral support though.

So with that out of the way I naturally had to go do two final things:

A) Talk to Dusk, which would've been a nice moment if it weren't for the fact that the mid-speech ellipses are paired with a casual "Would this be of assistance to thee?" voiceclip. Kind of ruined the mood, hope they fix that at some point.

B) Kill my good buddy *spoilers*, just to see the new cutscene. Oh god. From Software, why do you make me do these things. I ran the fight pure melee just to feel like less of a horrible person. Beating Dark Souls boss as MELEE MAGE without taking a hit, I may have played this game more than is healthy.

DLC bosses just have insane defense in general.  Lightning weapons only do middling double-digit damage.  The other ran through the DLC just fine with a high-end sorcery stuff.  Or at least the first two bosses.  The fact that Dark Souls is sitting in its case should be telling of something.

I'm pretty sure Kalameet is the worst offender here. Extremely predictable boss, just takes forfuckingever to kill. I still died more times than I should have because the length of the fight allowed so much opportunity to back up against a wall without noticing it. OHSHITCAN'TROLL--*OHKO* I kinda suspect the design philosophy was in line with that which fueled the patch: "Oh, so you think you know how to break the game in half, huh? Well how about this little slice?!" Inflated boss defense, not really the way to go about that. It's not like the new bosses didn't have anything else going for them already.

Stupid boss durability in comparison with the base game is the only real problem I have with the expansion, though. The Royal Wood is an extremely nice looking area, and essentially being familiar territory is not really a problem. Actually, I appreciated this, on about the same level as, say, going back to Zeal for the first time in Chrono Trigger. The general melancholy air of the game is very effectively furthered by the new content (especially *spoilers'* new cutscene, which is just 100% IMMINENT TEARS).

Other random patch details:

-"YOU DEFEATED" seems to be back everywhere. It's amusing and all, but I'm not 100% sure why they patched it back in.

-They fixed miracle resonance! Only took the game being out a year for that to work right. I actually see the symbols everywhere now, instead of just that one random corridor in the catacombs.

-I now get this weird input delay when turning around with my shield in the blocking position sometimes. It's not consistent and when I try to recreate the effect deliberately to figure out what's causing it it never happens. It's almost got me killed a couple times and makes me want to punch someone.

-Yeah, Homing Soul Mass and Crystal Homing Soul Mass were heavily nerfed. Other spells seem the same, Crystal Soul Spear is still a good boss nuke, etc.

I am half-tempted to go beat up Artorias with Artorias's sword, but I suspect this would end in tragedy. (I actually did build a character specifically to run with the divine Greatsword of Artorias. It turned out pretty terrible, unsurprisingly since Dark Souls rewards specialization, and the fire zweihander I used before getting the greatsword wound up being better anyway.)

[Bobbin Cranbud]

League of Legends

While I still wish it was an addition rather than a replacement, the new Twisted Treeline is great fun. It has a sort of hybrid Classic-Dominion flavor due to the useful, if subtle, shrine buffs in the jungle. Going with GP/kill for holding one means that if both teams keep their shrines, more powerful items come out sooner, which helps keep the pace up. The new items (and the ones ported from Dominion) seem to generally be useful, although I ended up not taking any in the game I won.

Vilemaw, the new giant spider boss, is a Baron-grade opponent faced by a 3-man team highly unlikely to have Smite. I've seen teams wipe on it twice, only to be finished off and have it stolen by their opponents...

... thanks to Teemo.

You see, Teemo is completely OP on this map. You can't buy wards, and the Oracle's Elixir equivalent has a duration. These elements conspire to make his shrooms both more useful and more difficult to remove. I've spectated two games on it and played two, and the team with Teemo won every time. The only close game was the one in which there was a Teemo on both sides. I expect a patch to remove the shroom-vision on Treeline shortly, at which point the Swift Scout will go back to being merely dangerous and annoying like he is on other maps.

[Fudozukushi]

Dark Souls: Rescued Dusk wearing Dusk's outfit. Yes, this may have been part of the difficulty in the first place, and yes I'm one of those stubborn idiots who will only ever wear complete sets of armor and mainly the ones that look pretty, but you know I had to do it this way (it's also almost the only thing light enough for this character to wear without slowing down). Coming back with Crystal Soul Spear and Logan's catalyst did the trick. That and a +15 shield (Baldur's Shield, you are my new best friend), 4-5 levels in vitality, and Silver Pendant spam. Still took a couple tries. Dude is pretty clearly meant to be fought after goddamn everything else in the game. I'd like to say *spoilers* helped too, but he really didn't--Manus completely ignored him. I appreciate the moral support though.

The Special Guest isn't that useful, but if you yourself back off for a good bit of time Manus will shift attention to SG.  Helpful for Estus or Power Within.

B) Kill my good buddy *spoilers*, just to see the new cutscene. Oh god. From Software, why do you make me do these things. I ran the fight pure melee just to feel like less of a horrible person. Beating Dark Souls boss as MELEE MAGE without taking a hit, I may have played this game more than is healthy.

You are the monster.

DLC bosses just have insane defense in general.  Lightning weapons only do middling double-digit damage.  The other ran through the DLC just fine with a high-end sorcery stuff.  Or at least the first two bosses.  The fact that Dark Souls is sitting in its case should be telling of something.

I'm pretty sure Kalameet is the worst offender here. Extremely predictable boss, just takes forfuckingever to kill. I still died more times than I should have because the length of the fight allowed so much opportunity to back up against a wall without noticing it. OHSHITCAN'TROLL--*OHKO* I kinda suspect the design philosophy was in line with that which fueled the patch: "Oh, so you think you know how to break the game in half, huh? Well how about this little slice?!" Inflated boss defense, not really the way to go about that. It's not like the new bosses didn't have anything else going for them already.

It's the absolute worse when you go for his tail.  Carving through that defense against something he never leaves vulnerable.  Getting it was almost entirely the reason I went from "Rapiers ho!" to" I am the Four Knights!"

I am half-tempted to go beat up Artorias with Artorias's sword, but I suspect this would end in tragedy. (I actually did build a character specifically to run with the divine Greatsword of Artorias. It turned out pretty terrible, unsurprisingly since Dark Souls rewards specialization, and the fire zweihander I used before getting the greatsword wound up being better anyway.)

It is bad, but it'll set you up to use the Abyss Greatsword which is mediocre!

[Sierra]

I actually just ran through the expansion with a pure melee character and noticed a curious thing which probably explains why boss resists are so ridiculous: it makes normal weapons the best type for pretty much the first time in the game, because Dark Souls defense is subtractive and normal weapons are only getting hit by one type of defensive stat. They really wanted to steer people away from that lightning weapon addiction.

Also, the wood carvings are glorious.

[Fudozukushi]

I actually just ran through the expansion with a pure melee character and noticed a curious thing which probably explains why boss resists are so ridiculous: it makes normal weapons the best type for pretty much the first time in the game, because Dark Souls defense is subtractive and normal weapons are only getting hit by one type of defensive stat. They really wanted to steer people away from that lightning weapon addiction.

Yeah, the difference between Lightning Rapier+5 and Black Knight Sword+5 was almost triple damage.

Also, the wood carvings are glorious.

VERY GOOD.

[Grefter]

X-Com - Finished.  Had fun.  Final mission is a little silly.  Saved in last room on the off chance that a 16% chance to Mind Control an Ethereal for giggles would hit.  It did and kept playing.  Killed the big bad and the MCed Ethereal didn't despawn.  TKed it with AoE psychic skills.  This was silly, but hey achievements named after X-Men!

Otherwise, I have babbled about this game enough that it should be apparent that I like it.  I think it has a few polish gaps but generally speaking it is great and a must buy as far as I am concerned.  You won't see a Triple A Turn Based tactics game come around very often and the fact that it is so good bares repeating.  So good you guys.  Should totally think about getting it if you like tactics games or want to show you have good taste in games in general.

[superaielman]

Plants vs Zombies: About halfway through NG+. It's still very easy- it's not aimed at hardcore tower defense gamers outside of survival- but a fun enough timewaster.

[Niji]

Sorry for the massive absence been dealing with these scabies mites since orlando(thanks for infecting me DLCON!and no that is not sarcasm I've gained inner peace though flesh eating mites of all things!) though they've only gotten "bad" in the past few weeks(indeed at first they were MEGA enjoyable for....certain reasons XD). Signs you may have them(if you've never had them before it can take up to 7 months but usually 8 weeks before you manifest any symptoms), itching around the ankles/wrists/hands/feet, that eventually spreads elsewhere, red BUMPS(a sign of an eating mite rather than a devouring mite(like chiggers, which would leave red indentations)) or slightly off color(leaning toward the pink/red hues depending on your skin color), extreme itchiness throughout the day, etc, clear bumps of very itchy skin filled with fluid on the hands or feet/between fingers toes, etc,etc. Figured I'd inform the DL of this in-case any of you are starting to feel any of these symptoms and what not.

I'll forgo the games I've been playing the past month or two in favor of the ones I am actively playing at the moment:

World of Warcraft - Mists of Pandaria: Omg monks are amazing and the new zones are insanely beautiful even on my crappy computer(a lovely 3-15 fps in them XD! ) but to just sit in them and enjoy the ambiance is quite fun. Leveling as a Panda monk has pretty much made me feel like a demi-god outside of pvp. Quite fun to beat things 10 levels over you as a healer hahah. Also bounce bounce bounce, nomnomnom.

Pokemon Black 2: Wow what amazing quality of life improvements, and not to mention cooler gyms and gym battles, a much more interesting rival than usually, little story things, N's Pokemon!!! and other goodies, hard mode, memory link, etc. No longer quite as easy to level, seems like I never encounter audinos this time around, but I am only leveling 3 pokemon right now so they have 4 levels on the trainers and negative 1 to +2 levels on the gym leaders pokemon(this would be -3 to -5 in hard mode with the gym leaders having 1 additional pokemon, different moves and different items). Progress and flow of the game seems much smoother than the first, though...the amount of tutorial like stuff is getting annoying, it would be nice if they'd stop making pokemon for new players but I kid, the more the merrier...still have yet to meet someone under 20 that is into pokemon...perhaps nintendo should learn from this some more, and make that....pokemon prism 3D mmo we are all waiting for. Can't wait for the PWT and legendary teams trainer battles! LET ME SWEEP YOU with my LILLIGANT all fire/dragon/flying-type legendaries! Plenty of 3s and Rotational battles this time around including gyms with them(infact gyms with only them so you MUST play with/have at least 3 pokemon to prgoress through the game this time around!). Difficultly level medium to hard this time around instead of easy, Hard mode also greatly increases AI performance and move choice(no longer not full restoring their last pokemon at 1 hp when your last pokemon is also at 1 hp) MERCILESS. How to unlock hardmode, infared link with someone that has beaten the champion in Pokemon Black 2 (available only in black 2 it seems btw), several other version exclusive unlocks that aren't tradeable between but many things that are as well(white forest/black city, the regi-caves, et). Having a blast so far, excellent pokemon game, and non-addictive this time around so I don't feel compelled to play it 24/7.

[Shale]

For the Rain-Slick Precipice players: the DLC dungeon went up yesterday. It's an interesting idea - you're knocked down to level 2 and have to run through a series of class-themed boss fights, gaining a flat two levels after each one (so your choice of classes doesn't affect EXP gain). You essentially run through the entire game's skill progression in one go.

There's one little issue where your items don't scale down to your new level so you can just cheese the first half of the area to death if you're so inclined, though.

[Meeplelard]

Pokemon Black 2: Got an Axew!!! ...but it's got Rivalry thus useless.  SO I GET ANOTHER! ...also has Rivalry.  FIND ANOTHER! MOLD BREAKER KICKS IN! ...ok, I want that one.  Added Bonus? Lonely so it gets +Atk and doesn't lose speed, so that's decent Nature.

About to do Charge Stone Cave! TIME FOR RANDOM BLOCK PUSHING PUZZLES OF RANDOMNESS!

Also, I love all the little things they added from BW1, which was already probably the most polished game in the series.  Free Space is something I just NOW realized how good it can be and am taking full advantage of it, the "Do you want to use another Repel y/n?" is a handy thing, the Habitat list in the Pokedex is nice for knowing what kind of things you'll be running into ahead of time without checking your entire Pokedex (as well as knowing whether you've seen everything an area has to offer), and of course, the Pokemon Selection is just a vast improvement over the predecessors is something that can't be stressed enough (has basically everything in the first two games + a bunch of older Gen Pokemon)

Current Team:

Dewott: Starter, also token Water type so I have a Surf user.
Umbreon: Token Tank.  Also insures my team passes has it's quota of "cuteness" so i don't get hunted down by Ice Cream Popes.
Thundurus-T: Flier and Electric type!  Yeah, I used Pokeradar, but I'm not using the Gen 4 Game Quirk so I'm being totally fair!!! though this will change in the after-game where I will totally abuse this for Dialga and Lugia wrecking stuff...at least >_>  Despite being a Legendary, doesn't feel overpowered though I got it when things are starting to evolve, so the stat edge isn't as monstrous as it could have been.  Also only recently learned Shock Wave, thus gaining a legitimate STAB (as in, something better than Thundershock)
Axew: Because why not?  More seriously, while Lilligant was good and all, I think I like a Dragon type more than a Grass type, and while Lilligant is fully evolved, think Haxorus will pay off more in the long run.  So yeah, taking the investment or something!  I lose Sleep Powder in the deal, but I find myself mostly using that for catching Pokemon (which Thunderwave from Thundurus should be a passable substitute), and when trying to use it in battle, my luck has been attrocious with it (Things love to wake up after 1 turn ._.)
Growlithe: Because I never used one and it looks like it could be fun!  Going at least until level 34 (or whenever Flamethrower is learned) until it I evolve it, might wait until level 45 when it gets Flare Blitz, depends how annoyed I get of it's unevolvedness (though Eviolite could help mitigate this)
Lucario: The game is finally nice enough to give you a Riolu early, and Lucario is awesome and one of my mains in Brawl so damn it, I'M GOING TO USE ONE!

[Nitori]

Super Mario Galaxy 2: So if you want to go get the final final star you have to put 9999 star bits in the otherwise useless bank toad, wtf Nintendo. At least getting the star ate most of the lives I got farming 9999 star bits.

[SnowFire]

Growlanser: The Wayfarer of Time: Started this up.  Art style is....  Growlanser art, and let's leave it at that.  Classy things like "island blowing up from death fire" FMV intercut with scantily clad girl resting on the escape boat in a horizontal position.  Uh huh.  SPOILERS: The respected and wise father figure / guide who is to guide Our Destined Hero on his journey is slain.  You're shocked, I'm sure.  On the bright side this is a game that repeatedly lets me answer "...." to idiotic non-questions or hanging statements, so there's that.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana Hard Mode: Galbalan is still pretty dang tough.  I've managed to make it to deadly ping pong (aka form 3) but said deadly ping pong is far more deadly than usual.  Fun fight at least.

The Last Story: Killed me a vampire & some evil cultists who I could tell were evil and the kidnappers because they wore a hood in sidequesting action.  Even FAQing the location of the sidequest, it was still pretty tricky to find one of the characters to talk to - well for the vampire at least.  (For the cultists, once Zael sees a dude in hood, he's friggin' on the trail and the game won't even let you go back.  That man is too obviously evil, he must die.)  The brighter the light, the greater the shadow or something.  Thanks for your fortune cookie wisdom, Narrator.  (They should have just ditched the narrator entirely, he never says anything we can't figure out on our own.)

[Sierra]

Classy things like "island blowing up from death fire" FMV intercut with scantily clad girl resting on the escape boat in a horizontal position.

Urushihara in a nutshell.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

I don't see nearly enough mention to the hair conditioning propaganda for that to be Urushihara in a nutshell.

[AndrewRogue]

Ghost Trick: Finished. Opinion remains about the same as when I started. Enjoyable little diversion. Puzzles could have used a little more oomph, but eh. Guessed the thrust of the final twist about Sissel 2 chapters before it happened, but they telegraphed it in a... fair... way.

Game really needed a skip text/fast forward option.

Deus Ex: Who would have thought betraying the UN would result in anything resembling challenge? Seriously, loss of ability to fatally headshot with silenced pistol has caused serious problems.

Decided to go bros before UN route. Since a certain cold blooded killer wouldn't stop interrupting me, I introduced her to a GEP to the face. Then I had to warn terrorists because my bro was too busy becoming deadish. Then I got arrested, but broke out. I got held up at a facility with my helicopter pilot, but a GEP into a crowded room later and I was free.

I ended up in China after that, where I stopped a Triad war and killed some bitches with a laser sword.

Game remains fun, although it sometimes leaves me scratching my head a bit on what I should do. I do see why people hype the freedom of choice aspect, and I must admit, murdering random NPCs is hilarious.

[Lord Ephraim]

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward -

I can count on two hands the number of cock jokes I've heard so far. Also rabbit puns.  This game is going places.

My only problem is there's not enough options to be an asshole.  Way too many brute force puzzles too.  Please throw more elementary math level skills please.

[Scar]

Playing Borderlands 2 with the missus. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan I forgot how annoying clap-trap was. Zero is fun to use, I play him as a Sniper while my GF runs around as a Siren and lures baddies into my scope of doom! Wish I had a better rifle though. Ah well loot drops are random as all hell. I am sure something good will drop eventually. Just dealt that big bird boss and we are level 25. Games fun!

[Fudozukushi]

Playing Borderlands 2 with the missus. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan I forgot how annoying clap-trap was. Zero is fun to use, I play him as a Sniper while my GF runs around as a Siren and lures baddies into my scope of doom! Wish I had a better rifle though. Ah well loot drops are random as all hell. I am sure something good will drop eventually. Just dealt that big bird boss and we are level 25. Games fun!

Good guns will never drop.  Everything is duping.

[Scar]

It's all Handsome Jack's fault! He never lets me get anything good!