What Games Are You Playing 2013?

[Fenrir]

Notmiki get God Hand again as a PS2 classic, and alternate between it and Demon's/Dark Souls


I thought that "endgame" was at least going to get better weapons than "the past". It's especially jarring, plotwise, since the team does eventually take control of the country back.

I'm up against Garland in Oath of Felghana Nightmare, and I'm completely exhausted. Usually I grind one or two levels at every boss, until getting another level takes more than 10 minutes I think. Since Ys has Suiko Exp you can't grind much anyway, so you have to just get better.
Gyalva, Gullen, Chester 1/2, Gildias were the hardest bosses.

[NotMiki]

Are you playing the version of Oath that heals you when you use boost, or the one that doesn't?  because I have trouble seeing how nightmare is beatable on the latter, particularly the ice dragon boss.

[Fenrir]

The one that does.
I did beat it without the auto revive accessory though so I could have done it with both I think. I got really really good at dodging him. (I had to)



Edit: Megaman X Maverick Hunter endgame, Armadillo fight:
*X enters the room*
Armored Armadillo: ENOUGH TALK!!
*Fight begins*

[SnowFire]

If Oath is like the other games in the series, the auto-revive is a one-shot that you should save for Galbalan anyway.  (I've never actually burned the auto-revive early and seen if it became repurchasable, though.)

Your experience sounds like mine - run the dungeon, get walled by the boss, collect 1-2 levels, boss is now beatable.  Except.  As noted above, I have utterly cheaty weapons for Nightmare that would take a ton of extra grinding (if even allowed?  On my Normal playthrough, they capped the items at+3 upgrades) to get, which means I'm probably stealthily 2 levels higher functionally than I seem, which since level is the god stat, well.  So congratulations on your awesomeness if you're not doing crazy hour-long grinding per boss.

Elf: Oh of course, great characters can save objectively stupid plots all the time (cough, cough, Game Arts.  Or for that matter several Fire Emblems). So yeah, good thing for XF the villain cast hams it up well, I'm down for hyping that part.

[Sierra]

I've actually been playing through Dark Souls as well despite having it sit on my shelf for about a year and a half and barely touching it.  I agree that Sif is pretty easy, but the boss of the New Londo Ruins would have been a nightmare without an online person helping out. It doesn't help that Spears have a really hard time hitting the boss and you want to deal a lot of damage really fast. I really like the game, but a lot of the areas designed to make you fall to your death just aren't fun (Great Hollow/Anor Londo/upper Blighttown). Bosses are neat, but it would be cool to have some sort of balancing mechanism to make them a bit harder with multiple people.

I am pretty sure that boss durability is mildly boosted when you have allies. Not enough to offset the extra offense a competent ally brings to the table, but it's been my observation that they take marginally less damage than usual. Anyway, spears are a low-damage, defensive weapon--their selling point is that you can attack while blocking, and you're basically trading some damage output for this benefit. Not really an ideal choice for the boss fight where DPS is all that matters! Personally, I find the Four Kings easier solo just because you can't really manipulate their AI the same way when they have other distractions to hit (if you're alone, it's possible to keep the other kings from going aggro if you stay close enough to your current target).

I'm buying a PS3 soon.  Tell me all the games to play.

Also tossing in a recommendation for VC. Knytt Underground is also a thing. I am not sure what your standing on N1 is, but Disgaea 4 was one of their better efforts. Bioshock Infinite comes bundled with the original Bioshock, so that's two quality games you get at once if you haven't already played the original. And yeah, if you could take God Hand, Dark Souls should be no big thing.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Throwing in a hardy recommendation for Disgaea 4, Valkyria Chronicles, and NIER (if you haven't played it on 360).

Kid Icarus Uprising: I kinda wish the surprise twist of Chapter 9 wasn't ruined long before I ever got the game (and considering I got the game at the -last- DLCon, that's impressive). But otherwise, it was well-handled and I can see why everyone made such a big deal about it. Working through Chapter 11, not sure I like the new villain cast apart from trollcifer.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I didn't know about the plot twist, but it was still evident something was up because I was thinking midgame "holy hell, I'm not one to complain about games being short, but I refuse to believe the game is this short".


FE7 HHM - Man, I'd almost forgotten how evil Genesis is on this mode. Three long-range tomes (plus an Eclipse, nobody cares). Three status staves. Luna that OHKOs anything it crits; I didn't raise a longbowman and I don't have any heavilly built up supports this playthrough (trying for S rank) so I just have to use a high-luck PC and hope for the best. At least Kishuna nerfs some of the enemies for the first four turns.

I'm rather amused to note that FE7 HHM enemy stats seem almost identical to FE8 HM. When HHM is tougher (and generally it is) it's because of tougher map setups, like this one.


Dark Souls - Cursed again! Aw nuts. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do Duke's Archives before New Londo or something.

[Sierra]

Not sure what you're using right now, but most heavy armor has ass for curse resist. Lautrec's armor set might serve if you're having repeated problems with that. Running around with humanity in stock also boosts your curse resistance (not to mention item drop rate, and some other less important stats) buuuut running around with humanity in stock first time through the game is generally haha no.

New Londo does have a curse resist ring you can pick up, but the main selling point of the place is the very large ember (+15 weapons aw yeah).

[Magic Fanatic]

I'm buying a PS3 soon.  Tell me all the games to play.

On top of the other recommendations, Ratchet & Clank Future games are good.  Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time are more of the standard R&C titles, while All 4 One is more of...  Gauntlet with explosions?  Eh, that works.  Haven't played Quest for Booty or Full Frontal Assault though, so I can't weigh in on those.

[Fenrir]

If Oath is like the other games in the series, the auto-revive is a one-shot that you should save for Galbalan anyway.  (I've never actually burned the auto-revive early and seen if it became repurchasable, though.)

Your experience sounds like mine - run the dungeon, get walled by the boss, collect 1-2 levels, boss is now beatable.  Except.  As noted above, I have utterly cheaty weapons for Nightmare that would take a ton of extra grinding (if even allowed?  On my Normal playthrough, they capped the items at+3 upgrades) to get, which means I'm probably stealthily 2 levels higher functionally than I seem, which since level is the god stat, well.  So congratulations on your awesomeness if you're not doing crazy hour-long grinding per boss.

Elf: Oh of course, great characters can save objectively stupid plots all the time (cough, cough, Game Arts.  Or for that matter several Fire Emblems). So yeah, good thing for XF the villain cast hams it up well, I'm down for hyping that part.

It was just sheer perserverence! I fought Gildias something like 50 times.
You can buy multiple auto revive items in Oath, but each one costs 2x the cost of the last one. They're like those HP+ potions in that regard.
I beat Garland and only have the final left. >_> Another day.


NEB if you went back to Seath's room in Duke's Archives, don't do that, you need to find another way in the Duke's Archive. Seath is still invincible here.


Megaman X Maverick Hunter was decent. Not much to say. I'm starting to like Megaman games. I've never liked how these games have too many options, but the level design makes up for it.
I only used four options anyway. Shot, Charged Shot, Flamethrower, Storm Tornado.
Storm Tornado 4 life.

The Vita doesn't work well with standard controls, but O = Jump, R = Attack, L = Dash is surprisingly excellent.

The optional mode is great but there are like 50 new weapons and you can't even equip them until you beat 3-4 bosses.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yeah, aside from missing out on Homing Torpedo that's pretty much the good options of MMX1.

Re Seath, yeah, I found him at the bottom of the cave of invisible platforms.

"Invisible platforms? In the ice level? You're making this too hard for the kids!"

[Fenrir]

Oh right I did use Homing Torpedo too! (Mostly against Sigma 1 while staying on the upper left corner of the room)
Storm Tornado though. Damn.

Ok nevermind about Seath you are supposed to beat him here.
Curse res could be nice but it's not really needed. I find Seath to be the easiest boss in the game honestly. I don't target and go straight for the left/right tentacles.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yeah I was doing decently then he cursed me.

[Meeplelard]

Chameleon Sting is good in Maverick Hunter X due to limited aiming as well, though, at it's best when Charged for obvious reasons.  Even better in MHX when you consider you can swap weapons while still in invulnerability.  I think Rolling Shield gained a similar buff.

Boomerang Cutter is better than it appears at first since it's a little stronger than you'd think, utility of grabbing things, and hit's weird angles that are a pain to get.  To be fair, Homing Torpedo does lower it's use significantly, but it's still an OK option.

[NotMiki]

Throwing in a hardy recommendation for Disgaea 4, Valkyria Chronicles, and NIER (if you haven't played it on 360).

Don't have a 360 actually.

[MalcolmMasher]

FE7 HHM - Man, I'd almost forgotten how evil Genesis is on this mode. Three long-range tomes (plus an Eclipse, nobody cares). Three status staves. Luna that OHKOs anything it crits; I didn't raise a longbowman and I don't have any heavilly built up supports this playthrough (trying for S rank) so I just have to use a high-luck PC and hope for the best. At least Kishuna nerfs some of the enemies for the first four turns.

I'm rather amused to note that FE7 HHM enemy stats seem almost identical to FE8 HM. When HHM is tougher (and generally it is) it's because of tougher map setups, like this one.

Hawkeye (and Hector) should be able to preempt a Luna counter with the Brave Axe from Kinship's Bond.

In my opinion the meanest part about Genesis is that you can only get one Restore beforehand. Person holding it got Berserked? Too bad. I generally approve of the map design, though; in three modes it's a turkey shoot, and then HHM makes you the turkeys.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yeah my winning strategy for the map involved Priscilla standing 1 square out of Sleep range, then using a Pure Water when she had to dive in for Silence protection. The bastard with Purge and Berserk was the trickiest part of the map probably, I ended up tricking him into using Purge and coming near the east wall so Hawkeye could double Hand Axe him.

Brave Axe does take care of the Luna Druid in Hawkeye's path, but there are also the ones to the west. That said I was eventually able to get the first hit on the last of those on turn 4 before Kishuna leaves, so the strategy was safe aside from missing. Still very dicy.


Jim: No comment on PS3-specifics, but FF13, XCOM, Star Ocean 4, DMC4, and Bayonetta are all pretty cool as far as multiplatform games go.

[Fudozukushi]

Despite Seath being a joke he's killed me an inordinate amount of times or forced restarts because of tail bullshit.

[Sierra]

People can bitch all they like about getting Kalameet's tail, but I have never got Seath's tail to drop. Trying has only ever got me horribly killed, and the only reason I've ever got that sword is that once my summoner was nice enough to give me one after noticing I was running a sorcerer and only using the Moonlight Butterfly Horn (which is not great, but at least has the distinction of being one of the nicest looking weapons in the game. It's that or Quelaag's Furysword).

[Fudozukushi]

My PC attempt at Seath's tail went disgustingly easy.  Then he killed me like three times.

Then I got pissed and used Power Within, Dusk Crown, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, APyro Hand +5, Great Fireballs and wiped out a fourth of his health with each hit.

[Sierra]

Wait, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring...boosts pyromancy?

[Fudozukushi]

Wait, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring...boosts pyromancy?

Ayup.

[AndrewRogue]

I think, if I recall correctly, I got Seath's tail.

Flamberge OP.

Also, fuck those invisible platforms. Fuck them in their goddamn invisible eyes.

[Sierra]

Wait, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring...boosts pyromancy?

Ayup.

That would've been good to know before I ran a SL50 pyromancer through NG+! Oh well.

And the only one of the invisible platforms that's really a problem is the one leading to the blue titanite slab. That one can get its invisible eyes fucked. The others are all straight lines.

[AndrewRogue]

I dunno. I had a LOT of arbitrary deaths in that area. Felt like a couple of the paths just did weird things or had a weird cutoff near the end.