What Games Are You Playing 2013?

[Sierra]

FONV: Running Honest Hearts. It is pretty yawnsies outside of the Survivalist journals, so I'm kinda dozing here until oh my god. Hey remember that bit in Jurassic Park where the guy's hunting a raptor, and he's getting into position and lining up his shot and all that and then he looks to the side and clever girl one's right next to him?

That, except with GIANT CAZADOR. Nearly jumped out of my skin.

[Fudozukushi]

Borous' reach has no limit!

I've meanwhile just been meandering uselessly.  Watching a Legion attack squad hit Ranger Station Echo right after I delivered the codes was hilarious though.

[Meeplelard]

I hear they want to do an FFX-3 that starts from the ending of FFX and retcons FFX-2 out of existence.

They are considering making an FF10-3 if there is enough demand, yes.  Retconning out FF10-2, though, is not happening, much as it would improve things.

[Grefter]

DDS2 - Just got up to Power Plant.  ZOMG PLOT TWIIIIIST I didn't expect coming.  In that the plot twist lines up with something I had been considering complaining about.  Serph kind of sucks more than your normal SMT silent main.  Like even more than Persona 3/4 mains do.  I am fairly convinced you could easily ditch Serph and replace him with Gale and the main plot could function exactly the same.  Then hey this part of the game did just that!

Physical build sucks, I should have known better.  Mage build could have easily got two or three elements set and been able to steamroll pretty much everything.  Strength build randomly performs okay or gets cock blocked.  At least you can change Serph out of the party in DDS (unlike if you did a shitty build for SMT mains normally).

[Sierra]

As far as I'm concerned, Gale was the protagonist of DDS1.

[NotMiki]

It couldn't go any fuckin worse than X-2.

please please please don't tempt fate like that.

[Meiousei]

Pokemon X: Welp, I decided to try Wonder Trade last night, but I sorta got carried away with it though. I did get one Gen 2 starter, one Gen 3 starter and a Protean Froakie, along with some others I might actually level with in the future. I also have been...hesitant...to continue plot for a bit. I will try to bum rush the next few areas after catching a Mawile and unleashing a holy rite of terror which will be glorious.

I actually am considering picking up Project X Zone as the next 2DS game, as well as FE:A and KI:U, due to PxZ being on sale for 14.99.

Any suggestions on what I should pick up for the 2DS that won't make me hate myself or anything Pokemon related?

[Meeplelard]

Theatrhythm is fun, though given the existence of Curtain Call coming out within the next year or so, you may want to hold off on that.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is good for appeasing your masochistic side.   Well structured platformer that is quite challenging on top of it, which is a hard combo to come by these days.

I've heard Super Mario 3D Land is good.

[Clear Tranquil]

Hey now, FFX-2 has dat battle system >_> Or something~

Legend of Dragoon JP- Saved after the Hero Competition. That guy with the bow and apples was actually sort of threatening this time. The red armour guy before was also slightly more durable/lasted slightly longer than usual. Having fun with this so far. Apparently enemies do have more HP in this version, seem to hit harder and also attack items were nerfed or rather they were buffed up for the English versions. Randoms even do seem kind of threatening in this and worth paying more attention to,  same for bosses, well enemies in general so far,  I've had to break out the heals or even the odd Angel's Prayer here and there due to underestimating/not paying attention to things, even had to drop an Angel's Prayer vs a random when a character was low on HP and I thought I could get away with beating the enemy on time but no >_> Attack items with Shana/etc are no longer as OP as hell but they are still useful, and speed is still a thing so Shana was still relatively useful with attack/item/speed combo vs the bosses I used her for.  They were still kind of useful with Rose vs Drake for dealing with the multi targets of wire/bombs/etc as well. Drake on the whole was no joke this time though but he dropped the Bandit's Ring right away so niice. Apparently there's some sort of trick to getting that which involves managing to finish off Drake, wire and bombs all at once which I managed to do so.

About Shana/Attack Items it's more like they were still kind of useful but no longer OP and this time/in this version additions are already sort of better especially now I am already at this stage of the game and Rose, Dart and Lavitz have their additions built up now, and Rose/Dart already have DLV2.  Not to mention just getting the Bandit's Ring drop >_> She is also only at L9, three levels behind Dart/Rose on L12 despite me deliberately putting her in vs a couple of bosses earlier so she'd get EXP before leaving for a bit. On the other hand healing is kind of more of a thing now so White Silver Dragoon might still be worth putting her in again to build up her SP for DLVs and things. However Haschel is about to join and now I am having a party dilemma~

If anyone is interested and hasn't saw in the video thread I am doing a sort of Let's Play of the JP version here -

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0-L-Wk7FQUoBXA09O3CzfhO6lDRinjSk

where you get to watch me stumble and fumble my way around things~

[Fenrir]

They added some "out of battle auto healing everybody to full" option to FFX, which must be harder to program than cutscene skip, and which should save a lot less time to everybody. (Even to people playing FFX for the first time and wanting to see the story. Since they're going to die against Yunalesca a few times)
Dragon Quest has had this auto healing stuff since forever and I never even use it.

I'm pretty sure every Square game since FFX has had sceneskip. Seriously they just had to not add this on purpose.

I hear they want to do an FFX-3 that starts from the ending of FFX and retcons FFX-2 out of existence.

FFX-2 Yuna isn't waifu enough so they change her back to FFX-1 Yuna.

DDS2 - Just got up to Power Plant.  ZOMG PLOT TWIIIIIST I didn't expect coming.  In that the plot twist lines up with something I had been considering complaining about.  Serph kind of sucks more than your normal SMT silent main.  Like even more than Persona 3/4 mains do.  I am fairly convinced you could easily ditch Serph and replace him with Gale and the main plot could function exactly the same.  Then hey this part of the game did just that!

Physical build sucks, I should have known better.  Mage build could have easily got two or three elements set and been able to steamroll pretty much everything.  Strength build randomly performs okay or gets cock blocked.  At least you can change Serph out of the party in DDS (unlike if you did a shitty build for SMT mains normally).

I hope you're ready for some really dumb/crazy stuff to happen. And for a big final dungeon.
Also, don't diss Yattaf from P3P, she's awesome.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies is great but I have no idea if it's your type of game. Mario Kart 7's one of the better Mario Karts. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the weaker Mario platformers IMO but still worth playing if you're a fan of those. VVVVVV is an indy game and you can get it for PC as well for slightly cheaper but I definitely recommend it if you're a fan of 2D platformers.

I thought Project X Zone was far too sluggish and repetitive past a certain point but I still got 40 hours out of it, and probably around 20 of those were pretty fun, so there are worse ways to spend $15.


Civ5 - Beaten on Warlord as the Romans this time, bribed all the city-states into electing me ruler of the world by 1945.

[Clear Tranquil]

Oh and I am unsure whether I am projecting things or not while playing through the game since it has been a long time since I played the start of the English version of LoD. Like I feel a bit overlevelled/higher levelled compared to normal but I'm not fighting any extra. Dart/Rose L12, Lavitz L11, Shana L9. Am I supposed to have Gust of Wind Dance already? (despite leaving Lavitz out for Firebird and Feyrbrand/Graham)~

[Meeplelard]

I'm pretty sure every Square game since FFX has had sceneskip. Seriously they just had to not add this on purpose.

Crisis Core did not, actually, and stands as a result.

Kingdom Hearts didn't either, for that matter...but I'll touch up on that in a bit!

That said, what makes the FF10 HD scenario worse is FF10-2 is released with the game, and that DID have Sceneskip (to a degree), so it's going to stand out when one game has it and the other does not.

Though, it's not as bad as what KH 1.5 HD did.  KH1 didn't have sceneskip, ok, but KHFM added it, cool, you're learning!

Then KH 1.5 HD, which is based off KH:FM doesn't have it.  As in, yes, they actively removed sceneskip from a game that had it.  Forgetting to put it in is bad enough, but removing the feature from a game that originally had it is downright unforgive-able.

[superaielman]

SO2- Replay finished! Universe bottomed out pretty hard on challenge, but I also wasn't nice and ICed shiny equipment. Finished at L86. Cyril was especially pathetic, as he did not get off a single attack.

May fiddle with GE again after this.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Lavitz gets Gust of Wind Dance at L11, and since he's forced for Shirley's Shrine yeah L11 at the end of that seems pretty reasonable.

[Grefter]

I hope you're ready for some really dumb/crazy stuff to happen. And for a big final dungeon.
Also, don't diss Yattaf from P3P, she's awesome.

I am always ready for dumb crazy stuff in SMT games.  That is like half the reason to play them.  I need to go shut down a power plant to stop the sun from downloading Earth.  The whole time I sit back and think about how cool it is that they manage to find new ways to approach their constant treatise on the nature of order/chaos through the vantage point of all religions and specifically from the viewpoint of humans making deals with demons without changing things much at all.

DDS2 introduced a heal my dudes button and I have to say I really appreciate it.  It is more intelligent about it than most DQ ones are.

I second the rec for VVVVVV and don't harp on the PC thing, it is worth the price on DS and an interface you are used to is pretty important to a platformer like that.

P3 main only works because of the games dating sim style gameplay, such a story focus series having silent mains is pretty rough.  P4 works so well in spite of it.  Here it is jarring and really doesn't work at all.  Gale does so much of the actual driving of the plot in both games so far.

[Fudozukushi]

Fallout New Vegas: More meandering.  I eventually half-assed it enough to get Wild Child with NCR so I could finally pop the forgiveness, skyrocket straight to Idolized and recruit Boone for one last Legion Murderfest 2013.  The inexplicable enemy spawning after a fast travel has reached bold new heights however.

[Niu]

FFX-3 is going to be really bad. As X-2.5 and the drama CD that lead to X-3 is absolutely TERRIBLE IN WRITING!! It is absolutely atrocious that I want to stab Nojima in the face. They are giving Yuna the same treatment as they did to Cloud in AC, just from a different angle. Yuna acted like a stupid stupid bitch. Serious, you and Tidus went through so much, how can you treat him like that!? And no responsibility bullshit either, if you value your position as a summoner that much, you should understand how a summoner and her guard is inseparable. Hell, you could not have pulled through X-1 if Tidus was not there. There is absolutely no excuse for Tidus to be treated that way!! Ugh! UGH! UGHHHHH! Fire and acid to this piece of sorry excuse of a soap opera!!
It doesn't help when the new character is also a stupid stupid bitch that I don't even want to comment on. UGHHHHH!!!!

[Clear Tranquil]

>_______>

Do you have the book Niu? By the way is it true that there is sexual content in general in it,  one thing is Tidus is distracted by Yuna's sexiness in a swimsuit, worries he won't be able to concentrate on battle because of this, gets his head blown off by a bomb and dies? Then gets resurrected by Yuna, so he is an Unsent and controlled by Yuna? (like the Seymour/Anima aeon thing?) This is some of the stuff I've read about it. However I'm not exactly sure which are cold hard facts or which is hyperbole and/or blown out of proportion. If that bit is true though .... <________<

[Grefter]

The things that interest you never stop being fascinating.

DDS2 - Power Plant is a big dungeon.

[superaielman]

You never played DDS during the ranking push back in the day, Grefter ?Huh. Yeah, you're in for some... interesting times late in DDS2.

[Dark Holy Elf]

DDS2 - Power Plant is a big dungeon.

Ahahaha, you say this now.

[Fenrir]

I wonder what's the biggest monster final dungeon between this one, Nocturne's, FF12's and any other I might have missed.

[Dark Holy Elf]

TAY's also needs a mention.

[AndrewRogue]

Assassin's Creed 2: So playing this for the first time. Kinda skipped out on the first game since I tried to play it without an HDTV, which was a hideous error.

Seriously, this game's frame narrative confuses me. It seems only to exist to annoy me.