What Games are you playing 2015?

[Meeplelard]

God damn my phone that is unable to play Record Keeper!  Guess I'll have to stay fixated on Chibirhythm and FF14 for my FF Nostalgia related nonsense.


Rayman Legends: Played through the main game of this.  Credits are stupid long, automatic -5 points right there!  More seriously, this game is drug induced and about 70% of the game is actually quite good.  The problem is the other 30% is Murfy stages and good lord are those awful.  They feel made specifically for Multiplayer, since Single Player they're abysmal...and I know they're not even that good on Multiplayer because when I played with my friend, he was stuck being Murfy and he really doesn't like that since you're not really playing, just changing the scenery for the 2nd player.

[DjinnAndTonic]

FFRK: New Tidus event out so that makes me happy. I know he's unpopular with some, but Tidus is likely my favorite male character in the series. I can justify that for hours like Meeple, but the long and short of it is that I like his general attitude and I can relate to his particular reasons for being emo. So his flaws don't bother me while his upbeat qualities actually appeal to me. So I'm hoping to put him to good use but I'm not quite sure how to fit him into my current party. Got both his and Wakka's memory crystals so when I get them up to level 50, it's going to be exciting to get my first Record Material to play around with.

Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
I'd heard the name before but Reiska turned me on to this romhack. It helps that FFRK and FFD are really hyping my love for FF at the moment.
This might be a good alternative for Zenny too. Since he keeps saying that FFRK is just making him want to play FF6 again. Well this romhack is FF6, but with a few cool design choices and general rebalancing. It's generally faithful to the FF6 original, but changes around some skillsets and more importantly makes all the skillsets useful.
The big feature is that it makes it so all Espers are only equipable by certain PCs, so stat boosts and magic spells aren't universal. This really changes up all the PCs roles and forces a lot of interesting choices. The design decisions in general seem to be "make any skill/weapon only have up to two or three users", which means all the PCs have their uses. It's very much a design choice I support and one I attempted in my own unfinished FF6 hack so it's nice to see it implemented.

Notably the "limit who can use what Espers" functionality was previously a difficult prospect in the FF6 hacking community, though by the time I'd lost interest in it, people had just figured it out but hadn't really implemented it yet. Nice to see that the first one to really use it was a quality romhack like this.

On the flip side there are some minor dialogue edits. Some good, some neutral, some really egregious. I suspect on the whole it's a losing trade but I didn't mind it and the main plot line is unaffected. There's a LOT of dumb allusions to other games and TV though. I'd worry about it dating itself but honestly all the references are so old that they might be timeless at this point?

Anyway, it's still FF6, the only game in the world I'd consider myself a master at, so I've actually already beaten the hack despite only just starting it two days ago... I guess that means I enjoyed it!

The only other thing of note is that apparently the hacker himself has an inflated ego, as someone in chat mentioned they'd met the guy and he claimed he was making FF6 the way it was meant to be, claiming to know it better than Square and taking every opportunity to diss square and their programming of the game, even where it wasn't warranted. I don't know how much of that is true but ultimately I don't think it matters for my enjoyment of the free hack that implements a bunch of design decisions I too personally always wanted in FF6. I don't know if creator attitude should even matter that much when it comes to something like this. It just seems petty. Although, it's entirely possible that him being a rude anti-Square guy might actually make someone like Zenny want to play the hack even MORE, so...

[SnowFire]

FFRK talk: Let me just point out again that we're all elite gamers around here who have portable *real* gaming systems, right?  Play more 3DS/Vita games!

The only other thing of note is that apparently the hacker himself has an inflated ego, as someone in chat mentioned they'd met the guy and he claimed he was making FF6 the way it was meant to be, claiming to know it better than Square and taking every opportunity to diss square and their programming of the game, even where it wasn't warranted.

Welcome to the mindset of the kind of person who'd spend 50-300 hours working on their own hack of a game, alas.  (This actually sounds like the kind of thing that COULD impact my enjoyment, depending on how bad the added tv show references in the dialogue are.  You Are Probably Not Working Designs.)

[NotMiki]

Really, the fact that it actually works at all considering it is (I assume) like 80% of the bare minimum size it needed to be is a testament to human ingenuity.

[DjinnAndTonic]

FFRK talk: Let me just point out again that we're all elite gamers around here who have portable *real* gaming systems, right?  Play more 3DS/Vita games!
 

Yeah but those systems don't have pretty sprite work.

Welcome to the mindset of the kind of person who'd spend 50-300 hours working on their own hack of a game, alas.  (This actually sounds like the kind of thing that COULD impact my enjoyment, depending on how bad the added tv show references in the dialogue are.  You Are Probably Not Working Designs.)

Eh. For the most part not too bad. Though I was a little off put by Cyan's final dialog against Kefka being an Inigo Montoya quote while everyone else had pretty serious quotes reflecting their character arcs.

[Excal]

And being in the process of replaying Lunar, even Working Designs could field some real duds with their references.

So, what have I been up to?

My own retro nostalgia kick is getting fed with some Breath of Fire IV.  Since I'm too lazy to find all the pieces to my old PSX, I'm not doing it vintage and, like the poseur that I am, it's getting played via PS2.  When last I left off, I thumbed my collective noses at some imperial jerk before teleporting halfway across the world and breaking into a secret installation...  just to get caught.  Metal Gear Dragon this ain't.

So, back to the beginning.  No worries, just gotta bust a worren out, and we'll be on our way.  On that note, I've gained the most useful babysitter ever in a canine samurai.  Also, finally gained a Master for folks who aren't magically oriented.  Ryu is still staying with Rwolf, but I'm debating it, because he does have some good uses for power.


Codename STEAM: Gotta go to a bridge and rescue some folks.  Neat.  Sadly, despite talking a lot early on, the conversations seem to be dying down a lot now.  Granted, IS is not really known for their character work or plots, so this isn't really a huge failing.  Game is proving to be interesting though, and it's nice to have a full party.  For all that the new shiny subweapons feel like they're actually weaker than the initial stuff.

Aside from that, it seems a friend remembered my love of mixing groundhog day with death from the skies.  So I got a shiny copy of Majora's Mask for my birthday.  Beat the first boss, and am currently hunting for Fairy Pieces in Waterfall Temple.  This thing is, well, I was curious how it would stack up.  They really did do a lot to change the game, giving it a complete graphical overhaul, as well as changing the controls to work well with a second/touch screen and making it work with the 3DS in addition to just streamlining the hell out of it.  It is clearly a refined and much improved version of the game.  Heck, when you're in first person mode, you can even change where Link is looking by tilting the 3DS, which is kinda cool, totally optional (you can turn it off), and I've actually been using it to fine tune my arrow shots a bit.  >_>

[Anthony Edward Stark]

FFRK talk: Let me just point out again that we're all elite gamers around here who have portable *real* gaming systems, right?  Play more 3DS/Vita games!

You mean the dead platform PS Vita? Because that is its full name now.

[Cotigo]

Honestly the fact that the dialog's changed at all makes me disinclined to play it, at least not before replaying vanilla FF6. I'd rather not have my nostalgia trip interrupted by Cyan telling Kefka "You set us up the poison. All your base are belong to me."

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Final Fantasy How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Autobattle - Got both Wakka and Tidus' Memory Crystals. My current problem right now is -money-, since 5-star equipments are expensive to upgrade.

[Grefter]

Tell me about it, having the game down for maintenance on the Gil daily fucking hurt this week.  I had plans and they could not be done.

I got memory crystals like these other dudes.  Need money, plz summon.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Will do.

Also, since Wakka got a few levels on his weapon and I got him up to date with my other PCs level-wise, I'll probably replace Cloud with him as my Roaming Warrior. Which attack do you people prefer, Blinding Strike or Element Reels? Element Reels kinda weak damage-wise, but MT helps, soooo...

[Cotigo]

Weak MT is always a waste of your two-off power skill. Use Blinding Strike.

I never picked a rando with an MT skill and thought "man that was a good decision" afterwards.

[SnowFire]

FFRK talk: Let me just point out again that we're all elite gamers around here who have portable *real* gaming systems, right?  Play more 3DS/Vita games!

You mean the dead platform PS Vita? Because that is its full name now.

The preferred term is "legacy," thank you very much.

(And I've played, what, 1.5 PS Vita games?  It's all about the PSP / PSX games anyway.  Legacy indeed.)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Weak MT is always a waste of your two-off power skill. Use Blinding Strike.

I never picked a rando with an MT skill and thought "man that was a good decision" afterwards.

Yeah, you're likely right, it needs to be potent to be worth using. I mean, every time I picked a rando Vanille Deprotega user, it was one hell of a "well fuck this fight" button (also matters a lot for multipart bosses), and Donkey Kong Cecil's Darkness is almost as obscene. But yeah, Reels stand nowhere near that level of offense.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Honestly the fact that the dialog's changed at all makes me disinclined to play it, at least not before replaying vanilla FF6. I'd rather not have my nostalgia trip interrupted by Cyan telling Kefka "You set us up the poison. All your base are belong to me."

I seem to recall it's more like they inserted curse words into the game.  Or maybe that's a different FF6 hack?  I don't remember.

I tried playing it for a while but the guy who made it is a definite No Fun Guy.  Like he removed the steal tables off non-human enemies because it wasn't "realistic" enough for monsters to have treasure.  Motherfucker have you ever heard of a little thing called Dungeons & Dragons?

[DjinnAndTonic]

The original release had a bunch of swearing, but in the current release, he dialed it back significantly (apparently at fan suggestion?).

Also, yes, he removed the monster Steals, but in compensation, he made all the human monster Steals worth wasting a turn on. And he increased the Steal success rate. So... the effect is that Steal is actually worthwhile AND you're not wasting turns on monsters that don't have anything... I'd call it a huge net positive.

Yeah, you're likely right, it needs to be potent to be worth using. I mean, every time I picked a rando Vanille Deprotega user, it was one hell of a "well fuck this fight" button (also matters a lot for multipart bosses), and Donkey Kong Cecil's Darkness is almost as obscene. But yeah, Reels stand nowhere near that level of offense.

Off hand, I've also gotten a lot of MT mileage out of Rydia's Call II. (Thanks Scar!)
I've been summoning you guys whenever possible (even on the braindead autobattle levels) to boost your Gil income. Do you think it checks if your warrior is actually summoned in-battle, or is it just a "your warrior was chosen on the select screen, now you get Gil" thing? I've been attempting to summon just in case, but I think it's the latter. Anyway, hopefully you are all now rolling in Gil.

[Fenrir]

I've been really surprised by the number of constant stream of quality new games on the Vita considering its sales, you just don't hear about them because there have been no real big games since like Tearaway. It's probably dead soon, but about as much as the 3DS.

Anyway FFRK is not really brainless, it is just evil FTP BS


Grefter, you didn't even add me even though I set up an amazing jumpscare for you

[DjinnAndTonic]

FFD: Playing this some while working on the stat topic. Alba is still awesome~

[Sierra]

Roundabout: We have acquired aquacar technology and not even Jimmy Carter can stop us now. I think hanging out with Jeffrey might be a bad influence on us, though. Zut allooooors!

[Magetastica]

Rondo of Swords: Both paths beaten. I have gotten my $10 worth of the game. If people aren't useful within their first 5 or so levels of when you get them, they never will be. Not much else to say on the matter.

Final Fantasy Time Waster: Got this about a week or so ago, and have been playing it. Not sure what to say, except that I often find myself unsure of what to do, and rarely with any money worth a damn.

Fallout: New Vegas: Started this up and decided to actually finish it and see the various playthroughs/beat all the DLCs. A couple years ago I beat the Independant Route as a Barter/Gun pro. Now I'm running through with the DLC as a Brawler and going to go through The Most Obedient Route. I'm just finishing up with the Repconn Rocketships. I have Boone and ED-E following me around to pick things off from range while I run up and punch things to death. It's fun. Only level 6, though, which I feel is quite underleveled for this point in the game, but I haven't really missed anything, so I'm not certain why I feel that way.

[Grefter]

I decided that I enjoy experiential approach to video games and $3.50 for 3 item draws at HUGE increased drop rates in FFRK was an okay use of part of a $20 gift card I had lying around.

3* Gaia Rod

[Sierra]

Mage: I'd suggest hitting up that ruined town north of Goodsprings (I forget the name) to grab Love and Hate as soon as you can deal with the enemies there. It'll be the optimal punching option for a while.

[Reiska]

FFRK talk: Let me just point out again that we're all elite gamers around here who have portable *real* gaming systems, right?  Play more 3DS/Vita games!

You mean the dead platform PS Vita? Because that is its full name now.

The preferred term is "legacy," thank you very much.

(And I've played, what, 1.5 PS Vita games?  It's all about the PSP / PSX games anyway.  Legacy indeed.)

From my understanding, that line was taken out of context/mistranslated anyway (I read that when he said 'legacy' he was referring specifically to the original Vita model which was still being made as opposed to the redesign or something.  In effect, the same relative meaning as, say, Nintendo releasing the 3DS XL and then calling the original 3DS a legacy platform.

I mean, could be wrong.

[Scar]

Why can't I find loot tables for this most recent bunch of stages.

Ff3,5, 8,10, 13 ect.

The internet has tons of crap from the older content, but maybe nothing worthwhile drops?

I mean, we are about to get new stages and I still don't know where to go to get good gear in those stages.

Granted everything but the black cowl is a 2 star farm so far...

[Fenrir]

My guess is that nobody cares about it, rightly so



FFRK: I reached level 50 with Cloud so I replaced him with the brand new Tidus. I used him a bit before asking myself:

Am I really willing to use Tidus, just because he can break the level cap and finish some special mission objectives right now? Is this the person I've become, sacrificing my integrity for higher numbers?

The answer is no. Fuck Tidus.
Luneth is back.


Anyway I did a 50 mithril pull.



I got another totally sweet 5* lightning sword, so I can either use two of them at once, or combine them to form a 6 * weapon (!) I really really don't know what to do. Life is hard guys.

I also got some 5* helm or whatever. I think it's supposed to be Dark Cecil's helm. Yeah.

I got Rinoa's special 5* weapon, which is fucking awesome but only really usable by her and Loser.
I hope we get Rinoa back real soon because she's really going to be the best. (And I don't want to use Loser much) I'm sure this won't happen until like september, unfortunately. I probably won't be playing the game anymore then.