What Games are you playing 2016?

[NotMiki]

(I mean, unless an intersection of SMT and Fire Emblem could actually handle this issue tastefu- AHAHAHAHAHA.)

Well, there's Persona 4, which is likely the closest analogue to the game, and covered the topic in a non-embarrassing manner.

[jsh357]

It still baffles me the localization censored everything related to Gravure Modeling from the entirety of ch.2, making that chapter into a completely something else.

Related to wha?

*googles*

Gravure idols appear in a wide range of photography styles and genres. Their photos are largely aimed at male audiences. Though they never appear nude, their poses are seen as semi-provocative.

Welp. That sounds like an improvement. (I mean, unless an intersection of SMT and Fire Emblem could actually handle this issue tastefu- AHAHAHAHAHA.)


Bravely Second - Beat chapter 2. The last boss gets kinda billed as a joke boss but was really brutal.

Magic just seems to be getting worse and worse. I'm debating if I should stick with it long enough to get all the passives which may salvage it or to just abandon ship.


FF5 - Upgrade fiesta, at the end of world 2. Knight -> Red Mage -> Bard -> Chemist. My lack of damage is pathetic; my single Two Hands Morning Star is curve-breaking and that says everything you need to know.

Why use physicals when you can just mix Turtle Shell + Maiden's Kiss?

[Dark Holy Elf]

Because there stupidly isn't a way to buy Turtle Shells and I don't feel like grinding like crazy for an attack which isn't actually all that much stronger than a two-handed Morning Star anyway, and misses against high MEvade.

I did grind for a few Dragon Fangs, enough to nuke Exdeath with Holy Breath (I'd never actually hit his holy weakness before, that was fun) and to turn every Rift boss into a dragon so I can kill them with Apollo's Harp. Currently making my way through the Rift (very slowly).

[jsh357]

Are you playing on the mobile version? I have never seen Drain Kiss miss, but I never tried it on something like the Seal Guardians (which you can just use Death Potion on).

The trick to upgrade runs for me has been to just stop when I have a good class, but in your case it seems you got trolled. Of course, I also have only been playing Chaos runs. In normal, your final class is generally going to be awkward unless you get Samurai. In my last one, I stuck with my first class (Ranger) until Neo Ex-Death, who I rolled Samurai for. Talk about an easy run...

[Dark Holy Elf]

I haven't used it much, admittedly, but the BMG and guides note it as MEvade subject (and I know Drain is, which uses the same formula). I dunno.

Seal Guardians I just buffed up with Drink and Sing then wrecked one at a time with physicals, worked well. Death Potioning all of them isn't really practical because you just have the two Dark Matters from Soul Cannon and Atomos (unless you fight prototypes which isn't always possible/practical for fiestas unless you have beastmaster or blue mage), although you could, if you were willing to spend all the resources, nuke the water/wind crystals with those then use Levisalve and Resist Fire to deal with the others. Outside a LLG or solo though this is more trouble than it's worth.

[AndrewRogue]

We Know the Devil: Charming little VN that earned a special little place in my heart. I don't want to talk too much about it because, honestly, I think the game's marketing oversells some things that are better just experienced. If you want to play it, I advise just getting it and not reading reviews or anything. Maybe ask Alex to give you a quick idea of what it's about.

Not flawless by any means, but a seriously great 2.5 hours.

Stories: The Paths of Destiny: Shadow the Hedgehog meets Bastion for game structure, with some Batman thrown in for combat. True Hero end get. I... am unsure where I finally stand on this game. There's a lot to like. Writing is clever and punchy swashbuckler nonsense with a fair bit of gallows humor. Combat is fast and reasonably enjoyable, visuals are solid. But there is a LOT of repetition. Maybe like, 5 enemy types in the game. You will be seeing the same maps a lot. Combat isn't that deep. Weapon differences are negligible at best.

Voicework is great though, which is good, because it is the game's biggest redeeming feature by far. Though I do feel there are a couple weird missteps with plot (like the character uses info that seems new to the player, depending on the paths you took, but maybe I just missed something in the prologue). I want to see all the endings because that stuff has actually been pretty great, but going through the game like, 25 more times is going to turn into a slog. Gameplay skip button would be rad.

[Twilkitri]

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - played through

Probably not a whole lot to say that wasn't said for Conquest.

Got the last six children between chapters 18 and 19 - on the whole didn't have any issues with the scaling there in this playthrough. Managed to get the last couple pairings of children finalised in Invasion 3 also, for all the good that does.

Top killers - Avatar: 69; Ryoma: 66; Setsuna: 62.

Revelation is going to have to wait until after #FE.



D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - played through Season 1

Longer than I was expecting, but also cuts off at a much worse point than I was expecting. I may have a poor view of how long it was in general as I played Episode 1 twice in an attempt to get a bunch of things I missed (and failed, still missing a bunch).

Generally enjoyable, I will complain about the following things:

• Diving/Enddiving takes way too long
• Clover Touch sucks
• Game automatically progresses when you get all pieces of evidence (and some other situations), causing you to lose opportunities to do things
• David's bizarre treatment of Olivia in Episode 2
• The mouse-jerk pseudo-microphone qte sucks

I haven't finished Duncan's extra cases yet because, assuming there isn't a trick I'm missing, I got fed up with end- and re-diving to change clothes for the one which requires that. Finished everyone else's though. Haven't collected 100% of any of the major collections.



Chronus Arc - attempting to stop Geppel from stealing his boss's Chronus fragment

Generally mediocre so far.



Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - chapter 1 intermission

Generally entertaining so far.

Radiant Unity animation is clearly the result of the people in charge having literally no ideas.

[Fenrir]

Danganronpa 2: Chapter 6 trial

What the fuck man.
They out-animed anime

[Dark Holy Elf]

FF5 Knight/RM/Bard/Chemist #upgrade fiesta beaten.

jsh, looks like you were right, I tried Succubus Kiss on some high-MEvade enemies and it worked every time. I then wondered if mix ignored MEvade in general (since the BMG explicitly says Succubus Kiss should be avoidable) by trying to blind Neo Exdeath but that didn't work, so I guess it's just wrong about that move? Not sure.

Final dungeon was a huge grind, slowly chipped down things with confusion (Alluring Air, with Lamia's Kiss for 100% ST if I need it, since that's the only storebought status mix). King Behemoths and Iron Giants are jerks so they got my spare Dark Matters for Death Potions (so did charging Twintania and Necrophobia's barriers). Otherwise I turned every boss into a dragon, buffed level, and hit them for 6000-9999 with my harp. Talstrats uber alles. I was Level 34.


Bravely Second - Crescent Moon, I have missed thee. Still glorious. Also I discovered that the game has a mechanics guide, which is pretty great.

[Captain K]

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is officially released today.  If you're remotely interested in it download today for free stuff.  Not sure how long the launch giveaways last.

Star Ocean 5 is out and nobody is talking about it.  I have to find $60 somewhere...

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Star Ocean 5 is out and nobody is talking about it.

You can thank Star Ocean 4 for that

[Dark Holy Elf]

Or the fact that it's a PS4 exclusive and the DL + adopting new consoles = lol

[Ranmilia]

We Know the Devil: Charming little VN that earned a special little place in my heart. I don't want to talk too much about it because, honestly, I think the game's marketing oversells some things that are better just experienced. If you want to play it, I advise just getting it and not reading reviews or anything. Maybe ask Alex to give you a quick idea of what it's about.

Not flawless by any means, but a seriously great 2.5 hours.

Tossing in since I got called out.  We Know the Devil is short and looks sketchy.  I was lukewarm about getting it at first when it was recommended to me.  This was wrong, though.  It would be my best game of 2015 hands-down, except for some "Undertale" thing coming along. 

If you liked Undertale's story and thematic elements, but maybe felt they were a little ham handed, odds are good you will enjoy We Know the Devil.  Or if you enjoy strongly written characters in general.  Or if you are a sentient being with either empathy or antipathy towards other sentient beings.  It is good and should be played by all audiences.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/435300/  on summer sale, 4 dollars, don't read the description just play it.

http://lparchive.org/We-Know-The-Devil/  If even 4 bucks is too much for you there's a good LP, though you won't get the full presentation.

----

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartending Action

http://store.steampowered.com/app/447530/  currently $15, which is a bit steep but personally worth it on quality.

Delivers on what it promises.  Another great game centered on characters and atmosphere.  Incredible characters, writing, sound design and music, polish, atmosphere, worldbuilding, it has everything.  The actual bartending "gameplay" is pretty simple, yet still leaves a surprising amount of room for interaction. 

The big experiment here is making a VN style game with no explicit dialogue choices, ever, but still delivering interactivity and multiple outcomes from *just* the bartending aspect - paying attention, adjusting drink sizes and alcohol amounts, and sometimes giving the customers what they need instead of what they asked for.  It works reasonably well, much better than I would have expected.  Strikes a good balance between allowing player interaction and keeping Jill (the protagonist) a strong character with her own personality.

I wish it had been longer.  I think I'd still be saying that if it was 100+ hours.  For anyone who likes cyberpunk settings, it's an incredibly immersive experience.  For anyone who just likes well written characters, again, you got 'em here.  My often-repeated line on these types of games is that they will hit or miss for some people - this SHOULD have been a miss for me, since I don't really like alcohol, bar culture, or social interaction at all.  The fact that it still got through to me is testament to its sheer quality.  9/10, would live in Glitch City.

Dorothy was my favorite character, but most of the cast piles in right behind her.

[DjinnAndTonic]

FF Brave Exvius: English version is out. I will say this: the localization team is awesome. Turned some of the most bland dialogue ever into some decently fun banter between the two mains. Notably I hated Japanese Rain but English Rain is actually kinda smart and funny. Worth playing the story stuff again just to see how much better the localization makes the story. Well, assuming that Bland Mysterioud Waif Heroine got a similarly polished new localization personality. Just started so well see!

[Captain K]

She's, uh, really ditzy?  Not as strong a character as Rain or Lasswell certainly.

Friend Code 204,938,759.  I have Krile RW.

[SnowFire]

FE Fates, Revelations: Finished C16 & C17.  Finally, enemies that attack you rather than waiting to die, felt all Conquest-y.  Except...  they're...  really badass enemies, I guess because they need to be able to challenge the likes of Ryoma & Xander.  It felt pretty exciting in C16, since the map gimmick felt like a rare one that's much more abusable by you than the enemies.  (A lot of the other map gimmicks with dragon veins I find it is never in my interest to trigger them - e.g. why would I want to make desert tiles plains?  I've deployed mages & flyers, and I want to limit enemy mobility.)  C17, though....  OW.  That is a hard initial rush, much of it not shown in the pre-battle screen, and woe to you if you're trying to build up somewhat underlevel units rather than using maximum firepower.   Lots of mixed damage in Strategists & Dark Knights too to keep the likes of Xander honest. *Luckily*, Casual scrub, so I could reload the end of map C16 and directly start C17 again with "gloves come off" mode (sorry Beruka, bringing in Camilla who doesn't get doubled and die to all magic damage), but even then, it required having Corrin & Ryoma distract half the enemies while I threw everything at the other set of enemies.  And sheesh, are the retainers for Leo/Xander in dire shape level-wise.

Anyway, I'm at the "now grind up these scrubs" since I foolishly decided I was gonna use the full Awakening crew this game, so that means it's Odin / Laslow grind time.  I gave Laslow a Fell Brand, too...  flavor-wise, it works best for these three, and stat-wise, it'd probably make the most sense on Odin, but the eventual Rally Spectrum I'll get much much later works slightly better on Laslow than anyone else, so.

I also used the grinding is an excuse to shoot dudes with Sakura's forged Bronze Bow to get her to D rank, and then Arms Scrolled her, and....  okay Odin, you should now feel bad, because Shining Bow Sakura *destroys* you for magic damage.  Destroys.

Also!  Important note.  You must run Faceless Mask on Priestess Sakura.  It's great, like a character out of a J-Horror film.  Hideous masked figure in a long dress saying "it had to be done" after putting an arrow between your eyes.  100/100 style points.

--
Alex: So what happens if you try to be as perverse as possible?  Notably, killing all your customers with poison, or attempting to pass off water as any drink requested, both seem pretty appealing ways to get reactions out of people.

[Grefter]

Fallen London - I got up to 100 Dangerous.  I now have 95 Shadow.  Soon I will become important.

[Cotigo]

or attempting to pass off water as any drink requested

i fucking knife you is what

[Meeplelard]

FF Brave Exvius: English version is out. I will say this: the localization team is awesome. Turned some of the most bland dialogue ever into some decently fun banter between the two mains. Notably I hated Japanese Rain but English Rain is actually kinda smart and funny. Worth playing the story stuff again just to see how much better the localization makes the story. Well, assuming that Bland Mysterioud Waif Heroine got a similarly polished new localization personality. Just started so well see!

Wait, that banther between Rain and Laswell is entirely localization?  That's pretty impressive if so because that's so far the best part of the game, since the banter between the two is fantastic.  Favorite part so far was the sequence where Rain was going on about Laswell's nickname, calling him "Welly" and ends with "Rain, I'm telling you STOP NOW! ...or I will be forced to call you by the nickname 'Rainipoo'" "OH GOD NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! I'LL STOP!"

The game seems neat enough but there's one major flaw and that's it runs like crap on my phone which is a huge turn off.  It's not so bad with battles, since that's just an animation thing and it's turn based, so not a big deal there, but if I ever have to do town or dungeon exploration, it feels painful how slow and choppy it is.

[Ranmilia]

Alex: So what happens if you try to be as perverse as possible?  Notably, killing all your customers with poison, or attempting to pass off water as any drink requested, both seem pretty appealing ways to get reactions out of people.

You do have to give them something that qualifies as an actual drink, so there's no poisoning people.  Everyone's liver nanomachines can break down karmotrine easily, it's the blessing/curse of the future.  (Although you *can* obtain absinthe and start serving that to everyone, that's a lot like poisoning them and tends to elicit responses along those lines...) Random ingredient spam just returns "you can't possibly serve this, try again."  Messing up too many orders too quickly, as you're suggesting, will trigger somewhat amusing loss states where your boss calls you out, suplexes you through the bar and sends you home.

Beyond that, reactions are highly individualized.  Rude patrons will insult you and walk out if you get their order wrong, others don't really care and will drink whatever you put in front of them, or may even thank you.  Experienced drinkers will notice if you're giving them more or less buzz than they asked for.  Less experienced drinkers will not, and therein lies the easy temptation...

[Hunter Sopko]

Beyond that, reactions are highly individualized.  Rude patrons will insult you and walk out if you get their order wrong, others don't really care and will drink whatever you put in front of them, or may even thank you.  Experienced drinkers will notice if you're giving them more or less buzz than they asked for.  Less experienced drinkers will not, and therein lies the easy temptation...

Damnit now I'm gonna have to try this out.

[Scar]

Brave exvius.

Got kain. I'm happy.

Best unit pulled was a 4 star sabin.

Dunno what to do with all these original noob nugget characters.

Friend code is: 339,117,118

[DjinnAndTonic]

Bah, apparently Exvius is experiencing huge problems with its servers being slammed so I can't even open the app right now. Contacted customer service, was assured they are aware of the problem and "are working on it".

I am losing valuable grinding time, dammit.

And yeah, like 80% of the banter is localization.

[Lord Ephraim]

Zero Time Dilemia - Margiously less anime than Danganrompa but also more at the same time.

The story is all jumbled up into pieces and out of order, so you just play through random scenes to piece everything together.

Maybe it's because its the inferior 3DS but the character models look like they never left the alpha stage.  It looks considerably worse than the last game.  Also the framerate is around 5 fps.  It's almost better to just listen to cutscenes and cheat through the puzzles.  The controls are sluggish and there's a lot of prop hunting pixels that's worse than Phoenix Wright.  I can see why the 999 iOS version just cut out the puzzles altogether.

TMS#FE -  I beat up Gangrel, who talks in Awakening about chopping off people's heads, decapitates his own head and launches it to attack in this game.   Taunted with enemies weak to axes but I don't have anyone that uses them.  What? Was BORD and CORD less interesting to make a early game axe Mirage but make the forgetable VIRION one?

I'm just completely baffled by the one thing Nintendo wants to rip of Sega, it's fucking Hatsune Miku.

[Magic Fanatic]

Notable things I got with my 10 Summoning Tickets:

Pre-awakened Kain
Pre-awakened Russell (Generic Gladiator?)
Kuja
Sabin

Nothing that isn't a 3* on base, at least.