What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[OblivionKnight]

Welcome back!  New forum, almost New Year, it's time to make a new topic!

I'm not going to be playing much later this week, but been playing a mix of stuff. 

FE10 - Currently at chapter 3 of part 4.  The game is fantastic, easily the best FE game.  The climax was great, and they've done a fantastic job of making this game a masterpiece.  I'll post more later.  Suffice to say, Death Gods Mia and Mist kick ass. 

X-Com - Updates in the X-Com LP >_>

[Xeroma]

Been playing a lot of stuff recently...

Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes - Some of the people I talk to on IRC know this already. Game is... indescribably silly. Look it up on YouTube sometime if you want to know what I mean.

Dynasty Warriors 5 - Unlocked all characters, just two more special items to unlock and I can send the game back to Gate.

Persona 3 - Started. Very.... odd, but I think I might like it from what I see so far. Any advice on S. Links, guys?

And a bunch of random NES/SNES games I'm playing on and off.

[Crystalgate]

Tales of Destiny 2: Had the encounter with Infernia's asshat king and picked up two greater craymels. Sylph was rather easy to get, but Ifreet drained a lot of my resourses. The characters can empty their TP reserves much faster than I expected.

[DomaDragoon]

Grandia 3: Put on hold while I was at work, I'll probably start it back up later today.

New Super Mario Bros: Up to World 3. Better than SPP, worse than SMB3. It's a good game.

[AAA]

Persona 3 - Started. Very.... odd, but I think I might like it from what I see so far. Any advice on S. Links, guys?

Depends on how you want to play. If you're planning on getting through the game as fast as possible, then maxing any S. Link is okay, really. If you want to crush the game beneath your heel then I would suggest maxing Star and Devil, which nets you Lucifer and Beezelbub, respectively, which along with Satan (Judgement Arcana, but does't need to be maxed to make) will make you more or less invincible, especially if you level up Lucifer to get Victory Cry(Beezelbub already comes with it). Sun is a good idea as well and also ranks up fast due to the limited time frame.

As for actually maxing the links? Firstly, Fool, Death, and Judgement will all rank up automatically, so don't worry about them. Second, after the first few levels always have a Persona of the same Arcana as the S. Link you're working on. This will help you rank up much faster. Ths goes double for the girl S. Links, who will pretty much always rank up slower than the non love-interest S. Links. The best way to counter that is to go out with them when they call you for Sunday/holiday dates, and make sure to give them a present everytime. Keep in mind that you can only have one girl over level 5 at a time, otherwise they'll become jealous and you'll most likely end up with a S. Link in Reverse.

Some S. Links have pretty limited timeframes. For example, Empress only becomes available in the middle of November, Sun can only be worked on on Sundays, and so on.

As a general rule of thumb, I would suggest you always make the school related S. Links (Magician, Chariot, High Priestess, Empress, Lovers, Moon, Strength, Justice, Emperor, Fortune, probably some others I'm missing) a priority, as you get plenty of vacation time to do the other S. Links. Testing time (you have like 4-5 tests which have a week or two of cramming time) will also help max non-school S. Links. I was seriously screwed by having all my non-school S. Links maxed by endgame, as I ended up wasting a good 2 or 3 weeks due to vacation.

Most of the time the right answers during the S. Link scenes are fairly obvious, but there are FAQs for 'em in case you get confused.

Also, stats. You need Courage, Charm, and Academics to get some S. Links. Empress needs a maxed Academics, Lovers needs a maxed Charm, and so on. I would suggest donating at the shrine everyday you have money(becomes less of a problem as time goes on), karaoking every night, then studying during late night. When you max Courage, or when Karaoke is unavailable, drink coffee to max your Charm. Doing this consistently will have your stats maxed in plenty of time to do all the S. Links that require them. Academics takes about twice as long as the other stats to go up a level, just so you know. As a side note, you need Level 4, 5, and 6 Academics to pass the various tests you are given, and you need to get the highest score on at least one of them to get the Empress S. Link. You also get some good stat-up items for Persona for it, so it's definitely worth it.

I..think that's everything. I'm sure OK will go on a rant with all the stuff I missed as soon as he sees this anyway. >_>

[Cmdr_King]

ToP(a)- Just got to the past on my cart.  And yes!  When I catch up to myself, it shall return.

[IhatethisCPU]

Condemned: Criminal Origins: Just finished. Again.

P3: Replaying. Just past the train Op. Really is quite easy with the main currently at lev. 89. >_>

Warriors Orochi: Just having fun with it. Using Pang Tong, Kuniochi, and Ina, if anyone here actually cares. >_>

[Dunefar]

GTA: San Andreas.

Replaying this, still early in Los Santos. The game's a blast to play, from missions to side shit to just fooling around.

[Talaysen]

Etrian Odyssey  - Fiddled around some with aftergame.  They changed the music for the sixth stratum which is lame because it isn't as good as Destruction Begets Decay.  Beat up Wyrm and Drake.  Wyrm actually killed me once due to lucky crits and spamming actual non-fire damage.  Drake was a joke.

 Magical Starsign - Finished!  Kind of fun but doesn't do anything standout really.

Super Robot Wars: Original Generations - Continued my Special run.  I'm on like mission 28 of OG1 now or something.  I probably won't finish it but whatever.  We'll see.

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga - Started.  Quick paced and fun, but I haven't played too much so I don't know.  Though looks like a lot of the game is giant fetchquest of doom again, but whatever.  I don't think it will mind me as much in this game.

[SageAcrin]

I need to start playing games that have actual progress reports that don't mostly consist of a replay file uploaded somewhere else. >_>

Dynasty Warriors 5:

Cleared about...nine? Musou modes. Meng Huo was the last one I did.

Meng Huo's pretty cool in a really one-trick way. Air Charge->Charge again->Musou. If you do this in a crowd, you get an instant Musou from empty and it does so much damage that you can one-shot the various Guard types on Normal. Seriously. He sorta isn't much outside of a crowd, his other main trick is also crowd oriented, a really evil Horse Charge.

Lu Bu is sick and wrong. This isn't a shock. He's fun as hell to play, as well.

Ling Tong is pretty evil for what he is, though what he is is solid with one sickening move(C4, the STOMP OF DEATH that basically renders everything ridiculously moot.).

Lu Xun is bad. Which is to say he's a mediocrity with horrible range and nothing special in any other way. He was lucky he got the Wind Scroll on his string.

Xiahou Dun was probably the most average-feeling character overall? Very solid at everything, nothing stood out at all either direction except for a pretty nice standard Square string.

Zhuge Liang is probably the character I found most fun overall. He has speed, damage, range, a lot of really nifty oddball attacks, and awesome horse attacks. He has maybe two of these in any given attack. Which two varies. I loved the options, and his C6 and Musou were some of the most fun attacks to play around with out of any so far. (Especially the True Musou, which, if you can somehow aim it perfectly, blows off a full life bar off generals reliably as every single hit connects. Unreliable but fun as hell to watch work. Standard Musou's usually more useful, though.)

Yeah, enjoying this pretty well for something so mindless. Well, it's only a couple hours a string, and characters play really differently, so that's a big part of it. Pretty fun.

[Smashy]

Live a Live: For the purpose of a LP  (and stuff), I'm going back through this.  Just got through Cube's chapter, which is going to take a while to make the LP with it being mostly a story chapter and stuff.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Currently playing MM2, which I just finished again, and looking for PW amidst various boxes and all my unorganized junk. At worst I'll just have to buy Shale a new copy, but I think I should be able to find it.

[Shale]

Just bear in mind that if you send me the card without actually playing it first, I'm sending it right back.

[Strago]

Just started playing Phoenix Wright, myself. A little ways into the second case/chapter/whatever. Currently, the winner of the game is Mr. Payne for the "Sugar Daddies" exchange with Butz in Case #1.

[Luther Lansfeld]

>_> I'll play it, Shale!

[Sierra]

Suikoden: Yay! Gremio can't force his way into my party anymore!

*Cough* Er, I mean...And all the people said, "What a shame that he's dead, but...wasn't he a most peculiar man?

[Meeplelard]

FE10: Just started end game.

Final Team I have planned:

Ike: Duh?
Micaiah: More duh?
Sothe: Yep.
Sanaki: <_<
Kurthnaga: >.>
Ena: >_>

And now for characters NOT forced into my team!

Jill: Axe user, generally awesome, plus see my avatar.  Urvan will eventually go to her.
Illyana: Rexbolt user.  Yes, that's literally the only reason I'm using her.
Soren: Rexcalibur user.  See Illyana, though he's actually decent despite this
Caineghis: Laguz Royal, figure I'd use the one I HAVEN'T used yet, even if he's clearly the most unfair one.
Naesala: 2 Laguz Royals > 1, plus he's the coolest of the bunch.  That, and there's another reason I'm sure only one other person can figure out <_<
Mia: Swordsmen. Best Trueblade and generally solid in and of herself.  She will be using the Vague Katti.
Nephenee: Lancer. Basically best Sentinel, and generally rocks too.  Obviously, Wishblade goes to her.
Rolf: Bow user.  Highest leveled one, plus having a constant 3 range attack is useful, and I need someone to use the Sexy Double Bow anyway when that appears.
Elincia: Is freaking awesome in every way.  Dragon Foe + Amiti = Death to inevitable dragons I'm about to face, flight, Canto, Healing...yeah, she rocks.  A tad surprised she wasn't forced though.
Mist: Extra Mobile Healer, and frankly, I didn't get her to almost SS for nothing damn it!  She WILL be wielding Alondite, I swear to god!

And yes, Rexflame will be going to Sanaki, just cause I can!  I was going to use Callil but...ran out of room.

[BaconForTheSoul]

Brother and I were feeling too intelligent so we decided to play some Hardcore Diablo 2.   Beat Baal on our second day without him even bring us below half health.  Before starting Nightmare Derrick went to get Subway.  His roomate thought the game looked cool and decided to play around, dying shortly enough.  Needless to say he was not happy, and now I'm stuck with a 35 hardcore character and no one to play with.

[Excal]

Finally had a free day, but got distracted from FE due to random hyping of X-Com, and so decided to play that instead.  So far, things are going pretty good, with my collection of laser rifles and motion detectors.  Also, just found my first alien base halfway through March.  Will likely be raiding that soon.

[Hunter Sopko]

Maple: 50% to 106. 5 levels to Zakum. 15 to 4th job. I have only one month to reach it if I want to be 120 before they come out >.>

Had a guild Papulatus run tonight. That was fun.

Spectral Souls: At around level 30. Currently running through the Simba scenario for this time period. Chose to do the sea route. Got attacked by pirates, which I pummeled mercilessly with my fully upgraded class party.

For console... not sure if I want to finish Valkyrie Profile or start SO3. I want to finish VP as soon as possible so I can get it back to Meeple, but I'm not feeling it at the moment.

[superaielman]

Hearts of Iron 2: Still figuring out the game some. I have most of the stuff not related to combat and troop movement down though. Right now playing as Brazil in 1940. I've turned them into an industrial powerhouse and aligned them with the rest of the Amercias besides for Canada. The USA-Argentine-Brazil alliance will make those foul Finlanders pay!

[Shale]

Serious Sam: Latest in the line of PC games I've randomly loaded up. Still hella mindless and equally fun. Midway through the Sacred Yards, which is a bitch (GIVE ME MORE AMMO), but I guess that's par for the course in a secret level.

[Dunefar]

Hearts of Iron 2: Still figuring out the game some. I have most of the stuff not related to combat and troop movement down though. Right now playing as Brazil in 1940. I've turned them into an industrial powerhouse and aligned them with the rest of the Amercias besides for Canada. The USA-Argentine-Brazil alliance will make those foul Finlanders pay!

Do you have a naval base within range(3000 KM for transports, but ships in the flotilla can lower this depending on their maximum ranges) to amphibious assault Finland?

[Ultradude]

Chrono Trigger - In the Factory right now with Robo. Left Marle behind, for the sake of Lucca's magic damage. Not bad so far, and Robo (who I named Zeta in honor of a certain overpowered mech) is pretty much the greatest thing ever right now.

Guardian needs to get thrown off a cliff. GOD I JUST SAT THERE HITTING IT AND HITTING IT AND IT DIDN'T DIE.

Fire Emblem 6 - Er... never finished Chap. 22 on my non-extra chapters first playthrough. Rutger ended up killing Zephiel, of all people. May replay to get the real ending some day.

[Xeroma]

FF4DS: Picked this up today, just got Palom and Porom.

Very nice, actually enjoyable despite being related to FF4. Although the plot is still garbage, the gameplay has a ton of extra stuff added to it that makes playing it worthwhile. Faster battles, auto-battle for quick grinding, new ability system that allows for actual customization of characters [something I really disliked about FF4 was its completely static parties and gameplay, but now that's not so much of a problem], and some redesigned other stuff to balance the gameplay more.

This includes character skillsets, which have changed a lot in some cases.  Edward got turned into a wonderful support character, since you can decide what songs he uses with Sing, and Medicine can be used with several lower class healing items for full effect. Also, Dark Knight Cecil is an even sillier heavy in NR-type fights now, as Darkness has turned into a buff spell that lasts 3-4 turns that makes his physicals do doubled damage at the cost of 10% of his mHP per attack.

As far as bosses go... Mist Dragon might be a decent Light now, since he can do 60 damage per physical and about 100 damage on the counter. But beyond that, the bosses have sucked ass so far. Octo Mammoth was eating 400 damage a hit from Cecil and Antlion was pure crap in all ways. Hoping they get better later.

Overall, I'd say it's quite fun so far, and this is coming from someone who really disliked FF4o/a.

ninjaedit: Oh, forgot to mention. Although the plot still sucks, they at least made the cutscenes more stylish. VA also helps some of the cutscenes out, especially since Square dumped way too much money into their VA budget here [freaking Karyl Sheeden's VA plays Kain. And Golbez is chairman Kaga of Iron Chef fame. Yeah.]