What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Pyro]

You forgot RSMS music hype.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Asellus's chapter is among one of the least complete, actually. Her Ordeal with Furdo got cut, the infiltration to Trinity Base got cut, the event with Bene is also gone, and most of all, the potential homosexual relationship between Ildon and Rastaban is also gone.

And the only complete SaGa right now probably is the RSMS. Not even SF2 and U.SaGa is really considered complete.

As for all the details, I am more than happy to put them up in the fact center.... just when it'll got fixed. I was already drafting over the AT science topics too...

I would be very happy to read more about what SaGa Frontier -could- have been.

I think the Saga games are separate entities in terms of universe and continuity but again Niu would know more.

Also, this.

As for Ciato's fight: Yes, his batty friends were a constant nuisance with their combinations, not to mention their bias towards destroying Mesarthim leaving me incapable of using my MT healing most of the time. I don't think his ID ever missed, either... Bosses are scaled based on your current HP or something, right? I had probably hit the next tier of boss stats but was at the low end of the tier. At least, I'm assuming that's how SaGa scaling works.

RSMS is definitely in my future. But my far future... Since I'd prefer to play it in English, I'll have to order it online somehow or wait for a friend to send me a copy from the states.

While I'm all for music hype, I'd have to say my favorite aesthetic aspect of SF were the gorgeous backdrops everywhere. It kind of annoys me that they couldn't have done a little more with the characters' actual artwork, though.

WhiteRoseXAsellus hype is a go. And even though IldonxRastaban was cut, it was still pretty obvious from the two or three lines of dialog they had in reference to eachother.

Blue's story: Opening was pretty decent, though I haven't seen anything resembling story since then. Is it true that this chapter doesn't have an ending?
Current party: Blue, Lute, Riki, Meiling, T260G - Riki is well on his way to becoming a BlackDragon, and T260G is tricked out with CyberSuits. Will probably drop Lute for Roufas, Nusakan, and Mesarthim. In that order. Not sure whether I want to become a super-Blue or let Rouge do it, yet.

By the way, in case you couldn't tell, I'm not worried about spoilers for this particular game, so if any SaGa fans want to take the opportunity to point out where I can find more plot, I'm actually genuinely interested in this storyline. Along those same lines, I really like the Race/Class system, how similar is this system in the other SaGa games, particularly RSMS & SF2 (and USaga to a lesser extent of interest)?

-Djinn

[Niu]

SF1 arcs... outside Blue and Lute, they all have a fair amount of story.
While SF2 is the SaGa game with most plot. It s also one of the most different SaGa in league with U.SaGa, but in a different direction. As SF2 sacrifice a lot of the gameplay freedom that other SaGa have, but this also why SF2 is the only SaGa that had most of its story told, it is by far the most linear game by SaGa standard.
As for U.SaGa, it also has a fair deal of the story, but being table top RPG done wrong, I wonder how many people can actually stand the game.

RSMS has little plot, but it has a very well constructed world view and back plots, and tossing in Haolahn telling stories to fill up all the gaps is just a brilliant move, I wonder why they didn't think of this sooner. It could have made U.SaGa a lot better too.

[Clear Tranquil]

LoD- I decided to do the "no physical attacks" thing as well. I had a save before Mappi so I worked from there. Recently defeated Kamuy which was harder than it should have been because a) the town only had Thunderbolts to buy which is MT thus weaker than ST spells like Burn Out and b) I forgot Dart already had four dragoon levels instead of three from before I started this thing so I went into battle with everyone at DL3 (well Meru at L2) and then wondered why I couldn't use Special with Meru >.> So Freezing Ring only did 300~ x 2 instead of the 1000~ (500 x 2) it could have done. Picked up a Jewelled Crown for Miranda in Denningard. Now saved in the Wingly Forest (where I bought two Magic Rings!) before going to Kadessa. Need to pick up Spinning Gales from Lohan first though.

SMT-DDS Yay new game! Pops it in. Received the option to pick from NTSC or PAL. Yay options. Then ... checking memory card ... you have insufficiant space! Tried my other memory card, same thing =-(

SO3-Peppita testing. I counter O spammed successfully through Insanity Prelude o_o (I already knew she could counter his physicals and Perfect Symmetery, Expansion Force and everything else but I never tried to counter IP before ... because well ... I didn't think it would work >.> I usually just hide in the corner with everyone and pray - PAL version no "safe" spots, just less chance of being hit in a corner. For the sake of testing though I tried it and it ... worked o_o) Peppita can counter Luther's Insanity Prelude. Ahahaha hax.

[OblivionKnight]

SaGa Frontier: Beat Asellus' story as a human. Then I went back and got the half-mystic and full-mystic endings. Neither was as satisfying as the human ending. But then... that feels like a polish issue.

Overall impression: SaGa Frontier is -good-. It really is. Surprisingly so. But I hear some of the other chapters are less... complete. Why, Square, why? I'm really hooked on the gameplay's character growth and recruitment aspects. The individual stories seem pretty interesting, but there's so much left out... This game suffers from 'awesome potential' syndrome. My interest is captured, but the game keeps letting me down... Right now, with only Asellus and a few minutes of Blue's chapter under my belt, the game is a 7.

Are there any SaGa series fans that can tell me more about how the other games in the series relate to eachother? Gameplaywise or storywise or however it works...

After playing this I'm serious tempted to pick up RSMS. Is it worth it?

My first experience with SaGa was Unlimited Saga, which was pretty much a bad joke that I never finished. But SGF is just so cool that I'd like to see a -finished- version of a SaGa game.

Final Party: Asellus, Zozma, Mesarthim, Fuse (w/ DSC), and Rouge.
People that came along and watched me fight: Rei, Ildon, Turnip, TimeLord, Emelia, Lute, Thunder, Gen.

The FAQ I was following called Ciato/BatKnight's battle 'easy', but it was by far the most difficult battle I faced in the whole game apart from the Firebird on Mt. Mosperiburg.

-Djinn

You should have used Meeple's FAQ.  The walkthrough there is fantastic.

Which reminds me...back to work on that >_>

[Clear Tranquil]

ATTN Snows - You should have tried out Shigure w/th a Power, Fury or Boost combo w/th the Crazed Rune *nod nod* Gives Zerase a serious run for her money. Also worth checking out Norma with a Power/Boost/Double Edge combo. Don't let her frail/silly appearance fool you, she's pretty hax in battle~ Miakis twinking goes w/o saying of course >.>

[DjinnAndTonic]

The FAQ I was following called Ciato/BatKnight's battle 'easy', but it was by far the most difficult battle I faced in the whole game apart from the Firebird on Mt. Mosperiburg.

-Djinn

You should have used Meeple's FAQ.  The walkthrough there is fantastic.

Which reminds me...back to work on that >_>

Actually, that was the walkthrough I was referring to. *glares*

^_^

-Djinn

[TranceHime]

Pokemon Platinum: Roark defeated, grindan stage 2 begin. Going to aim for a team of Staraptor/Infernape/Luxray/Onix/Rozelia/filler by the time I get to Gardenia. Ambitious, no?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

S5 - *Miakis attacks.*

*Miakis swings four times in a row for 2k damage each swing.*

Um, yeah.

[VySaika]

After playing this I'm serious tempted to pick up RSMS. Is it worth it?

I've got SaGa Frontier at a 10/10, and I really don't care for RSMS. They are very very different games. But, it's hardly expensive these days, so you may want to pick it up and see for yourself.

[NotMiki]

RSMS is by far the best SaGa game in terms of combat system and balance.  Although each character is somewhat shallow on plot, there are a lot of sidequests, more than SF1, and they paint a broad and coherent picture of the world.  Game is fully voice acted, and in the case of the main characters, acted well (if you like well-executed melodrama, anyway).  Although the characters have almost all the same sidequests, their diologue, of which there is quite a bit, is different, so you get a good sense of them despite the lack of unique plot.  Graphics are idiosyncratic but very polished; if you like SF1 for the grandiosity, you will definitely appreciate the way bosses and dungeons look and feel.  Music is top-notch.  I'd say it's absolutely worth it, but take it as you will.

[Talaysen]

Definitely in on RSMS hype.  Grab it.

[Sierra]

MGS4: Finished with Europe. In sum? Shadow Hearts Syndrome strikes again. Spoiler time, do not read if you're Trips:

Chapter 3 = loony plot twists + Catwoman, and everything's Major Tom's fault. I could *kind of* take things seriously in the first two chapters if I felt like it, but now I'm totally along for the trainwreck value.

Anyway, onwards to Shadow Moses Island. ...Wait, what? Why are there still nukes there? Why did people leave AN ISLAND FULL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS just sitting there for nine years? I don't have enough ::psyduck:: for this plot.

Oh well, at least the arrival at the old base was stylish.

[DomaDragoon]

God, has it really been so long since I posted. Let's see what I've done since my last post:

-Bionic Commando: Rearmed - Beaten. Pretty much the same as the original, only better. Seemed a little shorter than I remembered. Throwing people around with the arm is fun.

-Castle Crashers - Beaten as Red Knight. Standard beat'emup. I feel it was vaguely overpriced, though I'm sure I would have popped out $20 for a disk copy. Arcade pricing is funky like that for me.

-Mario Kart DS - Gold on all 50 CC and 100 CC races, though I've hit my limit on the 150. Cleared all missions except for that stupid 14 powerslide one.

-FFTA2 - Cleared "A Request", all jobs unlocked except for the specialty classes, 221 missions cleared.

[Pyro]

RSMS voice acting hype?

"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."
"My name is Claudia."

and then you get...
"Vampire mummies are on board please disembark in an orderly fashion."

ToV: Beat the loli twins optional fight, stole their weapons. I want to say they fail but they amuse me for some reason. Gathering up various things (like Altered Artes) for a potential replay. I finally got Estelle's immortality hax business, now to put it to the test!

[NotMiki]

"My name is Claudia."

"I am Albert, son of Rudolph, Lo~ord of the Isthmus"

[AndrewRogue]

DDS: Tiny Zebra Arms. They will haunt me forever.

World of Warcraft: Got access to a WotLK Beta account. Going to toy around with that. ^_^

Baldur's Gate: I feel the need to play that again. Debating what I want to do for a playthrough.

[DjinnAndTonic]

SaGa Frontier: Very slowly moving forward with Blue's chapter. Collected 2 runes and have about 400 party members (that I don't really need) with more on the way. Meiling is a very solid healer-gunner, probably MVP at the moment. T260G started out amazing, but now she's falling behind - how do I get her to do more damage?

I cannot seem to find an enemy that will give me the last skill I need to make Riki a Black Dragon. I've spent most of my time playing around in the BioLab as a result.

Blue's assholeness is pretty much the only thing the story has developed since the opening. Still wondering if there's no ending in this chapter?

Current party: Blue, Meiling, Riki (as Nidheg), T260G (7 Cybersuits), Dr. Nusakan
Taking up space in my character inventory: Lute, Thunder, Cotton, Annie, Liza, Roufas (The last 3 are actually good, but I've pretty much got the party I want for this chapter).

Niu: Do the games in the SaGa series relate to eachother in any kind of continuity?

-Djinn

[TranceHime]

Pokemon Platinum: What I am doing can be summed up like this:

[14:02:58] <EilaHime>   under 2 hours to get Staravia from L22 to L34 isn't bad at all
[14:03:14] <SageAcrin>   Grinding fun~
[14:03:21] <EilaHime>   Note I haven't fought Gardenia yet
[14:03:29] <SageAcrin>   ...
[14:03:33] <SageAcrin>   Trance?
[14:03:36] <SageAcrin>   That's called overkill.
[14:05:03] <SageAcrin>   ...overkilling Gen 4 is like beating a puppy for being a puppy. It's a waste of time and vaguely cruel.

(Team as of now: Staraptor/Monferno/Luxio/Budew/Onix)

[Niu]

Niu: Do the games in the SaGa series relate to eachother in any kind of continuity?

Nope, they do use some reoccuring themes though.

ToV: Beat the loli twins optional fight, stole their weapons. I want to say they fail but they amuse me for some reason. Gathering up various things (like Altered Artes) for a potential replay. I finally got Estelle's immortality hax business, now to put it to the test!

You should try Repede's version too.
As for Altered Artes, have Judy learn her stuff as soon as possible, they all have their own use in combo. And get Revive for Estelle, you'll probably need it if you want to fight Duke 3.
BTW, Altered Artes take 100 use to learn, Altered Spells take 50.

[Fudozukushi]

ToV: DHAOS BLAST!

NO USING ITEMS!

5000 P.ATK!

[Pyro]

Niu: I've seen some of Judy's UBAR!!! combos on Youtube, but I can't pull of anything like that myself. I just put all the alter skills on everyone and am going to see if the AI can't help me out a little here.

Gale Dog (Repde's invincibility in the US version) is indeed awesome. On a side note, any idea why the Meteorite Blade for Yuri increases his Magic by so much? That seems so pointlessly random.

[TranceHime]

Pokemon Platinum end of day report: End of the day, the day after Platinum's official release. I'm not doing too bad in preparing to be able to make the game my bitch for no apparent reason at all because I'm me and I love big numbers. Doing my training in Mt. Coronet, yeah.

Current team: Monferno/Staraptor/Onix/Budew/Luxio/Probopass

[PsySlaver]

Atelier Iris - Got the Water Mana (Nymph).

Is there any reason for using Mana healing on Lita? She is a complete beast with her grown wings so far, even without MP.

[Pyro]

Only if you need the MP. Which you don't. Because you can just attach Popo to her for MP regen. Enough to spam Drop Kick.

Yeah, Lita is a beast, indeed.