What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Twilkitri]

See, this is exactly why I can't trust my memory as far as I can throw it.

[Taishyr]

P3FES: Past the third moon. Hehe, Akihiko/Junpei. Damnit, Junpei angst. Ah well, he got over it.

Justice at 10, Tower/Devil/Hierophant/Chariot all above 7.

FFTA2: Working on stat topic. Human Fighter is done!!!!11

[DjinnAndTonic]

Is Endless Frontier another imported crossover game?

Currently playing: Jump Ultimate Stars (because I hate myself), another "imported" crossover game.

-Djinn

[superaielman]

Dr Mario: Found SNES. Played. Love the game. Mmm, shiny.

[Xeroma]

it's a DS game made by a team of the SRW guys and Monolith, djinn. Has NxC's mains, KOS-MOS, and a bunch of SRW-related new chars in a mishmash of classic RPG stuff and NxC-style ARPG combat.

[Captain K.]

Irregardless

I officially hate you for the next twenty-four hours.

Oh please, don't tell me you're one of those whiny bitches who throw a fit every time someone says "irregardless".  Regardless (or irregardless) of whether you like the word or not, it's in the fucking dictionary.

Back to topicality, I did end up getting a P4 artbook by asking nicely at a different Gamestop.  Looked through it despite the spoilers.  Niu has been a naughty spoiler indeed.  "Hey baby."

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yep, it's in the dictionary. Though...

Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

... an entry that just tells you not to use the word hardly counts. <.<

[AAA]

Irregardless, nobody gives a shit you whiny little babies

[Sierra]

ES: It's official, Count Waltz sucks hard enough to rupture the space-time continuum. Yeah, end of chapter six/start of chapter seven scenes were several varieties of epic fail. Could see most of it coming, but still, "what." at the cast in general there. No, Jazz, there's no reason to finish off the villain while you've got him at your mercy. I mean, it's not like it's something you've been working towards for years, and it's not like he's proven himself to be totally untrustworthy, vicious, and megalomaniacal every time he opens his mouth--NO SERIOUSLY STAB HIM IN THE FACE WITH THE TRUMPET-SWORD UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO STAB NO DON'T STAND THERE WATCHING LIKE A MOOK WHILE WALTZ TELLS HIS HENCHMAN TO DRINK THE SUPER ULTIMATE MEGA POWER POTION WHAT THE FUCK JAZZ ARGH.

Granted, Crescendo gets the ultimate golf clap of condescension for starting that scene in the first place. Sure, surrending yourself to the guy who wants to take over your country will totally convince him not to invade your country. He couldn't possibly, you know, take advantage of your mysterious disappearance to conquer your country even more easily while people are wondering why the fuck there's suddenly a power vacuum. No way.

Anyway, in endgameland now. And...I get Crescendo and Serenade back? Yay, I guess. Probably doesn't do anything to change the standard boss-fighting party from Falsetto/Viola/Chopin. Stomped the Xylophone Tower boss, bought all the goodies I could afford from the Shopkeeper at the End of the World, and will probably finish this next time I play it.

[Niu]

Remember to lose to final boss, El, you get to see something that is PS3 only.

Back to topicality, I did end up getting a P4 artbook by asking nicely at a different Gamestop.  Looked through it despite the spoilers.  Niu has been a naughty spoiler indeed.  "Hey baby."

Good to see you appreciate it.

[Lord Ephraim]

Finished Fallout 3.  Reached level 20 with over 7 quests remaining so either exp jumps up a lot endgame or I just pick way too many locks.  Overall, I found the open environment pretty fun and the game scales pretty well with your levels.  Game got too easy once the ammo stockpile grew and grew. I don't think I needed over 2000 rounds of 5.56 mm or 1200 microfusion cells.  Charon with the special power armor is invincible (He survived TWO mini-nukes) so I sort of took it easy once I reached the level cap.  Couple of issues though...

Was I suppose to blow up the Enclave HQ?  I had the proper speech and science checks but I missed a couple of items so I thought I could go back and grabbed them but every door didn't open.  I can't go back in and talk to the president either.  I ask this because no matter how fast I enter the code to activate the purifier, the thing blows up and I get the bad ending.  Am I supose to let the other person go inside to run the purifier?  If it helps, my character had Netural Karma.

The damn Head of State quest is bugged to hell.  Everytime I go to speak to the Slavers, they just attack without reason.  I kill them all and cleared the Lincion Memorael and collected all the artifacts but the quest page doesn't update at all.

Liberty Prime is Grefter.

[Ryogo]

Finished Fallout 3.  Reached level 20 with over 7 quests remaining so either exp jumps up a lot endgame or I just pick way too many locks.  Overall, I found the open environment pretty fun and the game scales pretty well with your levels.  Game got too easy once the ammo stockpile grew and grew. I don't think I needed over 2000 rounds of 5.56 mm or 1200 microfusion cells.  Charon with the special power armor is invincible (He survived TWO mini-nukes) so I sort of took it easy once I reached the level cap.  Couple of issues though...

Was I suppose to blow up the Enclave HQ?  I had the proper speech and science checks but I missed a couple of items so I thought I could go back and grabbed them but every door didn't open.  I can't go back in and talk to the president either.  I ask this because no matter how fast I enter the code to activate the purifier, the thing blows up and I get the bad ending.  Am I supose to let the other person go inside to run the purifier?  If it helps, my character had Netural Karma.

The damn Head of State quest is bugged to hell.  Everytime I go to speak to the Slavers, they just attack without reason.  I kill them all and cleared the Lincion Memorael and collected all the artifacts but the quest page doesn't update at all.

Liberty Prime is Grefter.

When I beat the game, I was only level 16, and had almost none of the side quests done. I was Good Karma, and had Fawkes as my ally. The Enclave HQ blew up for me, and I got the good ending. You are supposed to go inside yourself, although it really doesn't matter, the ending really doesn't change that much, except it calls you a pussy. Are you putting the canister into the purifier machine?

Also, I beat Head of State fine, with no problems. The slavers attack you if you try to go up the Memorial Steps, they're ordered to kill anyone who tries to go up there, but I could talk to them no problem without getting perforated with bullets and lasers. I don't know what could've happened. It sounds like my Fallout 2 game though, I can't get inside Vault City's vault because I need to get a part from the storage. But when I go inside, the supervisor goes apeshit and attacks me for no reason, and even if I don't fight back, the guards come after me

[DjinnAndTonic]

ES: It's official, Count Waltz sucks hard enough to rupture the space-time continuum. Yeah, end of chapter six/start of chapter seven scenes were several varieties of epic fail. Could see most of it coming, but still, "what." at the cast in general there. No, Jazz, there's no reason to finish off the villain while you've got him at your mercy. I mean, it's not like it's something you've been working towards for years, and it's not like he's proven himself to be totally untrustworthy, vicious, and megalomaniacal every time he opens his mouth--NO SERIOUSLY STAB HIM IN THE FACE WITH THE TRUMPET-SWORD UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO STAB NO DON'T STAND THERE WATCHING LIKE A MOOK WHILE WALTZ TELLS HIS HENCHMAN TO DRINK THE SUPER ULTIMATE MEGA POWER POTION WHAT THE FUCK JAZZ ARGH.

Granted, Crescendo gets the ultimate golf clap of condescension for starting that scene in the first place. Sure, surrending yourself to the guy who wants to take over your country will totally convince him not to invade your country. He couldn't possibly, you know, take advantage of your mysterious disappearance to conquer your country even more easily while people are wondering why the fuck there's suddenly a power vacuum. No way.

Anyway, in endgameland now. And...I get Crescendo and Serenade back? Yay, I guess. Probably doesn't do anything to change the standard boss-fighting party from Falsetto/Viola/Chopin. Stomped the Xylophone Tower boss, bought all the goodies I could afford from the Shopkeeper at the End of the World, and will probably finish this next time I play it.

Ah, I see you've gotten to the part where It Gets Worse.

Your assessment of Jazz is one of the examples of 'stuff gets introduced then promptly forgotten about' that Eternal Sonata loves so much. Other examples include Polka's illness, Allegretto being a thief, the twins actually supposedly having a duty to guard their forest, Mineral Powder, those glowing things everyone was so concerned about, and Viola's existence after she makes her Bronze Medal comment, which ostensibly appeared to be introducing a new facet of her character, but apparently was meant to somehow -conclude- her utility as a character... bastards.

To be fair, I kind of liked the NPCs who populated the End of the World-land. They had relatively amusing little dramas going on in their incorporeal lives.

Also, there were a -few- things that they DON'T forget about... Polka's MOM! ...and uh... well, Chopin brings up the fact that It's All Just A Dream-Or Maybe Not?

I would label that a spoiler if there was anything to spoil. Well, I suppose it's spoiling the fact that NOTHING IS EVER EXPLAINED.

Honestly, it doesn't sound like anything's changed at all between the 360 and PS3 versions except that Crescendo and Serenade are still playable.

-Djinn

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Liberty Prime is the RPG character of the decade

Fucking FIX'D.

[AndrewRogue]

P4: Got it on Tuesday. Played it some yesterday and all day today instead of studying. Was a little iffy on it at first, but the game hit its stride pretty quick. Characters seem more solid, as do their relationships. Battle system changes took some getting used to, but full party control = awesome. General aesthetics are pretty sexy. The game approach (random kids thrown in strange situation) is a nice contrast against P3 (kids equipped and prepared for this). Game also tends to cunningly address my complaints/comments whenever I mention them during dialogue.

Good times.

[Rozalia]

BvS - Got a large amount of monster drops, I now have 8. Currently Rune hunting and I have the best shades and a fox rune. I still need one more colbolt shaft though, anyone got some spare ash covered shafts they can send me?

Edit: Just got a spare fox rune. I will trade it for a lightning rune.

[Ryogo]

Liberty Prime is the RPG character of the decade

Fucking FIX'D.

Quoted for the god damned truth!

COMMUNISM IS A LIE.

[Sierra]

To be fair, I kind of liked the NPCs who populated the End of the World-land. They had relatively amusing little dramas going on in their incorporeal lives.

Yeah, I actually did like that. First time in a long while that I actually bothered to talk to NPCs.

And by this point, dropping plot threads isn't as egregious as having characters arbitrarily be stupid just the game could have a seventh chapter and an obligatory A God Am I finale.

[Xeroma]

Street Fighter II HD Remix - Still awesome. And now I have a special story for you all.

Tonight I got to face Seth Killian, former top SF tournament player and now Capcom's "community manager". Basically he's the best PR in the world, along with a few other people on Capcom's official community site. He helped test/design this game, and he is a really freaking awesome guy. And in spite of all the experience he has over me, I managed to get one win on him. ^___^

I think I'm finally feeling progress in fighters.

Tekken 5 DR - It's... Tekken. Love it or hate it as usual.

Tekken 6 - Played at the arcade. It's... Tekken! With a mechanic that makes matches less make-it or break-it[low life damage booster]. Still, love it or hate it. I find that I now feel somewhere in the middle though.

Fallout 3 - I feel hopelessly lost and confused playing this, more than any PCRPG I've played. :<

ToV - Need to get back to this, up to Part 2 and I am in a coliseum town after some dude took my BOX.

That about covers my recent playlist I think.

[Meeplelard]

FF9: Completed! Once I got to Terra, I said "Fuck it" to Side Quests that weren't readily doable (like Ultima Weapon or Excalibur; two things I could get easily and such), and just beat the game.

As I suspected, Zidane twinked properly is pretty damn good in game.  He'd lag a bit in Ipsen's Castle since everyone but him gets a weapon upgrade...except the nature of that dungeon makes those upgrades completely pointless, and he can get the Orihalcon right after anyway (if not from the boss, then on Planet Terra itself.)  Ultima Weapon lets him pump out over 9000 damage consistantly, if you equip MP Attack, and Bird Killer (gets like every boss, and a few other enemies like Ahriman), Man Eater (gets Iron Men), and...either Devil or Beast, can't remember.

Final team was Zidane, Steiner and both White Mages.  White Mages were basically "Yeah, they have damage and healing and resurrection; only flaw is Eiko's HP" (Garnet's HP is better enough that it doesn't feel like a flaw; there were times Eiko got 1-2HKOed when Garnet wouldn't have), Steiner was mostly cause while I lacked Ragnarok for Shock...I ended up not caring.  Twinked like Zidane gives him lots of damage right there (Though Excalibur << Ultima Weapon), and being Holy Elemental means it can be boosted in damage, meaning that suddenly he's dishing out damage similar to Zidane.  Kicker? Its a Knight Sword so it runs off Spirit partially, meaning the Rebirth Ring serves a dual purpose for it (Boosts Holy Damage *AND* gives +4 to Spirit, which is roughly equal boost you'd get from something like a Power Belt)  Bosses just sort of went splat.  Necron was hilarious cause Grand Cross did like jack shit to my team (Zidane and Garnet were unaffected (probably status resisted), Eiko was killed (...then Concentrate + Life = Hey look, she's back at like 70% Health, and Auto Regen does the rest of the work!), and Steiner hit with POIZN!), he didn't get off a single Neutron Ring.

Anyway, fun replay and such.

God of War: Started this up finally.  Just beat the Hydra.

Game is...more graphic than I expected, I can tell you that much.  Its also stylish, though battles don't feel quite as smooth as the DMC series.  Whatever, game should be decent enough the way its shaping up.

[DjinnAndTonic]

To be fair, I kind of liked the NPCs who populated the End of the World-land. They had relatively amusing little dramas going on in their incorporeal lives.

Yeah, I actually did like that. First time in a long while that I actually bothered to talk to NPCs.

And by this point, dropping plot threads isn't as egregious as having characters arbitrarily be stupid just the game could have a seventh chapter and an obligatory A God Am I finale.

You're right, it ISN'T as egregious. But the fact that the game has multiple levels of egregious should say something about the quality of its plot.

SPOILERS!! (who cares?)
Also, I don't know why Polka sacrifices herself... I don't know what she thinks -her- life is so special for that it'll solve the problem, and more importantly, they never really tell you what said problem is... And then Chopin dies... Or Does He?

And not to mention the horrid abortion that is the "Friendly Environmentalist Message" we see throughout the credits...

-Djinn

[AndrewRogue]

Persona 4 -The Exploration of the Sexual Repression of Japan-: Son of a bitch. No easy dungeon escape method available to me (should have bought 'em up!) + rapidly upscaling enemies + no SP = Lost hour+ of gametime. First dungeon doesn't really prepare you for how long you go between saves/escape floors, and I must say, dodging enemies is much harder here than in Tartarus.

[Captain K.]

Yeah, similar experience here.  Hard game is hard.  At least in P3 they waited until the second block to start raping you.  This game punches you in the nuts from the beginning.

Beat Lacey Unmentionables, but I actually had to do some powerleveling/resupplying before I could do it.  Protip:  have Chie guard every turn.  Half of the boss's moves are only available on a double action after hitting Chie with Agi.

Now I'm in the way too many social links at the same time multitasking dilemma.

[hinode]

Dragon Quest 4: Reached the Royal Crypt, or whatever the Mod Rod is found at.

*kills one Metal Babble Slime out of 5 in first encounter, Happy Hat drops*

...

[Idun]

Yep, it's in the dictionary. Though...

Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

... an entry that just tells you not to use the word hardly counts. <.<

Heeey, my dictionary says: USAGE Irregardless, with its illogical negative prefix, is widely heard, perhaps arising under the influence of such perfectly correct forms as : irrespective. Irregardless is avoided by careful users of English. Use regardless to mean 'without regard or consideration for' or 'nevertheless': : I go walking every day regardless of season or weather.

It's not that big a deal though. Bootylicious is in the dictionary too.