Author Topic: What Games Are You Playing: 2008 (Read 478343 times)

metroid composite · « **Reply #1300 on:** April 06, 2008, 06:24:24 PM »

WAXF

At 1-12 or so. So far the only enemy to really kill me for reasons other than "puzzle battle" was the high levelled sacred slayer with 600 Res and hard status. I had a plan for damaging him (Sacrifice followed by mysticed berry), however that didn't pan out. I checked all abilities for defence ignoring, but didn't think to look at equiment, so missed my chance to bring in a Lancer. Eventually on my third or so try I just ran away and waited for his VP to deplete...then waited for him to waste his remaining MP on self-healing, then dealt the remaining 1 damage with a physical attack.

New classes: Sacred Slayer is awesome; AoE+1 when all spells have been singletarget is just mind-blowingly good. I hate geomancer, just because lots of battles have no elemental hexes at all; which is too bad really since I really want a good move-boosting class, and use Labyrithia's warp spell constantly. Excavator renders Tony kinda useless (now a human has move 5 jump 5; bye Tony). Lancer's alright, for all that I hadn't been thinking to myself "I want tanky people who lose VP even faster". In the mean time, I'm looking back at Fantastica and realizing that it has a Gained JP Up equivalent; wow, I already considered it the best of the tier-1 classes (Rush is superb). Granted, Gadgeteer is also superb on paper, I just have a tendency to be stingy with items when I can.

Pyro · « **Reply #1301 on:** April 06, 2008, 06:25:30 PM »

Mana Khemia: Going well so far. Its entertaining enough, if shallow on plot. It brings back relatively fun item synthesis, even though I still miss the Veola and Blair-styled scenes for each individual IC.

Battle system rocks face, and map->battle flow is near seamless. Definitely good. I just got Pamela and BLAZING JUSTICE so it should start to be more fun. The bosses thus far have been more along the lines of Atelier Iris 1 for difficulty, which is to say you can actually lose if you screw up. Regardless, the game is definitely an improvement over AI3. If only for the gals having some bloody modesty.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #1302 on:** April 06, 2008, 08:34:02 PM »

Vandal Hearts- Not so bad, on the fourth mission. (Woo progress!). Seems pretty good for an old school game. Better than Suikoden 1 at least, so far.

Wild Arms XF- Through 1-11. I thought the puzzle stages were awesome, actually.

Xeroma · « **Reply #1303 on:** April 06, 2008, 09:28:20 PM »

Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7: Finished.

Overall pretty good, WAY better than the previous FF7 spinoffs by an order of magnitude. The gameplay was inoffensive, actually had some cool ideas, Materia works a lot better in a solo character game than it does in a full-on RPG and the little slot machine thing worked out way better than it sounded. It also had the occasional okay boss[might switch the game to hard mode and see if it gets more fun or just stupid].

Plot was better than I expected, partly because it didn't retcon the hell out of much of anything like other spinoffs did, but it's still FF7 at heart in terms of flaws, though I guess you could call that a point in its favor.

Characters were definitely a higher point than I expected, and I'd be willing to say I liked the cast more than FF7's. Most importantly, Zack is very likable. Tidus minus all the whining and bitching and laughing scenes. Works very well, and he interacts great with the other cast members. The only gripe here I have is that they make Sephiroth's betrayal stuff a lot less... realistic. He's really level headed and nice before that, so it just feels way too sudden and forced :/. The other characters[particularly Angeal] filled their roles very well too.

Music was decent, not great stand-alone but it almost always fits the mood of the game, which is nice. Some of the remixes of older songs are pretty good, though.

Graphics are very impressive for a handheld, and are a definite standout. They went all out on the style, and it's better for it.

The only real beef I have with the game is lack of sceneskip, but fortunately the game is only like 15~ hours tops anyways, so it's not nearly as bad as it could be.

But yeah, easy 8/10 for me, I really enjoyed it and might replay it sometime in the future[NG+ and lots of extra missions left].

Ryogo · « **Reply #1304 on:** April 06, 2008, 11:33:43 PM »

I went to the local flea market today, and saw a copy of Suikoden 3 for sale for 40 bucks, manual, case, and all. Needless to say, considering all the preaching I've heard from you guys, I grabbed it. I'm also now officially broke! Whooo!

The game seems a heck of a lot different from Suikoden 4, but in a good way. I'm just having trouble figuring out the battle systems and such. I started off by doing Chris' first chapter; hopefully this game goes well and is a load of fun like I've heard.

Cotigo · « **Reply #1305 on:** April 07, 2008, 12:47:00 AM »

Recommendation: Do the chapters in roughly this order: (1)Hugo-Chris-Geddoe-Thomas-(2)Chris-Hugo-Geddoe-Thomas-(3)Geddoe-Hugo-Chris-FC. It's the order that makes the most sense plotwise. I might be wrong about Thomas 2, though, you might want to do that after Chris 3. Don't remember.

SotC:

Beaten. Awesome, awesome game. The final colossus was an intense fight; probably wouldn't have beaten it if I hadn't seen parts of it done before (namely firing the arrow at his shoulder). Second to last one was a good fight, too, if a little counterintuitive sometimes. Sky Dragon was awesome, so was the Lion. The last 5 or so stopped being really annoying (Sand snake and the water one after it were horrible.)

Might do the time trials, probably not.

Sierra · « **Reply #1306 on:** April 07, 2008, 02:08:03 AM »

Time trials mostly unlock items you have no reason to need if you can beat the colossi in the time specified. You probably could've guessed this, but yeah. Do 'em if you liked the game a lot (and since it earned two Awesomes, you obviously did), but don't expect more than gimmicky rewards (OHKO power, invisibility, exploding arrows that are hilariously lethal to you in the wrong circumstances) and bragging rights.

FM4: Finished Elsa 3. The lake battle there killed me once despite a really good start. Note to self: stay the fuck away from water. Reduced mobility and hovering enemies with missile launchers? You can guess what happened. Drew them onto dry land the second time and led a running battle to the south, nuked the machinegunners at range and ambushed the missileers with melee attackers (easier said than done since the computer's smart enough to have each unit focus on whoever's not strong to their attack style, but it worked). Needless to say, this battle finally taught me the virtue of actually paying attention to the enemy's armor type. >.> Gotta say, there's a helluva lot more detail to the battle system than the first couple hours of the game let on and it makes you exploit all of it to win. As I've noted before, I approve of this approach.

Now on Darril 3. The Caracas battle wasn't hard, exactly, but the rebel HQ had a measly 600 HP left by the end. Blasted choppers slipped across the river and started bombing it again while I was dealing with the foot soldiers in the streets. Stopped just after capturing Governor Diaz. Looks like time to fight the Russians again (or Zaftrans. Whatever. Is there any backstory relating to how one turned into the other?) Ivanovna is hilariously campy. An idiot, but an entertaining one (eh, I have a weakness for crazy women).

As an aside, I guess EP gain is tied to a PC's kill count? Renges got four times as much as anyone else did at the Caracas battle. Guess who shot down all the choppers?

superaielman · « **Reply #1307 on:** April 07, 2008, 02:10:52 AM »

Correct (about EP). And fuck if I know for sure, FM4's a bit of a gaiden in the main series's plot. FM5 is supposed to cover all four of the first games's in the timeline but it got no US release. That whore Niu never even played it.

Ryogo · « **Reply #1308 on:** April 07, 2008, 03:06:02 AM »

Cid, I don't know if you've done this yet (I dunno when it was) But Have you done a battle at Latona's Uncle's (?) harbour? I remember that battle has given me the most trouble out of all of them. That and the first fort siege with Elsa and crew. So many quicksaves, and then heal everyone fully. THen make a move again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Ultradude · « **Reply #1309 on:** April 07, 2008, 03:26:42 AM »

Phantom Brave - Picked this up for 15 bucks today. Did... the tutorials and the first real battle of the game. So all I can really say so far is that the battle system seems like it could be entertaining.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #1310 on:** April 07, 2008, 04:03:04 AM »

Taking a forced break away from my PS2 RPGs (Wild ARMs 4, Ar Tonelico, AI1/3), so I decided to try out the emulated copy of Brig I have sitting around on my computer. After the trials of figuring out which emulator would allow me to play as someone other than Iscalio (PSXeven, in case you were wondering), I started up a game on Easy as Lance.

The game doesn't feel immediately intuitive, as I pretty much ran straight into death twice in the first 'month'. I didn't actually die, but I lost a lot of my creatures, so I reset. On my third try, I finally took the time to plan a little more and now I've got a working strategy that primarily revolves around 'go after the leaders, kill the monsters as you go' with Lance's ridiculously powerful Salamander.

Finally picked up an FAQ on it to try to get Quest items and Knights.

Overall, the game is really fun, though the early stages seem pretty challenging. I imagine it gets easier instead of harder.

As far as generic blonde princely mains go, Lance isn't too bad, but all the (non-leader) characters seem pretty bland.

Dryst is pretty awesome, can't wait to play his scenario.

I wish Brig GE had gotten translated, it looks so shiny.

-Djinn

AAA · « **Reply #1311 on:** April 07, 2008, 04:11:58 AM »

Pick two people besides Lance that are good. That assholey prince guy and that mage chick are good examples. Build up their teams and put them all together. That is your primary attack team. Cultivate some more people to hold your borders and to serve as secondary attack teams. Then go beat the shit out of Norgard. Vaynard will die to Lance's Salamander without much trouble. Once you've conquered Norgard you should be off and rolling and can do the rest without much trouble.

Good monsters to get for border defense are centaurs, since they can snipe from a distance so you can off leaders quickly. Angels work well for healing. Otherwise just avoid wasting time with Ghouls and Scorpions, they're the worst units in the game by far.

superaielman · « **Reply #1312 on:** April 07, 2008, 04:18:15 AM »

Melegant and.. anyone pair up well with Lance. Honestly just pick who looks cool for the Lance team, as long as they have Power somewhere. (Power and breath attacks stack.)

Sierra · « **Reply #1313 on:** April 07, 2008, 04:27:08 AM »

Quote from: Ryogo on April 07, 2008, 03:06:02 AM

Cid, I don't know if you've done this yet (I dunno when it was) But Have you done a battle at Latona's Uncle's (?) harbour? I remember that battle has given me the most trouble out of all of them. That and the first fort siege with Elsa and crew. So many quicksaves, and then heal everyone fully. THen make a move again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

No to the first battle, yes to the orher one. Elsa and company versus Wagner was pretty hardcore, if in part for highlighting everything I was doing wrong with the game.

Grefter · « **Reply #1314 on:** April 07, 2008, 09:30:25 AM »

WoW - I got flagged for PVP for oooh the second or third time in my 6 months or so of play now? Closer side of a year now that I think about it. I got so pissed off I can't even play the game for the rest of the night. Let me put some perspective on this. PVP is the part of a bad game that I consider like putting your dick in a wasps nest. I had someone stuff the wasps nest down my pants for me by standing on top of a quest giver flagged for it, so I slipped one pixel and clicked them instead. I go fucking berserk. I CANNOT stand this part of the game. I consider it utter tripe the lowest of the low. The absolute epitomy of the biggest fucking waste of time that could ever be conceived being coupled with sitting on a pike. Like if you were Rappunzel forced to spin wool like that bitch who turned it into gold while being Judas from Dante's Inferno.

Edit - Actually I am just going to stop posting on the forums for the night as well. I had to hold back from saying some overly harsh kicks at people who didn't quite deserve it enough (Super, so you know it was a low blow for him not to deserve it). This shit really gets to me and makes me not safe for human consumption.

With that having happened everything else I hate about the game is just untolerable by association. So I am going to be playing some more GTA today.

San Andreas - Forgot to say I was replaying this I think. It is still pretty good, third time playing it I think? Yeah that is impressive enough. The rhythm mini games need to die for being so monotonous (HAHAHHAHAA IRONY IS LAST PARAGRAPH), but meh, pay offs are worth it for get out of jail and hostpital free.

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #1315 on:** April 07, 2008, 12:38:58 PM »

That was ... quite graphic Grefter. Well described ;p

**

I like outgoing characters >_>

Anyway Aeris did shut up. She put her feelings aside to go help the Planet whilst Tifa is the one that remains virtually stuck to Cloud's side limpet like ;p Both of them were nice but only to those that deserved it. Aerith scammed the Wall Market pervs with crazy prices for her flowers and wouldn't or even try to heal Tseng whilst Tifa basically told Red XII to stfu once. Of course neither of them were nice to Sephiroth. From what I've seen of Crisis Core videos Aeris seems a lot more quieter and more ... meek, hanging her head and hiding her face and whatnot. I saw this scene where I was quite impressed with the VA but then Aerith gasped (the gasp was good >_>) and said a rushed "I'm sorry" ala Yuna style <_< Don't go down that road Aerith please bleh.

Suikoden V - Money farming. Using a Norma (Pot finder, Killer (Treasure Hunter), Lorelai (Treasure Hunter), Zweig team for the purpose. Egbert and Babbage in the entourage. Prince and Lyon are just there to fill up the holes in my battle team. Prosperity equipment spread among everyone, prosperity rings equipped on all.

superaielman · « **Reply #1316 on:** April 07, 2008, 05:46:46 PM »

Haha you're getting soft minion.

And the hard battles on Elsa's path.. yeah, the castle battle (Wagner1) was a bitch, don't remember the harbor being that hard. The first battle you get Beck for is also fairly tough.

Grefter · « **Reply #1317 on:** April 07, 2008, 10:13:49 PM »

Castle was probably one of the best fights I did in the game. It is a really cool map and the one I enjoyed replaying the most in the sims.

Nitori · « **Reply #1318 on:** April 08, 2008, 03:09:36 AM »

Luminous Arc: C24, apparently one battle from the end. Yay, the times of far better FFTA clone with far worse lag is coming to an end~. Also, Snow is Priel since he is a valley girl~.

Ryogo · « **Reply #1319 on:** April 08, 2008, 04:47:19 AM »

Suikoden 3: ^*&^$(*#&^(*$^()^(^(*^$(*#^(!!!

I beat the first chapters of everyone except Thomas. I got to the point where I had to get people to come to the castle, and ventured out. Alone. That's right, fighting every monster on the Grasslands with Thomas by himself. Every last potch was spent on potions and weapon upgrades, until I got lucky enough to flee to Brass Castle and pick up some armour. I then ventured into the fields and spent a good few hours killing the few groups of FurrFlys I ran into. After that, I slowly moved my way to groups of two or less rabbits, and made it across to duck village and such. Finally got a number of the characters, but they went on a head of me to the town. I was so ticked! Why wouldn't they join my party!! I headed back to the Lizard clan and Duck Village to do some trading runs, made more money so I could upgrade my weapons to the max it would let me, and buy up my armour. Time taken? From supper time until about midnight tonight. I headed back to Thomas' Castle, and the plot progressed! Finally! After like, 6 hours of playing!

Then as the next part of his chapter started, I had a brainstorm, and remembered seeing the party member option in Geddoe's chapter when I got there. I COULD HAVE ADDED SOME STUPID PARTY MEMBER'S TO ME TEAM!!!!111one!

I didn't realize that I could go swap people in at the stupid inn place... It started me with no party members, and its never let me do anything that before then. How the hell was I supposed to know that!! So much time and effort of my life wasted...

Suikoden 3, I really f***ing hate you.

I'll be back tomorrow for more of you, my sweet love.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #1320 on:** April 08, 2008, 04:57:44 AM »

Quote from: Ryogo on April 08, 2008, 04:47:19 AM

Suikoden 3: ^*&^$(*#&^(*$^()^(^(*^$(*#^(!!!

I beat the first chapters of everyone except Thomas. I got to the point where I had to get people to come to the castle, and ventured out. Alone. That's right, fighting every monster on the Grasslands with Thomas by himself. Every last potch was spent on potions and weapon upgrades, until I got lucky enough to flee to Brass Castle and pick up some armour. I then ventured into the fields and spent a good few hours killing the few groups of FurrFlys I ran into. After that, I slowly moved my way to groups of two or less rabbits, and made it across to duck village and such. Finally got a number of the characters, but they went on a head of me to the town. I was so ticked! Why wouldn't they join my party!! I headed back to the Lizard clan and Duck Village to do some trading runs, made more money so I could upgrade my weapons to the max it would let me, and buy up my armour. Time taken? From supper time until about midnight tonight. I headed back to Thomas' Castle, and the plot progressed! Finally! After like, 6 hours of playing!

Then as the next part of his chapter started, I had a brainstorm, and remembered seeing the party member option in Geddoe's chapter when I got there. I COULD HAVE ADDED SOME STUPID PARTY MEMBER'S TO ME TEAM!!!!111one!

I didn't realize that I could go swap people in at the stupid inn place... It started me with no party members, and its never let me do anything that before then. How the hell was I supposed to know that!! So much time and effort of my life wasted...

Suikoden 3, I really f***ing hate you.

I'll be back tomorrow for more of you, my sweet love.

No one to blame but yourself. There's a thing called the manual, which we read to find out how to play the game. I thought this was going to be a story of playing for a long time without saving, but I was disappointed.

On the other hand, Thomas for Godlike hype is a go.

Meeplelard · « **Reply #1321 on:** April 08, 2008, 07:05:08 AM »

AI: ALMOST DONE WITH THE GAME YES!!! BWAHAHAHAHAH!

*ahem*

Just finished the KAVOC IS UNDER ATTACK! sequence. At least we're done with fetchquests.

Crisis Core: GOD HIMSELF HAS FALLEN!

...and by God, I mean Guard Scorpion <_< >_>

Sierra · « **Reply #1322 on:** April 08, 2008, 07:16:22 AM »

Wait, what? People read game manuals now?

---

FM4: Holy crap, I just spent six hours on this? I thought it was like 10PM or something. Note to self: get clock for living room.

Anyway, beat the last Caracas battle...with no casualties. Fuck yeah. Then got Thammond, who seems pretty damn badass.

Elsa side, did the harbor battle. Getting swarmed at the end was the ick, but no one died. Did some of the sim missions to build cash, laughed at the puny earlygame enemies getting one-shotted by Zead's absolutely sick eight-rocket-launcher, and then it was time for ~~Megaweapon~~ Megafloat. Ewww, grenadiers and bazooka snipers. Man, if the computer had just rushed me from the start, I wouldn't have had a chance. The grenadiers hung back until late in the fight, though, so I was able control the fight pretty well by just holing up on top of the ramp.

Gah, I need to set this aside for a couple days. Distracting me too much from other stuff.

Dhyerwolf · « **Reply #1323 on:** April 08, 2008, 07:53:36 AM »

Disgaea 2- Beat Chapter 3. Beauty queen is still made of win. For the rest...we'll see.

Grefter · « **Reply #1324 on:** April 08, 2008, 08:51:29 AM »

I read game manuals to continue to disappoint myself with their low quality and to disappoint myself that I am not missing out on anything by pirating the games that I do.

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Author Topic: What Games Are You Playing: 2008 (Read 478343 times)

Pyro