What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Lord Ephraim]

The Dam was my bitch.  I could beat it back when I was a kid and made it all the way to the airport level before giving up in disgust because the entire level was a maze full of deadly shit.

[Talaysen]

Mana Khemia - Forced bosses at night!

Stonewing Beast - HATE TEMPEST.  That is all.

Puni Brothers - PUNIS WITH 2HKO DAMAGE.  AND THERE'S THREE OF THEM.  WHAT.  At least their durability still sucks.

Undead Gang - Yawn.  Why do chain battles suck so much?

C6 boss - They killed two people, which is much more than I remember them doing last time...

[Hunter Sopko]

The Dam was my bitch.  I could beat it back when I was a kid and made it all the way to the airport level before giving up in disgust because the entire level was a maze full of deadly shit.

I also got to a point as a kid where I could beat it regularly, but I never got past the level after it.

[AAA]

That fucking level and the Turbo Tunnels were my childhood's worst enemy.

[superaielman]

The dam was easy. TMNT was managable for the first three levels. 4 was tough. 5 was a bit easier, 6 I only beat with heavy scroll abuse.

[Meeplelard]

Yeah, Dam was a bitch, but eventually got the hang of it and it became second nature.

Level 3 or 4, forget which, was the point I never got past without Game Genie.

[Ultradude]

PB. Chapter 3, Canary is awesome and has the greatest VA ever.

Anyways, second battle is the first one I've had trouble with. Enemies that level up every turn, never mind that they're already not exactly pushovers, and that protection is coming from... the exact opposite side of the map. So, I either get smooshed by the swarm at the start of the level and risk losing Marona there to get to the protection, or I take care of the early enemies, then have to face down multi-turning defense and damage gods later.

So, what should my levels be right now? Ash is like... 7, rest are 3-5, with Valkyries and such at the higher levels. Also might just need to make more phantoms, though ha ha money in PB since I suck and spend a lot on healing.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

SRW@2 - Back to this until I unlaze and print the Celestial/optional aeons FAQ. Stage 38 beaten, secrets get. Yay~

[Captain K.]

AH:  Finished getting the good ending with all characters, which unlocks the extra artwork.  Still need the bonus artwork for using each character 10 times.

Final thoughts on the game:  good stuff.  One of the things I like about it is that the ball is always in play - if you can reach your opponent, you can damage them.  A lot of games prevent you from hitting opponents when they're on the ground or flying across the screen.  I still haven't gotten the hang of homing, but that'll come when I spend more time in Training mode.

Characters:

Flonne (Heart):  The shoto scrub of the game, she's solid in close range.  Combos well.

Generic girl (Saki):  Boring character design, but the computer's pretty evil with her.

Emo Swordgirl (Kamui):  Huge range with her normals.  Crappy specials.

Puppy Ninja (Konoha):  SO KAWAII!!!  One of the few teleporting characters in games where the teleportation is useful.

Slime Knight (Kira):  Zangief wishes he was this good.  Slow, but you can compensate for her lack of range with Arcana choice.

Sexbot (Mei-Fang):  Another close-range expert with an annoying clanging noise when she blocks.

Etna (Lilica):  Hard to get the move you want because you have to spam them pretty fast to combo.  Of course, if you don't know what you're doing, then neither does your opponent!

Hermione (Yoriko):  Awesome character design.  She's the character I want to learn really well.  Good positioning game.

Reimu Family (Maori):  Total positioning master.  Damage is kind of weak though.

Loligoth (Liesolette):  Really good.  Has evil combos.

Lil Arngrim (Fiona):  Too much recovery time.  Damage is scary on a good combo though.

BOOBIES! (Mildred):  Both very cheap and very easy.  Apparently has never learned the concept of the low attack.

[Dunefar]

I downloaded the original TMNT for my Wii. Man, this game is weird compared to the 3475 TMNT games that followed it. Still, a nice change though.

The Dam (to which I subconsciously added an N to the end of) reminds me of why I stopped playing this game as a kid, though. Fuck the dam.

Oh c'mon. TMNT 1 isn't that hard. I beat it into the ground on the console. Hell, I even managed single turtle playthroughs. Wimps. <_<

[Shale]

FFX International - Downloaded and started. Just about to leave Besaid, so it's standard FFX so far, except the FMVs skip for piracy-related reasons. Expert Sphere Grid looks interesting enough, once I start gaining levels.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

AT LEAST YOU CAN SKIP CUTSCENES.

*Whimpers at the prospect of cutscene hell in FFX replays.*

[Cmdr_King]

HA HA HA HA HA

[Meeplelard]

FF3DS: Decided to get back to this replay! Just beat Hein, in the middle of the dungeon with Kraken.

Luneth is a Knight.  Damage is starting to become ok since he got Royal Sword and Blood Sword, which are strong weapons to offset the lack of hits.  Arc is a Scholar, who is a boss slayer and secondary healer.  Refia is a Thief, cause you'd be psycho to NOT have a Thief if you are using a Scholar (also I do want to pick up Gungnir again for the hell of it.) Ingus is a Red Mage for general overall happy fun stuff.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Capcoming it up.

MMX4 - Beaten with no health upgrades/armour/e-tanks etc. Does Sigma ignore armour or something? His damage didn't seem much better without it if at all, in that I needed 5-6 hits to be killed. Still an excellent final boss and a barrel of fun, though. Double failed less with minimum health! General... not so much. I'm overdue for a Zero replay.


MMX2 - WHY DOES THIS GAME OWN ME? Yeah, unlike MMX1/4, I've never even beaten Sigma's first form without going past my standard 16 health. Even if I make it past him (I do have heart tanks, I am fudging things for now) I get shredded by Viral in seconds. Fuck Strike Chain. Logically I should be able to do better than this, since I've definitely fought X2's final sequence more than 1 or 4's (or 3's, hahaha). Just all three bosses are so good. ;_;

Also refought the maverick stages again. Actually beat them all, but loaded my previous file for endgame purposes because I didn't find Dash/Weapon this time, and didn't feel like hunting 'em down. CRYSTAL SNAIL CAN DIE. He's like Nitori if Nitori was made of fail instead of coolness. We get it, you can spin~ Now can you please leave your inept invincibility phase, please? Wheel Gator is actually better without weakness - harder but he doesn't take forever. Anyway, bustered all the bosses with minimum health, not hard at all. I'm better at wall-dash-jumping now so Morph Moth no longer kicks my ass, which brings the number of mavericks on the Sting Chameleon / Storm Owl / Magma Dragoon / Spark Mandrill level of competence, or even anywhere close, down to zero. Haha MMX2 mavericks.

At least the X-Hunter stage bosses, including Zero and Sigma, remain a lot of fun, though.

[Clear Tranquil]

I DARE Meep to use Aeris CT style!   Front row - Striking Staff/Umbrella/Powered up Princess Guard + armour w/th materia slots + Champion's Belt + Enemy skill + extra materia yellow/blue/purple materia only (no green/red) + all limits barring Great Gospel learned early + constant Fury status <_< Counter attacks are good w/th Princess Guard >_>

*is shot*

AI3 - Grand Phantasm!

I'm confused because this game decieved me into getting it because it had Pamela on the back of it <_< I met her at the library of the ancient castle. She *is* cute and awesme. I'm sure it isn't Mana Khamai now but it's keeping me entertained until that comes out over here (IF >_>) Reached the point of the Combat Exam quest. I'm also on the Great! Fish quest but I have to find a fishing rod first. Both Edge and Iris are L11 - Blade Level 3 and Alchemy L2.  I'm enjoying Alchemy so far, building my own supply of Healing Jars is win. I also managed to create several pieces of weapons and armour so far including the Fairy Clothes and Raven Cloak for Iris and a new weapon for Edge. I'm not sure what to focus on for Iris's armour - Fairy Clothes gives a boost to magic, m-def and def whilst Raven Cloak boosts speed, m-def and def.  So far I've been concentrating on more and more NUKE power with her overall equipment set up but in the long run what's the best way to go with her - more magic power or speed?

I went back to the library to visit Pamela 'cause I'm weird like that >_>

Thanks for the Heart review Captain K.

[Sierra]

AT: Went to Singing Hill and got the McGuffin. Boss there is the first fight in the game where there's incentive to do something other than charge for two turns and then smash. Shock! Nulling magic will do that for you. So yes, learned the value in the element-buffering spells. The damage you gain doesn't offset that lost by the Reyvateil not being on offense, but I guess it's an option if the game ever throws another curveball at me. Anyway, plot stuff happened and it seems the villainous AI's evil plan is to turn the world of Ar Tonelico into an all-female utopia. I can dig that.

[Talaysen]

AI3 - Grand Phantasm!

I'm confused because this game decieved me into getting it because it had Pamela on the back of it <_< I met her at the library of the ancient castle. She *is* cute and awesme. I'm sure it isn't Mana Khamai now but it's keeping me entertained until that comes out over here (IF >_>) Reached the point of the Combat Exam quest. I'm also on the Great! Fish quest but I have to find a fishing rod first. Both Edge and Iris are L11 - Blade Level 3 and Alchemy L2.  I'm enjoying Alchemy so far, building my own supply of Healing Jars is win. I also managed to create several pieces of weapons and armour so far including the Fairy Clothes and Raven Cloak for Iris and a new weapon for Edge. I'm not sure what to focus on for Iris's armour - Fairy Clothes gives a boost to magic, m-def and def whilst Raven Cloak boosts speed, m-def and def.  So far I've been concentrating on more and more NUKE power with her overall equipment set up but in the long run what's the best way to go with her - more magic power or speed?

I went back to the library to visit Pamela 'cause I'm weird like that >_>

Go with the nukes.  Straight up attack (or magic) power is more effective than building defenses.  Though speed is helpful as well, since it allows getting Burst mode quicker, but offense boosting is generally better, unless the speed jump is larger.

[Niu]

SO2 SE- Harharhar, what a poor remake. Still playing only because of the VA, which isn't too bad. But ugh, there is really little change. Fine, getting rid of the ID bugs on bosses are nice, but there aren't much change in the way you beat them.

[Grefter]

Elemental spells are a cheap way to build up the charge gauge thing.  Getting items from bosses > killing them quickly with Reyvateil offensive.  Plus you do damage more efficiently by having the gauge filled out.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Working on Brig still. Started alternating between a Leonia and Iscalio game, just for kicks. Dryst is so amazingly cool. Why don't we see more characters like him in RPGs?

Leonia's love story is vaguely amusing. Lyonesse is pretty fun to use, I've been blitzing everything with Holy Word. Kiloph is a fun tank, even at lower levels.

I've actually convinced two friends to start playing the game, too, so I've watched my buddy start up a Norgard game. Wow, Vaynard's a dork.

Still haven't done anything with Caerleon, but Cai seems cool. Expect to see nom hype for these characters from me now. What have you all done? Like I didn't like obscure games enough as it was...

-Djinn

[Nitori]

DQ4DS: I got into Chapter 5 or something. Yay, the meat of DRAGON QUEST PLOT~

[Meeplelard]

FF7: Tifa is now Akane, for the irony factor (CK's fault again), and Aeris is now Spoilers, for pretty obvious reasons!

Anyway, Train Graveyard! This has to be my slowest FF7 playthrough ever, as typically, I'm at the Pillar at least by now, if not Shinra Tower.

FF3DS: Kraken has been rightfully 2 turned.  The Power of Scholars is strong!*

*When they're tossing Bomb Arms that Thieves have been hording for them.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

FO2- Went in to the Military Base. Got all the way to Melchior. He managed to surround me with four deathclaws, while I continued to blast him in the eyes. Marcus decided to pull out his Bozar and kill all four of them. I was fine; apparently their corpses shielded me from the bullets. Vic was not so lucky. See you later, Vic. I sort of replaced you with a Super Tool Kit anyway.

He was kind of getting on my nerves, getting in his little bitch-fit of a mood and deciding I needed to buy his fat ass a hooker back in Reno.

Game's almost done, though. Probably just gonna do some mop-up quests in Reno and NCR, then finish off Frisco and take out the Enclave. I wish I could stand to play as a melee character, but that's for stupid tribals.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

FFX - whee anima.