What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Yakumo]

All the dragons showed up for me too, but dragons really aren't that hard.  Send a pirate unit with a Captive Voice item and the super bar full and they're goners.  Three Betrayals and the restriction and they're useless.  The spells do kinda suck, but you can work around it and the first turn you're getting hit with all of them no matter what, really.  Beating off Jackal and his Dullahan unit was frankly harder than the dragons were, but I've got nobody to blame for that but myself. <_<

[Rozalia]

I can never get hold of more then two pirates per game. Where the hell do you get those guys? The only one I constistantly get is Valen and thats because she is a set location.

Beating off Jackal and his Dullahan unit was frankly harder than the dragons were, but I've got nobody to blame for that but myself. <_<

Let me guess, you gave him troops and then had the task of testing his new forces out for him. Yeah that can be a bother.

[Hunter Sopko]

Yeah. Dragons aren't a pain when you know how to deal with them. Especially if you have a Jackal with King Hyoko Bugs beatstick.

[Rozalia]

I fail against them as I can never prepare well enough for the fight. Nightly and Jackel can still solo all the dragons in 1 on 1 ights so it doesn't matter but its still a probem.
I have gotten better since my first match with the dragons though. The first time I faced a dragon I sent 5 of the commanders you get in chaptor three in and they all got beaten down.

[superaielman]

Jackal can have troops?

[Rozalia]

Yeah he can. You have to use one of those unit changing items on him and then recruit the troops for him and bam, unbeatable more broken then usual Jackel.
I can't remember if you have to do it in battle or outside it though.

[Yakumo]

You can find unit change items by searching the star points, caves, and towers.  You equip them in your commander's item slot, and then use them in battle, and it changes the type of troops they have.  In Jackal's case, he'll switch from 'nothing' to whatever you gave him.  He'll still have zero until you recruit them, though.

The items will say something like "Unit Change -------", I forget exactly.  Not class change, those are something else.  And mostly useless because of the way you have to use them. >_>

Yeah, I gave him Dullahans not realizing that the only unit that was going to change sides was Gena herself.  That was a bunch of fun, let me tell you.  I already had Nightly, Jackal with Dullahans, then they got Klein and all the other awesome Dravanian units... yeah.  Love path is a bitch. >_>

[Niu]

You should have reload the game, set all your characters into one empty castle and put no one on duty right before the path split. Then immediately take over that castle after path split. You get everyone back just like that.

[Yakumo]

Uh, Niu.  Read what I said.  I didn't know what was going to happen when I picked that.  Also, are there actually any castles actually close enough to a Liberation Army starting unit for that to work?  I don't think so offhand, though I don't remember.  If they get even one turn, that plan backfires in a HUGE way. >_>

[Niu]

I know you didn't know, that is why I say reload instead of saying have been prepared before hand.
And yes, there is one town you can reach there in one turn, just you need a floating stone at hand.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

SC4. Decided to finish story mode with everyone in case it unlocks something. Near as I could tell, it did not. But I did get three new achievements while doing that, as well as a bunch of gold, so it wasn't a total loss.

The bonus characters, who were all drawn by some manga dudes I've never heard of, all suck. You know how the SC2 bonus characters, like the Berserker and Assassin, had their own move sets? Yeah, this time they don't. In addition, they look godawful in the game engine. The one that's a robot or something is the worst character in the game for the simple reason they gave her Astaroth's moveset with half the range.

[Random Consonant]

Planescape: Torment - Did I just do an idiotic quest to help a building give birth to a street just to get to the other side of town?  Anyways, the sarcastic floating skull just got nabbed, so obviously, it's time for another fetch quest.  Joy. 

[Grefter]

I know, the quest is just so unoriginal, every other game has sentient portions of cities reproducing.  Wait what?

[Random Consonant]

I'm so, so, sorry for not showing proper admiration for something that deviates from normal RPG idiocy.  I had no idea I was supposed to gaze in awe at the utter genius of this game's idea of urban renewal.

Or maybe I'm just upset at losing that awesome skull and I'm taking it out on the building.

[Shale]

The bonus characters, who were all drawn by some manga dudes I've never heard of, all suck. You know how the SC2 bonus characters, like the Berserker and Assassin, had their own move sets? Yeah, this time they don't. In addition, they look godawful in the game engine. The one that's a robot or something is the worst character in the game for the simple reason they gave her Astaroth's moveset with half the range.

They just copy a moveset wholesale? That's...really damned lame. Hell, even the SC3 ones had the create-a-character movesets instead of ripping off a regular character. So that means the game really does have just the two new characters plus Star Wars people, and Algol is Necrid.2 from what I've seen. Way to go, Team Soul.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Algol is actually interesting to play, I have to say. He's weird as hell, and tough to learn, but fun nonetheless. But yeah, it's really like SC3.5 or something. Two new characters, Amy gets a real moveset (or should I say she steals most of Raphael's, who goes on to get a bunch of different moves) and they change shit around on existing characters.

I didn't have high hopes for the anime bullshit characters from the start, but when I played the first one, I realized how terrible it really was. Like I said, most of them look terrible, on top of that. I was almost satisfied to know that the extra sets of titties they added to the game ended up being just that, and nothing more.

[Ultradude]

... butbut, Astaroth's range is why the moveset works... there go my dreams of slaughtering multitudes with an ax-wielding robo-maid. Bah.

Actually have played SC4 briefly, and I do still like Mitsurugi, and Astaroth is pretty consistent from his previous iterations. Really not liking the skills aspect of the game a whole lot, though I could change my mind.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

G3 - Disc 2! And disc 2 is actually Grandia 2. GJ from my part for testing disc 1 but not disc 2. I'll call the game store tomorrow and switch.

Meanwhile...

NxC - Okay, so this -does- remind me of a SRW with a timed hits system. This makes the pacing of battles slower than I'd like, but I do enjoy the type of timed hits they employ here (based more on fighting game timing, even if loosely and leniently, than, say, Judgment Ring-style presses). I'm reading the script translation along the way, and it's -oddly well done- for such a fanservicey game. Plot is a barrel of monkeys (did you expect anything else?), but the interactions range from frighteningly in-character with actual script length to downright amusing. Touches like Lord Raptor's random crush on Hsien-Ko are kept intact, for an example, and actually expanded. Then, there are exchanges like this:

<Xiaomu> Lesse, we got Felicia of world-wide musical fame from "The World is Mine".
<Xiaomu> And the huge panther guy would be the pro wrestler King. The second, I take it.
<Xiaomu> That CWA title match with Mike "Macho" Haggar was something else.
<Reiji> What are you, an encyclopedia?
<Xiaomu> Don't underestimate me. I don't waste my study time.
<Reiji> ... studying late night TV, video games and manga, oh and the Internet too?
<KOS-MOS> I believe all those are generally classified as "entertainment".
<Xiaomu> Hey, every darn one of those wasn't around in the old days! Gimme a break!
<Reiji> Joy. Now all we need is some schoolgirl robot from outer space. Did I mention this is starting to suck?

The game clearly has its tongue firmly in cheek.

[Nitori]

Alter Code F: Gate Generator~! The general script translation has become mangled to the point where I really don't bother reading any dialogue except for Alhazad's since his seems to come out so awesomely blunt. (Also the only non-lame Metal Demon. Zeikfried belongs in SO3 with his laser aiming ability~, Boomerang's entire concept is dumb...well, the other two were okay.)

Gameplaywise? Gatling Raid.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

... butbut, Astaroth's range is why the moveset works... there go my dreams of slaughtering multitudes with an ax-wielding robo-maid. Bah.

Actually have played SC4 briefly, and I do still like Mitsurugi, and Astaroth is pretty consistent from his previous iterations. Really not liking the skills aspect of the game a whole lot, though I could change my mind.

The skills are actually pretty fun when you're doing the Tower of Lost Souls stuff, where you get stuff for meeting conditions, so you set up characters to achieve those goals, or when you're using them in multiplayer against a friend who has his own setup.

Against the AI in a standup fight, though, they are horribly broken. I spend most of my fights as Raph getting double-perfects because he gets back like 10% of the damage he does as health, does an extra 60% damage, takes 10% less damage from everything, and has a bar and a half of life. Also he randomly guard impacts shit when he's blocking, and uses his David Bowie sexitude to make women take extra damage from his precision strikes (which represent his... you know, never mind).

[Excal]

What follows Grandia 3?  Obviously, another 3 game.  This time, it's Shadow Hearts 3.  This game is ridiculously corny, with a plot that you can kinda sorta ignore, which puts it several grades higher than the previous game I played.  The characters are generally alright, though it's really Jingoistic in places.  Frank...  is generally awesome enough that I can forgive his failings, and his failings are much different than I had expected they would be.  Mao is decidedly awesome, and Roger Bacon, despite one of the best intros I've ever seen, is currently failing beyond words.  Of course, it really, really hurts him that the only other version of him I can compare him to at the moment is his Koudelka version.  Meanwhile, for the mains...  Johnny and Shania seem to both be vying for the role of straight man, and while Shania seems a bit better at it (Johnny goes for the over the top reaction a little too much), she just gets so little screen time and is such blatant fanservice that it's hard to actually take her seriously.

Regardless, just finished Roswell, and about to head to Mexico.

[Sierra]

MK: Chapter nine took a while. Boss there was actually kind of a threat! ...In that it was actually able to kill a PC. Of course, it was Pamela, so it didn't really matter. Still, that card-replacing gimmick is mean. Anyway, onwards to chapter ten. I presume there are twelve in all? Gameplaywise, grow book completion rate hovers around 85% and Pamela is now immune to physicals. Score.

And yes, Pyro, I saw the teddy scene.

HL: Keeps locking up. I got to the part just after reaching the surface where you have to descend a vertical shaft while the helicopter's shooting down at you, but the game always freezes when I enter the tunnel at the bottom. Is this a common problem someone might know a way around, or is this just my computer hating on me?

PST: Finally made it out of the Hive, just met Fall-from-Grace. Note to self: don't talk to any more Githyanki. Also, agreeing with Gref that helping a building give birth beats the hell out of "Oh no, the bridge is out" as far as silly ways to hold up the player's progress go. Sigil's so goshdarn weird.

[Talaysen]

MK: Chapter nine took a while. Boss there was actually kind of a threat! ...In that it was actually able to kill a PC. Of course, it was Pamela, so it didn't really matter. Still, that card-replacing gimmick is mean. Anyway, onwards to chapter ten. I presume there are twelve in all? Gameplaywise, grow book completion rate hovers around 85% and Pamela is now immune to physicals. Score.

Yeah, 12 chapters.

[Grefter]

I'm so, so, sorry for not showing proper admiration for something that deviates from normal RPG idiocy.  I had no idea I was supposed to gaze in awe at the utter genius of this game's idea of urban renewal.

Or maybe I'm just upset at losing that awesome skull and I'm taking it out on the building.

Admiration is not required, a nod to something for not being OH MY GOD EVIL GUY IS DOING EVIL THING I HAD BETTER GIVE MY BRAINWASHED FRIEND THE CRYSTAL AND DOOM THE WORLD is a matter of some form though.  It is a lot of things, stupid is really not one of them.  The resolution to the Morte quest is even on the non-standard side of things.

[Random Consonant]

Admiration is not required, a nod to something for not being OH MY GOD EVIL GUY IS DOING EVIL THING I HAD BETTER GIVE MY BRAINWASHED FRIEND THE CRYSTAL AND DOOM THE WORLD is a matter of some form though.  It is a lot of things, stupid is really not one of them.  The resolution to the Morte quest is even on the non-standard side of things.

I suppose I'm just not that fond of the idea of having to run around playing midwife to anything in order to progress the story, regardless of whether the thing giving birth is a person or a building.  The fact that it's different goes without saying, the fact that it adds to setting in its own special way goes without saying, but it doesn't make having to help it happen any less annoying, and if that's where you and I happen to disagree, fine.  Believe it or not, I actually have been enjoying the game, however, that and Morte's abduction just seemed to strike me as a relatively low point.

I agree with what you said about getting back Morte, though.