What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Sierra]

Disgaea 3: Beryl and associated cronies recruited, along with 1x trigger-happy princess.

Argh, accrued mana resets to zero when you reincarnate just like it did in Disgaea 1. >.< Stupid N1. This might not have been so heinous if it weren't for the fact that skills are purchased and levelled up with mana now instead of learned via a proficiency system. Naturally, this leaves little left over for getting stuff done with this game's version of the Dark Congress. Granted, the game's getting curbstomped pretty thoroughly anyways. So it's the usual Disgaea have-fun-with-a-couple-damage-techs-the-whole-game thing and slightly more resource management. Whee.

[Niu]

along with 1x trigger-happy princess.

Ugh Sapphire.... Dis3 would be yaoi happy if wasn't because of her.

[Random Consonant]

Mazes of Fate - Underground Temple clear.  Good lord the dungeons are long and not fun.  Also MAZES OF FATE PLOT rears its ugly head (omg the gods are evil and are turning people into furries except for this one god that all the good natured and misunderstood rebels worship or something retarded like that who could have seen this coming, unless the good natured and misunderstood rebels are actually the bad guys and are playing the main character like a second hand fiddle, I can't really tell at this point.  All I know is that I've wasted too many words talking about MAZES OF FATE PLOT).

Disgaea DS - Whee grinding.  Also, Enemy Boost x3 geopanels are uncool.

[Sierra]

along with 1x trigger-happy princess.

Ugh Sapphire.... Dis3 would be yaoi happy if wasn't because of her.

For which reason I rejoice at her presence.

[Meeplelard]

Magna Carta: ...I'm hour into this, that's all I'll say.  Yes, I am THAT curious to play this.

MM9: Beat all robot masters with the Buster only...except Magma Man who I chugged an E-Tank cause I'm doing a semi-speed run.  Got the Trusty Side Arm award as a result, which I guess is "kill every Robot Master with the Buster" or some such, so yay!

If its not obvious, found Magma Man the hardest.  Don't see what's hard about Tornado Man; just a case of not jumping and shooting unless you're positive you're safe, otherwise, just keep running left and right when he attacks.  Admittedly, he's harder than Hornet Man, Splash Woman and Galaxy Man...at very least.

[Talaysen]

along with 1x trigger-happy princess.

Ugh Sapphire.... Dis3 would be yaoi happy if wasn't because of her.

So Sapphire is the best character in the game?  I'll keep that in mind.

Mazes of Fate - Underground Temple clear.  Good lord the dungeons are long and not fun.  Also MAZES OF FATE PLOT rears its ugly head (omg the gods are evil and are turning people into furries except for this one god that all the good natured and misunderstood rebels worship or something retarded like that who could have seen this coming, unless the good natured and misunderstood rebels are actually the bad guys and are playing the main character like a second hand fiddle, I can't really tell at this point.  All I know is that I've wasted too many words talking about MAZES OF FATE PLOT).

You haven't even got to the FRUE PLOT TWIST yet.  Though you might've already figured it out already.

[Shale]

SRWZ: Forgot my memory card when I brought the game to a friend's to show it off, so rather than replay all of Rand's stages I did Setsuko's first nine. They're pretty fun when Gundam Seed isn't involved, and the big massive CE/UC/Zambot melee level is really good, if easy. Glory Star is a fun team, and Grendizer looked great for the few stages I had it. Zamboace fails.

On my own file, I'm midway through Stage 16 Gallia. Got the SR point after trying the third turn four times (damned Turn-A enemies kept attacking things that couldn't counter them to death. Jerks.), but couldn't stay awake through the Orguss section because it was 2 AM. Kei is ridiculous.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Legaia 2 - *MAYA learns GOSPEL!*

*MAYA uses GOSPEL!*

*SHARON and LANG use VARIABLE ART!*

*SIXTY-FUCKING-THOUSAND-DAMAGE.*

*It's super-effective! THUNDER IDOL fainted...*

Um, yeah,

[Random Consonant]

You haven't even got to the FRUE PLOT TWIST yet.  Though you might've already figured it out already.

The main character is Jesus or something?  I'm not sure if I'd be angry if that turned out to be the case or disappointed if it didn't.

Anyways!

Mazes of Fate: Epic bosses are epic.  Attack magic also stopped failing at life and is now just hideously expensive, which doesn't matter because I can waste time resting because I don't have to retreat like an idiot while trying to slowly kill things with bows!

[Anthony Edward Stark]

So the VtM: Bloodlines LP on the Something Awful forums have inspired me to replay that game. I feel compelled to play one of the Clans I haven't played before. Probably Tremere, just by virtue of the lack of competition. Only ones I haven't touched are Brujah, Tremere and Toreador. Since Brujah looks to be the most generic experience, and Toreador to be the Clan for effeminate goth weirdos, it's not a hard decision.

Honestly, though. Brujah: anything cool about them?

[Sierra]

along with 1x trigger-happy princess.

Ugh Sapphire.... Dis3 would be yaoi happy if wasn't because of her.

So Sapphire is the best character in the game?  I'll keep that in mind.

Personally, I find it hard to dislike a princess who describes herself as "an unstoppable killing machine."

Disgaea 3: Ahaha. Like any good nerd, Mao knows the Konami Code. Cute. Anyway, chapters five and six down. Stomped the sexy fascist girl a couple times and then encountered a Shocking Plot Twist. ...Which I was only kind of right about in advance. Phooey. I'm disappointed in myself for getting one detail wrong, but I guess not even N1 would go so far as to copy a previous game's plot note for note (...right?)

[Hunter Sopko]

Chaos Wars: Finished. An odd game. It's not bad, but it's not good. I actually enjoyed the system. Every time something cropped up that felt unbalanced, I'd figure out a way around it. It's a bit slow, but still enjoyable. Character-wise, Yuri remains fun. Hiro has bright spots. The originals are mostly eh aside from some really good scenes between Hyoma and Rin at the end. Yuri is a walking death tank, Alice too. Plot/story is pretty standard crossover stuff with no glaring problems other than just being boring.

The final battle was a damn slugfest. 40k HP goes sloooow. Thank god paralysis and poison work so well. Took Hyoma, Yuri, Alice, Hiro and Okita to the fight.

The game also made me redefine my middle quality of games. Some more changes may come in the future, check the Ratings topic for details.

[metroid composite]

Imperishable Night.

Zuh?

On the laptop on which I was playing over the break and where I first unlocked extra, you start with 2 lives.  On the youtube videos I've seen, you start with 2 lives.  On my home computer, you start with 6 lives (and this was installed from the same disc as the laptop).  I'm really confused.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

You can adjust the starting lives in the options menu, and you can put it up to six stock lives. >_> Also, good chance that the config file in that disc has it set to six lives.

[Random Consonant]

Mazes of Fate GBA: Beaten.  At least the game was easy and short *shrug*.  Probably a 2/10.  This sort of game simply doesn't work on a handheld.

Also, if there was a FRUE PLOT TWIST, I must have missed it.

[Grefter]

Brujah is pretty much there for gameplay skip at the cost of social skills.  Pretty much a lose combination unless you want to play the game like a beat 'em up

[Talaysen]

Mazes of Fate GBA: Beaten.  At least the game was easy and short *shrug*.  Probably a 2/10.  This sort of game simply doesn't work on a handheld.

Fanboy.  Now go play the DS version or something.  (Don't.)

Also, if there was a FRUE PLOT TWIST, I must have missed it.

Well, MAZES OF FATE PLOT.  You probably just didn't realize it was supposed to be a plot twist.  That or I'm misremembering things.  Both are possible.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Brujah is pretty much there for gameplay skip at the cost of social skills.  Pretty much a lose combination unless you want to play the game like a beat 'em up

I was worried about that. I thought MAYBE there might be some extra dialogues because Nines and Jack, along with most of the Anarchs, are Brujah. No such luck, I see.

Anyway, I stated playing ActRaiser. If Mike Haggar made a game, this is what it would be. You go around killing stuff as some kind of viking in a blue tabard (I make this assumption due to the helmet, though I suppose the sword muddles that, but what do the Japanese game makers usually know about Western history?) and then after you off the boss, you play SimCity, except your bulldozer is a lightning bolt and you have to shoot arrows at bats that may or may not be Dracula.

So in summary: beat the shit out of things, then build a city. This is Haggar.

[Grefter]

Oh there might be a few extra nods here and there with Jack and Nines since the main plot is chock full of Brujah, but meh, the Anarchists care tons more about Camarilla affiliations plot wise than clan (gameplay wise no one gives a shit).

Blue Dragon - Everyone is Vegeta.  Kind of suprisingly playable.  Could use faster animations in combat (Or option to turn them off), but they are honestly not that over the top as a whole.  Not Suikoden fast, but they are probably overall better than your standard affair.  Game is stupidly easy so far, but meh it works.  Not as good as Enchanted Arms so far, but palatable enough, which is better than I expect from 360 RPGs (Fuck you again Eternal Sonata).

[Clear Tranquil]

SMT-Nocturne- Ikeburo Tunnel. Lost horribly a number of times to Klik-klik despite figuring out his weakness and adjusting my party/skills accordingly. Once he starts using Dragon Eye things just get brutal. I'm obviously underlevelled/underskilled at the moment. So I decided to start exploring moreof  the Labyrinth of Amala in the meantime instead. Pretty much explored all of the first Kappa, got the DeathStone. Also found the way to and accessed the Second Kappa.

Thanks to Tai's advice in chat the other day I now have more of an idea on how to build a skill set for my main. Since Tai told me to look in my Magatama menu and see which were wrigging my main has starting learning skills again >.> Again thanks to Tai and also Snow I've discovered just how much effective magical attacks are compared to physicals, since taking their advice and using magic more I'm discovering just how much easier the game can become. Now if only I had poured points into the MAG stat from the beginning <.< I also need to collect more magic orientated demons for my party >.>

[OblivionKnight]

Stat Breaks.

Not sure exactly how you're going about the character build, but some great skills are available early:

The magatama you get from Forneus (...forget the name...it's very ice oriented) gets you Fog Breath, which is badass at debuffing enemy agility (accuracy/evade).  War Cry comes from an earlier one as well, and that's offense.  Casting 2 of the aforementioned spells will lower enemy stats to the minimum.  I think Fog Breath is available by level 18, and War Cry by level 21. 

Magic attacks are great...the force-based magatama you can buy in the sewers before fighting Matador is excellent - it nets you Tornado at...17?  Get Force Boost/Amp and high magic, and it nukes things.  A bit costly, but if you get MP drain, you are fine.  Great spell for a lot of the game. 

Physicals ARE pretty good too, though it takes a while.  Freikugel is excellent (but that's level 80), and Gaea's Rage (level...70?) is also nice.  But they're more late-game skills for Demi-Fiend than something you grab early.   

[superaielman]

XF: Just unlocked the second set of job classes. What's the best way to handle item searching? Just  make six generics and send em out? Does level/class matter at all?

The fort battle was an interesting setup, but owned so badly by Mystic-nectar. Felius's Upper Hand skill was a lifesaver there as well.

[Talaysen]

Clear Tranquil: Keep Focus.  Just do it.

XF: Just unlocked the second set of job classes. What's the best way to handle item searching? Just  make six generics and send em out? Does level/class matter at all?

Yeah, just make six generics and send them off.  If you want to search in multiple places at once, you can make multiple sets of generics but it's not necessary.  Level/class matter not.

[OblivionKnight]

Yes.  Focus does own a lot.  Keep it for later physical fun. 

[Captain K.]

WO2:  Finished Wu Story.  Started Orochi Story on Normal.  OMG the carnage.

Also got pretty far in Survival mode with Ling Tong nunchuk abuse, but I'm not sure how far you're supposed to go.