What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

All I'm concluding from the back-and-forth is that everybody needs to play less FF12.

[Bardiche]

So I just started playing Metal Max Returns again, right? For some reason the fights range from ridiculously easy (tanks) to ridiculously annoying (on foot). There has to be some way to success that I ain't seeing.

I only have three people now... My main character, the great Chris, then Mechanic Laus and Soldier Claire. Using a tank, a jeep and an ambulance, complete with flamethrowers etcetera. Chris wields that blade you can throw, Laus has MT Flamethrower and Claire has ST Flamethrower (which deals more damage!)

Been thinking on how these guys'd fit into the RPGDL... And then realized they really don't have -any- plot equipment rights (well, their starter gear...), and are heavily equipment reliant to actually perform in battle. Give 'em tank cheese? Tanks are fully customizable. Oh well. It's a fun game nonetheless.

Anyone else ever played it? Any hints for me?

This is in English?  I am interested.  I've only played Metal Saga in the series though.

Yep, it's in English. Pretty fun, non-linear game. Get a translation patch at AGTP!

[Talaysen]

Yep, it's in English. Pretty fun, non-linear game. Get a translation patch at AGTP!

Maybe when I don't have a gazillion other games to play.

[Grefter]

WoW - So yeah Kara last night in an hour and a half and we weren't pushing for time, very few bosses lasted more than a minute.  We had people pushing 2k+ DPS with our not so special gear in a 10 man, that is just impressive and there was no tank TPS problems in the slightest.

The constant energy regen is just pure awesome and it is nice for mana as well.

I hate the default UI so fucking hard.  Thankfully my unit frames mod I use has been updated today and I can finally get my combo points count out of the corner of the screen where I will never look at it, I might even be able to get a decent cycle going if I do any content with a boss that last longer than a single cycle.

I am loving this new patch and can't wait to do something on my Affliction Lock.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Someone convince me to play FFXII. Convince me that concluding games alleviates backlog and consciousness. Tell me that, once I finish FFXII, the world will be all right. . .

You could use the disc in other ways. It makes a good target if you want to work on precision marksmanship, for example.

[Bardiche]

Yep, it's in English. Pretty fun, non-linear game. Get a translation patch at AGTP!

Maybe when I don't have a gazillion other games to play.

):

It's mostly stupid fun, though. I also figured out what I was doing wrong! Silly me, apparently the game becomes 100++ easy once you get FALCON PAUNCH abilities (Rocket Punch weapon), which does about 400 damage to the "strongest" guy around... whereas my previous gear did 50 damage.

Need to bust into Supercomputer Noah, hunt down the last few Marks (who are all low level, and thus I can conclude I will get around 1 to 4 levels before I hit "game end" status) and probably acquisit the last armor upgrades. Quick question now, should I bother stat topic'ing the game? Apart from Repair skill (which should have no bearing on the RPGDL matches) all stats have been raised unaided. Problem being that I mostly view Hunter and Mechanic as being... Well, Lights I guess. (all they have is attacking) Soldier miiiiiight be Medium by virtue of having something like 1.3xPCHP (Hunt+Mech have same amount of HP), but she's pretty one-sided so prolly high light/low medium.

If we throw in tanks, these guys might even hit low heavy, though, by virtue of excessive defense. >_> Tanks reduce 100 damage to 1 damage, have about 1.5~3.0xPCHP (depending on load-outs) and after their Health hits 0 they still have individual parts that need to be totally wrecked (with invisible HP values) before they are out of commission. After which, upon Tank disablement, the player can de-tank and proceed on foot... Having comparable firepower, less HP and less Defense though! Anyone think its worth the effort? I really can't see tanks as being legal due to high customizing in them (EACH individual part can be twinked, re-twinked and be-twinked).

Next game up for play... I have no idea. Rudra Treasure, probably, by sheer virtue of "haven't really finished it yet". ):

[Anthony Edward Stark]

WoW - So yeah Kara last night in an hour and a half and we weren't pushing for time, very few bosses lasted more than a minute.  We had people pushing 2k+ DPS with our not so special gear in a 10 man, that is just impressive and there was no tank TPS problems in the slightest.

The constant energy regen is just pure awesome and it is nice for mana as well.

I hate the default UI so fucking hard.  Thankfully my unit frames mod I use has been updated today and I can finally get my combo points count out of the corner of the screen where I will never look at it, I might even be able to get a decent cycle going if I do any content with a boss that last longer than a single cycle.

I am loving this new patch and can't wait to do something on my Affliction Lock.

Eh... I don't have that much of a problem with the default UI, except that I can't move my heath bar or the target's. Of course, as a tank, my primary goal is to keep most of my screen clear so I can watch the enemy.

[Random Consonant]

Persona 2: Innocent Sin - Started.  Our heroic mime and his band of troublemakers have saved Seven Sisters High through the power of petty vandalism and the beating up of evil high school principals.

Also, Maya is crazy.

[Taishyr]

The "Maya is crazy" part fails to come through as well in EP, which is saddening. Tatsuya's a natural emo, so Mime was a decent job choice.

[Talaysen]

Quick question now, should I bother stat topic'ing the game? Apart from Repair skill (which should have no bearing on the RPGDL matches) all stats have been raised unaided. Problem being that I mostly view Hunter and Mechanic as being... Well, Lights I guess. (all they have is attacking) Soldier miiiiiight be Medium by virtue of having something like 1.3xPCHP (Hunt+Mech have same amount of HP), but she's pretty one-sided so prolly high light/low medium.

If we throw in tanks, these guys might even hit low heavy, though, by virtue of excessive defense. >_> Tanks reduce 100 damage to 1 damage, have about 1.5~3.0xPCHP (depending on load-outs) and after their Health hits 0 they still have individual parts that need to be totally wrecked (with invisible HP values) before they are out of commission. After which, upon Tank disablement, the player can de-tank and proceed on foot... Having comparable firepower, less HP and less Defense though! Anyone think its worth the effort? I really can't see tanks as being legal due to high customizing in them (EACH individual part can be twinked, re-twinked and be-twinked).

Sounds like the mechanics aren't much different from Metal Saga, so I'll be assuming this.

If you throw in tanks, then the HP and defense from the tanks would be taken against an average with tanks, so the defense and HP aren't going to be as crazy as you think.  Invinisble HP values from the parts may or may not be included (if it's like Metal Saga, I don't think they have HP values, since every attack seems to blow SOMETHING up after reduced to 0 HP, but it could be different).  I'd also include the PCs' natural HP in the HP totals since they can fight on foot after the tank is dead (and that's the only way they can be killed), but I bet that doesn't add much anyways.

In Metal Saga, you can rent tanks, which is basically storebought?  You can buy parts for them too, so those would probably be allowed.  Tanks that can be found in the wild are obviously a no-go though.  Not sure if this is the same though.

It seems topicable but it's not exactly something that's easy to topic, and it's not like it has high demand or anything.  So do it if you really want but don't sweat it if you don't.

Also, they don't have skills?  At least Metal Saga gave the PCs skills...  But you can't use them while in a tank which is lame.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

P3 - One day before the full moon. Social Links are as follow: L7 Magician, L7 Emperor, L8 Chariot, L3 Strength, L6 Hanged Man, L1 Hierophant, L2 Fortune. Hopefully, I'll get L8 Magician and L3 Fortune this week. I'm not bothering to raise Strength any more, and Hanged Man will take a while since I'm cramming S. Link time until Saturdays, which is my free day to talk to Maiko.

On a brighter note: it took me three resets to reach the floor limit for this month. Three times in a row, the Maragi/Mabufu whores KILLED MINATO DEAD BECAUSE THEY DODGED THE WEAKNESS-HITTING SPELLS IN THE FIRST TURN YAY. Hate the main death = party death thing so much. ._. On the other hand, all those happened within the first three floors in the haul, so it wasn't that much time lost! It's still dumb, though, I could've recovered from the fight otherwise.

[superaielman]

XF: Act 3. See my IRC nick. SHUT UP RAGNAR.

[Meeplelard]

Magna Carta: Just got back to HQ and learned that our goal is to unleash the game's namesake on the evil army!

...this game isn't ever going to end, is it?

[Tide]

Magna Carta

It's a trap! /inb4Tal

[Bardiche]

Also, they don't have skills?  At least Metal Saga gave the PCs skills...  But you can't use them while in a tank which is lame.

I know. No skills in MMR, though, being a SNES game and all, I guess.

Hmmm... Guess I'll stat topic them, then, with first all on-foot stats, then everyone in the best Rentable tank I can find, since they're pretty meh-ish enough to the point of being acceptable. The Driving Skill should yield different results for each (and I can see HOW different at least...), and then we have a sort of... Unrankable game but I guess its good for archiving!

[Anthony Edward Stark]

So I did Kara in about an hour and forty-five, not counting the time we wasted because the server went down while we were fighting Maiden, so we had to wipe, rez and rebuff. And... holy shit, I am a killing MACHINE now. It wasn't a super-well geared group... the mage, me, and our two healers were on their mains, and everyone else was an alt or a newbie, but holy shit... I was third on total damage (over the whole run, about 900 DPS), and never died except for the aforementioned Maiden wipe, so it's not like I lost survivability. If anything, I gained it in a bunch of buttons I didn't even have to use.

My god, I'm awesome now.

[Grefter]

It isn't so much the having things up so I can get data, I just want my fucking health and target info in the middle of the screen where I can reference them.  Went to X-Perl anyway and I will see how much I can put up with it.

[Clear Tranquil]

I see you don't have Bebe yet Snow, this saddens me~

SMT Nocturne- I was L43 last time I posted Tai. L44 for the elephant, L45 for Mother Harlot. Unicorn is only L29 though >.> Makami is L31 and Matador is L35. I like this team, I go into battle and find it immunes the enemies' strongest attacks <.< I also have a Feng Huang who has a skill that causes it to sacrifice itself and fully restore ally HP and MP - MT. It's awesme. The elephant boss was a bit tough at first since I forgot to War Cry at the start of the fight and was having my supports buff magic for the offensive. This meant the boss was able to cause painful hurt with Blight and took out my supports with it's multi turn spamming fun. It also poisoned my main >.> For the second attempt I switched to a poison immune Magatama but unfortunately the boss took out Unicorn who was my def buffer almost straight away and the battle went pear shaped from that. Finally I managed to get a run where I was able to lower offense to the min and def buff to the max without anyone dying in the meantime. I also had Makami Fog Breath and Matador Red Capote. Once all that was in place I had my support buff the party's magic to the max and started Mazan and Tornado spam fun. My supports were running out of MP so I brought in Feng Huang to fully restore the main, Makami and Unicorn then brought Matador back in.  With their MP restored Unicorn/Makami where able to heal as needed though the boss didn't remain much longer thanks to fully powered Tornado.

Mother Harlot was kind of a joke. I was able to get all my support in place no problem and was able to blast away at her with Tornado and Mazans pretty much with impunity. Much to my surpise and amusement I found my entire party immuned her powerful magic spell as well as Death Lust. So her focusing didn't do much good. Until ... when the battle was almost done she managed to take out Unicorn with a double Bolt Storm. Double spamming fiend! Things went a bit pear shaped from there as I tried to revive and bring back in Unicorn which due to having no high quality revival just got Unicorn killed again and Makami killed in the process as well >.> Trying to bring in other demons for EXP also did't work so I finished off the battle duo style with the main and Matador <.<

Now saved in the Amala Temple after encountering Spirit! for the third time in the Amala Network < This is getting old now.

Much plot revelations happening recently. Tsk tsk Hijiri,  who didn't see that coming from a mile away. Problem is I think I've trapped myself into being bound into Isumi's reason because I foolishly leapt after him, followed him to the Amala Network and saved there >_> I wanted the Maniquin Reason aww. Oh well I kind of relate to Isumi's reason anyway, plus there's always the FRUE ending if I ever manage to complete the Labyrinth of Amala <_<

[Talaysen]

Persona 3: FES: The Answer - Yeah, trying to get through this again.  It's not... too bad, I guess?  Lack of compendium is stupid, but other than that it's just P3 battles.  Most of the boss battles weren't that great, and then I get to the bottom of the last door and get an awesome boss fight.  And then there's more awesome boss fights after that.  Seriously, why couldn't they all be like this?

I'm at the final now.  I fought it once, got it down to half health, and died because I left Yukari on Full Assault, equipped a wind weak persona, and ate double Magarudyne.  Not one of my better ideas.  Doesn't seem too tough of a battle, so I'll try again later.

[Bardiche]

METAL MAX RETURNS FINISHED. I actually quite enjoyed non-linear!

Against previous decisions, decided to actually play Fire Emblem 7... again... Using only mounted units now! (Eliwood is the only exception)

I really need Marcus now, though...

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

P3 - Wohoo, maxed Courage! Also began Yukari's S. Link. Should wrap up Kazushi soon.

Battle-wise, things have been fairly smooth, if challenging. If nothing else, having the control over initiative solves so many of the problems with haxing that it's not even funny, and it even ties in with downright avoiding battles. That kind of thing alone would've made DDS a lot less annoying.

[Tide]

and then I get to the bottom of the last door and get an awesome boss fight.  And then there's more awesome boss fights after that.  Seriously, why couldn't they all be like this?

Yeah, I disliked that. All of the shadow bosses (like 7/8s of the game) are boo. And then the last set of series battles wins. The Answer is generally a step down from the Journey in more ways than one.

[Pyro]

FE10: Oh wow its so hard this is so cool!

Not really. Not having fun with this one.

Its just... part of the fun I've had with FE in the past is raising units. With this, it feels like that's just kind of pointless right now. I can try different combos but ultimately its just "tanks up front, squishy things in back" that wins the day.

[Talaysen]

FE10: Oh wow its so hard this is so cool!

Not really. Not having fun with this one.

Its just... part of the fun I've had with FE in the past is raising units. With this, it feels like that's just kind of pointless right now. I can try different combos but ultimately its just "tanks up front, squishy things in back" that wins the day.

Because... FE7/8 totally had lots of customization.

Huh?

Also, if it's hard, save at the beginning of every turn and refine your strategy if it doesn't work.  >.>  Seemed easy enough to me.  And uh yeah, the beginning doesn't let you customize much.  Like, I don't know, every RPG out there.

---

Persona 3: FES: The Answer - Finished.  Final boss was cool, though kind of easy.  But not so easy that I could just sleep through it, so that's good.  Ending was... a mixed bag, really, as was the whole plot.  But PERSONA 3 PLOT or something?  I dunno.

Also, the music for the last series of boss fights is amazing.

[Pyro]

Hey, I hated FE7's Lyn mode too, if it makes you feel any better. (not... that that was hard in any way shape or form). FE intros always bore me, with the possible exception of FE9 because I liked how the Greil mercs worked. Its not so hard that I can't play it or anything, I just feel restricted in trying out strategies I might find more enjoyable if less effective.

Oh well, chugging right along.