What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Unoriginal]

Initially there were just a few crates of infectious grain sitting off in a corner in most cities, but now there are infected roaches all over the place as well.  And from what I've heard, it's only going to get worse from there.

If you're getting attacked by a zombie, you get infected.  If you're already infected, the time remaining until you go zombie(provided you don't run to an Argent Dawn healer) goes down by ten seconds.  If an infected target runs out of time, dies, or uses a bubble effect to try to get rid of it, they become a zombie.  So if you can get a group of 30 zombies together, and they all hit the same target twice?  Bam, instant zombie.

Most NPCs can be afflicted, provided they survive the first hit.  Player zombies have an ability to call over NPC zombies provided they're not in combat.

Oh, and the zombies get a haste spell that also hits all nearby zombies, as well as a targetable AoE slow on non-zombies hit by it.  Individual zombies are weak, but when you can group them up...

Needless to say, things can get out of hand pretty quickly.  And to help things along, zombies can talk to each other regardless of their original faction, so it's possible to get an Alliance/Horde swarm going.

The only thing keeping everything in check at the moment are the Argent Dawn healers stationed in various parts of the main cities, who'll heal the disease and have an AoE holy spell that will explode any zombies that get hit by it three times.  They don't have much health though, so I imagine a large enough horde can zerg them down before they get the three shots off.

[Yakumo]

Ah, didn't know all the details.  Did know they were weak though, since I manage to fend off a group of five of them that were level 70 running around in Nagrand by myself, and I'm only level 68.  Bladestorm is awesome, by the way. <_<

[VySaika]

So how many players are stumbling around going "Braaaaaaaaaiiiiins..."?

[Unoriginal]

A few here and there, mostly just people suiciding in crowded areas, or munching on vendors and guards in low level towns.  From the hints I've been hearing, though, it's bound to ramp up considerably.

[Talaysen]

Obligatory "No you are the demons" statement goes here.

[Excal]

SRW:OG1  -  This has taken over from Front Mission for a bit.  Playing Ryusei mode because I like it more, and have just beaten the halfway point with Granzon/Valsione.  So far, nothing really big to announce besides the fact that Giado is irredeemably bad.

FE10 - What can I say, all the FE talk got me wanting to replay.  And...  well...  main reason I've been holding back is because I wanted to replay FE9 first and that simply has not been an option.  Anyways, this is the bizarro playthrough or something due to the growths so far.  As of the end of 1-6, Aren is Lvl 16, with 15 speed.  Str and Def aren't really suffering for it either.  Meanwhile...  Edward has finally caught up to Aren for speed at Lvl 17, but he's sporting a shiny 17 Str and 10 Def.  And, here's the thing, he's actually useful what with the whole not doubling and having the Def/HP to tank a few hits.  Add in Micaiah not being horribly Spd/Def screwed and you have a winning team.  Leonardo/Meg are, of course, benched, and it looks like Fiona's gonna join them, so it's all good.  And the one big loss is Jill, so far she's gotten two level ups, with 2 points of HP, and a point of Skill.  So, a bad Jill might be the price I'm paying for uber Aren/Edward, but it's a pretty decent trade off if so.

[Grefter]

Yeah I haven't logged in to see the damage on my server yet.  There is some speculation that the rate of infection is differing from server to server, so there might be some kind of hidden counter for the event as well.

It really is quite amazing retrofitting of bad design into good design.  I want no part in it, but it is awesome to watch unfold.

Edit - And Arena NPCs taking an hour to respawn or something doesn't damage my tastes in the event either.

[Magic Fanatic]

POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ABOUT MOTHER 3


























Mother 3 - Beaten.  Going from the day that the translation patch was released, it didn't take me long at all, really.  It had a really nice plot that managed to keep me on my toes (even though I was looking through a guide for non-spoilable extras, such as getting Lucas's Mystical Staff).

Overall, the gameplay is fairly balanced.  Difficult bosses, actually somewhat addressing ID (with *spoiler character*), and requiring different strategies for some (though Defense Up/Offense Down usually solved most problems).  The pen-ultimate final boss (since I'm considering the final boss something of a plot fight - go go EB and EB0?) was mostly a joke thanks to the last spell that Kumatora learned, which kept making him fall down.  Final was more annoying than anything for what it required, but the game has to have one of the most downer happy endings ever.

Plot struck me as less "Technology is bad" and more "Growth must be tempered with memory of origin."  Then again, the head Porker is still an ass.

Also, could anyone chance explaining the big bad's 'pet' to me?  I had always thought it was a situation like Anakin Skywalker with more mind suppression, but another of my friends told me that he was already dead and just revived.

Lucas - He was a solid character, for the most part.  Average defenses that could be made quite a ways better, good healing, and nice options.  Granted, not as good a dueler as Ness (blame Flash not being as good as his), but Lucas has LOADS of tanking options.  Defense Up like crazy, Counter Shields (one for each type), Offense Up, and decently priced attack PSI.  I'd say middle-to-high Heavy, mostly since he's not fast and he's still status bait, but let him get going and WHOA.  He turns into a character that PUNISHES you for dealing damage to him.

Kumatora - Another solid character.  More PP for healing, but less healing options.  Oh well.  Tanks physicals somewhat well (even with iffy durability) thanks to Offense Down, but she's mostly relying on status and stunning from PK Ground.  The Mystical Gloves boost her duelability some, and resisting Fire and Ice on a unique armor is really nice.  Just wishes she had more speed.  Probably a High Heavy, though?

Duster - Probably the character I relied on most for randoms.  Siren Beetle -> Wall Staples made enemies vulnerable for turns on end, and the Sleep helped me get used to the combo system in the first place.  Given his speed and durability, I'd really like to say he makes an OK Middle, even though he's still status bait.

Boney - Poor dog wishes he had something in the DL besides his speed.  He was also the only character to die on me in game, thanks to the failtastic durability.  Still a lovable character, though.

Salsa - For having failure stats, has a skillset that makes Boney jealous.  Make Laugh and Dance is all he's good for, but they're actually useful, at least.

Flint - Still has more than Boney.  Toughen Up and Strengthen Up are of limited use, but he has an MT physical skill and an inaccurate Deathblow.

Also, an extra note about the combo system: a full combo seems to get somewhere between 2x and 3x a normal attack (usually 2.5x, those were just the two extremes).  I'm...  Not completely sure on the numbers, but that's how they looked to me.  8 hits seems to be about 2x normal damage on the physical.

Still, looking at the unranked stat topic, it brings up quite a few questions, one of which being which equipment was seen as default.  Before I can make a good argument, though, I'm going to have to play through the game AGAIN and get each character's optimal equipment set-up, which I assume is as follows:

Lucas: Mystical Staff/Real Bat - Good Kid's Shirt/Awesome Cloak - Awesome Crown - Awesome Ring
Kumatora:  Mystical Gloves - Goddess Bustier - Goddess Ribbon - Virgo Bracelet
Duster:  Mystical Shoes/Ultimate Shoes - Thud Charm - Horus Bandana - Scorpio Bracelet (since even though he'd want the Sagittarius Bracelet more for 10 more DEF, there's only one and Lucas, Kumatora, AND Duster can all equip it)
Boney:  Canine Weapon - Red Collar - Red Hat - Nothing (At least I think it's nothing.  A GameFAQs post has a pendant from Saturn Valley here, but I don't think Boney can equip them)




























POSSIBLE SPOILERS END HERE

BvS - Jack's in season 3.  Wil and Irwin are still collecting Runes before they loop.

WA3:  Gallows now has an MTC somewhere around 82.  Run for the hills.

[Sierra]

In regards to the WoW thing: my brother informs me that zombies also have an ability that makes them explode and thereby infect everyone in the blast radius.

This is pretty much the first thing ever that actually makes WoW sound fun.

[Grefter]

It still sucks, but there is more than one or two decently put together things in the game yeah

[Dunefar]

WA3: Started a replay with a new game+. I just cleared the ruins of memory, so I'm just starting to get back into the game. It's funny, on one hand, the game has aged very well. The graphics are still good and you can tell a lot of effort went into the world and setting.  On the other hand, the fatal flaws that resign WA3 to gross mediocrity are already present. Hi Jet/Gallows/Wings/Virginia. OST's still uninspiring too.

Rockman No Constancy: Practicing normal mode and hacking at Hard Mode. Hard mode is a shitty gimmick, but I'd like to say I was able to beat it. Really, how does no hit-invincibility make a better Megaman game now? Anyway, I don't die much now except in the Wily stages and usually don't need a continue. Yay. Hard mode? I've beaten a few stages and bosses, but nothing connected together as I'm still practicing. As I keep playing, I appreciate how well balanced and designed the weapons are; it's probably the best set of weapons I've ever seen in a hack. The only possibly worthless weapon is the Ice Shield, and really, it's fucking Leaf Shield. No one can make that not suck.

DQ8: Started a new game of this up, but it's cratered right around the first town. I love DQ8, but it's a gigantic time sink to start again.

[Shale]

GH3: Cleared career mode on normal, mostly with three-star performances. Going to need a lot of practice before I ever attempt hard, and practice I will. (Mostly. I refuse to touch "One" if I don't have to.)

[Anthony Edward Stark]

The only thing keeping everything in check at the moment are the Argent Dawn healers stationed in various parts of the main cities, who'll heal the disease and have an AoE holy spell that will explode any zombies that get hit by it three times.  They don't have much health though, so I imagine a large enough horde can zerg them down before they get the three shots off.

Argent Healers and Prot Paladins. I took down ten zombies solo last night on several different occasions while I was on my usual zombie patrol.

And MF- I would agree with you, in that that seems like what he was going for. Of course the only time technology is ever used in a good way is at the very end in an ironic, Fallout style, so it just comes out as "technology iz bad and I tell u this thru a GBA"

[Rozalia]

BvS- Chunk A rank missions do not appear. I am on the mission but they just do not show up.

Shadow hearts 2 - Both big demons are down. I enjoyed what Kato did also as it was long overdue. Breaking a badguys skull with your hand gets you points Kato.
Besides that the other current highlights is Rasputin's response to Yuri's "Bite me" commant and the garan scenes.

Dragoneer's Aria- Evil Dragoon elfman fails hardcore. Seems to just randomly go luca on you after finding out he can't even scratch the black dragon. Game seemed generic from the get go so it doesn't surprise me. It also wouldn't surprise me if elfmans woman friend at the opening is also evil.
They both don't like kissing dragon ass so it begs the question on why they even became dragoons.

Anyway I've fitted the main with the fire orb and so he has huge damage. elfwoman has water and so is a healer. Pirate kid gets wind.
Had to grind for the Elfman fight, not because he was strong but because I don't like new party members being twice my parties current level (I was lv13. The new pc was lv 25). He was 2HKOing my party members but when brought up to speed his damage droped to a 10HKO.

Evil dragoon Luca is some sort of bad light. Crappy damage(10HKO), hp(Boss before him has more I think and that boss was fought quite a way away) and reliance on just one element (Ice) do that to you. Only good move he has is Ice Shield (?) which reflects 10% of damage dealt to him back at the user.

Game hopefully will pick up soon.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Mass Effect: Not playing this, but more of an inquiry. I watched a friend play a bunch of this back when I lived in the states - I distinctly remember the dialog being noteworthy. It was very quick and compelling. The battle system just looked like an action game with D&D style stat-increasing. But since I haven't played much of it myself, I was curious if the story held up as well as the brilliant voice acting?

Koudelka: Another game that's not my usual style, I started playing it on an emulator because I happened upon the ISO. Wow. The game really did a lot of visually intriguing things with the PSX engine. The loadtimes are crazy, though. The characters all interact very well and the voice acting is another surprising gem. I enjoy when the characters start quoting poetry in their arguments and I'm looking forward to Roger Bacon's appearance (I know he's here somewhere!). The game seems to be trying to be "Resident Evil if it were a crappy strategy RPG", but that's okay because horror/mystery elements are so rarely used in RPGs that it's a unique change. It's also not a bad story for the horror/mystery genre, though that genre has a lot of limitations in and of itself already. Still, overall great everything...

...except for battles. Just... too slow, too watered down. Feels like a "My first RPG with movement" and the documentation is ugh. Oddly enough, this doesn't hurt feelings towards the game too much...

-Djinn

[Captain K.]

BvS- Chunk A rank missions do not appear. I am on the mission but they just do not show up.

I had the same problem.  Wiki says they're not rare, but I think they are.  Try doing general missions.

As for my own BvS progress, I didn't read ahead carefully enough and was totally unprepared for the final Wasteland mission.  After switching teams about 50 times, I managed to get the 25 successes on my second try.  Yay for having a 40 Range.

Now I'm doing Burgerninja.  Almost finished with the CiCi special mission, but for some reason, 2 of my 'Diet' Sodas disappeared into thin air.  I'll have to wait until tomorrow to do the last part.

WO2:  Have all the treasures from Orochi except for Orochi 7, which is apparently one of the hardest to get according to Gamefaqs.  Probably skip it for now.

[Yakumo]

They're not rare as in you can't get them from picking a stat, as I've just recently done that myself, but they are less common than your average mission, I'd say.  I've gotten Chunk twice now and both times it took me almost all my stamina for the day for those two missions picking the individual stat.

[Rozalia]

How did you pass that wasteland mission? I'm nearly there so it would be helpful to know. As for burgerninja I wish you luck because it was a week before I got the allies needed. I believe Yakumo is correct as I just got the three last chunk parts now with bonus stamina.

[AAA]

Picked up an Xbox 360 Pro today, along with...

Ninja Gaiden 2-Beat the first chapter, on Path of the Warrior(hardest mode available). My first impressions are overall positive. Regenerating health makes things flow much better, and having healing at save points is very appreciated. Overall the combat feels smoother and more fun. The story already proves to be ridiculous (Female CIA agent with DDD breasts wearing a skintight backless leather dress that gets captured immediately? Yep, it's a Team Ninja story alright), hopefully it'll be campy fun like DMC3. On the bad side, the camera is a big step down from NG1. Far too many 'turn a corner, WHOOPS ENEMIES there goes half your health' moments have already occured, and no doubt things will continue in this manner.

[Dark Holy Elf]

MMXCM - Beat this last night. Yay! Game remains pretty awesome, battle system is sexy. Probably the biggest thing that struck me about the replay is that character balance is much better than I thought. In terms of my opinion of the PCs...

Massimo: Way up. Power Charge Berserk Charge is the best Action Trigger in the game for ST damage, pretty much. Once you get the final upgrade it blows past X's and Zero's, and then there's the detail that melee damage kinda has issues sometimes (more an issue for X than Zero, who has an accuracy-boosting AT against flyers, but even that often misses. Zero can also be given the Hawkeye, X can't carry that into Hyper Mode). Even without Power Charge, it blows through randoms pretty well without Hyper Mode, probably better than any other ST move.

Zero: He still smashes things. Maybe not quiite as undisputed at ST smash as I thought but really, the value of it is hard to deny. He one-rounds so many things others don't, without even delaying his next turn.

X: Well, Generator makes Charge Shot awesome, but that's only reliable late. Until then he was pretty underwhelming. Charge Collider rules, at least.

Marino: Still has the most versatile Hyper Mode.

Axl: If my opinion of anyone dropped, it's him. MT damage just didn't seem as good generally as ST beatdowns this time through, and he can't really be twinked to have the MT damage unless swapped in. Still solid enough. Also game-worst Hyper Mode given that the game rewards you for finishing battles fast, and invincibility doesn't help much if your team is wiped out.

Spider: Axl+ without the MT. ... though you could twink him for it.

Cinnamon: Game really gives you enough subtank if you know what you're doing to never need her. Didn't use her at all until Kitty Gloves. After that I did! But it's really only worth much in Chapter 9, Chapter 10 enemies are too tanky. At least it saves her speed? LVP until the aftergame, where she's solid enough, though probably not good enough to avoid LBP overall.


FE10 - Just beat 3-1. Titania 18, Oscar/Shinon 15, Ike 12 (would be higher, but denying him BExp because he just needs to gain 9 levels in 11 maps), Gatrie 12, Mia 10, Haar 14-15 (forget). Other characters are being used less.

Interestingly enough I had a bunch of resets on Part 2 (2-2, 2-3, 2-F), because I suck. Just odd after taking Part 1 apart.


MM9 - I'm no longer super-interested this to the point where I'm playing it near constantly, but I'll probably make a few more attempts at the perfect run. Doubt I'll have the patience to do it any time soon though, unless I get lucky.

[Captain K.]

How did you pass that wasteland mission? I'm nearly there so it would be helpful to know. As for burgerninja I wish you luck because it was a week before I got the allies needed. I believe Yakumo is correct as I just got the three last chunk parts now with bonus stamina.

You need the three Wasteland allies that add to Ninjutsu.  Think it's Sticky/Palmface/Venus.  It's best if you use Floating on Air so that you're Hanging Out with them the day you use the mission.  I was actually hanging out with three different people, which meant I had to switch teams way too much to do the mission.

Go ahead and upgrade Sticky to level 2, because 3 levels for +1.5 to your average roll is a good trade.  Make sure you're in Bankai and not Cobra Kai though, because +2 to average roll is not worth 9 levels.

The three allies add +19 to your range, and my natural range was like a 22, so I ended up with a 41 Range and 4 strength (Cote, Not Wasteland, Shades, and Palmface).  Used Spinal Tap jutsu for the +2 Strength, so any roll of 19 or better (which was below average at that point) is a success.

Oh, and make sure your Moon is either Gibbous Waxing or Full Moon Waxing, because that gives you +2 range and +3 levels.

[TranceHime]

Ketsui Death Label: Picked this up because I've wanted this since forever. CAVE has finally delivered. Anyway, it's basically a glorified boss rush, with the only true "stage" being Vinogradov, which is still technically a boss because you fight it very shortly after blowing up some planes 'n ships. Anyway, I've finished every course up to Very Hard, excluding Doom Mode because... Well.

Doom Mode is basically this ad infinitum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH8fs5Q_5Jw

[superaielman]

I have a bunch of chemistry to study for and pages of Med term homework, plus WA:XF and SN.

Dragon Quest 4r- Bought this. Beat chapter 1+most of 2 today. Chapter 1's the usual hour fun- just buy some herbs, go through the cave, talk to the dude in the prison, talk to the lady, go back to the second town, buy the best helmet/shield (cheap, good defensive upgrade), buy a lot of herbs, get Healie, upgrade your armor, grab the sword of malice (Optional: Go back and get the iron armor.), beat chapter. I like the balance of it now, double EXP/money does cut down on leveling time.

Alena's chapter is a big longer. Closer to 2ish hours? Long as you make sure you save before trying the sacrifice battle and upgrade Kiryl/Cristo's weapon and Brey's armor, you're fine. Other sticking point is the birdsong tower, which is just a matter of using your status magic smartly- Snooze works on just about everything in C2 and does a number on several trouble fights. Still, you can game over there without too much effort thanks to the Firebal/Fizz loving white birds.


I'm going to fuck with the casino a little bit (Tal did a decent FAQ on it), beat the chapter, then muscle through Taloon's. The first three chapters are some of my favorite game related moments, so it's no wonder I'm enjoying it so much.

[Sierra]

Replaying VP2 for some reason. No, I don't realy know why, just sounded fun. There remains something viscerally satisfying about seeing your enemies fly to pieces when you kill them.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MMXCM - Turbo Buster get! Alongside with a Generator. Oh, yes.