What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[Cmdr_King]

Kato, assuming we believe what he tells us (and we should), is interested in going back in time and using the powers of the Vessel to prevent the destruction caused by all the demon summon and whatnot throughout both games by simply taking over the world and shaping history as he sees fit.  It's somewhat implied he'd kill Rasputin, Dehuai, et al before they had a chance to do all the damage they caused, and safe to assume that quite a few people would be saved this way.

Yuri basically stops him because even a benevolent dictator is unacceptable for someone like Yuri.  Game does a great job of showing that Yuri's only happy when he's forging his own destiny, and would thus fight for that.
(if it's not clear, I'm also in the "Bad Ending is out of character" camp.)

I tend to look at the good ending as less literal and more a Yuri's Private Heaven sort of affair, since he explicitly said that's the one thing he'd want if he could have anything and all.

I love this game.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Kato, assuming we believe what he tells us (and we should), is interested in going back in time and using the powers of the Vessel to prevent the destruction caused by all the demon summon and whatnot throughout both games by simply taking over the world and shaping history as he sees fit.  It's somewhat implied he'd kill Rasputin, Dehuai, et al before they had a chance to do all the damage they caused, and safe to assume that quite a few people would be saved this way.

Yuri basically stops him because even a benevolent dictator is unacceptable for someone like Yuri.  Game does a great job of showing that Yuri's only happy when he's forging his own destiny, and would thus fight for that.
(if it's not clear, I'm also in the "Bad Ending is out of character" camp.)

I tend to look at the good ending as less literal and more a Yuri's Private Heaven sort of affair, since he explicitly said that's the one thing he'd want if he could have anything and all.

I love this game.

That's more or less the take I had, especially when the bio on Alice flat out says "Alice > Mistletoe."

[Yakumo]

A bit late, Rozalia, but I would probably suggest waiting until Season 3 to bother getting the good wasteland gear.  You can't use the runes to get the best stuff until then.  You can get the runes, but not the special mission to get the blueprints to actually use them.

[Grefter]

Also late, but while people are covering Kato's reasoning to attempt going back in time (it isn't world destruction he seeks, and it is the "Our time will be completely removed from existence" kind of world destruction, not RARRRRR MY NAME IS KEFKA I AM A GOOD VILLAIN LOL destruction), everyone is neglecting the essential suicide by cop aspect of it.  He has essentially given up on doing it the good way, the woman he loved died twice in the space of like 2 years.  So yeah it is either he will shape history to be worth shit or he will die trying.

Edit - Oh yeah for an update on the WoW world event for people not playing.  We are 5 days in and each day it has got worse.  There is less of the healers around that cure the disease for people, zombies are stronger now and slow people down so that they can't run away as easilly.  Time of infection is down to 1 minute not, from the original 10 (Went 10-> 5-> 2 ->1).  Suffice to say the majour cities are pretty brutal at the moment on almost every server.

[Hunter Sopko]

Kato, assuming we believe what he tells us (and we should), is interested in going back in time and using the powers of the Vessel to prevent the destruction caused by all the demon summon and whatnot throughout both games by simply taking over the world and shaping history as he sees fit.  It's somewhat implied he'd kill Rasputin, Dehuai, et al before they had a chance to do all the damage they caused, and safe to assume that quite a few people would be saved this way.

Yuri basically stops him because even a benevolent dictator is unacceptable for someone like Yuri.  Game does a great job of showing that Yuri's only happy when he's forging his own destiny, and would thus fight for that.
(if it's not clear, I'm also in the "Bad Ending is out of character" camp.)

I tend to look at the good ending as less literal and more a Yuri's Private Heaven sort of affair, since he explicitly said that's the one thing he'd want if he could have anything and all.

I love this game.

That's more or less the take I had, especially when the bio on Alice flat out says "Alice > Mistletoe."

I'd say it's pretty obvious, especially after she bitchslapped the Masks Curse, even if it cost her her life.

Maybe you're right though on the private heaven thing, CK.

[Unoriginal]

I've also seen a giant swarm of infected rats around Stormwind, but don't know if they actually did anything aside from the usual 'hit this and get infected' thing.  But yeah, having to actually hurry to a healer after obliterating a swarm of zombies is a change of pace, and I think they have a good chunk more HP now as well.

The brawls over the Runes can get pretty brutal too.  My gear's already better than the Undead Slaying set that's dropping now, so I'm glad I can just stop at picking up the Tabard.

[Sierra]

I tend to look at the good ending as less literal and more a Yuri's Private Heaven sort of affair, since he explicitly said that's the one thing he'd want if he could have anything and all.

Yep, pretty much how I've always viewed it too.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Edit - Oh yeah for an update on the WoW world event for people not playing.  We are 5 days in and each day it has got worse.  There is less of the healers around that cure the disease for people, zombies are stronger now and slow people down so that they can't run away as easilly.  Time of infection is down to 1 minute not, from the original 10 (Went 10-> 5-> 2 ->1).  Suffice to say the majour cities are pretty brutal at the moment on almost every server.

I've decided to leave Stormwind entirely after finding the central square of the trade district carpeted with dead bodies. Lakeshire, however, remains safe.

[AAA]

NG2-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WEREWOLVES!

Uh, Chapter 6. The last chapter actually had regular enemies that could put up a fight despite Flying Swallow spam. They're durable, fast, damaging, and come in large packs. Then they add in a new bunch of enemies that attack you while swimming and Chapter 5 becomes an excercise in agony. Thank you, Ninpo! Oddly enough, got a Master Ninja ranking on it. Go figure. Boss of Chapter 4 was decent, but could be hit by Flying Swallow depending on the situation, which eventually lead to his downfall. The boss of Chapter 5...just stood there while I hit his head for massive damage until I got his Obliteration technique and creamed him. Works for me!

Switched to the claws, which are now a shiny golden color. So far all I've had to fight is the occasional ghost pirana, which has been severly downgraded from NG1. Instead of having dozens all latch onto you and suck out your lifebar, you get 2-3 at most, and shaking them off is way, way easier.

edit-Claws don't seem to work too well with these enemies. Bah. I'll try the dual-swords next. Up to Chapter 7 now, with a shiny new scythe weapon that looks pretty cool.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MMXCM - Gundam Heavyarms Custom Armor for X got. Also got Shade Man Zero. This is close to the final stretch, I see. Man, this game is bizarre, but it's fuuuuuuuuuuuun.

[DomaDragoon]

Castlevania: OoE - I just beat a Street Shark. Jawesome!

Puzzle Quest: Finally beat the Lord of Plague by completely shifting my equips to chip away every time I gained Blue Mana. Seriously, though - double damage + halving damage. Way to be cheap.

[superaielman]

DQ4- Up to C5, in the ship town where Taloon joins.

C3 stuff- Is still fun. You can whip through this chapter in about an hour to an hour and a half depending on your luck with drops/the sword of malice. There's zero penalty for dying once you get the safe, so it's just a matter of bludgeoning through. You can abuse the hell out of Taloon's ship if you want to really gear up (You should at least sell your extra stuff so you have the cash for MBA in chapter 5).  Chapter 4 is lame and should be ended as quickly as possible. Oojam/Orin prevents the pain from being too bad at least. I got mercifully lucky against Balzack and he didn't get off a Healall.

UPC worth order:

Oojam>>>>Healie>>>>>>>>Laurel>Hardie>Hank. Oojam makes the mines managable and fighting Balzack without him would just be ugly. Healie is nice to have but ultimately the inventory space you have means that you don't really need him any more, he's just nice to have. Hector's a warm body before Taloon joins, which is..something? I guess.  Hardie/Laurel are nice to have for Taloon's one real duengon, also speeds up Iron Armor/Broadsword hunting.

Oojam's a DL middle, Healie's a puny (Average damage: 11-12. Healie: 2 damage. Bad defense/HP too). Every single other UPC is going range from tolerable (Laurel and Hardie) to awful (Doran, Hank) lights.  Not too much changed there from the NES version.

And as far as I can tell, this is the PSX version except they added a GUI and face pictures.

[Fudozukushi]

I was thinking of restarting WoW.  Now this seems a good reason too.  Too bad about shitty computer though.

[Xeroma]

Star Ocean First Departure - Been playing this. Gotta go to the Purgatorium for the second time and go beyond the area of the Runes.

Fun game, and so ludicrously, insanely, over the top breakable I'm surprised the game even bothers to have enemies fight me now. Good thing Galaxy/Universe exist for replays.

Oh yeah and my party for my first playthrough is main 4/Ashlay/Mavelle/Phia/Welch. Welch is the best PC ever, that is all.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Eh? Did First Departure come out in English?

I didn't even know there was going to be an American release? Or are you an import-gamer, Xer?

-Djinn

[Shale]

He is, but the game is out in English as of last week.

[Xeroma]

It's the english version, yes. I'll probably play SO2r in japanese first though, since it's taking a long time to reach america/the JP voiceover cast is hysterical.

[metroid composite]

Warioland: Shake It

100% across the board.  In WL2 this resulted in a super ultimate level.  Here it uhh...unlocks the credit music in the media room -_-.  This doesn't especially make sense to me, as the post-credits scene in the ending feels like a very blatant "bad ending" that's setting up for something else.  Oh well.

[Rozalia]

BvS- Got Eye of the storm on first try. Spinal Tap > Webslinger and Spider Man.
Okay now I've done Reaper, Trade lv3, Wasteland, Sannin, 15 arena wins and burgerninja. Tsukuyomi Ascendant and a top 3 place is all I have left as far as I can see.

I think I'll cheese the arena as while I can do it easily enough with time I want to loop as I really don't have anything left to do.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Shadow Hearts: Finished Asia, got Keith, on my way to Rouen!

The gameplay is a big step up from Koudelka, of course. Though the story's a step down. Still a really fun historical fiction plot - I like when they tie fictional events in-game to real-world events from history. The game -really- employs it's horror-genre setting and does a decent job of it. Sometimes it feels a little comical or out-of-place (like the haunted bathroom mirror reflection) - but it's all good fun.

Of course, this is probably still the first time an RPG has extensively used horror-genre style elements, so I still give SHs points for that.

-Djinn

[Monkeyfinger]

Started Mana Khemia. In the first area, my party wandered around and eventually got mauled by a fucking bear. It's like I'm really playing BG1 again!

Questions, since my copy didn't come with a manual:

What do I do with AP?

Do stores ever sell stuff besides ingredients? Like, are there storebought weapons and armor?

[Grefter]

I didn't know SO remake come out, I will have to look into picking that up legit.

WoW - Event hasn't escalated again just yet, but new quests are cool.  Talking severed head in your bag for Horde, Liche King's minions whispering to you from nowhere for allies.  Nice.

[Xeroma]

Almost done with it now. SPACE NECRON sums up this Fargett stuff pretty easily.

I can't wait to try out Galaxy mode so I can have enemies worth breaking the game this hard over. Two PCs with holy elemental 1600 power swords is a bit much for stuff, especially when they also pack Berserker Rings.

[Lady Ashe]

AP is used on the Grow Book. You gain access to it after... the first job? Early on, though it probably would have made sense for them to give it to you from the start.

Also, no storebought equips. You wouldn't really want them anyway, with how the Grow Book works. The game explains it well enough. Just again, later than is logical.

[Clear Tranquil]

You're playing the SH series Djinn? Awesome~ Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts on them, story, characters, gameplay and all!

Also all the WoW stuff also sounds great. Chaos in the world because of zombies, I love that kind of stuff,  I like watching the horror movies. Thanks to the WoW players for letting us know about that~

Growlanser - Heritage of War- I'm really enjoying this game. Picked it up on Saturday, I've reached the main role now and I am currently saved before the ambush at the peace talks. The story and characters/icharacter interaction have been good so far - apart from stupid fairy crap - and I really don't need to hear Krious yell out "Fanelle!" every three seconds - I'm like "Dude Fanelle isn't even in the party. Shut up"

Also -

*ATTN PLOT - You can stop hitting me over the head with the "mysterious "little girl" appears, tragedy soon follows" hammer. We get it already. We got it a long time ago in fact, soon after she was released from the mysterious barrier in the first section of the story. Can I have more details on her now instead of the same mysterious crap over and over?

*Vanette - You know ... sometimes it's ok to be the typical RPG weak type. Like ... oh I don't know - after giving birth? ;p Actually I thought it was kind of daring doing what she did and was like wow Vanette's more of a stronger female type character rather than the generic weak female RPG standard ... and then what happened did happen and then I thought ok that was one time she should have been >.> - for her sake that is.

Gameplay/battlewise I really don't have any real scoobie what I'm doing but I'm managing to get by and have made a lot of progress into the game despite that. Ability trees worry me because I don't know if I'll be able to change those abilities/remove plates later so I don't want to screw up and build my characters up badly <.<

Missions I failed first attempt (and reset on) - First mission involving a Screaper, mission on G-Rockbein's path to escape Knight Screaper - his man died >.>, mission to escape the Guardians on G-Rockbein's path - one of his men got paralysed and I had nothing to cure it - in fact I didn't even know what the hell was wrong with him and didn't realise that it was paralyse until I'd already game overed >.>

Also failed the mission with the Knight Screapers in the village with the main but that was supposed to happen? Or was there a way of avoiding that ...

Looking forward to getting back to playing this later today and finding out if Isaac cuts of Elessa's head or something <.<