What Games Are You Playing: 2008

[DjinnAndTonic]

Needless to say, I'm one happy customer today! My friend was a little sad though, had he seen it there himself he would've snatched it right up. He picked up a copy of Soul Nomad though for a 20 sheet. I haven't heard much about it, is it any good?

Both are good games. Soul Nomad is particularly a different beast than the usual N1 fare, so even if you're a big Disgaea fan, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a big Soul Nomad fan. Whereas Disgaea's big draw is "irreverent and quirky humor", Soul Nomad offers a more dark, though at times morbidly amusing story. The gameplay between the two has some overlap, but overall are fundamentally different. While Disgaea is a PC-based SRPG, Soul Nomad is a Unit-based SRPG. Each individual piece on the chessboard represents a squadron of PCs.

PB, of course, is Disgaea with free-range movement and a weird PC-summoning quirk. Still pretty fundamentally different, but you can see how both games spawned from Disgaea.

PB is also pretty different from N1's usual fare, with a less "over-the-top" story that comes off as 'charming and dispretentious' to me.

And for more Soul Nomad hype, it's probably one of the few games I would consider as having a 'worthwhile' story. Make sure your friend plays the Demon Path of the story as well as the main path or he's missing out.

-Djinn

[Scar]

P4:

8/5 in the middle of summer break. Is it me or are the segments not moving the story forward more down to earth/convincing then in 3? I am very much enjoying the way the cast interacts with each other. It comes off more realistic. I guess that makes sense since the WORLD IS NOT THREATENED ... just yet.



Kanji is still MVP of the cast, with Rise-chan's inner slut being a close second. "Kanji that's alcohol!" "Oh, um...uhhhhh" *runs off*

MC is level 47, stats are as followed. No bosses past the first bonus boss has given me trouble at all. This could possibly be because I am a tad overleveled, but what can I say, I like to collect new Persona!

Knowledge - Sage
Courage - Daring
Diligence -  Persistent
Understanding - Motherly (awwww)
Expression - Persuasive

I'm working more on getting these maxed out first and then going to bother with social links. As such, my links are not that high for the most part.

Fool - 7
Magician - 2
Priestess - 2
Empress - 2
Emperor - 2
Hierophant - 2
Lovers - 3
Chariot - Max
Justice 5
Hermit - 4
Strength - 2
Temperance - 2
Star - 4
Sun - 3

I was rocking Black Frost around the dungeons for awhile. Now I only have Hanuman and Mot after splicing all of my other Personas together. I want the White Rider! I will more then likely try to get to level 50 before the next story arc begins to develop. Good times!

[Sierra]

VC: Snake, this is a sneaking mission. Also:

-Someone needs to bash Maximilian's smarmy, aryan face in. I'm just waiting for him to give some grand speech about how true peace can only come to Europa when it's all united under one nation. Oh, and that's his nation, incidentally.

-Didn't immediately grasp the importance of knocking down the walls in that tank battle, wound up winning with the very last shot I had before the behemoth crushed my base. Nailbiter.

-Still haven't got any fatalities, though a couple people came close after getting fragged by Selvaria. Scary bitch.

-Reporter girl is pushy, rude, and presumptuous. I like her.

[Dark Holy Elf]

MK - Regarding the Grow Book... it's... kinda like the Sphere Grid? Haven't really seen the License Board in action, so no comment there. Still, the differences are pretty stark. GB doesn't really give you choice, and growth in it is based on items rather than AP, which largely isn't very important in MK, given how I frivoulously waste points on things I suspect are nearly worthless (1300 for +1 HIT is objectively a ripoff, let alone things like ATK for my mages). Having your stat growth be based on items is interesting (it's kinda neat to feel like I'm fighting enemies for items and money instead of some mystical points), but my current main worry with it is centred around "uh what if you miss a key item?" because growth in the Grow Book is pretty linear, if branching. In particular, currently in Anna's grid there are about seven or eight items that have shown up behind a blocked node, and the game won't even tell me what's supposed to be in that blocked node. That's kinda alarming, and very annoying if I've missed something because I have no way of guessing where to find said thing.

Regardless, in Chapter 7. I feel a bit underlevelled (checking Tal's notes in the boss topic my game-best damage is about where his average is, and my game-bests in speed and Def are actually behind his average... my other stats are fine, though!). This mostly resulted in the C6 boss being decently tough, forcing me to use the Defend command quite a bit to pull through... but that's okay, might as well put this battle system to good use. It's getting much more interesting as the PCs are finally deigning to get skillsets. Fuck yeah.

Also, Muppy's joining scene was win.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Dissidia -

Zidane now - he and Bartz are racing for the next Crystal. Kind of cute, and I'm surprised once again to see light-heartedness in what I was expecting to be a total angst-fest.

The Dissidia board on GameFAQs is -scary-...! I'm not a veteran of the place and I never realized how bad forums could be... Damn. Anyway, amongst the flame-wars, I stumbled across an interesting topic about Magical vs. Physical damage in Dissidia.

I thought perhaps one of the other Dissidia players might know something about it? How does one tell a magical attack from a physical one? And is there any real difference apart from the one or two accessories that affect 'magical' damage instead of 'physical'? (For the uninitiated who care, Dissidia only has one Defensive stat, DEF, no MDEF or RES in sight. Likewise for a MAG/MATK/INT score.)

-Djinn

[Unoriginal]

MK - Regarding the Grow Book... it's... kinda like the Sphere Grid? Haven't really seen the License Board in action, so no comment there. Still, the differences are pretty stark. GB doesn't really give you choice, and growth in it is based on items rather than AP, which largely isn't very important in MK, given how I frivoulously waste points on things I suspect are nearly worthless (1300 for +1 HIT is objectively a ripoff, let alone things like ATK for my mages). Having your stat growth be based on items is interesting (it's kinda neat to feel like I'm fighting enemies for items and money instead of some mystical points), but my current main worry with it is centred around "uh what if you miss a key item?" because growth in the Grow Book is pretty linear, if branching. In particular, currently in Anna's grid there are about seven or eight items that have shown up behind a blocked node, and the game won't even tell me what's supposed to be in that blocked node. That's kinda alarming, and very annoying if I've missed something because I have no way of guessing where to find said thing.

Check the shops now and then.  If you've missed any recipes, they should show up in one of them.  And yeah, there are points where you get blocked off from nodes by some item you haven't bumped into yet.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yep, that's what I'm doing.

[Shale]

Alpha Gaiden: Second routeplit, still heading for Fort Severn because G-Bits sound awesome. Voltes V is gamebreakingly overleveled right now thanks to level scaling - it got the kill on stage 9 with Gain active, which was worth about 8 levels, and thanks to automatic experience gain while it wasn't in the party its pilots are up to level 30, with two Valors and Hope among the highlights of spirits learned thusly. Awesome.

[SageAcrin]

Alpha Gaiden: Second routeplit, still heading for Fort Severn because G-Bits sound awesome. Voltes V is gamebreakingly overleveled right now thanks to level scaling - it got the kill on stage 9 with Gain active, which was worth about 8 levels, and thanks to automatic experience gain while it wasn't in the party its pilots are up to level 30, with two Valors and Hope among the highlights of spirits learned thusly. Awesome.

I am amused by, but not surprised by, the fact that AG Voltes can be made awesome.

I don't think there's a super in the game that can't be. Reals, sure, not supers.

Brygar's the worst, and it just needs...lots...of durability cash. Weapons are great.

[Shale]

Well, bear in mind that this is going to level off a lot once it's actually in my party for any length of time and has to gain levels honestly. In the meantime, though? Yeah.

[Niu]

Dissidia -

Zidane now - he and Bartz are racing for the next Crystal. Kind of cute, and I'm surprised once again to see light-heartedness in what I was expecting to be a total angst-fest. -Djinn

You know what, I'd rather have an angst fest instead, watching Butz got turned into Justin is PAINFUL.
And yes, that board's flame war is ridiculous, the few good topics got drawned in seconds.
As for how to tell apart attacks, you can only tell it from animation. And if you see an attack has a traditional magic name, it is most certainly magical.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Dissidia -

Zidane now - he and Bartz are racing for the next Crystal. Kind of cute, and I'm surprised once again to see light-heartedness in what I was expecting to be a total angst-fest. -Djinn

You know what, I'd rather have an angst fest instead, watching Butz got turned into Justin is PAINFUL.
And yes, that board's flame war is ridiculous, the few good topics got drawned in seconds.
As for how to tell apart attacks, you can only tell it from animation. And if you see an attack has a traditional magic name, it is most certainly magical.

Did he really get 'turned into Justin'? I mean, he was already pretty agreeable/heroic/slow-witted in FF5... arguably he has -more- personality now? It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to me, but I haven't played FF5 in Japanese...

Well, yes, "Blizzara" and "Thundara" seem pretty straightforward, but what about weird things like "Blizzard Combo"? It acts like a close-range physical attack, though the animation has a magical quality to it, too.

 

[Talaysen]

Yeah argument is over because you brought an argument about as effective as a fruit cup in a multiple choice exam.  If you wanted to drop it you should have just fucking dropped it instead of being a condescending dismissive bitch.  So yeah, continuing with the fuck you.

When I said "According to you the argument is over." I was referring to when you said "It is not like the Sphere Grid end of argument."

---

NEB, even the recipes that are in treasure chests in dungeons should show up in shops as well.  So it's not really possible to miss anything for more than a chapter IIRC.  The game's really nice about that.  It's actually easier to miss materials than recipes, and even then those are common enough and generally show up in multiple places so it's still not a big problem.

Ninja edit: Also, the boss topic was on a second or third (I forget which) playthrough of the game so I kinda broke the game in horrible, horrible ways.  Though like I said before, it does sound like you are still behind a bit.

[Niu]

Did he really get 'turned into Justin'? I mean, he was already pretty agreeable/heroic/slow-witted in FF5... arguably he has -more- personality now? It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to me, but I haven't played FF5 in Japanese...

HE is shouting ADVENTURE ADVENTURE ADVENTURE with the Kira voice, just imagine how mindd buggling that is.
And yeah, things like Blizzard Combo and stuff are all magical.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

DDS2 - Um. Okay.

So, everybody dieded, then Sera and Serph TRAVEL TO THE CENTER OF THE INTERNETS WHERE THERE IS BURNING LAVA and then they merge and turn into Hello-Seraph Valkyrie and then they go all "come to me my noble Einherjar". For some reason, dead bitch Mother Theresa also shows up. Then, the cat dons the Freya beret and tells you the status of your einherjar, though. I actually hoped the kitty would go "Hello-Seraph, about your performance... IT IS MAGNIFICENT".

This is -such- a trainwreck. I thought for a moment this was VP2, but apparently the people at Atlus just have marguerita nights with Taniguchi.

[Pyro]

P4:

- Nanako is awesome. Any little girl who can make an immensely badass accessory (+5 to all stats!) out of PAPER deserves hype.

- Rise is a lot more likable than Fuuka/Teddie as the group's 'coordinator'.

- Amaterasu!

[VySaika]

P4:

- Nanako is awesome. Any little girl who can make an immensely badass accessory (+5 to all stats!) out of PAPER deserves hype.

- Rise is a lot more likable than Fuuka/Teddie as the group's 'coordinator'.

- Amaterasu!

This. So very much this.

Suppose I should comment on games I'm playing for once.

P4 - In August. Beat the Void Quest in one afternoon, boss of that was fun. Black Frost did the heavy lifting for this fight(Fire Amp + Agliao will do that). Magician/Chariot/Strength SLinks maxed. I stupidly forgot to even START Emperor before summer break, dunno what made me space on that but eh.

Rhapsody DS - Tried taking on the ancient weapon at the bottom of the netherworld dungeon. Died horribly. This might be because Duke is the only one of the three knights who has anything resembling good levels(35 to the others' <30). Think I need to level up Chiba and Albatross before I try this again. Suppose I'll work on that dark knight thingie I pulled out of the mailbox at the same time.

Dark Alliance 2 -Laggy came over yesterday, we played more of this. Forgot how much fun this was. He's running the necromancer and I'm using the dwarf. Fun fact: a large number of the dwarf's special skills(ransack, smokepowder satchel, etc) don't work while under haste. But haste is far too good not to use. So I'm now running GINSU DWARF, dual weilding slayer of worlds(Haste+TWF+Combat Reflexes makes for some hilarious attack speed).

Battle Fantasia - Just playing various story modes with this. Urs has the coolest weapon ever. Giant chainsaw thing that doubles as an air-bike? Hell yeah.

[superaielman]

Do you prefer DK2 to DK1, Gate? I loved BG:DK1 myself, just wish it were bit longer.

[Grefter]

When I said "According to you the argument is over." I was referring to when you said "It is not like the Sphere Grid end of argument."

And that is something you could have quite easilly ignored if you had any actual point to bring to the table.

Mass Effect - Finished on PC version.  PC version is hella easy because mouse controls make the floaty car bit much easier and you can do just about everything involving shooting in them easier.  Unfortunately Thresher Maws still require sit in one tiny area and strafe back and forwards tactics otherwise you risk bullshit one hit kills, but meh.  Everythign else can be taken on foot if you really like anyway (better experience and more likely to get items from enemies if you do IIRC).  Still a fairly solid fun thing.  It is pretty dodgey at exploration but it does alright at the shooter and dialogue stuff.  Might play through it again with a tech guy again.  Vanguard made me not think so badly of Biotics, but I still really question the value of playing a full Biotic or even the Tech/Biotic guy.  The only power I really used was Barrier and that only really became great after I unlocked Adrenaline Rush so I could keep it up permanently.  A large chunk of the game I just got by on my gear's shields more than anything my character brought to the table.

Shotguns were fun, but very meh ultimately.  On shotting stuff is fun, but assault rifle was generally better being best weapon slot at start of the game, very solid mid game and an endless stream of fire that couldn't overheat at end game unless you used HE rounds, which you got a decent number of shots off that it was worth contemplating, they are otherwise pretty much relegated to Sniper Rifle because they overheat so quick anyway and fire so slow the downtime isn't a huge difference.  

Fallout 3 next for when I am doing single player PC gaming, so I am sure someone will get something out of that.

Edit - Fail Super, K and A are on the opposite sides of the keyboard.

[Excal]

Do not mock Super, for he is not strong enough to resist the temptation of the DK Rap.  Truly, he is the first member of the DK Crew.

[Dark Holy Elf]

MK - So apparently my problem is that I missed synthing some basic female armour or something. (I'd been making a point of trying to synth everything on the list, but was missing some of the "light bulb" options which weren't even on the list yet.) Good to know. Still don't understand why the game didn't hint at the item I needed, since it does that for some things (I assume the ones already on the recipe list) but not others.

Regardless, it mostly means that Nikki and Anna get a whole lot of new skills (and Anna gets a bunch of stats). Yay, skills!

I kinda wish the game either had fewer PCs or it let you rotate more PCs than it does; it feels like a waste to have two PCs sitting on the bench. For all that at the moment Muppy makes one of the slots there a no-brainer to fill. Otherwise, the character switching system is much better than, say, FFX or BoF4, although it leans too much on the broken side in its own way. Probably up there with MMXCM; the varying support options should spice it up even more (if probably add even more broken).

[superaielman]

I have no defense for that, so I'll blame MK and move along.

[Taishyr]

Muppy quickly becomes a no-brainer to keep in reserve just due to how much simpler he makes any random you end up in a fight with yet don't care about. Change!~

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK - So apparently my problem is that I missed synthing some basic female armour or something. (I'd been making a point of trying to synth everything on the list, but was missing some of the "light bulb" options which weren't even on the list yet.) Good to know. Still don't understand why the game didn't hint at the item I needed, since it does that for some things (I assume the ones already on the recipe list) but not others.

I think you've noticed already, but sometimes, recipes also appear with character icons in front of them. In that case, it triggers new items more or less the same way lightbulbs do. I doubt this is necessary to point out, but just in case.

[Taishyr]

I've had cases where the lightbulb never showed up but I still got the new recipe.

I think I had to go buy/collect ingredients for it in order for it to work.