Author Topic: What Games Are You Playing: 2008  (Read 475024 times)

Anthony Edward Stark

  • Is that... Alcohol?
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 4347
    • View Profile
    • Modern Drunkard Magazine
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #775 on: February 14, 2008, 09:46:05 PM »
Einherjar archers have a silence shot, don't they?

Dark Holy Elf

  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 8159
  • Well-behaved women seldom make history
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #776 on: February 14, 2008, 09:51:51 PM »
Also stone, yes. Though the really impressive thing about them is just how much elemental damage they can dish out; they're much better at being mages than mages are.

Erwin Schrödinger will kill you like a cat in a box.
Maybe.

superaielman

  • "Mordero daghain pas duente cuebiyar/The fear of death holds not my heart!"
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 9632
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #777 on: February 14, 2008, 10:09:57 PM »
Phantom brave: Chapter 14. Game's plot is on the sweet and serious side, which is a hell of a change from the other N1 games. Mmm, just been smashing plot chapters, I should finish this by this weekend.
"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself"- Count Aral Vorkosigan, A Civil Campaign
-------------------
<Meeple> knownig Square-enix, they'll just give us a 2nd Kain
<Ciato> he would be so kawaii as a chibi...

Clear Tranquil

  • Garden of Innocence
  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 2331
  • Your dreams shatter and burn! Punishing! Blossom!
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #778 on: February 14, 2008, 11:27:01 PM »
Yeah the archer idea looks cool, thanks Dark Holy Elf <(^^)>  I never really used archers much on my first play anyway and was meaning to experiment extensively with the class at some point in the replay which is why Rufus is there but looks like teaming him with another archer would be extra niftiness to add. Guess I'll head back to pick up Stone Hurler Wrath now and check which other archers I have. I think I have Phyress but that's all I can remember o_o

The reason I used mages was for "Might Reinforce"  (apart from Lezard who was for plot reasons) but since archers learn spells perhaps I'll be able to find something else that helps stat manipulation wise. Rufus's Sap Guard maybe.
« Last Edit: February 14, 2008, 11:28:35 PM by Clear Tranquil »
"A Yeul that loved to sing. A Yeul who wished to travel. A Yeul that collected flowers.... Every one of them was unique"

Meeplelard

  • Fire Starter
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 5356
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #779 on: February 15, 2008, 12:17:00 AM »
Might Reinforce is kind of meaningless anyway, since Might Potions are store bought mid game anyway (and in the last stretch of the game, Rufus will have learned it.)

In the end, Mages are just abject failures in VP2.  Even the physical immunes are better taken care of through Elemental Physicals (and Ghost Buster if you can get your hand on that skill.)

Archers and their elemental physicals (Phyress/Erhde stand out for coming with Flame Shot, which is the best) tend to make this clear <_<
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> so Snow...
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> Sonic Chaos
[21:39] <+Hello-NewAgeHipsterDojimaDee> That's -brilliant-.

[17:02] <+Tengu_Man> Raven is a better comic relief PC than A

AAA

  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 1348
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #780 on: February 15, 2008, 12:23:52 AM »
ST-Went through a couple more maps, now I have some fucked up Kangaroo.

GH2-Yeah, I'm still playing this. Five-starred Hangar 18 on Expert. I am awesome.
Don't think of it as a novel. Think of it as a chance to retroactively win every argument you have ever walked away from.

Jo'ou Ranbu

  • Social Justice Steampunk Literature Character
  • New Age Retro Fucking Hipster
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 12988
  • Ah'm tuff fer mah size!
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #781 on: February 15, 2008, 12:52:06 AM »
SO3 - Just got to Airyglyph. The interactions are -freaking awesome- so far. Cliff and Fayt bounce off each other really well, and I liked both their personalities so far anyway. I'd question the reasoning for Nel's clothing in the middle of Airyglyph winter, though. Still fun, and I'm getting the hang of cancelling to boot. But dear god, I may just stick with Fayt for my controlled char until Nel gets some skills. Those normals are very awkward.
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> HEY
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> LAGGY
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> UVIET?!??!?!
[01:08] <Laggy> YA!!!!!!!!!1111111111
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> OMG!!!!
[01:08] <Chulianne> No wonder you're small.
[01:08] <TranceHime> cocks
[01:08] <Laggy> .....

NotMiki

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 4476
  • Social Justice McNinja
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #782 on: February 15, 2008, 01:18:04 AM »
It warms my heart to see someone enjoying SO3 like that.  I'll be interested to see how you like Fayt/Cliff as the game progresses.  My prognosis: a lot.  Hell, you may even like Albel.

If you're trying out controlling non-Fayt characters, give Cliff a shot.  He plays rather differently, but once you get the hang of his short weak attacks, you'll swear by them.
Rocky: you do know what an A-bomb is, right?
Bullwinkle: A-bomb is what some people call our show!
Rocky: I don't think that's very funny...
Bullwinkle: Neither do they, apparently!

Meeplelard

  • Fire Starter
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 5356
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #783 on: February 15, 2008, 01:30:44 AM »
That is one thing SO3 really succeeded at in terms of gameplay far better than the other games with Tales/Star Ocean Battle system:

All 10 PCs play completely differently.  You can tell this pretty fast when you try shifting between Fayt and any other character right off the bat.  Think the only exception may be Cliff and Mirage, and even then, that's mostly just them sharing a fair amount of techs? Yeah.

This isn't to say that other games don't have differences, but they are far less defined than SO3's.  And playing as all characters actually works, even Sophia whose a Mage, unlike playing as a Mage in most other games like this where its dull and boring and kind of screams "This character works best on AI!"
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> so Snow...
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> Sonic Chaos
[21:39] <+Hello-NewAgeHipsterDojimaDee> That's -brilliant-.

[17:02] <+Tengu_Man> Raven is a better comic relief PC than A

InfinityDragon

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 230
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #784 on: February 15, 2008, 01:41:37 AM »
Quote
If memory serves, Zunde is the best overall HW, so feel free to use him again unless you like variety. In which case, use whoever looks cool. <_<

Dylan beats out Zunde once he gets Full Swing...by a whopping 0.2 multiplier >.>

I'm pretty sure that edges out Zunde's higher natural strength, since the ATK difference will be 2300 or so compared to ~2450 with Tyrfing equipped. Or, since the difference is going to be so negligible, just use whoever you want, as Elfboy suggested.

Clear Tranquil

  • Garden of Innocence
  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 2331
  • Your dreams shatter and burn! Punishing! Blossom!
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #785 on: February 15, 2008, 01:45:49 AM »
S03 -

Micromanaging between some characters and coming up with combos that work well together is also fun.

Quote
If you're trying out controlling non-Fayt characters, give Cliff a shot.  He plays rather differently, but once you get the hang of his short weak attacks, you'll swear by them.

Yeah maybe but then that does run the risk of triggering enemy AAA (happened to me a few times when using a certain other character that has a short minor chain) so that's something to watch out for.

Nel imo doesn't gain a decent skill to compare with what Fayt and Cliff have to offer until Ice Daggers (L15), Shadow Wave (L10) is *ok*  but Blazing Sword probably does better MP damage over all especially if Fayt is hitting fire weak enemies/using blade enhanced juggle combos and it definitely doesn't compare to Hammer of Might HP damage wise.

InfinityDragon - Thanks. I'll probably be using Dylan again after he leaves when I finally get him back :)

Thanks Meep. Nice to know that about physical immunes and elementals.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2008, 01:52:30 AM by Clear Tranquil »
"A Yeul that loved to sing. A Yeul who wished to travel. A Yeul that collected flowers.... Every one of them was unique"

DomaDragoon

  • Lazy
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 426
  • Boink.
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #786 on: February 15, 2008, 02:22:28 AM »
Xenosaga: Jesuits with Gum and Bells: Two hours in, only two minutes of Shion. This good fortune cannot last. The game's got more of a Xenogears feel to the battle system, which is a plus.

Oh, and Jin is lame.

Dark Holy Elf

  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 8159
  • Well-behaved women seldom make history
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #787 on: February 15, 2008, 04:28:49 AM »
Quote
If memory serves, Zunde is the best overall HW, so feel free to use him again unless you like variety. In which case, use whoever looks cool. <_<

Dylan beats out Zunde once he gets Full Swing...by a whopping 0.2 multiplier >.>

I'm pretty sure that edges out Zunde's higher natural strength, since the ATK difference will be 2300 or so compared to ~2450 with Tyrfing equipped. Or, since the difference is going to be so negligible, just use whoever you want, as Elfboy suggested.

Yeah, I'm aware Dylan is better, should have specified Einherjar there or something. Regardless, recommending Dylan when someone is looking for a Dylan replacement wouldn't be very sharp on my part, hence my not mentioning him. <_<

Erwin Schrödinger will kill you like a cat in a box.
Maybe.

superaielman

  • "Mordero daghain pas duente cuebiyar/The fear of death holds not my heart!"
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 9632
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #788 on: February 15, 2008, 04:57:18 AM »
Phantom Brave: Done. Once you get past the opening game, things open up- either if you play a normal game or go SMASH. Story was pretty simple- it's about bigotry and Marona adapting to a harsh world with little guidance. Ash.. like I said earlier, isn't much on either parenting or guiding, so Marona has to muddle through on her own.

Combat starts off dreadfully boring at first, but once you get access to random areas  and titles worth using and lots of mana.. mm. Speed twinks are INSANELY fun in the game, only held back by the Contain system.

Characters:

Marona: She's a super sweet child who also happens to be lonely and desperately trying to help people, in spite of most everyone hating her. Almost every single person she meets besides Ash brushes her off as a child or is cruel to her, but that's what makes her a neat character. She ends up converting all of her 'enemies' into friends simply by being nice and helping everyone out.  It's a slow paced game until the third section, when some of her friends start literally beating sense into people who insult her. Cauldron is most awesome.

Ash is just an average nice guy warrior who is stuck raising his best friend(s) child. Everyone hates her at first, so he does his best to shelter Marona by hiding out on a quiet island and not letting her see hate maill. Good character overall, and isn't overbearing. Walnut is Kresnik. All the other bit characters are cool besides for Sprout. Special nods go out to Cauldron though- his handling of Marona's haters was awesome (He threatens to kick the shit out of them. Do not mess with the giant talking shark.) and Raphael (Desert town alone is pretty ownin).

I really enjoyed the game. I love the sea setting and the generally bright tone of the game.  The contain gimmick was sucky at first but makes perfect sense later on -it balances the speed twinking from HELL a little. Well not really, but hey.

9/10 game. Plot/character stuff I enjoyed, gameplay was special once I got past the intro.

Oh, and Bottlemail for Godlike.

EDIT:

DL stuff: Ash is the only thing I'd call rankable from the game and he's some type of Heavy? Really depends on what the averages look like.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2008, 05:33:27 AM by superaielman »
"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself"- Count Aral Vorkosigan, A Civil Campaign
-------------------
<Meeple> knownig Square-enix, they'll just give us a 2nd Kain
<Ciato> he would be so kawaii as a chibi...

Niu

  • Kitchen Knife
  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 2593
  • and Everyon's Hatred
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #789 on: February 15, 2008, 05:01:31 AM »
Going for the after game? The desperate Laharl is funny to watch. And there is another fight that adss some back story on Sienna.

Shale

  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 5800
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #790 on: February 15, 2008, 05:13:24 AM »
DMC3: Okay, not quite done with this binge yet. Cleared the Bloody Palace with Super Dante. Fun times, even if killing things on levels above 9000 takes way too long. It's also amusing what Devil Trigger does to the relative worth of the enemies. Once that kicks in, I'd gladly take a fight against three Hell Vanguards or Fallen over one with Hell Greeds and Enigmas. And the level 9999 Vergil fight was easier than any of them. So wrong.
"Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
-Ponder Stibbons

[23:02] <Veryslightlymad> CK dreams about me starring in porno?
[23:02] <CmdrKing> Pretty sure.

Meeplelard

  • Fire Starter
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 5356
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #791 on: February 15, 2008, 05:15:07 AM »
Quote
I'm pretty sure that edges out Zunde's higher natural strength, since the ATK difference will be 2300 or so compared to ~2450 with Tyrfing equipped. Or, since the difference is going to be so negligible, just use whoever you want, as Elfboy suggested.

Dylan's effectively stronger than Zunde in the SG anyway, since Zunde can't benefit from his own Transfer Bonuses, while Dylan can.  Now, its not a given that Dylan will be getting any benefits from that, but there's still the fact that one character *CAN* benefit from them while the other cannot is, if nothing else, a penalty for the other.  Its also one of the reasons Einherjar are generally a bad idea to use for SG Solos <.<

(its also worth noting that Dylan is one of the "Big 7" for the SG <_<)
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> so Snow...
[21:39] <+Mega_Mettaur> Sonic Chaos
[21:39] <+Hello-NewAgeHipsterDojimaDee> That's -brilliant-.

[17:02] <+Tengu_Man> Raven is a better comic relief PC than A

Anthony Edward Stark

  • Is that... Alcohol?
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 4347
    • View Profile
    • Modern Drunkard Magazine
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #792 on: February 15, 2008, 08:31:09 AM »
Arcanum: Our hero, his homies Virgil and Loghaire, and his bitch Raven are trying to solve the Whytechurch Mystery, which I admit I have never done before. I like the Chief Inspector.

Me: "What if it's a demon or other magickal creature?"

Him: "I hope not. Those are a real pain. Two years ago one rampaged through town and I had to find some silly dagger so I could kill it."

Twilkitri

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 1207
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #793 on: February 15, 2008, 01:48:13 PM »
SRWC3: Up to the second (and bizarrely, last) episode in scene 4.

Oh what fun was had in scene 3. First episode, 'Strike of the Omega Missile' or some such, introduces the Omega Missile as one might expect. Now it just so happens that SRWC3 has horribly scrubbified Scan, by making it a) limited range and b) limited to a couple of units you don't have at the time. So what you don't know, is that Omega Missiles happen to have 11 move, and a P-type 6-square radius stupidly powerful self-destruct move. So you end up restarting the level (or eating repair costs, I guess, but who actually lets units die in SRW anyway).

That's all well and good. Then it turns out that they lump one on you in EVERY EPISODE of scene 3 (probably. I finished the Preventer episode pretty quickly and I'm assuming one would have shown up if I'd left it a couple more turns. Definitely one every other episode). Furthermore they show up at the start of the enemy turn and consequently get a free move, so you end up ending turn at the start of every turn to see if one's going to turn up and so you know to hop everyone that could be in range away if possible.

At least the AI is so godawful that if you put a single unit in their range they'll blow up without moving, even if they could hit every other unit in your army by doing so.

Random nattering:
Nice to see that Sirbine has its _actual pilot_ for a change instead of being just thrown at you to put Show/whoever in. Dunbine in general is quite a bit more varied than usual, don't know if I mentioned this earlier... They have a REPAIR/RESUPPLY unit, and Marvel has some unit called a Dana O'Shay that I don't remember seeing before, and Keen has a Four which I also haven't seen before and it can combine with Dunbine, although Dunbine loses all its sword moves if you do that. Four's missiles aren't that bad though. Several enemy units I don't remember seeing before either, one thing that Burn was driving that I don't remember the name of, and some scrubby sub-Drumlo unit and some other scrubby unit that's presumably from the OVA since they were hanging out with the Zwauth.

Mechander Robo looks like a Mazinger enemy. Can't say I think much of it really.

Betterman has an enemy that shoots FLAGS of various countries at you. what.
Betterman player units seem pretty good, they both have repair/resupply on one form and reasonable attacks on the other, and they also both have godly C3 Scan -_- Betterman itself is ugly (as is the pilot) and consequently not worth considering.

Slowly fully upgrading Hairy-bot. I'm not even sure if C3 has full-upgrade bonuses anyway but I'll be somewhat surprised if it doesn't. Seems that the game gives you barely any money comparatively... I find myself wondering if it has any replay carryovers/boosts. PP is similarly really scarce, Volke is effectively the only person that's been able to afford anything worth buying so far and that's solely due to the fact I have given him ALL of the bonus PP I've gotten.


Advance Wars Dual Strike - My brother reminded me that this existed. I spent some time getting some more medals. Unfortunately I'm currently up to Piperunners Built which is god-annoying. Stupid boring, worthless & expensive piperunners -_-. All my people are at least level 4 now, what fun. Probably should get back to beating the hard campaign at some point.


Zork Nemesis: Which I have been wanting to play for the same amount of time as I had been wanting to play Normality, since I read about them both in the same magazine. So far ZN is shaping up to be considerably better than Norm despite having gotten a lower score, oh the ludicrousness. In any case, I currently have 5/9 points and am pottering around some cult church attempting to make whatever Fire's metal was again.

Looking around is a mild pain since it shifts far too quickly with the mouse and too slowly with the keyboard. And there's no way of turning shifting with the mouse off so half the time you stray too close to the edge of the screen while trying to do things and get perturbed.

I haven't been entirely sure what I've been supposed to have been doing for far too much of the game so far but it's been enjoyable nonetheless. My current tally of having-had-to-look-up-help is standing at four times, one of which was for the very first puzzle in the game because I didn't completely understand the controls -_-. Ah well.

BaconForTheSoul

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 664
  • Because you don't get her with 3 levels left.
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #794 on: February 15, 2008, 02:10:11 PM »
"Yah want some rye?  Course yah do!"  (No clue if that's from ZN or Return to Zork, but it had to be said.)

As for me, playing FE7 without restarts.  If someone dies, so be it.  Still not sure what I'm going to do if a Lord dies, since no fucking way I'm restarting the entire game.  I'll probably just suicide someone of a similar level when I restart the mission.  If I get down to Lords only and then one dies, I'll nuke the game.

That said, Lyn's saga chapter 8.  No one has died obviously.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2008, 02:12:04 PM by Chapin »

074

  • Suggests the birth of an abomination
  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 920
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #795 on: February 15, 2008, 02:26:56 PM »
Touhou Youyoumu (AKA: Perfect Cherry Blossom):  Well...I manage to prove that I very well suck.  VERY very well suck.  Can't 1CC Easy at all, so...yeah.  Yuyuko and Youmu seem to love giving me problems there, seeing as the latter took me 3 lives, and the former...5.  Nevermind the stupid Stage 4 deaths that I seem to suffer.

There is only one solution to this.





I must bomb more.
<+Nama-EmblemOfFire> ...Have the GhebFE guy and the ostian princess guy collaborate.
 <@Elecman> Seems reasonable.

Fudozukushi

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 1552
  • Born to hunt Death Knights
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #796 on: February 15, 2008, 04:54:54 PM »
Soul Nomad: Median is a much bigger asshole in person.  Also, the win ending for that is even more assholish.  Seriously, that's annoying.

Jo'ou Ranbu

  • Social Justice Steampunk Literature Character
  • New Age Retro Fucking Hipster
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 12988
  • Ah'm tuff fer mah size!
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #797 on: February 15, 2008, 05:17:14 PM »
SO3 - Holy shit Cliff's short X is fast.
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> HEY
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> LAGGY
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> UVIET?!??!?!
[01:08] <Laggy> YA!!!!!!!!!1111111111
[01:08] <Soppy-ReturningToInaba> OMG!!!!
[01:08] <Chulianne> No wonder you're small.
[01:08] <TranceHime> cocks
[01:08] <Laggy> .....

BaconForTheSoul

  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 664
  • Because you don't get her with 3 levels left.
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #798 on: February 15, 2008, 05:36:35 PM »
Victim Number 1!

Chapter 14, got Priscilla and moved her into a forsest.  Apparently I didn't view as far left as I could and 3 sneaky bastards jumped her! 

Whoops, forgot I needed Cilla to get Raven.  Raven then killed the 3 guards so I don't get Canas.  Raven also forced me to kill him, so no Lucius!
« Last Edit: February 15, 2008, 07:00:39 PM by Chapin »

Grefter

  • Villain.
  • DL
  • Denizen
  • *
  • Posts: 10386
  • True and Honest. Smarter. More aggressive.
    • View Profile
Re: What Games Are You Playing: 2008
« Reply #799 on: February 15, 2008, 05:53:46 PM »
I would say stay away from Cliff control myself Snow, the AI does a great job with him, better to pick up someone that the AI is shit with, like Maria or Nel.
NO MORE POKEMON - Meeplelard.
The king perfect of the DL is and always will be Excal. - Superaielman
Don't worry, just jam it in anyway. - SirAlex
Gravellers are like, G-Unit - Trancey.