What Are You Playing? (Spring 2011)

The seasons continue to fly by, but my progress in some games doesn't. :cry:

360: Muchi Muchi Pork / Pink Sweets - I'm mainly going to focus on MMP, as Pink Sweets is pretty clearly out of my league for serious play.
PC: The Witcher - The first of too many RPGs I am trying to juggle. I really want this one done before the sequel, as that looks fantastic.
PS2: Final Fantasy XII - I need to get back to this. I'm in the desert tomb about 10 hours in if I remember right.
PS3: MLB '11 - Sports is one of the few genres that can easily justify a $60 price tag (despite the fact that this is a review copy). I'll be chipping away at this until MLB '12.
PSP: Tactics Ogre - I'm on Chapter II, but I have a bad feeling my lack of class changes may bite me in the ass later.

Wii/DS: These have essentially become my daughter's, destined to appropriately play Dora, Diego, and Elmo. She really likes Sonic Rush though.

Homefront - It's pretty average to be honest and it runs like crap considering how often they cheap out on textures, then again my standards are pretty high in terms of GPU usage and results, but really this thing takes up as much as the Crysis 2 beta and it's world below it in visuals. Game play wise it's pretty bland as well, I especially don't like how you are always waiting on other people to get the fuck out of your way so you can go through a door, down some stairs or fight some guys. That being said, for some reason it's really compelling and I would still recommend people at least try it.

Burnout Paradise - I will just never fucking finish this game at the pace I'm going, I do like one or two races max and then shut it off again. Whatever, it scratches the itch when I have it.

Farcry- Never played it so I figured I'd fuck with it before Crysis 2 just so I have a better grasp on the way Crytek has evolved their games. I really like the bullet damage set up, it's nice to play a game where people die when they should, I wonder what happened between this and Crysis that made them decide people should be made of jelly?

Unreal Tournament 2004 - I don't know dude, it's fun.

We needed another thread for this topic?

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Originally Posted by Dyne

We needed another thread for this topic?

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What Are You Playing? (Spring 2011)

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Halo Reach - got the Defiant map pack for free so popped this in. Fun like Halo is but armor lock is so dumb. defiant is hella lazy too.

Bad Company 2 - got to warrant officer so most achievements are done. Have not played Vietnam as much as I would like.

I just finished Bioshock 2 so now it's time for random single player game on my pile of shame. Dragon Age or Darksiders I reckon.

I get that Geo. Let's make every thread seasonal.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Darksiders I reckon.

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If you do this one tell me, I'll play it too.

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Originally Posted by Dyne

We needed another thread for this topic?

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It gives Yoshi a much-needed sense of purpose to have a bunch of threads on the first page with his name on them.

No joke. That's all it is.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Darksiders

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I really enjoyed it, the game was fun to play through and kept me interested, which I can't say for a lot of titles. Dragon Age on the other hand, any time I sit down to play it I get through about 20 minutes of reading and 5 minutes of running around and 2 minutes of doing something and turn it off.

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Originally Posted by Compass

It gives Yoshi a much-needed sense of purpose to have a bunch of threads on the first page with his name on them.

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That makes a lot more sense to me then what I imagine the real reason to be.

Darksiders is super sub-par.

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Originally Posted by Compass

It gives Yoshi a much-needed sense of purpose to have a bunch of threads on the first page with his name on them.

No joke. That's all it is.

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They were quarterly before I happened to realize what day it was for the last two. The haul thread is monthly too, and I started a couple of those, but kof has done the last few. Feel free to make up some pyscho babble bullshit about that too.

You should start a thread in Sound Off to tell us about your daddy issues. It'll make you feel better.

I really enjoy starting page 1 threads.

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Originally Posted by Compass

It gives Yoshi a much-needed sense of purpose to have a bunch of threads on the first page with his name on them.

No joke. That's all it is.

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My original threads suck but his rehashing of other peoples threads every few months are somehow needed and valid.

Gotcha.

...Can you read?

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

Darksiders is super...

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I agree.

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

...Can you read?

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Of course he can. He became an expert in that while working at Fry's, just like processor architecture.

Angry Birds.....

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Halo Reach - got the Defiant map pack for free so popped this in. Fun like Halo is but armor lock is so dumb. defiant is hella lazy too.

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There's no armor lock in Firefight Arcade, but that doesn't address your point of contention (competitive multiplayer). I'm alright with armor lock, granted the other day when Chux and I played Team Slayer, an opposing team had multiple players with it and it was a little annoying, but I still think it's okay and will occasionally use it as my load-out.

Haven't picked up either map pack DLC, at least as of yet, can't say I care much about new maps (doesn't help that it's only 3 maps per).

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Originally Posted by Opaque

If you do this one tell me, I'll play it too.

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Heh, I'd be tempted to also start playing it.

let's diffusionx: Darksiders? :lol:

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

...Can you read?

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I can! I could even read five years ago when the admins told us the database was no longer a problem and we didn't have to endlessly make new versions of threads for no reason!

One "What are you playing thread" would be more convenient and logical than a new one every three months. I mean, what, are any of you guys specifically going back and searching for what you played in a specific season of some specific year? Probably not, but even if you were you could still find that in one larger thread just as easily. We don't even need monthly haul threads anymore, we could just have a single one and shit it could probably even be stickied for convenience.

dawsoncrying.jpg

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Originally Posted by Opaque

I can!

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Apparently not, since ARBM said that because your comment made no sense whatsoever towards the post you quoted.

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Originally Posted by Geo

Heh, I'd be tempted to also start playing it.

let's diffusionx: Darksiders? :lol:

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I popped it in today but then I realized since I will be out of town all of next week there's no point in starting a new game now. I'll probably play some DLC for various games until then.

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Apparently not, since ARBM said that because your comment made no sense whatsoever towards the post you quoted.

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Really? You can't follow how Compass ripped on Yoshi for making these threads saying that they validate himself then I quoted it and ripped on him more?

That is difficult for you guys?

Since you phrased it with a sarcastic "Gotcha," so as to indicate dissent with the poster, no, I didn't follow that. Perhaps next time you should make a post of agreeing if that's what you're doing, or pick a quote that you're actually contesting.

Aion - I was bored and wanted to give this a little whirl again when I found out about weaving, which is a method of timing special attacks to animation cancel normal attacks in order to boost damage. Only works for melee classes, but it's actually an interesting playstyle that takes more skill than normal. Shame it's almost entirely useless in PVP and that's pretty much Aion's main endgame focus. I'll probably get bored of this again in like a week.

I've been playing Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the DS, mostly because I finished up Dragon Quest V but didn't want to start another 30+ hour RPG since the 3DS comes out next week. I figure a Zelda game might be 10-15 hours tops.

I can't say I'm that impressed with the game. It is fun, but the touchscreen controls make it quite frustrating in parts, and ridiculously easy in other parts. Driving the train was fun at first, but now it seems all I do is drive the train around everywhere. I'll probably enjoy the game more when I find the inevitable train warps.

Also, I really hate this Zelda. It makes me long for the sleeping silent Zelda 2 princess (who actually puts out!)

Spirit Tracks is awful. I don't know what Nintendo was thinking, especially after Phantom Hourglass which was really good. Worst Zelda game I've played for sure.

Chatty Zelda was one of the few things about Spirit Tracks I enjoyed. Lots of sharp, punchy dialogue in that one.

Vectorman (Gen): One of the better platform shooters to appear on the Sega-16 bit. There's some Turrican style exploration, and you start the game with the ability to double jump. You can shoot downward in midair to slow your fall, which is useful when trying to get into some secret areas.

The 10x multiplier item is good for more than points- it can even turn a 1-up into a 10-up.

Screen shots don't do this game justice- to play it is to believe it. There are certain effects that wouldn't have been thought possible on the Sega 16-bit until Vectorman's release. Flags blow in the wind, there are some "god-rays" in the underwater level, and the wave effect on the water is amazing. The prerendered graphics are a serious rival to DKC's visuals on SNES.

There was going to be a Vectorman 3 on PS2, but maybe it's better we didn't get that one- while Blue Sky had been in charge, it was actually more of a 3rd person shooter that lost the art style of the 16-bit series.

I remember Vectorman blowing me away with its graphics and then surprising the hell out of me by actually being fun.

Decided to get back into Super Meat Boy despite being terrible at it, and last night went from 19 to 50 bandages, unlocked 4 or 5 characters, and got the feeling I might beat 6-5 and move on someday. Think I might try to find some more warp zones and bandages tonight, some of this shit I just will not complete with Meatboy.

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Originally Posted by Cowutopia

I remember Vectorman blowing me away with its graphics and then surprising the hell out of me by actually being fun.

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I picked up the PSP Sega Genesis Collection when I noticed it had both Vectorman games in it. Having liked this series back when it came out on Genesis cart, I appreciate it even more now.

Cut the Rope. Goddamned game is like crack.

Oh shit Angry Birds has a Rio now. I wonder if you have to knock over that Jesus statue on the last level.

Daisenryaku 7 Exceed. Avoid, avoid, avoid. I bought it on a whim for $10 because I thought I might be in the mood for a strategy game that wasn't a fantasy setting and because I heard of the series before. The presentation and UI is terrible in every perceptible measure; we're talking sub-SNES level polygon models of the units and the battle effects, and the interface is a jumbled mess of design and abbreviations. What's worse than that is that you can't cancel a completed move if you don't like your attack odds - so the only way to figure out if you can hit something is to move within range, and if you don't like the odds, well, tough shit for you. After three hours I moved on.

Eternal Poison. This seems to have some potential from what I've played so far. I'm somewhat surprised that there isn't the Black/Matrix type of defense settings where you can control how attacks are defended or countered. Story seems to be standard JRPG fluff but there are zero random or optional battles so that much is nice.

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Originally Posted by icarusfall

Darksiders is super sub-par.

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I know this is a late reply, but I wouldn't say its sub-par. Just has some annoying flaws, and some poorly designed spots that definitely hurt it. Its a game that could have used some polish and ummm how to phrase, influence from a more experienced developer. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with it right now myself.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Spirit Tracks is awful. I don't know what Nintendo was thinking, especially after Phantom Hourglass which was really good. Worst Zelda game I've played for sure.

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See I felt the other way. I just couldn't put up with redoing that annoying ass dungeon in Phantom Hourglass and put it down. Though I will admit the train shit is just as annoying as the sailing. Just give me a regular overworld again. Enough with the train/boat bullshit.

Radiant Historia (DS): I'm 60.076045627376425855513307984791 of the way through this game and am pretty in love with it. The story while containing some JRPG elements and obvious plot twists, has plenty of well done unique (to JRPGs anyways, I'm sure you can find plenty of the plot points in a fantasy novel or something) plot elements. I have yet to fight some super powerful almighty boss, and instead the largest thing I have fought were giant spiders which actually was a pretty difficult battle. The battle system never really allows for you to just hit auto attack and let your characters melee everything to death. Though one of the characters got a hit every enemy skill (Only natural one I've found so far) that made some of the larger groups significantly easier; you always have to put some effort into it. And about 30% in the game you get an ability to avoid random encounters for when you don't want them. Other than doing side quests I haven't done any grinding, and I think the game is about 30 hours long even if you do everything (Longer if you just go around talking to everyone). The main character is easily one of the best in any game, though sometimes the dialog makes things a little lacking.

Wild Arms 5: Generic JRPG story but a fun battle system and some good humor. Not to mention the Wild Arms musical feeling to it that pretty much is the only reason to play through the other games. Or at least what it seems like. I'm digging it a lot as well, though Radiant has kept me away from it.

I am progressively closer to only playing JRPGs, shit needs to stop.

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Originally Posted by dog$

Daisenryaku 7 Exceed. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

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I'll try, but the media blitz for it really makes me want to buy it up.

Yeah, the name just rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it. Of all the times when translating or changing the name for the US release would make sense.

A turn based hex strategy game with modern military equipment isn't a bad idea. Someone should make a good game about it.

Is that the one for the XBox? I was actually thinking about getting it, I remember liking Iron Storm on the Saturn.

Nah, this is the PS2 version which apparently is the XBox version with additional stuff.

Returned to Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light after a several month hiatus.

Here is why Final Fantasy III DS is kind of a bad game: a character's stat growth is shackled to his job class. The stat increases you receive as a Job Level (JL) 20 Thief are exponentially better than what you'd get as a JL3 Dragoon. Consequently, experimenting with different classes is going to stunt character growth profoundly. I've finished the game twice, both times taking a Thief from the moment it's selectable as a class to the last boss. There's no reason not to.

Here is why Final Fantasy XII is kind of a bad game: "jobs" don't influence stat growth at all. The characters are wholly modular -- prepared to go from tank to healer with the shuffle of a few gambits and pieces of equipment. I love the game, but the statistical uniformity of its characters keeps it from being an all-time great.

Here is why Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light is a great game: jobs color your stat growth in a way that encourages experimentation while still forcing you to think about job changes. For example, a Ranger gets 1.4x Strength and .8x Spirit upon leveling every time. He'll get that leveling from 10-11, and he'll get that leveling from 98-99. If you play Ranger for 20 levels, you're going to have a character proficient in weapons combat for the rest of the game. Having taken a penalty in Spirit growth for the past 20 levels, he's not going to be a great candidate for a White Mage, but he's more than prepared to move over to a Fighter or Ninja at absolutely zero penalty.

Now, here is why Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light is kind of a bad game: WHY DON'T I EVER HAVE MORE THAN TWO CHARACTERS IN MY PARTY AT A TIME?!!?!?! They've crafted an absolute masterpiece of a battle system held taut by a perfect job system. So why don't they let me use them? This is like being handed a Ferrari and being told never to take it past third gear. It's blue-balling of the most nut-wrenching sort. Someone please tell me this changes. Please.

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

WHY DON'T I EVER HAVE MORE THAN TWO CHARACTERS IN MY PARTY AT A TIME?!!?!?!

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I hate when a party has a two or three member limit. The first game I played that I recall had this was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and then Wild Arms for PSOne. 4 or more please.

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

I love the game, but the statistical uniformity of its characters keeps it from being an all-time great.

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Nope, it's still an all-time great. I just started up the English Zodiac version earlier today for my third run-through, which could become the only non-new game+ RPG to ever have me play through three times.

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Originally Posted by Hot Like Wasabi

I hate when a party has a two or three member limit.

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What's infuriating is that the game has a four character limit, but the plot rarely assembles all four characters. So far, anyway.

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Nope, it's still an all-time great. I just started up the English Zodiac version earlier today for my third run-through, which could become the only non-new game+ RPG to ever have me play through three times.

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Well, Zodiac is an entirely different game, goofball! From what I've read, it forces you to actually develop roles for your characters, which is something FFXII: Vanilla didn't.

My first two playthroughs were on vanilla FFXII, sillymuffin!

ARES: Extinction Agenda - A robot run-n-gun from Thailand's Extend Studio. You're inserted inside a space station where the worker robots have been "infected" with Zytron gas which makes them hostile. You can use a 360 controller with the right stick to aim, or alternately K&M.
Killing the robots leaves behind parts that can be scavenged and saved for upgrades to your weapons. It's a bit like Cybernator/Assault Suits Valken.

Crysis (PC)- Hard difficulty. I just had to play a level of it to test my new GTX 580, which can run it on Very High settings at a nice framerate. The hiccups I noticed while using my GTS 240 (really bad at the autosave points) are no more. "Can it run Crysis?" Hell yeah.

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

They've crafted an absolute masterpiece of a battle system

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Like hell they have. It's as rudimentary as it gets outside the semi-non-standard-for-a-JRPG AP system. You can't even select your targets. I complained about this before, but I've been playing the game the last couple days, and it's as irritating as ever.

You'll confuse one of three enemies. Great. Now, there's a chance he'll work for you, attacking his colleagues, or himself. So you can ignore that guy, and concentrate on his friends first, right? WRONG. Party members (and you) will lash out indiscriminately, often killing the relatively harmless confused guy FIRST.

You can't even choose who you want to heal. C'mon.

And yeah, I hate how they're constantly splitting the party up. It's bad enough with only two people, but they have no qualms about halving that as well, and making you play large sections alone.

While I'm bitching, it's got some worthless permamiss bullshit in there too to piss off completionists. I guess eventually you get a list of achievements, one of them being to hold one of each item in the game. But by that point, you've almost certainly missed out on several one-shot items unless you'd been following a FAQ every step of the way.

There are some pretty areas. Outside of Arbor for instance. Dialogue isn't dry. Otherwise, this is kind of a bad game.

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Originally Posted by Compass

You can't even select your targets.

You'll confuse one of three enemies. Great. Now, there's a chance he'll work for you, attacking his colleagues, or himself. So you can ignore that guy, and concentrate on his friends first, right? WRONG. Party members (and you) will lash out indiscriminately, often killing the relatively harmless confused guy FIRST.

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I played a JRPG like this before. I think it might have been Lufia. It's irritating at first, but you kind of just get used to it.

Besides Precursors and God of War III, I have been playing:

Flipnic (PS2) - I'm not sure I like the checklist design to unlock the next level but I have been wanting another video pinball game that doesn't try and mimic the real thing. This is pretty surreal and unique. The announcer sounds like it's the woman from Fantavision.

Technic Beat (PS2) - This wasn't on my radar but I gave it a shot at $5 and it's a pretty cool music game. I'm digging all the obscure Namco arcade references, too.

Time Crisis 4 (PS3) - I don't have a gun yet for this but it actually plays well enough with the regular controller. The FPS levels added to the home version are strange. Despite the modern controls and regenerating health, they feel very 1990s and out of place on the system. But I don't mind them even if they feel kind of tacked on.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Flipnic .. The announcer sounds like it's the woman from Fantavision.

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It probably is. Same developer on both games.

When I'm travelling longer distances, I bring Jeanne D'Arc with me on the train/airplane. I think I'm on Chapter 4 now but the game is utterly cookie cutter as far as SLGs go.

Gave up playing SSF4 on 3DS, the controls just suck too much. I tried Splinter Cell 3D but thankfully didn't buy that one, the 30 second load times are ridiculous.

Other than that, cleaning up the debris in my game room after the quake and testing the following boards to make sure they're still good or that the harness work done is still holding up.
Cotton Boomerang
Darius Extra Version
Fuun Super Tag Battle
Garou
Gauntlet II
Guardians of the 'Hood
Mace
Ninja Master's
The Ninja Warriors
Rastan III
Samurai Spirits III
Spikeout Digital Battle Online
SFIII 3rd Strike
Virtua Fighter 1, 2.1, 3tb, 4FT Version B

I've mostly been playing Genesis lately.

Pier Solar: Got to the last boss on this one, and she nailed me towards the end. It sucks that there are no places to heal up or save near the end, and the final battle is actually four (2 bosses, 2 forms each) in a row. If you don't have the right weapons equipped on the right people, you're going down. Still, an amazing game.

Star Odyssey: Upcoming RPG from Super Fighter Team, this one is known as Blue Almanac in Japan. I finished it the other night, but I'm still checking things out for my upcoming review.

Legend of Wukong: Another SFT RPG. I never got the chance to finish it, since I was playing a reviewable copy, so I want to finally see the end. Great game, if not a little easy.

Arcania: Gothic 4: On the Xbox 360. It's not bad, just a bit too linear. After Two Worlds II, this is disappointing. I miss the huge overworlds with tons of labyrinths and castles to explore.

Been trying Guwange on XBLA. I don't know why I got this, I think I just had money to spend the other night and couldn't think of anything good to download so I tried this. The best word I can think of to describe it is "annoying". Doesn't feel like a test of skill to me as much as fighting the controls in that little tiny box they display the action in. Boo.

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Originally Posted by Melf

I've mostly been playing Genesis lately.

Pier Solar: Got to the last boss on this one, and she nailed me towards the end. It sucks that there are no places to heal up or save near the end, and the final battle is actually four (2 bosses, 2 forms each) in a row. If you don't have the right weapons equipped on the right people, you're going down. Still, an amazing game.

Star Odyssey: Upcoming RPG from Super Fighter Team, this one is known as Blue Almanac in Japan. I finished it the other night, but I'm still checking things out for my upcoming review.

Legend of Wukong: Another SFT RPG. I never got the chance to finish it, since I was playing a reviewable copy, so I want to finally see the end. Great game, if not a little easy.

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Me=Jealous. I've got Pier Solar ordered, I'll probably get Star Odyssey when it is available, and I need to grab Wukong while I can.

Guwange is not a fun game.

Safely my least favorite Cave STG.

More MvC3 - it's about all I play outside of arcade games on 360. Then Monster Hunter 3 on Wii, Tactics Ogre: The Best Game Ever Edition and Super Scribblenauts with Golden Sun on DS. Got back into Torchlight on PC too, kinda curious about the mod scene there.

Finally opened Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift a few days ago. I could see these battles getting tiresome late in the game with no way to speed them up. Love the giant mission grid and how there's no real missables in the game. Wish there was an item log. Music is great and soooo FFXII-ish. Makes me want to give Revenant Wings a whirl. Never picked that one up.

Started playing Mother 3 again. Stopped at the monkey chapter like two years ago for some reason.

I still can't get over how much quality the translation team packed into their unofficial guide. Pretty sure reading it is more enjoyable than playing the game. Most sumptuously glossy paper stock ever. I want to bathe in it.

April 1st but no fooling update:

3DS: Ridge Racer - This is it for a while, though I did get great queue spots for all the other launch games that interest me on Goozex, so those will trickle in. I'm through eight events of the first Grand Prix so far. It's too easy, but I read it ramps up later.
PC: The Witcher - Just finished Chapter II. Damn this game is long but good. I just don't have time for too many games like this any more, so this, its sequel, and Skyrim are probably it for 2011.
PC: BioShock 2 - I can't believe I'm just getting around to this. I just got into the amusement park, so I'm early. I'm going for the hard and no vita chambers achievements for no good reason.
PS3: Castlevania: LoS - The Reverie DLC takes place after the end of the game, and it's plenty hard enough. I think I am going to go back to where I was on Paladin and then work back to the DLC instead of playing it twice.
PSP: Tactics Ogre - I'm on the last battle of Chapter II (Chaos I think), and it's awful. I am not sure how I am going to win it. It's such poor design to have a one-on-one battle in a SRPG.
PSP: The 3rd Birthday - My review will be forthcoming, but the net is going to be that the PSP was a horrific choice for this game, and it suffers tremendously for it. My hands do as well.

Thank God Portal 2 is about it for April.

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Originally Posted by Compass

Makes me want to give Revenant Wings a whirl. Never picked that one up.

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If you want more of anything FFXII besides reading Vaan and Penelo talk I wouldn't recommend RW. It's an okay My First RTS with a good control scheme, but the design, music, and quality of writing is nothing like its precursor.

Tactics Ogre is way more FFXII than RW is, play that instead and name the character after someone from FFXII.

So much wisdom in that post.

Back to playing Vanquish, trying for God Hard. This shit is hilarious. The lifebar is basically worth only two hits, enemies will throw two grenades at once, weapons can't be upgraded, ARS is reduced, boost cancelling is needed... this is so good. I am getting my shit pushed in and it's great.

The lack of weapon upgrades is actually really nice since it destroys the notion of saving a weapon for upgrading it instead of refilling it.

I wish I have time to play games.

Mega Man Zero

Holy shit!

is that good or bad

Very good! Playing such a shoulder button intensive game on a DSi XL is giving me a killer hand cramp, though.

Chrono Cross - I never played this when it originally came out and my wife got it for me this past Christmas so I figured it was time to try it out. Only a little under 5 hours into it and dig it for the most part with the exception of the battle system. I am just not a fan of it but maybe it will grow on me. The music is really good and I hope to hear some of it at Video Games Live next week.

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot: I haven't really decided if this is a good game or not, but it certainly isn't a good sequel. It kind of plays like if you described how Rush'n Attack played and told them to give it the Rearmed treatment, but never actually had them play Rush'n Attack. Strange.

Bad Company 2, Monday Night Combat and Dragon Quest 9 again. Portal 2 later this month and I'll want to finish up dead rising 2 finally.

Also trying out mech warrior 4

Picked up Enslaved today, I'm excited to go try it out. Also GH: Aerosmith, lol. Should be done achievement farming that one within a day or 2.

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

Also GH: Aerosmith, lol. Should be done achievement farming that one within a day or 2.

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Nice face saving attempt.

I DON'T WANNA CLOOOOSE MY EYEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

Been trying Guwange on XBLA. I don't know why I got this, I think I just had money to spend the other night and couldn't think of anything good to download so I tried this. The best word I can think of to describe it is "annoying". Doesn't feel like a test of skill to me as much as fighting the controls in that little tiny box they display the action in. Boo.

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Yeah the lack of true TATE mode killed my interest in XBLA Gunwage.

Secret of Mana (SNES)

I got to the part where the AI character joins your party, and goddamn the AI is terrible. I think I'll play through this game sometime with a friend, 'cause single player is definitely not tolerable.

Oh well, on to Chrono Cross!

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Originally Posted by Hot Like Wasabi

Chrono Cross - I never played this when it originally came out and my wife got it for me this past Christmas so I figured it was time to try it out. Only a little under 5 hours into it and dig it for the most part with the exception of the battle system. I am just not a fan of it but maybe it will grow on me. The music is really good and I hope to hear some of it at Video Games Live next week.

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Man, I'm 2 hours in and already there is some pretty deep shit in this game. You can tell how much better JRPG translation had become by the time this game came out.

Not sure about the battle system, either, but otherwise I'm impressed.

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Originally Posted by jyoung

Man, I'm 2 hours in and already there is some pretty deep shit in this game. You can tell how much better JRPG translation had become by the time this game came out.

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CC was the genesis of Square's obsession with portraying accents phonetically that has marred nearly every one of their RPG's since. I love the game, but I'll always resent it for that, charmed though I was at the time.

Lynx's oil paint dream world is still the prettiest thing a video game has ever put on my TV.

Surging Aura (Mega Drive): This one's been translated into French, but I only have the Japanese ROM. Thankfully, some decent fellow has done a series of videos (32 in all!) on YouTube where he plays the game from beginning through to the end, narrating all the dialogue in English and even with subtitles on the cut scenes. I'm about 3 hours in, and it's a real shame that Sega never localized this one. The magic system is really innovative, using a series of charm categories that have casting times. Depending on the casting time selected in the charm category, a different spell is used. The only problem is knowing which spell is which, but I've been diagramming them as I've played, so it's not so bad.

Awesome game so far, and my next review for sure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jyoung

Yeah the lack of true TATE mode killed my interest in XBLA Gunwage.

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Guwange has TATE now. It always had it on 16:9 displays, but now it has it for 4:3 displays as well.

Unfortunately, it's still not fun to play.

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Originally Posted by Tain

Guwange has TATE now. It always had it on 16:9 displays, but now it has it for 4:3 displays as well.

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Aha. I was wondering what the hell he was talking about, as I remembered it always having it.

Cool, I play on a 4:3 PC monitor, so I'll have to check it out again.

Been playing Tactics Ogre: LUCT and Ar Tonelico III.

First play through of TO I'm trying to just do what comes natural and ended up on the Chaos-Neutral path. Denam seems pretty conflicted and trapped by his decisions, which is cool, since I'd feel the same way.

Ar Tonelico III I just beat today. Tyria true end. Didn't care for the characters, story, humor, cosmospheres and,especially, the battle system nearly as much as the second one, but I still enjoyed it.

I'm down for some MH Tri if you'd like, Hero.

I should finish Ar Tonelico I, but god the game is just so easy combat wise it's hard to focus on it.

Yeah, I ran out and bought AT1 after loving AT2, but it sits in my pile of shame, haven't even started it up.

I'm a couple chapters into Radiant Historia, too.

Arx Fatalis (PC)- This game has a lot of cool shit going on, particularly the free-form spell system and some very rad looking monster designs of fairly generic shit- some of the coolest looking spiders, snake-ladies, and liches ever in a game. Unfortunately, it's so unstable that every other scripted event seems to crash the game, doors won't open, etc.

Has anyone played the Xbox version? How does it run? I'm sold on the game, but am done dealing with it glitching out every time it gets good.

Unreal Gold (PC): This game must have been absolutely mind-blowing in 1998. The ambiance is still superb. The only complaint I have about the game is that the weapons lack any kind of visceral feel, but the atmosphere it creates makes up for it. Is Unreal II any good?

Unreal II wasn't very fun at the time of its release. I imagine it's unplayable today.

Yeah, seemed super shit when I bought it during the Steam sale at the end of 2008.

Original Unreal held up pretty good though. AI was dodging all over the place, environments were pretty in a clean 1998 geometry kinda way, music was kickin' like a Megazeux game.

Trine - I can't believe I'm enjoying this, but I am. Decidedly nothing special, but for some reason I want to see it through just because of the style and the narrators voice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vasteel

Arx Fatalis (PC)- This game has a lot of cool shit going on, particularly the free-form spell system and some very rad looking monster designs of fairly generic shit- some of the coolest looking spiders, snake-ladies, and liches ever in a game. Unfortunately, it's so unstable that every other scripted event seems to crash the game, doors won't open, etc.

Has anyone played the Xbox version? How does it run? I'm sold on the game, but am done dealing with it glitching out every time it gets good.

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I found the Xbox version to be pretty stable, and it's worth playing if you can get past the visuals.

Strania - The wacky weapon switching/mixing is fun, and the bosses are awesome, but stage one with its endless sweeping transitions and nothing happening game-wise blows. Hurts the whole game a little bit. Periods of inactivity in the first two stages put this below Border Down and Under Defeat, but it's still pretty cool. Getting all up in it with the sword is encouraged, and slicing up the stage 4 boss is magical.

Yakuza 4 - A good amount better than the first two games. There's plenty of stuff to do in the world, the combat is easily the best in the series, hard mode isn't a drag at all, and I'm all for how the characters are switched up.

Tactics Ogre (PSP) - Currently I'm mulling over whether to take the Law or Chaos path in the next battle.

On one hand, agreeing to kill a bunch of civilians for tactical gain goes completely against the characters' background as a weak and oppressed people fighting for freedom and justice. They'd be the last ones to agree to something like that and would completely identify with the civilians in question. On the other hand, being righteous all the time can get boring.

I like that many aspects of the game are streamlined compared to Final Fantasy Tactics, not only because of my attention span but because of the larger number of characters you use. I'm talking mostly about class levelling and the lack of prerequisites to change classes.

My only real gripe is the Shop menu. Figuring out who can use what in regards to equipment and spells basically requires you to use memorization and flip back and forth between the Party and Shop menus. All they needed to do was change the "which classes can use this item" pane to a "which individuals can use this item" pane, and let you highlight each character to see the stat differences. I also can't figure out why I have Astromancer in my list of classes in the Shop, except maybe I had one as a guest at some point.

Don't let the bitching fool you though, I'm loving it.

The more I love a game, the more I'll bitch about the relatively minor things. If I didn't like it, why would I care.

Tokyo Beat Down (DS)

There's no good reason to like this, but I do. Its flat gameplay is constantly resuscitated by Atlus's superb translation.

Dark Messiah: TNL is pretty much the only place this game got any love. Which is shameful, because this game is absolutely badass. I went through the demo multiple times before it came out, but have just now gotten around to playing it. I can't say enough good about it. So far the only negative for me is some of the dumb shit one of the companion characters keeps yelling out.

Getting aggressive about The Witcher finally. I'm about 10 hours in and making real progress now. I'm liking it, definitely more than I did before, although it's not really standing out for me yet, either. It seems very level-based rather than open-world which makes it seem a little narrow, and the combat is, of course, not very interesting.

But Witcher 2 looks soooo good, and I'm liking it enough. I'm going to try to get through as much as I can before Portal 2 comes out.

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Originally Posted by Vasteel

Dark Messiah: TNL is pretty much the only place this game got any love. Which is shameful, because this game is absolutely badass. I went through the demo multiple times before it came out, but have just now gotten around to playing it. I can't say enough good about it. So far the only negative for me is some of the dumb shit one of the companion characters keeps yelling out.

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I completely forgot that game even existed until just right now, but I so wanted to play it when it came out and just didn't have a PC that could handle it.

I'm gonna get it tonight, thanks for bringing this up.

It's really not that great.

Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is amazing. Need to finish up the hardest difficulty, which is somewhat easier than my first time through on hard since I now know the game and have all the upgrades.

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Originally Posted by Compass

It's really not that great.

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But it totally is.