What Are You Playing (Summer 2013)?

Darksiders II....I got a third or so through this on XB but then I got PC so I am starting over.

What would be an appropriate donor?

Al Unser Jr racing may work.

I'm not sure if the save hack will even work on real hardware though, as far as I know nobody has tried it.

Exclusively playing Animal Crossing and Neo Geo games.

Wing Commander 2 crashes too much in the GOG release (it might actually be WC2's fault and not DosBox, I don't know) and it's bumming me out. I might have to just skip to WC3.

Didn't someone here just play through them all?

Hi! That would be me! If it is consistently crashing during certain mid-mission cutscenes, try starting the game with "loadfix -32 wc2" rather than just "wc2"

Borderlands 2 is a lot of fun so far! Minor gripes, but the acid gun is fantastic so whatever. Multiplayer seems to rush you right through the game.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PSP)

Oh man, this game is so amazing. It's legitimately tough and unforgiving even on Normal difficultly. I recommend it to anyone coming off of Dark Souls.

I finally killed that son of a bitch fire dragon boss. Let me see if I can explain why it is so horrifying.

Most good boss fights are a learning experience. You have to study the creature's moves carefully. A good boss fight will have several different attacks, each of which will be preceded by a "tell". These tells should not be obvious right away, but should be apparent enough through careful study. Even if the tells are not obvious, the boss should act according to predictable rules of behavior. And often the boss will have a particular ability that inspires "envy" in the player, like the ability to jump or move in three dimensions.

This fire dragon is the boss of the obligatory fire stage. Just before the boss encounter, the player, Adol, finds a wind bracelet that grants wind magic. Push the magic button, and Adol spins around like a tornado. This tornado deals wind damage and also -- this is important -- emits wind, which slows Adol's falling speed.

Now, the fire dragon emerges out of a firey lava pit and follows two attack patterns. During the first attack pattern, he flies toward you kamikaze style. During this stage, he is covered in flames, and his tracking is unerringly accurate. If he touches you during this stage, he does massive damage. During the second attack pattern, his flames go out, and he flies demurely around the playfield occasionally breathing flames. These are easy to avoid, because his head blinks every time he breathes fire. Then he dives back into the lava, and the cycle begins again.

The problem is the first attack stage. He is effectively impossible to dodge during this stage. And the dragon has so many hit points (1100, even on Normal difficulty) that it is impossible to simply slug it out with him until he drops dead. So the answer must lie somehow with the wind magic you just acquired.

The wind magic is powerful, but it's not strong enough to kill him quickly nor does it provide any protection from his burning body. The FAQ at GameFAQs suggests that you must use the wind magic to "put out" the fires on his body, but this is complete bullshit and is actually quite misleading, because it makes it more likely that he will ram you if you try to do this. Worse yet, the wind magic has a bit of a delay before it takes effect. So it's completely ineffectual as a shield.

The solution is to use the wind magic to <i>trick the dragon's AI</i>, so that you float over the dragon as he attempts to ram you, and to do this two or three times per cycle. Then, you have to wail on him with your sword until he dies.

In the end, it makes sense, but it's very frustrating and counterintuitive and basically requires you to acknowledge that the dragon is impossible to dodge.

It's still a really good game!

Catherine - I need to get through this once and for all. It's been sitting on my pile for years. I love the puzzle game and I love the story. I am not sure how much I like the two put together.

Picross 3d - I closed my eyes on Sunday and saw rotating 3d cubes with numbers printed on them. That should tell you everything.

Animal Crossing New Leaf - just like everyone else.