What Are You Playing (Winter, 2013-2014)

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm glad it had a demo. It saved me from wasting money on it.

[Yoshi]

The Namco inclusion saved me. If it were Sega X Capcom, I would have bought it no matter what. If it were Sega X Konami, I might have bought two copies.

[A Robot Bit Me]

It is without a doubt the worst SRPG I've ever played. It makes the computer virus that designs NIS games look like Julian Gollop.

[MechDeus]

That was beautiful, ARBM.

Blade & Soul - Up to level 25 or 26, game is still pretty good. Messed around with the mage a bit and this game sure is Tera 2, the mechanics are so crazy similar in a lot of ways.

Firefall - The latest patch is a pile of garbage and has turned the game into a small amount of haves and a lot of have-nots. Either you had everything maxxed out and had stockpiled a ton of resources before the patch hit, or you were anywhere lower and can't really do anything. They introduced a bunch of good ideas but forgot to include the basis those ideas were built upon, quite literally stripping out the supports they had on the PTR and making half a patch go live. So resource gathering has become nearly impossible for many, most items can no longer be properly equipped, and every weapon will break down permanently and need to be replaced.

As a commentary on the state of America and planned obsolescence, it's a good statement and would likely make for some nice classroom discussion for the younger crowd. As an MMO that's supposed to be a skill-based TPS all that it's done is transformed itself into a resource gathering sim which happens to include guns.

Aion - For some strange reason they introduced big-ass mechs to this fantasy game, which are shaped a lot like Lagann from TTGL. It's all rocket punches and big robot claps, and so far it's been stupid fun messing around with that to overlook how not good the rest of the game is.

I've been kind of wanting to play Guild Wars 2 again today, I think I'll crack that open again.

[Yoshi]

It is without a doubt the worst SRPG I've ever played. It makes the computer virus that designs NIS games look like Julian Gollop.

[kingoffighters]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to A Robot Bit Me again.

edit: Actually I probably should give myself rep for not cracking and buying that game.

I am so tempted too, but thus far, have been able to resist its charms.

[kingoffighters]

You are not the kind of guy who would be playing Project X Zone in the morning. But here you are.

You're in the Frank West chapter. It's set in a mall. The map is another empty square that seems needlessly big.

You're in the upper left of corner of the square. The farthest point away from you is a music store full of guitars. You move your cursor over them and see that the guitars are breakable. The music store is about forty squares away. Your most mobile character is Chun Li. Chun Li can move six squares at a time. It will take about seven turns to get there and another few to break everything. The emptiness separating you and the store is emblematic of the problem.

Committing to the trek would effectively remove one character - 25% of your resources - from the entire fight. You commit.

You are so overpowered that, even after forfeiting a character, you've accidentally killed almost everything before Chun Li gets to the music store. You have to stop attacking the last remaining enemy while Chun Li continues her slog. You've added about ten minutes to the battle so far. You tell yourself it's going to be worth it. You hypothesize as to what might be in those guitars. Maybe another EXP-multiplying accessory. Maybe another XP-multiplying accessory. EXP and XP being radically different things is emblematic of the problem. But this is going to be worth it.

You are able to break four or five guitars on the turn you finally arrive. None has anything in it. There is one left. It's eight squares away. It's going to take two more turns of letting the last enemy tee off on you to get it: one to close six squares of emptiness, and another to move two more and break it. You commit.

The enemy slides next to you without a walking animation. You are running low on HP from the punching bag act. You have twenty-two healing items. You do not use them because everyone in your party can use XP (not EXP) to heal. That you accidentally have twenty-two healing items two hours into the game is emblematic of the problem. You use your XP to heal.

Two minutes later, you move Chun Li next to the last guitar. This one was especially out of the way, so it's going to be especially worth it. You press "Y" to break it. It makes a noise like a bible hitting a wet carpet.

There is nothing in the guitar. You close your 3DS. You realize you've been on the toilet breaking empty things on an empty map in an empty game for thirty-five minutes. You put the 3DS on the counter and flush. You feel a little older.

Almost as good as your all time best.

[A Robot Bit Me]

I can say this for it: it's making me appreciate just how tough balancing and designing a great strategy game is. I have Tactics Ogre PSP and FE: Sacred Stones on deck. I'll enjoy them ten times more than I would had I not suffered a little Project X Zone.

What I mean is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TErE...e_gdata_player

[jyoung]

I fired this up today on the Super Game Boy. I have always loved the music and the atmosphere of the levels, but I didn't remember the controls being this stiff. Running and jumping just doesn't feel smooth at all, especially compared to other Mario games. According to the credits, there were just two programmers and two designers working on Super Mario Land. Clearly, these guys weren't Nintendo's top developers at the time. At least the composer did his job well.

[Yoshi]

That's one of my all-time favorite Mario games. It's like the Zelda II of Mario games.