Games You're Playing Right Now III: Return Of The Protagonist

[チソウ タイゼン]

I think she's just bugged out at her lack of "Conserve SP," "Knock Down," and "Full Assault."
I have them, and she's all "that would be SO USEFUL."

[theshirn]

Figuring out Gungnir.  The Beat system is still really weird (although holy crap random poison from a thorn whip on the boss is awesome), and the fact that you actually need to move to build up tactics points runs counter to what you'd do in any other SRPG, where you wouldn't move so your next turn would come faster.  Still need to mess around with Boosts, and definitely need more people who can knockback or inflict status ailments.

tl;dr friggin' Sting games you are so deep and fun but why do you not actually explain ANYTHING PROPERLY

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

FF IV DS.

I got this soon after it came out, but I stopped playing it due to other games. I'm going to actually try to beat this version now.

I started a new file since I didn't really remember where I was at in te game, and I felt like it anyway. I'm after Octomammoth and about to go to the cave with the Antlion. I got the perfect score on Rydia's minigame 3 times, so her special DS version exclusive summon has 99 Int now. 99 Int Thunders are quite effective on OctoMammoth. I just wish I hadn't set Blizzard on it though since that reduced the damage I was capable of doing with the summon. Still, it chose the 700+ damage thunders more often than the Blizzards. I'll probably go back and switch Thunder off of it since I think I remember Antlion being weak to ice.

Obviously since I'm not far in on this run, I haven't run into anything too bad. I do know it'll get worse, but I'm used to BS deaths from all the SMT, and I know this version of FF4 has its share of BS death potential.

[Garlyle]

If you haven't played FFIV DS, but HAVE played the original FFIV, read this:

Spoiler:

Do, in fact, throw abilities onto the characters who won't be in your party come endgame - specifically, throw up to two (no more than two!) abilities on them, and a bit after they leave the party, you'll be given new abilities from them that are generally superior.  Off the top of my head, if you're curious...

Spoiler:

Tellah gives a Half MP and fastcasting ability, I think?  Rydia will love those lategame.  Edward gives improvements to your items (such as the ability to use them on the whole party at once), which is great for most of the game... and I think Palom and Porom, if there's three abilities between them or something, pass on Twin Magic?  Or something like that.  Either way they're really useful.  I forget though, you'd have to doublecheck most of these

[NekoNekoRex]

Yeah, I've had to keep a guide up so I don't miss stuff like that. I've only really got Tellah's abilities so far for doing that, it's a tad unfortunate. Still, Fast Talk is pretty radical, though.

Gotta continue where I left off. I got pushed back in my run a few hours due to asshattery and neglecting to save.

[Reddyne]

Just finished (sorta) Batman: Arkham City. HOLY CRAP OMGLOLWTFBBQ that ending's gonna screw with the canon somewhere. I still need to complete half of the Riddler challenges to free the remaining hostages. I'm not 100% keen on finding so many trophies simply in order to progress, but the little mental challenges promote a lot of experimentation and problem solving in tiny little doses. Outside of that, the game itself is 15-20 hours of Batman awesomeness, so it was well worth it.

Okay. Set for Dragon Age Origins at last. Will be playing a support mage with some offensive spells just so I'm not spamming a bunch of useless spells during downtime. Will probly make use of a tank, two-handed/dual wielder for extra melee damage, and an archer as I hear that mages can be game-breaking. As per my typical MO, I will play up the Neutral Good crazy person who thinks that he and his friends are participating in a long, protracted, worldwide pillowfight against the darkspawn and that when you hit them with the pillows they spray raspberry jam everywhere.

[Grand Octopus]

Just finished Neptunia mk2. Vast improvement over the first game and the most fun I've had with an RPG since Soul Nomad. The setting / cast were great once again, if noticeably more serious than in the previous one. The combat system was in a completely different galaxy this time and was the main reason I enjoyed the game so much.

Also lol at the unintentional Platinum. That's my first plat and probably my last.

[チソウ タイゼン]

Returning to Nocturne, navigating the annoying Yoyogi Park Construction Site, and the more annoying Second Kalpa of the Labyrinth of Amala.
The Second Kalpa was fun until HAHAHA MUDOON

I shelled out the 45,000 Macca for the lesser Physical Magatama from the Collector, found little use in it so far. Is the other and Sophia worth it?

...I'm currently level fifty. Is that overleveled?

Also, Persona 3.
I'm at about the eightieth floor, Yabbashah block, but I feel like I'm burning myself out on this, because no dog, no Shinjiro, minimal Strega story, etc etc etc.
It seems like that yawning void that the quality of Persona 4 falls into at around Lv. 40 is at about 20 to 30 in this game.

I tried playing The Answer, but Yukari felt it a better idea to continually Diarama herself and her balls-for-HP than to use Media, because apparently her having 40 HP is that much worse than everyone else having 60 HP all at the same time.

But I digress.

Someone give me a date. When does P3 pick up again?

[Reddyne]

...I'm currently level fifty. Is that overleveled?

So long as you are gaining the skills from your magatama when leveling up, there is no such thing as overleveled in that game. I've played played numerous RPGs in my time and waded through some real jerk moves in the past to reach the ending. SMT: Nocturne pulls some super jerk moves the farther you get in the main game, Amala, and the main game because you've been going into Amalama. I've given up on the game twice in the late game and that's an unprecedented feat.

Then again, some of that was just tedium. I may very well permanently drop Genius of Sappheiros simply because it's late game time and dungeons are taking hours to wade through with little progress due to the gimmicks tied into them and the respawn rate. Take things with a grain of salt, but the game will pull a couple of real jerk moves at times. Screw you, Trumpeter.

[チソウ タイゼン]

I only ask because it seems like the only threat anything in the game poses as of now would be instant-death skills and Setanta who use their Dragon Eye skill nearly exclusively to use the move Guillotine on my character :3

Also considering upgrading my party at some point... got Lv 47 Jinn and Dionysus, as well as 45 Kushinada for a healer...
I had Mediarama for my MC, but dropped it in favor of Diarahan. Whoops >_>;

[Zengeku]

Taking a break from Final Fantasy XIII mandatory-battles-only challenge (turns out the game is a lot more enjoyable to play when you aren't fighting all them enemies. I was under the impression that the bosses would be impossible if i didn't have the CP from all the monsters but eh... apparently that's not the case.)

Instead playing some more Deus Ex: HR - trying to make a No-anything challenge run out of it. That is, no augs, no-killing and no takedowns. Of course on Hard difficulty. Not that it matters much outside of bosses since I'm requiring Ghost+Smooth Operator. So far I've made it past the 2nd boss who was indeed quite a pain until i tried the Heavy Machine Gun.

My strategy? Whenever she charges at me, i throw down a EMP Mine in front of me, then she runs into it causing it to explode. Then I throw her a frag grenade and plug out my Heavy Machine Gun and gives her a full salvo at point blank range. Then I just kept repeating this process until i won.

In any case, I'd recommend this challenge to anyone. It's fun and it's pretty badass how many ways you can go about doing stuff. You can use crates to get to places you shouldn't be able to and all mandatory doors are Lv.1. Lovely.

[Phlegeth]

Still playing Digimon Masters.  Apparently Tewi takes after her namesake.  After blowing a lot of money enchanting her Attack to Lv12 and her Evasion to Lv9, I was pretty much broke.  And needed some chipsets.  I decided to go kill some SkullMeramon for some Lv5 Monster Cards to sell.  A little while in, one of them drops something I've never seen before: an NSo Egg.  I didn't know what it was so I popped it open and found an NSo Chipset.  For those who don't know, Lopmon's default Mega is Cherubimon (Evil) who belongs in the NSo family.  So I found a chipset I needed completely by accident.  And by the time I was finished I had 4.  I equipped HP and Defense chipsets.  So now Tewi is really hard to hit and when they do it doesn't hurt.

[Esper]

I recently got over my HDTV's input lag and got back into my Wii Virtual Console library.

I've been playing most of them sparingly but here's what I tend to play.

NES
The Adventures of Lolo
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Gradius
Ice Climber
Kirby's Adventure
Mega Man I-IV
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan)

SMS
Fantasy Zone
Phantasy Star

TG-16
Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou
Ys Book I and II

SNES
Super Castlevania IV (Since I call it Castlevania IV, I put it in the C area)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Mega Man X
Secret of Mana
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario World
Super Metroid

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

NeoGeo
Magician Lord

N64
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Mario Party 2
Paper Mario
Super Mario 64
Yoshi's Story

Oh god help me three of those are shmups

[Buu]

Wayyy too much. Right now I'm busy with Mass Effect 3 (what an awesome game!) and I got a couple ordered which are waiting to be finished right after ME3: Mass Effect 1 & 2, Asura's Wrath, Dark Souls and Max Payne 3.

Banjo-Tooie and Super Paper Mario are waiting for completion as well. I ought to do those first since I'm halfway through in BT already and got the first two chapters in SPM done too. Then again those can wait too as I have beaten them before already, I just felt like randomly playing those again after so long~.

I should get my priorities straight. xD

Instead playing some more Deus Ex: HR - trying to make a No-anything challenge run out of it. That is, no augs, no-killing and no takedowns. Of course on Hard difficulty. Not that it matters much outside of bosses since I'm requiring Ghost+Smooth Operator. So far I've made it past the 2nd boss who was indeed quite a pain until i tried the Heavy Machine Gun.

My strategy? Whenever she charges at me, i throw down a EMP Mine in front of me, then she runs into it causing it to explode. Then I throw her a frag grenade and plug out my Heavy Machine Gun and gives her a full salvo at point blank range. Then I just kept repeating this process until i won.

In any case, I'd recommend this challenge to anyone. It's fun and it's pretty badass how many ways you can go about doing stuff. You can use crates to get to places you shouldn't be able to and all mandatory doors are Lv.1. Lovely.

When I was going for the trophies for the lulz, I stacked a few and did the Hard Mode, Pacifist (which includes no Takedown since Takedowns have a tendency to kill off enemies due to a bug) and no Detection cheevos in the same run. Needless to say it was quite fun, promoting a lot of experimentation trying things one probably wouldn't think of initially. After beating it four times the fun's gone though, haha. Good luck with that run!

[Esper]

Wait way too much for me?

[Buu]

Nah, I meant myself. I have a tendency of stacking games and starting a new one when I'm still in the middle of another one.

[チソウ タイゼン]

YESSSSS.

Got my little sister to pick up Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.
Her reaction?

It's not as hard as you make it look!

:fail:

[Esper]

Since there's no general Video Game Rage thread, let me say this here

I had 999 rupees in A Link to the Past when I walked up to a thief and talked to him (didn't remember what he would do.)

HE GAVE ME 300 RUPEES.

Four chests.

Red rupee, FUCK.
Red rupee, FUCK!
Red rupee, GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!
Red rupee, SON OF A BITCH!

[チソウ タイゼン]

Why don't you make one?

[Esper]

Why don't you make one?

I don't think it would go over that well but okay I will

[Chaore]

why am i playing DMO (digimon masters online)

why have i lost such control of my life I've been playing it for a FEW WEEKS

AAAA ;w;

[Garlyle]

Taking a break from Final Fantasy XIII mandatory-battles-only challenge (turns out the game is a lot more enjoyable to play when you aren't fighting all them enemies. I was under the impression that the bosses would be impossible if i didn't have the CP from all the monsters but eh... apparently that's not the case.)

It's amazing how much more interesting it makes the game, isn't it?

Pokemon Conquest came out yesterday, so I figured that while I wait for my copy of it to arrive (And for the JP release of BW2), I will finish up other spinoffs - meaning Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky.  ...Kinda forgot how great this game is!

[NekoNekoRex]

I feel like I'm missing something in FF4 DS because I'm

Spoiler:

on the Moon

and suddenly enemies are kicking my ass when they weren't before. I can hardly survive regular battles now without Cecil getting KO'd

[Zengeku]

It's amazing how much more interesting it makes the game, isn't it?

Indeed. It even means I get to appreciate the story more since I'm getting more exposure to that than to corridor cleaning. 

When I was going for the trophies for the lulz, I stacked a few and did the Hard Mode, Pacifist (which includes no Takedown since Takedowns have a tendency to kill off enemies due to a bug) and no Detection cheevos in the same run. Needless to say it was quite fun, promoting a lot of experimentation trying things one probably wouldn't think of initially. After beating it four times the fun's gone though, haha. Good luck with that run!

I didn't know about that bug. Though, you can always see whether your enemies are knocked out or not so I guess you're safe? Not that it matters for me, I've already been through a Pacifist, Hard Mode, No Alerts run. Same as you. It is hilarious how easily people die in the game though. I tried throwing a wooden box at a knocked out civilian and that somehow killed him. Then some other time, I hid some gangsters body in the sewers with his face down (he was a bad guy so it's okay). Why didn't he drown? Weird stuff.

But yeah uhh, still enjoying using the environment rather than augs to get around. I just used a fire extinguisher as a stepping stone to enter a place that would either require Lv.4 hacking or enhanced Jumping to get into! It's so awesome how you are just completely at liberty  in that respect. Find crates to stack and get everywhere!

[Sana]

About 4 hours into Pokemon Conquest. To me it feels like a FFT-lite with Pokemon. :S
I really want to love it but it just doesn't seem to be happening. I mean a Pokemon SRPG is cool and all but I can't really think of any reasons to play this instead of some other game.

Pros:
-Pretty cool character designs, nice new Pokemon art
-Pokemon SRPG :>

Cons:
-Menus feel kind of sluggish
-Mandatory battle animations, and a kinda slow text speed
-Little to no character customization(Each pokemon only gets one move, though when it evolves sometimes the move changes)

Nitpicking:
-Can't change battle formation before a battle
-No elevation display or attack elevation ranges

[チソウ タイゼン]

I feel like I'm missing something in FF4 DS because I'm

Spoiler:

on the Moon

and suddenly enemies are kicking my ass when they weren't before. I can hardly survive regular battles now without Cecil getting KO'd

the difference between earth enemies and moon enemies is like fifteen levels
the standard reaction is to grind on those amoeba-like enemies for a minimum of 90 minutes <3

[UsadaLettuce]

Pokemon Black 2 DS

Screw IV/EV training, let's go for the old no-brainer, all brawl battle system!

[Rak]

Right now I'm just playing through the Metal Gear Solid series and Dark Souls  :V

[NekoNekoRex]

TODAY IS THE DAY

I'M GOING TO MAKE IT TO FLOOR 6 IN SlashEM

AND THEN PROBABLY DIE IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS

[DX7.EP]

Just got the Gods & Kings expansion for Civ V and played a bit of single-player. Adds quite a bit that the stock game lacks - glad to see espionage and religion back again, and adapted for the Civ V system. New units are nice too.

Though caravels were nerfed quite hard :\